It’s that time of year again: time for the ladies to dress up in revealing costumes ranging from slutty cat to slutty nurse to slutty police officer to slutty devil and the dudes (except for a few outliers) to make a halfhearted attempt to be, um, Alvin or something. (Red t-shirt. Yellow A. How hard can it be?)
What are you going to be for Halloween? What are the gender implications of the new costume world order? Is the increasing luridness of costumes of a piece with the increasing luridness of our torture-porn cinema? Speaking of which, did you see this year’s crop of scary Halloween movies—Paranormal Activity, Saw VI, and so forth?
Let us know! It’s your spooky open thread.
I am wearing a Snuggie at work today, complete with remote controls, book, and Book Light. It’s just so easy, since my blanket has SLEEVES!
I am headed to a party ironically as “The Ice Cream Man”(I’m a girl). Instead of a creepy van, I have a cart with an “Order Here” window where people can select chocolate swirl ice cream or a popcicle. Hopefully, dry ice in a cooler should prevent everything from melting too much. Any tips?
@Neil: I have a Snuggie! They’re made of awesome.
I’m a Ranger from B5. Homemade for a convention next month. I even made a pin out of clay and painted it myself.
But about the luridness of costumes. I’m okay with kind of kinky versions of popular things, like the sexxy Batgirl and Robin stuff. I’m even okay with sexxy versions of, say, Disney princesses, so long as they’re kept with adults. I may even be inclined to try it some day, wink wink. BUT, worst thing I evar saw lately was at the entrance to a costume store, an endcap display containing all of the Harry Potter stuff. And I do mean all. So there was a kid-sized Quidditch outfit right next to a kinky Hogwarts student outfit (barely-there skirt, tiiight sweater-vest, boob-popping shirt). The brooms and Snitches were right underneath. And up above was a kids’ Hermione costume (wig and all) beside a Harry one (complete with glasses). THAT pisses me off. I get why the Harry Potter stuff was at the entrance, yeah, but it wouldn’t have been that hard or that much of a brainer to put the kinky one in the adult section. And yes, I know I sound paranoid/prudish… But I’d like to hear a good argument for why separating adult kink from kid fun is overprotective.
OH OH OH!!!
Sorry for the double-post, but I wanted to point out that Joss Whedon is going to direct an episode of _Glee_.
http://whedonesque.com/comments/22073#345272
Halloween isn’t really a big deal in Australia. Wikipedia tells me that Halloween is of British origin, so now I’m left wondering why it’s less popular here than in other British colonies… perhaps our weather is too nice at this time of year? It could be a northern vs southern hemisphere thing…
Of course if Halloween becomes more popular now, I shall blame the internets, and its role in perpetuating that dastardly US colonial imperialism. ;)
The last few years I’ve used the same costumes I’ve had for a couple years now. I have either a home-made Mankind (From WWE) costume – Including mask, which I modeled and made from pleather mostly myself(My wife sewed the individual pieces back to back, because I’m no good with a sewing machine). I also have my 20 years later, out of shape Robin costume, which fits much better than it did when I had it first made.
I have grandiose plans to eventually make a Doctor Octopus costume using dollar store robot pincher hands, and the flexible tubing used with your dryer(the hot air tube), and some pulleys to make the claws work. I could use it to pinch the bottoms of those close by and then feign innocence “It wasn’t me. It was the claws! They have a mind of their own!”
When I started at my current job, there were contests to decorate our pods and everyone dressed up to get into the spirit. 3 years later, not a soul was decorated (except the cleaning team who came in with their masks to scrub the pods decorated with H1N1). What a world! Where has the whimsy and fun gone? Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing…where have all the flowers gone, long time ago.
But I digress.
My son is looking forward to doing the annual knocking on the door and taking candy from strangers as SPIDERMAN! I hope all yours out there can partake in the celebrations and fun as well.
Double post – “Halloween’s an excuse to dress all slutty” – a misquote from the Bro Code by Barney Stinson(misquoted because I’m at work and the book is on my kitchen table)
I think part of the reason for the Halloween slutty-ness is that there’s this perception that the holiday is ONLY for kids, and that adults getting into the spirit of the fun are “too old for that kind of thing.” Thanks to that attitude, costume companies have come to believe that the only reason an adult would want to dress up on Halloween would be to go out to a bar and hook up, which is why all the guys are “Boob Inspectors” and all the women are “sexy ______s.” The idea of an adult genuinely wanting to participate in the fun of the holiday for a reason other than soliciting sex is becoming more and more frowned upon in our (US, at least) culture.
Lara – I think you’re right on the Northern vs Southern hemisphere thing. Since Halloween is, at its root, a harvest festival/year end/change of season celebration, it doesn’t make much sense to celebrate it when you *aren’t* entering the “dark half” of the year.
I’m not dressing up for Halloween this year, partly because I’m f’ing sick, and partly because I ran out of money splurging on my daughter’s costume. By her own suggestion, she’s going as Zombie Hannah Montana (she’s 7, btw.) The day she told me that’s what she wanted to be was a proud, proud moment as a mother. My 5-yr-old son went for yet another store-bought superhero – IronMan, this year.
All of the costumes described in this thread – Homemade Mankind outfit, Ice Cream Man (with real icecream), and especially Zombie Hannah Montana sound way more awesome than anything I’ve ever worn. Gab, I’m sure yours is awesome too, but you’ve outgeeked me on this one. What is B5, other than a non-standard paper size and (according to google) a boy band?
Also, Neil and Gab, do you really have Snuggies?!?! Are they really worth having?!?!
Zombie Hannah Montana???
WIN
“Braaaiiiins..OMG…Braaaiiiins.”
I considered wearing my Darth Vader mask (complete with voice modulator) to work at the library this morning, but decided against it when I figured I might frighten small children. I didn’t have time to shave this morning, so I techinally dressed up as “Unemployed Grad Student Working on his Thesis about French Post-War Politics.” Somehow I don’t think that counts, though.
@Stokes: I took ‘B5’ to be ‘Babylon 5’ but that could be my inner-geek talking.
since I didn’t think that tomato sauce would look good on my suade Ren outfit went as a ‘college under-grad who’s working at a place that’s a step-up from McDonalds but below the Olive Garden.’
People didn’t get it.
@Stokes and Megan: Yes, sorry, B5= Babylon 5. I was confused for a Jedi a number of times by my corworkers because there is a somewhat similar crossing of the fabric in the front, and especially because one of them was dressed as Princess Leia (so others asked if we coordinated or whatever). Alack, alas, not a single grown person knew what I was.
@Stokes: Snuggies are a novelty item. It’s more like an, “I HAVE ONE, HAHAHAHA!” sort of deal. I’d like it more if it was made of warmer material. And I never would have bought it for myself- it was a gag gift. I’d give one to someone else in the same way, though, to be funny. Bill Maher once ranted about them and what they say about our society in his New Rules. I agree with what he says they symbolize, but I wouldn’t blame Snuggies themselves. ::stops::
Oh, I saw Zombieland last night. Made. Of. Awesome. Worthy of LOTS of analysis.
@Gab: were you going as a specific character or just as a general/random background person from the series? I just started watching the first season on Hulu (in fact that’s what I used my extra hour for, lol) and can’t help but laugh at the visual effects but at the same time marvel at how far we’ve come in that area since ’94.
I was a Guitar Hero Hero last night. No shame in my game:
http://goestotwelve.com/2009/11/halloween-2009/
@Genevieve – I’ve never thought about Halloween in the context of the northern seasons. It makes a bit more sense when it’s not in the middle of spring…
@Gab – Is there more to a Snuggie than just a fleecy dressing gown/bath robe turned backwards?
@Megan: I was a type of character. They will come up eventually, but not in the first season. As for the graphics, yes, they’re rather laughable now, but at the time the show was originally airing, they were top-notch. B5 is something I could ramble about a lot, though…
@Lee: Yes, you do rock.
@Lara: Nope, not really. It’s just a huge chunk of rather thin fleece with big, monk-like arms.
@Gab: I’m sure that as I wade through the episodes I’ll be able to ramble for hours on end about it as well…
@Stokes: What is B5? Hand in your geek card now, please.
@Gab: Honestly, despite the fact that I am a big B5 fan, I’m not sure I’d know a ranger from a Jedi. They’re pretty similar cloth draped mystical badasses, at least in the sartorial department. Maybe I should hand in my card too.
I slapped together a “Clockwork Orange” costume by wearing a white shirt, pants and suspenders, with black shoes and socks and a derby. I also had a cane lying around from my first wedding.
@Megan: It’s not about the effects (and they did move from Amigas to SGI boxes after season one) it’s about the story. Which also gets much better once you get into season 2.
@Dan: Like I said, I went so far as to making the official Ranger pin and stuff, so I could bore you with the specific differences in attire- but I realize most of them are ones that aren’t very easy to spot, and I was totally expecting the Jedi confusion. To be quite honest, when explaining what a Ranger is to my coworkers, I often ended up having to say, “Basically, they’re Jedi, but they’re trained with retractable sticks and more hand-to-hand combat. Like a Jedi-ninja hybrid.” I have no doubts I’ll be correctly recognized next month at OryCon, though.