drewprops.com » sci-fi

Cardboard Dawn

drew — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:48:50 +0000

So, like, last year we (the cardboard troopers) discussed something “new” (and socially distruptive) that we could do at Dragon*Con. The activity that rose to the top of our pile at this year’s Dragon*Don was to crash the Dawn Look-a-like competition, a costume contest devoted to one comicbook entitled “Dawn”… a dramatic series about a “goddess” who dresses in lace and armor, which we all know to be important elements in any elemental struggle between good and sexy. Always a T&A show, the Dawn competition is the brainchild of a fellow named Joseph Michael Linsner, and was rife for a raid by those merry pranksters of merriment, whose only goal at Dragon*Con is to make people smile and remember that the weekend is supposed to be about genuine fun. While Dawn may come in every shape and color, we knew that our Dawn would be BIG, BOXY and far too unwieldy to manage lingerie… chiefly, that cardboard trooper known as “Gallo Whirlpool”… with big pink balloons taped onto his chestplate… but then, I explain too much… take a look at the video!!

Where Is Dragon*Con?

Let the Sun Soak Through

drew — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:41:22 +0000

Here’s a wonderful short film shot and edited by our pal and sci-fi fan/collector “SexyBeast“, documenting the misadventures of the cardboard troopers at Dragon*Con in downtown Atlanta, from sexy girls to maddening fights over our cardboard Dawn costume. The whole time he was shooting this video SexyBeast kept telling everyone “Hey, have fun!!”. Looking back at it, maybe we did. I especially like his choice of Human Highway’s song “All Day” playing in the background… and after reading the review of it over at SoundCheckMagazine.com I have to say that it *perfectly* fits the style of the troopers… especially the last word in the following quote from that review:

“All Day”, the album’s second track, dismantles the same sunny attitude that “The Sound” tries to establish. At first, Jimmy Buffett-esque lyrics backed by a strumming acoustic guitar and light percussion suggest the simple, trite pleasures of a lazy afternoon on the beach with your best girl: “All day, all day/Got no worries, let the days waste away/Let the sun soak through/And do what we want to do”. Unfortunately, there’s no best girl around, and spending a lazy afternoon on the beach with your slacker friends can be pretty fucking boring. At the end of the day, what has been accomplished? “So it’s through/It’s all over, and what did we do?/We walked around in a daze, looking for food”. “All Day” introduces Moody Motorcycle’s central motif: failure.

Yes.
No best girls with us, only Fail.
Funny, funny, fail.

No related posts.

Hellooooo Science Fiction!!

drew — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:00:20 +0000

My Mom is a sport. Seriously. How many of YOUR Moms would do this?

No related posts.

Chewboxxa

drew — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:03:24 +0000

I’m undeniably proud of the Cardboard Craze that I started at Dragon*Con back in 2005, especially of the guys who have been such dedicated cardboard costumers along with me since that time! After our great success as cardboard troopers last year, a lot of people have expressed their desire to join us in at the upcoming convention in September. Several folks have expressed that, while they have the desire, they just don’t have any good ideas on exactly how to build a good costume out of cardboard. So, as a service to those people, I’m going to begin a series of posts that will continue up until September, designed to provide you some design ideas and construction techniques. First out of the blocks is my design for Chewboxxa, a “Booxiee” from the planet BoxxaHarveyKorman.

Marvel at his tremendous bulk and undeniable (albeit cardboardish*) ferocity!!

Before we begin I need to review the rules of Cardboard Costuming, namely:

The Fundamental Rule of Cardboard Costumes
If your cardboard costume looks really nice, you’ve done it really wrong. Your costume must look as though it were ripped from the inside of a garbage compactor. It should have strange, upside down logos. It should be hastily taped together with obvious seams, obvious mends and similar errors of construction. Basically: it should look thrown away.

Kids, get your parents and/or legal guardians to help you make your Chewboxxa costume because you shouldn’t play with sharp box cutters without adult supervision.

The Body
To build your Chewboxxa costume you’re going to need a rather large box, preferably a tall appliance box (in relation to your own size). If your first thought is “I know! I’ll use a refrigerator box!” you’re on the right track, but stop and think for a second: surely your body isn’t wide enough for your arms to comfortably poke out of the sides of a refrigerator box. Imagine how uncomfortable that would be. Consider taking a box that’s tall then cutting it open along one side then refolding it so that it keeps the height but reduces the side-to-side, front-to-back width. Arm comfort is always paramount when you’re wearing cardboard.

The Head
Booxiees are really, really tall. It follows then that their heads should be really, really way up their body, near the top… probably higher up than your own head. But what makes Booxiees funny is the fact that their head is part of their body, they don’t have a neck!

The Face
All you need to do is worry about your Booxiee’s face so go ahead and cut out some good looking eye holes way up above where your head will actually be. Your Booxiee’s intelligence will be inferred by its eyes. If they’re really close together it will look stupid. If they’re far apart it will look creepy and slow. I recommend trying different sized eyes and you should never, ever make the eyes square and even. Asymmetry is the window to a cardboard costume’s soul! Have fun with the mouth, which should be drawn with a fat, black marker.

Operator’s Vision
For you to actually see out of your costume you’re going to need to cut out some “practical” eye holes at the level at which your eyes will actually be located inside the costume. Better yet, I recommend that you cut a thin horizontal slit all the way across the front of your box, that way you’ll have a really good view of everything in front of you and the line might be lost to casual viewers in the cuts and folds and patches that make up your costume.

The Legs
The box should come down so far over your legs that you only need to create cardboard “spats” that cover your legs from the knee to the ankle. This should simply be a square cardboard tube big enough to slide over your lower leg. Do it with your shoes off then put your shoes back on. This will “lock” the spats in place on your leg.

The Arms
I’m going to do a write-up about how to make good cardboard arms in a later post. For now take a look at the drawing and you’ll get the basic idea.

The Bandolier
For a really “showy” look you might consider using Chocolate Pop-Tart boxes taped into place. But if you’re in a pinch why not just bend and fold your own clips and tape them in place. Remember, nothing on your costume should be glued on. A good cardboard costumer will always have a roll of duct tape with them, ready to be patched at any time. If your costume begins this way you won’t be surprised when something falls off and you’ll be much better prepared to repair yourself when the time comes.

Remember the Point!!!
This is to have fun! If you’re busy worried about tearing or staining your costume then you can’t have fun. Go on, eat, drink and spill all over your Booxiee costume, it’ll only get better!!!

I’d love it if some of you would like to post your comments below suggesting other costumes you’d like me to illustrate in subsequent posts leading up to September. I feel that this provides a valuable service to the fan community.

* Cardboardish: a term first identified by Alfeo “Lightspeed” Dixon, the “caution tape” trooper from 2006.

No related posts.

Box Robots 2 : The Floppy 503rd

drew — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 02:16:50 +0000

Note: Due to schedule problems several of us have already built our box robots. Also Note that there has been a change from Sunday to Saturday.
It’s nearly that time again kids, Dragon*Con is only a fortnight away! If you’re planning to be in attendance at this year’s convention and you want to do something that’s indescribably fun then pay attention: I am hereby issuing my 2nd Annual Box Robot Flashmob Challenge, this time with a twist. This year I am challenging people to meet me on Sunday, September 3rd, strike that, on Saturday, September 2nd, at 1:30pm, on or near the exterior balcony of the Hyatt’s lobby bar, to build robot suits from cardboard boxes. To participate in this event you must provide your own cardboard boxes (if possible try to collect white boxes), enough of them to make a suit that will cover your torso, your head, your arms and legs. You are also going to need to bring a cardboard tube.

This year we are going to portray the famed Fighting Floppy 503rd, known as the “li’l brother” unit to the famed 501st Legion of Imperial Stormtroopers.

We will march, eat and drink alongside the stormtroopers until we are too tired, too bored or too beaten-up to continue. Odds are on that last choice, so you might want to wear some bubble wrap inside your costume. Please note that it is imperative that you bring some sort of cardboard tube with you as it will represent your Imperial Blaster, a weapon famed for its inaccuracy.

No related posts.

Reading Jack McDevitt

drew — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 08:53:47 +0000

I’ve almost finished reading every Jack McDevitt novel on the shelf and am wondering how long it’s going to take for this Georgia-based author to deliver his next book to his publishers. If you enjoy mystery, archaeology, adventure and disaster on a cosmic scale then you need to trot down to your nearest bookseller and announce in a very clear voice “I would very much like to purchase a book by Mister Jack McDevitt please M’am”. Just be sure that (unlike me) you begin reading McDevitt’s books in the proper order…

I’m a very monogamous reader and once I find an author whose style captures my imagination I’ll mainline that author until I’ve exhausted the supply, trying to read everything they’ve ever written… preferably in chronological order. Doing this with McDevitt’s books took a mild bit of effort on my part however as the paperbacks don’t provide a listing of his published works in any sort of order; particularly a problem when it comes to lining up on his “Priscilla Hutchins” and “Alex Benedict” series, easily the most popular of his works.

McDevitt has a gift for character sketches, making it almost impossible to anticipate whether someone will last the entire book or get eaten by a giant star goat (of which there are thankfully few in his books). The universe his “Hutchins” and “Benedict” characters occupy is comfortable reading (to me anyway) because it’s largely a projection of our modern western world with but a few changes: people live longer, interstellar travel has been achieved, friendly artificial intelligences are integrated into homes, vehicles and spacecraft. Religion exists in the background most of McDevitt’s books but whenever it comes to the fore it seems to be the one thing that he handles with wooden hands and a tin ear, unable to craft people who are both passionate and reasonable. It’s obvious that McDevitt is much more interested in interstellar collisions and alien archaeology and like many science geeks he chafes at the retarding effect that organized religion has traditionally imposed on the sciences. But that’s okay, Jack is writing to tell fun adventures. If you’re looking for powerfully written, character-driven sci-fi stories you should slide farther down the bookshelf to Stephen R. Donaldson’s “Gap Cycle”.

If you’re thinking of reading McDevitt I suggest that you begin with his “Alex Benedict” series which is set about 10,000 years in our future. Alex Benedict is an antiquities dealer with a Sherlock Holmes-like gift for tracking down long lost space stations and abandoned settlements, selling his finds to the highest bidder. His sexy assistant Chase Kolpath is a starship pilot and the main character of most of the books in this series. In fact, Jack McDevitt seems to prefer writing strong female leads.

Here’s the order to read that series:

A Talent for War (1989)
Polaris (2004)
Seeker (2005)

Enjoy!

No related posts.