Happy Birthday Jim Henson – New Biography Released

Jim Henson, hero of many, provided a source of joy for many generations. A new biography released today is now on my “to read” list.

Jim Henson: The Biography

Description

This extraordinary biography—written with the generous cooperation of the Henson family—covers the full arc of Henson’s all-too-brief life: from his childhood in Leland, Mississippi, through the years of burgeoning fame in America, to the decade of international celebrity that preceded his untimely death at age fifty-three. Drawing on hundreds of hours of new interviews with Henson’s family, friends, and closest collaborators, as well as unprecedented access to private family and company archives, Brian Jay Jones explores the creation of the Muppets, Henson’s contributions to Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live, and his nearly ten-year campaign to bring The Muppet Show to television. Jones provides the imaginative context for Henson’s non-Muppet projects, including the richly imagined worlds of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth—as well as fascinating misfires like Henson’s dream of opening an inflatable psychedelic nightclub.

And Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal
is on my wish list to keep and cherish.

Overview

Jim Henson’s iconic puppet characters, fantastic worlds, and warm humor have delighted millions of people of all ages. His incredibly diverse body of work, from the Muppets to the world of The Dark Crystal, reveals his charm and genius to fans old and new. Compiled directly from The Jim Henson Company archives, Imagination Illustrated adapts the diary that Jim faithfully kept throughout his career, supplementing it with a trove of little-seen visual material, including rare sketches, personal and production photographs, storyboards, doodles, and much more. Throughout, archivist Karen Falk delves into the behind-the-scenes details of Henson’s life and artistic process. Sure to delight anyone who has enjoyed Henson’s creations—seeing early drawings of Kermit and Rowlf is like smiling over childhood photos of dear friends—this lovely book celebrates Jim’s life and his magic.

Week in the Life | Thursday

Valeri morning cuddle

I’m not a morning person. Really, I’m not. However, I get up at about 5:10 am so I can get a little fun time into my day.

Washing greens for salad lunch

I also have more time to put a healthy lunch together.

Picking up the papers

Work duties start by picking up the newspapers.

Opening the library

Then I open up the library. Here are a few more of the workday’s activities which involve…

The cart

driving the cart down to campus,

Law library

visiting branch libraries;

Movable stacks

& picking up books.

the view again

I decided to go for a mini photo walk at lunch to refresh a bit.

Olive tree

orange with a bee

back to the desk.

Then back to the desk.

afternoon coke and meeting notes

Finally home and Ginny’s on the table.

She's not supposed to be on the table

She knows she’s not supposed to be up there. But she’s all “What? Something wrong?”

popcorn fresh

Yay for “Movie on the Square” night and fresh! popcorn.

Movie on the Square: 42

I was happy to see that 42 got a good turnout. Overheard: Man, Harrison Ford is old!

Labor Day Weekend Book Haul

Guerrero

While friends left their apartment to get out of the city, we moved in.

On Sunday we took a long walk up Valencia. Shopping and people watching. We ended up at Mission Comics and I snagged myself a copy of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz with artwork by Skottie Young.

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I probably should have started with the first one, but in this story Baum uses the San Francisco 1906 earthquake as its jumping off point.

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On that theme, walking back, we stopped at Dog-Eared Books and meandered a bit. After admiring it multiple times, in multiple bookstores over the years, I made the jump and purchased Paul Madonna’s All Over Coffee.

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The pen and ink washes of the San Francisco neighborhoods and skyline are sparsely captioned. Each piece invites pause, reflection, and contemplation.

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While at Dog-Eared, I spied
San Francisco Noir (Akashic Noir), a collection of mysteries set in the city.

 

San Francisco Noir 2: v. 2 (Akashic Noir) contains works from Mark Twain, Jack London and other well known  authors. Those two are going on the “to read” list for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

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