Cheeto Existential Documentary + Mac and Cheese Candle

The stereotype is that geeks eat unhealthy food, and unfortunately there’s more than a bit of truth to it.  So why not celebrate it with the Cheeto Existential Documentary Fine Art Screen Print by SynapseArtworks ($125.00).  Every Cheeto in a 13.5 oz. bag was traced and rated according to cheesiness, so you can compare cheesiness levels with the next bag you eat.  The Mac and Cheese Unscented Candle by kokocandles ($15.00) looks amazingly delicious and realistic (though I’m not sure it’s a good thing that real mac and cheese is a dead ringer for a wax candle).

René Magritte Apple Macintosh T-shirt + Vinyl Decal Sticker/Son of Mac

Art and geek collide with these two items from Etsy inspired by Apple and RenéMagritte’s famous painting, The Son of Man.  The René Magritte Apple Macintosh T-shirt by Baostudio ($23.00) hides the face of man behind the old Apple logo with colorful results, while the Vinyl Decal Sticker for the Macbook Pro by artwallproject ($13.00) cleverly uses the Apple logo to reenact the painting.

Yaxche Necklace + Calavera Burn Book

El Día de los Muertos has come and gone, but we can still honor the dead with gorgeous calavera finds:

The Yaxche Necklace by persimmonjewelry ($58.00) refers to the Mayan Tree of Heaven, “under which good souls rejoice.”

The Calavera Burn Book by Scott Campbell ($150.00) has been intricately laser cut, turning an old book into a ghostly work of art.

The Creatures of Etsy, image from Pipapiep's shop

Halloween is the time of year for monsters, and there are plenty to choose from at Etsy.  There are plush monsters, felt monsters, and fuzzy monsters galore to cuddle up with on Halloween night and beyond.  However, going through them all on Etsy is a monstrous headache, so I’ve compiled a list of the Top Ten Best Etsy shops with lovable monsters and creatures from distant lands!

See the full list after the break:

Happycloud Thunderhead is a magical place full of elves and monsters, from the Thunderhead Castle to the Forgotten Forest.  Take a piece of it with you from the Happycloud Thunderhead Etsy shop.

By happycloud

KitLane’s Ursabobs and Jacabunnies from Strangeland are some of the cutest little creatures I’ve ever seen!  Adopt one at Etsy:

By KitLane

The MrSogs Etsy shop is full of long ears and colorful stripes, which equals cuteness 99% of the time.

By MrSogs

The knitted monsters at erinmakesstuff are both cute and creepy, and their gourd-like bodies and strange expressions are full of charm:

By erinmakesstuff

Thanks to the travels and documentation of a brave researcher, the Horndribbles can come home with you, but be careful: some species are quite flatulent.  Catch a glimpse of them at Etsy:

By horndribbles

Each creature sold at Spotted Egg Lab’s Etsy shop was hatched in a top-secret facility.  But don’t tell anybody I told you that.  You heard nothing.

By SpottedEgg

The Kaijus on the FeltMistress Etsy shop are just the tip of the awesomeness iceberg; check out the Felt Mistress blog for more anthropomorphic goodness.

By Feltmistress

Pipapiep’s Etsy shop is filled with cute and fuzzy dioramas of monsters going about their daily lives:

By Pipapiep

The creatures at the Cotton Monster shop and blog are full of toothy goodness and glorious overbites.  Some of them will even store your belongings in their mouth!

By cottonmonster

Last but definitely not least, I absolutely adore the monsters at the Cutesy but not Cutesy Etsy shop by dkoss2:

By dkoss2

Everyone is awesome and gets gold stars!

By blackbeardfashion

Don’t monkey around!  Pick one up at blackbirdfashion’s shop at etsy.com for $26.00.

Shuriken Magnet + Bunny Ninja

Ninja Shuriken Magnet by Lee Weilang at MollaSpace for $18.00: Made for posting super secret notes on the refrigerator, you can use it as evidence that you fended off a ninja attack with frozen meatloaf.

Ninja Bunny-Neen Jah the Buhn Nee by BlissForest at etsy for $16.50: What could be better to protect your house than a ninja bunny?  Nothing, that’s what!

Charlie Benford (Lennon Wynn) from Flashforward

Learn the mysterious squirrel’s identity after the break:

The red squirrel facing the principal and emergency surgery

The squirrel looked oddly familiar, and after intense investigation, I realized that I’d seen the squirrel in the first episode:

This was the cartoon that Charlie was watching on the morning of the blackout, and according to producers and showrunners David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim, the squirrel is named Tim Tim Squirrelio.  It was created specifically for Flashforward, and in their interview on Hulu, Mr. Goyer states:

“(The cartoon) does, in sort of tricky ways, connect back to our story.  If you don’t pay attention to it, you’re not really missing anything but if you do pay attention to what’s happening in the cartoon, you might pick up a little something extra.”

Ooh, the mystery…I also noticed some more product placement for Tim Tim Squirrelio in the first scene of episode 2:

Unnamed shark character from Tim Tim Squirrelio on a shirt and on television

All of it is very cute, creative, and mysterious…hopefully we’ll see a Tim Tim Squirrelio appearance on every Flashforward episode, and I might even make a Squirrelio plushie of my own!

Zero Punctuation by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw on The Escapist

Oh Yahtzee, you smarmy herculean mongoose…I love to watch Zero Punctuation, the series of animated video game reviews by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, the gamer who keeps it as real as a Trilby hat.  They’re funny and brutally cynical, but shed honest insight into the pros and cons of current console games.  Be sure to catch it every Wednesday on The Escapist.

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered my own personal imp, the characters on Zero Punctuation that serve as stand-ins for everything from game villains and minions to fanfiction writing fangirls.  It arrived quicker than I expected, since it was shipped by Canada PostGround to the US.  I added a red bow and made it a girl imp!

The Girl Imp

Get the imp from SplitReason.com for $9.95, though shipping to the United States is pricey.