Christmas is almost here. You know what that means. It’s time to bake those delicious gingerbread cookies! If you have a loved one that has fallen to the dark side of geekery, surprise them with a batch of specially decorated cookies that celebrate their favorite game or movie.

Star Wars themed cookies are a classic, so you can never go wrong with gingerbread robots like C-3PO or R2-D2, but if you want to make something really special, try to build a whole AT-AT out of gingerbread. It can’t get more awesome than that!

No article about geeks could be complete without mentioning Super Mario or Pacman, and you can get some inspiration from these amazing pictures of retro game style gingerbread cookies. One truly devoted fan made a whole edible Mario world he named Super Mario Holiday, and we here at TBR tip our hats to the superfan. If you have knowledge about electronics and baking, you can go uber-geek and make a gingerboard, a replica of a computer motherboard that will surely impress your tech loving friends even before they start chewing on the capacitors and microcontrollers.

Now that you have some cool cookie decorating ideas, put your apron on and put a smile on a geek’s face.

Dovtor Who gingerbread

Motherboard gingerbread

Pacman arcade gingerbread

Star Wars gingerbread

Super Mario gingerbread

Mmm..don’t mind if I do {snatches Toad and bites his puny head off}. If you liked these gingerbread goodies, you’ll probably want to check out these strange stocking stuffers as well.

What do you get when you cross the Death Star from Star Wars with a jigsaw puzzle? If your answer is “the Wikipedia logo,” you either made these pictures or you have a really wicked way of thinking.

A creative anonymous artist made fun illustrations by observing that if you combine different objects, you can get some of the well known logos of products or companies.

For example, if you take a peace sign and a pair of scissors and cut one of its legs off, you get one of the most famous symbols in the car industry instead of the hippie trademark. There are some really hilarious combinations, like  one involving the acorn obsessed squirrel from Ice Age.

The Google Chrome logo really does look like the love child of a Pokemon Poke ball and Simon memory game, doesn’t it. Guess the logo designer was inspired by the toys he or she had as a child, perhaps on a subconscious level.

WordPress logo

Wikipedia logo

Twitter logo

Symantec logo

Mercedes logo

Google Chrome logo

Drupal logo

Hmm..random thought. What do you get when you combine Alfred Hitchcock with a famous drunk like Ulysses S. Grant. I’m not sure that I ever want to find out.

His work has been published in national newspapers all over the UK, shown on BBC television, and featured in many magazines all over the world. I’m talking about celebrated artist Mike Stimpson. So, what does he actually do that’s gained him so much popularity in the media? Well, he specializes in taking photos of LEGOs. His latest collection of photos depicts Star Wars Lego characters doing rather unusual things.

Stormtroopers exercising with lightsabers, checking updates on Facebook, riding bicycles, building snowmen, giving out free hugs, stalking people at the mall–these are just some of the funny scenes Stimpson has created. Darth Vader and other iconic Star Wars characters have also been thrown into the act. Says Stimpson, “I seem to take a lot of photographs of toys. I also like messing about with light.”

"We're gonna need a bigger ship. Odd considering the Executor is 19,000 meters in length. But trust me, we will."

It’s obvious that Stimpson spent a great deal of time setting up each scene. When asked why he creates his art, Stimpson said that he mainly does it for the fun. We can’t argue with that. Nor will we try. Speaking of famous Lego characters, here is an amazing selection from another artist, Angus MacLane.

The deserted barracks of the Soviet Red Army

In this week’s “around the web” segment, ThisBlogRules (or TBR for all you acronym lovers) visits the creepy, deserted, and downright dirty barracks that once housed the Soviet Union’s Red Army. We also examine how forensic science solved some of the world’s most infamous crimes. It’s all right here, in this week’s (unnecessary dramatic pause) “around the web” special.

The Deserted Barracks of the Soviet Red Army via Environmental Graffiti

How Forensic Science Solved Some of the World’s Most Infamous Crimes via Fork Party

The 5 Stages of Star Wars Revisionism Fan Grief via Bizarre Bytes

11 Brilliant and Ridiculous NFL Team Tribute Songs via 11 Points

Sexual Cannibalism! via Environmental Graffiti

The Laziest Cat in World History via Think Nice

Taco Bell Circa 1982 via HapHappy

“Marty! Marty! I’ve become so absorbed in the Dr. Emmett Brown character that I’m starting to believe I might actually be him!” — Christopher Lloyd on the set of this commercial.

Yes, we realize you probably already caught the “Back for the Future” campaign, but we love it so much that we just had to include one of its commercials in our link roundup. And now for the TBR quote of the day:

“It is what it is. A pop and a fizz.”

Last Friday (August 5) saw Rupert Wyatt’s sci-fi “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” hitting US cinemas, the film serving as an explanation of how the apes, well, rose and sparked “Planet of the Apes” (1968). The film has received quite a bit of critical acclaim, evidently one of the few prequels that have been managed with that care and attention. To mark this, I’ve taken a look at the top five prequels that successfully expand upon the stories of their predecessor(s), instead of inhaling the contents of their forerunners’ bowels.

5. “Paranormal Activity 2″ (2010)

Chiller hit “Paranormal Activity 2″ kicks off two months before the events of its low-budget predecessor “Paranormal Activity,” and stars the sister of the first film’s female protagonist. Much like the original, it’s presented in a found-footage format, following the sister and her family as they are haunted by what appears to be the same ghost or demon or poltergeist or Patrick Swayze, whatever, from “PA1.” However, while the first one was entirely filmed by the main characters‘ camcorder, this one is filmed through security cameras set up around the primary setting of the family’s lovely suburban home, although it does contain some camcorder footage. Just as terrifying (or boring if you don’t, ahem, “get” it) as the first, this highly unnerving prequel very much expands upon the story’s mythology, brilliantly setting up the horrifying events that occur in the first movie. Oh, and one more thing… BOO! Ha, scared ya.

4. “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984)

“Temple of Doom” is the second film in the Steven Spielberg-directed “Indiana Jones” trilogy (yes, trilogy; “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” does not exist to me). Taking place one year before the Nazi-battling escapades of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” this B-movie prequel of course stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, heroic archaeologist, as he finds himself tangled in a world of black magic, sacred stones and human sacrifice. The film is notably darker and more violent than its generally lighthearted predecessor (it was part of the reason the PG-13 rating exists today), and could easily pass as simply a sequel to it; “Temple” doesn’t necessarily add anything to “Raiders,” instead serving as just another one of Indy’s many adventures. And thank god he didn’t go on anymore adventures with that irritating Chinese kid, though. “Okey-dokey, Dr. Jones, hold on to your potatoes”? Shut up, kid.

3. “X-Men: First Class” (2011)

Hopes were not high for the future of the “X-Men” franchise after the series’ first prequel, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” turned out to be such a jaw-dropping disaster of both movie-making and intelligence. Thankfully, however, director Matthew Vaughn’s prequel “X-Men: First Class” was a heck of a lot better, proving to be a universal hit with both nerdy fans and general film-goers alike. Set in the groovy era known as the ’60s, when JFK was still in the White House, it tells the story of how the original X-Men team came to be, as well as how rival mutants Professor X (good guy) and Magneto (bad guy) first met and split apart. With it being the fifth film in the franchise, there are inevitably quite a number of continuity errors as the film clumsily tries to tie itself up with its four predecessors, but as a stand-alone film it is absolutely breathtaking and is, in this writer’s opinion, the best in the franchise. Side note: that may have something to do with the fact that Kevin Bacon is in it. Everyone loves a bit of Bacon, don’t they?

2. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)

There’s some debate amongst fans as to whether or not “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” is actually a prequel to its two predecessors, but the most definitive evidence is this: “TGTBATU” takes place during the American Civil War, while “A Fistful of Dollars” and “For a Few Dollars More” are both set after the American Civil War, which is shown through a gravestone that’s dated 1873 (after the Civil War) in the first film, though some say this is simply an error by the filmmakers. Also, it’s in “TGTBATU” that the trilogy’s protagonist first comes across the trademark clothes he wore in the first two movies. Anyway, the film sees Clint Eastwood returning as The Man with No Name, a gun-slinging anti-hero of the wild west who ends up on the quest to find Confederate gold that’s apparently buried in a cemetery. Sergio Leone’s astonishing spaghetti western is often cited as the very best of the genre, considered by many to be one of the greatest movies of all time; pretty good for a prequel, huh?

1. “The Godfather, Part II” (1974)

“The Godfather, Part II” is both a sequel and a prequel all rolled into one big movie, if that makes sense. You see, about half of Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster masterpiece is a typical sequel, focusing on the events revolving around Michael Corleone in the late ’50s as he becomes the Don of his mob family following the events of the first movie. The other half, however, is very much a prequel, it telling the origins of Michael’s father Vito’s rise to power in the business of organised crime in 1920s New York. The film frequently jumps between these two narratives over its three-plus-hour length, both storylines given a pretty equal amount of screen-time, making it not only the greatest sequel of all time, but also the greatest prequel of all time. It’s true; IMDb says so.

By Stephen Watson