Comments on: Kermit Needs Work

Kermit Needs Work

Cool Papa Bell — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:53:03 -0800

Homeless Man Under Pressure (SLYT)

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:57:57 -0800

Glamfrog.

By: jquinby

jquinby — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:59:14 -0800

F'ing brilliant.

By: Aetius Romulous

Aetius Romulous — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:02:00 -0800

This made me very, very angry and very, very sad. Just watch this mans face. What the hell is going on out there? How long can this go on? When you cut us, do we not bleed?

By: fungible

fungible — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:04:45 -0800

Work it.

By: Threeway Handshake

Threeway Handshake — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:05:08 -0800

I'd give him money.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:16:33 -0800

Gosh, I hope he was just working the "pressure" angle, not the main thrust of the song and is not thinking of checking out.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:22:57 -0800

That was a actually surprising well directed.

By: swift

swift — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:23:25 -0800

Homeless Man Creep

By: crunchland

crunchland — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:23:30 -0800

Not to be completely cynical, but I predict a copyright takedown soon. I recall there was some sort of rights issue with that song, where it appeared on Queen's Greatest Hits when the album first came out, but then it disappeared in later releases of it. (In other words, there's a link at the bottom of the video that talks about helping, so you might want to help sooner rather than later if you were so inclined.)

By: Scoo

Scoo — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:40:51 -0800

A takedown notice could make this a cause célèbre, prompting an outpouring of support for the guy.

By: moviehawk

moviehawk — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:44:35 -0800

If I lived in that city, this guy would become appointment viewing. I'd give him SO much money.

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:53:33 -0800

I predict a copyright takedown soon Not to mention the Disney sends out about Kermit...

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:53:59 -0800

*letter

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:02:51 -0800

I recall there was some sort of rights issue with that song, where it appeared on Queen's Greatest Hits when the album first came out, but then it disappeared in later releases of it. Not so. It has always been on the original US Greatest Hits. It wasn't on the UK version because that one had several more tracks (for example, "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy") than the US counterpart and it was a matter of space. When Hollywood released their version of Greatest Hits years later, "Under Pressure" was removed because they had included it on Classic Queen instead.

By: Crash

Crash — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:06:00 -0800

Ok, sorry if I'm being cynical. But is this a viral video for http://homelessness.change.org/nonprofits?

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:06:24 -0800

Eh, if it made Vanilla Ice a bundle of cash then at the very least it should be allowed to help this guy eat for a week.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:15:01 -0800

Great vid, thanks. I'll throw Super Awesome Homeless Dude into the mix.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:19:10 -0800

I was on the fence till he had Mercury-Kermit throw an arm around his neck. That was pretty good. I hope it stays up. From what I've heard, Freddy seemed like the kind of person who would appreciate someone trying to survive by bringing joy to people in strange ways.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:20:20 -0800

Freddie! I knew that didn't look write as I was typing it.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:21:13 -0800

~~write~~ right! wow, I'm dying here...

By: Mike D

Mike D — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:22:55 -0800

I was raised to believe it's not the least bit proper to laugh at those less fortunate than yourself. But damn that was hilarious. Not him; not his situation. But in the artful way he brings the muppets to life to bolster his request for help. The choice of song is a touch of brilliance. The signboard asking for help supporting two kids while he sits with a muppet on each knee doubly so. I whistled back and forth at the speed of light between "That's so sad" and "That's really, really, funny". And maybe that was his point -- given the caption says this is "meant to entertain". I was. And as someone else already said here, I'd abandon the contents of a significant portion of my wallet into his donations box if I caught that on a local street.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:28:50 -0800

Crash: "Ok, sorry if I'm being cynical. But is this a viral video for http://homelessness.change.org/nonprofits?" Change.org is a networking/donations platform for nonprofits. That page is just a listing of all the member orgs that work with homelessness. I'd say the person who posted this video was just looking for an org-agnostic way of asking people to donate. But I assume that what you're really asking whether the person in the video is actually a homeless dude. I wonder that too. The video description seems to imply that he's not? In case you need more reminders of how serious a problem homelessness is in America, try Invisible People.

By: stenseng

stenseng — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:31:23 -0800

Wow. This is good, and strangely moving.

By: Mike D

Mike D — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:44:52 -0800

"But I assume that what you're really asking whether the person in the video is actually a homeless dude. I wonder that too. The video description seems to imply that he's not?" I call, "So what?" In fact, watching his face as he manipulates the muppets during some of the more intense singing, I'd guess him to be a professional musician. But (a) it got the attention of everyone here; (b) it's got people talking about homelessness; (c) it's got many of us agreeing it's important to talk about, and maybe the combined force of a whole bunch of people agreeing that doing is even better than talking, (d) it might even help make this coming winter a little less onerous for the homeless in several of the cities from which we hail. No bad in my mind.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:52:28 -0800

I agree, Mike D. I should have been clearer. I'm saying that the way that I read the video description, it's making that explicit. Not trying to be a "hoax" or something.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:18:17 -0800

Really homeless or not (and who cares), I simply marveled at his ability to keep the duet sorted out. If it were me, you'd see me muttering, "Freddie, left, Bowie, right. Freddie, left, Bowie right..."

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:31:24 -0800

It's a revealing glimpse into the economy that Jeff Dunham, who had his own show on Comedy Central less than a year ago, could be reduced to this so quickly.

By: Bonzai

Bonzai — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:48:03 -0800

Now that was performance art. He should apply for an NEA grant.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:20:17 -0800

Really homeless or not (and who cares) Either he is homeless and you're paying for entertainment and/or charity, or he's not homeless and you're just paying for entertainment. Doesn't really change anything. People pay for a lot dumber things in this world; this was fairly not-really-that-bad.

By: Crash

Crash — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:57:00 -0800

I don't mean to discredit the crusade for fixing the homeless problem, but I think it does matter if he's homeless or not, at least to me. It bothers me when I find out a really cool video is just marketing for a sports drink (no one likes to be deceived), but this bothers me possibly even more. To me, part of the message is that the homeless are exactly like us, minus the home. We can see the emotion in his eyes, we can attempt to relate to what he must be struggling with, and we can see his obvious talent. "There but for the grace of god, go I" sort of thing. If it turns out that someone wanted to bring this message, but didn't want to be bothered to find an actual homeless person to "star" in their video, it cheapens it for me. It doesn't cheapen the message, and I'm glad he's bringing attention to the issue, but the video is less sincere and less gripping to me personally if he's just an actor.

By: tristeza

tristeza — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:32:55 -0800

I just watched that and was almost unable to move I was so, just, MOVED. Then I read that it was a performer trying to get visibility for an organization helping the homeless, that he was not homeless himself. And it TOTALLY changed my feelings on a fucking dime and now I'm super confused and really trying to figure out what it says about me. I'm totally PRO advocacy for the homeless, but finding out this was someone *posing* as homeless for this video just shook me. Fuck.

By: adamk

adamk — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:40:23 -0800

One of my Facebook friends posted a link to what appears to be the actor's website.

By: tristeza

tristeza — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:43:15 -0800

Still a fucking awesome video to one of the best songs ever (IMO).

By: keratacon

keratacon — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:01:32 -0800

I think we're reading this thing wrong. An actor, working on his own accord decided to make an amusing video spotlighting homelessness. (The lyrics of the song work well with the message) and the internet has misinterpreted it. So he links to an actual aid organization to do a little bit of good with the traffic. There's nothing to suggest that change.org is responsible for this video or that anyone was setting out to raise money with it.

By: fungible

fungible — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:04:08 -0800

Oh get a grip people. It's still amazing, and worthwhile. And if it helps you feel better - well, most actors are unemployed like 99% of the time. I certainly hope they don't take it down for copyright reasons. For one thing, this video stuck with me all day, got me to actually buy the song and listen to it 100 times in a row. I mean, I knew it was awesome, but I forgot how awesome it was.

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:31:35 -0800

But (a) it got the attention of everyone here; (b) it's got people talking about homelessness; (c) it's got many of us agreeing it's important to talk about, and maybe the combined force of a whole bunch of people agreeing that doing is even better than talking, (d) it might even help make this coming winter a little less onerous for the homeless in several of the cities from which we hail. No bad in my mind. Respectfully, as someone who just wasn't that impressed with this video, can you connect the dots for me? I mean, I understand that viewing a cool video of a homeless guy makes people think "Hey, homeless people do cool stuff. Maybe I should donate time or money to organizations that serve the homeless." But once you find out that the person in the video isn't actually homeless, doesn't that change the desire to help the homeless? How does watching a cool video of an actor pretending to be homeless make people more inclined to donate to organizations that serve the homeless? To me it just makes me think "Jeez, who else is lying about being homeless?"

By: Pants!

Pants! — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:11:13 -0800

Just because he "has a roof over his head" doesn't mean he's not homeless.

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:54:09 -0800

If the guy had people doubting his homelessness and he was actually homeless, I think he'd just come out and say "I live on the streets".

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:44:13 -0800

But once you find out that the person in the video isn't actually homeless, doesn't that change the desire to help the homeless? You'd think so, but people can find pretty much any reason not to help the homeless. That homeless guy killed by the train? Probably drunk. (Not talking about a specific incident. Google 'homeless man train' you get a phone book full of cases.) I don't really care what someone does to raise awareness. I'd humble myself, do whatever it takes to avoid shit like this. Whether it's efficacious, I don't know. But it's got a certain poignancy to it's undercurrent of despair. Whether the guy is an actor or not. This piece is true whether it's subject matter is staged or natural or whatever. now I'm super confused and really trying to figure out what it says about me I understand that. But sometimes you can table the matter and cut them a check and decide where you stand with your self-respect after wards. Probably a better way to do it.. Ahmana get out my wallet. Winters on it's way and people can't be left out in the cold. Hell, my kids would love the Kermit puppets doing that. ...have to keep them away from the dogs though. I'm trying to figure out what it says about me that I've got a job and I'm pretty much running on autopilot after not dying gloriously for some cause. And walking in to a position when there's so many decent people going hand to mouth. I volunteer some times. You can tell the change in season from the talk. It's like everyone gets quiet and introspective at the first hint of winter. Saw some people on lower wacker today walking in full winter coats. We're going to get some heat back later in the week, and people will get chatty. But that north wind comes down like a finger pointing at you. And suddenly you're Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin with your threadbare overcoat and there's nothing to say. Scary for a lot of people out there on the corner of bedlam and squalor.

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 05:55:31 -0800

But once you find out that the person in the video isn't actually homeless, doesn't that change the desire to help the homeless? You'd think so, but people can find pretty much any reason not to help the homeless. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying that when people who found some poignancy/meaning/heartbreak in Sky Soleil's face find out that he's not homeless, BOOM. That's gonna be their reason to not help the homeless.

By: Dr Dracator

Dr Dracator — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 06:01:14 -0800

But once you find out that the person in the video isn't actually homeless, doesn't that change the desire to help the homeless? Presumably, you want to help the homeless because they are homeless, not because they are entertaining.

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 06:10:41 -0800

Presumably, you want to help the homeless because they are homeless, not because they are entertaining. Again, that is EXACTLY my point. People watch a video of a guy they think is homeless, and the video makes them think "Hey, I want to help the homeless because they are homeless." When they find out he isn't homeless, they're going to think "Hey, that homeless guy isn't really homeless. He doesn't need my help."

By: floam

floam — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:15:39 -0800

I think for a lot of people there was definitely a "wow this guy isn't like the beggars I'm encountering day in and day out, he's a starving genius!" element to watching this, and I could see how finding out it's not "real" could make someone ice up.

By: cavalier

cavalier — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:04:02 -0800

New York Magazine: Homeless Kermit Puppeteer Not Actually Homeless Quotes from the performer, who's name is Sky Soleil.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:07:22 -0800

Well, that's a relief. I was actually going to reach in my dashboard console and give that homeless guy at the intersection a dollar, but knowing that this is a fake absolves me of any privilege-related guilt.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:18:01 -0800

Change.org interview