", Immediately, parents called BS. We should see their lives, not just their interactions with their machinery. Sets, puppetry, costume, music, animation, stories, sketches, props: whatever we can give kids, we should give them. It doesn’t eat unicorns, or spit out pasta, or whatever imaginative nonsense an actual child would think of. Rogers dealt with things like: how to solve problems, how to get through hard times, what to do when someone you know is sick. Blippi is being goofy. There is no feeling whatsoever in Blippi. Look, Sesame Street is a classic, and I’m not saying Blippi has to be as good as the greatest children’s show of all time. "Now that Blippi has evolved as a character he is excited that a dynamic stage performer has been cast as Blippi to entertain and thrill audiences across all of the tour markets. The Current Affairs Big Book of Amusements: Over 100 Games, Comics, and More. Why not! Finally, be weird. That’s the best part of living—loving. It is all clean, colorful, and perfectly wholesome. There is a certain lifelessness in Blippi’s videos. At the heart of it are people, not objects. We then see that Mr. Hooper, the cranky corner-store owner, is also searching for B items, and thinks he hasn’t found any, even though he has a banana in his hand the whole time. One of the most unsettling voids in the Blippi videos is the emotional one. Notice that nobody has even attempted to rhyme anything: Monster trucks have great big tiresThat crush the cars they land onMonster trucks can jump so highI wonder if they can jump over the moon. Similarly, Steven was born in Ellensburg, Washington, and currently resides in Las Vegas. I will not raise Blippi children. How Much Money Does Blippi Earn On YouTube. #disappointed, pondering a refund. What are the leaves for? It's not even really a puppet! Even a silly song from Sesame Street like “Rubber Duckie” has some actual pathos to it, some clever rhymes, and a memorable tune: Rubber ducky, joy of joysWhen I squeeze you, you make noise *quack quack*Rubber duckie you’re my very best friend it’s true, Oh, every day when I make my way to the tubbieI find a little fellow who’s cute and yellow and chubbyRub-a-dub-dubby, Rubber ducky you’re so fineAnd I’m so lucky that you’re mineRubber duckie I’m awfully fond of you. They won’t see all of the extraordinary sights that exist beyond the fluorescent lights of Las Vegas strip mall play places. The channel has over 10 million subscribers as of 2020 and has accumulated over 8 billion views so far. When Blippi introduces kids to elephants, all we learn is how much they weigh—as much as eight cars!—and how their trunk functions and that they can’t jump; an elephant is just another giant contraption like a wheel loader. Stevin John Creator and Host of "Blippi" at Kideo Inc. Business Enquiries: StevinJohnTeam@UnitedTalent.com Las Vegas, Nevada 500+ connections To see what it is, we need to go below the surface a bit, and think about what is in Blippi videos, and more importantly, what isn’t in them. Trump, too, is a person who is totally uninterested in books, art, and music. Every other week our editorial team brings you a mixture of discussion, analysis, and whimsy. Theater? If a @wwe event was portrayed by locals it would be ok? Karl Marx’s concept of commodity fetishism—relationships between people being seen as relationships between things—is highly useful in understanding how the world looks through Blippi’s eyes. Blippi, however, is not a failed children’s character but an astonishingly successful one. But Blippi, even as a character, is recognizable by his face. !”) but it won’t be clear if they’re really “happy and they know it.” They won’t be in touch with their feelings. If you watched The Electric Company in the 70s, you’d have gotten to hear kids’ songs about words by Tom Lehrer, one of the 20th century’s greatest comic songwriters. Likewise, his zodiac sign is Gemini. First, it’s astonishing how many of the videos are about machines. Love is important, and if you think that’s corny or cringe, you can fuck right off. The wonders of outer space? Meet & Greet tickets are also on sale, where kids can get some one-on-one time with their favorite star. It still ends with a silly joke, though, one I love: “You mean I’m better than a banana?”/“You’re bigger than a banana.” What does that mean? And for kids in that demographic, he's basically Shawn Mendes. From the Excavator Song: I’m an excavatorI’m an excavatorHey dirt see you laterI’m an excavator, Monster trucks are bigMonster trucks are loudMonster trucks jump high in the skyAnd they make such a monster sound. First, for those fortunate enough to have escaped him up to this point in their lives: Blippi is a character played by Air Force veteran Stevin John in dozens of YouTube videos targeted at toddlers. His innovative and cute ideas have given many kids a remarkable learning experience that they would never forget Blippi, the rhymes, and alphabets he taught. 3,661 Followers, 1,370 Following, 1,540 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Steven St.John (@ssjwhb) Fred Rogers understood that even very young children are intelligent and emotional creatures and that their lives can be difficult and complicated. View the profiles of people named Steven John. They will be nothing but good capitalist foot soldiers, ready to swallow whatever ideology they are fed. A Current Affairs subscription is one of the best known ways to improve your life in a hurry. Everything in the Blippiverse is what it is. When they look in a mirror, all they see will be themselves. The Sesame Street team didn’t have more money—what they had was more imagination and more dedication to the craft of educational television. Blippi’s signature colors are blue and orange, and he wears a bowtie, suspenders, big goofy glasses, and a … Perhaps the first thing I noticed about Blippi was how obviously insincere he was. Oscar the Grouch, with his “rusty trombones” and old telephones, found delight in the scrappy and the forlorn. There is something incredibly dumb about these “educational” videos; when Blippi describes a strawberry, he says it is comprised of two parts: a “red area” and a “green area.” But what are those areas? His real name is Stephen John Grossman or he also puts Steven Grossman but is famous for his online alias, ‘BLiPPi’ and ‘Steezy Grossman’. This was not just because he was annoying, which he is. About the creator/host. The vehicle obsession looks weirder when we realize that there isn’t a single Blippi video about, say, trees or lakes or waterfalls. He has created many successful companies like his most recent ventures Kideo and Blippi. For can't-miss news, expert beauty advice, genius home solutions, delicious recipes, and lots more, sign up for the Good Housekeeping newsletter. Where does stuff come from? Launched in 2014, today his Blippi … He portrays himself in accordance with what kids wan… Children raised solely on Blippi, and on other videos like his, will be deeply fucked up. Ernie’s relationship with Rubber Duckie is sweet, and the musical style recalls 1920s jazz with its “vo-vo-vo-de-oh.” Sesame Street drew on the richness of American musical culture, showcasing blues, country, folk, and Motown—remember James Taylor and Howard Johnson’s charming “Jellyman Kelly,” Smokey Robinson’s goofy rendition of “U Really Got A Hold On Me,” or Johnny Cash’s serenade to Oscar the Grouch, “Nasty Dan”? (Does Trump even have a favorite band? Importantly, they are mostly focused on the machines themselves and not the people who build and operate them. Writing songs? It’s a yellow banana. I don’t know man.”. — Oscar the Grouch, “I Love Trash,” Sesame Street (1969), They drive really fast though the townAnd oh my goodness their sirens are so loudCan’t you see their red and blue lights Letting everybody know to let them byPolice carsPolice carsPolice cars— Blippi, “Police Car Song” (2016). "Stevin John is the creator of Blippi and acts as the writer and creative force behind the Blippi character," the tour page of the website says. Blippi never attended college but served in the military. These videos are supposedly “educational,” but they don’t teach you anything about being a curious person, or being kind, or thinking about things in new and unexpected ways. But to help develop kids into thinking beings, we have to understand why Blippi is stupid and what he’s missing out on. It’s so innocuous, in fact, that plenty of people—especially parents whose children are easily distracted by Blippi taking them on a digital trip to the zoo—can’t see anything wrong with him. They live in the real world and, while they like to have fun, they see many of the same dark things we do, and need comfort and explanations. This was a mistake, because not only did I hate Blippi, I also couldn’t get him out of my head. There are a few sad animals left in aquariums and zoos for us to go look at and measure and weigh. Blippi takes place in an artificial world, where nature has been subdued and transformed. They won’t be curious about the people around them, because they’ll live in a world of happy commodities, where nobody is ever confused and nothing is ever mysterious. Donald Trump’s brand of American capitalism troubles me so much in part because it’s so ignorant of what it destroys. Blippi’s visit occurs at night, and he is alone except for a silent employee at the admission desk. Stevin John is a director and actor, known for Blippi (2014). It’s okay to talk about pain, even with very young kids, because they aren’t actually “innocents.” They do not live in a world of Fisher-Price toys and candy. [begins to cry]”. They will know how to pretend to have fun (“Tee hee! The “viewer seeing something the characters don’t” trick occurs over and over, from clowns Buddy and Jim trying and failing to make a peanut butter sandwich to Mr. Hooper building things that have one small thing missing to Ernie forgetting what an X looks like even as he draws many Xs for different reasons. Its philosophy, like that of Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, could have been summarized as children deserve the best. Sesame Street was innovative partly because it showed real kids, Black, white, and Hispanic, in a working-class neighborhood. When you go see Sesame Street Live, for example, you don't expect to see Ryan Dillon — who performs as Elmo on the show — up on stage. They all seem to come from the “default rock beat” setting on a synthesizer, are almost all about vehicles, and have the most mindless lyrics imaginable. What are the seeds for? Does Anyone Else Have An Irrational Hatred of Blippi, Are You There, Blippi, It’s Me, I Hate You, Blippi visits the Kinderland Indoor Playground, entire number of Asian elephants in the world, number of people who live in Beaverton, Oregon, toss different objects into the pool and see if they sink or float, trying and failing to make a peanut butter sandwich. No, something about him was also disturbing. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. BLiPPi was born on 27 th May 1988 and is currently 32 years old. Would you act like a monkey with me? It doesn’t care about the beautiful beloved places it demolishes to put up luxury condos, or the diverse species and cultures it wipes out in the pursuit of “efficiency.” Having no knowledge of what is in a library or a university, it doesn’t care what it shuts down or sells off. What’s this? If you watch this entire Sesame Street episode closely, you’ll be impressed with how much thought has been put into it. They will not be given access to the treasures of human imagination: stories, poems, songs. Unfortunately, Blippi’s “educational” show is missing all of the elements that make children actually think and help them grow into creative and emotionally sophisticated people. Who Is Blippi? Anyone who has not studied the paintings of Dali, Magritte, Leonora Carrington, and Remedios Varo is not fit to produce a children’s show. Other times, he has brief conversations in which they describe how the factory operates. Blippi’s video about apples is not pitched as a visit to an apple orchard, but an “apple factory,” much like his visit to the raspberry factory. And why are they there? "Grateful I didn’t waste my money but mainly disappointed for my son as he would have been over the moon to meet you." Blippi has been viewed over 12 billion times! Kids need to understand what it actually takes to make all the commodities that they play with and enjoy. What are those people like? We need to have a strong sense of what every child deserves and the commitment to avoiding low-effort, dumbed-down, pseudo-educational content. Another one one simply wrote: "Fake fraud.". I don’t feel like I have any idea what Stevin John is actually like, because Blippi is so obviously a put-on. Worst of all, they will be boring, because nobody will have ever taught them what being interesting is. … The problem is that there is actually no real problem here. I'm a Vaccine Nurse, and It Feels Awesome, How to Stay Close to Your Teens as They Get Older, 45 Family Quotes That'll Make You Feel the Love, 16 Friendship Bracelet Patterns for Craft Day, My Kid Convinced Me to Host a Backyard Restaurant. For instance, in one video Blippi visits the Kinderland Indoor Playground, which is located in a Las Vegas strip mall. An excellent way to demonstrate to passersby that you are an individual of unusually well-cultivated taste. (I am describing Mr. Rogers’ attitude, not directly quoting him.). Electric Company songs, like Sesame Street songs (and unlike Blippi songs), were clever even when they were about something simple, like this one about pain, sung by a doctor and nurse as they wrap a wounded football player in bandages: Every boat has a chainEvery bib has a stainEvery globe has a SpainAnd everyone has a pain, So what do you really gainIt makes no sense to complainFrom purple mountain to the fruited plainEveryone has pain. ; His main YouTube channel, Blippi, has over 546k subscribers and more than 544m views. We see a stream-of-consciousness sequence in which children do word-association with the letter B as they paint B-things on a sheet of glass. Show them the whole world and everyone in it. The Most Popular Products of February 2021, The Truth About What "Eco-Friendly" Actually Means. It's a person in a suit, which is vastly different from what kids are used to watching on screen. Sesame Street does not just hold up a banana and say “Look, a yellow banana.” Sure, the banana is identified, and we learn what letter it begins with, but we also have a scene in which Mr. Hooper hurts Big Bird’s feelings by caring so much about the treasure hunt that he thinks of his friend as an “item” and tries to use him as a means to an end. Blippi does not seem to read books. Fans are upset that Stevin John, the guy who plays Blippi, won't even be there. ... 23 January 2020 | Tubefilter News Children’s YouTube Phenom Stevin ‘Blippi’ John Launches Educational Toy Brand. In the “apple factory” episode, we see a worker picking apples and putting them in buckets, but Blippi doesn’t think to talk to the man about his life and work. We can break children out of Blippi’s static world, where children exist to play with the objects they are given and admire the machines that have been built. Endless fun surprises in our final edition of 2020. Now, again, I think it may be difficult at first to notice what the problem is. I’m relaying this in detail because I want to note a few things that Sesame Street does in order to actually make children think. We have two missions: to produce the world's first readable political publication and to make life joyful again. With his endearing mannerisms and incredible dance moves, Stevin John has turned his Blippi character into a full-time job. On one hand, it is true that there are often stand-ins for characters in live experiences. Kids are learning colors. Sesame Street met all the people in your neighborhood and talked about what they do and why it matters, rather than focusing on the trucks they drive. He’s quite good at identifying the different parts of heavy industrial machinery, and if Blippi were, say, the Big Machines guy on a children’s show that mostly focused on the other 99 percent of the world, I would have no objection to him at all except that he seems phony. This content is imported from Instagram. I hated Blippi the first moment I saw him, and I know I am not the only one. They put a lot of work into the writing, instead of just showing up at a playground and running around it giggling and saying “This ball is BLUE!”. He has created many successful companies like his most recent ventures Kideo and Blippi. On any given week he might introduce you to Yo-Yo Ma or Eric Carle of Very Hungry Caterpillar fame. This is all in a single episode of the very first season! He does not play make-believe, except to pretend he is doing the thing that the toy or playground object has been built for him to do with it. I believe I have figured it out: Blippi is from Death World. A children's activity book for left-wing adults! The loneliness and sterility of children’s “educational” videos in the Trump era. Mr. Rogers understood this, and he did not care who made fun of him when he talked about the importance of love. So, as a parent, if you're considering spending money on a live theater experience for one of your kids' favorite screen stars, consider Baby Shark Live or Paw Patrol Live instead. #Bullshit. Too many spaces these days are barren of life, and I think that’s in part because Trumpian/Blippian thinking regards a plastic palm tree as indistinguishable from an actual palm tree. They see what a banana is. There is only one performer who has ever been Blippi. Stevin John is an entrepreneur that focuses on results. If you've never heard of him, it's because his audience of 5.7 million is mostly in the 2- to 7-year-old range. His real name is Stephen J. Grossman. Current Affairs is 100% reader-supported. If Blippi showed more real kids, more real-seeming places, it would be a less “polished” show, but a better one. Hello!” They say things like “The house is for aliens, I am an alien, you are a dog, so you can’t come.” Kids are weird, and while Blippi performs a kind of contrived weirdness, giggling and writhing and going “WHOAH!” he isn’t a surrealist the way real children (and Pee Wee Herman) are. The oppressive literalness of Blippi offends the imagination, which is a sacred and precious thing. Stevin John is a director and actor, known for Blippi (2014). After watching an unhealthy amount of Blippi content—I am fascinated by children’s entertainment, since it has such an outsized impact on shaping people’s developing understandings of the world—I made a few observations. A whole country of Trumps would create what I think of as “Death World,” where everything heartfelt and fragile and lovely is crushed in the pursuit of raw material gain for its own sake. Introduce them to other kids, not just some insincere know-nothing man-child. He helps children learn colors, shapes, numbers, letters and the alphabet, through nursery rhymes, educational songs and videos Moms.com calls him the “millennial answer to Mr. Rogers,” an “icon in the kiddie sphere” who anyone with a toddler has probably heard of. [I’m] ‘wonderful.’ But not as wonderful as a banana…Marvelous, beautiful, wonderful, but not as important as a banana. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io. Blippi is not wholly valueless. The one catch, parents learned after tickets went on sale this week: Blippi won't actually be there. Why does it exist? 216.5k Followers, 647 Following, 114 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Stevin W John (@stevinwjohn) Stevin John aka Blippi was born in Ellensburg, Washington in May 1988. But since many parents say the supposedly innocuous Blippi is among the “best of the YouTube kids’ stuff,” I want to pinpoint exactly what’s missing and why he’s producing such inferior, brain-rotting content. Mr. Hooper learns something here in this 60-second scene, and it’s not just about whether a banana begins with a B, but it’s also about what matters in life, and making amends. Oh, but there is a real problem here. First, feelings. You know who else loves bananas? “Well, you see, I just discovered the banana.”, “Oh, I see. A song about horrible things to put in soups and salads? Don’t patronize kids with “Oooh, a BALL.” They’re not puppies. A Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood episode can even touch on divorce and death. “You mean I’m better than a banana?” replies Big Bird. If you enjoyed this article, please consider subscribing to our magnificent print edition or making a donation. The Blippi child will know that a banana is yellow, but that is all it will know. And there’s so many people who want to show and tell you all they can. He can be considered as the second teacher of the babies as he teaches alphabets and rhymes to the kids. Plus, as is usual with Mr. Rogers, we are encouraged to express our feelings sincerely and openly, and everyone is taught to feel proud of the qualities that make them special. Elevators, the sixties, myths, and more! Blippi is more interested in the buckets, and the truck they go on. “There’s so many things to know and wonder about in this world. He is not only famous for his fantastic teaching skills but for his ability to understand children's psychology, their perspectives, and their desires. This content is imported from Twitter. You can follow Blippi on Facebook, Instagram and on Youtube in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Arabic! Second, diversity. Blippi is extremely white, which I mean in a literal sense—look at the races of the characters in his happy little song about cops—but also in his worldview, which shows itself in everything from his obliviousness to the inner lives of Indians to the giddy exuberance with which he shows us around a police cruiser. Why trust us? Children themselves appear only occasionally, even though Blippi goes to places like parks, play places, and children’s museums. But the whole thing feels desolate—watching it, I kept getting the feeling that it takes place in a world where every other child has died in some apocalyptic disaster, and the man-child Blippi has been left to wander the ghostly playgrounds of the world, convincing himself he’s capable of having fun without anyone else around. But kids need to learn that workers are people. These are the questions that kids have, and they’re interesting questions that have actual answers, but Blippi’s world is one in which things simply are, and all we can do is count them and say what color they are.