Links Roundup

• Gadling offers a travel guide to the 2011 Oscar Movies. 

• Peter Lindbergh has put together a gorgeous photo campaign for IWC Schaffhausen starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Spacey and Matthew Fox among others. Called "Days in Portofino," the photos capture the glamour of the rich and famous on the Italian coast.

• Ticket applications for the London 2012 Olympics open this week (March 15).

• Newslite has a story on Japanese would-be tourists who can't afford to travel. To save cash, they're sending stuffed animals to go on the tours themselves (perhaps inspired by the gnome in Amelie?) Weird and adorable at the same time.

• In the same vein, Kermit On Tour follows my favorite amphibian on his travel around the US and other countries. Here he is in Amsterdam and you can check out the website for more:
  
  
   

• You can see more Muppets around the world in two unofficial fan videos for LCD Soundsystem songs. Kermit sings "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" in - where else - New York and also joins Cookie Monster and Animal in Brighton, England to perform "Dance Yrself Clean" in a more recently released video.

• National Geographic has satisfied the most whimsical part of me by building the floating house from Pixar's UP.