Gonzo

It's one of the most memorable opening scenes in a movie.

As the banjo chords of "Rainbow Connection" are heard, the camera pans over a swamp and slowly zooms in to show Kermit the Frog strumming and singing, as he sits alone on a log.

Now fans can join in during that iconic moment, when "Sing Along with 'The Muppet Movie'" comes to Easton's State Theatre on Sunday.

The interactive experience takes its cues from the called-out responses and the use of props popularized by "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" but with a much more family-friendly vibe. Kids even get a goody bag filled with playful props like bubbles and glow necklaces.

Host Davey Rocker plays his guitar and leads the audience, as the words to favorite songs such as "Rainbow Connection" and "Movin' Right Along" scroll across the bottom of the screen.

Kids use magic paintbrushes (wands with streamers) to "paint" Fozzie Bear's old 1951 Studebaker and try to shoot out Gonzo's helium balloons with their ice-cream shooters, while everyone joins in flapping their ears and saying Fozzie's catchphrase "Wocka Wocka Wocka" every time a bad joke is cracked.

"This is where it all started," says Rocker of the 1979 Jim Henson film that was nominated for two Academy Awards. "I think the adults have as much fun as the kids. Many of the adults can recite all the lines."

The sing along is presented by Ibex Puppetry, a Florida company founded in 2000 by Henson's daughter, Heather Henson, who also is a puppet artist and sits on the board of directors for The Jim Henson Legacy.

"Sing alongs allow me to connect with the work of my father," Heather Henson says. "I can work with my dad's material. I can put a new spin on it but it's still his stuff, intact."

Rocker, a Florida children's musician who did a musical puppet show, met Heather Henson three years ago and she asked him to co-host the sing along. Originally Heather Henson co-hosted, but now Rocker is joined by dancer and actress Sunny Raskin.

He says the original "Muppet Movie" is being introduced to a new generation of fans who have seen the new films: 2011's "The Muppets" and 2014's "Muppets Most Wanted."

"The Muppet Movie" was listed in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" in 2009. The film was notable for its groundbreaking images of full body puppets, including Kermit riding a bicycle and Kermit and Fozzie Bear dancing. The closing reprise of "Rainbow Connection" featured a crowd of more than 250 Muppet characters — virtually every Muppet that had been created up at that time.

"It really is one of those family shows that has a wide audience," Rocker says. "It's a pretty magical movie. The Muppets bridge generations."

For the film, he and Raskin sit in chairs on a small set at the lower right side of the movie screen and help guide the audience through the interactive elements. You can arrive early for a pre-show performance with music and comedy.

During the film, Rocker holds up cards that say "Yay" and "Boo," the hosts shadow act out a couple scenes and remind fans to pull their "stretchy frogs" every time Doc Hopper, an evil frogs legs entrepreneur, appears on screen.

The film holds up well after more than three decades, he says.

"It's a classic story and it's almost autobiographical of Jim Henson's life," Rocker says. "Kermit decides to leave the swamp and go to Hollywood to follow his dreams and picks up all these characters on the way to make millions of people happy.

"Jim Henson came from the small town of Leland, Miss. and picked up great puppeteers and character actors on the way to make millions of people happy."

Highlights of the film include the songs by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher, who won a Grammy Award for the album of the musical score. Other songs are "Never Before, Never Again" and "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along."

Also popular, Rocker says, is audience shout-outs to all the famous people who appear in the film including Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman and Sesame Street's Big Bird.

Kids also can join in a conga line, be showered in confetti and watch kites being flown inside the theater.

There also are surprise appearance by Muppets Gonzo and Animal at appropriate moments in the movie.

"Adults really love it for the old-school nostalgia," Rocker says. "I hadn't seen it in years and when I did it was so refreshing. It's really a beautiful piece of work."

North Devon Permaculture an article

What inspired you?

We had always been environmentally-minded by doing the usual recycling  that  gets collected from your front door every week or so.  We bought our clothes from charity shops and loved how easy and fulfilling it was to revamp our home using furniture from Freecycle.

Our inspiration though to take this even further was after watching a programme by  Jamie Oliver on the welfare of commercial chickens, and what our children were really eating. It started us questioning where our food came from, and where our waste went. We began to think even more about what we could do to reduce our impact on the world and help others to do the same.

We took on an allotment to grow our own, more nutritious food, and we joined our local Transition Town group as steering group members. During this time we discovered Permaculture and there was no going back. We planned that, once our children had left home, we would buy some land and run a smallholding. This became a reality when we bought a small woodland allowing us to put into practice the Permaculture theory we had been studying.

What are your aims?

We want to live by the ethics of Permaculture: Taking responsibility for our own lives, by taking care of Earth, taking care of people, and being aware of our use of resources with a view to future generations.

We aim to encourage others to do similarly, not just by embodying the ethics ourselves, but also by demonstrating the principles and methods of Permaculture, and delivering education on how we can live regeneratively, to become more connected to the natural world, and to each other.

By harnessing these connections, we aim to build community, on a local level, but also on a broader scale using Social Media to establish links with like-minded folk.

We want to build ourselves a right livelihood - meeting our needs by doing something ethical and productive, which we enjoy doing, and to put our surplus into building a Permaculture economy.

We aim to live with the land; to enhance and build our connection with nature, and become indigenous to our own land.

We want to "be the change that we want to see in the world".



What plans for the future?

We plan to keep "stretching our edges" - pushing our boundaries and learning new things as we move forward on our journey to a more ethical, productive way of life, while not beating ourselves up when we choose to make compromises.

To do this we need to be present; to be actively participating in life, so we will keep taking new steps each day towards fulfilling our goals.

We are making plans for our project, and designing how we progress, but we want this also to be an organic process by observing life's patterns, and capturing energy when it becomes available to us.

An example of how we are putting this into action is The Edge - our Community Hub & Shop in Hatherleigh - this became available to us after volunteering in the Ruby Way Visitor Centre. We will be opening The Edge on International Permaculture Day, 1st May, as an outlet for local small ethical businesses, and a base for our own Education and Edible Garden Design businesses.

We are both working on our Diploma in Applied Permaculture, and progressing on our path for our own site to become a full LAND Centre. LAND stands for Learning And Network Demonstration. This means we are using the ethics, principles and methods of Permaculture to become accredited by the Permaculture Association as an approved demonstration site.

In the meantime, we have lined up a number of courses and workshops over the coming months, and will be at the Wildheart Gathering festival on Dartmoor, 12- 14th August. For more information on our courses and community hub please go to our website northdevonpermaculture.com.              Wendy and Iain are two of the best human beings I've ever encountered. They're fun to be with, knowledgeable, hard-working, and live by a strong set of personal values. I've also been able to see the positive effect they have on other people who visit them on their woodland. Their crowdfunder was an opportunity for me to support them in a more direct way, which I couldn't pass up. I'm really honoured and excited to be able to experience a small part of their transition with them. I wish I could visit them more often.

by Matt Coston - Crowdfunder Supporter

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My initial impressions of Wishtree Wood were at first quite charming and pleasant. We sat on a sunny morning and had tea in the middle of a field surrounded by woods. Wenderlynn and Iain are lovely people and are as committed to Permaculture as a tree is to the ground. We walked around and I took notes frantically as they showed me around their forest garden. On all appearances, its living the dream of Permaculture and is really quite exciting.

It was only on my second visit when I got another chance to have a good look around and really understand what was happening that I realized how significant their way of life is. These two people have really given up most if not all modern comforts to become sustainable and connected to the land in which they live. I have the deepest and most profound respect for what they are doing and to be honest, a few weeks after visiting their site and seeing how they were living, I was a little bit shaken. Not shaken in a negative way, but shaken in a way that challenges you to question your own courage and limits as a human being. Could I give up my creature comforts for sustainability? Could I spend the cold and wet winter without running water or a flushing toilet? If more people in the world were willing to take these kinds of steps, and to work with the difficulty of living sustainably, I have no doubt that we would be able to solve our environmental problems as a species.

I would encourage anybody who would like to visit Wish Tree Forest to go without any expectations and to be open to a new kind of experience. Wenderlynn and Ian certainly have an interesting sense of humour and have clearly demonstrated that living sustainably is not about austerity or hardcore renunciation, it's a simple yet profoundly difficult change of attitude. With more and more support, I have no doubt that the paradise they have already created will be multiplied 1000 fold.



by Keegan Blazey - friend and volunteer


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I had read loads of books on forest gardening and creating edible gardens but I felt I needed to experience it and work directly with the soil and plants. I decided volunteering would be the best way to really understand how to become more self-reliant and create a more sustainable way of life for my family. I had found out about the Wishtree Woods project online. When I first met Wenderlynn and Iain at Wishtree Woods it was like stepping into a parallel world of wonder and fun. I have been going one day a week for 6 months now and through the experience I can truly say I have gained so much more than I had ever hoped.

They willingly shared their world, without judgement of how much or little you might know about gardening, permaculture or environmental practices. They allow you to observe and connect with nature in your own time. They have such reverence and joy for experiencing and learning from nature that you can’t help seeing it too. There is also space to be contemplative and quiet or social and energetic in their bountiful 5 acre site.

Its great for exercise and there is always new skills to learn, stimulating discussions, laughter and fun. I have learnt to do things that I would have previously dismissed as too big a project for me to undertake. Like pruning trees, moving plants, designing garden spaces, hedgelaying, caring for ducks and chickens, putting up fences, digging ponds and ditches, and foraging.

They truly live by the principles and ethos of permaculture and welcome anyone curious about what permaculture has to offer. Permaculture influences the way you garden and it influences the choices you make about the impact you make to your surroundings, the environment, choices for your health, your spirit and in your relationships. Their patience and passion for their way of life is admirable and infectious.

Not only do you learn a way to garden that replenishes the earth but you also learn how to harvest and prepare food that replenishes you. Permaculture is about making the best of what you have by helping nature do what it does best, if you do nature does the work for you all seasons, year in and out which such variety and spender. I love my time with Wenderlynn and Iain as it reassures me there is such a thing as community and hope for the future in the common sense of practicing permaculture.

by Elizabeth Durrant - friend and volunteer

blogger news

Coming in late April!
All visitors will be able to view your Blogspot domain blogs over an encrypted connection by visiting https://<your-blog>.blogspot.com. Existing links and bookmarks to your blogs will continue to work. As part of this change, the HTTPS Availability setting will disappear, and your blogs will always have an HTTPS version.

Canadian cat Mittens to undergo gender reassignment surgery after it is revealed to be a hermaphrodite

A sickly stray cat that was taken in by a family in Canada is set to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

Mittens was adopted by Colleen Clarke-Murphy and her family,who live in Heart's Desire, Newfoundland, and when they took the cat to a veterinarian in October they for quite the surprise when they found out the cat was a hermaphrodite. 

And since Clarke-Murphy already had a male cat, and Mittens has both genitalia, she decided she wanted a female cat.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2920446/Canadian-cat-Mittens-undergo-gender-reassignment-surgery-revealed-hermaphrodite.html#ixzz44mxBlDdP
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

New 12-sided £1 coins start being made by Royal Mint

Pocket money may look a bit different this time next year because the £1 coin is changing.

The new one will have 12 sides instead of a smooth, rounded edge.
It's the first time the pound coin has been changed in more than 30 years.
The Royal Mint, who produce all of our coins, say the new design will make pound coins harder to illegally copy.http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/35935007

Hirsutism

Hirsutism is when a woman has excessive hair growth. The hair is usually thick and dark, rather than fine and fair.
Excess hair may appear on the:

• face – such as the upper lip or chin
• neck
• chest
• tummy – in a line from your belly button down to your pubic hair
• anal and genital area
• the front of your thighs

Hirsutism is often associated with other symptoms, including:

• oily skin
• acne – a skin condition that causes spots to develop on your face, back and chest
• hair loss (alopecia)
• a receding hair line around the front of your hair
• an enlarged clitoris (the small soft bump in front of the entrance to the vagina)
• voice changes – such as a deeper voice

When to see your GP

It's important to see your GP if you have hirsutism – especially if you have severe or unusual symptoms – as it can cause psychological harm, http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hirsutism/Pages/introduction.aspx

gene club

it is now thought that most non africans have more extinct caveman dna then thought before.the modern human migrated from africa and then interbred with neanderthals and denisovians around 4,000 years ago.a larger trace of  the denisovian gene which gave papuva new guineans better sense of smell ,tibetans adapt to high altitude and neanerthals -tougher skin and help adapt to enviroments.

possible new blood test for concusion

scientists believe that a acidic protein released when concusion is suferedmay help getting a new blood test.it stays in the bloodstream for a week so it could help children fron not needing radation exposing scans.

Living on the moon

I for one  was excited to  see  an  article in the  paper  about humans living on the moon  as i believe this  will  happen. A group of  nasa scientists and silicon  valley  billionaires  wish to  set up a  base at peary  crater at the  lunars north  pole .As this is the  were the  moon  gets  the  maximum sunlight  to  produce  solar  energy. This  project will  cost  6,5 billion  and will  require up to  ten people

Rant issue 3

Who invented  woodchip  wallpaper needs to be  put on  a firing  line  as a bit of a barstad to remove as a lot of elbow  grease is needed, when  some people  get  a cold thier make out its the end of tbe world as we know it,why is it that if you  have a radio you can get the next  county ..Cornwall. .clearly  but not own radio  devon,my wife has very  old fashioned  ways about  peoples choices, why do baddies in soaps get away  with  everything and then people  think can do in resl life,i know more about  American  political parties  tgen own as always ontv,radio and  not even  vote  thier president  yet please  i am British and  proud, i hate it when my computer  plays up or hacked  aa really  pisses me off ,yes i like a rant as helping  with  my parnoid  thoughts

April Fools' Day: Origin and History

April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar. New Year's Day Moves

Ancient cultures, including those of the Romans and Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.

Problems With This Explanation

There are at least two difficulties with this explanation. The first is that it doesn't fully account for the spread of April Fools' Day to other European countries. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted by England until 1752, for example, but April Fools' Day was already well established there by that point. The second is that we have no direct historical evidence for this explanation, only conjecture, and that conjecture appears to have been made more recently.

Constantine and Kugel

Another explanation of the origins of April Fools' Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."

This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.=READ MORE=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html

Lasers could 'cloak Earth from aliens'

We should shine lasers into space if we want to hide our presence from aliens, two US-based astronomers suggest.

The beams could compensate for the dip in light the Earth creates when it passes in front of the Sun, as viewed from far-off worlds, they contend.

A number of researchers have questioned the wisdom of advertising our existence to the galaxy.

They fear that if aliens did visit us they might not be very friendly, and could introduce disease.

The analogy is Europeans arriving in the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. The contact wrought havoc in the health of indigenous populations.

David Kipping and Alex Teachey from Columbia University in New York say that if we are fearful of a similar outcome from an alien encounter then lasers offer a solution.

The team has calculated what would be required to cloak the Earth and published the concept in a paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.read more on bbc link=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35938886

rant issue 2

The government's living wage £50 more an hour wow not a lot to live on at present I get DLA but if I was to make a reclaim I will get Pip which would take longer to get and I may not qualify for anyway in life ,there a lot of social in Justice mainly in Bideford where are young lad was had  his hands tied up as  was going to tie his  legs up on the way home from school . And then the tormentors wanted  to throw him  into the road when the parents were informed  their said the kid should  just Grow Up, you can  now find me me  in Gozo weekly back as a cartoonist I hope you like them not just  me    in Belgium we had the horror of terrorism again I don't understand these people I never will but I think it's important to keep living your normal life As  it is only way to stand up to to them ,TV this weekend has been a load of rubbish as usual i went online to do my blog also I'm going to try to deal with my paranoid thoughts through self help I don't go to to the medication route at the moment as I see it I can see where that leads so hope you read these rants and not just me thank you from Mark aka  ghostman

World’s oldest hot cross bun

The world’s oldest hot cross bun - which was baked 207 years ago - resides with a retired couple in Essex.

Andrew Munson and his wife Dot were given the 207-year-old bun by an old neighbour.

A note with the historic bun says that it was baked on Good Friday 1807 in Colchester, Essex.

Local historian Andrew Phillips has discovered a direct link which supports the claims on the bun’s note, which makes it the oldest hot cross bun in the world.

Mr Munson, 75, said: “I think it's a miracle it never went mouldy or fell apart in all these years.

Queen Victoria's wedding cake FOR AUCTION

This is three tiny pieces of Queen Victoria's wedding cake which is 176 years old NHS which was owned by a serving sailor on the Lord Nelson's HMS Victory.  W rapped in parchment in the words of Queen Victoria's wedding cake married February 10th 1840 but also day is April 1st.

GENDER NEUTRAL STATUS DENIED.

In a court in Orleans, France they have denied a man of 64 who was born with male and female organs the right to be gender neutral status.

SHAKESPEARE'S SKULL IS MISSING ?

Archaeologists carried out a Radar   scan on the site of Shakespeare's grave to support theory that he had removed his head in the 18th century .A skull which was which found 15 miles away turned out to be a woman's aged about 70. N o digs are not  allowed  at the Holy Trinity Church Stratford-upon-Avon Warwickshire.   Scans  were allowed for a channel 4 documentary Secret History Shakespeare's tomb,Shakespeare died of April 1616 aged 52.

BRITAIN'S SMALLEST MUSEUM?

This is a museum in a 39 square foot bathroom St Ives Cornwall dedicated to Explorer Sir Richard Burton

Feeling lucky? Treasure hunters out to get Reich quick: £20bn in missing Nazi loot is STILL hidden across Germany

AS Nazi Germany began to fall in 1945 its leaders set about hiding the treasures they looted for the previous six years.

Priceless art and silver, some of it stolen from the Jews they sent to the gas chambers, artefacts taken from museums and tonnes of gold — all stashed in mines or sunk in lakes as defeat in World War Two loomed.

While some of these cultural treasures were saved by Allied units, around£20BILLION of loot is still missing.

And the hunt for it is still on.

Last year, locals in the Polish town of Walbrzych claimed to have found evidence of secret railway tunnels where, legend has it, Third Reich generals hid a train loaded with gold and jewellery.

In 2012 a £1billion horde of art, some of it stolen by the Nazis, was uncovered in a Munich flat.

Treasure hunters have also focussed on various lakes where billions in Reichsbank gold was thought to have been dumped.

Here, we pick out what is still missing — and where it might be.read more =http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/7018409/20bn-in-missing-Nazi-loot-is-hidden-across-Germany.html

HOW TO GO TO THE TOILET IF A UNIVERSITY STUDENT?

If you are a student at the University of Sheffield you may see some of illustrated  cards in the campus because read do not put toilet paper on floor put toilet paper in the toilet bowl and flush when there is a picture hurting him not to squat on the toilet seat and please leave the toilet as you wish to find it what the waste of resources.