The Muppet Show song cover video

Check out this awesome cover of The Muppet Show theme by OK Go:



It's from a new album of Muppets song covers called The Green Album, which you can read about and listen to on NPR. Or you can listen to samples right here, via this thingy from Amazon:



Has a neat cover too:

The Dutch man who climbed a field and came down a mountain

According to Discovery News, there are plans afoot in the Netherlands to build their very own mountain; being discontent with the flatness of the country and the lack of skiing and hiking facilities they have has a result. Thijs Zonneveld, an advocate of the project, and a former professional cyclist, commented:

Flat is ideal for growing beetroot, raising cows or building straight roads, but it's a catastrophe from a sports point-of-view. I want a mountain, a real one. In the Netherlands.

According to Zonneveld, engineers and investors are looking into the project, with hopes of the new mountain featuring ski slopes, bobsleigh tracks, an ice rink, hiking trails, cliffs for climbing and scenic mountain roads with hairpin turns. According to Radio Netherlands, another supporter, professional skating manager Ron Mulder, even envisions the Netherlands being able to host the winter Olympics as result of the mountain’s construction! Here's Radio Netherlands' idea of what a Dutch mountain might look like:

Dinosaur film coming from Pixar!

At the recent D23 expo Pixar annouced a couple of future projects, one of which features dinosaurs! Here are the descriptions, care of io9, plus the desritpion fo the next Toy Story short:

The Untitled Pixar Film About Dinosaurs

What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? This hilarious, heartfelt and original tale is directed by Bob Peterson (co-director/writer, "Up;" writer, "Finding Nemo") and produced by John Walker ("The Incredibles," "The Iron Giant").

The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind

Pixar takes audiences on incredible journeys into extraordinary worlds: from the darkest depths of the ocean to the top of the tepui mountains in South America; from the fictional metropolis of Monstropolis to a futuristic fantasy of outer space. From director Pete Docter ("Up," "Monsters, Inc.") and producer Jonas Rivera ("Up"), the inventive new film will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind.

Small Fry

In the latest Toy Story Toon, Buzz Lightyear is left behind at a fast food restaurant when a kids' meal toy version of Buzz takes his place. While Bonnie's toys are stuck with the annoying 3-inch-tall Buzz impersonator, the real Buzz is trapped in the restaurant at a support group for discarded toys. As Woody and the gang devise a way to rescue their friend, Buzz tries to escape the toy psychotherapy meeting.

More information and coverage on io9, First Showing and /Film.

Jurassic Park: Dangerous Games

IDW have just released their solicitations for November, which include the third issue of their latest Jurassic Park series: Dangerous Games, written by Greg Bear and Erik Bear, with art by Jorge Jimenez. Here are blurbs and covers for that series to date:

Dangerous Games #1

The time has come... to return to Isla Nublar! The famed original Jurassic Park island has become overgrown and wild after years of being stuck in United Nations limbo. A major criminal overlord has moved in and started using the island as a base of operations. Undercover agent Espinoza tries to bring down the drug cartel- but when he's found out, there's only one place to run... the dino-infested island interior! It's survival of the fittest at Jurassic Park!

 

Dangerous Games #2

The hunt begins! Detective Espinoza is on the run in the deadliest of locations... Jurassic Park! With well-armed goons on his trail, this is a seemingly impossible game to win. Luckily Espinoza meets Dr. Frances White, an animal behaviorial expert also trapped on the island. But how much help will Dr. White be when she leads him directly to a hungry T-Rex? This is the dino action you've been craving!

Dangerous Games #3

Agent Espinoza is being hunted on Jurassic Park, both by dinosaurs and a blood-thirsty drug cartel. Tired, hungry and sick of being the prey, a desperate Espinoza decides to flip the tables and start getting crafty! The end result is a battle to the death at the top of a waterfall with deadly dinos on all sides. It's maximum Jurassic action in this issue of Dangerous Games!

If you make your way to Chris Ryall's blog you can also see some interior artwork, and some of the cover artwork without titles. Like this beauty:

Clone Wars season 4 trailer

Check out the new trailer for the forthcoming fourth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars:



I'm still waiting for season three to come out on bluray!

Fly near to space, in a balloon!

Forget rockets and spaceplanes, the way to travel above the Earth ahs to be in a balloon! Zero2Infinity's Bloon project looks like one of the most amazing experiences you could ever have (one would certainly hope so at €110000 per flight). Their helium filled balloon launches from a special dome, which can be transported anywhere in the world, and gradually inflates as it gets up to about 36km above the Earth for a three hour flight. From there you'll get amazing views of the Earth, seeing the curvature of the Earth, and the dark sky above. While that isn't high enough to experience zero-g the company claim their balloon can be flown in a way that can give zero-g (or lunar or martian gravity) for twenty-five second bursts - But with these kind of views who needs zero-g too?

 

Doctor Who 2011 part 2 prequel webisode

The BBC has a released a Doctor Who webisode ahead of the return of the series for the second half of this year's season in a few weeks time:

Star Wars bluray art

I just came across the full artwork for the forthcoming Star Wars bluray releases, pretty:

 

 

Harry Potter Studio Tour opening next year

Warner Brother have announced plans for the Warner Brothers Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter, to open in the spring of 2012. The tour will be about three hours long and include the major sets of the Harry Potter films, plus exhibitions of costumes, props, and special effects. They also plan to expand the attraction to include other Warner Brothers films made in the UK, such as the recent Sherlock Holmes and Batman movies. Here's what it will look like:

You can see more, and in a few months time book tickets, on the Studio Tour website.

UPDATE: Here's a video advert for it too:

Some highlights from the BBC Proms

We are in the midst of the BBC Proms season (that's a series of classical music concerts on BBC radio and TV for those not familiar), and this week has been particularly good, with the first comedy Prom, the always enjoyable movie music prom, and a prom by the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. Here are clips of the brilliant Tim Michin from the comedy prom, and the Spaghetti Western Orchestra:

Duncan Jones to expand his science fiction universe from Moon

In a LoveFilm interview, director Duncan Jones has revealed his next planned film will be set in the same reality as his (fantastic) film, Moon, although not necessarily otherwise connected:

It’s another science fiction film, which is hopefully going to be a summation of what I would love to make.

Hopefully this next film is going to be the best of both worlds, it’s going to be my own idea, really throwing myself and my own passions into it, but having the budget to be able to pull (it) off.

It’s sci-fi set, and it’s a little bit future set, connected to the universe that is described in Moon but a completely independent story. And in the same way, it’s also connected to this script I’ve been working on for a long time - Mute - independently and parallel as a graphic novel.

Chris Addison to be Mock the Week regular

According to The British Comedy Guide, Chris Addison will become a regularly weekly panellist on Mock the Week when it returns for the second half of the current series. Which is great, as he's very funny; and particularly good at the political/sociological sort of stuff Mock the Week is especially good at poking fun at.

On the flip side Russell Howard will no longer be a regular.

Niue's Star Wars coins

The New Zealand Mint has begun to release sets of coins, legal tender on the island of Niue, featuring Star Wars designs. There will be forty all together, starting with two sets of four solid silver coins in novelty cases (Darth Vader's helmet and the Millennium Falcon), and ten individual silver plated coins. Here are my favourite two:

 

You can find out more on the New Zealand Mint's website.

Mobius: An animated sculpture

Check this out, it's a stop-motion animated sculpture from Australian art and design firm Eness:



They also have a small wooden version for sale, so you can make your own mini versions!

Interesting behind-the-scenes look at Jurassic Park CGI

Jurassic Park is one of my favourite films, and what I continue to be amazed by every time I watch it is just how well the nearly two-decade old effects hold up; they look better than many modern effects! Here's an interesting look at how those amazing effects were made:

Terra Nova clips

Comics Continuum have posted six clips from the first episode of the forthcoming dinosaur/time travel show, Terra Nova. Here are my favourite two:


There are four more clips on Comics Continuum, plus the offical Terra Nova website has a whole load of prequel videos, here.

Doctor Who 2011 second half trailer 2

The BBC has released a trailer for the forthcoming second half of this series series of Doctor Who:

Pterodactyls and pyramids, oh my!