An Oscar Obsession

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and coincidentally ... Oscar's birthday!

NPR had a great story on this morning, which spoke about the lessons learned over the years. It is interesting to hear that beyond just numbers and letters, the Street has had to focus on things like competition in the marketplace and child psychology. Be sure to check it out at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120245506.

And Google really can make one's weekend.

With Sesame Street gearing up to celebrate its 40th anniversary on November 10th, more and more stories of the gang have been appearing on the web. Google has paid homage to Big Bird's legs in it's doodle yesterday, and today Cookie is the featured character:















So one Oscar Obsessed person must wonder ... when is Oscar coming? CNN certainly chose the perfect image for its article on Sesame Street days of yore (http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/sesame.street.anniversary/index.html), in which Oscar is described as being "much grouchier than he is today" and "just plain nasty" -- compliments where a trashcan-dwelling grouch is concerned.

So we will patiently wait to see a Google rendition of OTG, but in the meantime, check out their doodles for homepages around the world: Sesame Street Google Doodles Around the World

There are several stories circulating on the Internet about Oscar's origins. Some say he was inspired by a New York city cab driver; others say he was inspired by a rude waited at Oscar's Tavern in Manhattan. My travels recently took me to Philadelphia, where I got caught in the rain and tried to shortcut my way back to a familiar street, when I came face to face with a place that I felt was calling me ... a familiar "Street" indeed.

What's better than staying warm on a chilly October night while embodying OTG in an adult-sized costume? Not many things, in my opinion. With Halloween around the corner, don't forget yours, either. But if you're a more ambitious type, there are also several how-to online guides for making your own Oscar costume.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2067131_make-oscar-grouch-costume.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/oscar-the-grouch-costume/

And my all-time favorite simply because the author feels the need to point out that you should decorate it with "UNUSED toilet paper:"

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/411641/how_to_make_your_own_oscar_the_grouch.html?cat=6



















Happy Halloween

While shopping with my 4 year old this past weekend, we stumbled upon this shirt and had a hard time resisting!


In case you're wanting to purchase one of these adorable shirts for your toddler, head to (here comes the shout out) Old Navy! If I remember correctly, they were $10.50. I hunted them down on the website, only to find another version of the shirts--they were in the "baby boy" section--under "graphic tees".."pop culture." I'm sure these girly Oscar shirts as modeled by my lil Grouch above are available in stores--I'm just not seeing them online.

My lil Grouch loves her t-shirt--I'm so happy to see that my obsession has been proudly passed down and Oscar will live on forever!

To my sister and Oscar co-contributor/alter-ego, Happy Birthday!


















Here are some fun facts about Oscar's birthday: He was born on June 1, 1969, when he was introduced as the trash-dwelling grouch on Sesame Street. That actually makes him not that much older than you. In fact, you could have almost gone to high school together. :) Legend has it that his character was inspired by a rude, grumpy waiter at New York City's Oscar's Tavern. Oscar has been voiced by Caroll Spinney from Day 1.

Oscar has his own way of wishing you a ... well ... not exactly "happy" birthday. I'll just let him sing it himself:

Thanks to the folks at Sesame Street and The Cute Kid, right now you can live vicariously through your kids. All you need to do is go to The Cute Kid's website (www.thecutekid.com) and enter a photo of your child for a chance for him or her to win a spot on the show.










This month's contest is also featuring a new judge, Carrie Haugh, casting director for Sesame Street. We love this picture for obvious reasons!














I'm pretty sure K's kids will have a good shot at this since their blood runs green and they have been practicing to be Oscar their whole lives. If only they had a similar contest for 30-somethings, this would totally be in the bag. Or should I say in the can??

... is Oscar on your cup. Indeed, my mornings are always a little bit brighter when they are a little bit greener. And what better way to illustrate exactly how I feel most mornings than with a perfectly grouchy mug. Want one of your own? (Who doesn't??) Don't worry - you can get one here.

Know someone who likes to color? Know someone who likes Oscar? Then is this the thing for you: free Oscar the Grouch coloring pages that can be downloaded from the Internet. This is just one of the many images from My Coloring Pages. And in case you want coloring pages for other Sesame Street characters, you're in luck there, too. They have Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert & Ernie, and other members of the gang.

Seeing as how I am Oscar-obsessed AND cupcake-obsessed, I had to re-post these pictures I saw on the awesome blog, Cupcakes Take the Cake. They were made by Roxie's Cupcakes of Virginia Beach, but rather than completely plagiarize the post, you can read all about it here.

This morning, I found myself browsing Amazon in pursuit of my next book, just to keep coming up empty. But then I stumbled upon what should grace any Oscar-lover's bookshelf:

When your sister, the alter ego and Grand Poobah of Oscar herself, is having a baby, what kind of dessert do you serve at her shower? Only the kind that makes your family secret come out in front of her closest friends. But hey, if the baby had come out green (we were kind of betting it would), at least it would all make sense.
























Oscar the Grouch and Baby Cupcakes by Topcake.

This guy proves you can wear Oscar and still look like a badass:
























"Reversible Sesame Street Urban Oscar Hoodie," carried by 80stees.com.

Did you know you could wear Oscar without anyone knowing? Oh, I do. I know all too well. That's because every Christmas, we are gifted with something green, enveloped in scraps of paper and taped to look as if "he himself" has picked it out and wrapped it. More often than not, that item is Oscar pajamas, Oscar boxers, or other "near and dear to you" wardrobe items. Someone, please buy this off of eBay before I end up getting it for Christmas.

It seems like people around the world can love a grouch. Oscar is a main character in Sesame Street programs all over the globe, though he often goes by a different name. In Germany, he is "Rumpel" and lives in his trash can with his caterpillar, Gustav.

That's right, that grouchy little green thing in the trash can wasn't always green. Maybe the producers of Sesame Street felt that orange was too sunny of a color?

Looking for the perfect gift? This K'NEX Oscar Building Set, complete with pet worm Slimey, can keep a 3-year-old entertained for several whole minutes, as we found out this 4th of July. The top of the container also doubles as a nice hat for smaller children.

Neither my sister nor I, nor our parents for that matter, can remember exactly how and when Oscar came into our lives. We do know that he arrived along with Cookie Monster, and that's about the extent of it. I was probably about 4 or 5 years old, maybe younger, and K was 8 or 9. These early years with Oscar were rather uneventful. He most likely ended up attached to my wall with Velcro along with all of my other stuffed animals. I never did figure out where my mom came up with that one -- Velcroing toys to my wall. I do know it scared the crap out of me at night. I'd be curious to know if anyone else's mothers did that, so leave me a comment if they did.

Anyhow, back to Oscar. Our first real memory of him is of him sitting on one of our pink blankets trimmed with pink satin. Sitting on that blanket in the garage, waiting for someone to take him home. Yes, we tried to sell him off in a garage sale. Cookie went, but no one seemed to take any interest in Oscar, so he got packed up along with all the other "unsellables." Later, he got packed up and moved to Florida, where my dad had taken a new job. Once settled in Florida, our parents bought a mini-van in 1980s mauve. The outside was mostly gray, but let me tell you, the rest was full-on mauve. Mauve seats. Mauve trim. Mauve curtains. Mauve ties around the mauve curtains. We used that mini-van for all of our cross-country summer trips, and this is apparently when my sister and I realized that that mauve van needed a splash of something green.

Oscar went on every trip. He crossed state lines, waving to cars, waving to truckers, making the truckers wave back at him. The highlight for my sister and I was when we could use Oscar's nubby arms to signal to the truckers that we wanted them to honk, and they blew their horns. Some people would even use stuffed animals in their cars to wave back at Oscar. To us, he was like our own traveling interstate diplomat. Of course Oscar couldn't just wave; he had to talk. So a voice developed, which can sort of be described as when a foreigner with an extremely heavy accent tries to mimic a Southern drawl. Only even stranger. We made Oscar talk to our parents in his own unique voice, and they would try to copy it, but could never quite master the high pitch that she and I could achieve. But if they asked us to show Oscar to anyone else, or to share his voice, we were a couple of tight-lipped kids. How could they embarrass us like that?!?!

Over the years, Oscar's overuse showed. His body got torn, stuffing fell out, and only occasionally was he sewn back together. His eyes detached, and we discovered a small hole in the bottom of each where a finishing nail would fit perfectly. We stuck a nail about 4" in length into each of his eyes, and then drove them into the top of his head. We then discovered that this fix meant his eyes could now turn, and so he became cross-eyed. Later, his crossed eyes were hot glued into place. His torn mouth was replaced with black and red felt patches, and anywhere leaking stuffing was repaired. As we grew up, Oscar was never discarded along with the other toys. He was part of the family, and therefore just had to evolve. His vocabulary became coarser. He learned how to swear. He learned how to write emails in his particular brand of vernacular and spelling.

My sister (who we eventually decided was Oscar's alter ego) started having kids, and each of them has picked up the Oscar voice with perfect pitch. In Oscar, you can't tell one from the other. They're taught at birth. She also started collecting Oscars from the Internet, mostly through eBay. "Original Oscar," as we sometimes call him, now has a herd of little Oscars. Since we're now adults (believe it or not) and are married with our own lives, we have to "share" Oscar, which usually comes in the form of secretly depositing him at each other's or our dad's house. Oscar, and sometimes mini-Oscars, can be found later in your refrigerator, in the shower, or maybe in your underwear drawer. Trying to escape the Oscar hand-off sometimes involves Oscar getting flung from your car onto the street, or squealing tires as someone is trying to stash Oscar into your backseat. If the stashing is successful, it is usually followed by a taunting phone call from Oscar himself.

This pretty much brings us up-to-date on "the Oscar story" and this blog is hopefully just one continuation of it. It's a facet of the Oscar Obsession. We think there may be others out there who are just as obsessed, though there may not be others quite as strange ... or deranged ... as us.