Gollum's Cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U"

This deepfake of Gollum covering the song "Nothing Compares 2 U" is wrong on many, many levels. It's also glorious.

Witness the power of deepfakes! If I ever again speak at a workshop about deepfakes, I am whipping out this video.

(This cover needs to be used as a Ride chaser.)

(Tip of the cap to Jennifer Ouellette.)

Love Will Tear Us Apart: Geographic Edition

Make elevation maps of any location in the world in the style of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album cover (i.e. a ridgeline map) https://t.co/FQ3KSvU0FU

— kottke.org (@kottke) January 8, 2020

(Tip of the cap to Dan Anderson.)

Old Book Covers: Much Cooler Than Today

Book covers used to be so much cooler than they are now.

(I already knew this, but this is a particularly good example.)

I love the lengthy title-pages in some historical books. This one is particularly extraordinary!
- The Flash Mirror (c.1840) pic.twitter.com/K7XGUIYOz5

— Dr Bob Nicholson (@DigiVictorian) September 6, 2018

J-Pop Cover of Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"

I'm pretty sure that what you need in your life right now is a J-Pop cover of Tom Lehrer's "The Elements".

You're welcome!

(Tip of the cap to Elliott Schiff.)

Bluegrass Cover of "Gangnam Style"

Yes, really.

Honesty in Board-Game Boxes

Yup.

I don't agree with all of these, but they're damn funny—especially the one for Connect 4.

"The View from Trump Tower"

The View from Trump Tower is a new (and clever) take on the classic cover from The New Yorker.

(Tip of the cap to Tim Harford.)

Literature and Googly Eyes

Googly eyes definitely improve the covers of literary works.

They also improve Caltech's campus.

(Tip of the cap to George Takei.)

"99 Red Balloons" Covered with Red Balloons

Yup, yes it is.

(Tip of the cap to whoever posts for Nena on Facebook.)

Scala & The Kolacny Brothers

Kevin Hickerson posted this cover version of "Creep" by Scala & The Kolacny Brothers, which is "a Belgian girls' choir, conducted by Stijn Kolacny and arranged and accompanied by Steven Kolacny on the piano." And they performed the proper version --- i.e., the one that uses the word "fuck" --- rather than the censored version I heard dozens of times at Pax 2007. I don't remember having ever heard of this group before, so I looked them up on iTunes, and they have also covered artists like Depeche Mode (3 times!), Nirvana, and even a certain song by The Divinyls. And, believe me, you haven't truly lived until you have heard a children's choir sing "I Touch Myself." This is admittedly a bit disturbing, but these choir versions of those songs are also awesome (and simultaneously also "awesome"), so I bought some of their music. Sweet! Also, I am highly amused.

This is one of the reasons I like Facebook: It makes it easier to find gems like this.

Update (9/16/11): I think this version of "I Touch Myself" is perhaps slightly more disturbing in music video format, and as my cousin Scott points out, the conductor is all kinds of creepy.

"Pollock Plot"

Our "Pollock plot" is featured on the back cover of the spring 2011 issue of Biomedical Computation Review.

Mad Covers

Here is a medley of almost 30 different versions of the song Mad World, which was originally by Tears For Fears.

(Tip of the cap to GFreak.)