Rogues’ Gallery.

Via the NYT, various stars — including Brad Pitt, Rooney Mara, Michael Shannon, Viola Davis, Mia Wasikowska, George Clooney, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, and Glenn Close — channel some of their favorite movie villains in very short films. Gimmicky but mildly entertaining.

O Guo It’s Full of Stars.

“A dazzling green aurora frames the arc of the Milky Way over Jokulsarlon, the largest glacier lake in Iceland, in a picture taken in March. The image was a first-prize winner in the Second International Earth and Sky Photo Contest’s ‘Beauty of the Night Sky’ category.” Speaking of green lights, National Geographic chooses the top space photos of 2011.

The Snowtroopers in the Cupboard.

By way of Geek Tyrant, photographer Avanaut makes snow and sand-flecked cinematic art from Star Wars action figures. Considerably more impressive than the “underground rebel base” playset I once made out of an Ethan Allen book case.

That’s No Moon.

“[T]he detail is stunning in his original high-res version. You can see craters on Tethys, and the thick atmosphere enshrouding Titan (including the north polar haze cap). The image is very close to natural color, so this is approximately what you would see if you were there (shortly before freezing and asphyxiating, but what a way to go).“

Propaganda or no, a fully-armed and operational battle station would seem to be approaching Saturn’s moon of Titan in this breathtaking image by Gordan Ugarkovic, taken from data by the Cassini spacecraft. “Spacecraft and observatories store their images on hard drives, and anyone with access and the knowledge of how to process that data — no simple task, I assure you! — can use it to do their own work.“

Deep Dark Truthful Mirror.

“As the Evil Queen, Olivia Wilde joins Alec Baldwin as the spirit of the magic mirror from ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ In the dark depths of her lair, the Queen has summoned the mirror’s spirit through wind and darkness to reveal the identity of a lovelier maid than she. The caption reads, ‘Where magic speaks, even when you’re not the fairest of them all.’“

Mental health break #2 via Megg at Quiddity: Disney unveils new Annie Leibowitz photos for the Disney Dream campaign, featuring stars as Disney characters, including Jeff Bridges as the Beast, Queen Latifah as Ursula, and the two folks above.

I’m Not There.

“Liu Bolin’s body art began when he lost his house in Beijing for the city’s preparations for the 2008 Olympics Games. He used his body to camouflage in his surroundings as a sign of protest.” A friend passes along this intriguing collection of pieces by Chinese artist Liu Bolin, the “invisible man.”

Ten in the Rear-View.

“Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, several massive earthquakes wreaked havoc worldwide, Vancouver hosted a successful Winter Olympics, and so much more. Each photo tells its own tale, weaving together into the larger story of 2010.” Boston’s consistently impressive Big Picture gives us the Year That Was in photographs.

Lightning Crashes.

Via Boston.com’s indispensable Big Picture, the winners of National Geographic’s 2010 Photography Contest, including this remarkable divine commentary captured by Jay Fine. Definitely worth perusing. (NatGeo is taking submissions through November 30th.)

A Mole in the Movement.

“Responding to the newspaper’s requests, the government instead released 369 pages related to a 1970s public corruption probe that targeted Withers — by then a state employee who was taking payoffs — carefully redacting references to informants — with one notable exception. Censors overlooked a single reference to Withers’ informant number.“

Thanks to one small clerical error, the Memphis Commerical Appeal uncovers the hidden life of famed civil rights photographer Ernest Withers, who apparently doubled as an FBI informant. [Reaction.] “‘He was the perfect source for them. He could go everywhere with a perfect, obvious professional purpose,’ said Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Garrow, who, along with retired Marquette University professor Athan Theoharis, reviewed the newspaper’s findings.” Shady.

Tales of the Homefront.

“These images, by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations.” Two recent photo-exhibits of historical interest: The striking image above is from the Denver Post‘s “Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943” exhibit, which is definitely worth perusing. And the WP points the way to a similar FSA series: “Life During Wartime: Washington DC and World War II.” In both cases, the images come via the LoC.