geekosystem

I'll level with you, folks. I've been kinda hoping the other shoe just wouldn't drop regarding allegations that Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash had sex with underage boys for years while also bringing to life one of America's most beloved icons of childhood. After a brief lull that almost let us forget that happened, the story has returned in full force, with one of Clash's accusers bringing a lawsuit against Clash making the details of his allegations more clear and forever connecting the phrases "Elmo puppeteer" and "crystal meth sex party" in the American psyche.

A few weeks ago I told you about Sesame Street's goal of hitting one billion views on YouTube to put them in the same pantheon as the likes of PSY's "Gangnam Style," Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber. As of Valentine's Day they were about 22 million views shy of their goal, so Telly pleaded for more views, promising a great "Top Secret" video when the goal was reached. Well guess what just happened. Check out this new Sesame Street video with The Count counting to one billion.

The world is a better place because of Sesame Street. It's one of the most popular children's television shows of all time. It also has a huge number of YouTube views. As of 1:26 pm today, the Sesame Street YouTube channel had 978,247,378 views, but 978,247,378 million views isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion views. That's the goal Sesame Street set for itself, and they've released a new video featuring Telly, who is the best, to help spread the word that when they hit one billion views they'll release a "Top Secret" video.

Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind Elmo, has resigned from Sesame Street after a second man has come forward to accuse him of having a sexual relationship with a minor.

We reported yesterday on the story that Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash had been accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenager. Good news, everyone! The New York Times says the anonymous accuser has recanted the allegations. In a statement made by his lawyers, the accuser is now calling the relationship an "adult consensual" one. That's great news, because yesterday we felt gross. All. Day. Long.

This morning in "Things That Are Terrible" news, The New York Post is reporting that Kevin Clash -- the puppeteer who has brought beloved muppet Elmo to life for decades -- has taken a leave of absence from his work on Sesame Street in the wake of allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a then 16-year-old boy. If you can think of anything more inappropriate or childhood marring this morning, we very seriously don't want to hear about it.

Boardwalk Empire is, as far as I'm concerned, the best show currently on television. Sesame Street, while it isn't the best show currently on television, sure is an old favorite, and is quite good at parodying shows with more mature themes. If you've never wondered why that is, it's because adults often watch the show with their kids, and adults need something to do while puppets are teaching their children the value of sharing. Because of that, we now have Birdwalk Empire. Give it a watch.

Batman probably would've been a lot less grumpy if someone had just given him a freakin' cookie. Commissioner Gordon, how you could be so cruel? Seriously though, there are a couple of key similarities between Batman and Cookie Monster. They both have a one-track mind, and have a kind of gravelly voice can that get irritating if you listen to it for too long.

Even if you don't care for the musical stylings of Ok Go (and if you don't, I suspect you're not even human), you have to admire their sheer earnestness and their interest in attaching themselves to cool projects. The group recently appeared on Sesame Street, explaining the finer points of color theory -- namely, how primary colors -- work with some great stop motion animation and a catchy pop number to boot. I'll be humming about how you can make orange from red and yellow for the rest of the day. See the video, after the break.

So, it turns out when you lock muppets in a basement and force them to breed with each other, you get one of the most popular video games of all time.

Last night, the YouTube account of Sesame Street got hacked, having all of its regular videos deleted and replaced with hardcore porn videos. YouTube was quick to react and shut down the channel in under half an hour, making the Internet once again safe for young, innocent eyes. Whoever the hacker was changed the name of the YouTube account to "MrEdXwx," a YouTube user who claims innocence in the fiasco, in that he was framed by the actual hacker. MrEdXwx posted a video (seen after the break) to his YouTube channel stating that he did not hack Sesame Street, and that he works hard to make "quality gameplay videos" and he respects the YouTube community guidelines.

The above picture is a screenshot taken of the hacked page, sporting a banner that says "I'ts where porn lives," with the apostrophe out of place with no indicator as to whether or not that was intentional. As of Sunday, the channel had 140,000 subscribers when the videos were replaced with hardcore porn; one video clip being from "First Anal Quest," a website with a theme one can easily guess from the name. As of this time, no one has stepped forward and claimed responsibility of the hack, and Sesame Street's YouTube channel is still currently unavailable, so users will have to get their wholesome puppetry or hardcore anal porn clips elsewhere.

Someone on this great wide Internet of ours made the following observation: "Tom Waits sometimes sounds eerily like Cookie Monster. Not that I mind!" Thus, the above video was born. Personally, I don't think the two sound much alike at all. For me, the pure joy of this video is watching the happiness of Sesame Street collide head-on with Tom Waits' nihilistic anthem "God's Away on Business." It's just too wonderful. (via Video Gum)

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The part of us that says yes to anything with a Muppet in it is very excited about this, the rest of us are very skeptical as to whether this would even work. Cookie Monster can't very well work blue. Uh, no pun intended. On the other hand, it be a homecoming of sorts for the Muppets: Jim Henson had a puppet sketch series in the first season of SNL that was the very beginnings of The Muppet Show. Well, if you're less conflicted than we are, check out the Facebook page for Cookie Monster's campaign. Otherwise, you're free to go about your day-to-day. We know you were waiting for our permission. You're welcome. (via Neatorama.)

We already know that Lady Gaga has a certain affection for the Muppets. Any performer who could actually get Kermit the Frog to drop her off at the VMAs must have some pull with our felted friends (Especially when you consider that it is Muppet company policy to only have one performer per character. Kermit only goes where Steve Whitmire goes). And so if Production Weekly, Hollywood trade magazine, tweets that Eric Stonestreet, John Krasinski and Ed Helms are cast as members of "Lady Gaga's entourage," we say: Well, that sounds pretty likely. The new movie, titled simply The Muppets, began filming two weeks ago, according to writer and star Jason Segel, so it's very likely that any cameo actors who are appearing in the movie are already sure things. Who are the others that Production Weekly mentioned?