My Awesome Dalek Costume

EXTERMINATE!!

***If you just want a summary and materials list without the long description, scroll down to the bottom***

I’m fairly new to the Doctor Who series. I’ve always known about the show, but I hadn’t seen any episodes until this past March, when I buckled down and watched all of the new series. I’m now all caught up and a huge fan. Even since I first saw the Daleks, I’ve been fascinated by them, so I decided I would be one for Halloween.

First step, research. I looked up everything I could about Daleks, people who had made Dalek costumes in the past, and costume making in general. I referenced a ton of great sites to get ideas for costume parts and execution (links at the bottom to my awesome inspirations).

Once I had gathered my materials [full list at the bottom], it was time to assemble the awesome.

The easiest part – spray paint the handle of a plunger silver. Done. I’m a pro.

Completed Frame

The skirt involved a bit more critical thinking. My initial idea was that I would build a Dalek frame to stretch my skirt around, thereby increasing the look of paneled metal. When I realized I wouldn’t be able to really sit down, I scaled back my idea to just a thin bottom frame to sew into the hem of the skirt. Sitting was still problematic, but I wore legging and just hiked the skirt up to do so… You know, like a lady. Using plans I bought off the Project Dalek website, I drew up a frame schematic and figured out what kind of angles I would need to create the desired shape. I decided to drop two panels from the Dalek and decrease its size by half to make a more manageable skirt. After using math I hadn’t seen in years, I brought out some wooden dowels (size 5/16″) and began cutting. Not having any sort of power tools, I used the handsaw on my own Swiss Army Knife. Let me begin by saying that I don’t have a degree in woodworking. I mostly just eyeballed the angles by matching up the dowels to a life-sized shape I’d drawn out on several pieces of paper taped together. Once I had my dowels mostly matching the shape in my head, I glued them all together to make the frame.

New Orleans

Yeah, I’ve been living it up, working on a reality show at a Story Associate Producer. It’s been pretty awesome except for the long hours and little to no pay. I like it though. Making my way up the ladder. I’m going to recommit myself to this blog, but that’s going to happen later. I still have to make a post about Costa Rica… I’m so mysterious.

Mad Sketching Skillz!

So I did this internet community art project a while back and knew you people want to see the amazing shit I had done. Here’s a link to my amazing, insightful, hilarious sketchbook. Enjoy my wit.

My favorite:

Happy Birfday

to me. Enjoy this logo I made for my birthday celebration.

Everything that is right with the world.

Guess what this is?

…

Achievement Unlocked: The Wright Stuff II

This is a recap post of Edgar Wright’s two week series of films at my favorite theater, the New Beverly Cinema. I wrote this a while back and I’m still not done, so I’m just going to go ahead and post this first part, so it doesn’t get lost forever. Hopefully I’ll finish part 2 soon. This is really long, so only read if you’re supremely bored.

I, like many other people, have recently been blown away by the fantastic film series put together by Edgar Wright at the amazing New Beverly Cinema. The New Beverly programs $7 double features year round, but for the past two weeks, Edgar Wright took over the programming and hosted a slew of famous guests, resulting in a generally mind-boggling extravaganza of cinema. This may be obvious, but I love cinema. What I hope is not obvious is that fact that I feel woefully behind in my cinema classics. I’ve seen a lot of movies, but most of them are not the kind that change the course of visual storytelling forever. That’s why I was so excited about Wright’s programming stint. Here was a two-week period where I could attend two movies (at least) for a reasonable price and I was almost guaranteed to enjoy and learn from them. Now, I make it sound like I planned on attending every single film in The Wright Stuff II, but that was definitely not the case. I was so bad at planning that I had to get standby line tickets for a majority of the doubles. In fact, I initially only bought a ticket for Run, Lola, Run. The only other screening I knew I wanted to attend was the premiere triple feature of Shaun of the Dead; Hot Fuzz; Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Three of my favorite films??? Hells yes. I’d have to try the standby line…

(N.B.: I’ll be avoiding spoilers for those who might still want to see the following movies, so fear not)

Jiffy Pop Insanity!

Brian and I pop Jiffy Pop for the first time and disaster ensues. Things get really good around 2:45, but the whole endeavor is quite entertaining if you have the time. If you just want to see the payoff, go to 3:50.