Movie Code Names vs. Real Code Names

I've developed the following theory using several minutes of careful thought. This is purely for entertainment, as I am not a real operative of anything for anyone.

In movies, and other works of dramatic fiction, characters often have code names related to their job description or some personal trait, either directly or in an ironic sense. Here's a list of some examples:

Chopper, Killer, Psycho, Vegas, Tex, Hollywood, Ringo, Doc, Cowboy, Hot Shot, Fireball, Iceman, Ox, Moose, Tiny, Slim (these two are reserved for the fat guys), Hawk, Snake-Eyes, 8-Ball, Joker, Ace, Lucky, Spark Plug, etc.

This is both cliche and stupid. If your code name tells your enemy who you are better than your real name, it's not a very good code name, right?

I have developed a better system for devising code names. A code name should be short; two syllables is ideal so it's mnemonic to members of your operation. It should be a word that is as nondescript as possible, something you could work into a conversation, and no one overhearing it would be the wiser. It should also be completely apropos of nothing with regard to the person. Here's a list of examples:

Soap Dish, Card Stock, Wood Chip, Fish Bowl, Car Port, Dial Tone, Man Hole, Side Door, Key Ring, Tin Can, Tube Sock, Tea Cup, Back Tire, Bike Shop, Note Pad, Wheel Well, Door Knob, Wrist Watch, Pin Stripe, Felt Tip, Floor Mat, Dust Mop, Ball Point, Phone Book, Shoe Store, Hair Brush, Sand Box,

For example, the code name Soap Dish. The operative you give that name to can't have a OCD hand-washing thing. He also can't be slippery or evasive, like a saboteur or con-artist, nor a guy specializing in marine operations, nor a money launderer. He also can't be ironically grimy or messy. You'd could give the code name Soap Dish to a guard captian, or a driver, or a demo-man, or a computer guy, or something like that. Your saboteur with the OCD hand-washing thing can be Hair Brush, as long as he has normal guy hair--no excessive product or frosted tips, nor can he be bald.

Give the stupid movie code name to the guy you don't trust. When he gets caught and sings, he'll throw your opponents off the trail.

Side Door Out.

Spore, at last

After a month of frustration, I finally have Spore working on my computer. I have taken the graphics card from Mel's computer and put it in mine, and an exact duplicate has been ordered from eBay for her.

I look back at the last month and feel like I wasted so much time trying things to make the game work. I spent hours updating my XP, kind of rushing through it. Then some silly thing got screwed up and I had to do it again, this time taking twice as long to make sure everything was right, and undoing the damage from the screw-up. I twiddled every setting, even messing with regedit and the BIOS, things which are way out of my depth and which I have no business messing with.

I even bought a new video card, an Nvidia 7600, but it failed where the Nvidia 7300 worked, producing some strange infinite loop error in any of the three computers I put it in. I am totally baffled by the voodoo going on with that.

With my ill-gotten graphics card in, I can play Spore with every graphics setting at max, and it is gorgeous and fun. However, I find myself still playing gingerly, creeping along so as not to tax the computer too hard. It a habit I picked up while trying to play the game with a handicapped graphics card, and I think it'll take some time to overcome the fear that the game is a heartbeat away from crashing. I also feel guilty for shafting Mel's computer, even if it is for just a few days. In short, I finally have what I want, but the price has been high, and I'm not totally enjoying myself yet.

I am trying to get back into the swing of things by making stuff in the editors, which is what hooked me in the first place. I have lots of buildings and vehicles to make, and lots of catching up to do.

Battle damage

The DeBord Halloween party was a blast! I was pretty busy from the moment we got there, so I had my back to most of the fun, but I did enjoy myself.

The Apparatus for the Routine Maintenance of Gyroscoptical and Aeronautical Research Devices didn't survive in one piece. The power box snapped off when I tried to open it to put in the glow stick, and a fan bit popped off the last time I tried to adjust the gauntlet.

The problem was that I was working, and I had my left arm planted up on my easel. This is usually not a problem, but the ARMGARD was heavy and unbalanced, and I had to keep adjusting it, and the glove made it hard to cap and uncap my markers. After the fan bit busted, I had to shed the gauntlet for the evening.


My biggest regret was that I met two cool folks dressed as Wonder Woman and Jack Sparrow, and I had to rush off without properly talking to them. They liked my gauntlet, and I loved their costumes, and they said they wanted to do a steampunk thing next year. If you're out there in the Internets: PLEASE CONTACT ME! No one else at that party even knew what steampunk was :-)

Also, Wonder Woman was FINE.

Finished product

It's done! The huge bolts and washers holding the gears on were actually the only part of the arm that cost money: $6. It's worth every penny, though, as the gears intermesh and turn smoothly.

It's a bit heavy and it feels like it wants to flop over, but I think it's ready for prime time.

I picked up some cowboy boots at the thrift store for $10, so now I have everything!

How to build a steampunk gauntlet for zero dollars

What have I been working on all this time? Well, this, among other things.

I wanted to do a steampunk costume this year. Inspired by Lee Scoresby from His Dark Materials, I settled on a Western aeronaut. However, the hat, vest, boots and goggles just didn't seem steampunky enough, so I decided to add a mechanical gauntlet, and, informed and inspired by Backyard FX, I decided to make it for zero dollars, and to document the process.

I had this piece of foamcore sitting around from my boy's birthday party.

I scored one side for bends, and reinforced the inside with duct tape. I used some spare work boot laces to hold the thing together for an authentic look. I added some of the punch-out shapes from the cogs to the foamcore, then spray-painted the whole thing hammered bronze.

Years ago, my mother-in-law gave me this cool cardboard clock kit, and I desperately want to finish it someday, but I decided I could make a few of the multi-layer cardboard cogs from the kit and borrow them for the gauntlet.

This is a sample bottle of Cool Mint Listerine with the label removed and a LEGO corrugated tube hot glued to the top.

The gauges are made from the bezel of a broken LED tap-light and a round Ice Breakers mint box. I took another mint tin, drilled holes through the lid, and painted it bronze to serve as the door to the furnace. I used some craft wire to lash the mint box to this work glove, put a piece of cardboard over the wire knots, and then glued on a fake gauge face I made in about ten minutes in Illustrator.


A little while ago, thanks to the transparent panel on the side of my computer, I realized that the fan sitting on top of the chipset was no longer spinning, though this caused no heat issues. When I yanked it out, the brass cover came off the fan. Voila, two bits for the gauntlet.

Here it is, not quite done, but close. I used craft wire to secure the bottle to the gauntlet, then just bent the tube and fed it into a hole I whittled.

This weekend, I need to secure the gears to the elbow area of the gauntlet in a way that will let them turn. When it's time to wear the costume, I'll add some small bendy glow sticks into the "furnace" and inside the gauges. Jacob loves these things, so we bought them in bulk at the craft store a while ago. He won't miss a few.