The Morning Roundup: Star Trek Pics, Noir Muppets, Ghibli Video Game, IngloUrious BastErds

Written by: Mike Leader, Special to CC2K

This morning we have news about a new film from Jim Henson Co.'s Muppets, the debut trailer for Studio Ghibli's videogame collaboration with Level 5. Also, literature and music news!

– Brian Henson, son of Jim, is going to direct another Muppets feature film . In the past, Brian has directed Kermit, Miss Piggy & co in A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. This film will be a change of tone, centring around murder, intrigue, and hard-boiled stylistics! Not much is yet known of Happytime Murders yet, but noir-meets-muppets sounds like an interesting prospect nonetheless.

– Adrien Brody and Michael Chiklis have been added to the cast of High School, an indie comedy which Empire-Online describes as 'about an over-achieving valedictorian who inadvertently smokes a joint… with the school stoner and faces a drug test. His plan to avoid detection and beat the test is to then get the entire school stoned'. Let's hope the film is funnier than its synopsis and more intelligent than that title pun.

-The biggest scoop to hit this week is the release of the first stills from J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek reboot. Check 'em out:

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– Also in film… Principal photography has started on Quentin Tarantino's World War II romp, Inglourious Basterds (which has also undergone a baffling name change, because if you made Pulp Fiction, you don't need to be able to spell correctly). The film will be making light of atrocities and undoing the efforts of both history and English school teachers in early 2009.

– Aravind Adiga has been announced as the winner of this year's Man Booker Prize. The prize is given annually to writers in the English language who are citizens of either the Commonwealth of Nations or Ireland. Previous winners include heavyweights such as V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, J.M. Coetzee and Kazuo Ishiguro (the list is impressive, check it out). Adiga, born in India, won for his debut novel, The White Tiger, which tells of the grim reality behind the country's current economic prosperity. Read the review from British newspaper The Guardian here .

– In the world of music… Green Day are working on a new album with renowned producer (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth) and Garbage drummer Butch Vig.

– To finish up with, we've got a look at Olivier Coipel's wraparound cover for Thor #600, which will appear after Thor #12, in January 2009. This will mark the 600th starring comic appearance from the deity-who-brought-you-the-day-before-Friday. Check IGN for the full scoop on this bizarre numbering decision.

– …And we also have the debut trailer for Studio Ghibli's DS game collaboration with Level 5. We've reported on Ninokuni in the past: Ghibli will handle the animation, Level 5 will handle the gameplay. From this trailer, the whole affair looks sumptuous. If you're not sold – check the limited edition Japanese packaging !