Look! Fincher, Lohan, Whedon, Pinnocchio, Sheen, "Chloe"

We've gone clip happy in this roundup because there are things to gawk at and it's a slow weekend online,  everyone being outdoors where it's awfully hard to look at computer screens.

Geekologie sneak peek of a marionette for the new stop motion Pinnocchio (produced by Guillermo Del Toro). Eery little false boy, that.
Film on Paper is a new website devoted to poster art. Big collection on launch with beautifully prepared photos of original posters.
Tailgate 365 looks at the three most recent Joss Whedon series (Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible) to determine what makes them tick and what makes them so rewatchable.
Ken Levine feels for character actors. It's hard out there for a number of reasons.

The Hobbit everyone's favorite beautiful blond braided elf is back; Orlando Bloom officially reprising "Legolas" for The Hobbit. Quoth Peter Jackson.

"10 years on, I’m thrilled to be working with Orlando again.  I look older – he doesn’t!"

Look! it's a camcordy peak at the teaser for David Fincher's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's very rapid fire "greatest hits" of the now well-known story but it looks enticing (as Fincher's films always do)

Look! it's Lindsay Lohan in a "psychological portrait" that's basically riffing on famous screen imagery from the 60s. But if a "psychological portrait" is only homages to great European and Scandinavian cinema, what is that actually saying about the object of the study. I'm not sure I see the point. But some of the images are very pretty even if Lindsay's psychology is not.

Look! It's Drew returning as "Chloe" for a special Memory-ial day video. For the life of me I can't decide what makes these "Chloe" spots so funny but they're just brilliant bliss.

Look! it's a Twilight fanfic reading by Michael Sheen. Feel free to LOL. I know I did.

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Sheen's big movie roles (Frost/Nixon, The Queen, Underworld) always reveal a very solid actor but I prefer him best when he's using that actor's wit like he is here. He has fun with his self-aggrandizing know-it-all in Midnight in Paris as well. As much fun as Woody allows him to have, I mean. He's barely in it.

Jagged Linky Pill

Grrrrrr. I'm totally not speaking to Critical Condition and Low Resolution right now because they did not include me in their awesome trip back through every track of Alanis Morrissette's "Jagged Little Pill" for its 15th anniversary. I'm going to write a list song about all the reasons I'm mad at Mark and Joe and then I'm going to screech it out unintelligibly over massive pop hooks and sell 14 million copies. I won't share a damn cent with them. They oughta know.

Under Link Swept
DListed Ewan McGregor being incredibly adorable with a puppy
For The Record is another theater event for movie fans in Los Angeles. It's a concert evening celebrating the music of Baz Luhrmann's films with a rotating cast from stage, tv, and screen. Sounds great. Between this and Streep Tease I so need a plane ticket right about now.
My new Plaid Pants loves Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins. I kinda wanna see it but I'm nervous about the intense violence. Audition was a little much for my girlish constitution... I nearly passed out.

Basket of Kisses checks in with the Mad Men cast during this agonizing wait for ANY news of a Season 5.
Vulture Billy Crystal will maybe possibly he'll think about it host the Oscars again if they have less statues handed out. F*** you Billy. I like seeing Costume Designer and Art Directors and all the rest win. Seriously, F*** you.
Socialite's Life Sandra Bullock is looking kind of deglam on the set of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Kenneth in the (212) starts a funny rumor about Bradley Cooper.
Cinema Blend has some drawings of Mother Gothel before she morphed into the Mother Gothel we know from Tangled which comes to DVD/Blu-Ray real soon.

That's a wee sample. We trust you'll remember that we're happy with the Gothel we got.

Blogs of Entanglement
The Guardian does some frightening though highly plausible thinking about end game of the new world order of film journalism (i.e. fannish blogging).
Pajiba, in light of last week's Tech Crunch vs. Cinematical scandal, pats itself on the back for not playing the PR game. See I'm not the only one navel gazing this week about how I blog! Must be something in the air.

For the record I've never been told by anyone to tone it down -- though I do get the rare nasty e-mail from people in the biz about certain comments I have made about certain actors and actresses -- but I kind of wish the studios were giving me money so that I could theoretically be asked to tone it down. I'd welcome an ethical challenge for money. ;)

 Supposed Former Celebrity Junkie
PopEater has a really interesting piece from Jo Piazza's CELEBENOMICS on Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan's mutual disintegration and why Charlie Sheen seems to be benefitting from his downfall financially whilst Lohan's fortunes and fandom continue to dwindle.

She theorizes that it's about branding and embracing of your flaws, or... "Make your mess your message." Good read but I still think the way these things usually play out this way is basic cultural sexism. Think for a minute how many anti-heroes the culture embraces to the point of total amoral adulation (Hi the entire gangster movie genre!) and then try to think of how many criminal women are similarly adored / emulated. Another thing that's totally not discussed is their respective talent. Lohan's self-immolation is SO much more depressing because to get where she's, uh, not, now, she had to cast aside real movie star presence (super hard to come by else every working actor would have it) and acting chops. Why shouldn't Sheen embrace his mess as a message? What else has he got? It's not like he was ever that magnetic on the big screen or particular genius at small screen comedy despite earning gazillions from those laugh tracks on Two and Half Men.

You Oughta See
My god. I keep forgetting to share this. You've probably seen it by now...

A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

I think the best thing about it is how it trusts the audience to infer some of the titles, since the openings are so iconic. Like that flash insert of Rosie Perez shakin' her thang for Do The Right Thing or all those snippets of credits that are just names rather than the title itself. It's a beauty, huh? If I could ever figure out how to rip DVDs in a simple way (last time I asked it seemed to involve about 5 different programs for one task) without spending a fortune I would make such great edits. I know it must be much simpler than I understand since everyone and their dog does it, some with natural talent like this, others with expensive software but less artistry.