Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Mr. Bentley was TOO on Sesame Street

I have become the once-a-week-if-I'm-lucky blog lady. Whassup with that? I'll try to get it back up to two times a week, as in the glory days of yore. All you daily bloggers out there, dang. You are wondrous to behold.

So let's see, what's going on with me. Shall I list? Let's list.

1. The crazy days of snow have abated and Seattle is back to cold, cold rain and gray skies aplenty, as Jeebus intended. That's ok though because my entire life is now revolving around watching Deadwood dvds. How come nobody told me about this show? Huh? I count on you to tell me these things. I'm not going to go so far as to recommend the show, because you know, it's not for everyone. But if you are like me and enjoy good writing with a lot of creative cussing bandied about, you should watch it. This is with the caveat that it's basically a show all about filth, so be prepared for that. Those effers are naaaaasty. And I love them.

2. Are you all going to the inauguration? I feel like the whole world is going except for me. All I hear from my Facebook friends is who is going and where are they staying and when should we all meet up and la la la. On the one hand, I tell myself that being in the middle of that many people is bound to be a clusterfuck with not enough port-a-potties. On the other hand, it would be kind of cool to be there. The fear of not enough port-a-potties is enough to keep me away though. I can be flexible in many respects, but I like to know that people around me will have access to their number one-ing and two-ing in an orderly fashion. Call me crazy.

3. Am I the only one who listens/reads economic news and laughs every time someone says the phrase "ponzi scheme?" Because the word ponzi? Come on! It's like Arthur Fonzerelli and Warren Weber had a baby together. Fonzie and Potsie hybridized. Into PONZI. Am I the only person who is thinking this? Am I?

Ok, so maybe I am.

4. This happens to me a lot, this whole no one understanding why ponzi schemes sound funny. My pop culture references never seem to go anywhere with people. You ever feel that way? Like this one time, BioGirl took me to a party when she lived in California. It was at her boss's house. Her boss was a Bonafide Big Shot. And in the middle of this party, someone made some comment about how annoying it was to make air quotes whilst talking. And I said something along the lines of "ha ha, that reminds me of that Chris Farley thing on SNL where he does air quotes so much that he starts flying away. Like his air quote fingers are wings." And the whole party stopped talking to each other to stare at me. And so I began to overexplain the Chris Farley air quotes. And maybe act it out a little. Or maybe a lot. And no one knew what the hell I was talking about. And there was lots of silence, and looking at me, and me not shutting up.

5. In fact, this same thing happened to me this weekend. People were talking about spectactular falling (the likes of which was seen on New Year's Eve) and I brought up how on old skool Sesame Street, there was that falling chef guy, who would do that thing where he stood at the top of the stairs with a pyramid of some sort of baked goods on a tray and then fall down the stairs with the whole thing. This then triggered that memory of Sesame Street when Mr. Bentley from the Jeffersons would go around painting numbers on things where he wasn't supposed to. Like, a guerrilla graffiti artist. Once again, everyone looked at me like I was wearing underwear on the outside of my pants. DOES ANYONE ELSE REMEMBER MR. BENTLEY ON SESAME STREET? ANYONE?

6. It's hard to live in my head sometimes. Also, it's hard for me to remember to keep my mouth shut when I want to talk about things like Mr. Bentley on Sesame Street.

7. This list isn't really a list any more is it? It's more like me randomly numbering my insane thoughts.

8. Sit on it, Ponzie.

I'm out,
Librarian Girl

17 comments:

teacherninja said...

I remember him. At the end he painted a number on a yellow balloon and gave it to a guy in an ape costume if I'm remembering this right. I recall thinking that painting on a balloon looked very satisfying for some reason. Guess I was a weird kid too.

Barb said...

Sounds like we would be solid friends. I do the same type of shit but surround myself with enough strange people that they actually "get me." Oh, and my DH watched and loved Deadwood. I saw enough to know that it was done really well, but never really got into it much.

Yvonne said...

Ok, you and I hanging out would confirm to the world that insane people do walk amongst us. Thank goodness I am comforted to know there is another person thinking the same thinks about ponzi. I love Mr. Bentley and his wacky number painting. To me it's funny because the story behind it is a dude with a crappy job and he refuses to actually to the job, so he paints where ever he wants. The chef! Yes! I remember that guy. I sorta hoped to catch some of his baked goods, because, hey it's baked goods, yum.
btw, The street I lived on my whole childhood was named Sesame Street. (I can hear the developer still laughing) It's the truth there are such streets with this name (don't doubt the mid-west)and boy did it make life hell when you ordered a pizza, or applied for your first job.

Unknown said...

TOTALLY remember Mr. Bentley and the rogue number painting, now that you've brought it back to me - woo! (also that chef guy was awesome).

Unknown said...

I'm reading the new book about Sesame St just exactly because things like "Savion Glover was on Sesame Street!" and "Mr Bentley was on Sesame Street!" and "That tiny Mormon from Wicked was on Sesame Street!" still agog me all the time.

I get ponzi and panko mixed up. I get some weird looks sometimes.

Sauntering Soul said...

I laugh everytime I hear "ponzi" too. You are not alone.

I also remember Mr. Bentley on Sesame Street. And this is where I will confess that I have watched re-runs of The Jeffersons a lot in the past couple of months. Florence cracks me up. Oh, okay...I've been watching Good Times too. And Newhart. And this one is kind of hard to admit, but I've also been watching a lot of Andy Griffith re-runs.

P.S. I can't begin to tell you how hungry I am right now. My stomach is growling. And guess what my word verification is? Just guess! It's "ingest". I think I'm going to go do that right now.

dharmamama said...

LG - You still got it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi-ODZ3ING0

I have secretly been thinking the same thing about Ponzi scheme since I first heard the word! You've given voice to my musings.

cadiz12 said...

i once had what turned into a screaming match because no one at the party believed there once was a cartoon about a blue dog named Foofer.

so i know how you feel.

Anonymous said...

As someone who lives in the DC area all I can say is be glad your not coming! The traffic is going to be a nightmare (Think about them shutting down Seattle's downtown completely) and there clsing all the major bridges into DC.

If you love crowds, long waits for bus/metri rides/ no bathrooms and seeing a car drive by slwoly your welcome to come, Me I am getting out of town as we get Tuesday off making it a 4 day weekend!

Maddie said...

A couple weeks ago, I brought up the movie Teen Witch. Someone asked me if I meant to say Teen Wolf. I wanted to ask if she meant to sound like an idiot, but it turned out that no one else knew about Teen Witch either. This led to me over-explaining the plot for about 5 minutes. Yes, the plot of TEEN WITCH!

Deadwood is awesome. In my own defense as a reader, you commented on a post I made about Deadwood ages ago! Consider yourself informed!

Desperate Housewife said...

Ba ha hahaaa! I don't remember him on Sesame Street, but I had completely forgotten about the clumsy chef!
He's not on anymore. Now everyone can see Snuffy, Ernie and Big Bird have this daily thing called "Journey to Ernie," and Elmo hogs the entire last 20 minutes of the show. It's just not the same anymore.

Peace Turkey said...

I wondered on over here via the comment section of The Maiden Metallurgist's blog.

I read your about me section and laughed my ass off. My mom and one of my sisters are both librarians. That whole "Sarah Palin looks like a sexy librarian" thing enfuriates so many people in my family... myself included.

Also, I work in an eyewear boutique and I get really militantly angry when someone tries a pair of glasses on and says "Omg I look like a librarian" and whips the glasses off immediately. My response has become "My mom is a librarian." It's so fun to see dumb people squirm.

Thanks for making me laugh on this dull, winter day!

Jan Ross said...

So glad you discovered Deadwood - it was absolutely one of my favorite shows and I hated to see it end. My husband HATED it so I watched it alone because Seth was incredibly sexy. What happened to that actor anyway?

I have the same issue with people not knowing WHAT I am talking about. I think it's because I read so much, watch so many movies and TV shows. And possibly because I am a librarian.

We just know a lot of shit, man. Nobody else can begin to compare.

You should watch "Gilmore Girls" for the pop culture references if for no other reason. The other night they referenced Spike and Druscilla and my husband and I (avid Buffy fans) were awed.

Unknown said...

When I saw last month that Paul Benedict died, one of the Google images of him I found, other than those from "The Jeffersons," was of the Sesame Street painting character. It was Mr. Bentley on the Sesame Street!
Here's The Number Painter link on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Number_Painter

rachael said...

I always think "ponzu" instead of "ponzi" - you know, the citrusy soy sauce? It makes me hungry.

Paul said...

What I remember is the chef guy. He'd stand on top of the stairs with a tray full of goodies, and proudly announce "nine lovely jam tarts" or whatever, and then he'd trip and fall and the food would go everywhere.

It used to really upset me. All I could think about was this poor guy, who'd spent hours working on these cakes. And now it was all ruined. And he'd probably have a nasty bruise as well.

I think I can't have been the only young kid to have empathised and ended up crying instead of laughing, because they got rid of him at some point.

Paul said...
This comment has been removed by the author.