The Legend of Zelda Violin Girl — whose real name is Lindsey Sterling — had brought her mad violin skills and adorable goofiness to Skyrim. She’s also brought a friend, both to sing and to run around with her in a scenic snowy wilderness while cosplaying, and then have a duel in which Sterling wields a violin bow. This makes things significantly goofier than usual, but it also makes the song more impressive, especially when you realize it’s made up entirely of Sterling’s violin and the guy’s voice. Thanks to everyone who sent in the tip.
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.