July 17

Wizard Plushie Pals

Harry Potter Wizard PlushiesBecause the Snape Potter Puppet Pal just wasn’t enough to satisfy my craving for magical fleece, I found another project for you: “Wizard” Plushie Pals by SaintAngel on Etsy.

They remind me of soft Weeble Wobbles!

Apparently SaintAngel is concerned about a call from the Ministry of Magic, Office of Copywriting Enchantments, because her plushies are named Henry, Ryan, Henrietta and the Great Bumblefloor.  But perhaps you can use a diving spell to figure out who they really are.

Looks like have featured SaintAngel’s work before – check out this post on Spike the Dinosaur!

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July 15

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!

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July 13

Movie Review: Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

Transformers 3 posterTransformers 3: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel,Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro
Voice actors: Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, and Leonard Nimoy
157 min
Rated PG13

You might think that crazy-awesome special effects, a pulsing soundtrack and GIANT FIGHTING ROBOTS would be enough to guarantee an summer blockbuster. And you’d be correct – in terms of box office sales. In fact, Transformers 3 is currently the 47th highest grossing movie of all time.

But if you think the same formula would guarantee a movie worth 2-1/2 hours of your time…not necessarily.

The latest installment in the movie series based on Hasbro’s toy line of yore, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, has all the elements of a sure-fire Hollywood hit. Tested director of notable action movies like Armageddon & Pearl Harbor, Michael Bay? Check. Fan-boy favorite producer, Steven Spielberg? Check. Score by Steve Jablonsky, composer of the two previous Transformers film scores? Check. Voluptuous love interest? Check. Mighty morphin’ robots in disguise? Check.

Strong storyline told in logical progression…not so much.

Don’t get me wrong – I know that any Transformers movie is not exactly meant to have an Oscar-worthy script. I’m not expecting rich character development, or to be able to relate to the story on a deeply personal level. I know it’s a summer blockbuster that’s meant to be eye candy. And on that criteria, the movie did deliver. The transformation from vehicle to robot was as flawless as in the previous movies, with all the whirling cogs & gizmos, and usually while in motion. Visually stunning.

But the story seemed all over the place. It was like they just thought up a bunch of scenes, filmed them, and just threw them together. It felt very abrupt and disjointed, and was generally distracting, even with the impressive special effects.

Also distracting was the newly-introducted love interest – Rosie Huntington-Whiteley took over for Megan Fox in this installment. Her role was completely gratuitous to the story, though perhaps that’s to be expected, too, especially after the first two movies. Giant robots and a pretty girl, and fanboys are typically content. (oh I’m sorry, did my bitter resentment show?)

That said, a delightful surprise (for me) was the voice acting by Leonard Nimoy (need I say he played Spock in “Star Trek“?), and the “sidekick” part by Alan Tudyk (“Wash” from “Firefly“) as a rather flamboyant German assistant. So there was a little something for the geek girls – at least THIS geek girl. ;)

Overall, I’d say Transformers 3 is a renter, if anything.

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July 10

Amigurimi Coraline

“I have no plans to love you,” said Coraline. “No matter what. You can’t make me love you.”
— Neil Gaiman (Coraline)

Crochet Coraline doll - amigurumi patternThat may be what Coraline said to “the other mother”, but you won’t be able to say it to this adorable amigurimi by Ravelry poster, Sharon Rose, aka Homemade Obsessions.

I love her little yellow boots, her key necklace, and the drapey blue hair, and of course the button eyes are perfect. (Even though, I have to admit, they creep me out a little bit.)

The blog post includes the pattern, and stepped-out photos for attaching the pieces and hair.

Also be sure to check out Sharon’s patterns for Wybie and the Ghost Girl.

In case you haven’t heard about Coraline, it’s a fantasy/horror novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002. There was a graphic novel adaptation, published in 2008, and illustrated by P. Craig Russell. The stop-motion animated film was directed by Henry Selick, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2009. [Historical facts per Wikipedia]

Now, unrelated to Coraline, but related to Neil Gaiman…have you seen the footage of the Minnesota Public Radio interview with Neil Gaiman, where they call Mythbuster’s Adam Savage and he does a short singing stint in the voice of Gollum?  According to theonering.net, it “contains so many different brands of geekery it might shut down the internet.” You simply must see.

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http://homemadeobsessions.blogspot.com/2011/06/ghost-child-doll-inspired-by-coraline.html
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June 20

Movie Review: X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class movie posterX-Men: First Class (2011)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, and January Jones
132 minutes
rated PG-13

Marvel again brings us the latest adventure in the battle between good and evil with the recent release of X-Men: First Class, which takes place before the previous movies in the X-Men series. This flick chronicles the relationship between young Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, and how they both come to terms with being mutants. Long before they became Professor X and Magneto, respectively, Charles and Erik were friends, meeting in their 20s when they worked together with CIA agent Moira McTaggart.

Because explaining the basic storyline in words doesn’t work as well as viewing it, I will direct you to the IMDB synopsis of the storyline, should you care to read it. Beware of spoilers, though!

I enjoyed the background this movie lent to the X-Men movie series. As a prequel, I thought it worked well. It was interesting seeing the younger, less seasoned versions of the characters, who were still working through the challenges of living as mutants in a “normal” world. The movie did a good job of depicting each character’s unique perspective of what it means to be a mutant, and whether that’s a positive or negative thing. The actors who played Charles, Erik, and Raven/Mystique each seemed to have a good handle on their character’s motivation and perspective, which made it interesting. January Jones, however, didn’t lend much to her portrayal of Emma Frost. She was almost a non-character in the storyline. She mostly just stood there, trying to look brooding and evil.

The special effects were great, of course, though not quite as visually stunning as the scenes in Asgard in Thor. Mystique’s morphing into different personnas was flawless, and I liked the way her scales flicked on and off her skin as she shifted. (I read another review, however, that likened her scales to  “blue bathtub anti-skid stickers“, so your verdict may vary.)

X-Men: First Class Beast posterMy only disappointment was relatively minor, and not any real issue – my whole family agreed that the way they depicted Beast was just off. When Hank McCoy finally mutated into the blue hairy Beast, he was almost more of a blue werewolf version of a 98-pound weakling, rather than this huge hulking…well, Beast. He needed to be taller and broader, which could have been easily achieved. We couldn’t figure out why they decided to go with a leaner Beast. But, eh, no real biggie. Not a major distraction from the overall entertainment. The cameo by Hugh Jackman with a fabulous Wolverine moment more than made up for it.

And you? If you’ve been to see X-Men: First Class, feel free to chime in with your comments below.

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May 15

Movie Review: Thor

Reviewer and Thor movie poster
Me & Thor

Thor (2011)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, and Tom Hiddleston
115 minutes
rated PG-13

I’ll go ahead and admit at the outset here that I’ve never read a Thor comic book, or even a full comic book  of any hero variety. A blasphemy of sorts, perhaps, but I’m ok with that. But I still appreciate a good comic book hero movie, and the latest installment in the Marvel movie franchise did not disappoint.

The movie Thor features a godly character of Viking descent – based on a mixture of Norse mythology and Marvel comic book lore. In the movie, the Mighty Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, is the son of the “all-father” Odin, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, and older brother to Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston. Just as Thor is about to be crowned King of the mythical realm of Asgard, the Frost Giants break in to Asgard and attempt to steal a powerful relic. Ever the warrior, Thor counsels his father to make swift and violent retribution against the Frost Giants, which would no doubt lead to all-out war. Recognizing his son’s arrogance and pride, Odin calls him a “vain, greedy, cruel boy”, and banishes Thor to Earth without his god-like powers, most significantly without the ability to wield his iconic war hammer Mjollnir. Once on Earth, Thor must learn the humility and wisdom required to be a great ruler, in order to earn back his godly powers and access to Asgard. Along the way he apparently also “learns” the ability to fall in love – with astro-scientist Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman.

This movie was complete eye-candy – I almost wished the Asgard scenes had run in slo-mo so I could take in all the details. The special effects were flawless – from the epic battle scenes in Jötunheim (the frost giant world), to traveling via the Bifrost Bridge portal, to Loki’s cloning powers, to the Earthly battle scene with the Destroyer – all just awesome. This is a film that is definitely worth seeing in the theater to get the full effect of the big screen – even worth splurging the extra few bucks to see it in IMAX 3D (which we did – Happy Mother’s Day to me!)

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