Halloween Costumes

Scott Hardie | September 20, 2009
Kelly and I won a costume contest last year, so we're brainstorming ideas for how to put together new costumes in the next few weeks to try again. She already said no to my favorite idea, so you're welcome to use it yourself: Dressing as the people of people of Wal-Mart. I don't think anybody would have voted for my sweet undies costume, though, so it's probably for the best. Do you have any costume ideas you're not going to use?

Steve West | September 20, 2009
Lauren wanted the whole family to trick-or-treat as the Blue Man Group.

Steve West | September 20, 2009
Her alternate suggestion was me as Willie Wonka and everyone else as Oompah Loompahs.

Jackie Mason | September 20, 2009
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Amy Austin | September 20, 2009
Sweet undies, indeed... and once again, the comments section produces a Cracker Jack prize! Behold: the booty

Steve, I like Lauren's ideas -- the Blue Man Group, in particular!

I also find it of notable interest that since Mr. Sweet Undies appears to be a bit of a Maryland celebrity*, you may actually just be recognizable enough to win a contest there -- perhaps Scott should pay Steve a visit... or maybe Steve can just reserve one Friday or Saturday for contest purposes and let us know the outcome. ;-D I'd bet on a placing at the very least!

*From the comments section at 2nd link (I'm telling you... you're missing out not to at least skim over them, people!):

Anonymous said...

This is the "White Knight" of Frederick, Maryland! I used to be a manager at Target there and he came in all of the time wearing this same outfit! I was a little bummed that the Walmart pic didn't capture him in his usual pose...bent over with his butt in the air! Good job for getting him that way in Gettysburg! Same outfit, same guy, same town!! Hope he knows he's made the internet..the sicko would love it!

Ooh, ooh... and more celebrity links of "The White Knight" here, too!!!

at Target

again in Gettysburg

And there's apparently a Facebook page devoted to him as well... along with other random private profiles containing pics. Looks like this guy might be ripe for the gooing, lol! (Looks like Steve already has a head start with the right facial hair, too -- you're already half-way to a first prize, man!!!)

Amy Austin | September 20, 2009
Good one, Jackie!

Amy Austin | September 20, 2009
Whew... and once again, I'd like to reiterate the request to bring back auto-linking when posting a url (with ability to label, if it's not too much to ask!) -- making it simple for everyone else to follow sure is a lot of work!

Amy Austin | September 20, 2009
Omg... that people of Wal-Mart site is killing me, lol!

Steve West | September 20, 2009
You are an inspiration!

Amy Austin | September 20, 2009
Does that mean you're considering it?!?!? Getting some of those sweet undies is going to be the hardest part, though... ;-DDD

Steve West | September 20, 2009
Brenda says I can go like that somewhere as long as she doesn't have to go. Spoilsport.

Amy Austin | September 20, 2009
LOL... well, if I'm going to have to miss out on seeing you at GOOCON this year, you ought to at least make it worth our while! ;-D Spoilsport, indeed. ;-p

Lori Lancaster | September 21, 2009
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Aaron Shurtleff | September 21, 2009
Is this work related? Most of my horrible ideas would be NSFW... :)

Jackie Mason | September 22, 2009
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Scott Hardie | September 15, 2010
Don't you think this sexy costume bit's done got out of hand? Sexy Sesame Street costumes = time to revolt. There are 1,454 costumes matching the search term "sexy" at buycostumes.com.

Lori Lancaster | September 15, 2010
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Steve West | September 16, 2010

click image to zoom

Amy Austin | September 16, 2010
"Slutoween"... lol...

Scott Hardie | September 16, 2010
I have no problem with women who want to wear sexy costumes and merchants who want to sell them those costumes. I just have a problem with the overwhelming ubiquity of sexy costumes for women, to the point where there are no other kinds. When a large Halloween store opened near us last fall, Kelly and I took some time to stroll through the aisles and look at everything. There was a wide variety of costumes for men and kids, but the women's section, covering one entire wall of the store, was stocked with nothing but sexy this and sexy that, hundreds of them. It was funny then. Now I'm just kind of sick of it. If I were a woman, especially being overweight, I'd be all kinds of angry about it.

Aaron Shurtleff | September 16, 2010
The introduction of Pedobear is a win for Steve.

Jackie Mason | September 19, 2010
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Scott Hardie | October 30, 2010
 

Steve West | October 30, 2010
Another trend I'm pretty sick of (but kinda funny in the right context or setting).

Jon Berry | October 30, 2010
XD

Steve West | November 10, 2010
Talk about niche marketing!

Amy Austin | November 10, 2010
Tron Legoatse??

Jackie Mason | November 25, 2010
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Jon Berry | November 25, 2010
I thought Princess and the Frog was great (although I felt the villain was really underused).

If it makes you feel better, Disney is notorious for axing most ideas with creativity and character. They took American Dog and turned it into Bolt. They took what was going to be a painterly, Fragonard inspire Rapunzel and turned it into Tangled.

It's gotten to the point where it seems Pixar is their only avenue for creativity these days, which is somewhat disappointing (as much as I love Pixar, I wish Disney was equally capable of making the amazing movies they did for decades).

Scott Hardie | December 4, 2010
There has to be a certain point where the princesses fad peters out. Disney has been milking it for years, along with the pirates fad for boys. It seems like about the time for a shift, but it's too bad the shift is heading towards something so hyper-competitive. By definition, some girls have to fail at being cool for others to succeed at being cool, and it's misery being on the losing end. You have your whole teen years to go through hell, girls; don't be in such a hurry.

In a better world, boys would be interested in princess movies. Not to bring this back to the original topic, but it reminds me of a mother's defense of her son dressing as Daphne Blake. If Lori's daughter can dress as the Billy puppet from Saw, can't boys be feminine? Of course, complaining about that double standard is like complaining about the weather. Maybe in a few more generations it will gradually go away.

Lori Lancaster | December 4, 2010
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Scott Hardie | December 19, 2010
Interesting. Folklore and history are full of women who dressed as men to join a cause, from Hua Mulan to Joan of Arc, and even a namesake of yours. When I think of men dressing as women to get out of a cause, the best I can come up with is Maxwell Klinger.

Lori Lancaster | December 20, 2010
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Jackie Mason | December 24, 2010
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Scott Hardie | December 25, 2010
I don't know much about Emily Yoffe (not as much as Lori might). But when I clicked on her latest Dear Prudence column, answering parents who were worried about their son begging for a skirt for Christmas, I expected the kind of uptight, regressive, moralistic reaction that Dear Abby would have given them: Get that kid grounded in the real world! Yoffe acknowledged that some people won't take kindly to the boy's cross-dressing, but otherwise she was fully supportive of his choice to wear it, with corroborating feedback from experts. Good for her.

Scott Hardie | May 24, 2011
Steve, I know what to get you for your next birthday.

Steve West | May 25, 2011
My friends at T. Rowe Price understand the facebook philosophy of social plugins.

Scott Hardie | April 25, 2012
Congratulations, Steve: Thanks to your comments above, I thought of you when reading an article that tracked down the real man behind Goatse, and described how the photo became a meme. Now that his identity is known, I'm tempted to make him into a celebrity goo, but I don't need more of that kind of controversy.