puppets

Luca: La Raza’s giant boy puppet

Luca, a giant boy puppet supporting the La Raza soccer team seems likely to have been inspired by the Royal de Luxe ones, don’t you think?

Pushing the envelope

Amy writes about how Coke is at least making the right noises about respecting users wishes in relation to Facebook Beacon. Dave thinks Facebook was deliberately testing the waters. Of course leaking to test or dilute reaction has been a political tool for eons.

I’ve heard Roger Law, one of the creators of the famed satirical 1980’s TV puppet show Spitting Image talk about pushing the envelope of what is acceptable socially. He said that at that time in the UK, it was much more difficult to publish questionable material in the print media, whereas censorship was less strict and it was easier to get away with more on TV. He wondered if a reason might be that TV was taken less seriously. He added that if your show was successful, you could then be more audacious next time, even from week to week. I thought that was really interesting, and I’ve watched it happen since. The Chaser is an example; you couldn’t imagine them getting away with things like the APEC security breach or the Eulogy Song if they were new kids on the block. Think, too, how the excuser of the disastrous Lindsay fake political flyer, tried to palm it off as a ‘Chaser-style prank’ without understanding that tradition.

I guess the web is also somewhat differentiated from the older media with regard to pushing the boundaries of conventional feelings about privacy and social mores, and advertising within it is pushing the envelope in every which way it can, seeking new niches. I don’t want anything to do with Facebook’s advertising, and it is one of a number of reasons I remain somewhat aloof from FB. But I expect that what seems audacious today, the type of targeted advertising within social networks that Facebook (even if it has backtracked to an opt-in basis) has introduced, will become just like the furniture tomorrow, for better or worse. Chris Matyszczyk challengingly points out that this sits with a tradition, too.

Whoo-hoo!

It sure was a happy night last night – after all the nail biting of the last few days and the start of the count last night, the John Howard era has come to an end!

Shan sent me his last election puppetry video, Howard’s Way, yesterday, but I must admit it felt too much like tempting fate to post it then!

Shan might have the first Rudd puppet out there:

Of course, now I have to decide what to do with my own two Howard puppets. They are too toxic to burn (just like the real thing, really!). I’m going to close my Vigil blog, but the puppet, which started out as an anti-war one, remains, as does the scarecrow one I made as a protest against the Howard government’s refugee policies. Any suggestions?

Previously:

Walk against warming

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The Walk against Warming on Sunday drew about 9000 people in Canberra. It felt substantially bigger than last year. As yet neither of the major parties are addressing the issue with the seriousness it deserves, which has surprised me in a way. I thought it might be the clincher issue for a Labor victory. The tubeman above was at the side of the crowd, encouraging us to keep industrial relations rights in mind when we vote. This puppet was perhaps, but not conclusively, a John Howard?

I had some fun looking at Flickr for other WaW puppets. By far the most interesting to me were four big puppets at the Adelaide walk: Al Gore, Albert Einstein, Vandana Shiva, and Mikhail Gorbachev. I’d like to know who made them. Here is a selection of others:

Mick Jagger of Australian politics

Mick Jagger of Australian politics

Shan Jayaweera’s John Howard has been pressing the flesh in Melbourne. I love this, especially where he describes himself as the Mick Jagger of Australian politics! Jemila McEwan made the puppet.

Previously:

Hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent

wer</a>ewolf

Missmonster at Instructables details how she made her fabulous, scary and very furry werewolf costume. This photo is pre-fur!

(via Puppetbuilding.com)

DIY Jabba the Hutt

A thread on Star Wars Crafts documents the making of a cool giant Jabba the Hutt parade puppet. This photo is from about midway through the process, before it is skinned. It’s made from all kinds of things that I am very familiar with working with – mattress foam, irrigation pipe, tons of hot glue, spray adhesive, stretchy fabric and so on! And it has a suitably gross tongue, seen in action here. (It reminds me of the Big Heads.)

If you are interested in the making of the original Jabba, follow the links in this post at PuppetVision.

(via Boing Boing)

Leunigology

Boat of faith

(Photo credit: Cheryl Lawrie)

I’m kicking myself for missing Born in a Taxi’s The Boat of Faith street theatre act at Floriade. It was created for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and is based on Michael Leunig’s whimsical cartoon characters Mr Curly and his direction finding duck, old favourites of mine. Bryony Anderson was the designer maker.

Mr.Curly's direction finding duck

(Photo credit: Cheryl Lawrie)

I have found a few nice photos online, though:

Born in a Taxi: a sweet short video and photos under the entertainment tab

The Boat of Faith at Floriade: 6 photos

Leon~’s photos from Floriade: 9 photos

At the Melbourne Festival

Tyrannosaurus sex

This is a snippet of the sizzling action in Philip Millar’s Puppetvison show Tyrannosaurous Sex sex which is on at the Northcote Fringe Festival until 13 October, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. I’ve seen this – its terrific! Puppetvision is also presenting Tadpole and Pure Puppet Palava, which means you have a good chance of seeing that blokey beer-swilling koala with attitude, Ken Koala:

(Philip Miller’s Ken Koala MCs the puppet cabaret at the 2006 National Puppetry Summit. Photo credit: Laura Purcell. From Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s Summit gallery.)

There are other puppetry offerings at Northcote, but only a day or two left to catch them.