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Rich and Brenna Neeley, two clever book-loving crafters from Southern California, rescue discarded books and turn them into absolutely beautiful docks for your iPod, iPhone, and/or iPad.

But how can anyone chop up such gorgeous books? A lot of the books featured in their Etsy shop are really quite stunning. Well, according to their profile page, Brenna only recycles “books that haven’t been appreciated elsewhere” with “more than a few [sneaking] their way into [their] personal collection.” So you can be quite sure that the book being used “was not being loved as it should be.”

Visit their Etsy page for more. I’m definitely ordering one soon.

We’re pretty huge fans of Parks and Recreation here at the Quirk HQ. Seldom does a week go by that Margaret doesn’t bring up chickie-chickie-parm-parm or reference the Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness. So when our crafty friend Mei Pak emailed us about her necklace appearing in an episode, we flipped out.

Mei, who was featured in our recent craft book Microcrafts, creates adorable food-inspired jewelry under the name Tiny Hands. Her scented waffle necklace was featured in the Valentine’s Day episode Operation Ann (here’s a link to it on Hulu).

According to Mei, she’d been in contact “with the show’s wardrobe stylist, sent her some pieces of jewelry, and then all of a sudden… there it was on TV.”

You can read the entire story about how it happened over on Mei’s blog. Congrats, dear! We’re proud of you.

While watching the film 50/50 our Production Manager, John J. McGurk, spotted a book he recognized in this bookstore scene with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

It’s not the best picture, but you can still tell what it is. Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters.

Awesome!

Here at Quirk HQ, we recently received 8 one-of-a-kind gig posters straight from the pages of Gig Posters: Volume 2. They are unique, high-quality proofs from Germany. We were tempted to take them home ourselves, but we’ve decided to give them away instead! They measure 24” by 28.5” by awesome, and feature some amazing bands. We’ve got posters for:

Vampire Weekend
Green Day
The Cranberries
Queens of the Stone Age & The Eagles of Death Metal
Deftones
Mogwai
Franz Ferdinand
Slayer

To win your own rock art, just comment (or tweet @quirkbooks) with either your coolest, or your most embarrassing concert story. But you’ll have to beat my story involving 11-year-old me, my Dad, and a Boyz II Men concert. Good luck!

At Quirk, we’re big fans of mashing up genres and putting an irreverent spin on pop-culture. We’re also big fans of The Hunger Games. So, to mark the movie’s release, we imagined what it would be like to have a celebrity version of The Hunger Games with some of our favorite TV children. Welcome to The Celebrity Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor…

THE ARENA

The Arena has been prepared with a variety of dangers and pressures that face all teenagers. But, the Head Gamemaker has amplified these elements to a torturous degree. Here’s a sampling of what the Tributes can expect to encounter:

– A horde of teenage fembots sent to seduce and distract
– The captain of the football team armed with football grenades and handsome good looks
– A sudden onslaught of full-body acne so powerful that it leaves them incapacitated for hours
– A pregnancy scare
– Dangerous diet pills
– A throng of siblings out to steal their stuff
– An overbearing principal bent on destroying the Tributes’ freewill
– An avalanche of slushies that will threaten to drown them
– A very special episode where the characters experience the effects of drugs & alcohol
– And, near the end of the games, the Heads Gamemaker may introduce a younger sibling or cousin to stir things up—but, mostly to keep the at-home audience interested.

THE TRIBUTES

Caesar Flickerman had an opportunity to sit down with the Tributes and he has offered his analysis of each one.

Greg & Marcia Brady (The Brady Bunch)

Strengths: While not technically brother & sister, they have a connection that will be hard to break—and an investment in seeing the other return home safely. They’ve also displayed a strong ability to work together on-stage.

Weaknesses: It’s an immediate alliance, but they both can’t win. (Well, maybe they can???) Other known weaknesses include an ancient Hawaiian tiki and a football to the nose.

Well, it’s been a blast, but Marsh Madness has finally come to an end. We saw sixteen food blogs join in the fun, competing for the honor of best marshmallow. Their recipes were incredibly creative, and everyone at the Quirk HQ was thrilled to see them rolling in week after week.

Other highlights included our Facebook exclusive recipe cards, a special podcast featuring Marshmallow Madness’ editor Margaret McGuire, and a number of other blogs (Eat The Love, Sweets by Sillianah) creating their own wild recipes just because. All in all, a great time. Thank you!

Last week we saw some amazing recipes from Ice Cream Before Dinner, The Kitchenarian, Nibble Me This, and Love & Olive Oil in the Southeast Bracket. Links to their respective (and delicious!) recipes are below.

Ice Cream Before Dinner: Raspberry Cheesecake Marshmallows

The Kitchenarian: Cinnamon Toast Marshmallows

Nibble Me This: Fakin’ Bacon & Eggs

Love & Olive Oil: Cookie Dough Marshmallows

You can head over to Serious Eats for the full recap from Caroline Russock.

As for the winner of Marsh Madness, Shauna Sever selected Kitchen Konfidence’s Maple Bacon S’mores. One of the earliest recipes in the bracket, Brandon’s recipe combines bacon, chocolate, marshmallows, and homemade graham crackers. You can read her thoughts on the bracket and the winner on Serious Eats. Brandon wins a Quirk cookbook library and a $100 gift card to Williams-Sonoma. Congrats, Brandon!

To scope out the other entries, visit Serious Eats.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated and to our partners-in-mallows, Serious Eats and Caroline Russock. This was a lot of fun.