The Costume Pictures

What's cute and chubby and waddles everywhere?

A baby Penguin Reuben.

My Aunt Joan sewed the most amazing baby penguin costume for Reuben for Halloween. It was amazingly cute. It hung all the way down but we pushed up the legs to try to keep him cooler. It was a really warm night.

Reuben loves hanging out with his cousin Eliza. Everywhere she went he waddled after.

Here's Reuben flapping his flippers.

The profile.

Check out the great penguin tail.

Since it was in the 80s, we let Reuben out of his costume before the heat stroke set in.

Here Eliza is keeping him safe in the trick or treat wagon ride.

Here's Reuben raiding Eliza's candy.

Some of you might be wondering, why a penguin?

When I first heard Reuben cry, I thought, he sounds exactly like a baby penguin. And he did, his newborn cry was a soft whistling coo. He's grown into his lungs since then and can really wail but I'll always remember his first little penguin noises.

Halloween a Year Ago

Halloween has me remembering what I was up to a year ago.

Aaron and I were both working like crazy so the holiday snuck up on us. We didn't have costumes or anything fun planned. Luckily we were living in Old Town Alexandria which has a general town Halloween party. So we schlepped our way down to town square to check out the costumes.

Even without a costume I attracted a bit of attention. A sampling of some of the looks I got:

Вивальди "времена года",Лето-3часть

Orange balloons + Black Accordion + A Russian Virtuoso = Happy Halloween

Now this is music! I wish I could convince him to take Reuben as his accordion apprentice.

Monster Mash

Request a Halloween creature by midnight and I'll draw it. Happy Halloween!

Halloween: Come to Me My Moonbeam!

(Picture from BYU library)

When we were just barely starting to consider dating, Aaron came to a Halloween party I threw in college. He ended up staying after and we watched the silent film Trapped by the Mormons (1922).

It is a truly terrible movie, sooo bad that it's hilarious. In it Mormon missionary Isolde Keene who seems to be part vampire, part hypnotist and a devoted jazz fan attempts to seduce Nora Prescott, a beautiful young English woman. Thankfully her crotchety father and controlling sailor ex-boyfriend save her by wiping the whole town into a frenzy of violence and leading the blood thirsty mob to attack Isolde. Nothing makes a better happily ever after than mob rule. Hurray!

There's so many amazing scenes but one of the best shows Isolde Keene, using his evil powers, summoning a hypnotized Nora from her bed and into his presence. He does this by waving his arms and according to the silent film card saying "Come to me My Moonbeam!" Aaron and I thought this was hilarious and it became a running joke.

A year or two later we were hanging out with Aaron's brother and I casually called Aaron Moonbeam. Dan in a mix of disgust and curiosity exclaimed "Ick. Why does she call you that?" I was close enough to overhear and I expected Aaron would tell Dan about the movie, Isolde, the great Halloween party, etc. etc. But instead Aaron replied "I don't know. She just likes to call me that." Thanks Aaron.

Another of my all time favorite movies which I watch every halloween time is "The Invisible Man (1933). The special effects are amazing.

More Halloween Fun: Monster Anatomy

Ever wonder what goes on deep inside the innards of Japanese Folk Monsters?

Now you can know.

Tis The Season

I love Halloween. To get in the spirit, I like to pick up a book or two that fits the season. Here are a few books I read recently that got me in the haunting mood.

The Grave Yard by Neil Gaiman

As a baby, Bod survives the murder of his family when he wanders from his crib, out the front door and into the protective if ghostly arms of the residents of the local cemetery. It's a clever derivative of The Jungle Book and has some sweet illustrations. You can find out more about it here.

Anything else by Gaiman

Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

A collection of short stories featuring the mysterious haunts of Olde english magic.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Perfect depiction of the the struggles of Halloweening as a greedy 11 year old.

Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock

The book I'm about to start. A satire of the gothic novel written in 1818. I have it from an excellent source that it's great fun. Here's an excerpt:

Scythrop ... threw himself into his arm-chair, crossed his left foot over his right knee, placed the hollow of his left hand on the interior ancle of his left leg, rested his right elbow on the elbow of the chair, placed the ball of his right thumb against his right temple, curved the forefinger along the upper part of his forehead, rested the point of the middle finger on the bridge of his nose, and the points of the two others on the lower part of the palm, fixed his eyes intently on the veins in the back of his left hand, and sat in this position like the immoveable Theseus, who, as is well known to many who have not been at college, and to some few who have, sedet, æternumque sedebit. We hope the admirers of the minutiæ in poetry and romance will appreciate this accurate description of a pensive attitude.

There are plenty of others: Welles, Shelley, Baudelaire, Poe.

Anyone else have a good Halloween read?