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Buzz Gift Guide: Cool Stuff For Kids

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:30:10 -0800

Welcome back, folks, to my Buzz Gift Guide series for all the entertainment lovers in your life. Last week I tackled the adults in the family, and today I'm focusing on the budding pop culture nuts in your life.

I'll admit, I would have killed for these gifts as a kid, and I'd probably treasure them as an adult were I to receive them (what can I say? I'm a child at heart). Take, for example, this amazing service from FAO Schwarz to create your own Muppet! You can play around with the different combinations online or order a special gift kit. I bet any little puppet-loving child in your world would think it's a pretty spectacular gift.

Speaking of Muppets, I really think each generation should be exposed to Fraggle Rock, which is why this complete DVD series is so cool (um, I might buy it for myself). If that special little person in your life is a Pixar fanatic, then this DVD set is for them. Finally, for those musically inclined kiddos (and parents), check out the Rockabye Baby series in which you can find lullaby versions of songs by the Beatles, Coldplay, Metallica, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, the Cure, you name it. Now that's one hip baby.

Make Your Own Muppet at FAO Schwarz ($90-130)	Rockabye Baby ($13.99)
Pixar Ultimate Collection ($109.99)	Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series Collection ($89.99 )

Check out HolidaySugar for all of our holiday coverage and gift guides.

Comic-Con Round-Up

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:30:05 -0700

I've been reporting from Comic-Con these past few days, but here's a hodgepodge of random extra bits and pieces from my weekend.

There was a panel I basically happened to attend by accident, which ended up being for this spooky-looking movie The Wolf Man, due in theaters April 3, 2009. Then, to everyone's surprise, the stars of the film, Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt, came onstage to talk about it. I'll post the trailer soon, so more on the movie itself later, but for now, how cute is this picture?!
The writers of The Office spoke to a packed house on Saturday, and while the 11 people on the panel (12 if you count moderator Rainn Wilson) felt like a few too many, there were plenty of funny moments, especially from BJ Novak, Michael Schur, and Mindy Kaling. I particularly liked this part of Novak's answer about why he likes writing for Michael Scott: "It's so interesting to see someone with authority be so innocent and so wrong."
Also a winner from that panel: Schur's description of how Dwight would act in the event of an actual robot invasion. "He would cross his arms in the middle of the street as the robots marched down the street, shaking his head and saying 'I told you so!'"
Yeah, the Heroes screening and Hugh Jackman appearance were cool - but one of my other favorite panels of the weekend was much, much smaller. On Friday, I got to hear some of the original voice actors from the classic Peanuts specials talk about what it was like to put together shows like A Charlie Brown Christmas and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown. Several of the specials will be out on remastered, special-feature-laden DVDs this Fall, and I can't wait! Eventually, they're hoping to bring all the specials (more than 40 of them!) to DVD.
Also, some of the best trivia of the whole weekend came out of that panel: Did you know Fergie was once the voice of Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally? (For more Peanuts trivia, check out today's Brainteaser!)

To find out Seth Rogen's latest dirty comment and to see Zachary Levi's hand in a compromising position, read more.

Friday night’s bawdy session about Zack and Miri Make a Porno was moderated by Kevin Smith and included Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Traci Lords, and several others. The clip from the movie was pretty funny, mostly because of Rogen’s mugging and sarcasm. He's clearly cut out for Kevin Smith's style of comedy. At the panel, Elizabeth Banks had a funny comment when asked about what it was like to play Laura Bush after doing Zack and Miri: "Playing Laura Bush, it’s really just like playing a porn star. Just the hair is different." Rogen followed up with, "She wouldn’t even have to change her name." Yipes!
At the Chuck panel, moderator Kristin Dos Santos tried to get Zachary Levi and Joshua Gomez to repeat their 2007 feat of demonstrating an, er, compromising sexual position for the audience. They wouldn't do it - but did agree to reenact the moment with hand puppets. (See gallery for the image.)
Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Jessica Hynes from Spaced were all over Comic-Con, doing interviews (stay tuned for mine!), panels, and signings to promote the US release of the complete series on DVD. They screened three beloved episodes on Friday night: "Art," "Epiphanies," and "Gone," the one with the finger gun fights. And, speaking of finger gun fights, they kicked off the screening with a gigantic one - Pegg speculated it was their biggest ever - with about 1,000 people participating.
Another smaller but still very cool moment of the trip came in the panel where several Disney artists showed how they created the storyboards for Bolt, the film about a TV superdog who thinks his powers are real. I'm still not sold on John Travolta as the voice of Bolt, but the drawings were adorable (see gallery) and the writing in the sequence we saw, in which some cats torture Bolt in his trailer, was totally clever.
The panel for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was fun, but for some reason I thought it would be more so. One of the coolest parts was that Damon Lindelof, executive producer of Lost moderated the panel, and is apparently a huge fan of Always Sunny. Also, little trivia: Rob McElhenney ("Mac" on the show) once played an Other on Lost.
The final celebrity of my trip: Red Fraggle! She made a special appearance at Sunday's Fraggle Rock DVD panel to lead the crowd in a sing-along of "The Beatle Song" and a recitation of the Solemn Fraggle Oath ("weeba weeba, woppa woppa, garpox gumbidge, whoopee!"). It should be noted that the vast majority of the crowd was not, in fact, parents with children but folks in their mid-20s, gloriously reliving their childhood. (The hand claps on the first runthrough of the Fraggle Rock theme were completely spontaneous and perfectly in sync.)

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Weinstein Co. to Make Live-Action Fraggle Rock Movie

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:29:44 -0700

Guess what? It's time to "Dance your cares away/ Worry's for another day/ Let the music play/ Down at Fraggle Rock!" The Fraggles are back! According to Variety, the Weinsteins are teaming up with Lisa Henson of the Jim Henson Company to bring a live-action, half-human half-puppet Fraggle Rock extravaganza to the big screen. Check it out:

Just like the series, the film will be populated by a mix of human characters and Fraggle Rock puppets. . .Pic will take the core characters Gobo, Wembley, Mokey, Boober and Red outside of their home in Fraggle Rock, where they interact with humans, which they think are aliens. The show premiered on HBO in 1983, ran five seasons and was broadcast in more than 80 countries. It posted strong sales recently when the first three seasons were released on DVD.

Awww! I'm excited about this news for so many reasons, but first and foremost: Hooray for no CGI! It'll be so great to get some good old-fashioned puppets, just like we'll get with Jason Segel's Muppet project. Plus, I can't wait to see some Fraggle musical production numbers choreographed for the big screen - and hopefully accompanied by Gobo on his gourd guitar.

Want to take a sweet little trip down Memory Lane? After the jump, relive the adorableness that is the opening sequence to Fraggle Rock. You can enjoy when you read more.

Source

Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:30:00 -0800

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! On Fraggle Rock, what is the real name of the "all-knowing, all-seeing" Trash Heap (pictured above)?
Note: I'm looking for her name. Typing in "Trash Heap" does not count.

Dance Your Cares Away! Fraggle Rock Hits iTunes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:31:49 -0800

It's been a big month for childhood icons: Legos and Smurfs turned 50, and now, Fraggle Rock is available on iTunes!

The first season of Fraggle Rock can be downloaded now, with more to come in the future. It and cult sci-fi show Farscape both hit iTunes this week, and the Jim Henson Company plans to put more shows online soon. Unfortunately, that doesn't include any Muppet-related content, as that all was sold to Disney a few years back.

But who cares about Muppets when there's Fraggle Rock to watch right now? Seriously - Mokey, Boober, the Gorgs, Sprocket the dog, radishes? I'm so there. Yeah, it's been available on DVD for a while, but DVDs don't fit in my pocket.

What other shows of your childhood would you love to see on iTunes eventually? Personally, I'd lobby for Jem and She-Ra: Princess of Power.

If you need a little cheer, you can watch the Fraggle Rock opening if you read more.

Photo courtesy of The Jim Henson Company