brought to you by the letter K

"You! Your sex is on fire!" - Kings of Leon

I felt I should mention a little something about singer Katy Perry's recent appearance on Sesame Street alongside childhood icon, Elmo. I will try to sum up what happened, but if I don't know certain things or anything its because I haven't seen Sesame Street in ages. This skit features Perry and Elmo having a little bit of playtime around the colorful Sesame Street... and then the desert... and then Antarctica. Basically the entire thing is a clean and fun rendition of her Hot N Cold song. I must admit I kind of enjoyed this skit. I mean it has all of the playfulness of Sesame Street. Elmo dancing to the pop beat is funny as hell in it; I even think Oscar pops out of his can at one point to yell at Perry. Really it is all the same on both ends, the long lasting Sesame Street is just as fun lovingly wild and innocent as always, and the apparently Christian musician Katy Perry is just as ambiguous and eccentric as always. Now, Perry showing up alongside Elmo has been criticised by critics and parents alike for a particular reason: Katy Perry is too freaking hot.

Seriously? No, but for real, I can understand where these people are coming from to a point. However the only thing I can really see being wrong is that her skirt is a bit too short and she is showing some cleavage, which is what you can expect from Perry and essentially any other modern 21st Century girl under the age of 55. It really could have been worse, America. She could have gone all California Gurls, spraying cans of whip cream from her breasts with diasy dukes and a bikini on top (or nothing at all if you watched the music video... not saying that I have, of course... many times...). So yeah, it could have been much worse. The way Perry dresses, that weird but nevertheless sexy attire, is just the way she rolls and we really can't judge her too much, not for that at least. I saw an older episode of Sesame Street that featured Robert De Niro talking to Elmo about acting, which transitioned into De Niro looking like Elmo and the two laughing. I love the hell out of Robert De Niro but that was a little disturbing, not because of the roles he has played in the past but because of the idea of De Niro acting all playful like with ELMO. De Niro's work didn't reflect on himself no more than Perry's has.

Though there are moments in the skit when I was a bit put off. I think Elmo was actually the first one to be a little uneasy about Perry's appearance. Either that or the video made it seem like he was really confused sexually and socially. As soon as Perry shows up, Elmo gets all flustered and even more uncomfortable when she starts suggesting "dress up" until he eventually runs away. Cut to music video section, where Elmo seems to be doing anything from dancing to run around Perry in a shot that seemed to suggest he was looking up her skirt (I'm just telling it like I saw it). At the very end, he forgets all about everything that happened before and starts playing tag. (Parents note: no lewd content was featured in the video. Nor was any actual "dress up" seen at any point) This skit was just really weird and confused it seemed. Though, looking back, a lot Sesame Street was like that. It is after all a show where playful little handpuppet monsters, a giant bird, and a man sized elephant all interact on an inner city street. Katy Perry showing up only ices the cake slightly more than it already is (anyone making jokes about that last sentence should can pat yourself on the back for being as childish as me).

In the end it comes down to the children. I will think of the children! Personally, I don't think this will affect them much, if at all. I'd wager the kids watching Sesame Street are between 1 and 5, they should be moving on to stylized violent cartoon shows and Americanized Japanese animes after that. And at that age, the fact that a woman shows up on the show whose style does not hide her bustiness should not even be subliminal for a kid. At this stage all grownups just sort of blend. So really no harm done yet. Really, one way or another your kids are gonna get wise to modern styles and personalities. So it really doesn't matter whether they learn it from Sesame Street now or E later, those little sponges are gonna soak up some dirt.

So ultimately, if you couldn't tell, I don't think that Katy Perry shocked some audience by revealing to kids those things that we almost immediately expose and shove in their faces is controversial. I only really have two criticisms. 1, Katy Perry needs to learn to act just a little bit; I know it's only Sesame Street, but there could have been some effort to be good (oh well not everybody can do it. I'm talking to you, Sofia Coppola). And 2, there wasn't enough Oscar. It's just a given, in my mind.

This has been some strange news mixed with nostalgia from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.