Not Being Elmo: A sad story

I have always been a fan and admirer of Sesame Street and the Muppets, so you can imagine how sad I felt this week when longtime performer Kevin Clash resigned from Sesame Street after 28 years.

Though I was past the normal viewing age for Sesame Street when Clash started lending his voice to the furry red monster Elmo, I did grow up hearing him as Goriddle Gorilla on the non-Muppet production, The Great Space Coaster. In my adult years I watched some of the Elmo-led specials, and some of the other Muppet projects Clash contributed to, usually as other characters.

When news of the scandals broke, I decided from the outset to refrain from judgment. I'm still not going to make any judgments about Clash or his personal life. What I will state is that it's going to be hard to separate the most popular Sesame Street character from the man who helped make him a star.

I loved watching the documentary made about Clash, Being Elmo, a few months ago. Seeing it now, is going to make for a very different experience.

I wish Clash all the best with whatever creative endeavour he chooses to pursue in the future. I feel badly for the kids who watch Sesame Street, because they are hurting the most by his departure. I also hope that whoever comes along to perform Elmo in the future will retain the integrity of the character, as a teaching tool for those who find him fun and entertaining.

RIP Bill Tarmey

I remember meeting 'Jack Duckworth' of the long-running British soap Coronation Street when he came to sing at the 1994 Variety Club Telethon in Toronto. Tarmey's Duckworth character was one of the show's most popular characters. He was part of the show from 1979 to 2010. You are remembered and missed, Bill.

Movember 2012

This year I'm doing the Movember challenge. This involves growing a mustache and raising money for cancer research at the same time throughout November. I also want to promote men's health. I formally joined the Movember campaign nearly a week after it officially began. So far I've managed to raise $5!

You can check out my Mo Space at http://ca.movember.com/mospace/5769565. I will be updating it frequently.

My M*A*S*H Challenge

Two months ago, at the beginning of September, the famous TV comedy-drama series M*A*S*H celebrated its 40th anniversary. It was also around this time that I started watching it regularly, right from the first episode. I'd known about M*A*S*H for a long time, and remember glancing at the reruns as a kid, including the epic finale. I even had some of the action figures and the jeep.

However I wasn't a fan, mainly because I couldn't understand its content or premise. Now, nearly 30 years after the last episode aired, I found myself hooked. It was worth the long wait.

M*A*S*H is a fictionalized version of the Korean War that lasted from 1950 to 1953, told from the point of view of medics at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. M*A*S*H started as a novel before Robert Altman turned it into a hugely-successful movie in 1970. The TV series, starring Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Gary Burghoff and Jamie Farr, resulted from the movie's success. It was so popular that it lasted for 11 seasons, from 1972 to 1983 - nearly four times as long as the real Korean War!

The movie with Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman and Gary Burghoff shows the dark side of war in a satirical tone. So far I've seen almost four of the 11 seasons on History TV Canada. I've also watched some of the later episodes, including "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" in its entirety.

I enthusiastically took up the challenge of watching all 251 episodes of this classic TV show. It will likely take me until March 2013 to see it all.

There will be more M*A*S*H in my blog, but for now, as the Col. Henry Blake character would say, "abyssinia."