Happy Halloween

The past couple of Halloweens, I haven't been able to get too excited about dressing up, but this year I've finally been struck by inspiration. As a long time admirer of Michael Cera (like, ohmguh, the whole reason I am in favor of same-sex marriage is so that the two of us can be together forever), I thought it'd be fun to pay tribute to him. I chose Paulie Bleeker, Cera's role in Juno, not because its my favorite character of his (far from it), but because it had the most distinctive costume possibility. After hitting three thrift stores with Katy, I acquired a maroon school shirt with yellow lettering, tiny yellow shorts, and a gold knit hat, which I've cut into pieces to create a headband, wristbands, and trimming for my shirt and socks. Since I don't sew, these pieces have been stapled. I haven't had to pretend I was this handy since destroying a teddy bear to make a trained circus bear costume. Anyhoo, here I am as Paulie Bleeker:


Since I'm wearing such tiny shorts, my costume accidentally puts the "ween" in Halloween. I've decide to accentuate this fact by not wearing underwear, in part inspired by Terri's gripe that Halloween is just an excuse for women to objectify themselves in the name of a holiday. I agree with Terri's assessment; in recent years, it seems it's not really a costume unless it features gratuitous cleavage. While I probably can't successfully impart the virtues of virtue on women and convince them that not every cat, witch, nurse, etc. has to be a sexy one, I can help balance the playing field and objectify my own body, too.

My friends and I have made some awesome jack-o-lanterns, if I do say so myself.



Shea's actually scares me a bit. That's a frightening face, and the rose is a classy touch.

Amber took a politically active approach and made a face with a smile reading "vote." So cute and relevant.

Amy's is phenomenal! We had taped a photograph of Michael Michael to the pumpkin that would have been eirs had ey not moved out, and Amy felt bad removing the photograph from the pumpkin without still commemorating Michael Michael. Amy's solution? Carve Michael Michael's face into the jack-o-lantern.

Look at the source material, taken of Michael Michael as a Claremont Grammarian in 2007:

Now check out how well Amy executed that photograph:


So impressive!

Meanwhile, I had trouble deciding what to carve into my pumpkin. My last attempt, a subtle ode to necrophilia, caved in on itself too quickly, so I wanted to try something not too elaborate. Finally, I opted to take a postmodern route: I'd carve a jack-o-lantern ON a jack-o-lantern. It's either genius or stupid, most likely the latter.

Meanwhile, Katy took a minimalist approach. Ey didn't get any further than hollowing the pumpkin out, but we put a candle in it, turned it on its side, and made it look like some sort of accomplishment anyway. Some have compared it to a butt hole.

Enjoy the festivities, kids.