That’s “Real” pronounced “ree-al” as in the “Real Madrid” soccer franchise in Spain.  Their cute little puppets have their own television series that airs on TELEMADRID on Saturdays and Sundays at 9:00 am (local time).  Now, these cute little puppets are walkaround characters at the newly constructed Faunia Madrid Biological Park located in Madrid, Spain.  To see more videos of Real Pets go here and look at all of the YouTube videos. 

 Enjoy.

My apologies for being late on this one.  The winners for the Once Upon a Puppet Contest have been announced.  It was a great honour to be one of the judges for the contest and my personal congratulations to the winners and all those who entered.  Go and see who won here.

As I have mentioned before I am a collector of puppetry videos and DVDs.  The other day I was out shopping and I came across three very cool DVDs.  This is the first one I saw.  It is called “Baby’s First Words” and it is starring Mallory Lewis (daughter of Shari Lewis) and includes puppets built and performed by Pat Brymer.  To see video clips from the DVD go here (and click on the desired video) or you can read more about the series at their website.

Puppet Buzz contributor Hilary Talbot has just recently switched her blog over to the fabulous “WordPress” template.  I for one think the blog layout looks clean and easy to read.  Great job Hilary!  Be sure to check out some of her other posts at her new blog address Spirits Dancing.  You can also see more of her work at he Flickr site here.  Enjoy.

In the puppet world, at least here in Canada, there is a very well respected puppet troup/company called The Old Trout Puppet Workshop.  The don’t often come to Toronto and actually offering a workshop is even less typical.  That makes this news all the more exciting.  They are well known for a very cool style of head puppets that are worn as hats and puppeteered from below, it is an amazing way to puppeteer.  Anyways, The Puppetmongers has this announcement to make:

The Toronto School of Puppetry triumphantly announces that it has taken advantageof the presence in Toronto this October of Calgary’s famous Old Trout Puppet Workshop Company.  While they are performing Famous Puppet Death Scenes At the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
We are delighted to be able to offer a Three-Day Course with Peter Balkwill.  Not to be missed by anyone serious about performing theatre with puppets.

October 24 through 26. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Fee $250 for the three days. Limited places available.

Alas, I will be working during this workshop and there is no way for me to make it.  Trust me, if I could go I would be there for sure.  However, if you are able to go to the wrokshops then, I would highly recommend going.  Book now because I have a feeling that spots will not last long!

I have been meaning to post about these clever little puppets for a while now.  These are simply small stickers that you can attach to you hand to create small puppets.  They are the brain child of puppet builder, craft expert and all around artist, Nikole Horkin.  Nicole sells these cool puppets in her online “Etsy-store” called Puppets and Pals.

Nikole is a wonderful artist with a great imagination.  She is currently doing a double major at the Univeristy of Hawaii, where she lives with her husband and son. 

As a primary school teacher and puppet builder/puppeteer myself, I have a great respect for her desire to teach children drama and art through her use of puppets. I for one will be very interested to hear about when she gets her Masters in Puppetry and opens up her own small children’s theatre, which is something that she hopes to do.  Check out Nikole’s stuff and hey, whilke you are there why not buy something.  The prices are great!