Dies Omnorum Sanctorum
Another Halloween has come and gone. I was quite pleased with how this one turned out. Sorry this is a week late, but as you scroll down, I imagine you will see why.
Naturally my costume was a success. The usual misinformation was employed: what with the shaved head, and the Vader mask. This year's outfit was Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Next to Barbie and Star Wars, the biggest merchandise blitz in my lifetime (not even Pokemon lasted as long). This as a much simpler costume thatn the last couple of years, but I fielt because I was able to pinpoint the features better, it ended up more effective. It was difficult to throw away pieces afterwards, but I did save the cape and the gaunlets as this years trophies. Also, some good stories came of it.
First, allow me to describe the outfit itself. The bodice was simply black, medium slacks and a small grey turtleneck, having been bereft of the sleeves (original concept was the toy figure where he is bare chested, but I decided to go the cartoon/comic way), and black socks with the black boots from the Thrawn costume in 2003 finished off the base. I used the shin guards from the Samus outfit last year to make knee pads and guantlets. The knee pads were covered in cardboard and had carboard clasws taped to them. The shoulder pads were none other than paper party plates with the same claws taped to them. The guantlets were shinguards coupled with adhesive hooks (the kind you use to put on walls to hang things), taped together with pencils and plastic dart tips. Interestingly enough, everyone believed this to be the hardest of the outfit when in fact it was rather simple. The hard part was the cape. Anyway, all the armor was covered in duct tape and spray painted silver.
The rest required some thought. Given that it was Shredder, it gave me an excuse to buy a new sword. I found a good katana online for about $60.00 Jess took me to Meijers and Walmart where we got material for the cape, the pattern, and the sash. The material for the sash I was able to use as arm wraps and as a head tie for the mask. Also, the shoulder guards kept slipping, so I used some of the sash material to make restrains that went around the neck to keep them in place. Next was the helmet. I did NOT want to go through what I had to with Kosh again. I knew I needed a samurai helmet-I bemoaned to Jess at the store that if Revenge of the Sith had come out this year instead of two years ago-then the store would be abundant with Darth Vader helmets (that is not to say that I was glad Episode III came out. I would have been much happier had it not). Fortunately, Amazon had the sword as mentioned plus a Darth Vader mask. The two were about $100.00 together-a fine buy considering that is what the Thrawn eyes and the Samus helmet each cost alone. I then cut and fashioned a crest out of cardboard, and I duct taped it to the helemt. I tried to tape it so that when I spray painted it, the helmet would not be damaged and I could preserve it after halloween. The cape was the most difficult part (this surprised many people) since it meant venturing into the realm of sewing which I had never learned. Marc deserves mention here, since he advised and demonstrated how to proceed and fit it. The Foot Clan design was difficult due to the small size and the circular nature. If you looked on the underside of the cape, you would see what a crappy job it was. Fortunately, Jess' party was basically in the dark-all my conner cuts were undetected.
Naturally, Toby was more than eager to help through all this. To make the mask, I bought a surgical mask from WalGreens and taped a tie to it to go around the head (covered in tape and spray paint of course). Toby found the elastic pull his thing, and spent a week dragging his mask around the place until he stashed it somewhere-where I have no idea. Also when working of the cape design, he often helped by laying on top of it, making it difficult to position things. As a result, the Foot symbol instead of being centered on the back ened up on my butt. Haha. This costumed was basically done in 2.5 weeks and 3 weeks before halloween. Compare that to work on costumes right up until presentation time.
Friday night was a good time out. I was happy to say that I and many others spent Friday night in Halloween festivities rather than going off to watch "Assassination of an American President." Actually, a moment on that: this is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in a while. The creator describes this lower-than-Blair Withch Prodject rank as "Exagerations and falsehoods that come together to expose a greater truth." What the fuck? That doesn't even make sense. Bill Roper himself said, "It's a testimony of the country that we live in that a movie as this cane be made free of government retaliation. Having said that..." Of course, we all know what happens if you make a movie that bemoans a democrat president-just ask ABC. You get calls from crooks like Clinton, Sandy Berger, and John Kerry while Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid threaten to revoke your broadcast liscense if they control congress.
Back to Halloween. There was lots of good recognition on Friday. When we arrived, Darwin actually said, "Clear the way; Erik and his costume are coming through!" Funny story here: I needed an extra arm to get the shoulder guards on, so i asked Jess to help (it was here room I was using after all). I said, "I know its Halloween, but try not to be too scared," and immediately took off my shirt to wrap the ties around my collar. This of course led to some silly banter about taking of clothes in bathroom, hahaha, etc etc. Anyway, when all was said and done, Jess (since she was the first person i revealed my plan to), was first to compliment me on my splendid job. I went into the living room to not just approval, but also applause. Mike McCreevy in particular was quick to really have an oufit orgasm. Adam liked it a lot as well. Darwin thought it was really neat, but he sort of was let on the night before when I came to set up Jess' party soundtrack. Jess' friend Jess (who has seen me the last two years), was impresssed for what was for her, business as usual.
Later on in the evening, some frat guys (through a friend of Jess) showed up with their whores. They were surprisingly well-behaved. The guys, in fact were very approachable to me, and got a big kick out of my outfit. Still, the whole time they mostly kept to themselves. Their escorts (I assumed by default that they were sorority girls; by virtue that 1) they were with frat boys 2)their costumes were typical sorority fare: slutty cat, slutty devil, slutty nurse, slutty angle, slutty slut) all sneered at me whenever i tried to manuever around (it was no way easy)-but what did you expect? They didn't succeed in ruining my night. And to be fair, some (two actually) of Jess' people treated me the same way: Ashleigh Sala and Mary Zematis. Mary turned her nose up evertime I walked by her. Ashleigh asked m who I was and then laughed and walked away in a condenscending manner after I told her. Later I took my helmet and mask off finally and I noticed that she was staring at me. I sort of nodded an acknowledgement and she sneered and turned away. My friend from latin Heather was there, though I don't think she recognized me. I said hi and stuff, but she still didn't seem to connect. Oh well. Then Amy and Ryan showed up and Amy showed up as Donatello! I found this out when the whole place started chanting "Shredder, Shredder!" Hehe. Amy and I got a couple of awesome poses, and I would it was the highlight of the evening.
The next night was Techfront. Most hasd not seen my new skull cap at that point and misinterpreted it asa part of the outfit. Andy and I went to the restroom and he assisted to put it on me. I came back into the room and-literally- i stopped the party. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to appraise me. Except Susan. She didn't appear to be interested in much of anything related to the party. But then I turned around to show of the Foot on th cape and when they all saw that, everyone cheered and applauded. Except one asian girl I did not know who said in a whiney loud voice, "I don't get it. what's the foot?" She didn't stay long.
The food was great (considering last year I couldn't eat unless fed, not to mention the outfit acted as a corsette), and in fact I did say, "Oh boy! I can eat this year!" Dave and Laura's corn beef roast was fabulous as was Susan and Will's dirt cake. We played trivia which was much less boorish without Kevin. My team won thanks to turnips, candy corn, and the mass of the sun all over zero.
The costume contest resulted in much protest when in a act of great clemency, I declined to enter. Jess urged me, Darwin was surprised, Andy and Stacey were, Laura and Dave...and a couple of new people threatened to vote for me regardless. The winner told me afterwards he owed his victory to me for not enterinig, as he would have voted for me had I not done so. In light of that I rightfully considered myself "de facto" Champion for the the fourth year. Eric (Kevin's successor) was shot down from placing(despite his costume looking good) when I casually remarked (he had been bragging ad nauseum that his lightsaber was designed by him and then built by someone else) my roomate had built his entire jedi outfit from scratch, coupled with what I firmly believe was (and I know it was by my part) a spite vote in favor of Jess' SG-1 by the Old Guard.
The high point of that night was when I spent a long time talking to Kristen. Lars was engaged in a game, so I didn't talk much with him. She has really warmed up to me the last year, and we talked about many different things. My conclusion: very nice people. It was a pleasant surprise.
Finally Halloween night I attended Dave and Laura's murder mystery dinner. I dressed in a tuxedo and wore my eyepatch from the 80s party, and was with one of my infamous sword canes. I recognized almost no on else except Will and Erin. Food was good (what litte there was time to eat it in). One of the "servants" dumped all over the sleeves of my good jacket-what a dunderhead. I played the part of the police marksman and was Gloria's (the lady of the house) hunting partner. Hahaha, so the eye patch worked out. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a part where I could bring out the sword, though I kept trying. Suddenly everyone had guns, and it seemed moot! Hehe! On the whole, I thought it was a well-crafted thing and suitably desparaging towards Erik, for whom I have contempt for his overly whiney and self-agrandized perjorative attitude towards techfont.
It turns out that I really had not clue as to the killer except that I suspected the sister. Noe one told me about the game document so i knew nothing about the cook's involvement until the end where we all voted for him as the poisoner. I actually discovered the safe combination-my only contribution. Yeah, my detective skills were pretty pathetic. But I was right at the end. The majority felt the killers wer ethe grounds keeper and Gloria. The evidence however pointed to the butler so I voted for him. The sister also stood more to gain than gloria. Turns out I was right and they were not. David was well, something entirely different but you knew he was implicated in something. I suspected him right from the start when he started as a taxidermist and suddenly was a geographer. Then I turn around and he is a detective? Hehe.
Afterwards, david complimented me on my outfit. "Erik, you look like some kind of Bond villian. IN fact I thought Satuday before you dressed up as Shredder that you were Blofeld thanks to your bald head." I received a similar compliment from a woman who's real name I never learned (Laura-you would know. She was the doctor, dressed in the peacock-feathered flapper outfit). I won some mints with "rat poison" written on them in the door prize. The others were a DVD of the Clue movie and a copy of the game Clue. As I already own the DVD Clue and I have already THREE different versions of the board game, I was not at all shattered by the "booby prize."
And so, "This is Halloween! Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin King!"
Naturally my costume was a success. The usual misinformation was employed: what with the shaved head, and the Vader mask. This year's outfit was Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Next to Barbie and Star Wars, the biggest merchandise blitz in my lifetime (not even Pokemon lasted as long). This as a much simpler costume thatn the last couple of years, but I fielt because I was able to pinpoint the features better, it ended up more effective. It was difficult to throw away pieces afterwards, but I did save the cape and the gaunlets as this years trophies. Also, some good stories came of it.
First, allow me to describe the outfit itself. The bodice was simply black, medium slacks and a small grey turtleneck, having been bereft of the sleeves (original concept was the toy figure where he is bare chested, but I decided to go the cartoon/comic way), and black socks with the black boots from the Thrawn costume in 2003 finished off the base. I used the shin guards from the Samus outfit last year to make knee pads and guantlets. The knee pads were covered in cardboard and had carboard clasws taped to them. The shoulder pads were none other than paper party plates with the same claws taped to them. The guantlets were shinguards coupled with adhesive hooks (the kind you use to put on walls to hang things), taped together with pencils and plastic dart tips. Interestingly enough, everyone believed this to be the hardest of the outfit when in fact it was rather simple. The hard part was the cape. Anyway, all the armor was covered in duct tape and spray painted silver.
The rest required some thought. Given that it was Shredder, it gave me an excuse to buy a new sword. I found a good katana online for about $60.00 Jess took me to Meijers and Walmart where we got material for the cape, the pattern, and the sash. The material for the sash I was able to use as arm wraps and as a head tie for the mask. Also, the shoulder guards kept slipping, so I used some of the sash material to make restrains that went around the neck to keep them in place. Next was the helmet. I did NOT want to go through what I had to with Kosh again. I knew I needed a samurai helmet-I bemoaned to Jess at the store that if Revenge of the Sith had come out this year instead of two years ago-then the store would be abundant with Darth Vader helmets (that is not to say that I was glad Episode III came out. I would have been much happier had it not). Fortunately, Amazon had the sword as mentioned plus a Darth Vader mask. The two were about $100.00 together-a fine buy considering that is what the Thrawn eyes and the Samus helmet each cost alone. I then cut and fashioned a crest out of cardboard, and I duct taped it to the helemt. I tried to tape it so that when I spray painted it, the helmet would not be damaged and I could preserve it after halloween. The cape was the most difficult part (this surprised many people) since it meant venturing into the realm of sewing which I had never learned. Marc deserves mention here, since he advised and demonstrated how to proceed and fit it. The Foot Clan design was difficult due to the small size and the circular nature. If you looked on the underside of the cape, you would see what a crappy job it was. Fortunately, Jess' party was basically in the dark-all my conner cuts were undetected.
Naturally, Toby was more than eager to help through all this. To make the mask, I bought a surgical mask from WalGreens and taped a tie to it to go around the head (covered in tape and spray paint of course). Toby found the elastic pull his thing, and spent a week dragging his mask around the place until he stashed it somewhere-where I have no idea. Also when working of the cape design, he often helped by laying on top of it, making it difficult to position things. As a result, the Foot symbol instead of being centered on the back ened up on my butt. Haha. This costumed was basically done in 2.5 weeks and 3 weeks before halloween. Compare that to work on costumes right up until presentation time.
Friday night was a good time out. I was happy to say that I and many others spent Friday night in Halloween festivities rather than going off to watch "Assassination of an American President." Actually, a moment on that: this is the most ridiculous thing I have seen in a while. The creator describes this lower-than-Blair Withch Prodject rank as "Exagerations and falsehoods that come together to expose a greater truth." What the fuck? That doesn't even make sense. Bill Roper himself said, "It's a testimony of the country that we live in that a movie as this cane be made free of government retaliation. Having said that..." Of course, we all know what happens if you make a movie that bemoans a democrat president-just ask ABC. You get calls from crooks like Clinton, Sandy Berger, and John Kerry while Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid threaten to revoke your broadcast liscense if they control congress.
Back to Halloween. There was lots of good recognition on Friday. When we arrived, Darwin actually said, "Clear the way; Erik and his costume are coming through!" Funny story here: I needed an extra arm to get the shoulder guards on, so i asked Jess to help (it was here room I was using after all). I said, "I know its Halloween, but try not to be too scared," and immediately took off my shirt to wrap the ties around my collar. This of course led to some silly banter about taking of clothes in bathroom, hahaha, etc etc. Anyway, when all was said and done, Jess (since she was the first person i revealed my plan to), was first to compliment me on my splendid job. I went into the living room to not just approval, but also applause. Mike McCreevy in particular was quick to really have an oufit orgasm. Adam liked it a lot as well. Darwin thought it was really neat, but he sort of was let on the night before when I came to set up Jess' party soundtrack. Jess' friend Jess (who has seen me the last two years), was impresssed for what was for her, business as usual.
Later on in the evening, some frat guys (through a friend of Jess) showed up with their whores. They were surprisingly well-behaved. The guys, in fact were very approachable to me, and got a big kick out of my outfit. Still, the whole time they mostly kept to themselves. Their escorts (I assumed by default that they were sorority girls; by virtue that 1) they were with frat boys 2)their costumes were typical sorority fare: slutty cat, slutty devil, slutty nurse, slutty angle, slutty slut) all sneered at me whenever i tried to manuever around (it was no way easy)-but what did you expect? They didn't succeed in ruining my night. And to be fair, some (two actually) of Jess' people treated me the same way: Ashleigh Sala and Mary Zematis. Mary turned her nose up evertime I walked by her. Ashleigh asked m who I was and then laughed and walked away in a condenscending manner after I told her. Later I took my helmet and mask off finally and I noticed that she was staring at me. I sort of nodded an acknowledgement and she sneered and turned away. My friend from latin Heather was there, though I don't think she recognized me. I said hi and stuff, but she still didn't seem to connect. Oh well. Then Amy and Ryan showed up and Amy showed up as Donatello! I found this out when the whole place started chanting "Shredder, Shredder!" Hehe. Amy and I got a couple of awesome poses, and I would it was the highlight of the evening.
The next night was Techfront. Most hasd not seen my new skull cap at that point and misinterpreted it asa part of the outfit. Andy and I went to the restroom and he assisted to put it on me. I came back into the room and-literally- i stopped the party. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to appraise me. Except Susan. She didn't appear to be interested in much of anything related to the party. But then I turned around to show of the Foot on th cape and when they all saw that, everyone cheered and applauded. Except one asian girl I did not know who said in a whiney loud voice, "I don't get it. what's the foot?" She didn't stay long.
The food was great (considering last year I couldn't eat unless fed, not to mention the outfit acted as a corsette), and in fact I did say, "Oh boy! I can eat this year!" Dave and Laura's corn beef roast was fabulous as was Susan and Will's dirt cake. We played trivia which was much less boorish without Kevin. My team won thanks to turnips, candy corn, and the mass of the sun all over zero.
The costume contest resulted in much protest when in a act of great clemency, I declined to enter. Jess urged me, Darwin was surprised, Andy and Stacey were, Laura and Dave...and a couple of new people threatened to vote for me regardless. The winner told me afterwards he owed his victory to me for not enterinig, as he would have voted for me had I not done so. In light of that I rightfully considered myself "de facto" Champion for the the fourth year. Eric (Kevin's successor) was shot down from placing(despite his costume looking good) when I casually remarked (he had been bragging ad nauseum that his lightsaber was designed by him and then built by someone else) my roomate had built his entire jedi outfit from scratch, coupled with what I firmly believe was (and I know it was by my part) a spite vote in favor of Jess' SG-1 by the Old Guard.
The high point of that night was when I spent a long time talking to Kristen. Lars was engaged in a game, so I didn't talk much with him. She has really warmed up to me the last year, and we talked about many different things. My conclusion: very nice people. It was a pleasant surprise.
Finally Halloween night I attended Dave and Laura's murder mystery dinner. I dressed in a tuxedo and wore my eyepatch from the 80s party, and was with one of my infamous sword canes. I recognized almost no on else except Will and Erin. Food was good (what litte there was time to eat it in). One of the "servants" dumped all over the sleeves of my good jacket-what a dunderhead. I played the part of the police marksman and was Gloria's (the lady of the house) hunting partner. Hahaha, so the eye patch worked out. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a part where I could bring out the sword, though I kept trying. Suddenly everyone had guns, and it seemed moot! Hehe! On the whole, I thought it was a well-crafted thing and suitably desparaging towards Erik, for whom I have contempt for his overly whiney and self-agrandized perjorative attitude towards techfont.
It turns out that I really had not clue as to the killer except that I suspected the sister. Noe one told me about the game document so i knew nothing about the cook's involvement until the end where we all voted for him as the poisoner. I actually discovered the safe combination-my only contribution. Yeah, my detective skills were pretty pathetic. But I was right at the end. The majority felt the killers wer ethe grounds keeper and Gloria. The evidence however pointed to the butler so I voted for him. The sister also stood more to gain than gloria. Turns out I was right and they were not. David was well, something entirely different but you knew he was implicated in something. I suspected him right from the start when he started as a taxidermist and suddenly was a geographer. Then I turn around and he is a detective? Hehe.
Afterwards, david complimented me on my outfit. "Erik, you look like some kind of Bond villian. IN fact I thought Satuday before you dressed up as Shredder that you were Blofeld thanks to your bald head." I received a similar compliment from a woman who's real name I never learned (Laura-you would know. She was the doctor, dressed in the peacock-feathered flapper outfit). I won some mints with "rat poison" written on them in the door prize. The others were a DVD of the Clue movie and a copy of the game Clue. As I already own the DVD Clue and I have already THREE different versions of the board game, I was not at all shattered by the "booby prize."
And so, "This is Halloween! Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin King!"