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Alien Case Mod
apatheticloser writes "The Ultimate Computer Case Mod Website has a casemod inspired by the movie Alien. The website gives specifics about the computer but doesn't give instructions on how to build it. I think its a great way to show appreciation for a classic film."
I do not see green slime oozing out of the drive bay...
The hard-disk rip out of the case? :)
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you know, unlike a lot of other people on slashdot i don't usually mind flash, but when it's used just to display a bunch of images and they use lame sound effects with no option to turn them off it just pisses me off.
:-/
Sucks when you've got music coming from your computer in a room full of people
anyone else think casemods are just a bit lame or am I just feeling particularly negative today?
But I guess some people like it that way, fine.
But that website is positively hideous.
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Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
Skull
Window side
Egg closeup
Alien side
Runner
Runner closeup
Egg detail
Insect closeup
Nobody cares. Casemodding is a fine example of uptardation.
Why would I want a riceburner for a computer, and why would I care if others do?
Geez dude, it's one thing for /. to link to the site, but to go out and pull a bandwidth gatling gun? That poor guy's bill.. *sniff*
I never understood what people like about case-modding anyway.
IMHO it's the IT equivalent of air-brushing your car with stripes and flashes - doesn't improve it in any way, but hey, it's expensive.
(That said I must admit that there certainly went a lot of work and love into this particular mod - however I still wouldn't want one.)
Ok, I have to admit, that case looks kinda cool, but is something i'd expect a 14 year old kid to own.
I have NOT done much in the way of aesthetical modifications with the exceptions of spraypaint, but I have done much in the way of internal case modifiction. I'm really no stranger to the hacksaw, hammer, and blowtorch upgrade.
Part of my belief is that a computer case is much like a piece of furnature. It is what you see after all. And in many cases i'm willing to put in a little elbow greese in order to achive a pleasing mellow effect. While I would give this alien case some serious points, it would be the first thing i'd toss out in case I saw it.
One of the things I'd enjoy seeing in the computer case world is the old black and silver look. It was a style that was most popular pre 1982 before we switched to that awful fleshtone. There was a time when the high tech look was brushed metal face, accented with black plastic.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Dallas: Something has attached itself to him. We have to get him to the infirmary right away.
Ripley: What kind of thing? I need a clear definition.
Dallas: An attachment. Open the email!
Ripley: Wait a minute. If we let it in, the computer could be infected. You know the quarantine procedure. Twenty-four hours for decontamination.
Dallas: He could die in twenty-four hours. Open the email!
Ripley: Listen to me, if we break quarantine, we could all die.
Lambert: Could you open the damned email? We have to get him inside.
Ripley: No! I can't do that and if you were in my position, you'd do the same.
Dallas: Ripley, this is an order. Open that email right now, do you hear me?
Ripley: Yes.
Dallas: Ripley! This is an order! Do you hear me?
Ripley: Yes. I read you. The answer is negative.
But I blew it out the Goddamn airlock.
This is the single most inspired and creative case mod I have ever seen. I see some posts from people scorning it. Maybe you would not want to own one, but that's only because it would be better off in a museum or something.
Bleh, I'd still take the coffee maker mod over this anyday.
"Is this the proove that PC cases ARE too big?"
Sure, you might think it is too big, but if you ever have had to open one up and change memory SIMMS/DIMMS etc, hard disks, or sometimes even a modem card, you will be thankful you have a roomy case that you can move around inside and all regrets go away.
I once had a "compact" Puckered-Smell tower, and you had to disassemble a lot of innards to access just about everything inside it.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
We should nuke the site from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
10. "The Matrix". Get an old Toshiba Infinia ("Darth Vader's Toilet Tank") black case, cover it with grease, place green magnetic letters on the sides, and sit back and watch them ooze down the black background
9. "Attack of the Clones". All you need is a lot of PC clone boxes (Columbia, Gateway, Leading Edge, Zenith, Dell, etc. Put stormtrooper helmets on top of them.
8. "Lord of the Rings". This one's pretty easy. Just clear out a space on the desk and tell people there is an invisible computer there wearing the One Ring.
7. "The Hulk". 89 cent green spraypaint case at Wal*Mart, that's it.
6. "Indiana Jones". Everything must be wireless, no cables. Indy hates snakes.
5. "The Empire Strikes Back". Just slap the IBM logo on your box.
4. "The Fully Monty". Just remove the case shell.
3. "Christine". To honor the final scene of this fine Stephen King movie, you need to take it down to the local junkyard and ask to use the crusher.
2. "Battlefield Earth". Just make it ugly. Real ugly, so bad no one will want to see it.
1. "Firestarter". Another Stephen King inspired mod: a flaming PC! Please visit to find out how to cause your PC to burst into flame.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
This isn't an Aliens theme so much as it's an H.R. Giger tribute. The alien theme was only one of his works...
.f00Dave
OK, after reading all the comments and seeing the case for myself I've got to say that the commercials on TV about kids not getting enough art are true.
/. crowd just didn't get this one. On one hand we have very creative & clever IT people. On the other, they can't see the beauty in something that doesn't have two black webbed feet dressed in a tuxedo that doesn't compile the lastest kernel.
You know, the one where the little girl wants her father to read to her a history lesson, one where a girl reads CS books to relax and the one where the boy tells the acordian player to 'get a job.'
So this guys case mod can't be made by most of the slashdot crowd even if they did have the knowledge of how use the tools to create it. It's the creative ability of the artist that makes a medium art.
I'm not surprised, though, that the
Shesh! To quote 'The Matrix': "Free your mind."
mod away!
like the kind used for movie special effects... i doubt it is injection-molded plastic. As an artist, I've seen stuff like that before, but never on a computer. If you want to make one, look at this suppler for more info.
stuff |
So what if it's not "functional" or seems "pointless." So what if it "goes over the top" for case modding. It's supposed to be art, which is the point of most case modding. If case modding was meant to be functional, the most we would ever do is add a few fans to our cases or some other such piece of hardware. The bland tan colored boxes wouldn't bother us.
Judge it for its aesthetic appeal, not for its functionalness or whether or not you would want to buy it (even if you did want to, I would doubt you would be able to.) Judging it by any other context is off topic.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
I never understood what people like about case-modding anyway.
:)
I always said the same thing. Recently however, I got the bug to mod my case! I got tired of looking at that boring thing and felt like doing something creative with my hands (no jokes please!) as opposed to tapping on a keyboard all day.
Having completed the project, it was a lot of fun. Ridiculous and completely impractical? YES. Good Lord, yes. But it was a lot of fun. Sanding and painting the case, cafefully using masking tape to create the flame pattern design (that's right, flames- I was going to maximum sillyness), cutting the window port in the side, installing a light inside, and so on.
Definitely one of those things where it's more about the journey than the destination. Obviously my new-looking computer doesn't run any faster, but it was a lot of fun to do. And pretty cheap, too- $15-20 for paint, $15 for the window, $20 for the light and bulbs. But it was a lot of fun to do!! It looks great now in a ridiculous way, but it was more about the fun of doing it.
Also, I don't know if I'd directly compare it to car-modding. Car-modding is tons more expensive and seems to be geared more towards showing off to others since you're driving around in public all day. Some people show off their cases at LAN parties and shit, but mine just sits under my desk. It wasn't to show off... it was just for fun.
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It's the same model as I have hanging from my ceiling.
So obviously he's either consolidating a number of his hobbies, or he's supposed to be cleaning out his garage. :-)
There are 10 kinds of people; those who know ternary, those who don't, and those now hunting for a dictionary.
This isn't an Aliens theme so much as it's an H.R. Giger tribute. The alien theme was only one of his works...
Exactly what I was thinking, but this guy manages to mention Giger only once... You have to click on "Front/Door Closed" to see it. He says "the blend of mechanical and organic is reminiscent of Giger's early paintings."
The whole thing is Giger.
On the main page he says "...I decided to blend a bit of James Cameron's futuristic military look-and-feel into the piece. Worn steel, subtle detail and well-used armor all played a part in my inspiration."
So the guy who directed Titanic gets a front page nod as an influence while Giger is relegated to a secondary link, where we learn his "early paintings" had an influence on the front. I don't even see any Terminator in it. Where the hell does Cameran come in? Is he planning to put a steam-outlined handprint on the case window or something?
Maybe he thinks Cameran directed Alien? But that was Ridley Scott, and even crediting with inventing the Alien look would be, well, wrong anyway. I don't get it.
"So the guy who directed Titanic gets a front page nod as an influence while Giger is relegated to a secondary link...
Maybe he thinks Cameran directed Alien? But that was Ridley Scott"
I can see the reason for his confusion. Ridley Scott did "Alien", but Cameron directed the sequel "Aliens". This second film recycled some of Giger's work from the first film. Most people I talk to think "Aliens" (the sequel) is the far better film, which is something I do not agree with.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Thanks to all for taking the time out to discuss my Alien Case Mod. I'm enjoying both the criticism and the praise. IMHO you can't take art too seriously. Some may argue whether this case even falls under the category of "art" or just someone kitbashing a few model pieces onto a pc case. The case for me was a spiritual cleansing, a way to keep my mind and my hands busy doing something I love (model building/computer building) in the days following September 11. After I cleansed my Brooklyn apartment of WTC dust and debris, I found out I would have no telephone or DSL service for several weeks. To keep busy I casted, carved and painted this case. I made this case mod for myself, and no one else, as all artists should. As I was building, my mind was free to wander and think of my childhood, and the good memories of magic and movies, imagination and inspiration. The model store I bought the parts from on Mott Street in Chinatown was hard-hit physically and economicaly by the devastation at the WTC. I had been going to that store for 15 years, just a hole in the wall place with a friendly owner and rare model kits. He has closed his store after 25 years, unable to recover. Take from this what you will, If you want to search for meaning in true art, you must to look inside the heart and from the eyes of the artist. My art will not change the world, but it will change the way I see my world. Peace Out.