Mario Afghans

In light of Ben's and Sara's nursery plans, I recently came across two giant Mario blankets that were created using two very different crochet techniques. K's face immediately lit up and went into "puppy eyes mode," so I'm trying to decide which one is best (both style- and technique-wise).

Blanket #1 by ThomcatDesigns
Style: Single famous screenshot, blown up
Technique: Made a solid background with single crochet (for the ground, sky, bricks) and then cross-stitched figures on top of the background.
Pros/Cons: Easier/faster to make, but cross stitching may not look as solid up close


Blanket #2 by Gege Crochet
Style: Multiple mini-scenes all patched together
Technique: Each square was made with Tunisian single crochet and all color changes are made inline (not on top of the background).
Pros/Cons: Very clean and solid-looking pixels, but every color change means tons of yarn ends to tie up


Gege has promised to put up a video that shows her color-changing process, but I'm a little leery, given my propensity for short-term projects that produce immediate results. Perhaps I could do a mix of both: use the cross-stitch method for making several mini-scenes. What do you think?

Indoctrinating the Next Generation of Geeks

It's funny how everyone seems to shift life phases around the same time. When K and I met, we weren't exactly part of the fresh-from-college crowd. However, in the year following our wedding, a huge swarm of 7-8 couples decided to follow in our footsteps, joining the ranks of happy matrimony. That worked out nicely because a lot of our single friends were now conveniently "couples" friends. Well, a few years have passed and now the next wave is already upon us: the baby phase. Remember Ben and Sara, the other gaming couple we hang out with? They're leading the pack as one of the first pregnancies to hit our Bible study group, so all the girls are a-buzz with talk of Lamaze classes, glass verses plastic bottles, and nursery decorations. Given the nature of their favorite pastime, Ben and Sara have decided to design the new baby's room with.... a Super Mario Bros. theme!

They're definitely not the first to come up with this idea, so check out some of the inspiration they've gotten from Australian Gamer and Rejoice and Be Glad.


If you're not a crazy-talented painter, I've also seen some restickable decals that can help you achieve a similar look. Wow, I wish I had found out earlier about their plans because there are sooo many neato Mario crafts out that would make great baby shower gifts! Hmm...

Attack of the Brain Slug Plushes

I told you how I'm crazy for crocheting right now, and I completely blame it on my friend Lisa. She's the one who taught me my first double crochet stitch, and I've been madly dumping money into Michael's ever since. Well, she and her husband Luke happen to be crazy about Futurama. I mean, these kids actually made wedding name cards categorized by characters from the show. Since Lisa's always making things for my birthday, this year I thought I'd surprise her with a favorite little alien from Futurama...


Yeah yeah, I know it's the wrong shade of green, but I was sharing a ball of suede yarn (ooo!) with my other crafty friend, Viv. This plush toy is actually one of my first attempts at knitting, so don't laugh. ^_~ If you're interested in infecting one of your friends as well, check out this pattern from the Knitting Samurai.

It's Dr. Manhattan... IN REAL LIFE!

Not sure if you've read/seen Watchmen, but it's this revolutionary graphic novel where superheros are merely masked civilians with no special powers. Well, everyone except for Dr. Manhattan, this blue, emotionally detached, god-like being who can do crazy things like see time in multiple layers or teleport himself to Mars. His famous quote: "In my opinion, the existence of life is a highly overrated phenomenon."


Movie version of Dr. Manhattan
Well, NASA recently recorded a giant blue hand extending out into space, and it totally looks like Dr. Manhattan exploring the universe and its intricacies like he always wanted!


NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.
I've never been a huge space buff, but some of these captures are just incredible/miraculous. For more details on this phenomenon, see Giant 'Hand' Reaches Across Space.

Video Games vs. "Doing It"

As you know, time is gold. For many of us, the majority of our waking days are spent at the office, with a few scant hours to enjoy in the evening. (Make that minutes if you have kids.) By the time you've finished cooking dinner, cleaning up, and possibly working out... that leaves practically nothing! So what are you going to do with your precious spare time? Apparently an online British game store surveyed over 1,000 men in relationships (read: married or dating) regarding said evening activities: would you rather play games or have sex? 32% of men choose a night of playing games over physical intimacy, where as 72% of men prioritized a new game over having the s3x0rz.

As you can surmise, the comments to this article have been flooding in, most of which fit into the following categories:

1. Haha, married guys have no balls! Who in their right mind would pick games over sex?
2. Well, being married means no sex anyway, so of course we choose the games.
3. Married men can get sex anytime they want... why not have both in the same night?

It's amazing how much emphasis our culture places on sex nowadays. For me, sometimes it's just really nice to end the day by reading a book or crocheting a few rows before bedtime. So I can totally understand (and appreciate) guys who aren't 24/7 horndogs that constantly want to get it on. If K has a new game, well I want to see him play it too! I would think our sex life is healthy enough that one day without monkey business doesn't mean our marriage is doomed to celibacy.

And another thing: I hate this perception that married couples never have good sex or even sex at all. And typically the blame is placed on the wife. If women are already aware of the stereotype going into a marriage, wouldn't they want to actively fight against it in their own relationship? Knowing how important this is to men, my personal conviction has always to make my partner for life the luckiest man alive in all aspects. ^_~

Rocker Girls and Boys

Recently our Bible study had a social night, and someone came up with the wonderful idea of doing a Rock Band party, complete with costumes and music trivia. I'm not a huge player of the Guitar Hero genre, but one of my favorite things to do is dress up, whether it's a night out on the town or Halloween. The girl who planned the whole thing went all out, putting together supplimental games like "guess that tune" and "make your own rap song." Hehe, I wonder what we should play next time that would be equally engaging to a group of non-video game players.

Each of us were assigned to a "band"


Band #2, the Platinum Blonds, performing on stage


Rocker trophies for the winning team!