Muppetation, etc

[magid]

Last week I finally made it out to the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington, where the exhibit on Jim Henson is soon to close. It was great to learn more about his career (I mostly know Sesame Street and The Muppet Show), ranging from early sketches and posters, to short (9-second) ads, to short movies (Time Piece, excerpts here, and a short clip from The Cube) and later shows I never watched (Fraggle Rock). There was Kermit, and Ernie and Bert, among others, looking just like themselves, except quieter. It made me nostalgic for Miss Piggy, Sweetums, Gonzo, Dr. Teeth, and more. And sad for such a stupid death, too (he died of strep A, the kind that requires drugs, rather than strep B, that can resolve on its own).

Even watching all the videos and reading all the storyboards, it's not a large exhibit, so I was glad to find some others of interest as well.

• Quang-Tuan Luong has photographed fifty-eight national parks in large format, with captivating pictures. It makes me want to travel more, to see these parks (locally, there is only Acadia, in Maine), to see the beauty of the world.
  
• I hadn't heard of George McFadden, but he made some fabulous clocks (check out the Halloween one, though the photo doesn't do it justice), full of whimsy and much detail.
  
• And hanging on the wall by the entrance was a huge 1856 map of Middlesex County, MA, which totally fascinated me (the one digitized version I found isn't very good, despite the PDF's many pages of piece-by-piece pictures). Arlington was West Cambridge, JFK park was marsh (as was some of East Cambridge), and my block apparently was the home of a (plant) nursery. I wish photography had been allowed in the museum, for I'd've taken many photos of this, including the directory of businesses and professionals, and the comparison of populations of towns in 1840 and 1850, etc.

Comments

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

I want that clock. If you loved me, you'd buy/steal it for me.

[magid.livejournal.com]

You were the first person I thought of when I saw it, I admit.

....When's your next trip north?

[megmuck.livejournal.com]

What, you didn't see the "Masons are GRRRRRRRREAT!" exhibit? My kids like pressing the buttons there.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I saw an exhibit of mostly modern Mason paintings done in historical style, but I think I skipped any buttons about the fabulousness of Masons.