Age: 55
male
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Matthew J Vogel II (born October 6, 1970) has been a Muppet performer for the Jim Henson Company since the 1990s. On Sesame Street, Vogel served as the assistant puppeteer for Ernie, performing either one or both hands while Steve Whitmire performed the head and vocal. Eventually, Vogel's ability to mimic the sound and performance of Caroll Spinney's Big Bird was put to use. As of 2006, Vogel's primary performances as Big Bird are the "Journey to Ernie" segments. He's also taken over Jerry Nelson's characters, by the recommendation of Nelson himself. Vogel is, as of 2008, the voice of Floyd Pepper, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Robin the Frog, & Camilla the Chicken. He has also taken over the puppetry of Jerry's most famous character, Count von Count, but Jerry is still providing the voice. Vogel performed the muppets that were used in Kenneth the Page's view of the world in the 30 Rock episode, "Apollo, Apollo." Description above from the Wikipedia article Matt Vogel (puppeteer), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
The twenty-first century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the three-hundred-kilometer-long Stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's surface... and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad. For the Stone was from space - but perhaps not our space; it came from the future - but perhaps not our future; and within the hollowed asteroid was Thistledown. The remains of a vanished civilization. A human - English-, Russian-, and Chinese-speaking - civilization. Seven vast chambers containing forests, lakes, rivers, hanging cities... And museums describing the Death; the catastrophic war that was about to occur; the horror and the long winter that would follow. But while scientists and politicians bickered about how to use the information to stop the Death, the Stone yielded a secret that made even Earth's survival pale in significance.
