Yesterday, Neatorama featured a Muppet version of Queen’s iconic song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Lindsey Weber of Urlesque has compiled fifteen unusual and creative cover version of that song, including this ukulele version by Ukulele Bartt. Others include a typographical version, an orchestral version, and one in which the musician uses only his hands.

Link | Ukulele Bartt

This new muppet clip – made with 70 different muppets – takes on one of the greatest rock hits of all time; Bohemian Rhapsody. The clip stays true to the pure, unadulterated awesomeness that the muppets are meant to be and brings them to life once again. From Gonzo and Animal, to Beaker and Rowlf,  they combine to create what I see as both tribute to both themselves and to Queen. I could go on and on, but really, the best thing to do is let the video speak for itself. 

Enjoy.

– via nerdist

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by rampatmonkey.

Goodnight Keith Moon is a parody of the classic children’s picture book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. This version by Bruce Worden and Clare Cross features Keith Moon (1946-1978), drummer for The Who.

The humor is pretty dark, so readers who don’t wish to have haunting memories Goodnight Moon should probably skip this one.

Link via Popped Culture

Remember A Glorious Dawn, the awesome auto-tuned Carl Sagan (and Stephen Hawking) video clip that went viral? What could be better than that? Well, John Boswell of Symphony of Science made another song, this time featuring Sagan, Richard Feynman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube Clip] – via Friends of Tuva

Previously on Neatorama: 10 Neat Facts About Carl Sagan

Il Silenzio from Brandon Noonan on Vimeo.

Hawkins began building an electronic sound machine that would produce waves of 16 hertz—the same frequency at which the cilia move—to help break up the mucus. Generating a hum of such a low frequency normally requires van-size subwoofers, and so he spent 15 years honing and shrinking the speakers. Then one day as he was testing a mouthpiece filter for his machine, he noticed that blowing through it sent a slight vibration into his chest. Within five seconds, he sketched out the Lung Flute to amplify the effect. Blowing into the tube flaps a reed-thin sheet of plastic, which vibrates the chest and shakes the mucus until it’s thin and mobile enough for the cilia to usher it up your throat. “I felt so stupid because the answer was so simple,” Hawkins says.

Today, doctors in Japan use the $40 Lung Flute as a tool to collect sputum from patients suspected of carrying tuberculosis, and in Europe and Canada it’s used to help test phlegm for lung cancer. Clinical trials in the U.S. have shown that it is at least as effective as current COPD treatments. At press time, Hawkins expected the device to receive FDA approval any day, and says the reusable device could also provide home relief for patients with cystic fibrosis, influenza and asthma.

Link | Video of the flute in use | Image: Popular Science

Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, he has used a motley mix of materials (old typewriters, formed brass and steel, leather and quartz crystals) to put together a contraption that you wouldn’t have envisaged even in your wildest dreams – a gigantic eye popping out from the iPod controller section, and a crystal ball (?) replacing the comparably delectable screen; all resting on a steampunk victrola base with a blaring horn (we certainly hope there are no eerie tunes played for the additional effect).  Good news, though. It plays like your regular iPod so you can handpick your own tunes.

Link

Get ready for a strange story of a lost Beatles album found on cassette on the other side of a portal to a parallel universe. James Richards brought the cassette back and is making all the songs available. Link -via YesButNoButYes

Kyle Evans created a electric didgeridoo that can be performed wirelessly through a bluetooth transmission to his computer:

I created this instrument to experiment in the combination of the organic sound qualities of a didgeridoo with the advanced signal processing capabilities of modern computer programming and sound synthesis. This custom built didgeridoo features externally mounted modules that allow the performer to process and manipulate the sound of the instrument in real time. All control data is transmitted wirelessly via blue tooth and is controlling several audio processes created in a custom-built software environment.

You can view complete schematics for the instrument and videos of live performances at Evans’ blog.

via Make | Evans’ blog about the project

Reminiscent of the amazing musically coordinated fountains of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas the Burj Dubai fountains named “Dubai Fountains” certainly are impressive. This $217 million project was built by the same California based company WET Design (whose website I highly suggest checking out as it is beautiful!) that created the Bellagio Hotel’s fountains. This record setting fountain uses 6,600 lights with 50 coloured projectors and is able to fire the water into the air at as astonishing 150m or 490ft! The music played in this video is Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman’s “Time to Say Goodbye”.

The first video I found through Dark Roasted Blend (check out the rest of the site!)

This second video is by far my favourite and allows you to see a much closer view of the fountains at work. The song used in the performance is called “Baba Yetu”, created by Christopher Tin which I’m sure some of you Civ 4 fans will most certainly recognize as the opening track to the game!

Ever wonder what would happen if you combined true musical talent with a popular video game like Rockband? This is what you would get.

While taking a break from practicing one day, MsFrizzyHair, a recent college graduate with music degree had a bizarre thought as she watched her brother play Rockband. "I wonder if that microphone would pick up a flute…" Check out the video to see the answer!

– via youtube

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by lennie02.

Ben Miller of Urlesque has compiled several pop, rock, and metal songs performed by harpists, such as CKania13’s rendition of Led Zepplin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” The other videos are selections from Journey, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Lenny Kravitz.

Link | Previously on Neatorama: Harptallica

[YouTube Video Clip] - via reddit

If you only saw one YouTube clip today, make it this one. Here's The Golden Age of Video by Ricardo Autobahn, made from movie clips (which ones? David Glover got them all figured out). We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Its Ass. Indeed.

Lyrics, from YouTube submitter slipknotskate1:

1,2,1,2,3,4
We accept her, one of us, we accept her, one of us!
Gooble gobble gooble gobble!
We accept her, we accept her!
We accept her, one of us, we accept her, one of us!
Gooble gobble gooble gobble!
We accept her, we accept her!

(We-we) we came, we saw, we kicked it's ass,
I was testing you - and you passed,
Dental plan! Lisa needs braces,
Be required to fart on a regular basis,
I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse,
Channel 13 - Eyewitness news!
Robocop, who is he?
Dead or alive you're coming with me.

In a hurry to be fed, beady eyes and big blue head.

I'm telling the truth Doc, you gotta believe me,
Why does everything I whip leave me?
My beautiful chocolate! Candy is dandy,
Fava beans and a nice Chianti,
You can count on Slippery Pete,
Suicide will be nice and neat!
I didn't build the Panama canal,
Open the pod bay doors please, HAL,

These aren't the droids you're looking for,
These aren't the droids we're looking for,
I am not a number I am a free man!
Rosebud.
To The Idiotmobile!
Right away Michael,
I-I-I-I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.

We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass,
You don't understand I coulda had class,
Round and tasty on a bun,
Ooh Zippy look what you've done!
Finally! Cast off those lines!
No, I've been nervous lots of times,
Red Rum! What's the matter honey?
Just robbed Boss Hogg all of his money!

We came, saw, we kicked it's ass,
Writing checks your body can't cash,
I was elected to lead, not read,
I feel the need - the need for speed,
Watch out for snakes, a good man's loafer,
HQ - my hat looks like a muffin - over,
My god it's full of stars,
There was no driver in the car..

In the car (repeat)

Well you see I'm in hot pursuit!

There are only two things I love in this world - everybody and television!
#The Simpsons
#Run With Us!
Ugh - you must be shrooming,
Wait for me Moomin!
Cross live to meet the host of that show, Meat Boy,
I want to go to there.

We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass,
An oil tycoon - like a.. moustache,
Nice beaver! I just had it stuffed,
I don't give a shit, close enough,
Where's me washboard? I'll get me coat,
Y-y-y-you're gonna need a bigger boat,
What'd she say? I think she bought it,
Suck it monkeys! I'm goin' corporate!
C'mon let's take a drive! A drive?
Number 5 is alive!
It's only a laugh, no harm done,
Pickles, french fries, yum yum yum,
Bueller, Bueller, Bueller,
It's 2 degrees cooler,
The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long,
Six words in the whole song.

We-we-we accept her, one of us, we accept her, one of us!
Gooble gobble gooble gobble!
We accept her, we accept her!
You are number 6 5 4 3 2
I am not a number, I am a free man

We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass,
Give me my 20,000 in cash,
We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass,
I think you woke up the dead with that blast
We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass,
I think fast, I talk fast,
We came, we saw, we kicked it's ass,
Lois, this is not my Batman glass.

Thread tiny cameras through the singers’ noses and focus on the larynx. Then have them sing sweetly and see what it looks like deep inside. The singers are Juleiaah Boehm, Emma Deans, Alexi Kaye, and Sally Stevens. -via b3ta

It’s no real surprise that Wikipedia has a thorough list of these, but it’s interesting to parse through the many, and find a neat collection of songs and albums that were based on, or influenced by books.  Led Zeppelin has a scatological lyric library referencing JRR Tolkien, but let’s see what else is out there.

13. Alan Parson’s Project – The album is called Tales of Mystery and Imagination, and includes interpretations of  Edgar Allen Poe’s best, like “The Raven”, “Dr. Tar and Professor Feather”, and “The Cask of Amontillado.”  Here’s the awesome “Dream Within A Dream” video.  Also by Parsons: “I, Robot” (Isaac Asimov).

12. Rivendell (Rush) – A quiet, thematic representation of the Elf version of a Bed & Breakfast. (Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, of course.)

11. 2112 (Rush) - Side one* is loosely based on Anthem by Ayn Rand.

10. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica) - Based on the classic by Ernest Hemingway.

9. The Thing That Should Not Be and The Call of Cthulu (Metallica) - These guys really let good classic fiction influence their songwriting.  We get not one, but two songs in honor of H.P. Lovecraft’s best character.  Also by Metallica: “One”, based on the book Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo.

8. The Small Print (Muse) - “clearly alluding to Goethe’s Faust, being sung from the point of view of the Devil to someone selling their soul to him in exchange for, presumably, musical prowess and fame…” source

7. Anthrax Loves Stephen King - As do a lot of bands like Pennywise (It).  But Anthrax named one of their best albums Among the Living after King’s character Randall Flagg in The Stand.  They also penned a song called “Skeleton in the Closet” based on King’s “Apt Pupil”.

6. Tom Sawyer (Rush) - Wow, Rush.  Even “Red Barchetta” is based on a vague book called A Nice Morning Drive by Richard S. Foster.  At least Tom Sawyer is pretty well known both as a song and a book.  Who can resist the urge to sing along when Geddy Lee croons, “The River!”

5. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Cream) - Psychedelically sums up all you need to know about all the ins and outs of Homer’s The Odyssey.  And I quote, “Tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers…”  (This was actually a lyric inspired by lyricist Martin Sharp’s travels in Ibiza.)  But the Sirens are there, so that’s cool.

4. The Ghost of Tom Joad (Bruce Springsteen) - Based on The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  Henry Fonda and Bruce Springsteen would have had some cool conversations, I bet.

3. White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane) -Based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.  Here’s a nice rendition of that song.

YouTube Link

2. Animals (Pink Floyd) - It never actually occurred to me before, but an argument can be made that the Animals album, with it’s corrupt pigs (be they on the wing, or three different ones), dogs and sheep, political overtones…  Yeah, it’s definitely based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

1. Iron Maiden (Pretty much every song of theirs, ever) - At least a heavy handful.  These Brit bad boys of metal must have had some scratched up library cards.  Their adaptations include:

• Seventh Son, by Orson Scott Card (on the 7th Son of a 7th Son album, including all songs)
• Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
• Flight of Icarus (Mythology)
• The Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Alan Sillitoe)
• Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heinlen)
• To Tame a Land (Dune, Frank Herbert)
• The Trooper (The Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Tennyson)
• Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
• Murders in the Rue Morgue (Edgar Allen Poe)

On second thought, an honorable mention should be made for Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle of Evermore”, as it pretty much describes the Battle of Pellennor Fields in The Return of the King.

(Iron Maiden illustration by Ado Cedric & Tio Julio.)
*For help with determining what this means, ask a grownup.

Fifty-two years ago today (November 3, 1957), Sputnik 2 launched from the Soviet Union with a dog named Laika {wiki} on board. It was a tremendous political coup for the USSR to launch a living being into orbit. Unfortunately it wasn’t so tremendous for Laika, as they made no plans for her to ever return to earth. Several stories were told of how long Laika survived in space, but the full story was finally revealed in 2002. Laika only lived a few hours before the stress and heat did her in. Her remains orbited the earth for five months until the capsule burned up on re-entry in April of 1958. In honor of the anniversary, here’s Space Doggity by Jonathon Coulton.  -via Metafilter

Update: The video footage is from the song Moan by Trentemøller. -Thanks, waldemar!

Watch Cecilia Siqueira and Fernando Lima of Duo Siquera Lima perform Tico Tico no Fuba (zequinha de Abreu) with a single guitar at the 2009 Brazilian Music Institute in Gainesville, Florida. Sorry for the title, I couldn’t stop myself

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Arbroath

Darth Vader did not approve of how the conductor of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra was leading a performance of The Imperial March, so he stepped in to do the job himself.

In the links, you’ll find a longer video of this event from CNN.

via Topless Robot | CNN Video | Orchestra Website

This video is a promotional gimmick for the British rock band Kasabian. It begins with craftsmen creating enormous functional buttons on the wall of a London warehouse. These and additional visual effects make a giant version of the video game Guitar Hero. Participants play by kicking soccer balls at the buttons in the right order to the tune of one of Kasabian’s songs.

via The Ampersand

The Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt isn’t just a t-shirt. You can actually play music on it. Use a magnetic pick over the string markings and press down on the frets with your other hand. There’s also a volume nob and an amplifier that fits on your belt.

Link via GearFuse

YouTube Link

What do you get when you combine a certain 80s fad and sharks? Here’s a T-shirt designed by the always awesome Nathan Mazur of Scared of Bees and brought to you by MC Hammerhead, the hippest of all sharks. From the Neatorama Shop: Link

The end result is an uneasy glimpse of Mr. West at his worst, premonitions of his MTV Video Awards appearance abound, and the ending says a lot about the musician’s own battered image of himself.  It’s a fine piece, and will soon be available on iTunes.

Unfortunately for Spike Jonez, it was leaked last week with the help of…Kanye West.

“We Were Once a Fairytale” was leaked to the Internet and posted on Mr. West’s official Web site, kanyeuniversecity.com. Within a couple of days it was taken down without explanation.  Mr. Jonze said the film was accidentally leaked from the postproduction studio of a friend, and that Mr. West did not realize that it was not meant to be circulated yet. “I think he was like: ‘Oh, it’s out. I’ll link to it,’ ” Mr. Jonze said. (A representative for Mr. West declined to elaborate.)

NYT has the whole story here and here.

“We Were Once a Fairytale” (embedded video)

(Photo: Spike Jonez, Inc. & Getting Out Our Dreams Pictures)

Sam Hart wrote a love song for his cat entitled “Kitty Song.” Then he sang it to his cat while stacking 61 objects on top of him. Most of them are just playing cards, but others are quite large. You can find the lyrics to the song at the YouTube link.

via Have You Seen This?

The song is called Prisencolinensinainciusol, written by Italian artist Adriano Celentano in 1972. Recorded by Celentano and Raffaella Carrà in an American accent, it sounds like it should be English, but the lyrics are pure gibberish. Link -via Metafilter

Animator Noam Raby expressed his love for the webcomic xkcd and the many interests of its artist, Randall Munroe, in this one minute music video. Raby and Munroe have previously collaborated on another animated video entitled “Letting Go.”

Art by Randall Munroe and singing by Olga Nunes.

via io9 | xkcd.com | Raby’s Website | Olga Nunes’ Website | Interview with Randall Munroe

If you could think of seven different themes, chances are a few of them are on Cinematical’s list.

One of the seven is one of my favorite movies of the genre, Poltergeist, music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Jerry Goldsmith previously contributed a classic horror theme with his score for Richard Donner’s Omen, but this one, not unlike Komeda’s work on Rosemary’s Baby, runs counter to expectations that horror movie music needs to be naturally dark or heavy to be menacing. That said, the children’s chorus that sweetly and innocently provides a theme for the film’s young protagonist – ironically, sort of the conduit for both its “monster” and heroine – is at once wholesome and terrifying, creating a similar sense of unease and eventually terror as the kids embody the film’s themes of childhood swallowed by a mysterious and terrifying world.

YouTube Link

More great themes at Link.

Klenginem is a German rapper who performs in the Klingon language, mostly modified Eminem songs. Here is his performance of “SuvwI’pu’ qan tu’lu’be”, which is known in English as “Without Me.”

Official Website via Popped Culture

Don’t laugh.  This young man gives a remarkable rendition of the third (”Presto”) movement of the “Summer” concerto from The Four Seasons.

If you enjoy this, be sure to also view the accordion versions of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee and Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

YouTube link.

Update 10/14/09 by Alex – the guy is Alexandr Hrustevich, and you can see many more excellent clips on his YouTube profile page.