Calling all craftbots, costumatics, and cosplayiticians!

Timmy's ready to refresh his Comic-Con wardrobe in time for San Diego in late July, so we're looking to recruit creative stitchers, knitters, and hookers (of the crochet sort, thank you) for Timmy's Volunteer Costuming Corps.

We started this project last summer and we cannot adequately thank the volunteers that made our current collection possible. No, really, it was the best thing ever getting them in the mail last summer, and they've served us very, very well all year. Timmy is definitely the best-dressed monkey on the internet, and yes, internet, we did just go there.

Think you've got the time and skillz to add to Timmy's trunk? Check out our costume wishlist below, peruse his existing collection on Flickr, and sign up below to volunteer!

We would covet these costumes:

Foofaraw Timmy meets Jewel Staite. See, costumes are magical (and shiny).

• Fourth Doctor (scarf!), 10th Doctor, or fez (for existing 11th Doctor costume)
• Stormtrooper, Vader, Tusken Raider, Boba Fett, Lando, R2, Chewie, or Jawa (we have a Yoda and Jedi)
• Mal (we have two Kaylees already)
• Wheatley or Turret (we have a Chell jumpsuit, Portal gun, companion cube, and cake already)
• Moogle or Cactuar
• Mario, Luigi, Shy Guy, Princess Peach, or Bowser
• The Stig
• Matter Eater Lad, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, Flash
• Link (with shield, sword, ocarina)
• Harry Potter
• Sheldon (with soft kitty?)
• Thor
• Nibbler (antimatter poop NOT optional; already have Zapp)
• Black Knight (with removable arms)
• Sonic or Tails
• Samurai, Ninja, or Pirate (yes, we have a zombie)
• Moss (from IT Crowd, in case that's not clear)
• Indiana Jones (with bullwhip)
• Yuri Gagarin
• Wil Wheaton (clown sweater? can this be done!?)
• Gandalf or Gollum (we have a Frodo)
• Trogdor or Strongbad
• Tintin
• Stillsuit
• Marty McFly (with hoverboard!)
• Big Daddy
• Mega Man
• Buster (we have an Adam, Jamie, and segway; open to Kari, Grant, and Tori as well)

Of course, we welcome your ideas and suggestions, but some of the above just should happen--like Vader. We need a Darth Timmy.

If you sign up below, we'll be in touch via email to confirm your costume pick to ensure maximum cosplay efficiency (so 10 people aren't working on the same costume at the same time). And we only have a few Timmy clones on hand this year to share for sizing purposes, but we will ship those out to those who might need them most; measurements are below for everyone else.

"Wait!" you cry. "I need more detailed information on this monkey costume project!" Can one ever really know enough about monkey costumes? We think not, but we'll try.

What are Timmy's measurements?

Height: 8"; Chest (all the way around): 9"; Neck (all the way around): 8"; Arm (shoulder to end of hand): 3.5"; Shoulder to wrist: 2"; Tips of fingers to fingers across shoulders: 10"; Inseam: 2"; Outseam (hip to bottom of foot): 3.5"; Head (where a hat would fit): 8"; Height (tip of head to bottom of foot): 7.5"; Tail length: 5"; Width of face across nose: 2"; Width of feet (so you can get pants on over them): 1.75"; Neck to hip (for shirts): 3". Pretty sure that's every conceivable measurement, but let us know if we missed one you need!

What's my deadline?

Timmy will depart Fairfax, Virginia on July 20, and he'll need a few days to get his affairs in order. Thus the deadline for your costume to arrive at ThinkGeek HQ is July 15th.

Where do I ship my marvellous creation?

Please address your costume to: Timmy's Volunteer Costuming Corps ThinkGeek, 11216 Waples Mill Road, Suite 100, Fairfax, VA 22030

Can I work on one this year if I made one last year?

OF COURSE. This is not a contest; our love (and Timmy's warddrobe) is infinite.

Where will Timmy wear my work?

Timmy will bring his favorites to SDCC this July (and they're going in a carry on this year to make sure they arrive!), and we'll put them on display in our conference room. (That's the clone army pictured above.) We'll use them throughout the year for various events, and of course they'll be on display on Flickr forever and ever, with credit, so that others may bask in their warm, geeky glow.

So that should be it. If you have questions or feel like we didn't outline this project sufficiently, please comment below and we'll update with the necessary information.

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with this year! We'll try to control ourselves, but the mailman will be most displeased with our squees.

This adorable intergalactic hitchhiker is the geekling of Facebook user Sarah Goldman Nelson. Thank you for letting us cute-attack our blog readers!

We here at ThinkGeek HQ know that you can't read Twitter and Facebook ALL of the time no matter how much you try or how badly you want to. With all of the links to cool stuff that we post, some of them are sure to get lost in the flood and cannot be easily found again to reference. So for your perusing convenience we're starting a weekly best-of link post in this here Blurgh that is static and easily find-able. Let us know what you think about this shiny new concept, and enjoy the linky goodness!

Links from The Twitter and Facebook 'Verse:

Adam Savage dancing in a Faraday cage while Tesla coils play the Doctor Who theme. (YouTube)

80% surveyed say geeks more accepted than 15 years ago. (GeekDad)

Seventeen lost Egyptian pyramids found! (BBC World News)

One pyramid lost. Alas. (YouTube)

Towel Day was Wednesday! Here's a complied list of the very best Towel Day pics! (as tweeted & Facebooked to @Thinkgeek)

Ford, you are turning into a penguin. Stop it. (Whosname)

Chewbacca and an Ewok rock out to Guns n Roses (YouTube)

Towel Day - Celebrating the life and work of Douglas Adams (Towelday)

New Bacteria lives on Caffeine!? We can get behind this! (Scientific American)

RetroPeachy's 8-bit dorkily awesome ringtones. (Soundcloud)

A whole bunch of new species! T-Rex leech? Awesome! (Dailymail)

AP Stylebook adds another 21 words: Unfriend, Unfollow, Check in. (MP Daily Fix)

Zombie Truffles, Deliciously gory! (Instructables)

Wookie Bento! (ICanHazCheezburger)

Chris Hardwick (@Nerdist) to develop BBC America show based on Nerdist podcast. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Gillenium Falcon is serving nerdily delicious eats on wheels! (Reddit)

Phishing and Malware Emails Posing as Apple and the iPhone 5 Launch (Macrumors)

Imperial Shuttle / Arrival of the Emperor...in LEGOs! (Mocpages)

Star (Brand) Wars! (How to Carve Roast Unicorn)

That's it for this week, folks! Have fun and websurf safely!

So. One day we got this nice tweet from some guy about how our Akira-inspired catalog cover was really awesome. Turns out this guy is not only really nice, but he's amassed quite a collection of Akira cels and original production art from the movie.

So we get to tweeting about maybe him coming out here to ThinkGeek HQ and doing a show, and he mentions how it would be neat-o if singer-songwriter-awesome-show-giver Marian Call played the same day. Lo, she replied, and it was good: "How about late June?"

And so the Marian Call Outdoor Concert and Art of Akira Exhibit-Show-Geekout came to be scheduled for Friday, June 24th. Thank you, Twitter.

Already sold? Tickets will be $15 and will go on sale on Marian's site, right on the homepage, starting at 3pm ET on Tuesday, May 24th. Update 6/2: TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT. If you missed out and would like to be waitlisted, you can email replybot at thinkgeek.com with "Marian" in the subject line, your desired ticket amount, and if you'd be okay getting less tickets than you want. We'll be in touch via email and if you get added from the waitlist, you'll pay $15 at the door. Don't forget to RSVP to the Facebook event page if you want to be social and stuff.

A little more on the main attractions:

Marian Call is lots of fun. We know because we've seen her at w00tstock and at a little show we held here at ThinkGeek last October. You can find her music at her archive, and she has a new album, Something Fierce, coming out this summer that you will have to buy. No, you will, trust us.

Joe Peacock is both owner and curator of Art of Akira Exhibit. He also happens to work for Fark.com and he writes books (both called Mentally Incontinent, with a third on the way) and does software for comic books (like Teenage Satan, which launches in September). If you are not familiar with Akira itself, get ye to Netflix.

Does this special kind of awesome appeal to you--and you live within acceptable meatspace margins? Here's what you need to know before purchasing tickets:

• ThinkGeek HQ is located at 11216 Waples Mill Road in Fairfax, Virginia. There is ample parking.

• Doors will open at 6:30pm, Marian will start playing in the outside courtyard around 7pm, and we should finish up by 10pm. The Art of Akira exhibit will be indoors throughout the show.
• There is no rain date, and our courtyard only has a few seating options. You should bring a blanket or chair if standing or sitting on grass is not an option for you.

• New-to-the-area food truck Stix is coming and has affordable, tasty, silverware-less grilled meats and veggie options for the discriminating grazer--so come hungry! Our friends at MapHook will provide water and soda so you'll be hydrated for free, but there won't be any alcohol on premises. And yes, Zaphod, that includes Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters.
• Tickets will be $15 and will go on sale on Marian's site, right on the homepage, starting at 3pm ET on Tuesday, May 24th. Update 6/2: TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT. But if you missed the tickets and would like to be waitlisted, you can email replybot at thinkgeek.com with "Marian" in the subject line, your desired ticket amount, and if you'd be okay getting less tickets than you want. We'll be in touch via email and if you get added from the waitlist, you'll pay $15 at the door. All proceeds from the show will go towards her tour.
• The hashtag for the event is #TGMarianAkira. And yes, this gets its own bullet point.

If you can't be here for reals, you can watch the show on UStream here, starting at 7pm ET--and win stuff! Please note we will not be able to provide a virtual Timmy handstamp, however.

So get excited! We can't wait to have Marian, Akira, and you guys out to our little slice of the 'verse.

As you may or may not recall but will forthwith be reminded in the following phrase, last month we selected three highly recommended small charities from the Submitterator for a run-off vote. You were asked to pick your favorite: Cooking with the Troops, Kids Need to Read, or Rainbow Wildlife Rescue.

The votes have been deduped--you know who you are, person who voted 13 times--and the results are duly tabulated.

Our winning charity who received a $1,000 donation today is Kids Need to Read. We've been in touch with Denise Gary, Executive Director of KNTR, and she let us know the donation will be going directly towards literacy resources for disadvantaged children and adolescents. Thanks for your hard work, Kids Need to Read! We hope there are a few science fiction classics in there somewhere.

As a side note, if you're going to Phoenix Comic-Con at the end of May, you should check out KNTR's Geek Prom. They're putting on another one this year and we've pitched in a few goodies for the new King and Queen. We wish the court good luck and happy promming!

Now, for the adorable runners-up. As anyone who follows us on Twitter or Facebook will know, we have a gigantic squishy spot for small fuzzy cuteness. So we got in touch with Birgit Sommer at Rainbow Wildlife Rescue to see if there was anything we could do to help. We just sent off some items she can use in an upcoming fundraising auction--unless, of course, the animals are into handheld video game emulators and refuse to share.

Cooking with the Troops isn't made of fuzzy adorableness, but they do good work transitioning veterans into food service or just feeding them well. We've tried to get in touch with them but to no avail as of yet; if you're a CwtT representative and you see this, we'd love to hear from you. Just email replybot at thinkgeek.com and we'll set you guys up with something for a raffle or auction. Everyone else, these are not the freebies you're looking for. You can go about your business.

Oh, and that $50 gift certificate promised to one lucky, random voter? We cannot guarantee that Marcia from Bloomington, IL represents a worthy cause, but we hope she'll use her gift certificate for good, not evil.

If you didn't get a chance to vote, you can still show your support the old fashioned (and very helpful) way with a donation. You don't have to wait until next month, of course, but the charity machine rolls on and we're already thinking about June.

If you have any specific requests, please let us know in the comments!