Author: Eppu

Nordic Myth and Magic School Vølurheim

Eppu

Artist Even Amundsen has been doodling character portraits for teachers at a hypothetical Harry Potter -style Scandinavian myth and magic school. He calls the school Vølurheim.

The names of the Professors include very Scandi monikers such as Hulda Kvænangsdottir, Dagfinn Snauholt, and Kari Sigfridsdotter. Amundsen has even come up with a background for everyone.

The portraits are fabulous in every sense – and as a bonus, the outfits are very reminiscent of historical Scandinavian garb and folk costumes. Below are some of my favorite characters.

Ragnhild Stubbemoen is the Professor of Dragon Lore and Care:

ArtStation Even Amundsen Volurheim Ragnhild

Apparently she’s taught at Vølurheim for 79 years already—and by the looks of her, she’s ready for another 80.

Mumrikk Stigandur is the Professor of Herbology:

ArtStation Even Amundsen Volurheim Mumrikk

Amundsen said he’s “heavily inspired” by Snufkin (Snusmumriken in Swedish or Nuuskamuikkunen in Finnish) from the Moomin stories. You can definitely see the resemblance!

Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts and veteran warlock of the Troll Wars is called Grimstav Draugsleiven. His portrait really shows his survival capabilities:

ArtStation Even Amundsen Volurheim Grimstav

Magnificent, isn’t it? (Elemental shaman in WoW, anyone?)

Even Mehl Amundsen is a freelance concept artist from Norway who has worked for studios like Ubisoft, Blizzard, Riot, Axis Animation, and Wizards of the Coasts, among others. You can see more of his work at ArtStation.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Make Your Own Superhero Snowflakes

Eppu

Some awesome people’s skills include puzzling out how to have paper snowflakes come out gorgeous. You remember the ones we made in elementary school: fold a piece of paper in sixths or eights, go to town with scissors, unfold the paper, and Bob’s your uncle. Mine weren’t always that decorative, but the ones below sure are.

Sonia Harris designed five template patterns for free download (personal use only): Batman, Iron Man, Punisher, Storm from X-Men, and Wonder Woman.

Sonia Harris Mashup by Eppu

Laughing Squid shared designs by Abby Bartels from Fun.com. (Note: My browser gives me a security warning about Fun.com, so proceed with discretion.) My favorites are Captain America and Iron Man; also included are Batman, Harley Quinn, Hulk, Joker, and Thor.

Laughing Squid Bartels Captain America
Laughing Squid Bartels Iron Man

Thanks to these templates even I could do some scissor magic for this end-of-the-year season!

Images: mashup of Sonia Harris’s snowflakes from her photos by Eppu Jensen. Captain America and Iron Man by Abby Bartels via Laughing Squid.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

May You Have as Restful and Relaxing a Thanksgiving as Possible

Eppu

With this awesome geeky Perler bead wreath, I wish our U.S. readers as restful and relaxing a Thanksgiving as possible under the circumstances.

Minted Strawberry Aki Perler Bead Geeky Xmas Wreath

May the writers’ room have an exceedingly boring 2020 season ender in store for all of us. The world sure could use a respite from the coronavirus.

Stay safe!

Image and tutorial by Aki at Minted Strawberry

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Quotes: The Rigid Rules of My Life Were Stories

Eppu

This is a thought that’s very easy to pass with a shrug and an “Of course”:

“It was ironic, wasn’t it, Solís? I was not even aware that the rigid rules of my life were stories, passed on from generation to generation because that’s all we knew. Tía Inez believed it, and la cuentista before her did, too. And so, we gave every cuentista of Empalme the same rules, the same restrictions, and we held them down, and we forced them into a life they couldn’t possibly have chosen.”

–Xochital in Mark Oshiro’s Each of Us a Desert [original emphasis]

But it gets very different very fast when you start thinking of everything, absolutely everything, that’s involved in your daily life. Start with how you’re brought up, kindergarten, school, and on. Or travel a bit further away from your home, or are able to talk with a stranger who trusts you with their life story.

For instance, I’m pretty sure that the sweater I’m wearing right now is “supposed” to be a boy’s. I saw it in a second-hand shop, liked the colors and print, liked the size, liked the price even more, and bought it. It’s a sweater; it kept me warm and left money in my pocket as a poor student. It still fits my “supposedly” “wrong” shape well enough after all the years I’ve had it. Who cares who is supposed to wear it?

Twitter CatCafeLiverpool Cat Fits Cat Sits

If it fits, I sits… err, wears. Me wearing this sweater isn’t hurting anything or anyone. But, of course, little things like an article of clothing can symbolically stand for larger issues, and those, as we all know, can really be thorny.

Humans really are storytelling animals.

Oshiro, Mark. Each of Us a Desert. New York: Tor, 2020, p. 374-5.

Images: Each of Us a Desert by Eppu Jensen. Cat in a box via Cat Cafe Liverpool.

Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.

Animatic Murderbot Fanart

Eppu

Creator mar made an animatic Murderbot video – because who wouldn’t want Murderbot on the screen! – and uploaded it for us to view.

Note: the creator’s content warning’s are: blood, guns, scopophobia, slight body horror, and injuries. There are also slight spoilers for Network Effect.

I’m Not Your Hero – The Murderbot Diaries Animatic by mar on YouTube

The animatic is set to Sara Quin and Tegan Quin’s “I’m Not Your Hero”. The song wasn’t familiar to me, but I have to admit it fits pretty well.

And, seriously, someone please buy the rights and develop a fantastic longform Murderbot screen adaptation. Like, now! *standing with money in my outstretched hand*

Found via Tor.com.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Video of 14th-Century Techniques of Bridge Building

Eppu

Here is an interesting animation of how the Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic, was built with 14th century techniques:

Karlův most – Stavba pilíře a klenebního pole ve 14. století by praha-archeologicka.cz on YouTube

3D graphics and postproduction is by Tomáš Musílek, with assists from Ondřej Šefců and Zdeněk Mazač. More information about Charles Bridge can be found at the portal Prague – the City of Archaeology. (Note: most of the site’s content and functionality seems to be in Polish, or link from the English summary to the equivalent full page in Polish.)

I love it how we’re now able to not just model but animate many old or even ancient building projects. It really reveals how far we’ve come and the skills and persistence we have as a species.

Found via File 770.

Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.

Blood Elf Subtlety Rogue Mogged to Hide in Shadows

Eppu

I don’t typically role-play in WoW, but for some of my characters I have a broad outline or concept figured out. My Blood Elf rogue is one, and the new Shadowlands prepatch character customizations really allow me to make the most of it.

She’s a pragmatist and bit of a girly-girl subtlety rogue who is, however, not too fussy about her looks. She’s more concerned about her outfit being practical, but if it can also be pretty, yay. Her name has the element shadow in it, which I wasn’t able to do much with previously.

However, now that we’re able to tweak our toons’ skin colors so extensively, I was able to make her skin the blackest black (like the shadows), with dark grey hair, one green eye (a carryover from her previous look) and one blind one, and some silvery jewellery to go with the gray hair and eye.

WoW BfA BE Rogue in Barber Shop

I’ve hidden most of the gear slots (head, shoulder, cloak, bracers, gloves, and boots), but otherwise I’m carrying over the green scheme from her earlier look (but with different pieces for a change). If interested, you can have a look at the set in Wowhead’s Dressing Room.

And even though the dressing room now gives you the new physical toon characteristics, here they are separately for posterity:

  • Face: 4
  • Skin Color: 14
  • Hair Style: Full
  • Hair Color: 14
  • Eye Color: 13
  • Ears: Long
  • Earrings: Dangles
  • Necklace: None
  • Armbands: Phoenix
  • Jewelry Color: 2
  • Bracelets: Silver Chains
WoW BfA BE Rogue in Zandalar Port

The 1-hand weapons are both mogged, one to a dagger and the other to a sword model (Starshard Edge and Ethereum Phase Blade). Although, I’m considering re-mogging the Starshard Edge. I might turn both into the Ethereum Phase Blade because it’s so beautiful, but I’m not sure if that’s too much repetition. Any suggestions are welcome!

Images: screenshots from World of Warcraft

Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.

TARDIS Console Room Concepts by Paul Hanley

Eppu

Artist Paul Hanley tweeted a series of TARDIS console room concepts in a range of styles. My favorite may be the rococo-inspired one:

Twitter Paul Hanley Tardis Rococo
Paul Hanley at Twitter

Although the Cloister Room is also great:

Twitter Paul Hanley Tardis Cloister
Paul Hanley at Twitter

And the Da Vinci -esque one could almost be a World of Warcraft Gnome’s workshop:

Twitter Paul Hanley Tardis Da Vinci
Paul Hanley at Twitter

Or maybe a Blood Elven alchemy lab?

Which one is your favorite?

Found via File 770.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.

Halloween Tentacle Cupcakes Headcanon into House Stormsong

Eppu

The newest World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands, was supposed to be released next Monday, October 26, 2020, but Blizzard decided to postpone it for an unknown time. Bleah. Well, these Halloween cupcakes do actually fit better with the House Stormsong aesthetic from Battle for Azeroth:

nikki-wills-tikkido-horror-cupcakes-6_0

Visit the tutorial by Nikki Wills at Tikkido to find out how to make yours!

Image by Nikki Wills

This post has been updated.

Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!

Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Wholesome 90s Sitcom

Eppu

YouTube user TrainDozer re-imagined Star Trek: The Next Generation as a wholesome 90s sitcom, and the trailer is hilarious:

Data – A 90s Sitcom by TrainDozer on YouTube

The best part is that TrainDozer clearly pulled in material from the gag reels. (My only criticism is that from this trailer, you can’t tell that the series supposedly centers Data. Ohwell!)

Found via File 770.

In Making Stuff occasional feature, we share fun arts and crafts done by us and our fellow geeks and nerds.