puppets

Waving his sweat stick

Posted by hil

hippo suit

Of course, I’m wondering about the making of the 90 kilogram hippo suit, with the head cast apparently made from a real hippopotamus, and finished in fibreglass! But the whole story, with pictures, is pure laughter. (Don’t miss the video) Favourite quote:

He got close enough to them but they passed by him on the opposite side to the one on which he was waving his sweat stick.

What exactly was he was going to do with his sweat stick, tickle under their arms perhaps? And can’t you imagine the advertising for (lets hope synthetic) wild hippo sweat sunblock? And will we find some baggage handlers careering around in the hippo suit one day? :)

Wonderful zany shadow puppets

Posted by hil

Take a look at Professor Litmus Lenticular III’s photoset of wonderful zany shadow puppet characters.

A little heffalump

Posted by hil

Elephant

I’m starting to get fond of the little elephant that I have been making over the last few days. That’s always a good sign.

Elephant

He can do tricks! And now has cool trunk to look down modestly while trying to pretend he isn’t a Brave and Clever Elephant.

Elephant

I have to set him aside to finish in March now, as I have to move on a couple of other projects that are vying for my time.

Warhorse: in pictures

Posted by hil

warhorse

Warhorse, showing at the National Theatre in London, has some absolutely stunning life-size horse puppets, designed and made by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler from the South African Handspring Puppet Company.

Made of cane and gauze, plywood and bicycle brake-cable, nylon cord and leather, they are moved from the inside by actors, who can clearly be seen through the horses’ skeletal bamboo frames; another human steers the head, so that the steeds nuzzle, twitch their ears, shiver with fear, rear in fright, roll their lustrous eyes; they also neigh and snicker. The actors are the inner lives of the beasts: when one horse dies, sinking to its knees and then lying, as a silvery grey skeleton, on its side, you see the puppeteers rolling out of the frame as if they were a band of souls leaving a body. After battle, the stage is covered in emptied carcasses, like dressmakers’ dummies. – Suzannah Clapp, review in The Guardian

The Guardian also has a gallery of images that tell the story, as well as providing the best photographs of the puppets that I have come across. Of course, much of the magic is in their movement: there is a glimpse of that in this ‘what the audience thinks’ video.

There are some other reviews at The Independent, Daily Telegraph, The Times, and the London Theatre Guide.

(via Puppetry News)

Previously:

Luca: La Raza’s giant boy puppet

Posted by hil

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

Posted by hil

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!

Posted by hil

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

Posted by hil

null

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

Posted by hil

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: