Grizztopher – The Bare Necessities, Christopher Robin, Chris Conte, Grizzly Bears, and the North Mississippi Allstars
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Quest:Bear_Necessities
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Grizztopher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bare_Necessities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BH-Rxd-NBo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Conte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_bear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Mississippi_Allstars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_Rock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizz_Chapman
Entering into the Ursai Village, your wizard encounters Chew’i, a white Ursai who is “helping” (most of the bears have done two things, diddly and squat) his village prepare for the upcoming Killawahoo Ceremony. After helping Chew’i, he sends you to Grizztopher who is further behind in preparations than Chew’i was. Grizztopher needs help checking the nets for fish. Your wizard ends helping Chew’i, Tosh, Grizztopher, and Kodi finish the preparations for the ceremony.
“The Bare Necessities” is a jazz song, written by Terry Gilkyson, from Walt Disney’s 1967 animated feature film The Jungle Book, sung by Phil Harris as Baloo and Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli. A reprise of the song was sung by Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera and Phil Harris as Baloo at the end of the film. In 1967, “The Bare Necessities” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost to “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Dolittle.
Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author’s popular books of poetry and Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney adaptations of the Pooh stories. The character appears in Milne’s poems and in the two books: Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). In the books he is a young boy and one of Winnie-the-Pooh’s best friends. His other friends are Eeyore, Kanga and Roo, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, and Tigger.
Christopher Michael Conte (born February 23, 1989) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2011 NFL draft and played with that team until he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015. He played college football for the California Golden Bears in 2007-2010.
The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis), other morphological forms of brown bear in North America are sometimes identified as grizzly bears. These include three living populations—the Kodiak bear (U. a. middendorffi), the Kamchatka bear (U. a. beringianus), and the peninsular grizzly (U. a. gyas)—as well as the extinct California grizzly (U. a. californicus†) and Mexican grizzly (formerly U. a. nelsoni†). On average, grizzly bears near the coast tend to be larger while inland grizzlies tend to be smaller.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark first described it as grisley, which could be interpreted as either “grizzly” (i.e., “grizzled”—that is, with grey-tipped hair) or “grisly” (“fear-inspiring”, now usually “gruesome”). The modern spelling supposes the former meaning; even so, naturalist George Ord formally classified it in 1815 as U. horribilis for its character.
North Mississippi Allstars is an American blues and southern rock band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is currently composed of brothers Luther Dickinson (guitar, lowebow, vocals) and Cody Dickinson (drums, keyboards, electric washboard, vocals). Their most recent album Set Sail was released in 2022. The group was formed in 1996 by brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson (sons of Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson), along with bassist Chris Chew, with the intention of combining the blues and bluegrass of the North Mississippi region with rock and other modern forms.
I’ll be the first to admit that NPCs from “Bear Necessities” stood out as “These Must be a reference to SOMETHING”. This article is PURE speculation. That said, I would like to thank Ashley D., Billy S., Diane G., Lynette H., Maureen P., Mike M., and Mike S. for their help with the Bear Necessities articles.
Mike S., my Wizard101 contact, has confirmed that the inspiration for Grizztopher was in fact a reference to Grizz from 30 Rock.
30 Rock is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey’s experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live, takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy show depicted as airing on NBC. The series’s name refers to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, where the NBC Studios are located and where Saturday Night Live is written, produced, and performed. The series was produced by Lorne Michaels’s Broadway Video (which also produces Saturday Night Live) and Fey’s Little Stranger, in association with NBCUniversal.
Tracy Morgan’s character, Tracy Jordan, would often refer to Grizz Chapman’s character, Warren “Grizz” Griswold as Grizztopher.
I will leave my other findings as coincidental. Thank you Mike for pointing me in the right direction.
Text has been borrowed from the listed urls
The current list of all the Lemuria references can be found here.
Grizztopher image is from Wizard101, and is (c) KingsIsle Entertainment, it is being used in a way that qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
Still from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is copyright Walt Disney Pictures.
Chris Conte image is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.
Grizzly Bear image is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is copyright Jean Beaufort and is shared under the CC0 Creative Commons license.
North Mississippi Allstars image is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is cropped from the 2003 album Polaris. The image is copyright Tone-Cool/ATO Records
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