Is this why I liked The Silence of the Lambs?

My kid, at the advanced age of eight, no longer easily complies with hand-holding in public.  Mind you, I only ever reach for her hand in specific situations - navigating a very crowded, public place where we might easily become separated (after all, she is the human version of Dug from Up: squirrel!), or crossing a heavily trafficked parking lot or street (where again, her distractability can be detrimental to her survival), that sort of thing.  These days, she will squirm and squirm and squirm, along with whining and whining and whining, to get me to let go.  As a compromise, she'll sometimes offer to hold on to my wrist or forearm or for me to hold her elbow or something.

On a recent such occasion, as I was desperately trying to grab hold of some part of Kiddo while she darted away into Certain Mortal Peril, a song from childhood popped into my head.  I recalled it as being sung by Bert from Sesame Street, and I sang a snippet of it to the kid.  I couldn't remember it as clearly as, say, C is for Cookie or I Love Trash, so a few days later, I looked it up on Youtube while Kiddo and I were waiting for the school bus to arrive.  I found it right away, and we both watched; her for the first time ever and me for the first time in several decades....





Please take a moment and watch it if you didn't already. Do you remember watching it as a small child?  Are you as unsettled as I was?  I mean..........*shudder*, right?  After all, this is SESAME STREET for crying out loud - how could it be so disturbing???

As I said, I remembered this from my own childhood.  (Not sure it is too surprising that I never saw this clip re-aired during Kiddo's Sesame Street watching phase).  (Also, my memory of it being sung by Bert was actually correct. Bert did the record album - remember record albums? - version and my sister and I had all the Sesame Street albums between the two of us, so score one for my rapidly aging brain cells for remembering that.)   I do NOT remember being the slightest bit put off by this clip.  I remember thinking it was, in fact, funny.  My sister and I would act out this song with each other (and with props standing in for the body parts.)  ACK - see?  There's where I'm disturbed now.  Body. Parts.  Maurice the Muppet is REMOVING THE FEMALE MUPPET'S BODY PARTS, y'all.

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I know that there are far more disturbing things on television these days.  (Well, it seems like there are far more disturbing things everywhere these days.)  I don't let Kiddo watch, say, Dexter or Supernatural or any of the CSIs or L&Os.  But..... but......  this is SESAME STREET.  Holy moly.  Watching this now, as an almost-middle-aged woman, I found it way more disturbing than amusing.  I was especially squicked out by the tooth (obviously required for the lyrics' rhymability) and the way he is fiddling nonchalantly with the pile of body parts he has just removed.

So, is it just me?  Is this unsettling to anyone else?  I wonder if this is where my great enjoyment of things like The Silence of the Lambs and Supernatural comes from.....  At any rate, Kiddo wasn't put off by it one bit.  As a matter of fact, a few days later, as we stood on the porch waiting for the bus to turn up our street, she asked me if we could watch it again.  I declined, though she persisted.  Until she saw a squirrel run across the yard, anyhow.  (I wish I were kidding.  I'm not.)


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In other news, stay tuned for a really awesome giveaway that I plan to do in the coming weeks.  I can't give you the details yet, but I can show you a relevant trailer:




And in other other news, please do read the post and consider helping me out with my 40th birthday wish.  I'd really appreciate it!