I’m admittedly a bit of a soundtrack nerd; in so many cases, the right music can make or break a scene, while the wrong music can ruin the vibe faster than you can say “Ladyhawke/WangChung/GoNinjaGoNinjaGoooo.” (Though you should never actually say that, as it summons unspeakable evil).

Since we’re tackling so many Bowie albums and movies this week, I thought it might be fun to take a look how his music has been used in film and television over the years. It’s interesting to see how a scene can completely recontextualize a particular song, and the heightened emotional impact that music can bring to a moment (or even an entire series, in some cases), and so I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite examples of Bowie’s contributions to both big and small screen soundtracks. And just to make it interesting, I’m not focusing on original, made-to-order compositions, but tracks that existed independently and had a life of their own before Hollywood (or the Beeb) came calling.

[Get hooked to the silver screen...]

Over the course of Bowie Week, we’ll be focusing on many of David Bowie’s major film roles, including The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hunger, Labyrinth, and his memorable portrayal of Nikola Tesla in The Prestige. In a career as fascinating and varied as his has been, though, the Greatest Hits approach doesn’t cover nearly enough ground. As an artist, Bowie has spent a lifetime blurring the lines between performer and stage persona: after all, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars was famously advertised with the slogan “David Bowie is Ziggy Stardust”…while, in smaller type, the words “Ziggy Stardust is David Bowie” ran across the bottom of the ad.

This confusion between creator and creation is something Bowie has played upon from the very beginning—and then there’s the fact that, over the last couple decades, he himself has become the direct inspiration for various fictional characters, from the Lucifer of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to The Venture Bros. version of David Bowie, shapeshifting leader of The Guild of Calamitous Intent. So let’s take a look at a few of Bowie’s more interesting incarnations, both as an actor and as a character, the dreamer and the dream, beginning with his acting debut in the unsettling 1967 short film The Image.

[That’s pretty freaky, Bowie.]

Labyrinth was Jim Henson’s second collaboration with artist Brian Froud, following The Dark Crystal four years earlier. Labyrinth was clearly a very different, more expansive type of project; Henson and Froud were joined by George Lucas as executive producer, Monty Python’s Terry Jones wrote the screenplay, and rock demigod David Bowie signed on to star, as well as write and perform the movie’s soundtrack.

Whereas The Dark Crystal is often seen as Henson and Froud’s freewheeling homage to fantasy àla Tolkein, Labyrinth is much more structured and far more aware of its influences; it’s also wonderfully allusive and meta at points, filled with references to the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Maurice Sendak, and Walt Disney. And yet the movie doesn’t limit itself to clever references — it’s very clearly participating in the classic tradition of works like The Wizard of Oz, the Alice books, and Where the Wild Things Are, in which a young protagonist escapes a humdrum existence into an exotic, sometimes threatening, alternative reality.

[Cue the owl attack, begin the goblin invasion, and get ready for some really tight pants...]

The Dark Crystal debuted in 1982, wedged somewhat oddly between The Great Muppet Caper and the premiere of Fraggle Rock in the Great Muppet Time Line. In terms of Jim Henson’s career, placing the film chronologically is easy; figuring out how it fits into his development as an artist is a bit more complicated.

The project that eventually became The Dark Crystal actually began several years earlier when Henson fell madly in love with the work of fantasy illustrator Brian Froud; they became friends, and Froud began collaborating with Henson and Frank Oz. With the help of David Odell, a former staff writer for The Muppet Show, they eventually produced the first live-action film to feature no human actors, only puppets and animatronic creatures.

The film was groundbreaking in many ways, and yet it was not considered a financial success upon release, and is often described as something of a “near classic” even by its fans. I’ve always harbored mixed feelings toward The Dark Crystal; even as a kid, I remember having the sense that there were so many aspects of the movie that worked…but somehow all those amazing parts never seemed to come together, in the end. And so, for the first time in years, I decided to take another look.

[“What was sundered and undone shall be whole—the two made one.”]

Tomorrow, September 24th, would have been Jim Henson’s 75th birthday, and that fact is making me feel awfully nostalgic. As a child of the eighties, I grew up in the Golden Age of Henson’s career, watching Sesame Street and reruns of The Muppet Show, Muppet movies, Muppet holiday specials (taped on VHS, of course), and completely, utterly obsessed with the darker fantasy work of his later career: The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and the amazing StoryTeller series. My childhood was utterly infused with Henson’s humor, and the power of his imagination was a constant influence on my own, as it was for several generations of children (and plenty of adults, as well).

[Remembering Jim Henson]

Tragic news from Australia, as Starz has released a statement confirming the death of Spartacus: Blood and Sand star Andy Whitfield from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Whitfield, a relative unknown when he was cast as Spartacus, impressed fans and critics alike with his intense, emotionally wrenching portrayal of a man tormented by his past and destined to lead a bloody uprising against the tyranny of all-powerful Rome.

In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, his co-star Lucy Lawless remembered Whitfield as “a gentle man who never said a bad word about anyone, a gifted photographer, engineer (no really!) and a brilliant actor. Andy’s incandescent film presence made men want to be him and women want to marry him.” Initially diagnosed with cancer while preparing for the second season of Spartacus, Whitfield battled back (appearing at San Diego Comic Con in 2010, where he was greeted by thunderous applause) only to relapse a few short months later; he was only 39, and leaves behind a wife and two children.

Whitfield will continue to be celebrated by fans for both his brooding, electric performances as well as our occasional glimpses of the man behind the scenes, in lighter moments. While his time in the spotlight was brief, Andy Whitfield will certainly be remembered as a great talent gone far, far too soon.

In case you’re still catching up on the plethora of movie trailers that premiered over the weekend at Comic Con, here’s your chance to check out The Knights of Badassdom, an upcoming horror comedy with a cast that reads like some kind of magical fanboy wishlist sprung to life. We’ve got the awesome Peter Dinklage (enough said), True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse, in shining armor), frequent Whedon muse Summer Glau, frequent Aaron Sorkin muse Joshua Malina (look, I know The West Wing isn’t SFF, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome), Community’s Danny Pudi (Abed! Playing a character named “Lando”!), the always likable Steve Zahn, and the brilliant Jimmi Simpson, who finally seems to be getting bigger roles after popping up on shows like Party Down, Psych, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for the last few years….

[So, are gamers getting love from Hollywood, at long last?]

The New York Public Library kicked off its Sci-Fi Summer in style Tuesday night with its much-buzzed about “Speculating on Fiction” panel, featuring some of our favorite authors (and occasional Tor.com contributors) Lev Grossman, John Scalzi, Catherynne M. Valente, and Scott Westerfeld.

The event featured a stellar set of readings by each member of the panel, introduced by Gavin Grant of Small Beer Press and accompanied by original music courtesy of the multi-talented Brian Slattery, author of the upcoming Lost Everything, leading a four piece band. Lev Grossman set the bar exceedingly high with an excerpt from The Magician King (the sequel to The Magicians), coming out in August—it was clever, and intriguing, and left everyone wanting more, and it certainly started things off on a high note. Cat Valente read from the beginning of her gorgeous middle grade novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, which debuted on last week’s New York Times Best Sellers list.

[Below the fold: Westerfeld, Scalzi, Shatner impressions, and Night Dragons]

Wall-E is generally referred to as a children’s film, and I’m not going to argue: it’s an excellent children’s film—a classic, absolutely. I also happen to think that it’s an even better movie for adults, for whom its lessons are more poignant, possibly more resonant, and more necessary. Pixar has a knack for producing films which consistently operate on two different levels: one which speaks to a young audience without condescension or pandering, and one which reflects adult experience, rather than just exploiting nostalgia for idealized conceptions of childhood or simply spiking the cinematic punch with snarky, Grown-Ups Only pop culture references and in-jokes.

Movies like Wall-E and Up deftly evoke complicated emotional responses in adults in a way that most children’s films don’t, speaking to adults on their own level through smart, subtle storytelling that’s often amazingly, heartbreakingly simple. Consider the opening sequence of Up, for example, which has the power to make grown men break down and sob as if they’ve just been kicked in the heart, but doesn’t seem particularly traumatic for small children at the same time; it’s not that kids don’t “get it”—they just don’t necessarily react to the sequence in the same way that adults, carrying a little more emotional baggage into the theater, tend to respond.

[Below the fold: Charlie Chaplin, Hello, Dolly! and the making of an animated manifesto]

In the folklore of various cultures and ancient civilizations, rabbits have represented a kind of Trickster figure; in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean mythology, rabbits live on the moon. The Aztecs worshipped a group of deities known as the Centzon Totochtin, a group of 400 hard-partying rabbits who were the gods of drunkenness, and in a slightly more recent mythos, bunnies were the bête noir of a certain thousand-year-old former vengeance demon.

As we head into the weekend, I’d like to take a minute to pay tribute to some of the more memorable bunnies and assorted rabbit-like creatures who have hopped, time-traveled, and occasionally slaughtered their way through science fiction and fantasy, beginning (in no particular order), with everybody’s favorite hard-drinking, invisible lagomorph….

[Follow me down the SFF rabbit hole]

Okay! First impressions of the new Captain America trailer: he’s patriotic! He’s not overly fond of the Nazis. His superpowers include abs, and looking great without a shirt on. Tommy Lee Jones is on hand to gravely quote General Patton (which makes total sense, since TLJ is officially more American than an apple pie filled with beef jerky and wrapped in the Star-Spangled Banner). Patton silently salutes from grizzled soldier heaven. Stanley Tucci’s German accent is entertaining. Notice a quick appearance by Howard Stark (Mr. Tony Stark, Sr.) at 1:13. Hugo Weaving is not what you expect (but is he ever?). Motorcycles! Explosions! Attractive woman firing a handgun. Fin.

[Not fin]

HBO’s just released an intense new poster for Game of Thrones—which premieres on April 17^th, but in case you need further assurances that Winter is (finally) Coming, here’s Sean Bean as Ned Stark brooding on the Iron Throne…

Cartoonist and all-around Internet magician Dan Meth is back with The Fantasy World Map, featuring imaginary realms drawn from myth, legend, and classic literature to more contemporary fiction, television and movies: everything from Tolkien to Dr. Seuss, Sir Thomas More to the Krofft Brothers. This is actually the twelfth in Meth’s ongoing Series of Pop-Cultural charts; we wrote about the first installment here, and you can find the rest here (personally, I’m a big fan of his Futuristic Movie Timeline. Zardoz, FTW!).

Now I can spend the rest of my Friday planning out the perfect imaginary vacation—I’m thinking I’d start out in Neverland, then maybe take a pirate cruise down to Living Island (which I can only imagine is kind of like Ibiza, but with puppets). Not sure about Camelot, though—I hear it’s a silly place. So, where would you go first? And is there any place on your wishlist that didn’t make the map? (Besides Randland?)

Bridget McGovern now wonders if the Swamps of Sadness share a soggy border with the Bog of Eternal Stench (having naturally assumed, as a kid, that they were located somewhere near Newark).

It seems that this jaw-dropping new trailer for the first-person shooter Dead Island is already causing plenty of controversy for its disturbing portrayal of a young girl and her parents being slaughtered by zombie hordes. Due out later this year, Dead Island is being promoted as a new twist on the zombie video game, with greater emphasis on storytelling and role-playing elements.

Both developers at Techland and publisher Deep Silver have refused to release any further details about the game, but it’s clear that they expect it to have a major impact on the gaming scene; while it still doesn’t have an official release date, the trailer certainly has people talking, for better or worse. So, what do you think—too violent, or just too awesome for words?

Bridget McGovern is still waiting for somebody to come out with Zombie Oregon Trail (where dying of dysentery will finally be the least of your problems).

In honor of today’s ongoing Superman vs. Batman debate, I think we should all take a minute (well, 1 minute and 35 seconds) to bask in the glory of “Superman Classic.” Then stick around for some brief-but-illuminating commentary from animator Robb Pratt, who works for Disney when he’s not making the greatest fan videos ever. And remember, whether you’re a devotee of the Dark Knight or a fan of the Man of Steel, we can always agree on one thing: giant robots are awesome.

[Via Chris Sims at ComicsAlliance]

One of the obvious perks of putting together a whole Batman-themed week is being able to spend every day re-reading comics, tracking down bootleg copies of the Batman TV show (shhh), and obsessively googling random Bat-trivia into the wee hours of the morning, all in the name of research. Now that things are winding down, we wanted to share a few of our favorite links, comics, and random stuff we’ve run across in the process of stalking the Caped Crusader all over the internet...

[Holy link round-up, Sexy Batman...]

A few months ago, I blogged about Flowtown’s attempt to revamp Randall Munroe’s original Map of Online Communities, first published in May, 2007, by creating the 2010 Social Networking Map. While it was interesting to compare the two versions, the newer map left something to be desired; in the comments, readers debated the shift in terminology from “online communities” to “social networks” and the omission of communities like 4chan, Fark, Reddit, Digg, and QQ, among others. Happily, Munroe has reclaimed his title as Official Cartographer of the Interwebs with a new and wondrous update of his own...Rather than expound at length upon its awesomeness, I’ll just post it here and let the LOLs commence:

Check out the giant version of the map here, and for the record: I love xkcd so much.

Bridget McGovern has definitely traveled through the harrowing Plains of Awkwardly Public Family Interactions, and would rather face a night swim through troll-infested waters.

Yesterday in our Zombie Week survey, we covered the all-important issue of weaponry. As vital as it is to be well-armed, one cannot underestimate the importance of a well-fortified shelter when attempting to outlast a zombie uprising. So, we turned to our panel of experts with the following question:

Because we can’t ALL hole up in the mall…. What’s your ideal hideout/refuge for riding out the Zombiepocalypse (feel free to be as specific as possible—we totally promise not to steal your strategic survival locale. Much.)

Join us below the fold for some extremely well thought out zombie escape plans (and that thing about not stealing their hiding spots? Not legally binding...). As always, jump in with your own opinions and advice in the comment section!

[Location, location, location...and braaaains]

As we creep toward the end of zombie week, it’s time to get serious and consider and issue of supreme importance when it comes to surviving the undead: weaponry. We put the question to our well-armed squadron of zombie experts in the following way:

Fire, boomstick, bat or blade? What’s your weapon/zombie-killing implement of choice? (And please: feel free to be creative—after all, your survival may depend on it…)

Below the fold lie answers from people who have clearly spent a lot of time thinking about this; in the interest of zombie preparedness, you might want to check out their advice, and contribute some of your own. Remember: when it comes to the zombiepocalypse, we’re all in this together...

[I think a Holy Hand Grenade would come in handy, eventually]