Star Wars, hmm?  How about Star Wars origami, hmm?  Better still, Yoda origami, hmm?  Over at hongkiat. check out other nerdy origamis, and care of a mr, the Yoda is.  Phillip West.  His Flickr page check out.  Hmmmmmm.

TRANSLATION:

Who loves origami? Who loves Star Wars? How about Star Wars origami?  Better still, Yoda origami? Check out other nerdy origami at HongKiat, and the Yoda is from Mr. Phillip West. Check out his Flickr page.

Happy Talk like Yoda day!

• A folded up Yoda
• Phillip West’s Flickr Stream

LucyRavenScar on Etsy, has her patterns for all 12 of her Star Wars Mini Amigurumi up for sale. For those who the universe has blessed with this sort of jedi power, these are for you.

They’re adorable.
They’re squishy.
And there is one of nearly every character.

What’s not to like?

If you’re looking for just one of the patterns check out her shop and narrow down the search.

• LucyRavenScar on Etsy
• 12 Patterns for Star Wars Mini Amigurumi
• Other Star Wars Crafts on Geek Crafts

The folks over at NicNacNoodle have cooked you up a scrummy Princess Leia headband tutorial.

The best bit is ,you don’t have to knit or crochet or anything like that! Infact this’d be a great rainy day project to keep the kids busy (and keep them geeky!)

Now you can dress up as Princess Leia without using 3 tins of hairspray, WINNING!

• Go to the tutorial at NicNacNoodle
• tutorials at Geekcrafts
• Star Wars crafts
• costumes at Geekcrafts

Allow me to introduce you to Noel Cruz, re-painter of dolls. He takes dolls that are mass-produced to look like celebrities/characters and refashions them to look more realistic and lifelike.

While he has (re)created literally hundreds of dolls, from Bette Davis to Robert Pattinson, of particular interest to us geeks is his work on J.R.R. Tolkien‘s characters from Lord of the Rings. Behold Aragorn and Arwen, as recreated by his very precise brushstrokes.

The Before and After shots are very impressive – the Before’s look so flat, and the After’s look like they belong in Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

Which beloved characters would you pay big money to have recreated in doll-form like this?

Links of Interest:

• Noel Cruz’s homepage
• Aragorn doll on DeviantArt
• Arwen doll on DeviantArt
• More Lord of the Rings crafts on GeekCrafts
• More Tolkien crafts on GeekCrafts

Crocheted using yarn of the 3 and 4 weight categories, you could adjust the size using different weight yarn and needles.  Crocheted Smaug is indeed a faithful rendition of the depiction found in Tolkein’s watercolor entitled Conversations with Smaug.

• Smaug, the Golden, the Dragon of Erebor on Instructables

…cuz it’s like R2D2 but on your eye? Eh? Eh? No? Bah.

Yeah, anyway, here’s a fabulous photo of R2D2-inspired eye makeup in honor of May the Fourth. No tutorial, but come on, figure it out. Can’t be that hard! Now I just need an occasion to wear it…preferably before next May the Fourth.

Check out the curiously accurate Darth Vader voice…

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

• Go to CutePolish’s YouTube Channel
• Star Wars on Geekcrafts

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
Director: Joss “The Man” Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, and Samuel L. Jackson
142 minutes
Rated PG-13

Last week Kansas City was one of the select cities to host The Ultimate Marvel Marathon in AMC theaters. We took a “family day” to enjoy and revel in the geekiness. It was advertised as “one epic day” – it did not disappoint.

The marathon featured all five of the individual movies in the order they were released – Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America – followed by the midnight premiere of the Avengers. Despite the 15 hours in movie theater seats, it was really cool to see them back to back – I caught quite a few more Easter Eggs than when I watched them singly.

AMC put on a great event – in-between each movie they did trivia and giveaways, which was fun. They also had order forms from the adjacent Fork & Screen venue, so you could order from their menu and pick it up at a designated time at Guest Services. I heard they sold about 2000 tickets between the Marathon and the Avengers midnight showing, but concession services seemed to move pretty quickly and smoothly. With 25-45 minutes between movies, we were still able to move through and get soda refills as necessary (I don’t even want to think about the amount of caffeine and sugar we consumed that day!)

But you don’t really want to hear about what a fantastic time I had at the Marathon, do you? You’re here for a review of the Avengers. Did it really live up to the hype? Could it really be that good? In a word – yes. I’ve heard more than one person say it is the best superhero movie they have ever seen.

Again, we were lucky enough to see the premiere in a crowd of like-minded folks – everyone cheered and clapped and yelled at all the appropriate times, and were generally boisterously enthusiastic. This heightened the overall experience of an otherwise fantastic movie.

The movie basically chronicles Nick Fury’s (played by Samuel L. Jackson) first-time assembling of the Avengers team to battle a common foe bent on world domination (that would be Loki, Thor’s adopted brother, played by Tom Hiddleston). I really liked how the gathering efforts were depicted – the characters didn’t all “play nice” with each other right off the bat. Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr) rubbed the wrong way, and had a great fight scene against each other. Stark also didn’t get along with Bruce Banner/Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo) – some of the lines from that confrontation scene will have you rolling.

The script is really what made this movie. Director Joss Whedon co-wrote the story with Zak Penn, and also wrote the screenplay. While I wouldn’t say the dialog had characteristic Whedon one-liners a la other Joss properties like Buffy or Firefly, the back-and-forth between characters was breathtaking. The story moved at a very steady clip, and was definitely the most funny and entertaining of the now 6-movie franchise. You will not leave this movie without laughing and cheering.

Really, the only thing I could critique in this movie is the Chitauri, an alien race that Loki encounters during his exile from Asgard. For some reason, the scenes with “The Other” from this race reminded me of the heinously-costumed villains from Power Rangers – think Ivan Ooze, Lord Zedd, and Rita Repulsa. I asked my husband when we could expect the “putties” to scrambling come out. I think Joss could have figured out another way to get Loki an army, but that’s just me. They weren’t a bad plot device or anything – just too reminiscent of my kids’ Power Rangers years for me. You probably won’t have the same flashback/problem.

What you’ll love:

• The dialog/banter – I’ll need to see it several more times to catch it all
• The fight scenes – there is one with Hulk and Loki that we still chuckle about
• The S.H.I.E.L.D heli-carrier – my husband says it’s dead-on true to the comics
• How Captain America doles out military strategy and helps unite the group
• The Iron Man geek-out gadgetry – the scenes where he “disrobes” from the suit, and one part where he “enrobes” in mid-air are spectacular!
• How Joss managed to tie 5 movies into one seamless heroic adventure

This film is definitely a MUST-SEE – do NOT miss the chance to see it on the big screen! You will not forgive yourself.

Links of Interest:

•  The Avengers on IMDb
• Avengers movie trivia on IMDb
• Marvel Easter Eggs
• Marvel crafts on GeekCrafts
• More Joss love on GeekCrafts

Before you revoke my geek badge, let me explain; I cannot watch tv series, or films, out of order. I have to start right at the beginning and do them all, in order of creation. With Star Trek (and, while I’m confessing, the same goes for Dr Who; I’ve never seen an episode of that either) I just never had the heart to sit down at the start of 6 series and 12 (12!!) films. Maybe when I’m retired, then I’ll have time.

But never mind all that, one thing I do know; this Star Trek Comm Badge Needle Holder is cute.  It’s by Jenn, who is one of those quilters / generally amazing at everything she tries crafters who’s blog simultaneously inspires me and makes me despair at my lack of skill.

• Star Trek Comm Badge Needle Holder