Whistler

When I was first watching the new Muppets movie, I got to this segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrkIxTYymyE (embedding was disabled).

and I thought to myself, "That's fairly impressive.  I wonder if it's just a synthesizer, or if someone's playing a flute or something."

Apparently, not so much.  That virtuoso whistling was instead the legitimate work of one Andrew Bird.

It was probably cleaned up a bit, studio performance and all, but still.  That's freaking amazing.

Not really important

I just learned that Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be the voice of Smaug in the upcoming Hobbit movie(s) against Martin Freeman's Bilbo.

Pardon me while a squee like a little girl.

Squee!

Grunka Lunka Dunkity Dingredient

According to Julie Dawn Cole's memoir, the casting of the Oompa Loompas raised some difficulties.  In order to find actors who met the various, shall we say physical requirements, the producers ended up scouring circuses across Europe (filming was in Bavaria).  This led to a remarkable troop of actors who were consummate professionals, who lacked a single common language, and who apparently had a propensity for rather extravagant partying.  An odd combination, certainly, but one that definitely got results-- their performance was even more impressive with that in mind.

Their makeup also had its demands.  The Oompa Loompas were typically the first ones to arrive, and the last to leave.  On the one hand, a hell of a way to make a living.  But on the other, they're now cultural icons.  So perhaps it was worth it.