Pop culture roundup: Jim Henson vs. Ayn Rand; Roger Corman; Superman; Mary Marvel; Doctor Who!

Via BoingBoing: Muppets creator Jim Henson smacks down Ayn Rand:

JIM HENSON

I think Ms. Rand and my character Oscar the Grouch would have a lot to talk about actually. I am laughing out loud at this idea.

AYN RAND

Why would I want to talk to him. What has he achieved or trying to achieve.

JIM HENSON

He has achieved what I think is the ultimate goal of your way of thinking.

JIM HENSON

Isolation. Contempt for others. A hard heart. Yet even he can muster a bit of empathy every now and then.

AYN RAND

I am not isolated. I have no contempt for others. Millions of people read my books and find my thoughts inspirational. I hardly spend my time on the sidelines in a trash can grumping.

JIM HENSON

Not yet anyway.

-----

B-movie director Roger Corman, now 86, plans to make new version of eight Edgar Alan Poe stories he filmed back in the 1950s and 60s:  "House of Usher" will be followed by "The Pit and the Pendulum," "Premature Burial," "Tales of Terror," "The Raven," "The Hunted Palace," "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Tomb of Ligeia."

This time, Corman will produce but not direct the films, with the first to shoot in 2013, followed by two a year after that on budgets of $2 million to $2.5 million (the originals were shot for $250,000 to $350,000, not adjusting for inflation, on 15-day schedules).

The new productions will be self-financed by Corman’s New Horizons Productions, which will give the films at least a short domestic theatrical release and offer international rights at the American Film Market.

“Now being able to do them in 3D and with a lot of computer graphics, we can do things we never dreamed of doing before,” he says.

 -----

Hear Bob Dylan read "The Night Before Christmas."



-----

Via Calvin's Cave of Cool:

-----

Alan Davis is just awesome (via the Marvel Age of Comics):

-----

Via Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep!: Mary Marvel faces the Coiffure of Death!

-----

"Doctor Who" is getting a revised theme and new title sequence starting with its upcoming 2012 Christmas special.

The titles are designed to be “dramatic and striking” and will contain “a couple of unexpected touches.” As for the theme, it will now be “more thrilling and powerful” as well as “slightly scary” and “stirring.”