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.

 

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.

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.

Nodds & Nends: Baring Skin, Gender Bender, and Fairy Tale Inspired Shoes

Does baring skin mean you’re stupid? A psychological look at the reasons calling women fake geek girls is hurtful. This is a really well written piece and goes into many of the side issues that don’t get talked about often. Things I’ve been pointing out on the internets and in real life for a while, just said much more well (I can’t help myself).

Some cool Gender Bender stuff that I’ve found. The first one is Jennifer Lawrence as Thor. Though I agree with The Mary Sue, not sure why they bared her midriff.  Seems like prime stabbing space now.

If  you’re a writer, cut the bullshit and say you are. An interesting and encouraging piece by Daniel Dalton on claiming what you are.

Speaking of writing and books, I stumbled onto this image of how one person views libraries.  Not as a bunch of dusty books with the library Dewey decimal tag on them, but a world full of wonder. My favorite place downtown is the library. It’s massive and magical.

Check out these shoes (and by shoes she means impossibly high heels that I would never be able to wear even if I do think they are pretty awesome) that have been inspired by Disney’s representation of fairy tales and stories. [via Picture Me Reading]

Finally, Carol Burnett does a Star Trek Gender Bender sketch. While I personally think it plays a little too much into stereotype gender roles to get laughs, it’s a unique and funny sketch. [via The Mary Sue]

Nodds & Nends: Disney Cosplay, Nerdy PSAs, and Book Cakes

Disney Princess Cosplay including Aurora (I think she gets left out all too often). I love the costumes, they are quite good. But I do think the big buildings in the background kind of detract from the overall aesthetics. Which is sad, but understandable. And this Little Mermaid illustration is so lovely I had to share it. I know I put up a lot of Ariel, but what can I say? I have a soft spot for red heads.

The new Star Trek movie pictures have been on the internets for a while, but in case you haven’t stumbled onto them already, here they are. I’m looking forward to this. Is it mainly because the movie will have Cumberbatch in it? Yes, yes it is. I wont even deny it. But I did like the first one that J.J. Abrams directed and I hear this one is to have some cameos. So I’m fairly excited about this movie.

I love finding nerdy wedding cakes, but I especially enjoy this book version because I think it is classy and could be changed for each couple according to their tastes in reading. [via RIASS]

Finally, watch these nerdy PSAs. You are welcome.

Nodds & Nends: Middle Earth Map Dress, Monster Costume, and an Apple Parody

I love this dress made out of a map of Middle Earth. I really actually like the whole structure of the dress and not just that it is geeky. Nice job!

This Boo as a monster costume is almost too adorable for words. What a great idea and the tutorial doesn’t make it sound too hard to make.

Speaking of monsters check out this awesome squirming tentacle you can hook up to your computer via a USB port. The tentacle doesn’t do anything other than wiggle (it’s not a data storage device) it’s still majorly awesome. I would get one to freak people out at work, but I had yet another person look at my TARDIS cork board yesterday and sometimes a giant TARDIS is all you need to let your geek shine.

It may be past the Holidays, but gingerbread is always in style. Especially this awesome Serenity gingerbread model. I’m not a personal fan of the taste of gingerbread, but I do appreciate this nerdiness to the extreme.

But by far my favorite find this week is this awesome Dark Knight/Apple parody. I am not a fan of apple products and own an android instead of an iPhone so I just giggle every time someone makes fun of Apple and its products.

Nodds & Nends: Nerdy Pick Up Lines, Hangout With The Bloggess, and Book Sculptures

io9 has all of your very best nerdy pick up lines from famous sci/fi fiction. But honestly don’t use these. They are just for fun. I personally think the best pick up line is, Hello. I had a whole long conversation with a guy I used to work with who wanted to go and talk to a customer, but he wanted a good first sentence. I told him to just say Hello and keep it simple. But that wasn’t good enough. When did a polite opening of Hello become not good enough? For me, when guys try to come up with something cool it’s always just a bit weird. Some guy tried to get me to come take a boxing lesson from him. . . . Um. Yah, no.

 Jim C.  Hiines strikes a pose, like the women on ubran fantasy covers. It sure is striking, and he points out the ridiculousness of the pose. The one disagreement I had with his little project is that he says the whole hip thing is wrong, well yes, because he doesn’t have any. Still he makes quite a few good points. This posing posting led me around the internets for a bit and I stumbled on this article on why superheroes are sexy, and it is not for their ability to dislocate their torsos from their head while fighting crime.

A funny new humor blog I stumbled across, Like The Vodka, will have you laughing. This blogger talks about her Russian husband, how she met him and the funny miscommunications that happen. She met him taking dancing lessons FYI. He told her she was susceptible, he meant sensitive. It is a love story full of humor.

I love this illustration. It is called Chasing the Moon, but it’s more like catching it.

And for all you book nerds, these book sculptures will warm your little hearts. They did mine.

Want to watch The Bloggess, Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi, and Patrick Ruthfuss do a Story Board hangout and talk about writing and blogging? Of course you do.  I  listened to the entire thing while I was working on another project, best background chatter ever.  (FYI if  you listen to this at work, use headphones.)

Nodds and Nends: It’s New Years Eve

I’m sitting here writing this post several weeks in advance, where yet to occur is both my birthday (I turn 30) and the apocalypse  So, if the internets don’t crash and this post goes to press (which is really just a saying, because the only thing I’m actually pressing are keys), woot! If not, oh well. I’m not sure how many people are actually going to read this, because lets face it most people are more worried about whether they can get out of work early tonight and head home to get dolled up for NYE parties. I’ll probably be working long hours, and that is fine with me. I’m just glad the world didn’t end the day after my birthday and I’ve been thirty for more than 24 hours. Or…. maybe not.

If you are like me, stuck in your cubicle today, in a quiet office where the printer is the object making the most noise, here are some lovely nerdy bits that may brighten up your day.

Shortpacked! by David Willis is one of my favorite webcomics. This particular posting of his I’ve termed, My Fair Lady: How It Should Have Ended. It made me cackle with joy.  I showed it to my best friend Sara, who was all, Wowza. . . .  But not in a good way. She’s supportive like that.

The Mary Sue had another posting on geeky skirts by Ashley Mertz. I’ve seen several of these before, but the Firefly one was new, so I thought I would share.

How about Avenger Hundred Acre Woods for your awww moment of the day? I love these prints. Unfortunately, they are not for sale. Booo. Or should I say Poooh?

Speaking of comic book characters, this Batman drawing is quite fabulous and detailed. The shading is excellent.

And this deviantArt artist has some great nerdy fan drawings, including one of Dean in his Impala. I <3 so much. One of the few renditions of Jensen Ackles, that I think actually does a good job with his likeness.

For the big finally, this picture. I’m a big fan of street art, especially when it’s not gang taggings, but rather a huge astronaut. Glorious.

cc Solanas at fr.wikipedia from Wikimedia Commons

Nodds & Nends: Fantasy Houses, Zombie Love Stories, and Nathan Fillion

Sometimes when I need a pick me up I go onto Pinterest and look at pretty places I will never see. Like this fantasy house. Puurrrty. This tree door is amazing, the door itself is so intricate let alone to have been so integrated to scenery around it, I’m in awe. Or how about this tree train tunnel, it is gorgeous! And this cabin in the woods is way less scary than Joss Wedon’s and has huge lovely windows.

The Mary Sue has a trailer on it for an upcoming movie, Warm Bodies a story about a zombie who falls in love and starts to heal himself. Honestly, when I write that out it sounds really hokey, but it actually looks like a good movie. Plus it has a decent cast of actors, including Nicholas Holt, I love that kid. Well, except for his sociopathic teenager character in Skins (UK), he’s just creepy there. Warm Bodies should be opening February 1, 2013.

Here is an awesome four paneled illustration of Nathan Fillion as his movie/geeky idols.

These smiling Disney Princesses are ones I have dubbed, barely clothed Disney Princesses. Enjoy.

By Ewen Roberts (Flickr: Smiling Princesses) via Wikimedia Commons at http://www.flickr.com/photos/85979850@N00/2715337489

Nodds & Nends: Jurassic Park Styled heels, YA Books For Boys, and Be All The Avengers

Are YA books really female centric, or do they have something for boys too? This author/blogger makes the case that there are plenty of YA books that teach boys excellent lessons for becoming good men. She also has some excellent words on raising boys to be good men. Personally, I’m just avoiding that whole worry by not having children of my own, and messing up everyone else’s kids. And by messing them up I mean encouraging them to be uberdorks.

These DIY dinosaur heels are awesome. Although I can’t weld, so I actually wont be doing this for myself. The whole deconstructing the shoe is a little painful to watch as a shoe lover, but thankfully he puts the heels back together and adding the dinosaur means I’ll forgive him for his destruction. I just wonder if there is a better way. Maybe deconstructing the dinosaur? Maybe some how molding them together like this. [via The Mary Sue]

Did you have a hard time with a Halloween costume this year? Maybe it is because you can’t decide which Avenger you want to be? Why not be all of them? This guy was. He even added an eye patch for Nick Fury.

This Harry Potter Griffindor cake looks wonderful. And as I just ate a Boston Creme donut, I’m not even envious of the people who get to eat it.

By Two Kings Confections via Wikimedia Commons