Little red panacea
I had long heard reports of the deep and instantaneous narcotic effect of Elmo, but living in a country where Sesame Street is not a television given, I had never experienced it firsthand until yesterday morning. A technical difficulty had knocked BBC Prime, the giver of Teletubbies, off the air, and it was while idly flipping through channels as my son yowled at my feet that I stumbled upon Elmo for the first time.
We were both instantly transfixed.
Adam has lately been going through a phase, and it had god damn well better be a phase, which is somewhat less than charming. This long All Saints’ weekend has given me ample time to be glad that it is Magda who is doing the stay-at-home-momming and that I am the one who gets to go out and work. There is incessant whining, interrupted only by howling or shrieking, punctuated at regular intervals with flamenco-like foot stamping and breath-holding rants. He can be a real little bastard.
Then came Elmo. Adam slowly sank down to the carpet and felt around behind him for his sippy-cup, loathe to tear his eyes from the little red monster’s face. For the entire duration of “Elmo in Grouchland” (translated rather uninspiredly as “Elmo v nori deželi”) he sat still, quiet, attentive as an Elmo acolyte.
It was a magical half hour of peace and love. Why isn’t this little monster around all the time?
A coworker loves Elmo. She’s 51 years old. What am I to make of this?
Comment by Jagosaurus — Thursday 2 November 06 @ 15.40 MST+2.00
What I’m curious about is Elmo’s voice. How does he/she/it sound in Slovenian? Tinny high? Knuckle-scraping low? Middle-class boring?
As to Jagosaurus’ dilemna, is this co-worker in the grips of a long marriage’s divorce? I’ve found neon-colored floppy matted-hair sock puppets possess the power of marital soothing that a mid-50’s guy can’t compete with, no matter how stoked he is on Viagra.
Comment by DarkoV — Thursday 2 November 06 @ 20.46 MST+2.00
I’m pretty sure that leaving comments with pressing questions in them is considered poor form during NaBloPoMo, but here I am, your humble servant…
Jag: you are to smile and nod, smile and nod. No more, no less.
Darko: Elmo, like Tom Cruise and Crispin Glover, sounds no different in Slovene than he does in English, unless your lips move audibly while reading the subtitles. We were astonished to see that “Elmo in CrazyLand” was not ‘synchronized’ but subtitled. Subtitling is the norm for nearly all films here, but kids’ films, particularly animated ones or other cases where there are no actual human mouths to observe, are sometimes dubbed. Not Elmo. Squeaky-annoying just like you like him.
Comment by sgazzetti — Thursday 2 November 06 @ 22.51 MST+2.00
It’s JUST like the holy trinity: Elmo, Tom Cruise, and Crispin Glover. Well, except for the holy bit.
The mere idea of Elmo with a “knuckle-scraping low” voice cracks me up.
My coworker is not in the throes of a divorce. She is – Elmo obsession aside – a perfectly rational human being.
Comment by Jane — Friday 3 November 06 @ 01.29 MST+2.00
Oh my! We live in our own little homeschooling TVless bubble and have somehow mostly missed Elmo. Hearing that adults even get obsessed is amazing!
Does the subtitling at least encourage literacy?
Comment by The Purloined Letter — Saturday 4 November 06 @ 00.00 MST+2.00