And One Geek to Rule Them All!

They put him in a Spock outfit here, bu he really does look a lot like Tuvak from Star Trek Voyager, doesn't he? Of course, to keep with the title of the post, I suppose I really should show him in Frodo outfit, but, oh well, I guess I'm just mixing my geek metaphors . . .


Recently, on wired.com, blogger GeekDad declared Barack Obama the First Geek President. A brilliant follow-up AP article appeared on CBSnews.com - I love some of the quotes in this one, and it's where I grabbed the photo from! Yup, our pres-to-be is a Star Trek fan, loves Spiderman, can talk tech, and gave Leonard Nimoy the live-long-and-prosper sign.

2009: Year of the Geek

A Christmas Story . . . With Geeks

I've been away from the computer for a few weeks, just enjoying spending time with friends and family and enjoying the holidays. But something really wonderful happened over Christmas that I wanted to share with you - it is both crafty and geeky, and as such, is a perfect addition to this blog.

My sweetie, Darren, and I celebrated Christmas a few days early at his parent's house in Estacada, OR, as both his brother and his dad had to work Christmas eve. His dad was handing out presents, when, towards the end of the evening, Sweetie approaches me with a little scroll of paper sealed with a bow.

He says to me, "Now, a gift like this is a huge commitment, so I wanted you to have the choice to accept it or not." At this point his mother and his sister are looking at us, and I'm thinking, "Dang, did he get me a puppy?"

I unroll the scroll and start reading. My eyes get really wide and . . . and I blurt out, "OMG, you got me flesh-eating beetles!" My eyes teared up, I covered him with kisses and his mother and sister realized that no, in fact, he was not proposing.

It is, flat out, the most romantic gift I have ever gotten.

I don't know if anyone remembers this post where I talked about preparing bones to use in my art . . . but flesh-eating beetles, or dermestids, are one way that labs, museum curators, taxidermists, and other professionals clean bones. It would be super-cool to have my own colony to prepare lots of skulls and stuff, so that I could use really pristine - and delicate - bones in my art.

But Darren's right - being responsible for the health and well-being of a colony of of flesh-eating beetles is a huge responsibility, one that I'm frankly not sure I'm ready for. Who would take care of my flesh-eating beetles during the weeks I travel? Would I take the tank with me on the plane, or would I ask a friend to come and feed roadkill to my beetles? Speakign of which, where would I get enough carcasses to keep them fed? Though, apparently, if you don't have animal carcasses to feed them, you can give them hot dogs. Hmm. Hot dogs.

Anyway, that's the coolest thing - he knew the beetles would be the perfect gift, and he knew, too, that I might not be ready for such an amazing gift. And that's why he's the Sweetie.

That's why I bought this t-shirt from ThinkGeek:

Geekery and Knitting and Crochet

I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm a big geek. The Sweetie and are in the process of watching all the X-Files episodes, season by season, start to finish. So, it is no surprise that I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon, the guy who's behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer (yes, I own the entire series), Firefly, and now, Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. And all my fellow crafty geeks are well aware that the knitted hat (complete with pom-pom and earflaps) that Jayne recieved from his mother in the Firefly episode "The Message" may well be the most re-crafted geek knitwear item on the interwebs - and here's a pattern and blog post to prove it. (Of course, in terms of longevity - as opposed to current popularity - we must give props to Dr. Who's scarf - it even has its own website).

So, you can imagine how delighted I was to see this interview with Joss (via Craftzine) in which he not only proposes that Underworld was originally about the epic knit vs. crochet battle, but that it was abandoned to tell the less controversial tale of the vampire vs. werewolf conflict, he also offers up some very compelling advice:

"So I think that ultimately, my advice is what my advice always is: Make stuff." - Joss Whedon, in an interview on CrochetMe.

Read the whole interview for more geeky goodness.

And if you're really wondering if knitting is as dangerous as, say, vampires, werewolves, or international terrorists, be sure to check out this video from the Colbert Report - which I found via Extreme Craft. (I've tried to embed the video and it didn't work yet, so just click on one of the links to see the video).

A Little Holiday Cheer

This weekend, the Sweetie surprised me and put together the tree! I was looking forward to decorating it, but not assembling it. The Sweetie read my mind and got the whole thing in ready-to-decorate mode which utterly refreshed my holiday spirit! I went crazy putting on little bird ornaments . . .

Sweet little felt ones from Tanya Harvey . . .

And some glass ones, too, with actual tail feathers! I had a few cast resin bird ornaments that I'd gotten on sale at Fred Meyer last year after the holidays. Finally, there were some carved and painted wood bird ornaments that I'd picked up at various import stores and on my travels. It's as close as I've ever gotten to having a real "theme tree" like you see in magazines.

Of course, there were a few exceptions - a few non-bird ornaments. After all, it's important to be well-rounded. Celebrate Diversity. Have a tree that doesn't look exactly like it came out of a magazine, but that looks like real people decorated it.
So we threw in a few extras for good measure.

Han Solo.


And Optimus Prime.

What can I say? We're Geeks.

Junk to Funk

Wow.

Last night was Junk to Funk here in Portland. I put on my didn't-quite-make-the-cut ensemble, took a few cheesy overexposed pictures (who doesn't love to play Supermodel in their garage?), and headed out to check out the competition (and say hello to the folks from Orlo who use the arts to promote environmental action and SCRAP who encourage creative reuse).

Wow.

Not all of the outfits were well-executed, but all of them were over the top in terms of what they re-used. One gal (who came in for an honorable mention - or was it third place?) had constructed her outfit entirely out of trash that had washed up on Oregon beaches. Another had gathered used latex gloves from tattoo artists and constructed a skirt. Yet another designer gathered used gelato spoons, cups, bowls, and taster spoons - all in pastel candy colors - to create a bustier, mini-skirt, headdress, and parasol.

Wow.

All of which beat my used t-shirts, sweaters, and bicycle inner tubing hands-down (though I did get many compliments on my hat). Corset made of record albums teamed up with wig made of 80's mix tapes? First place. Amazing vintage-look swimsuit and bathing cap made entirely of recycled bicycle inner tubes, down to the thread holding it together? So charming! Delicate leaf-net-vine dress made of the urban tumbleweed, beige plastic bags? Looked couture. Enormous jacket made of air-pocket plastic packing material, teamed with dreadlock wig made of melted and shaped plastic bags? Hope it won the People's Choice award. And don't get me started on what a woman can create from used dryer sheets or excess recycling bin labels . . .

Oooo, I have got my work cut out for me for next year! So, feel free to start sending me all of your unwanted VHS tapes and DVD's NOW - I have a vision!

(And, as a side note, the Sweetie is currently reading a comic - downloaded on his computer, no less - that contains a character called Squirrel Girl. I am not making this up.

Of course, I'm sitting next to him laughing at the parts he reads out loud and thinking how I can re-use the plastic VHS cases - in an outfit, of course - once I get the tape out. It's a very sweet and geeky Sunday.)

Woo Hoo! Geeks and Veggies

I just figured out how to get the badges for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and Magpie Girl's Small is Beautiful/Passionate Blogging up on my site! I conquered yet another hurtle in the very minor manipulation of html code! (read: cut and paste in the right places). I have posted every day for a week, even though The Sweetie has been here for much of it, looking distractingly cute and loading action flick after action flick on the DVD player! I also just finished eating a lovely pumpkin curry and adding the amazing vegetable-cooking, mitten-knittin' Geek + Nerd to my blogroll.

To celebrate these accomplishments, and the accomplishments of all the geeky, goddess-bodied, large-orange-vegetable-conquering women in the blogosphere, I offer you this:
An almost vintage image from Banshee Designs of voluptuous, fluffy, plush, plump-o-licious babes communing with vegetables.

It's Halloween . . .

And usually that sends me into fits of joy because it means I get to wear a COSTUME! Here are a couple of my favorites from the early 90's - Me as Kali Ma and me as Medusa. I love getting to dress up . . . and I love taking clothes to bizarre extremes. Almost as much as I love hanging out in a pair of baggy jeans and an old sweatshirt.



















But, times change and everything moves in cycles. I've been on a bit of a break from full out costumery the past few years - I've been channeling all that creative juice into other endeavors. Like making moldable foam stamps (more on that tomorrow).

But in the spirit of the season, and recent bloggin' posts, here's a late 90's shot of me and L dressed as the Supreme Geeks for an All Goddess House Party. (L is currently deep undercover as a Suburban Housewife, so I am taking pains here to protect her identity . . . )

Geeks

So, I took this Geek test online to see how Geeky I really am. These are my results.

I am 24% Geek.

I wanna be a geek. But I'm not. Why would I even want to be one. Do I think it's fun? I should try writing an online test application at 1 am in my underwear

Take the
Geek Test
@ FualiDotCom

Is it Geeky to disagree with their definition of Geek? I mean, there weren't ANY questions about Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, or any Joss Whedon TV series on that quiz . . . Maybe I'm just a TV Geek. Or a Geek Magnet. And I corrected the spelling in the results before posting their html code. That should earn me a point or two . . . on the Word Nerd quiz.

Geeks on the Road

The Sweetie and I hit the road this weekend - Friday night, we went and saw Transformers on a five-story IMAX screen thanks to tickets scored by his brother - wow. We got there early - as per The Sweetie's instructions - so that we could get good seats in the very center. Mission accomplished! And while we waited, I dragged The Sweetie into a photo booth for an Amelie moment. He is such a good sport . . .

Then, we were off to Bend in Central Oregon on a mission of mercy. The Sweetie's grandmother had a computer that no longer worked . . . and it was our job to rescue her from this horrible fate. I did my part by eating Grandma's cinnamon rolls and pineapple pie and bacon and pan fried chicken (I am SO tortured!) while The Sweetie took apart her old computer and the donor computer, Sara, getting data transferred and making sure everything worked. So, I gained about ten pounds and Grandma has Sara, a spiffy new-to-her computer that will help her collect and print out cool photos of the relatives - and maybe even get broadband! And the old computer has come back to Portland to find a new life as a Free Geek donation.

I believe everyone should have a creative outlet; The Sweetie believes everyone should have a computer with high speed internet access. Sometimes they're the same thing.

Geeks With Superpowers

I was listening to NPR today - I can't remember what program - and a TV critic was on talking about the new crop of fall shows. He said that there seems to be a run on shows about geeks with superpowers. And I had to think, "Wow! Am I the new target demographic or what!?"

I do have a tendency to watch shows for geeks (Star Trek Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica), shows about people with superpowers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Medium, Angel, Charmed, The 4400), and shows about geeks and squints (Freaks and Geeks, CSI, Bones, The Closer). Of course, I don't usually watch these shows until they come out on DVD and I can get them from Netflix. Ok, I did break down and watch the premier of Bones Tuesday. (Gift hint: Why, yes, I'd love a Jeffersonian Institute mug!)

I'm not sure what it is about those forensic crime shows - geeky, quirky, socially awkward people in labs fighting evil with their brains . . . ok, well I guess that's it! And too, there's something about the dissections . . . I'm fascinated by anatomy.

And I didn't think of this as having much of a connection to my art until I was looking at some pieces I'm submitting to a Day of the Dead themed show. Skulls, anatomical hearts, bones. The things that are underneath. Evidence and remains.
I guess inspiration is everywhere!