Thursday, October 11, 2007

Halloween

Well, I'd planned on posting a new drawing here this week but, with Suzanne out of town and things being what they are at work, I haven't had occasion to get much sketching done. So, though I was planning on saving this for later in the month, I figured now was as good a time as any.

Halloween is traditionally my favorite time of year. I'm a horror junkie. Movies, comics, novels...everything. I eat it up. So October is when I really get to have fun.

I usually try to find time to make a costume. Unfortunately, this year will be the exception. But last year, the agency had a costume contest at the annual Halloween party. They used to throw some great Halloween parties but, over the years, they've gotten smaller and smaller. This year may be different since we've won some big accounts. Anyway, last year, I just about killed myself whipping up a costume for this party. It was time-consuming and complicated. And it took forever to get into it and I could barely see when I did. But the agency was giving away a free week of vacation to the winner so I really put in the effort. Suzanne worked on a similarly-themed costume for herself and we were sure we were going to take the prize.

I should have seen it coming. I ended up having to work late and the agency always and inexplicably starts their parties at 4:00 in the afternoon. By the time Suzanne and I got dressed and ran across the street to the bar, the voting was closed and we were disqualified. We ended up losing to two (very nice) ladies wearing christmas lights under their T-shirts. (See the Barely There bra campaign we did.) Anyway, we were disappointed but we got lots of kudos (yay.) on our costumes. We decided to give the city-wide costume contest a try and ended up coming in (I think) fourth, behind a little girl in a fairy costume, a guy in an awesome Mona Lisa painting costume and a lady carrying around a box made up to look like a jail cell. Everyone said "You were robbed!" But we thought it worked out fairly. The costumes were pretty good.

So here's my costume...Bender. Suzanne dressed up as Leela with the eye and everything. But I don't have pictures of that on my home computer. Maybe I'll post them when I get to work. She did a great job considering she couldn't find a purple wig to save her life.



This year, I was planning an even cooler costume but events have prevented me from working on it. Maybe next year. Hope you dig the costume. If not, well, you can bite my shiny metal ass.

10 comments:

Christian D. Leaf said...

"Bender's back, baby!" Nicely done. You'd mentioned the costume to me before, but I don't think I've ever seen it before.

I haven't taken part in Hallowe'en festivities in a couple years and I always end up being Hunter S. Thompson at the last minute. (Though I've only shaved the top of my head once for it.) Always a big hit though. I was bar-backing at the Echo Lounge in ATL one Hallowe'en and I had people grabbing me left and right to take pictures and spout quotes. Good times. This year Lilah will be dressing up and we'll be carting her around to the various company spooky gatherings.

Anonymous said...

Nice work on that costume. It really kicks ass.

Didn't get a chance to comment on your last post since I was out of town. I wanted to add that I'm happy for you and Suzanne. She seems great and you're lucky to have her.

Brian said...

I cannot believe they wouldn't "bend" the rules for Bender and let you and Leela in on the voting. I'll file that one under the Trick category.

Warren said...

Man, sucks that you didn't get there in time. The Bender costume is great, and I can imagine how totally awesome it would have been to see Leela together with him.

Rich Faber said...

Matt,

Man, that is quite possibly the best Halloween costume I've ever seen.

I see you were smart enough to leave a way "out"... you know, to um... do business...

Which is something I forgot to do, the year I turned myself into a Lipton Tea bag in college (I even drew a recreation of the Lipton Tea Man, on a life-size card that hung from my hat!). And by the way, having real leaves crinkling around inside your clothing is not comfortable!

Best,
Rich

Matt Wieringo said...

That sounds like a pretty cool costume. Yeah, you should've left an emergency exit. I guess your tea-bag costume was self-steeping. Buh-dum-BUMP!

Yeah, I had bio-breaks in mind when I made it but the trouble was that the conduits I was using for the arms didn't allow me to, um, reach the necessary...regions. Ah, well. Fortunately, I wasn't in it long enough for it to be a problem.

Heywood Jablomie said...

Matt,

That's an awesome costume. Looks like it was a pain to see out of though like you said. Great job! Things withstanding and all, but hopefully you guys still get to have a great Halloween this year. I'm looking foward to it as it will be my first time in my own house. My GF's super psyched as well.

Matt Wieringo said...

Cool! Congratulations on the house. Owning a home can be a major pain but it's also a supremely satisfying experience.

On the picture, if you look closely, you can see my eyes peeping out at the top of Bender's mouth hole. Just above the "teeth".

Eric said...

Any way we could convince you to follow up with Leela pics, wherever they may be located?

Matt Wieringo said...

Yep. I'll post the Leela shot as soon as I track it down.