The Steampunk World
Halloween is, of course, the most important holiday of the year to me. It's the holy day. I make it my goal each year to stretch the season (I saw Xmas crap on the shelves at Dominic's in July this year, which puts the beginning of the Halloween season somewhere in May) and my eventual goal is to have the house as decked out as any neighbor-envious suburban home around Xmas. The fact that I live in a house built in the 1890s only makes it easier to creepify.
Y'see, I can't let Halloween go the way of Xmas and become an icon of itself. A paper cutout of a skeleton isn't scary, a cobweb-covered skeleton is. Costumes can go two ways- you either look like you're dressing as a thing, or you look like the thing. Along those lines, all of this crap about toning down the scariness of this Halloween is directly contrary to the point. Halloween came about an exorcism of sorts, where you were scared by the spirits but laughed at them as well. A haunted house makes you scream and then laugh at yourself... whereas terror in real life just makes you scream. If you try to be not scary on halloween because your real life is too scary, then you lose the chance to escape your fear.
Of course, closing the "Escape from the Pentagon" haunted house that was planned (before 9-11) in D.C. is in good taste. But dressing up as Uncle Sam? That's for the Fourth. Funny costumes are good for shits and giggles but I want to BE something out of a fantasy for the night. That's why I dressed up as the Goblin King from 'Labyrinth'.
I took a roll's worth of pictures of the evening, and not a one came out- the only pictures that developed were the three that I snapped outside of Walgreens to use up the roll. It's too bad, too. I had lots of pictures of the more impressive costumes, including the only ones taken of mine. I'm royally disappointed, but what can I do?
I rented an outfit called "Gothic Vampire" that looked something like the threads that they wore in 'Interview With The Vampire'. Vest, red velvet coat with tails, lace cuffs, jabot. I replaced the pants with tights, and wore tall boots. Singular took a hatchet to a Tina Turner wig and also gave me an amazing makeup job- the only thing that kept me from looking just like Bowie was my bone structure. It was fabulous, however obscure. The only inaccuracies were a) Jared wears a pendant and b) if you watch the movie you'll see that Bowie has some pretty big tights to fill, if you catch my drift. The costume was completed by dumping an entire container of glitter on me, as everything in 'Labyrinth' is covered in the stuff (just like my apartment, now!)
On the train, one woman busted up laughing and said, "I love the earrings, they're the best part!" I said, "Uhh, not really part of the costume" and her smile melted off her face as she shuffled away with a look of fright.
We strolled out the front door and into our block party. Every Halloween they block off the boulevard and put on a show designed to "capture the original meaning of Halloween". I took a fantastic panoramic picture from my porch of the ten thousand attendees in my front yard, but alas, perhaps the folks who put it on will have some pictures. I can't describe the creepiness among the torches and the howling bottles they had strung up and all the skeletal performers screaming and beating drums...
Well, Labyrinth is a movie that if you've seen it, you've seen it hundreds of times. Thus, only a few people guessed who I was (most said "Bethoven?") but the ones who got it were very, very excited. I love costumes like that- heck, I saw TWO Max Fischers, one SpongeBob, and nary a single Osama or Tom Ridge.
We proceeded to the Stereolab concert at the Vic. It was mind-blowing. Ever had one of those experiences where you think you're tripping but you're not? The audience was rapt most of the time. I know I was. I always considered them an electronic band, but there they were, six of 'em, sounding JUST like they do in the studio. Drums, bass, guitar/keyboards, keyboards, vox/guitar/keyboards, vox/trombone/keyboards. Heavenly singing. One of those bands that causes the audience to pause before applauding the song, simply because the crowd is too speechless from the music to respond immediately. Go see Stereolab.
Best Costume: A guy dressed as a beetle rolling a 5-foot ball of dung.
Most Impressive: A fully lit-up Tron costume, in blue, complete with disc on the back.
Spookiest: A ghostly lady whose dress was on wheels so she seemed to glide down the street.
Most Offensive: A guy in scuba gear with an inflatable sex-doll tied around his face with his snorkled head between the doll's legs.
Most Disturbing: "Pre-teen she-wolf" complete with training bra and nasty toenails bursting out of his slippers.
Cutest little kid costume: The lightning bug with the flashing butt was a close second-runner to the little three-year-old mariachi I saw. As E-D put it, "Mariachis are cute even if they're old, so a little tiny one would be extra darling!"
Y'see, I can't let Halloween go the way of Xmas and become an icon of itself. A paper cutout of a skeleton isn't scary, a cobweb-covered skeleton is. Costumes can go two ways- you either look like you're dressing as a thing, or you look like the thing. Along those lines, all of this crap about toning down the scariness of this Halloween is directly contrary to the point. Halloween came about an exorcism of sorts, where you were scared by the spirits but laughed at them as well. A haunted house makes you scream and then laugh at yourself... whereas terror in real life just makes you scream. If you try to be not scary on halloween because your real life is too scary, then you lose the chance to escape your fear.
Of course, closing the "Escape from the Pentagon" haunted house that was planned (before 9-11) in D.C. is in good taste. But dressing up as Uncle Sam? That's for the Fourth. Funny costumes are good for shits and giggles but I want to BE something out of a fantasy for the night. That's why I dressed up as the Goblin King from 'Labyrinth'.
I took a roll's worth of pictures of the evening, and not a one came out- the only pictures that developed were the three that I snapped outside of Walgreens to use up the roll. It's too bad, too. I had lots of pictures of the more impressive costumes, including the only ones taken of mine. I'm royally disappointed, but what can I do?
I rented an outfit called "Gothic Vampire" that looked something like the threads that they wore in 'Interview With The Vampire'. Vest, red velvet coat with tails, lace cuffs, jabot. I replaced the pants with tights, and wore tall boots. Singular took a hatchet to a Tina Turner wig and also gave me an amazing makeup job- the only thing that kept me from looking just like Bowie was my bone structure. It was fabulous, however obscure. The only inaccuracies were a) Jared wears a pendant and b) if you watch the movie you'll see that Bowie has some pretty big tights to fill, if you catch my drift. The costume was completed by dumping an entire container of glitter on me, as everything in 'Labyrinth' is covered in the stuff (just like my apartment, now!)
On the train, one woman busted up laughing and said, "I love the earrings, they're the best part!" I said, "Uhh, not really part of the costume" and her smile melted off her face as she shuffled away with a look of fright.
We strolled out the front door and into our block party. Every Halloween they block off the boulevard and put on a show designed to "capture the original meaning of Halloween". I took a fantastic panoramic picture from my porch of the ten thousand attendees in my front yard, but alas, perhaps the folks who put it on will have some pictures. I can't describe the creepiness among the torches and the howling bottles they had strung up and all the skeletal performers screaming and beating drums...
Well, Labyrinth is a movie that if you've seen it, you've seen it hundreds of times. Thus, only a few people guessed who I was (most said "Bethoven?") but the ones who got it were very, very excited. I love costumes like that- heck, I saw TWO Max Fischers, one SpongeBob, and nary a single Osama or Tom Ridge.
We proceeded to the Stereolab concert at the Vic. It was mind-blowing. Ever had one of those experiences where you think you're tripping but you're not? The audience was rapt most of the time. I know I was. I always considered them an electronic band, but there they were, six of 'em, sounding JUST like they do in the studio. Drums, bass, guitar/keyboards, keyboards, vox/guitar/keyboards, vox/trombone/keyboards. Heavenly singing. One of those bands that causes the audience to pause before applauding the song, simply because the crowd is too speechless from the music to respond immediately. Go see Stereolab.
Best Costume: A guy dressed as a beetle rolling a 5-foot ball of dung.
Most Impressive: A fully lit-up Tron costume, in blue, complete with disc on the back.
Spookiest: A ghostly lady whose dress was on wheels so she seemed to glide down the street.
Most Offensive: A guy in scuba gear with an inflatable sex-doll tied around his face with his snorkled head between the doll's legs.
Most Disturbing: "Pre-teen she-wolf" complete with training bra and nasty toenails bursting out of his slippers.
Cutest little kid costume: The lightning bug with the flashing butt was a close second-runner to the little three-year-old mariachi I saw. As E-D put it, "Mariachis are cute even if they're old, so a little tiny one would be extra darling!"
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