DIY Life

Hefty cable bill got you down? Do some people pay less for cable than others? Yes and yes! Here's how to reduce your monthly cable bill, with realistic advice gleaned from frugal cable subscribers.

Warning: to make this advice work for you, you'll have to be painfully honest with yourself about a) how much you really need/use your existing cable and b) how much you can really afford cable, if at all.

1. Not yet a cable customer? First, search for special deals offered by your cable provider, such as a low monthly rate for the first six months. When you do call to sign up, make sure to ask if you can get one of those low-rate deals, plus extras, such the modem, thrown in for free. Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask!

If you have a family, you're probably in a state of constant chaos, and romancing your man might not rank high on your list of things to do. You've spent hours coordinating your children, and helping them make monogrammed cuff links and hand print crafts. They'll present these to Daddy first thing Sunday morning, and you'll all enjoy a family day, celebrating Dad.

When the day comes to a close, and the kids are tucked in, don't retire to your separate laptops... instead, turn up the heat, and spend a little time letting him know how appreciated he is. This isn't about modeling sexy lingerie (though I'm sure that would be a welcomed surprise!) or buying him expensive concert tickets. It's Father's Day, so spend some time reflecting on the wonderful ways that he contributes to the family, and thanking him for being such a great parenting partner.

So, what does a dad find romantic? I surveyed some of the men in my life, and it turns out they are pretty easy to please. So many dads are busy balancing work and family that all they really want is a little break.

After the jump, I'll share some husband-certified ways to spoil him this Father's Day.

Iron Man gear is all the rage these days, thanks to the popularity of the new hit movie. We recently went to my nephew's fourth birthday party, and as a gift, he received an Iron Man mask and an arm attachment that shoots discs. Ah, the weaponry a four-year-old apparently needs....

If you've got an Iron Man buff in your household, why spend the money on a store-bought mask and arc reactor when you can build one yourself? Details after the break.

About a month or so ago, a set of Lord of the Rings amigurumi made by Sammi Resendes (Craftster user Artoo1121) and her boyfriend were prominently featured on a number of sites. The dolls were unusually detailed, with full cloth outfits resembling their film costumes, painted "embroidery," and tiny polymer clay accessories like helmets and staffs. However, there were no instructions for you to make them at home.

Since then, however, Sammi has posted free instructions for how to make the Fellowship of the Ring in crocheted doll form on her blog, Geek Central Station. There are several patterns:

• The Hobbits and Gimli
• Aragorn and Boromir
• Gandalf and Legolas

The hitch? The clothing patterns aren't free: they can be purchased from the Geek Central Station Etsy shop for $7. That price seems reasonable to me, given how much work went into them.

In the meantime, amigurumi lovers will want to keep an eye on Geek Central Station: Indiana Jones is the latest character to join the fun, and a line of Star Wars dolls has also appeared, with some patterns available for purchase. Sammi says the cast of Futurama will be next! [via]

Taking the concept of home theater to extremes: the gentleman who spent a jaw-dropping $6.8 million on construction of a home theater. Not just any home theater. The ultimate home theater. I mean, this thing has everything. Owner, Jeremy Kipnis, says his creation is "the greatest show on earth."

The theater is a large room, eight feet high at the entrance and sloping up to sixteen feet high. The centerpiece is a massive eighteen foot laboratory grade screen. Equally impressive (or tasteless, depending on your view): a super-powerful audio system with sixteen eighteen-inch subs arrayed around the seating area for totally realistic surround sound.

Naturally, the whole thing can play "ungodly loud," according to Steve from Audio Video Interiors. Yes, it's basically like having your own personal IMAX theater to hang out in.

For more home theater fun and games, check out my earlier post on home theaters, and Jessi's home theater-planning post. Also handy: Anna's post on DIY projection screens.

Last week saw the release of a new issue of The AntiCraft, the free online craft magazine for people who might prefer spiders and bats to sunshine and daisies. This time, it's all about crochet... and setting cheese on fire.

The new issue is, more or less, amigurumi-themed. Like most concepts tackled at the site, it's been interpreted with a darkly funny twist: sure, there are cute animals, but one is Cthulhu and the other is a Dungeons and Dragons monster called a "Beholder" (it has a lot of eyes). There's also a small "eyeball" bag for jewelry or dice, a chainsaw and ax for horror fans, and a (knitted) cover for knitting needles shaped like an anatomical heart.

One of these days, someone is going to come up with an amigurumi version of the Cloverfield monster, or the smaller-but-equally-distressing critter from the 2006 Korean film, The Host. Interested parties will have this issue of The AntiCraft to tide them over until that day comes.

Just like the change in the year, everything old is new again, right? In the last few years, I've watched the media icons of my childhood and early teen years become popular again with today's kids (and with nostalgia buffs around my own age). The Transformers are the most obvious and, it seems, successful resurgence, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have also regained a lot of ground lost in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Craftster user atsuko created these adorable amigurumi Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -- the whole team! -- for her young daughter's Christmas present. She cobbled the pattern together from other simple patterns, with permission.

They're simple to crochet, and if you want to leave off the "Teenage Mutant Ninja" part, they'd probably also make pretty cute just-plain-turtles; advanced crocheters could even try to make little outfits for them. You need worsted weight yarn in two shades of green, a yellowish shade, and the colors for the masks. According to Wikipedia, they are:

• Blue for Leonardo (the "good boy")
• Red for Raphael (the "bad boy")
• Orange for Michelangelo (the "funny one")
• Purple for Donatello (the "smart one")

Turtle power!

It's been over a week since Halloween. For days, you've been nagging your roommate to take down that ghost decoration they put up in the corner of the living room, near the ceiling. The trouble is, said roommate (who is usually pretty good about washing the dishes and not using all the toilet paper without buying more) claims not to have put up a ghost decoration anywhere in the house.

Meanwhile, the ghost stares at you balefully, waves its arms around, attempts to make spooky noises, leaves ectoplasm stains on the walls, and is starting to gather dust. You think you may have a bit of a problem on your hands: you're not afraid, you're annoyed. So, who you gonna call? There aren't many actual exorcists in the phone book, let alone Dr. Peter Venkman. (Does he even count as an "actual exorcist"? I mean, have you seen the man work?)

My prescription: get a copy of Ghostbusters and run it incessantly on your DVD player this weekend. At the same time, visit the Ghostbusters Prop Archive, a site dedicated to building all sorts of replica props from the film. Make a point of lingering on the pages for Proton Packs and Ghost Traps: print out a few plans, make some notes, and, most importantly, let your uninvited house-guest see you doing it. Periodically make calculating glances in his direction. Munch on marshmallows.

If your ghost is a reasonably bright ghost, he'll put two and two together and head for someone else's apartment. He doesn't have to know that you're not figuring out how to build real ghost traps, right?

If you just want to make some costumes and props for Ghostbusters cosplay or fan films, the GPA would probably work for that, too, I guess... because I'm joking about the exorcism idea. The site has all the detailed information, screen grabs, and building suggestions you could possibly need to make your project a success. There's even a small shop full of elements that may be difficult to find: knobs for the goggles, belts for the uniforms, etc. Get busting!

The Jawas are a Star Wars species known for their propensity to scavenge and resell mechanical objects. Wouldn't it be ironic if you turned the tables and built a Jawa of your own?

To make the body, you build an armature out of plastic conduit pipe, then you pad out the shape of the figure with foam. The hands are a padded wire form covered with gloves, the eyes are flashlights with amber reflectors over the bulb, and the head is a big Styrofoam ball, cut and drilled into the correct shape. The eyes are inserted into drilled holes, and the head is covered with fabric. You'll sew and detail a cloak, then paint it to look like your Jawa has been hanging out in the deserts of Tatooine for a long time. Finally, you'll finish with purchased accessories and put it all together.

This process should cost you a little over $100, and even that is mostly the $40 leather bandolier that the Jawas wear; you'll also need a few power tools. If you're ready for the challenge, you could have one finished in time to greet Trick-or-Treaters in less than a week; you could also easily adapt the instructions to build any kind of spooky little standing figure that your heart desires. Visit How To Make Your Own Jawa for more details!

Looking for something to sew for a Halloween costume? Wondering how well the costume pattern you've chosen is going to work out for you? Look no further!

San Francisco's Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild was started in 1990 by a couple of people who... well, they just really love to create costumes. The group provides members with costuming resources, places to wear costumes in the form of themed special events, and a group of like-minded enthusiasts. The focus seems to be mostly on historically accurate costuming, with some other stuff that's just for fun. Some members sew professionally; for others, it's a serious hobby.

(They're not quite the same thing as cosplay, which usually involves dressing as a specific character or person in a detailed recreation of an existing film, TV, anime, or stage costume; however, you'll see a bit of cosplay here and there on their site.)

One of the GBACG's most interesting projects is The Great Pattern Review. Read more about it, and how it can help you with your Halloween plans, after the break.

Over the last few days, we've talked a lot about amigurumi, cute crocheted or knitted dolls.

Soon after American crafters were introduced to the amigurumi concept, they started making amigurumi inspired by their favorite characters in pop culture. For obvious reasons, this leaned heavily towards SF fandom, anime, and manga, but don't be surprised to find a couple of real people in the mix.

• Star Wars: This detailed amigurumi version of Wicket the Ewok is done in two parts (tutorial here). Not everyone likes the Ewoks, but who can say no to Yoda? Both are for crocheters.
• Futurama: Bender Bending Rodriguez! He likes beer! Like a jerkier version of Homer Simpson, in robot form, in the future.
• Card Captor Sakura: Kerochan, above, the suspiciously cute guardian of a magical deck of cards. The creator of this pattern also crocheted the "studious Amineko" that has been our amigurumi mascot for the last few days.

Click through for pirates, Daleks, and more... oh my!

Instead of rehashing the topic with another full-length how-to, I'd like to point out that our own Will O'Brien wrote an incredibly thorough and fantastically photographed how-to on the very subject. His seven-part tutorial lives over at our world-famous sister-site Engadget.

Will is one of DIY Life's resident technology gurus and has written a ton of awesome stuff also for Hack-a-day, (another sister site of ours) for the geeks of the world. Please note that some of Will's work is not safe for dummies (NSFD) or the technologically challenged. Hack-a-day is however, quite DIY and geek-it-yourself friendly. If you get squeamish trying to program a VCR (you seriously still have one of those?) then please look away now, and by all means, hide the children.

[via Engadget]