Tag Archives: Muppets

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Pop Culture Odds and Ends – You’ve Gotta Earn It Edition

I mentioned in a previous blog post that I had booked a vacation later this month. And while I’m very excited for it, apparently the universe has decided that I really need to earn this vacation before I take it. It’s been a chaotic few days and it looks like more chaotic days are on the horizon. As someone who likes planning and deadlines, this is not my favorite way to go through life. Things will eventually settle down, but until then I’ll just have to enjoy this wild ride that I’m on. I’m T-minus 15 days from being on a plane and I’ll just have to keep my eye on the prize to get through this craziness.

Thankfully for all you, I planned ahead on this week’s pop culture roundup, so it is not a victim of all the busyness that has befallen me. So while I take a deep breath and prioritize, get yourself caught up on all the pop culture that you may have missed.

Television

Movies

Trailers

  • Wonder Woman:

 

  • House of Cards, season 5:

 

  • It Comes At Night:

 

  • Cars 3:

 

  • The Big Sick:

 

  • Blood Drive:

 

  • Colossal:

 

  • Baby Driver:

 

  • Baywatch:

 

  • 47 Meters Down:

 

  • GLOW:

 

  • Tulip Fever:

 

  • There’s…….Johnny:

 

  • Gook:

 

Music

Theater

Books

Odds and Ends

Mashups and Supercuts

  • Ed “Shape of You” gets the Carnatic music treatment:

 

  • Hook recut as a horror movie:

 

  • The Simpsons channel The Big Bang Theory for their coach gag:

 

  • Batman v Superman recut as a buddy cop movie:

 

  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale switch roles:

 

  • Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” on bells:

 

  • Someone mashed up Star Wars and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:

 

  • The Muppets cover “Ignition”:

 

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Pop Culture Odds and Ends – The Big Game Edition

We’re only a few days away from Super Bowl Sunday, one of the most glorious days of the year. Even if you don’t like football, chances are that you’ll tune in to the big game to at least watch the commercials and the halftime show. Of course my team isn’t in the Super Bowl this year (or pretty much any year), but I’m still looking forward to Sunday. Not only is it a fun day to hang out with my friends that I watch football with every Sunday, but I’m hoping for a miracle that Peyton Manning walks away with another Super Bowl ring this year. Given how well the Carolina Panthers have been playing that may be unlikely, but I’d like Manning to end his career on a high note. I’m guessing this is his last ride on the football merry-go-round and I’ll always be disappointed that a blizzard prevented me from seeing him play against Buffalo. But really, as long as I can have my wings and enjoy the Patriots not being in the Super Bowl, I’ll be happy no matter how the actual game plays out.

It feels like every Wednesday is the Super Bowl of pop culture, as I once again bring you the best that the web had to offer in the last week. So without further ado, let’s get on to this week’s pop culture roundup.

 

 

 

 

Time for some trailers….

  • Trolls:

 

  • Alice Through The Looking Glass:

 

  • Nine Lives:

 

  • The Secret Life of Pets:

 

  • Broad City:

 

  • The Confirmation:

 

  • Mavis:

 

  • The Walking Dead:

 

  • The Secret Life of Pets:

 

  • The ladies of RuPaul’s Drag Race are going out on tour:

 

  • Kubo and the Two Strings:

 

  • LEGO Dimensions:

 

  • Regression:

 

  • The Witch:

 

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Sorry boys. I'm off the market

A photo posted by Sophie Turner (@sophiet) on

 

As always, we end with the supercuts and mashups…..

  • Jimmy Fallon, Sia, The Roots and Natalie Portman perform “Iko Iko”:

 

  • Archer meets Magnum, P.I.:

 

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  • Every Best Picture winner ever:

 

  • “Here” as a Peggy Lee-style jazz number:

 

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  • White actors playing other races:

 

  • 100 years of zombie evolution:

 

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  • The Suicide Squad trailer audio with clips from Batman: The Animated Series:

 

  • And finally, The Muppets sing the theme to The Muppet Show:
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Pop Culture Office

For all intents and purposes, I am an adult. I have a job that while not at the top of the food chain comes with real responsibilities – I’ve managed million dollar projects, worked with the media and our legal counsel and am a supervisor to numerous people. I’d like to think that I do good work and get things done. My office, however, definitely reflects my out-of-the-workplace personality and is littered with all sorts of pop culture items. I figure if I’m going to spend as much time in my office as I currently do, it might as well be a place that I moderately enjoy being in. I have no control over the paint or a lot of the furniture, but I can at least add some things that make me smile when I’m stuck editing a 350 page report. Plus some of these items – particularly the Bobblehead Army – have been real conversation starters with co-workers and others visiting the office (especially kids). So all my pop culture tchotchkes actually do serve some purpose. Here’s a quick tour of the current collection:

New York Sock Monkey:

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I have a weird affinity for sock monkeys; I can’t explain it and I don’t know where it originated from. But I just think that they are super cute. I liked his little New York hoodie, given how much I love my trips to the city.

 

The Minions:

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These are all from McDonald’s Happy Meals, which means that as a person in my thirties I made the decision to order one of these simply for the toy. I am completely comfortable with this. All three of them are capable of making noise, but sadly none of them are the Minion that sounds like he is swearing. That one would have come in handy.

Breaking Bad/football:

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Honestly, no desk is complete without its own Los Pollos Hermanos fry batter tub (complete with “blue meth” candy that I refuse to eat since I ordered this online). Both the Bills helmet and the Cowboys mini-shot glass were gifts that were retrieved from those little vending machines in grocery stores. While I am a Bills fan, I also have a certain fondness for the current Cowboys QB, so both get displayed on my desk.

Littlefinger:

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It’s no secret that my favorite character on Game of Thrones is Petyr Baelish aka Littlefinger. I respect his ability to manipulate people to his advantage and use his cunning mind to make up for his lack of strength or well-bred background. Some days the office feels like an episode of GoT, so his presence on my desk feels very appropriate.

LEGO mini-figs:

2015-10-30 10.14.02You can’t really go wrong with the trio of Ron Burgundy (Anchorman), Omar (The Wire) and Walter White (Breaking Bad). My only issue with them is that they are easy to knock over, so I spend a fair amount of time setting them back in their proper position.

 

Groot:

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As soon as I saw Guardians of the Galaxy, I immediately ordered this Funko Pop figure of dancing baby Groot. I was right to do so, as these babies sold out almost immediately and were impossible to find. I could have resold mine for a nice chunk of change on eBay, but I decided I liked it so much that it was worth keeping it.

Animal and Peeps Yankee:

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The Animal figure is pretty self-explanatory – I love the Muppets and Animal is my favorite of the major characters. I spent a lot of time looking for this guy – I wanted an Animal figure that wasn’t super expensive, which was a surprisingly hard combination to come by. I wound up finding him in the Disney Store in Times Square; he came in a set with Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and Gonzo, so I have options if I’d like to rotate Muppet characters. The Peeps Yankee was a giveaway at Yankee Stadium. It’s a weird combination – a plastic replica of a marshmallow peep inexplicably in a Yankee uniform – but I found it oddly hysterical. I didn’t even go to the game where this was a giveaway, but rather bought it online. This is probably exhibit A of why I shouldn’t be allowed on eBay.

Cosmo Kramer:

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This is the newest addition to the collections; I received it this year from my brother for my birthday. When I suggested it, I had no idea that this thing would be quite as big as it turned out to be, so it kind of towers over the rest of the items. Funko unveiled a Seinfeld collection earlier this year, but Kramer was the only member of the main cast that was made into a figure. I did consider asking for George Costanza (including a Festivus pole) or Puddy, but ultimately decided Kramer was the way to go.

The Bobblehead Army:

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The bobblehead army has relocated.

A post shared by Heather Trela (@htrela) on

 

I’ve slowed down in my collection of bobbleheads, mostly because I’ve run out of room to display them. I’ve told my boss that we either need to move me to a bigger office or buy me a display cabinet specifically for my collection, but so far all he does is laugh at me (he seems to do that a lot). Still, this is what catches most people’s attention when they visit my office, though I’m always annoyed when people (usually men) ask if that is my collection. Ummm…..it’s my office. Who else would it belong to?

So there you have it……a little bit of pop culture fun to liven up the monotony of office life. I don’t have a ton of space left to expand, though I do have my eye on a couple of other LEGO minifigs that wouldn’t add too much more clutter. Do you have any fun pop culture items in your office/cubicle? Share with us in the comments below.