Thaeger attended Dragon*Con and took some excellent cosplay pictures, including this very cool stormtrooper. I would love to hear a hip hop version of the Imperial March.

http://blog.thaeger.com/2011/09/08/cosplay-costume-parade/ (Google Translate) -via Technabob

George Chamoun, an art student from Sweden, smoothly blended iconic stars of a previous generation with current popular actors. Pictured above is Marilyn Monroe and Scarlett Johansson.

http://georgechamoun.tumblr.com/post/5674409987 -via Nerdcore

We've already learned that Grimace has a dark, criminal past. But the 1970s specification manual at How to Be a Retronaut also reveals that, at some point, Mayor McCheese lost his seat. Or he stopped holding his sham elections. It's a bit ambiguous.

http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/09/mcdonaldland-specification-manual-1970s/

What is it? I have no idea. Something made out of Roma Plastalina clay by Evan Campbell. It tastes like chicken. Just ignore the head. Especially if it starts twitching.

Link

Shane Martin, a scrap metal artist from the UK, made this awesome four-foot long snake sculpture. The delicate scrap metal hummingbirds in his gallery are also gorgeous.

Link | Gallery

Wait, have you been using it for personal computing? BWAHAHAHA! You rube. It's actually made for cooking, as Mochrom from Japan demonstrates. It slices and dices your vegetables cleanly and perfectly. And if you find it a bit too cumbersome, you can use an iPhone for many of those functions. Also, you look cool doing it because it's an Apple product.

Link (Google Translate) -via Technabob

This fist-sized beetle by Shuki Kato is ten inches across and kind of scary. Once you're done changing your pants, check out this photo from his Flickr photostream which gives us a hint of the preparation and planning necessary to make a piece of origami this complex.

Flickr photostream -via Colossal

In 1983, when he as fifteen years old, Craig Smith broke his father's soldering iron. He fixed it (above) using parts of a toy made to resemble Han Solo's blaster (below). It still works! And, of course, it has a scope. You need a scope if you're soldering from a great distance.

Link | Photos: Craig Smith, Wookieepedia

(Video Link)

Marquita Arguello and her boyfriend Tyrel Hartman are frequent users of StumbleUpon, so when Hartman decided to pop the question, he wanted to do so using that web utility. He contacted the StumbleUpon Support Team, who agreed to rig Arguello's account to recommend a certain site at a certain time. When she logged in, she saw a Tumblr blog with eleven photos showing Hartman's proposal written on a whiteboard.

Link and News Story -via Urlesque

Slovenian artist Miha Artnak added stickers to everyday objects and scenes that appear to reveal hidden realities beneath the surface. He seems to be saying that what you see is only an illusion.

Link (Google Translate) | Artist's Website

The industrialist Andrew Carnegie used his vast fortune to build 2,509 libraries around the world. The people of Little Free Library would like to continue that philanthropic tradition and make it accessible for people without Carnegie's wealth. So they sell birdhouse-sized libraries that you can fill with books that people in your neighborhood can read.

Link -via Super Punch

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YouTube user Timyodie did more than just talk into a microphone. He's made a set of two videos with funny and astonishingly accurate impersonations of thirty-four Star Wars characters and species, from Jango Fett to a Tusken raider. It's not just the voice work that makes these two videos great, but the facial expressions and occasional improvised costuming.

Part 2 -via io9

Ashley Ringrose made this Futurama-inspired Mr. Potato Head. Surely we all have a Dr. Zoidberg in our lives. Or at least wish that we do.

Link -via Geek Crafts

If you have to get up in the morning -- and I don't recommend that for health reasons -- then you might as well do it in an exciting way. Michael Krumpus made a clock that looks like a bomb from the movies. Cut the right wire and you'll disarm it. Cut the wrong one, and either nothing will happen, or it will detonate immediately.

Link -via DVICE

Previously: Bomb Alarm Clock

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Michael Fishbach and his friends were in the Sea of Cortez on Valentine's Day this year when they found a humpback whale floating in the water. It appeared to be dead, having been trapped in a fishing net for a long time. Fishbach discovered that she was still alive -- but only barely. They worked hard for an hour with only one knife to cut the net away and free her. They were ultimately successful. Skip ahead to 6:20 to see the whale's joyful reaction.

-via Nag on the Lake