The Raven ebook

The official description:

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe has always been a favorite of mine, and fortunately for Madflamingo, Philip Hatter of Thistledown Puppets has decided to illustrate this classic gem for all of us to enjoy. It’s available in eBook format and was designed and published specifically for the Amazon Kindle. You can find it at the Kindle store when it is released, but you can purchase a copy now by clicking on the link below. The price for this work is only $0.99 and it includes over thirty stunning illustrations.

You can see a few more illustrations here.

*Previously: Two-Fisted Poe.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

MST3K shades (link roundup)

MST3K shades designed by Matthew Borgatti. Download the pattern here (although it says you need a laser cutter).

And a few more links:

1. The advertising budget for Modern Warfare 2 was $200 million, or $50 million more than the budget for Avatar. Via.

2. Funny wooden marionettes for sale and as desktop wallpapers. Via.

3. Sam Fisher as Santa Claus, perhaps?

*Previously: Plush Crow and Tom Servo.

*Buy Splinter Cell toys at eBay.

Menacing vines (link roundup)

Creepy greenery, part of this urban exploration set, and spotted amidst these photos of abandoned places.

And a few more links:

1. Learn About Bourré, the Game That Took Gilbert Arenas Down. Via.

2. Mock GQ magazine cover features an all grown up Ginny Weasley.

3. Make a General Grievous finger puppet.

*Previously: Boba Fett and Indiana Jones finger puppets.

*Buy poker sets at Amazon.

Woman and dragon (link roundup)

Woman and dragon. See also: Another dragon, lovers and octopus.

And a few more links:

1. Plush Twitter mascot.

2. Scale model of the solar system reminds just how big our solar system is. (Get ready to scroll.)

3. Make your own Jawa puppet with light-up eyes.

*Previously: Gigantic blue puppet.

*Buy Jawas at eBay.

Puppet New Moon

New Moon told with puppets:

Bigger sets! Brighter lights! Dumber jokes! The New Moon video follows suddenly single Team Bella's journey as she gets extreme and learns to love her furry friends.

When Team Edward believes Bella has died, he vows to end his emo misery by publicly exposing himself in Italy, forcing the evil Team Volturi to kill him once and for all! Can Bella save her dreamy beau and restore her love life before it's too late?

Here's the official site.

*Previously: The real-life town Twilight fans love to visit.

*Buy Twilight toys at eBay.

The Hobbit puppet show

Advertisement for a performance of The Hobbit by Figurentheater Wilde & Vogel. Via.

*Previously: Real life Hobbit house.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

Big Man Walking

"Following the support given by The National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council's Inspire Fund, The Puppet Lab (in conjunction with Puppet Animation Scotland) is creating a giant 8 metre high man to walk through the towns and villages of Scotland. Big Man Walking, our gigantic figure, is a spectacular street event."

Here's video (the second video is very jerky):





You can see more large scale puppets by The Puppet Lab here. Via.

*Previously: Team Smithereen, stunt puppets.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

Octopus and Viking puppets

Lots of charming puppets on display at the Furry Puppet blog.

*Previously: Kanye West performs with a giant monster puppet.

*Buy Muppets at eBay.

Shaun Tan talks about the animated version of The Lost Thing

Shaun Tan is currently working on turning his book The Lost Thing into a short animated film. Below is a well-edited interview of Tan that also features a few moments from the film. Although his books are typically found in the kid's book section, Tan doesn't have kids, doesn't spend time with kids, and just produces art that interests him.





Over at the The Lost Thing official site, you can see some concept art from the film.







And The Lost Thing was previously a stage production. Go here to see some of the puppets Hilary Talbot created for that show. Below is just a tiny sampling of those puppets:







Relatedly, at Shaun's site, you can see several photos from a stage production of his recent book, The Arrival:







Finally, you can buy Shaun Tan's books at Amazon.



*Previously: Alan Greenspan puppet.



*Buy puppets at eBay.

Alan Greenspan puppet (link roundup)

Alan Greenspan puppet by Ellen Rixford for the cover of Institutional Investor. Via.

And a few more links:

1. 700 New York city public school teachers are paid to do nothing.

2. Relatedly, an audit revealed 257 "ghosts" on the Detroit Public Schools payroll.

3. In other Detroit news, this week, Monica Conyers, the chairwoman of the Detroit City Council and wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), pled guilty Friday to federal bribery charges.

4. Tree House restaurant built to advertise the Yellow Pages.

*Previously: Violent commercials starring proto-Muppets.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

Shockingly violent coffee commercials starring Muppets

Surprisingly violent series of commercials for Wilkins Coffee, featuring primitive Muppets. One of the ads involves a guillotine.



Hard to believe, but it apparently was a genuine ad campaign:

In 1957, Jim Henson was approached by a Washington, D.C. coffee company to produce ads for Wilkins Coffee. The local stations only had ten seconds for station identification, so the commercials had to be lightning-fast -- essentially, eight seconds for the commercial pitch and a two-second shot of the product.

From 1957 to 1961, Henson made 179 commercials for Wilkins Coffee and other Wilkins products, including Community Coffee and Wilkins Tea. The ads were so successful and well-liked that they sparked a series of remakes for companies in other local markets throughout the 1960s.

The ads starred the cheerful Wilkins, who liked Wilkins Coffee, and the grumpy Wontkins, who hated it. Wilkins would often do serious harm to Wontkins in the ads -- blowing him up, stabbing him with a knife, and smashing him with a club, among many other violent acts.

Wilkins and Wontkins were generally the only characters in the commercials, though on rare occasions, such critters as a Muppet whale or baby birds would appear. Company owner Mr. Wilkins was also invoked more than once.

The characters proved so popular that in October 1958, the company offered vinyl puppets of Wilkins and Wontkins through the mail for $1.00 and a coffee can label. The offer on the can said, "Hey Kids! I'm Wilkins -- he's Wontkins -- you see us on TV!" Obviously, Wilkins Coffee and Henson knew that the Muppet characters had kid appeal, although this doesn't seem to have had any effect on the use of violence and terror in the ads.

You can see a list of all the commercials here. And go here to see many more Muppets videos from the 60's.

*Previously: From the producers of Yo Gabba Gabba, Team Smithereen, stunt puppets.

*Buy Muppets toys at eBay.

Kanye West performs with a giant monster puppet

Kanye West's last concert tour apparently included a performance with a giant monster puppet created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Here's the Scissor Sisters performing Take Your Mamma Out with Henson puppets at the Brit Awards:



*Previously: Muppet Star Wars figures.

*Buy Muppets toys at eBay.

Team Smithereen

I was looking through the website of W!ldbrain, parent company of kidrobot, and creator of Yo Gabba Gabba!, which lead me to the blog for Team Smithereen, "the new stunt puppet show from The Dan Clark Company/W!ldbrain/Jetix Europe." This guy is Thrill Kat:




Coming soon to tv and kidrobot, I hope.

*Previously: Mummy, caveman, and knight puppets by Russ Walko.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

Gloomy Bears puppets

Gloomy Bears puppets (I saw no purchase information). See also: Gloomy Bears bridal couple.

*Previously: Gloomy Bear gauntlets.

*Buy Gloomy Bear toys at eBay.

Craig Ferguson dances with puppets (link roundup)

A fun video with Craig Ferguson dancing and singing with puppets. Go here for a Simpsonized version of Craig Ferguson, with puppets.

And a few more links:

1. Trent Reznor is not pleased that Apple rejected his iPhone app.

2. Check out Jaume Plensa's "Nomade" word sculpture.

3. Oni paper toy.

4. Papercraft Wolverine.

*Previously: Mummy and caveman puppets.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

Night Shade puppet show

I'll quote the Night Shade blog:

Night Shade's mission is to create various forms of experimental storytelling. Artist's Liz Allen, Sarah Frechette, Jason Thibodeaux, & Alain Z, along with composers Oviedo Menedez and Blake Madden have fused together as 'Night Shade'. Based out of SW Portland, we blend illustration, puppetry, music and light with supernatural and modern aesthetics into bewitching cinematic theater.

Here's some video footage:



If you're in Portland, you can buy tickets right here. And finally, here's a short review of their show. Via.

*Previously: Mario Mushroom shadow puppet.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

The Fist of Oblivion

Roman Coppola plus WhittmanHart Interactive plus Scion plus a strong 70's vibe equals The Fist of Oblivion, a gritty tale featuring kung fu and a puppet that looks suspiciously like Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle. You can watch all of the episodes at the official site.

*Previously: Francis Ford Coppola calls De Niro lazy.

*Buy puppets at eBay.

How to make a stop motion animation puppet (link roundup)

This video makes it look almost simple to create a stop motion animation puppet (well, at least the head). The puppet is of Sam Tyler from the show Life on Mars (which I never watched). If you're a fan of the show, you might enjoy reading this list of clues buried in the show. Via.

And a few more links:

1. A cunning way in which gypsies use their bad reputation to scare people out of money.

2. Creepy version of Pac-Man by TS Rogers.

3. You can download the 4-issue comic book series Some Kind of Slaughter, which has been nominated for a Harvey Award. Via these sites.

4. Baby manatee photos.

*Previously: Pac-Man as samurai.

*Buy plush manatees at eBay.

More about Scott Campbell and Russ Walko's puppets

I previously mentioned the knight, caveman, and mummy puppets Russ Walko made, based on Scott Campbell's designs. Scott has now posted the paintings Russ relied on:





Each of the paintings, as well as several more by Scott are on sale here.

*Previously: Space Mummies Attack!

*Buy mummy posters at eBay.

Mummy, vampire, Don Quixote marionettes

Mummy, vampire, and Don Quixote - - just a few of the marionettes on display at Tony Sinnett's site. He has various marionettes on sale at Etsy.

*Previously: Plush Quixote.

*Buy puppets at eBay.