Spock's Pickled Brain

Steampunk is such a fantastic genre, but which movies truly fit the description? It's all up for debate, but I have a few favorites that in one way or another share the aesthetic, technology, themes, or adventures of the steampunk world. 1. City of Lost Children (1995) Sweet, beautiful, and eerily strange. This quirky little film easily takes the top spot in my reckoning of steampunk movies. In this twisted tale, a mad scientist's creation steals children in order to suck the dreams right out of their heads. When a circus strongman's adopted brother is kidnapped, he and an orphan girl have to overcome a cult of cyborg henchmen and scheming Siamese twins gang leaders to rescue the children. Sure that sounds surreal, but you really have to redefine that word after watching this film. For a movie involving stolen dreams, the characters, settings, and plot make it like you're walking through an even stranger dream. The plot is tangled, the meaning unclear. But it ...

Blood of the Hogfather A good cocktail to sip on Christmas Eve, or Hogswatch, or whatever winter holiday comes to mind. The base of this drink is the juniper, head-clearing flavor of gin. In it swirls the holiday sweetness of lingonberry concentrate, the spice of ginger liqueur, and the underlying herbal depth of Amaro. A little bit of lemon juice counters the sweetness without changing much else. 1.5oz gin 1oz lingonberry or cranberry concentrate 0.5oz ginger liqueur 0.25oz Amaro or other mild herbal liqueur 2 dashes of lemon juice In a cocktail shaker, add ice, gin, lingonberry concentrate, ginger liqueur, and Amaro. Shake for about ten seconds and pour into an old-fashioned glass. Add two dashes of lemon juice, stir twice, and give praise to the Hogfather! Jack Frost Chilly, mischievous and good-natured, this concoction will have you dreaming of cool winter nights. Starbat created this by toying with the Draught of Living Death recipe. It's basically an ice cream flo...

There are plenty of go-to holiday movies out there. Miracle on 34th Street. It's a Wonderful Life . The Grinch Who Stole Christmas . All pluck the heartstrings just right for this time of year, and all safely watchable for pretty much anybody. But if you want a break from the ordinary and want to find some new or newly appreciated favorites for the holiday season, here's a few movies that could fill out your time off.   1. Terry Pratchett's Hogfather We watched this again recently and were pleasantly surprised. This TV miniseries was adapted extremely well from the source material, and includes all the eccentricity and thoughtfulness of the typical Terry Pratchett novel. Which makes sense, since Pratchett was heavily involved in the production. In this we return to the delightful nonsensical Discworld, and begin a perfectly simple tale of the happenings on Christmas Eve and end up questioning the true nature of gods, mortality, time, and belief. Great plot, cheeky c...

This is basically a spinoff of the Bowtruckle tutorial by Crafting Doctor , except with more variety in the greenery. Although we only have one example of bowtruckles in the films, it makes sense to me that there would different varieties that would camouflage themselves to certain tree species. Compared to the illustration on the Harry Potter Wiki: Materials -Floral wire -Floral tape -Pipe cleaners (aka chenille pipe stems) -Fake flowers and leaves Tools -Wire cutters -Scissors -Permanent marker -Superglue 1. Gather the materials All of these materials can be bought at larger craft stores, mostly from the floral section. You can also salvage faux leaves, flowers, and berries from thrift stores, which often have some old florals with the baskets and display pieces. 2. Cut stems The cutting of the wire pieces for the body, arms, and legs do not need to be very precise. To make a bowtruckle that is about the size seen in the films, the body is about f...

Gillywater Like most drinks mentioned in Harry Potter, many people have developed their own versions of the Gillywater. Starbat made this version, which definitely hits you in the teeth. The cucumber vodka and coconut rum meld two delicate flavors, and the gin adds some herbal edge. Hopefully Professor McGonagall would approve. 0.75oz cucumber vodka 0.75oz coconut rum 1.5oz gin Thinly sliced cucumbers Combine cucumber vodka, coconut vodka, and gin in a shaker with ice. Strain out ice and pour over sliced cucumbers in a old-fashioned glass. If you want to get fancy, serve with ice made in a sphere mold. Draught of Living Death Although this potion won't send you into a deathless slumber, it is certainly a cool and powerful libation. This drink was invented by Starbat, it's main herbal notes consisting of subtle damiana, calming lavender, and refreshing mint. The smoothness of the gold tequila deepens each of these flavors and gives the drink it's tr...

In the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from the Harry Potter legacy, one of the titular fantastic beasts is an “Occamy,” a beautiful blue-green feathered serpent creature that grows or shrinks to fit its environment. While I can’t make a prop that does that (unless I want to get one of those weird growing sponge dinosaur things), I can (possibly) make a cute, poseable version of said bird snake. This has certainly been done before, with many different materials, and with varying degrees of similarity to the original depiction. Here's my interpretation: Versus some depictions in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film: As ever, I decided to take some artistic license with the creature (but not too much), and I ended up it out of: -Foam (a seat cushion from Jo-Ann’s, about an inch thick) -Floral Wire (also from Jo-Ann’s, mine was fabric-wrapped, but it doesn’t have to be) -Wooden Bead (a round one with a hole through the middle, about a...