Jul 24, 2009  •  In Books, Geek, Star Wars

The LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary

Last birthday, my sister bought me the book equivalent of a geek’s wet dream:


The Force is strong with Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary.

Continuing the great tradition of delicious visual representations, LucasBooks, in conjunction with LEGO and DK Publishing, announced earlier today that the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary will be available come October.

…the book is not merely a catalog of LEGO products, though every set to date is indeed included. “It does follow along the lines of our Visual Dictionaries, in that it attempts to explain things from the universe it occupies. So this takes the point of view from within the LEGO Star Wars universe of sorts.” This is best expressed through themed spreads within the book that often explore a character or faction and its evolution across multiple LEGO sets.

Did you read that? Every LEGO Star Wars set to date is included in the book. Drool.

The book will also include a new LEGO Star Wars mini-figure, which is revealed at the end of this video.

Sigh. See all the goodies I am missing out on at Comic-Con? (see previous entry)

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Jul 24, 2009  •  In Geek, Star Wars

California Dreamin…

If I could be anywhere on Earth right now, I would be in San Diego.

Even Google is honoring what is probably the largest geek gathering in the world:

Geeks of the world, unite!

And yes, if I were there, I’d be donning the infamous Princess Leia bikini. I have this Facebook status thread from last night to prove it, where I debuted this oh-so-very attractive picture of me:

Don’t I look hot as slave-Leia?

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Jul 23, 2009  •  In Science

Eclipse Shadow on Earth

This photograph of Wednesday’s solar eclipse is hauntingly beautiful.

I was sad that the eclipse could only be seen from the eastern hemisphere, but felt lucky to have friends in Asia who uploaded pictures to Facebook and Flickr. Ahh the power of the internet and social media!

Via Wired Science.

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Jul 23, 2009  •  In Cute, Funny

Samurai on the Toilet

Hope this puts a smile on your face, as it did for me this morning…

Happy Thursday!

(Thursdays are my favorite day of the week due to one of my favorite literary characters, Thursday Next.)

Via Geeks are Sexy.

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Jul 23, 2009  •  In Art/Design, Geek

Monopoly, Repackaged

I admit it – I am a total boardgame whore. I much prefer having friends over for a feisty round of Cranium over many other activities of the non-geek variety. Visitors to my house are always amazed by my collection of boardgames, and whilst I thought The Devil Wears Prada was an over-hyped, unextraordinary book, I loved the fact that the main character left her parting message to her ex-roommates on a Scrabble board.

I have owned no less than a dozen different versions of the classic game Monopoly over the years, but at the time being there are only three (the horror!) editions in possession: the Deluxe Edition; the Nintendo Collector’s Edition; and the Star Wars Limited Collector’s Edition, complete with a serial number, pewter game pieces, and coin pieces (whut WHUT!).

Now I must add one more to my collection.

Okay, I know that this is just a concept design, and I highly doubt that Parker Brothers will approach Andy Mangold, the designer, with intentions of mass-production.

However, just take a look at the deliciousness of this re-packaged design of the U.S.’s most beloved boardgame:

From the product page:

Monopoly, in spite being the classiest of all board games, unfortunately is packaged just as boringly and uncreatively as every other garbage board game on the shelves. So, I decided to repackage it… turning the class up to 11.

All of the boxes are made out of chocolate brown mat board and skinned in cream arches cover. The final package is just over 10″ x 10″ x 1.5″ and includes smaller containers for all of the various pieces and cards and a laser-cut holder for all of the houses and hotels.

Simply beautiful.

Via Packagings of the World.

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Jul 23, 2009  •  In Movies

Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” Teaser Video (Updated)

All I can say is:

Oh…my…GAWD…..

I can’t wait for this movie!

(Thanks to @Willpower101 for the correct link!)

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Jul 22, 2009  •  In Art/Design

Memo Clock

Today’s product of the day comes courtesy of Engadget – the Memo Clock by DesignOne:

With a rewritable ceramic surface, you can leave notes for yourself and others on an attrative and functional object that is sure to be noticed by all.

Check out the other featured items on the TheHaki blog – they’re outright adorable! I love Korean design aesthetics!

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Jul 21, 2009  •  In Video Games

The Etymologies of Video Game Characters

Ever wonder how Mario and Luigi got their names? Now you can find out thanks to Back of the Cereal Box‘s aptly-titled piece, It’s a Secret to Everybody.

My favorite part had to be the Koopalings (Bowser’s ill-behaved children) and their similarities to the famous musicians to which they were named after:


Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy, Larry, and Bowser

And after reading the section about Malboro, a recurring monster in the Final Fantasy series, you can’t help but wonder if Philip Morris intentionally named their most popular brand of cigarettes “bad breath” (Latin mal meaning “bad,” and boros, allegedly meaning “breath” in Latin or Greek).

It’s a bit of a long read, but if you have the time (and like me, can remember when Princess Peach was called “Princess Toadstool”) and a genuine interest in video games as well as etymology, I highly recommend you check out this article.

Via the mental_floss Blog.

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Jul 21, 2009  •  In Art/Design

Ink Bleed Calendar

The Geek in Heels’ cool design product of the day is Oscar Diaz‘s “Ink Calendar”:

“Ink Calendar” make use the timed pace of the ink spreading on the paper to indicate time.

The ink is absorbed slowly, and the numbers in the calendar are “printed” daily. One a day, they are filled with ink until the end of the month. A calendar self-updated, which enhances the perception of time passing and not only signaling it.

The ink colors are based on a spectrum, which relate to a “color temperature scale”, each month having a color related to our perception of the whether on that month. The colors range from dark blue in December to, three shades of green in spring or oranges, red in the summer.

The scale for measuring the “color temperature” that I have used is a standard called ‘D65’ and corresponds roughly to a midday sun in Western / Northern Europe.

The “Ink Calendar” was developed for “Gradual “, an exhibition featuring works, which were evolving during the exhibition time at the London Design Festival 2007.

Via Design Milk.

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Jul 21, 2009  •  In Blogging

Added: Avatars!

One of the very few complaints I have about Squarespace is the lack of robust user profiles. While free platforms such as WordPress and vBulletin offer numerous methods for registered users of the hosted website to personalize their profiles and interact each other, Squarespace is very limited in this area.

This is when hacks come in handy.

I always thought that the “Comments” section of each post looked a bit drab, so I decided to add avatars:

Unfortunately, individual users will not be able to upload the avatars themselves…only I am able to do so.

So if you visit this site often, have an account, and want a custom avatar, shoot me an email at  j e n n y [a t] g e e k i n h e e l s . c o m  with your desired image and I will happy to do so for you!

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