Unsolicited Advice

Slightly delayed because goddamn roommate. A reader submits to me two adorable PBS Muppet videos -- one with Tom Hiddleston and one with Benedict Cumberbatch -- and comments: Comparing the two, I wonder if Cumberbatch is slightly ill at ease, possibly preferring to act alongside flesh-and-blood, because Hiddleston seems more comfortable in his segment. Possibly because he's improvising more? What do you think? Not really. I think what you're seeing there is a difference in acting styles and scripts. Hiddleston's segment casts him at someone who's obviously familiar with Cookie Monster already -- and besides which, he spends the entire time trying not to go heeeeeeee heeheehee Muppets! -- while Cumberbatch's script is specifically asking him to be bewildered by Murray's insistence on being his arch-nemesis and refusing to get his name right. Cumberbatch generally reads very true when he's acting, and in this case he's playing himself, so you get a

Visual designer Ralph McQuarrie has just passed away, aged 82. I relayed this fact to my roommate when I read it on io9. "Do I know him?" sez he. Oh yes. Yes, you know him. You just don't realize it. There are not a lot of visual designers known to the public. It tends to be a behind-the-scenes job, where if you're lucky some guy might someday ask you a few questions for the DVD release extras, and if you're really  lucky they'll even spell your name right on the captions. Ralph McQuarrie was an exception. Even if you don't know the name, you most certainly know his work. He was responsible for Darth Vader's distinctive armor. His story boards illustrate key scenes from all of the Star Wars films. His matte paintings provide backdrops for many locations in the films, one of the most beautiful being the wide vistas of Cloud City on Bespin. He worked as a visual consultant on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . He designed the alien ships in Close