I got into the holiday spirit with this carving earlier this week. I’ve refrigerated and coated the openings with petroleum jelly, and it’s holding up nicely:

The previous Halloween post referenced Domo-kun, I’ve put together simple instructions to build your own Domo-kun costume. Large sheets of cardboard, brown shipping tape, and red spraypaint could make a basic domo-kun. For a more realistic domo-kun, add a screen (for a front window), old carpet, carpet foam, bowls or round objects for eyes (painted black), and paper-mache for rounded corners.

Tips – the weight of the costume will rest on your shoulders so plan accordingly. Rounded corners can be achieved through paper-mache, carpet or foam. Inset the mouth 2 to 3 inches to achieve dimension. The mouth should include a spray-painted screen (find replacement screen door material at Home Depot) so you can see out the front. Small holes can also do the trick, but are more visible.

The Wilsons| Difficulty: Easy

Hollywood has graced us with several famous Wilsons. This group Halloween costume idea is fairly expandable, but should include two key Wilsons:

Wilson from Home Improvement
Wilson from Cast Away – Put the ball on your head and cut small eyeholes!

A simple picket fence, neck-mounted or handheld mask will do the trick for Home Improvement Wilson (plus Goodwill-based neighborly attire). The Wilson ball may be a bit more difficult depending on the size of your head. Consider a larger ball that is structurally thick enough to maintain the shape with large cuts (i.e. basketball). A handprint from red paint – done! I’d recommend pairing the ball on the head with loincloth or castaway-eque clothing.

Depending on how many people are with you, this group Halloween idea is scalable. Consider adding a Woodrow Wilson, Luke/Owen Wilson, or Brian Wilson.

Bonus: Rita Wilson + Wilson from Cast Away may be a stretch, but certainly a smart couples combination.

Famous White and Black Guy Duos| Difficulty: Easy

Have a token white friend? Or a token black friend? Put them to use.

Everyone remembers this special time when Gary Coleman and David Hasselhoff were photographed in this moment of special specialness. Its a simple Halloween costume, but certainly a hit for this year.

Tom Selleck’s Magnum PI can be done with a mustache, short shorts, and a Hawaiian shirt or a tank top. For TC – suspenders, t-shirt, cap and blue jeans.

Mentos and Diet Coke | Difficulty: Moderate to Hard

It may be a bit late in the game to get the full effect of this nerdy costume duo, as this was huge in 2006. For Mentos (the skinnier person in the duo), purchase a large sheet of 1/8″ to 1/16″ flexible plastic sheeting (in the laminate flooring area) from Home Depot, roll it into a tube, and paint it. A large sheet can be had for around $20. Add aluminum foil for details on the ends. If you can get a projector, project the Mentos logos onto the plastic prior to rolling up. Cut arm holes. Diet Coke will be the difficult costume. I’d take cues from the Indiana Jones and the Boulder costume (see below) for building techniques on a cylinder this large. Again, the sheeting can be used for the outside of this costume. I’d recommend a 2″ to 3″ PVC mounted shoulder harness or bar to hold this large costume (see Indiana/Boulder).

Double Bonus – Because of the striking similarity to a foil-wrapped burrito, wrap these in aluminum foil and take these costumes down to Chipotle for a free burrito on Halloween.

Indiana Jones and the Boulder | Difficulty: Hard

Not for the faint of heart. This was our 2005 costume combo. Indiana Jones was a simple costume assembled from Goodwill clothing and a $15 fedora off ebay. The main problem was the boulder – both construction and the total weight of the rock. I’ve seen another Halloween costume on the web with a guy who has a gray pillow on his chest. That is lame. Go all or nothing on this costume.

Making the Indiana Jones Boulder
Because of the scale of the boulder, we used several two-wire metal ladder (detail below) structures from Home Depot, wrapped the ladders into a circle, and then build a sphere out of them:

We then built a shoulder harness for the inside, and coated it with a styrofoam support for comfort:

In the end, we covered it in chickenwire and paper mached the whole thing and left large hole at the bottom for the feet. Screened windows (simple door screens will work) are a must for a boulder of this scale. We had two rear views, two corner views and a main front window. After adding the windows, we painted the boulder (I recommend “oops” paint from Home Depot at $5 a gallon) in two tones of gray and painted the screen for blending. The screens were not visible from a distance or at night.

Finished Costume and Alternate Costume:

Bonus: Token Asian Friend + Woodblock duct taped to shoe = Short Round Costume

American Gladiators|Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Not for the faint of heart, as this singlet-based, balls-out Halloween costume pretty much puts your manhood on for all to display. However, it is a simple costume. Do a quick google search for ’singlet’ for several options. I’d opt for a patriotic American red, white and blue one for the full effect. Pull out your tole painting set or do an iron-on of the word “Ice,” “Turbo,” or “Laser” on the front so onlookers know you mean business. Don’t forget to cut your flat top.

Alternate, less racy Christian version: The Power Team

The cast of Saved By the Bell| Difficulty: Easy

A trip down to Goodwill and you can build out a classic hit in under $20.

Must have accessories:
Zach Morris: Brick Phone
AC Slater: Singlet
Jessie Spano: Caffiene pills
Belding: The phrase “Hey, hey hey, what is going on here?”

Alternate television cast: Perfect Strangers

Famous Gob Bluths| Difficulty:East to Moderate

Arrested Development’s life was short, but brilliant. Why not pay homage this year with you and your friends? Possible Gob’s:

Magician Gob, Construction Worker Gob, Hot Cops Gob, Ugly Sweater Gob, Segwey Gob, Banana Suit Gob, Prison Gob

Bonus: Steve Holt or Franklin.

The Quaker Oats Guy| Difficulty:East to Moderate

The whole point of this costume is the ambiguity of what he’s wearing below the shoulders. Go traditional Quaker or try something racy – “Quaker Oats ‘D__ in a box’?” Indeed.

Alternative: Steve from Chimpsahoy made a brilliant Gorton’s Fisherman last year.

Unicorn + Anything|Difficulty:Hard
Face the facts: unicorns have a short comedy lifespan, and 2007 may be your last year to pull this costume off. Go as a unicorn + a rider for this year’s sleeper hit. The rider could be a knight, barbarian, jockey, pirate, princess, etc.

Alternative: Dress your dog up like a unicorn.

Two-dimensional, pixelated, side-scrolling Mario| Difficulty: Moderate

I have no idea how to pull this one off, but this nerdy gamer costume can be done. I imagine a side view painted on a flat piece of cardboard would do the trick. Regular mario is a common costume, but do it in 2D, and you will be unique.

Domo-kun| Difficulty:Moderate to Difficult

Everyone’s favorite Japanese TV Mascot can be your Halloween Holiday Hit. Instructions on building this costume here.

Alternative: WB’s Gossamer.

I have to admit that last year’s costume was, and may nearly be, impossible to top. Sonath came up with the brilliant idea, and I went as Indiana Jones and Sonath went as, well – I’ll let the video speak for itself.

The bar is raised pretty high this year. But I’ve decided that I’m going as a member of The Power Team. I hope someone will join me in this righteous endeavor because technically there is no “I” in “The Power Team.”

In order to prep for this, I’ve selfishly decided that the Chimp or Chump Challenge ‘06 will start in a couple weeks so I can gain the necessary beef to be able to rip a phone book in half for Jesus. While there is no “I” in “Power Team” there certainly is a “Meat Power.” I’m dropping the “Shredded Diet” in favor of the “Break Seven Bricks Wit’ Yo Bare Hand Diet.” The Chimp or Chump Challenge is a weight gain or loss competition with high stakes. There is an affordable entry fee, 45 days of carrot or lard diets, and a cash prize for the winner. If you are interested in joining the Chimp or Chump Challenge, please leave a comment below or e-mail greg @ chimpsahoy (dot com – I just fooled an trolling Internet bot right there). An official sign up will be posted soon.

Also, let me know if you would like to dress up with me as a member of the Power Team. Specify “Halloween” and/or “In General – Daily.”

It may seem like I’m just recycling an old post from last year, but Brad and I went as Aragorn and Legolas again for Halloween. Shannon also recycled her costume from last year, so we didn’t feel as guilty.

This year, however, we made or altered most of our costumes. Brad and I spent two saturdays in a row sewing, painting, cutting, hot gluing, swearing, and watching several episodes of ‘Family Guy’ together. Shannon joined us the second saturday and put together her cloak for her Super Hot Goth Outfit(tm). Our costumes turned out much better than last years, although the photos don’t really show the painstaking detail we took in making these. I decided to skip the makeup* this year, because it made me look more like a sickly old man than Legolas.


This picture was originally taken in Brad’s kitchen, but it really didn’t say “Lord of the Rings” until I photoshopped us into a Middle Earth environment.

An embarrassing moment when Brad’s cloak fell off.

The Smurf costumes were definately one of the top three we saw on Mill Avenue. Steve can testify of the fun involved with body paint.

“Britney, Britney! Can we get a picture with you?”
“Uh, why?”
“BECAUSE YOU’RE BRITNEY SPEARS!”
“No I’m not.”
[Uncomfortable Moment]
“Can we get a picture anyways?”

Could have used a toad two years ago.

Looks like Christmas doesn’t come once a year anymore, ladies.

That is one hot woman.

My second favorite costume on Mill Avenue. Look at the painstaking detail this man has put into his Brad costume. It’s a shame he didn’t even enter a Halloween contest.

*I’m naturally this shade of pale nearly year round!

As a wee lad, I never got sick. Over the years, I attributed this fact to my “iron immune system.” Sunday I got a kidney punch from old man influenza. Actually, it’s probably just a cold (according to the hilariously named igotflu.com)…maybe it’s SARS. Who knows? Either way, I have an excuse to take medicine that has more alcohol than I have back hair.

About one o’clock Sunday afternoon, I took my first ever dose of Nyquil. Greg often takes Nyquil (we’re thinking about holding an intervention) and he always talks about how it makes him loopy or at the very least, makes him more likely to drown face-down in his soup. I think all it did to me was make me sleepy; since the sleepiness coincided with my weekly Sunday afternoon nap, I was, more or less, unaffected. The benefit was that Nyquil made it unnecessary for me to put any real thought into my words for the rest of the night. A sample:

Dude: “Hi, Steve. How’s your weekend been going?”

Steve: “What rapscallion absconded with the crumpets?”

Dude: “What do you mean??

Steve: ?Uh?where did the biscuits go??

Dude: ?What the?! Biscuits?! Right?anyway, what do you think about social security reform?”

Steve: “I’m a staunch supporter of flaps in the back of pajamas. Wants a swizzle, like me? Balderdash and poppycock!”

Dude: “Oh boy, you’re so postmodern! Or you’re on Nyquil. Can you stop oozing snot on my shoe?”

Seriously though, by being healthy I think I’ve missed out on the best thing about illness: a complete lack of responsibility or maturity. It’s like sickness is a free pass to guilt-free whining, good service, and abundant sleep. Sign me up! It’s like my life’s philosophy all wrapped up into one little viral package.

“Nyquil monkeys! Bring me my ambrosia and may the sweet waters of Lethe wash over me forevermore…”

Since this is my first year of unabashed Halloween participation, I went whole hog. Got the costume, did a theme with a group, carved a pumpkin, went trick or treating, sacrificed a pigeon-

-err, never mind. I didn’t actually go trick or treating. Seriously, I’m almost 21. Anyway, I had a lot of fun, so you are gonna hear about it:

Pumpkin Carving Pictures

While the first two (Steve’s), Yoda and “Not-a-Key-Hole” Alfred Hitchcock, are easily recognizable, the third pumpkin on the right is TJ’s. I don’t know what it is. People around here call it the Mer-man. I think it’s just frightening.

This batch of pictures (from left to right) are my self portrait, Brad’s rendition of Devil Doll, and TJ’s carving of Jesus. That’s TJ’s pumpkin, not mine. Don’t yell at me about it being wrong or something.

More Pictures (courtesy of Nick/Mario)
I think it’s appropriate that Brad carved a Devil Doll pumpkin. Devil Doll is often known for “hittin’ with the ladies”, and that’s just what Brad did on Halloween:

Brad you sly stud.

TJ Gets a Drink

No matter how cool TJ looked in his costume, it was a dog and cat show trying to get a drink of water. He used a funnel to avoid running his makeup off.

Hee hee.

Sippin’ on Courvoisier…

I just kicked back and watched as TJ tried to get some water. I was amused…

Brad’s New Friend

This was the guy I referenced in the last post that had a strange obsession with Gambit. He called Brad “Gambit” and was even thrilled that he was going to be in X-Men 2.

So that’s it. Unless something strange happens, I have about a year until you hear about Halloween from me again.

My favorite picture of me as Hulk…disturbing:

Yoda pumpkin:

Alfred Hitchcock pumpkin:

I’ll elaborate in images:

The Beginning

Here we are right before leaving. From left to right: Brad (“Gambit”), Me/Greg (“Luigi”), Shannon (“Princess Toadstool”), Steve (“Incredible Hulk”), Nick (“Mario”, no that isn’t an inappropriate gesture), and TJ (“Crow”). While Steve, TJ, and Brad were originally supposed to go as Nintendo characters, they ended up being difficult for some people (probably drunk people) to identify and many people even made up superhero names for them.

On Mill Ave: Keep it together Steve

I really have no interpretation of this picture. If you can tell me what is going on, feel free to comment. Most likely, those two cards in Brad’s hands ended up jacking Steve’s cold chest. Brad enjoyed an evening of tormenting Steve’s nipples with playing cards. That sounds dirty, but I’m sure it was innocent fun.

A few fun and sometimes clever interpretations people gave Brad and Steve on of their costumes:

Brad (Gambit): “Blind Guy with Pole”, “Sprinkler Pipe Man”
Steve (Hulk): “Green Giant”, “Incredible Bulk”

The Crow Likes Children

TJ gets the award for having the freakiest makeup/costume out of our group. I think he scared a lot of people (as he mentioned, people often moved out of his way). It bothers me that he didn’t smile in this picture.

Nintendo Crew

I’d say that out of all of us, we were the most appreciated by “The People.” Obviously, we have the appeal that spans generations, and anyone from the children (that insisted on shaking Nick’s big dumb cartoon hands) to the drunken adults appreciated the “Super (expletive) Mario Brothers”. Unfortunately, Shannon and I had to play second fiddle to Nick the whole evening, because frankly, Mario is liked the most of the crew. While I was more recognizable than Shannon as a Nintendo character, I was also asked “Where’s Mario?” if Mario wasn’t standing directly next to or in front of me. I was also called “Super Mario” a few times, which certainly says a lot about a generation of colorblind and illiterate people who can’t tell that an “L” combined with green generally means “Luigi.” Shannon and I bonded as we both felt the rejection of a nation that just likes Mario more than us. Halfway through the night we killed Mario and felt a lot better. It should be noted that the clever hobos asked for coins and the potheads mushrooms. Please people, the Mario Brothers is a family-oriented game based around sexist dogma and racial stereotypes.

Nick is Sober, I Swear

Nick shares a moment with a guy nobody knows. It’s interesting the bonds of thousands of people. People feel like they know you because you dress up as one of their favorite characters. Take Brad (Gambit) who was nearly molested by a guy who just likes Gambit. He even talked to him as if he was Gambit. The only love I received on Mill was an unwanted pass from a man in shorty short shorts.

Posers

Wouldn’t you know it that we ran into two other pairs of Mario/Luigi/Princess as well as a stray Luigi (seriously, who goes as Luigi by themselves). I feared a showdown but luckily, they were friendly and they posed for this picture. I think we did a better job on our hats, but they had mini-plungers. However, our Princess was about ten times better, so overall, I think we were cooler. Regardless, we split up and decided it best that we avoid eye contact if we saw each other again that evening.

I hope I got everything, and I may post some more images later.

The insanity started yesterday afternoon as we were watching Donnie Darko (a cool movie that I’m going to have to watch again to understand). I, attempting to disguise myself as The Incredible Hulk for Halloween, began to apply green makeup to my body. I wasn’t sure that I’d have enough makeup to do the whole body, but initial results were good and I decided on the full-body shirtless approach. An hour or two later, with some awkward help from Brad to reach the difficult areas, my entire body (minus the region covered by a pair of shorts) was covered in uncomfortable green goo. I felt like a batter-dipped piece of fish ready to be tossed into the fryer at Long John Silvers. Greg and Nick were arrayed as a pretty respectable looking Mario brothers with Shannon representing as the princess, Teej was decked out as the Crow, and Brad was all set as Gambit.

Our first stop of the evening was the Campus Crusade Halloween party in the Memorial Union at ASU. We proceeded to stand around, me extraordinarily cold and everyone else extraordinarily hot, and wait for the costume contest…a contest for which the winner would supposedly receive a monetary prize. Ultimately we all lost to a guy dressed as Wal-mart with lots of miscellaneous things (presumably purchased at Wal-mart) stapled to his shirt. We weep…I could tell Greg is bitter.

We then headed over to Mill Ave. for some parading up and down the street. For those who don’t know, Mill Ave. on Halloween is where tons of people go in their costumes to walk up and down while pointing and identifying costumes and/or creativity. It’s a lot of fun and this is the first year any of us had dressed up for it.

I’ll keep my play by play of this events relative to my reception as the Hulk…I’m sure Greg will cover anything that happened to him on his blog. The evening started strong for me with lots of people correctly identifying me as the Hulk. For every correct identification I either gave the universal thumbs up signal or yelled in my best guttural Hulk utterance, “HULK SMASH!!!” Ahh, the kiddies loved it. As time moved on, I was disturbed at how many people incorrectly identify me as the Jolly Green Giant. I think it might have been my shoddy wig, but who knows? Gradually I came to accept it as a mistake non-nerdy people would make. Besides countless people pointing at me and yelling, “The Hulk,” or, “The Green Giant,” I also got these enjoyable responses:

“(expletive) (expletive), that is one hairy (expletive) (expletive)…disgusting!”

“Put on a (expletive) shirt.”

“It’s the (expletive) (expletive) Hulk!”

*excluding the first double expletive, all of them are the mother form of the word that caused little Ralphie to get his mouth washed out with soap in “A Christmas Story”

I also got these physical responses:

-a girl rubbed my back

-a strange man pinched my nipple…I felt violated

-someone (gender unidentified because of the crowd) grabbed my butt…for the sake of my sanity, I assume it was a girl

-many, many people in plain (sometimes nice) street clothes accidentally rubbed up against me, leaving delightful green smears on their clothes…they’re going to hate me when realize how that happened

We walked up and down Mill many times and then finally decided to walk back to the apartment. I couldn’t wait to get in the shower, so as soon as everyone left I got in. I thought things were going pretty well until I got out and put my glasses back on. There were still green smears all over my body and I had a slight yellow tint on my body. I panicked. I rubbed and rubbed until exhaustion forced me to put a big undershirt on and crawl into bed. I woke up feeling a lot like a piece of greasy bacon on a tray waiting to be served. I instantly ran to the shower and scrubbed until there was no hot water left (sorry Teej). I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed until I was glowing red and still some green persisted. Easy on, easy off my eye! I finally get most of the crap off and staggered out to the kitchen, completely exhausted. I told TJ, who’d already been up to get ready for school, “Covering myself in green makeup has been one of the worst experiences of my life,” to which he accurately and succinctly replies, “yeah, but you got to hear lots of people say, ‘Hey, it’s the Hulk’…almost as many as you heard say, ‘Hey, it’s the Green Giant.’”

So true, Teej, so true. I did have lots of fun and presumably everyone else did, too. We took lots of pictures and they should be posted shortly.