Bringing Back the Bells...

Convincing John

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Hey everyone,

This is something I've been thinking about for a while, and if need be, one of the mods can move this thread if it doesn't belong in this category.

Some of our long time members will recall that here at Muppet Central, we used to ring bells on Dec. 21 at a certain time, to celebrate friendship on MC, our fandom and admiration of Jim. It was (of course) inspired by "The Bells of Fraggle Rock".

The beauty of this tradition was, no matter what your religion or customs, we're all Muppet fans and we were all invited to celebrate. For at least a minute, it gave the fan community a sense of connection...Muppet fans all over ringing bells "All together, all at the same time."

I would like to propose we bring back the bells. Out of tradition, I always ring a bell on Dec. 21 at 9:00PM. If I can time it right, I usually do it while watching "The Bells of Fraggle Rock" with the bell ringing, naturally, done the same time as the Fraggles at the end of the special.

Over the past few years, I have told others in my family and friends (some who live far away) about this tradition started with MC. Without fail, we all ring our bells at the same time each year. They all have copies of the episode and if they can, watch and ring at the same time.

I realize that the original bell ringing was done via chat (in the old Delphi days), but even though we don't have the chat anymore, I thought we could still celebrate the tradition nonetheless. Muppet fans can ring bells all together, for just one minute, to celebrate Muppety goodness, friendships and a sense of togetherness. If nothing else, ring the bell for Jim and think about all the good things he worked on and stood for and how the Muppets influenced you.

In the old Delphi days, there were all kinds of bells in the chat: regular hand bells (like the Fraggles had), cowbells, someone rang their doorbell if I remember and someone else left their car door open, letting it chime.

Over the past few years, there have (unfortunately) been a lot of arguments at MC, people leaving, tension between fans, etc. it's sad, really.

There have been a lot of times fans simultaneously waited in ancicipation for something, experienced it together, then emotions rise, complaints come in droves and the arguments follow. I won't name names or instances, but it's happened a lot.

For once, I would like to see the fan community, MCers, TPers, Muppet Mindset, all kinds of fans, experience something together that's fun, easy to do and probably won't cost you a dime (all you need is something that rings like a bell).

I know this is posted way early, but I wanted everyone to have time to think about it (or if need be, plenty of time to find a bell).

With no chat room, we may not be able to hear each other's bells, but that's OK. As a wise composer once put it "don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear." You'll hear your bell, and if you so choose, you can believe Jim will hear it, too.

Anyone for bringing back the bells?

Convincing John
 

theprawncracker

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CJ, this is amazing. I'm all for it! I'm willing to completely throw myself behind this. This is something that ALL Muppet fans need to see and need to do. I'll post something about it on The Muppet Mindset and I'll e-mail the idea to Joe from ToughPigs and Steve from The MuppetCast and see if we can't get them involved as well.

I think, at the very least, Muppet Central needs to be a HUGE part of this. This is awesome, awesome, AWESOME.
 

redBoobergurl

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What an awesome idea! I had not heard of this tradition before! I'm definitely in!
 

D'Snowth

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What an awesome idea! I had not heard of this tradition before! I'm definitely in!
Neither have I, and I'm still just a little confused - do we ring bells in real life at the selected time or what?
 

RedPiggy

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I guess I could use my car. I was planning on just repeating "ding-a-ling" multiple times. :stick_out_tongue:
 

Gelfling Girl

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This sounds like such a great idea! I have a desktop bell right next to the computer that I could use. Looks like I'll be annoying my parents sometime this December...:wink:
 

Convincing John

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Neither have I, and I'm still just a little confused - do we ring bells in real life at the selected time or what?
Right! It's just like the Fraggles do. Remember what Cantus said "All Fraggles the Rock over ring their bells...all together...all at the same time."

The idea is for us (the Muppet fans) to do that, too in real life. On Dec. 21st we pick a time, (the old time was 9PM central, I believe). Then, when the clock chimes that time, every fan would have something that rings like a bell...any kind of bell, and ring it for about a minute. Sure, a car door would work. A doorbell, too (just use your own doorbell, I don't think your neighbors would like it if you rang theirs for a full minute!):crazy: Keys jingle too if you have absolutely nothing else. Everyone has keys or some loose change.

If you really want to be technical and add something cool to this tradition, pop in your DVD of "The Bells of Fraggle Rock" (from Season 3) and start the episode right at 38 minutes after the hour.

Why 38?

"The Bells of Fraggle Rock" is the same length as any other Fraggle episode, 25 minutes. But right at the 22 minute mark, the Fraggles ring their bells. When the Fraggles ring their bells, it will be time for us to ring ours: right on the hour.

I found this out completely by accident one year. I rang my bell, the Fraggles began to ring theirs and the clocks all over my house were doing that little Westminster chime. A few of the clock chimes in the house were striking along with the Great Bell.

Excellent idea proposing the idea to the other sites! We're all Muppet fans. We should all be able to celebrate in that.

When you ring your bell, you can think of how somewhere else, at the same time, other fans are doing the same thing. We'd all be "connected" (for lack of a better term) as fans.

Muppeteers and their families read this board sometimes, too. Wouldn't it be cool if, when you ring your bell, someone like Terry Angus or Jerry Nelson joined in from wherever they were?

As I said before, there's too much fighting and complaining going on between fans. You'd think that Oscar is hacking into the message boards and forums.

I say that we should do something together in the spirit of peace, friendship and togetherness...something that Fraggle Rock stood for. All you'd need is a bell of some kind, a handy clock and (if you want) a copy of "The Bells of Fraggle Rock" to watch.

Convincing John
 

D'Snowth

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Cool beans... we USED to have a decorative Christmas bell, but I'm not sure if we still have it or if it's lost in the numerous boxes of Christmas decor that my mother has, lol.

I have a little red ribbon with jingle bells I usually pin to the side of my hat around Christmas time, I could jingle those for a minute on December 21, lol.
 

APRena

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I am so doing this! I'm going to wear my reindeer-antler headband with bells on it. (Yeah, I'm cool like dat. :cool: I'll only have to shake my head.)
 
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