Papercraft Walkie Talkie

Back in 2011 I wrote an article for Oz magazine’s digital issue called “Go For Jimmy!” about an invented character named “Jimmy”, who was the bane of one 1st AD and a favorite of another. For that issue I designed a papercraft walkie-talkie that you could cut out and fold together, using tabs and slots to hold things in place. I ran across the one that I had build the other day and decided that I should share the art with my friends in the business for those days when they get especially punchy. To make your own papercraft walkie you just need to know somebody in the production office who can print out the PDF onto stiff tabloid-size (11 inch by 17 inch) paper. BE SAFE!!!! Get a grownup like a producer or an art director to help you cut out all the pieces. For the best results you’ll need some white glue to keep the thing together. You can always find a link to my walkie talkie artwork in the “Art” section of my website and I hope to add Playsets 1 through 4 in the coming months. Yes, I started at 5 and am working my way out ;)

Click here for the direct link for downloading the PDF.

If you build one please be sure to post a photo to Twitter or Instagram and tag me @drewprops so I can see YOUR walkie in-action!!

Battery-Powered Birth Control

RF Basal Thermometer
Old magazines are awesome. Frozen snapshots of singular points in history, within the context of the age in which they were published. Take for example this 1966 issue of the magazine Science & Mechanics (which would later become ‘Creative Computers’, ultimately absorbed by ‘Creative Computing’, which ceased publication the year I graduated high school). This issue provides a glimpse of the future of birth control using a battery-powered radio transmitter and a strongly argued case by Brigadier General J. H. Rothschild for the use of gas warfare in the ongoing Vietnam War.
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There They Go Again

I hope it isn’t true but I just found out that the guys who host Atlanta’s 96Rock morning radio show “The Regular Guys” (Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler) may have had their show cancelled for the second time in two years and I’m not very happy about it. The occasion of their first dismissal was due to FCC fine-attracting audio, sloppy engineering and the lack (or patent misuse) of a tape delay. Their employers, the increasingly-loathed Clear Channel Communications, kept them off the air for over a year. Upon the duo’s return, much of the foundations of their original Atlanta format had been pruned back severely: several (arguably) popular sidekicks had been jettisoned, lost to other timeslots or hauled away in the dumpster. The occasion of this second dismissal is so asinine that I can’t believe it isn’t a publicity stunt (if only it were).
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I Left About That Time

My Dad once told me a long, fascinating story from his youth that kept building and building, every twist and turn made the story more fantastic. Just when I thought the tale couldn’t get any wilder it surged above and beyond my grasp, building toward a final payoff that I knew must certainly be the most wonderful thing I would ever hear. Finally, unable to contain myself any longer, I asked him what happened next. He replied, “Well, I left about that time.”
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