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officialericcrooks
Erica Crooks ( puppeteer , cartoon animator , indie filmmaker , cartoonist , satirist , etc ) Check Out more crazy toons & rude puppets on officialericcrooks.weebly.com ericacrooks.weebly.com
Social Media : https://linktr.ee/officialericcrooks

Erica Crooks @officialericcrooks

Age 35, Female

Indie Filmmaker

Joined on 1/6/14

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officialericcrooks's News

Posted by officialericcrooks - March 8th, 2022


When it comes to International Woman’s Day,

Muppet fans already know the major contributions there has been through out the history and legacy.

https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Feminism


From Muppet Performers

( Including but not limited to )


Jane Henson ( Jim’s first performing partner )

Fran Brill ( The first main Woman Muppet Performer after Jane's retirement )

Karen Prell ( Red on Fraggle Rock )

Kathryn Mullen ( Mokey on Fraggle Rock )

Louise Gold ( The Muppet Show , also Spitting Image )

&

Camille Bonora ( 1980s Sesame Street , The Jim Henson Hour ) ( I wish she didn’t retire to that Catholic Kari’s Journal. )


As well as the many Muppet Builders from the original Muppet Workshops

( Including but not limited to )


Amy Van Gilder

Jane Gootnick

Carol Wilcox

Bonnie Erickson

Polly Smith

&

Lauren Attinello

( Who built the BEST version of Kermit for Muppets Take Manhattan ( aka 1980s Kermit ) )


Also


Karen Falk the archivist and historian of The Jim Henson Legacy


As well as Jim Henson had 3 daughters who continue to carry on his legacy :

Lisa, Cheryl & Heather .


And of course many, many, many more. :)


#InternationalWomansDay #InternationalWomansDay2022 #WomansDay #WomansDay2022 #JimHenson #JimHensonsMuppets #Muppets #Puppetry #PuppetBuilding #Puppeteer #Puppeteers #PuppetBulding #PuppetBuilders #JimHensonLegacy #Art #Arts #PerformingArts #PopCulture #Feminism #Feminist #WomenInHistory


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Posted by officialericcrooks - November 17th, 2021


Frank Oz has been outspoken since the release of The Muppets ( 2011 ).

 https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/aug/30/frank-oz-on-life-as-fozzie-bear-miss-piggy-and-yoda-id-love-to-do-the-muppets-again-but-disney-doesnt-want-me

In 2013, he said in quote " Those are NOT The Muppets that Jim ( Henson ) had intended. Their job is to be rebellious and say SCREW Disney ! "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgv_VTynhEk

Frank Oz has equally mentioned about the decline of Sesame Street. https://twitter.com/TheFrankOzJam/status/1167823896126443520


The decline of Sesame Street shouldn't be a secret to Muppet Fans ( who ACTUALLY read the books. ) Street Gang by Michael Davis revealed Sesame Street's decline since CTW ( now Sesame Workshop ) decided to compete with Elmo in the early 1990s which changed EVERYTHING since.


For those who know about Jim Henson's passing, Jim Henson died during the final negotiations of selling his company to The Walt Disney Company which through out was stressful. Jim traveled back and shortly after he got sick and died. His death was very tragic in a short period of time.


In the article and in the documentary from " In Their Own Words ", Frank Oz mentions that Jim wouldn't have " gotten sick " due to the stress of the Disney deal. Joan Ganz Cooney said something similar in the book " Street Gang " as well.


#JimHenson #FrankOz #Muppets #SesameStreet


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Posted by officialericcrooks - October 8th, 2021


Ok, I watched Muppets Haunted Mansion . #MuppetsHauntedMansion

Pros : Crowd Scenes. Muppet fans know all of the characters and where they are from. If not, we look them up on Muppet Wiki.

BEST : Creepy aging Gonzo puppet ( hilarious and creative ) / Brian Henson returns / Muppets Tonight character cameos

Also a special cameo of https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Dog_(Bunny_Picnic) #JimHensonBirthday . ( I wish they didn’t add Dog noises though , he talks ! ) The advancement of puppetry filmmaking.

Also the fact that Dave Golez is the only original Muppet Performer still performing their original character for the most part. And it has a great powerful message about personal and spiritual growth and facing Karma which is absolutely wonderful. The heart filled writing was the best in the writing and the plot was good but I do think the humor needed work, the music needed work, and it was kind of too scary for The Muppets in my opinion. 


Cons : I love creepy, not scary. I much prefer funny. ( and I was laughing the whole time when I seen creepy aging Gonzo by the way, I LOVED THAT ! lol Even though it wasn’t intentionally meant to be funny, I have a creative / satirical sense of humor. ) 

PEPE IS ANNOYING ! ( except Muppets Tonight ).

Despite Kirk Thatcher & Jim Lewis’ , and even Brian Henson’s involvement , like Bill Prady’s involvement with the ABC The Muppets sitcom , there’s a difference between the past and the present works. I’m a fan of the Jim Henson era / 1990s Jim Henson Productions era. The humor, music quality and puppet building was better in my opinion.


It has it’s moments to skip through and enjoy. It is slightly better than everything else that came out of the Disney era Muppets for the most part ( except the web show From The Balcony which I thought was funny and close to Muppets Tonight in terms of humor ). 


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Posted by officialericcrooks - August 7th, 2021


Les Guignols de l'info fan account on YouTube called " Generation Guignols " is getting shut down by Canal+ tomorrow. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn-R1gBlR3hu8-bzF7Y2dLg So enjoy the videos while you still can. #LesGuignols #LesGuignolsdelinfo #GenerationGuignols #JeSuisGuignols Similar thing happened with a Spitting Image fan account on YouTube called The Complete Spitting Image when ITV ( and or BritBox ) had it shut down.

Both political satire puppet television shows were Leftist leaning. Like Les Guignols and Spitting Image, both are uploading clips on their official social media. However even though they own the original master footage and films, Fandom uses saved recordings if recorded from a VCR or DVD Recorder or Internet capture or just found. Generation Guignols is a collective of fans who gathered footage together for this account to be shared. Attacking fans with Copyright Infringement, ID and Matching ( Especially when fans are not profiting off of this and it is literally being shown for educational / historic purposes, isn't that one of the purposes of what the internet should be used for ? The information age ? Remember ? ) is a violation of fair use because Fandom and fan accounts help preserve for history / educational purposes when copyright owners refuse to supply the demand. Vincent Bolloré bought Canal+, fired the writers of Les Guignols de l'info and the original producer in 2015 and they were replaced from 2015 - 2018. Canal+ / Vincent Bolloré didn't care that Les Guignols de l'info still had a strong fanbase and perhaps stronger than the surviving Spitting Image fanbase maybe. Je Suis Guignols ! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Guignols #fandom #leftist #leftism #SpittingImage #CharlieHebdo #caricature #puppetry #politicalsatire #questioncopyright


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Posted by officialericcrooks - June 28th, 2021


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Posted by officialericcrooks - June 25th, 2021


 Happy Pride 2021 Everyone !


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The Erica Crooks Show has been bringing LGBTQ+ awareness since 2007 / 2008 through out the satirical show from satirizing bigotry, promoting equality and awareness, especially Non-Binary.


Also Erica Crooks is a Non-Binary Transgender Lesbian Woman. :)


And for more content from Erica Crooks

Check out : https://linktr.ee/officialericcrooks

AND MORE

visit

The Official Erica Crooks Websites :

Personal Website : ericacrooks.weebly.com

Official Website for The Erica Crooks Show : officialericcrooks.weebly.com


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Posted by officialericcrooks - June 24th, 2021


I'm guessing that these Statler and Waldorf heads are from Muppets Tonight. At least from the mid-late 1990s era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dbUewjfipE

At this time whenever people find things like this, I don't know why people can't just donate them to the Jim Henson / Muppet exhibits at the museums.

The Museum of The Moving Image, Center of Puppetry Arts ( Atlanta, GA ), Smithsonian, Birthplace of The Frog Museum in Leland MS, or the traveling Jim Henson exhibitions.

It just makes sense for someone to do that.


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Posted by officialericcrooks - March 15th, 2021


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It's sad that Pepe Le Pew has been officially announced as retired / banned by Warner Bros. He's a satirical character. He's a romantic who's probably watched many romantic movies and read many romance novels but lacks experience in relationships and no one ever told him about boundaries, consent, respect, etc.

Today's culture seems different. Satire & Slapstick Comedy doesn't seem to be as popular as it used to be.

I love it because I feel artistically and creatively that it relates to this quote.

" Art Should Disturb The Comfortable And Comfort The Disturbed. "

I don't think any of this reinforces crime and abuse. It's satire. But culture is different now. It's very commodity focused rather than about life in my opinion.

Not everything is for everyone, not everyone can find this kind of humor healing. We all heal differently. Spiritually, through music, etc.

The world needs love, but we live in a world of hate, fear, sadness & pain unfortunately.

I don't think reform, commodifying, trusting people in power is going to solve anything. Fred Hampton talked about Class Conscious. The root cause of all political problems has the same pattern which is hierarchical power over others. If people got along horizontally socially, the world would be a better place. And when people live happier lives, people can laugh more. :)

Still, satire sometimes needs to do it's duty because that's what satire does. And satire is often a misunderstood art form.


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Posted by officialericcrooks - March 14th, 2021


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It's been an interesting week. I was wondering how would Miss Piggy & Pepe Le Pew respond to the Cancel Culture controversies surrounding them. ;) I'm very happy that the originals are available on the streaming services but unfortunately there's people reacting to them negatively. There's this strong demand for "positive media representation" in characters. And to me, this explains why many favorites in pop culture history aren't as good as the originals in my opinion. Many comedy characters were satirical. But today, people think such characters are negatively reinforcing crime & abuse. And unfortunately, it's nothing new because satire has always been controversial & misunderstood. And the thing is satire and slapstick comedy has been apart of cartoons and puppetry just as long as the art form's existence in history. To me, it's artist tradition. I wish there was more cultural appreciation. But instead, art is looked at as a commodity, instead of what art and entertainment really is about. A reflection on life and the hard working, creative and talented people behind it as well as the fun and love they put into what they love to do. :)


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Posted by officialericcrooks - February 20th, 2021


One of my favorite parts about Jim Henson : The Biography by Brian Jay Jones is how it mentions that Jim Henson took the MBTI ( Myers Briggs Personality Test ) & resulted as " Idealist " ( aka INFP ) . As an INFP myself, I find this accurate. :) 

Check out Jim Henson : The Biography by Brian Jay Jones right here.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345526112/


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