User talk:Merrystar

Merry late Christmas!
I've finally got a free evening to be on, and I've been wanting to tell you about some stuff. Thanks for the Christmas greeting, and thanks for that cover album. I saw it, and I thought it was something we already had, only with a different cover. But when I double-checked everything, it looks like this is a new title, so thanks!

Also, check out The Sesame Street Book & Record! A new user found the 1970 tape version! Actually, she only found the booklet, but it came inside a white LP cover with that yellow sheet pasted on the front. The tape was missing, but luckily, I uncovered the tape's number a while ago. So we now have the triple crown of the 3 formats of SS1 on Columbia (although I'm still hoping for a reel-to-reel)!

Oh yeah, watch out for an e-mail I've been meaning to send you. Talk to you soon! -- Ken (talk ) 05:18, December 28, 2010 (UTC)

Book and audio sets
Hey, Wendy! Finally listening to some Sesame Street book and record sets got me to thinking. (Oh, no!) When I came here, I wanted to make separate pages for them, since they were record items, but I was told to put them on the pages of the original storybook. But I was never quite sure how to talk about them. So I was messing around with Don't Forget the Oatmeal!, and I wanted to see what you think. I arranged things so we have the original storybook, then reissues of the book with any text or picture changes, and then a mini-discography for the audio editions. I wanted to make a place where I could put a paragraph about the recording itself, because a lot of these have actual Muppeteer voices, songs, and other stuff that I consider to be rare material that a lot of people haven't heard, since a lot of these have been out of print for a long time. Then below that, we have the translations. I left those there because I know that in some cases we also have book and audio editions of the translations, and that way they'd be near each other. What do you think? I always felt the book and record sets were kind of just thrown in there, and we didn't have a consistent way of writing about them, and presenting their pictures. -- Ken (talk ) 05:04, December 7, 2010 (UTC)
 * I like it in general. And I think it's good to have a place to put more information on them.  However, I'm not so sure about the gallery for the tape and the record version; both "books" should be identical from the cover, right?  So that seems a bit redundant.  -- Wendy  (talk ) 04:13, December 9, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the only thing is that I haven't seen any pictures of the BT versions, so I'm not sure how they were packaged. So for now, I'm just putting them there for the information.  When I get to the ones that have the Golden and Sony Wonder versions, they'll have different covers, or at least their logo mentioned on the cover.  If it turns out that the SS tapes look exactly the same, then I'll just move the BT information under the BR picture.  But I think I'm in the process of getting the alternate covers for a few of them, so we'll have the 2 versions of the BR's like I talked about before.  Part of the reason for me doing this is that I've been so confused by the variations, and I still have so much raw data on the book and audio sandbox page, that the only way to make sense of all of this is to just start working on it.  I still have the double numbered Sony Wonders in the back of my mind, too! -- Ken  (talk ) 06:00, December 9, 2010 (UTC)

Update
Hi! Thanks for the Canadian Neighborhood tape. Have you seen 8 Track Shack? I think they have some new ones, but I haven't gone through them yet. I think I'll have some more information on the book and record and book and tape sets soon, too! -- Ken (talk ) 07:09, November 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Nice catch -- there were a couple of new ones! I check that site occasionally but not regularly as it doesn't update very often.  -- Wendy  (talk ) 15:29, November 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * Hi! Brief update.  By comparing different book and record sets, I think the versions with the picture of the book and record are first, because I only see the later version (with the picture of the book and notes) on all 24 titles.  The tape versions have the later picture, too.  Also, the Fisher-Price ones have a different back cover, which is an ad for others in the series.  The original back covers have the catalog number, and the text about "Children do not have to watch the show to benefit from this book", etc., and in some cases, a picture, and in some cases, the rest of the back cover is blank.  So that means they are actually different, but you can't tell just from the front cover.  So I'm thinking that we have 3 editions: 1) Cover with record (used for SS records), 2) Cover with notes and book (used for SS records and SS tapes), and 3) Cover with notes and book with FP ad on back (used for FP records and tapes).  What's still funny is that the FP books have the SS number on the back of the book above the ad, even though their records and tapes use a completely different numbering system!  Happy Thanksgiving! -- Ken  (talk ) 07:42, November 29, 2010 (UTC)
 * Cool. So there's no distintion with the "hear the story, see the ..." bottom slogan on the fronts?  What a pity.  Hope you had a great thanksgiving too! -- Wendy  (talk ) 19:47, December 1, 2010 (UTC)
 * I haven't been able to figure out that part yet. So far, the records I've seen don't have it.  They may have been added for the FP or Golden editions.  I hope to know more soon.  Oh yeah, now that I've been hearing some of them, I'm surprised to find that some have actual Muppeteers performing in character as narrators or speaking dialogue.  I'm going to add that to their pages.  (Don't Forget the Oatmeal! is a riot with Jim and Frank as Ernie and Bert and Cookie Monster!) -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 06:42, December 2, 2010 (UTC)

More fainting!
Wendy, you're not going to believe this. Remember the auction that's listed below? Well, I couldn't figure out why 2 songs from Havin' Fun were coupled on one of the 45's listed among the set. The Magic Cookie was okay, because it's been on the C is for Cookie LP, so that made sense that it was a track that starred Cookie Monster. So even though this wasn't a true counterpart to the Monsters LP, it made sense to make a 45 set that also featured monsters singing songs. But Name the Animal and Simple Song on the same 45 go back to the original Columbia book and record set, and it seemed like it didn't belong. So out of curiosity, I looked through what else the seller had, and I found 2 other sets of 4 45's each. And when I put them all together, I saw that these equaled another 45 set. It turns out that they are 2 CRA 45 sets like the LIVE! set. They're both 7 45's, with a little picture cover that goes in a bag. We now have "Monster Hits from Sesame Street", and "Ernie & Bert from Sesame Street" (Havin' Fun with a slightly different title). Plus, there's a number missing, so guess what that means? There has to be another 45 set out there! I hope this made sense. I'm still overwhelmed by it all, but I hope it makes more sense after I work on it. More details soon! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 05:37, October 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * Wow! Good detecting! And silly seller splitting them up like that!  Now we just have to run down the little picture covers :).  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 16:53, October 7, 2010 (UTC)

Are you ready to faint again?
Just when I'd thought I'd seen it all (again), take a look at this! It's apparently yet another CRA set of 45's called "Monster Hits from Sesame Street", and this time, there's no corresponding LP (that we know of)! What a cool find! Just in time for the new season next Monday! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:52, September 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * Wow! Nice find!  You'd think they would've taken stuff from The Sesame Street Monsters! for it instead of random singles like that!  I wonder how it was pacakged?  Pity about the image and the lack of record numbers, but a lovely and timely find nonetheless.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:38, September 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * Hey, I just noticed the Wikia by your name. Did you get hired? -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 01:55, September 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Sort of. I am a Helper for them, and have been for awhile; but I'm not proper staff like Danny.  I just recently discovered they have a helper tag as well as a staff tag for signatures (mine links to a page about helpers; Danny's links to staff), and it is useful as I answer stuff like adoption and spotlight requests on central, so I added it in.   I never got around to putting my standard user page blurb onto here because it won't fit next to my Snerfs ;)  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 02:17, September 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Cool! Well, I'm sure you and the rest of the gang will have your hands full helping with the new skin! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 06:09, September 23, 2010 (UTC)

Old School Shock
Brian just found out which 3 are on this: It's going to be The Year of Roosevelt Franklin (insert scream), Grover Sings the Blues, and The Count Counts! So I'm sensing a pattern here. They're taking one of the original 6, then one of the 1974 LP's (mostly) made up of tracks from the original 6, and then one of the 1975 LP's. Unusual, but interesting! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 20:23, September 4, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well that better explains the choices in the original box :). I'm just glad they're going to release more. -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 00:56, September 5, 2010 (UTC)

Weirdest page of the night
Check this out: The Readymade Cocktail Lounge Spectacular Elpee 2. It's a promo sampler released in Japan in 1994, and it's all songs that originally came out on Columbia in the late 1960's. There are pop songs, jazz songs, movie themes, and "Somebody Come and Play". How's that for random? -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 06:28, August 5, 2010 (UTC)

Sesame DVD's
Just because I couldn't think of who else to tell, I wanted to mention that the Warner DVD's have been coming out in consecutive numerical order! That will make them a whole lot easier to track for future collectors and historians! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:41, August 1, 2010 (UTC)


 * No! They shouldn't do anything sensible like that! :p -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:46, August 1, 2010 (UTC)

Hello :)
I,m from the Theodore Tugboat wiki and I was just looking around about other shows I love and I saw your familiar name here. Were you on the Theodore Tugboat Wiki a while back? :) --Molly the Valiant 21:07, July 22, 2010 (UTC)

Format change
Hi! I saw your changes to the John Denver Christmas album. Is separating the albums by format just a temporary fix? I'd really like to keep everything together in chronological order, but I know we've been experimenting with what to do with galleries that aren't all the same shape. I was kind of hoping we could make the tape pictures square by adding white space around the image itself, but I don't know if that would work. What do you think? -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:58, July 20, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes we can whitespace the cassette images to make them square. In fact I intend to do that for the main discogs (when I have time. sigh.).  However it's going to take awhile if we have to do every single cassette image on the wiki, so I was playing around with other choices on the album pages.  I actually was trying to mimic the format we use on song pages, where we separate out the type of album/video/etc. where it appears.  It has the benefit of putting self-similar types of images together, which makes the new gallery work better, and I thought it made a certain amount of sense from an information standpoint.  So basically if somebody thinks, "Was this ever released on cassette?" they can find it quickly.  It also leaves the images of the covers bigger; the white space is going to make them quite a bit smaller.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 18:20, July 20, 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, looking at the tapes side by side with the LP's in the main SS discography, it seems to look okay to me. Or at least, it looks like it did before.  (I'll let you guys play with it, since I'm no good with pictures and stuff like that!)  I can agree with putting the albums by format on their own page, but can we maybe discuss it with everybody first?  The only reason I say that is because I'd hate to rework it, and then they figure out a fix later on.  At least VHS and DVD titles are both rectangles!  We'll have to figure out something for the laserdiscs, but I don't think we have that many, or they're in different kinds of charts.


 * Oh yeah, something else I forgot. On the main SS discography, Susan's album is cut off on the left side, but it's normal on the album's page.  Is something else causing that, or is it part of the stuff we're experimenting with now?


 * By the way, happy 41st birthday to landing on The Moon! -- <font color="Blue">Ken (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 03:49, July 21, 2010 (UTC)


 * Absolutely. Let's discuss the album pages with others too.  That's why I only did a couple to just see how it would work out. I probably should have subpaged them onto my user page instead, but I was feeling lazy.  I don't believe any substantial further changes are expected for the galleries right now, but Danny would know best.  I think we're stuck with them.


 * On the SS discog - some of the square albums aren't precisely square. Susan's is just a little more extreme than most. I think Bob's album is cut off a bit on top/bottom isn't it?  Anyhow, if they  aren't square enough they will get cut off.  I tried taking the forced square orientation out of the gallery and it then looks raggedy again because of the not-squareness.  The only real solution is to try to square up the non-squares. -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:22, July 21, 2010 (UTC)


 * No, I don't mind if you tried something on the actual page. As long as it looks nice, and you can see everything, I'm okay with it.  Heck, I'm still messing with cross-referencing original album titles on the compilations, and standardizing the cast and credit lists! -- <font color="Blue">Ken  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 04:55, July 21, 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually, the galleries are fixed back. I guessed wrong about whether they would do any more changes.  So yay! all better! and now I will go do some reverting.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 23:06, July 21, 2010 (UTC)

Ernie PVC figure
Hi, Wendy! The Ernie figure that you added to Sesame Street PVC figures (assorted) is from Heimo's Minikins collection. I'd take it off the assorted page, but you added that it was from Child Guidance, so obviously there's more to the story than I know. :) Where's the C.G. come from? -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 19:41, June 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, I didn't put the Child Guidance bit there originally; User:Bigbird96 did awhile ago. I had removed that figure and a couple of other ones that were over on the Muppet Miniatures page, and then realized it wasn't one of those so I put it back in.  If you know where it actually belongs then by all means, let's remove it.  I made that "assorted" page originally just to store images for which I had no info until we figured out where the figures really belonged; other people added the ids.  -- <font color="Blue">Wendy  (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 23:55, June 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * Oh, that makes sense. Thanks! -- <font color="Blue">Danny (<font color="Blue" size="1">talk ) 16:52, June 28, 2010 (UTC)

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