Thanksgiving & Halloween Recap

I'm sure there must be at least one person out there that has been wringing their hands with anxious excitement for me to re-visit the world of blogging and finally post something, right? No? Well I'm still going to post something anyways.

So I've been in this big fight lately with Utah. She's is being absolutely ridiculous! Seriously I would slap her in the mouth if I could (probably lick my hand first too so it would sting more). Of course like any great feud, it start over the holidays. Now I'm not a "Holiday Guy" per-say, but I was actually looking forward to this Thanksgiving because the film "The Road" based on the Cormac McCarthy novel (same guy who wrote No Country For Old Men) was being released nationally on the 27th. Well it turns out that Utah has removed herself from these here United States of America and she chose not to pick up on the "National" release of the film, but instead she's decided to renew the putrid drivel of Stephenie Meyers (Utah's own) in every damn theater so that every swooning teenage girl in the state can at least for 130 minutes keep from cutting themselves. SERIOUSLY!!!! I'm mad as hell and am about this close to buying one of those pneumatic cattle guns and going postal. You are being completely unreasonable Utah! It has been nearly 2 weeks that the rest of the country has been able to enjoy Viggo Mortensen's dashing good looks once again on the big screen. How can you deprive us any longer? I am living in a third world country in the middle of the American mid-west!!! If anyone knows where I can see this movie in Utah or where I can send a similarly strong-worded letter, please let me know.

So obviously Thanksgiving was totally ruined. Halloween; however was just as good as ever. This year I was pretty busy so I didn't have a ton of time to make/create an elaborate costume so I bought one (well most of one) online. I was Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. Here's the final product. Obviously buying a "one size fits all" costume online requires a great deal of alterations in order to look any good-- for that I must thank my very talented wife, who not only tailored the jacket to my slender frame but made those gloves with the exceptionally long fingers. I added the Santa hat just to make it a little more unique. I was quite please and manage to win a cool $250 at our office Halloween costume contest. Not too shabby!
However my favorite costume of the year goes to my very own offspring young Jefferson Delmar Templeman who boldly chose the obscure comic book hero Astro Boy. Originally the plan was to go topless (as seen above), but it was a little too chilly. Again boots and belt courtesy of Mom. I made the arm cannons. I didn't think he would be willing to commit to the hair coloring and make-up, but he did a great job and was in character most of the day.

Well I think I've written enough for today. I don't want to overload you on my first day back.

A Look Back at October 31st, 2008

Here are some of pictures from Halloween '08.

After an over-whelming response from my faithful blog readers, and a grand total of one vote, I decided to go as Richie Tenenbaum for Halloween this year.

I quickly realized that this must be a more obscure movie reference than I had first thought. That's too bad because it is certainly one of my favorites.

All said the Templeman family fielded
1 Richie Tenenbaum (me)
1 Poisonous Mushroom (Andrea)
1 Ironman/Tony Stark (Jefferson)

Ironman/Tony (w/ mask, w/o mask) took the lead showing Madame Butterfly (cousin Ava) how Trick or Treating is done...

Relentless Knocking!
Sometimes upwards of 20-30 knocks per door.

Some other photos from the day.

'The Dude' with his wee-ones: a witch and... maybe a turtle... or a dragon?!

Yes 250 dollars, 3 hours, and 50% of his hair later-- you have the Dark Knight's 'Two Face'.
Come on! All that work and you can't even be accurate to the film, (notice it is the wrong side of his face?).
What a shame, a good effort though.

In my honest opinion the "Best Costume" of the year, Hands Down!
'State Puff Marshmallow Man'
Something in the range of 8 feet tall!
Well done Tony!

Halloween 2.0

Here a late addition to the possible Halloween costumes.

The monster from Pan's Labyrinth.

I'm not sure if it is realistically possible-- but I thinks it's pretty cool!

Halloween

I know it is more than 6 months away, but I'm still thinking about it. Halloween is in my top 5 best days of the year pretty consistently. Sometimes it's even #1. I love Halloween because everyone is expected to be at least a little ridiculous. For someone like me who may be perceived as slightly bizarre every other day of the year, it sort of levels the playing field. It's a holiday that compels a vast majority of the popular to relax, take off the masks they tote around every other day, and put of different ones-- fun ones. I particularly like the office environment on Halloween. There is just something magical about seeing that bitch from accounting dress up like Paris Hilton. I also love going over to the IT department and seeing the wide variety of Storm Trooper and Klingon costumes purchased online-- and then there is that one guy who's Bubba Fet every year because he bought the costume in 1984 for $1,500 and needs to find every opportunity to don it outside of the annual Star Wars convention. I've never had a store bought costume, not that I wouldn't have loved to have one, my family growing-up just wouldn't spend money on that sort of thing. My mom would either make my costume or I would have to wear a "costume of convenience". In both cases, the result was occasionally embarrassing. I've since embraced this entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to the costume making experience and think I've really found my groove over the past couple years.In 2005 I was Edward Scissorhands. I had just completed a Stage Make-up course and was feeling confident in my ability to create puddy scars on my face. Then it was just a matter of hitting up the local thrift store for some baggy grey pants and suspenders. I can't seem to find any pictures right now but I'll post 'em once I can track some down.

The following year I was significantly more ambitious-- I wanted to be Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events. I bought a bald cap and super-glued lengths of grey hair to the side and styled it. My mother-in-law made the black coat out of a fat black corduroy. It is by far the coolest thing about the costume and I've been trying to find a way in which I can wear it again without aligning myself to those socially retarded trench coat kids. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to start 'putting on my face'. I puddied an extension on my nose, applied make-up, fake eyebrows, and a beard. The end result of the costume I wasn't particularly that excited about. As the day wore on the bald cap proved a challenge. It was uncomfortable, hot and sweaty, and eventually began to peel up. The extra effort the morning of Halloween made it a stressful beginning to the day.

Last year I change my direction totally-- abandoned the make-up and thrift store outing in favor of making a giant Lego Man Mini-Fig dressed as a Real Salt Lake soccer player.

I made the whole thing out of bristle board, Styrofoam, and duct tape-- it cost only about $27, but had over 30 hours of labor invested in it. It was bulky and almost impossible to move in. I actually had to borrow my sister Durrango in order to get my costume to and from work and various Halloween parties-- but I think it is my best Halloween costume to date. I've already begun narrowing down my 2008 costume options.

Lego Man again? I figured I could just change the Lego Man's outfit-- maybe an astronaut or a professional wrestler. It seems like a capout. Beside I think my sister wants to wear that costume this year as payment for me having to use her vehicle last Halloween.

Sweeney Todd? I can't bring myself to be another Johnny Depp character-- it's unhealthy I think.

Neo from the Matrix? Not a chance in hell. The only reason I even considered it was so that I could wear that cool coat again.

Woody? Yeah from Toy Story and Toy Story II-- My kid is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear, in fact he was Buzz for Halloween last year. I was thinking I could be Woody and he could be Buzz, the whole theme costume thing, but then he would have to be the same thing as he was last year for that to work and I can't just ask him to do that for me. One of the best things about Halloween is changing your costume year to year. Maybe I can convince him to wear a small purple hat and an apron and he could be Mrs. Nesbit.

RichieTenenbaum? This would be a pretty easy costume to pull off. In fact, I think I already have the camel sports coat and headband. Maybe if I'm feeling lazy.

The Joker? With Heath Leger's passing maybe this choice is in poor taste. But I love Christopher Nolan's visual interpretation of this classic villain and I'm pretty sure I can pull it off. We'll see.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!