And so my time in Davros's stead comes to a close with the completion of the first and ostensibly final Dalek production run. This is not to say that there will be no more Wesros Daleks -- I'll probably end up making a couple more and/or modifying some of the existing ones at some point in the coming weeks, given that I've still got an excess of Dalek-making materials -- but it is to say that I'll be in no hurry to see Daleks #8 on up realized. Even in the absence of certain steps, the creation of homemade Daleks is an extremely tedious process. Quite frankly, I've gotten fucking sick of it!

If all goes well, I'll chronicle my Dalek-making adventures this weekend and have the resultant Scary-Crayon article up on Monday.

Speaking of making Daleks, by the way, I rather like these. EXTERMINATE!

Aaaaand the Dalek madness continues with this triple game review on Scary-Crayon! Two of the games discussed therein are Flash games and the other is available for download at the Home of the Underdogs, so interested parties are encouraged to participate in the Dalekmania in their own homes. OBEY THE DALEKS!

The Dalek madness continues in my room as well. (more...)

Several days ago, seemingly out of nowhere, my mother asked me if I had been the victim of racial discrimination.

I blinked at her, ignoring the question and continuing to go about my business without saying so much as a word. When she persisted in asking, however, I finally replied, "What a ridiculous question."

She said, "So, yes?"

"Of course." I was disgusted.

But I didn't quite mean it in the way one would generally take the remark. Yes, I have been accused of all manner of terrible crimes on multiple occasions -- and while I don't think that the situations were entirely racially motivated, I do think that many of these situations might have been different if my skin were a different hue. I was detained a number of times during my undergraduate career so that campus police could verify that I was a student at the school. I understand that they were doing their job, and the police were generally friendly and even apologetic. Still, during those cold evenings in late autumn when I stood shivering outside the Morse gate while the cops read my student ID number into their walkie talkies and my fellow classmates passed through without incident, I was well aware that, if not for certain physical attributes, I might have been turning on reruns of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" on the FX Channel in the comfort of my warm dorm room at the same moment in time.

On the whole, though, my experiences in this capacity haven't been nearly as overtly negative or memorable as the ones that have taken place in my own house. (more...)

I'm still very much in the grip of Dalek-mania -- printouts of my plans confirms that the Dalek bumps on the blueprints are exactly the same size as brass fasteners, which should make for even cooler faux Daleks -- but given the debate raging on at TAB's page concerning Superman and Spider-Man (which is better?), I figured I'd repost my comments on the matter here just so I can have them documented amidst my other online writings. First, however, a few more Dalek links...

Dalek cupcakes and Dalek cakes. Seriously.

Daleks featured in a pornographic film -- one that I'm desperately trying to find for download, though obviously more for the presence of the Daleks than the racier bits. Check out a few screencaps from the movie here (warning: NSFW!). Dalek plunger appendages are the perfect shape for breast groping, don't you think?

Anyway, there's nothing new regarding the remarks below if you've already read them at TAB's, but one of the major points of the argument (and probably the only remotely interesting thing about Superman) is that whereas Spider-Man et all are "truly" their secret identities, Superman is "truly" Superman. That is, whereas other characters don masks to become superheroes, Superman dons his mask in order to become more normal. I believe a similar sentiment was echoed in one of the Kill Bill volumes. I argued that this is actually not the case -- see below -- but upon thinking more about it I think the difference in opinion may have to do with the different versions of Superman that has been presented to different generations. For example, the bumbling Clark Kent of the earlier media was indeed an act to mask Superman's true self, but the Clark Kent that I'm familiar with from "Lois & Clark" and the Superman animated series is a capable, relaxed guy: Clark simply being himself without having to take to the skies and bat away descending meteors. More on that can be found here, if anyone's interested in Superman's identity.

And now, the comments: (more...)

I know, I know -- enough with the Daleks, right? WELL, I happened to find this link -- The Ultimate Dalek Factory -- yesterday evening and just about lost my mind. A BONA-FIDE PATTERN FOR CONSTRUCTING A HOMEMADE DALEK!!! Perfect. I haven't made one yet, though, since the pattern was kind of crude-looking and needed a bit of fixing up IMHO... so after spending hours and hours and hours and hours with my nose several millimeters away from the LCD screen, I ended up with this -- note that I've mirrored it so that the plans can be glued back to back, such that one ends up with a "pure" surface without losing the necessary information for putting the blasted thing together. You will note from the filename, by the way, that this set of plans has been designated "9b", suggesting (rightly, I might add) that I have made a whole bunch of sets of plans for Daleks with different color schemes. I haven't actually constructed any of them yet -- at some point this week I'm thinking I'll go buy some of that glossy photo paper for the occasion, though I may try making a test one beforehand to see how it goes. In the meantime, you're welcome to try your hand at this standard one. 🙂

Ultimately, however, I think the best homemade Dalek will result from a combination of this and previous methods. A la my second homemade Dalek -- at least for certain color schemes -- brass fasteners (or brass fasteners colored black with a sharpie) can be used for the Dalek bumps on the body. The limbs and eyestalk should be made of something less flat in order to preserve the more 3D qualities of the model. (As you can tell, I'm quite fond of using screws for the eyestalk.) Hey, speaking of 3D Daleks, check out these Lego designs.

Yes, I am totally in the grip of the Daleks' power at the moment. And why shouldn't I be? These things are badass! There should be Dalek-flavored ice cream.

I bet it would taste like pistachio.