GHOST STORIES! REAL ONES! WE WANT TO HEAR! Who has had run-ins with real ghosts? Do you have one in your house? Have you encountered one on vacation? Continue reading
Halloween
You know how Christian fundamentalists are always going on about how Halloween is an evil pagan holiday that glorifies Satan and tempts children toward the path of eternal damnation? The usual response from, you know, normal people is to be like “chill out, it’s just an excuse for kids to dress up and extort some candy from old people.” But my questions is: why would you want to deny Halloween’s badass nature? I mean, sure, we have a day honoring zombie resurrection, and a day that celebrates slaughtering a bunch of people and taking their land. But Halloween is the only holiday that’s based on an ancient festival named after Glenn Danzig’s second-coolest band and that encourages girls to dress up like slutty witches (who, as we know, were all about kinky devil sex). So the fundamentalists are actually right on this one: Halloween is evil, Satanic, and totally freaking awesome. Show our religious friends you agree by blasting these songs as loud as you can, preferably near a church.
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The other day, many of you decided to scare the wits out of some of us with your creepy gifs. Now’s your chance to do it appropriately! Ready? BOO! Continue reading
This is my niece, Rosie. She is a St. Bernard. She is wearing a monkey costume.
You see, there is a Halloween costume contest at her day care. Yes, doggy day care. And my sister wants to win this year. I said it seems kind of silly to put all this time and effort into dressing up dogs. You don’t understand, she said. This is doggy day care. This is cutthroat.
Last year, Rosie was a ladybug. And she didn’t win. My sister says one lady cheated last year by promoting her ‘fucking cocker spaniel’ on her personal Facebook page and directing people to the website of the doggy day car to vote for her ‘ugly fucking cocker spaniel’. My sister considers this cheating, because her St. Bernards are way cuter than ‘that fucking piece of shit spoiled cocker spaniel.’ Continue reading
Gather round. The temperature is dropping, the days are getting shorter and the leaves are dying. It can only mean one thing: menopause! Or autumn. Definitely autumn. Having already discussed those films that embody the season, let’s get specific. Which films do you watch in celebration of Halloween? Join me after the jump, and I’ll tell you which five spooky films I think are essential for the holiday! Continue reading
According to Moneyland, we Americans are going to collectively spend just a little less than seven billion dollars on Halloween this year. In 2005, planned spending for Halloween was just north of three billion dollars. These figures are courtesy of a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation. Even accounting for inflation, it seems obvious that we, as a country, are addicted to Halloween. Continue reading
Can a costume be the harbinger of doom? Yes, yes it can. The costume is the first introduction to the superhero. It’s the “Hello, hi, nice to meet you. I’m here to kick your ass.” moment of clarity. It is that defining split-second that reassures the audience that they’re in capable hands, that all is right with the world, and that in no way is shiny plastic wearable or should be seen outside of a garbage scow under the Verrazano Bridge.
Well, we would be mistaken on that last part, apparently.
Behold what the makers of the Wonder Woman television reboot think is acceptable for an iconic super maven. Uh, yeah. If your first question isn’t, “Who went to Party City and got one of those all-in-one Halloween costume packs that said SUPERHERO GIRL on the front?” then stop reading this, get up right now, and beat yourself about the head with a roll of pork, and then come back.
This is serious business. How could anyone look at those electric cerulean blue, Euro-technotronic pants and not say “Rave in Prague“, or “Extra in a Saw Movie?” I couldn’t imagine anything worse had they wrapped her legs in dung and cellophane.
I get the thinking. I do really. They wanted to get away from the revealing booty-short Lynda Carter wore in the 1970’s original. I would assume the booty-short was thought to be overly sexualized, and probably not what would be considered acceptable in today’s more conservative times. Huh? Well, that would certainly explain retaining the bodacious bustier then, right? Because that is clearly not sexualized in any way. No, not at all. A red bursting bustier is just the epitome of Amish chic. But okay fine, if you want to do pants, if that is a necessity, then how about you not make them look like the cheapest pair of pantaloons ever created, eh? And even Adrianne Palicki isn’t so convinced this is a good idea. Look at her face! That face doesn’t say, “Wonder Woman, hear me roar.” It says, “I’m not fire-resistant.”
This does not bode well for the reboot. Aside from reports that David E. Kelley’s version of the show will turn the superheroine into some weepy Ally McBeal-esque faction, complete with angst and odd-ball characteristics, now it looks like we can’t even depend on a decent costume to save the show. Those of us who would like to check it out to see for ourselves are fearful of what the David E. Kelley Plastic-Legged Wonder Woman, on NBC, the ruiner of most things on television, will bring to the table in concept, writing, and effects. See how much rides on a good costume?
After all, the right costume has made or broken a heroine.
If you’re talking about slinky, sexy, cunning, and just a tad bit vulnerable, then these classic incarnations of Catwoman make the grade every time. A black catsuit and a mask was all this minx needed. In a boy’s world whenever these sirens popped up on screen they stole the show and took hold of the story just by their presence. Whether or not the new Wonder Woman will join their ranks remains to be seen. Doubtful.
Conversely, if a terrible costume is any indication of what the movie itself will produce, then the recent offerings of Catwoman and Elektra should be fair warning to any and all that attempt to step into the realm of crime fighter. I think it’s actually been proven that if the first stills come out and the costume receives bad reviews then so goes the movie. I can remember both responses to these as being pretty abysmal, and yup, the movies stunk up the screen like a festering bowl of rotten eggs hidden under the ass of a baboon.
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Once you start getting into the realm of flash and you leave simplicity behind, the total embodiment of the project can become campy and cartoonish, and the easiest identifier is a costume that just doesn’t work, or worse takes itself too seriously, and possibly too literally.
If the whole point is to add a little humor, and some light-hearted fun to this character, then perhaps something with a little more balance, and a little less eye-gobbling blue, would have been better, and less of a joke. I can’t fathom how this costume will work on any level that isn’t a spoof on the general awfulness of most female superhero costumes. I can see her running awkwardly in this. Urgh. Flying in the now absurdly comical invisible plane. Ooomph. Attempting to talk tough to bad guys. Yeesh. I cringe….I just cringe.
Let’s just hope there’s something else left to salvage about this television reboot (Cary Elwes and Elizabeth Hurley joining the cast! No, that’s probably not it.), and that burning that costume is as easy as it looks. If nothing else, NBC, take a look at what GeekNative.com found! Not great, but better! At least it doesn’t make me want to punch your design guys with a booty-short, well, until I think about David E. Kelley, and then that itch returns. Stupid.
[Top Image via The Daily Telegraph]