Pixar's Good Luck Charm: John Ratzenberger

As a kid watching Cheers my favourite character was always know-it-all barfly postman Cliff Clavin, his wise-cracking delivery usually signalled by a drawled murmur reminiscent of the sound someone might make when trying to remember their lines would always have me laughing.

It was most probably this performance – and a knack for casting just the right voice to fit a role that is undoubtedly key to their film’s success – that led Pixar to pick John Ratzenberger for the role of Hamm the piggybank in their debut feature film Toy Story .

Perhaps something that can be overlooked, specifically in the first Toy Story film that primarily riffs on a mismatched buddy movie dynamic, is how strong a supporting ensemble Pixar gathered around their lead players.

Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey , their voices all slot so beautifully into the mouths of what are – essentially – very familiar looking objects. I mean, could a Mr. Potatohead toy sound any other way now? Even better than that Pixar had made no compromises in giving each toy a neatly subverted, humourous and relatable character that made sure that their films are as appealing to adults as they are to, well, every single age group.

In his initial role as Hamm, Ratzenberger made the pink bellied porcelain porcine a rather world weary character, riffing on his buddy persona from Cheers, he’s still – even in miniature animated form – most guy’s ideal drinking partner. It’s his off-beat, technically minded reaction though to Buzz’s arrival that begins to hint at what will make this character inparticular a personal favourite:

Sure enough P.T. Flea’s circus is one of the comedic highlights of the film, buoyed immensely by Ratzenberger’s manic performance which is somewhere between Jerry Stiller as George Costanza’s father in Seinfeld and a family-friendly version of Cheech Marin’s barker in From Dusk Til Dawn .

This sequel is a wealth of pristine Ratzenberger quotes, with the character of Hamm clearly refined to a tee in the intervening years between this film and its predecessor. What was expanded upon by the writers was Hamm’s blue-collar qualities, when the gang hijack a Pizza Planet truck Hamm’s straight to the owner’s manual shaking his snout and exclaiming to himself; ‘I seriously doubt he’s getting this kind of mileage.

Jenaissance Designs - a craft blog: Flea Circus

I'm so inspired by all the amazing crafts I see on the internet between the 200+ blogs in my rss feed reader to the innumerable swatches of eye candy on Pinterest ,  that I want to own one of everything.  Then I think, "I bet I could figure out how that's made and do it myself".  This thought is the dangerous one. That's the one that gets my mind jumping hither and thither like a flea, sampling some of every crafty thing out there without really concentrating on one. I had been foiled by those dang patterns before. They read like some kind of alien language.  This time would be different though, right? All that "ch 6  slst to join, ch2 *dc2 into ring ch2 hdc1 into first ch* x12" blather was going to make sense, dammit!   After hunting down online tutorials and practicing following the patterns, I was indeed able to make flowers! WOO!!! For the Floss flowers I used a size B 2.25mm (US) crochet hook. The strands tended to want to separate, well, because they're intended to when embroidering. I used a  size C 4mm (US) crochet hook for the yarn flower and had some issues with the yarn separating there as well. I have to wonder if it's because the yarn is really old, or if I just chose the wrong kind of yarn. (Simply Soft is a medium weight, size 4 yarn, which I had used previously to make a baby blanket so it was in my stash.)  You can see in that last pic how different the same pattern turns out based on the size of the yarn/thread used. I loved working with the sock yarn; it just flew through the hook and didn't give me a single bit of trouble. However, it makes for a fuzzy looking flower and tends to want to curl in on itself. I might iron it down if I decide to use it in a project.  My MIL gave me this teeny tiny ball of yarn and I'm sad to have gone through it so quickly.  Apparently it was the remainder of my brother-in-law's hat.  Yay for scraps! :) These were using Perle Cotton size 5, color 4200 which is a lovely variegated selection of pale and bright pinks with even a touch of peach and orange. The pattern I found for these flowers listed them as being for barrettes. They are an appropriate size for that, but you'd want to layer them or put a bead in the middle to cover up that gaping hole. After a couple of dozen tries and several knots of yarn later, I am back to embroidery. I haven't given up on the magic ring, I've watched about a dozen video tutorials on how to do it.

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