My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker & Some Awesome Vampire Crafts!

my-pet-virus

My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker is probably the funniest book you will ever pick up. Now, I admit, this isn’t something you expect to hear about a real-life-story of a kid with hemophilia who ends up contracting HIV through a blood transfusion, but that’s only because you don’t know Shawn Decker. Shawn has faced down his HIV positive status with a twisted sense of humor and a series of anecdotes that will challenge what you think you know about prejudice, AIDS and life as a teenager while making you laugh until your guts hurt.

In addition to writing My Pet Virus and performing in the band Synthetic Division, Shawn, and his HIV-negative wife, Gwenn travel the world educating people about AIDS and safe sex. They believe that if a “positoid” and a “negatoid” (Shawn’s terms–read the book and find out more) can make a sexually active marriage work, then maybe other people should be aware of how to do it, too. In addition, Shawn has recently finished his first fiction work, a story about vampires, and if you are anxiously awaiting the release, you will find updates at his blog Shawn & Gwenn: Blog.

Even though Shawn has just finished one of the more hectic times of year in his life, he agreed to sit down and answer a few questions for our Geek Crafts readers.

So you grew up in a small town as a hemophiliac, HIV positive kid who loved
Depeche Mode…did you ever see yourself traveling the US speaking publicly
about your cult-hit memoir and safe sex?

I really had no idea I’d be talking about my HIV status with my friends, let alone strangers.  At age 20, around the same time I definitively decided that Black Celebration was Depeche Mode’s finest album, I realized I wanted to open up about my HIV status.  At that point, I’d been diagnosed half my life, and it seemed like an exciting thing to do.  Also, I was inspired by Pedro Zamora, who’d been on MTV’s Real World reality show.  He was young, HIV positive and speaking at college campuses.  He passed to spirit a couple of years before I started educating about HIV, but I was able to meet his partner, Sean, and his roommate, Judd Winick, both of whom I thanked for the inspiration.
Continue reading My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker & Some Awesome Vampire Crafts!

TEN Awesome Iron Man Crafts & Projects

Who didn’t love the Iron Man movie? Here are ten of the most awesome Iron Man craft projects that you can do for $20 grand or less…most of them a LOT less!


Iron Man Full Body Suit

full-body-iron-man-suit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Popular Mechanics website featured this “home made” Iron Man suitcrafted by Norweigan costume enthusiast,  John Kristiansen and a group of his friends that call themselves TMP. They attempted to create this costume before the May release of the Iron Man film, with nothing but promo pictures of the suit and twenty-thousand dollars.

Yes, you read that correctly! Kristiansen and his pals spent TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS on this realistic costume. It came out so close to perfect that Paramount hired Kristiansen to make appearances around Europe to promote the DVD release, and he plans to use it for charity fundraisers and to talk to children about saftey, saying:

you may not listen to your parents, but if Iron Man tells you to wear a bike helmet, you’re going to do it.

So next time you have an extra twenty thousand sitting around, consider building a costume for a major-blockbuster film!

Continue reading TEN Awesome Iron Man Crafts & Projects

Molecular Embroidery Coffee Cozy

molecular-embroidery-coffee-cozy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a geeky craft after my own heart! Bean posted this molecular embroidered coffee cozy on Coyote Craft. This is the perfect gift for me! Um. I mean, this is the perfect gift for that coffee-addict in your life who not only loves homemade gifts, but knows exactly what is in their coffee (caffiene and water molecules are featured on the cozy).

Crocheted Great White Shark

Crocheted Great White Shark

Does this count as geeky? It’s cracking me up, so I think I’ll file it under Science. Craftster user wibit crocheted this hilarious Great White Shark, complete with severed leg in his mouth. Check out her blog, Roman Sock, for more of her own crafts, as well as some great crafty finds.