Nodds & Nends: Ballerina Hulk, Podcasts, and It’s OK to be Smart

Check out this cutesy quiz about science and learn that it’s OK to be smart. I did OK, not perfectly. But at the time I took it I was really sick from un-diagnosed strep throat, so my brain was a little fuzzy.

SF Signal asked their readers to name their favorite SF websites, podcasts, publishers, book bloggers, and comics. Elizabeth Campbell mentioned Book Store Book Blogger Connection which was founded by Little Red Reviewer and which I have participated in. She lists those some bloggers who participate in Book Store Book Blogger Connection and during the podcast episode, SF Signal mentions Absurdly Nerdly at 47:40, though he totally butchers the name of my blog the first time. Also mentioned are Books Without any Pictures, Nashville Bookworm and The Book Smugglers, some book bloggers I follow because they have excellent reviews.

Want to see a ballerina Hulk? Of course you do.

So apparently, there is a series about WereHEDGEHOGS!!! I think I may have to see if I can track one down and read it. Because, What. The What?

Did you know that some background, distracting, noise can actually up creativity? I think it’s because the brain has to concentrate on ignoring it and that takes up the thinking-about-cats-on-the-internets part of the brain. You can now listen to a rainy cafe to help get you in the mood to concentrate, create, write, or blog. I think it is awesome!

Remember my review of that webseries Jane Eyre? Well, I’m obsessed with it. I think it is well written, quirky, and a delight. Plus, the creators are really cool and they’ve actually made a website for their fictional Thornfield Aluminum Exports company. Jane also has a twitter account and a tumblr. Totally cool.

A new Piano Cosplay has popped up. This time it’s all Batman and she is in a Catwoman costume. And looking mighty fine. You are welcome.

If Disney Made Game of Thrones

If Disney made Game of Thrones, Princess Daenerys would sing by the sea and Peter Hollens would DEFINITELY be there. I love his music, check out his youtube channel. He’s done nerdy stuff with Lindsey Sterling in the past that also was Games of Thrones oriented.

Nodds & Nends: Mary Poppins, Batman and Superheroines

Mary Poppins and Burt cosplay. So cute!!! [via]

An interesting take on superheroines, they are fully clothed! The artist is Michael Lee Lunsford tumblr.

I just love this discussion about Book Coverss by Aidan and Alisa on Picture Me Reading Book Club extra. It’s true that covers really influence what I think a book will be like, and when it doesn’t match the tone of the book I get annoyed. I find that a lot of urban fantasy books look very similar on the cover even if the tone of the book is different from standard urban fantasy. The cover for the Darkfever that I own looks like this. While the cover that Alisa found and posted for my discussion on it on Picture Me Reading, looked a lot more like a romance novel. The books themselves are really dark, creepy, and heart wrenching. I think none of the covers really look like what I would think the cover of the book series should look like except Shadowfever. Gothic, otherworldly, and a hint of human.

Some of my favorite places to follow on the internets are Think Geek on both Pinterest and Google+, they post some really cool things. For example this Calvin & Hobbes kid’s room is just too adorable for words. I love the simplicity of the mural. [via] I also discovered these really cool larger than life Star Wars Legos made out of wood from them. How amazing are these wooden sculptures! Just awesome. Plus sometimes I just go on to Think Geek’s product page and check out all the cool things, like this Batman Family in decals, because I have a dark sense of humor this made me giggle for a really long time.

 

TARDIS Tattoo, Shoes, Dress, and Dalekman

Tattoo of a TARDIS and some Daleks. This tattoo is still a little pink, which means to me that it is new. I wonder if the person is going to get it colored. That could be really cool.

This TARDIS pair of shoes is super cute, kind of every day wear, which is what I like my geekery wear to be like. They would go well with the TARDIS poodle skirt from last week. Maybe get the coloring on the shoes to match. Plus, they are only 27 dollars, which isn’t bad. [via] On the other end of the spectrum is this TARDIS ballroom dress. Oooh, fahn-cee. I do like the red converse sneakers, they add a whimsical touch to the outfit. [via]

If every day TARDIS wear is not enough Doctor Who in your life, you can always create a Doctor Who inspired wedding. I like that it has tasteful touches of Doctor Who while still being sweet and elegant.  Her dress is just gorgeous. I love the blue windows, excellent decoration. [via]

Outline embroidery of the recent Doctor’s and a unique signature unto that particular doctor. And the TARDIS! I see things like that and think, “I could do that!” Of course, I never will. The TARDIS scarf took me long enough!

A wonderful Gallifreyan Cuff with swirls of TARDIS blue. I do really like this cuff. I like the coloring, the placement, and the simplicity of it.

And finally, some wonderful mash-ups that I found this week. The TARDIS and Tigger. Because who doesn’t love a good Winnie the Pooh mash-up? Plus, IT’S A CAKE!!! [via]

And this lovely illustration Dalekman, a mash-up of Doctor Who Asylum of the Daleks and that wonderful Disney short Paperman. The coloring is spectacular, the expressions on the Doctor and Oswin’s faces are wonderful. Just. I love the internets some times. The artist has some more wonderful illustrations of Doctor Who inspired digital paintings. They make for a lovely viewing on a rainy morning after your phone has woken you up at 4 a.m. to tell you that there is a flash flood warning in your area. (True story.) [via]

cc D a l e k m a n
by *The-Longfall-of-1979

Nodds and Nends: Miniature Bag End, Firefly RPG, and a Ron Swanson Cake

The very best thing I have found on the internets recently is this miniature Bag End. I mean, it is just too awesome for words!

And if you are hungry, maybe skip this next paragraph, because cakes! Geeky cakes! First up, an Avengers cake via Pinterest. Also from Pinterest is this really awesome Ron Swanson cake. Awesome, because cake. But also awesome because Ron Swanson is an amazing character, and I love him. Parks and Recreation is one of my favorite comedy shows. And finally a Firefly cake from Pinterest. I’ll admit the people don’t look at all like the characters, but the ship looks like Serenity. . . ish.

Speaking of Firefly, an announcement has circled the internets that an official tabletop RPG is in the making.

Random concept art I’ve found includes a digital painting of Mary Poppins, street art of a colorful woman made of flowers and rainbows, and an illustration of Aurora as a zombie in Un-Sleeping Beauty (thanks for the tip Picture Me Reading!).

A wonderful comic of why females are frustrated when they have to “prove” they are geeky. Can’t we all just say nice shirt and only ogle the boobies from the corner of our eyes, like on 40 year old Virgin? Unless it’s the show Lost Girl. Anna Silk’s breasts are awesome and I can’t look away.

Peeps, you’ve probably all heard about this already, but I felt I needed to say a bit about the Kickstarter campaign of Veronica Mars. A movie is going to happen, because fans banded together, and the crew took a cut, and all the Veronic Mars nerds united to say, Hey we want this story told. And this is awesome. Because the best part of life (is not Folger’s in your cup, sorry) but telling stories that have to be told. Check out the Kickstarter campaign. Even though fully funded, you can get in on some extra goodies and help get this movie made. For $35 you get a t-shirt, behind the scenes scoop, and a digital version of the movie within a few days of the movies release. Sounds like a deal to me, especially at the high cost of movie tickets. I understand that some people are concerned about Kickstarter payees not being investors in the sense that they get a return on their money, but in the internet age I do think things will tend toward paying for what you want as you want it instead of a ton of cable shows you hate. And if  you want to get a digital version of a movie and a free t-shirt for $35, why is that a bad thing? And I also get, hey we raised all this money for a weird cause, why not raise money for a good cause. But people use their disposable income for entertainment, who is to say they don’t also give to charity? Personally, I think it is cool.

Finally, 40 inspirational speeches in 2 minutes. Somehow it all makes sense now.

Doctor Who Snow Globe and Bookcase, and a Dalek Pizza

 A 1965 Daleks Snow Globe with a TARDIS. It looks like it is from the 60′s. Found on Daleks of the Day a tumblr which has a lot of other cool pictures of different dalek stuff. [via]

This woman is crafting some Doctor Who goodies and the money she makes she is putting toward donating to a family that suffered a great tragedy and loss. Twenty dollars for a cushion with a bow-tie. It looks comfy. (The donations and tragedy seem to be legit.)

From Think Geek a cool TARDIS hat. (Which is currently out of stock, BAH!) There is a kid who always walks around Second City on Sunday mornings who has a homemade TARDIS hat which is very similar to this one. It’s cool. TARDIS hats are cool now. [via]

How about this cute TARDIS bookcase small enough to fit in your bedroom. So darling! I remember the Doctor and his TARDIS showing up in quite a few bedrooms. Maybe this is a thing? [via]

And my favorite, a Dalek pizza. To be consumed, to get rid of the Daleks for ever. Ugh, I hate those things. And now I’m hungry. For pizza. [via]

And check out this Doctor Who Special of The Weakest Link on YouTube. David Tennant. Need I say more?

Nodds & Nends: Nerdy Crafting, Steam Punk Thrifting, and Pop Culture Happy Hour Podcast

Want another DIY crafting idea to make an awesome present for the geek in your life? Check out this Keyboard to Picture Frame idea on Will Craft 4 Food. I really want to do this, when I can find some time. Bwahahahahaha.

Jimmy Fallon is one of the very few talk shows I will listen to, and it is often because of his nerdy/geeky side. He had on the show this really cool Visual Reality goggle thing called the Oculus Rift -VR and it looks amazing! They are just starting production of the gaming console and I think this is going to be big. One hopes. You can preorder them for $300. You really should watch the clip on the show, it was hilarious, the presenter really got Jimmy good.

I found a cute segment on Steam Punk Thrifting on The Nerdist which goes through the steps of putting together a cheap cosplay outfit by going to a thrift store and doing it yourself.

Want to see some pretty eyes today? Head over to this tumblr page for a really cool picture of some street art. (Also, if you are going to ogle the tumblr girl, please ogle her age as well.)

Some really cool articles I’ve stumbled upon recently are:

Laini Taylor’s post about how needing to use the term adult is childish. She makes some really good points.

And thanks to Stephanie I started listening to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast and came upon this article about autism and nerd culture in popular culture. The guy who wrote the piece has an autistic son and he talks about being able to relate to certain shows because of their inclusion of autism and often nerdy people who are on the spectrum and how he thinks his son is treated better because of these shows.

On my cousin’s G+ account she posted this awesome video of Minecraft in real life. The effects are really good for a webseries.  Sara would probably not be impressed with their stage combat acting skills, but I thought it was cute. Thanks Breanna for the tip.

Sew Yourself a Doctor, Ask Austen for a TARDIS, and Follow Bonnie Burton Around the Internets

Illustration of Pride and Prejudice and a TARDIS. “Seeking haven from Mister Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet chances upon a strange blue box.” Austen FTW. A print is only $17.00. [via Pinterest]

You can buy an awesome TARDIS Scarf for $30. This looks like the one I’ve been knitting at for over a year. Now that I have one from my best friend, maybe I should do something with the one I just finished. . . hmmm. [via The Mary Sue]

Or you can sew yourself a Doctor rag doll. Which is cute, but does need some adjustments to make it look better. Check it out on Three Dresses.

Perhaps all this crafting geekery has inspired you to create a TARDIS cardigan like this one? Awesome. The pattern was made up as the knitter went along, so I’ve no pattern to post for you all. Boo.

Check out these cool TARDIS coasters which I saw while watching Bonnie on Vaginal Fantasy and went online and stalked around until I found them. I love that show, it’s on YouTube and led by Felicia Day. These coasters can be found on ThinkGeek. Honestly Bonnie is the coolest, you should check her out on Pinterest and Twitter. (This is where being a fangirl and being a stalker seem like the same thing, but they aren’t. Because. Well, because.) She always has a lot of cool geeky things which seem to revolve around Doctor Who and Benedict Cumberbatch. I like seeing all her cool stuff sitting on her couch while she participates in Vaginal Fantasy.

TARDIS Coasters on ThinkGeek

Nodds & Nends: DIY Rainbow Igloo, Neil Gaimon’s animated story is lovely and scary, and Playing it Safe

With all this snow that we are having recently how about making a DIY rainbow igloo? Start collecting milk jugs now and you might have enough for next winter.

Neil Gaiman wrote and voiced an animated short story. It is both lovely and scary.

I read an interesting article by Gus Sanchez of Out Where the Buses Don’t Run, who asked if a debut novel should play it safe. He points to Ready Player One as a debut novel that didn’t play it safe and the resulting piece of work is excellent. I agree, Ready Player One was one of my 2011 best reads. It’s also interesting to note that:

There’s an adage in the publishing world, [...] that both agents and publishers will repeat with writers: your first and second novels should play it safe.

So this is why I generally don’t like a series until the third book.

This Nerd Cross Over from Dork Tower made my day. I love cross overs, but Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Downtown Abby are some of my favorite Nerd Things (think Sound of Music Favorite Things song) and so this cross over is just special to me. [via Nerd Approved]

Two little kids tell a story and these adults act it out. I laughed my head off.

Nodds & Nends: HIMYM Mash-up, Dinner in the Sky, and Adam Levine

Star Wars How I Met Your Mother mash-up. I love mash-ups and this is a classic.

Remember the guy who made those Dinosaur heels I posted a while ago? Well he has created some R2D2 heels, and they are nearly as awesome. He has a tutorial, which again includes a welder, so that probably won’t be a project for me. [via]

Speaking of dinosaurs, check out this awesome Princess Peach to the rescue on a dinosaur shirt! Super bad ass. [via]

In Belgium you can have dinner in the sky. Yah, I could not do this. I have a great fear of heights, and even on Ferris wheels make people hold my hand. Which does not go over so well when you are in the deep south and the person riding the Ferris wheel with you is one of your girlfriends who whispers, If anyone sees us, I’m going to be super mad. To be fair, as we walked around the Fair we were stopped every ten minutes greeting somebody we knew, so it was highly likely someone who knew us would see us. I still love riding Ferris wheels because I think they are awesome, I just warn people beforehand now, I may have a panic attack you will probably have to hold my hand.

This WiiU song by Jimmy uses samples of the WiiU menus, Super Mario Bros. U, and noises made with the WiiU itself.

Adam Levine sings about YOLO. It’s not really nerdy. The man is just way hot.

If you missed the NASA Google+ Hangout out on Friday, you can watch it all on Youtube. I caught the last 30 minutes live, and it was awesome.