Star Wars Terrarium at Powell’s Books for Cooks and Gardeners

Imagine my happiness when I was buying some books at my favorite Powell’s for Cooks and Gardeners (in SE Portland) on Tuesday, and saw this huge, super amazing Yoda-with-a-leashed-dinosaur terrarium in the shop window! Megan Walsh and her Powell’s co-workers made this Star Wars-meets-Land of the Lost world inside a large antiqued glass box with ferns and lots of other plants. It’s beautiful in person and they will even open the hinged doors so you can see the scene more closely!

I also got word that Megan has been working on a Star Trek: TNG terrarium (starring Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of course) and I’m sure hoping to see that one too… stay tuned.

Out of this World-British Library

sciencefictionThere are at least a million different things a geek can do in London, and in my effort to do them all, alas, I failed. One major highlight was the current free exhibition at The British Library (for us yanks, it is like The Library of Congress), Out Of This World: Science Fiction, But Not as You Know it.

First, I am a bibliophile, so this was like Disneyland for me, except at Disneyland you can take pictures and touch things. Each section of the exhibition had a specific theme ranging from the birth of Science Fiction (in the 1600s!), Utopian societies, distopian societies, graphic novels, robots (did you know that the first “robots” in literature were actually synthetically made human slaves, and not machines?), and more. Among these were impeccable, perfect first editions, that made me drool, with some of the most beautiful, and outright cool cover art you will ever see. One major highlight was an original telegram sent from George Orwell to his publisher, lamenting that 1984 would have been “better” if it had not “been written under the influence of TB”, where he goes on to call Satre a “big bag of wind”.

I could write for days on the books on display and how amazing it was to see hand written pages of first drafts, books hundreds of years old, amazing posters (see?), but what really struck me were the interactives they had set up, for all age ranges. You (or your kid) can use an interactive touch screen to draw your own alien, and then watch it join other hand drawn aliens dancing around on the wall behind, there was a sleepy robot that was motion activated that carried on conversation about his favorite science fiction robots, a computer where you could challenge AI to the Turin’s Test, and at least five other things I didn’t have time for.

All in all, this would be an amazing stop in London (runs until September 25), even (or maybe especially) if you have kids in tow.

Harry Potter Friday Roundup

Well, it’s finally here. The END, I mean. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II has launched and with it we here at GeekCrafts bring you an entire week of Harry Potter themed posts. Let’s start things off with a roundup, shall we?

Remember the “Whereabouts Clock” that Mrs. Weasley used to magically keep track of her various family members? Most often they would be at home, work, or traveling, though there were occasional brushes with “mortal peril”, as well. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could use your loved ones’ Twitter feeds to track their whereabouts? With your own Magic Clock, you can!

Whereabouts Clock

One of the more interesting side characters is Luna Lovegood. She’s so quirky and more than a little odd, but has a good heart. She also has a unique fashion sense. Channel a little Luna with this pretty crochet scarf from Sabina24 on Etsy. Also check out this lacy Luna scarf pattern from Melissa Helton on Craftster.

luna lovegood crochet scarf

This Instructables tutorial shows you how to convert old encyclopedias into Hogwart’s style spellbooks.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Spellbook

The “Daily Prophet” doesn’t just tell you the latest news in the wizarding world, it shows you – complete with moving pictures. Create your own digital moving pictures with this tutorial from Photojojo.

Harry Potter Moving Picture
Not everything in Harry Potter’s world is sparkly magical fun. There are Death Eaters, and they aren’t very nice. For those days when you feel a little “not nice” yourself, perhaps you should don your own Death Eater Mask. You can also make your own version of Bellatrix’s Death Eater Mask.

Harry Potter Deatheater Mask

In his first game of Quidditch, Harry had a heck of a time catching his first Golden Snitch. Perhaps this origami Golden Snitch will be easier for you to get your hands on.

Harry Potter origami golden snitch

Hopefully you have heard of the insanely popular and highly amusing Potter Puppet Pals. If not, go watch some videos, then come back, because you’ll definitely want to make your own crochet Potter Puppet Pal finger puppets, thanks to a free pattern from Melissa at Inner Child Crochet.

Harry Potter Puppet Pals crochet finger puppets

Speaking of PPP, check out this fantastic Snape puppet-plushie on Craftster! Doncha just wanna cozy up to it?

Harry Potter Snape Potter Pal Plushie

Another interesting side character is Mad Eye Moody. I would LOVE to read some backstory on him! Maybe Pottermore will provide that? Until then, maybe I’ll just have to stitch up this fabulous Mad Eye-patch from Kelly on Ravelry. There’s also a tutorial for a more realistic Mad Eye on Instructables.

Harry Potter Mad Eye Patch

And finally, we’ll wrap up this week’s roundup with some spellcasting. One of the more commonly used spells is “Lumos”. But what good is that spell if your wand doesn’t light up? Enter DadCanDo‘s tutorial on how to make a wand that lights up!

Harry Potter LED light up wands

What other Harry Potter crafts have you seen or tried yourself? Feel free to Submit a GeekCraft to let us know!

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Pixel Book Covers

Pixel Book CoversThis book cover idea is so simple, yet so awesome, I’m slightly upset I didn’t think of it first!  Way to go Icoeye for beating me to it…  now I wish I had more books of the same size to properly pull this effect off!  (Think of the design potential… Space Invaders, Mario, anything 8bit = crazy pixel fun!)

There is also a PDF link included to make your own bookshelf designs (yay!)

Pixel Book Covers

PDF: book covers

[via Slippery Brick]

Inconsolable by Shaheed Shabazz

Inconsolable is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Before I received my copy in the mail, author Shaheed Shabazz warned me that the book was “graphic and twisted” and I smirked to myself, thinking “He doesn’t know me very well, graphic and twisted is what I do“. I was not prepared in the least for the gore-filled, horrifying ride that calls itself Inconsolable.

There were times, while reading this revenge tale full of drugs, torture and mind tricks, that I couldn’t put the book down–there were other times when I was so horrified by the images Shabazz so skillfully painted that I had to put the book down to give myself a break from the intensity. The story starts out calmly enough, introducing the reader to Sean Stiles, a character who at once seems unassuming and noble. Shortly after we meet him, he meets a group of meth heads and loses his life. The story picks up down the line, where our meth addicted murderers have sworn each other to secrecy, gotten clean and moved on. Or so they thought.

Although they were sure no one would “miss” Sean Stiles it becomes clear that someone did, and that someone is intent on ripping apart their lives, and their bodies. With scenes straight out of a Japanese horror flick, Shabazz throws us into a world that is run by the Blue Giant, where justice is carried out slice by slice, slowly but surely, and where no one is off-limits. The book will leave you shaken, terrified to close your eyes, and regretting every wrong you have ever committed in your life. It’s a great read–if you’re brave enough.

See what Shaheed Shabazz had to say to Geek Crafts after the jump.

Continue reading Inconsolable by Shaheed Shabazz

The Stand Book Safe

I’m in a weird place with this one. Part of me is like “Awesome! That would totally blend into my bookcase”, the other part of me is saying “Oh my God, what did she do to that book?!” VeganPrincess decided to make Stephen King‘s extra-long Armageddon epic into a book safe after realizing she probably wasn’t going to get to it (although she should have, as it’s arguably his best).