This is Halloween

I live in Alameda. Halloween is taken very, very seriously here. Everyone decorates, and if you don't pass out candy to trick or treaters, your house is liable for getting egged. The first year we lived here, Zack and I opened up our front door to discover pandemonium on our lawn. There were so many kids running amok, it was like recess in grade school when the bell rings. It's okay though - we love Halloween. We usually end up with a couple of invites to Halloween parties every year as well. In the past, I had some sort of vague plan, based on picking up something from Goodwill and building around it with stuff I made, stuff I had at home and maybe a few accessories from the Spirit Halloween store. This year, I got lazy and decided to just buy the whole costume from Spirit. Boy was I surprised at what was available. Or actually, what wasn't available. What do I mean? Well, let me give you an example.

We all remember Snow White, right?



Whistle while you work, innocent, naive Snow White from Disney. (FYI: I'm wasn't planning on Snow White as my Halloween costume) Here's an excellent recreation of the Snow White outfit.



Of course, it looks great because it's Oscar winner Rachel Weisz photographed by Annie Lebovitz, complete with woodland creatures and everything. Not very many people can achieve this level of detail, obviously. Here's what we think we can settle for.



Not bad, right? Just about what you might expect for a standard Snow White Halloween costume. But notice I said: "what we THINK we can settle for." I went to the Halloween store on Sunday, that costume in my size was nowhere to be found. The closest version to this was in the children's section. Instead, I found this one in the Teen Section.



Uh, did a rabies-infested deer chew off Snow White's skirt? Where's the rest of her outfit? Scary thing is, that this is what I found in the "TEEN" section. The section with the less revealing costumes. Here's what I found in the women's section.



and this



Which is sluttier? I don't know. The first one is lower cut, but the second one has a shorter skirt. Don't worry about it though; something will come along to trump it. At this point, I had wandered up and down the aisles of stripper wear, trying to figure out what to do. There was the standard sexy nurse, french maid, schoolgirl, bunny, cat... no surprise, right? Then there was a sexy mutant ninja turtle, sexy guitar, sexy Harry Potter, sexy Sponge Bob. It was disturbing. I felt like shouting "Slutty, slutty, slutty!" ala Michael Kors on Project Runway.

Dismayed, I went home and got online, hoping to order something not slutty online. Morbidly curious, I looked at more Snow White costumes. I couldn't believe my eyes, but here's the something coming along to trump it.



Are those arm ruffle garter things supposed to make the outfit look less revealing? Cause it's not working. I guess Miranda and Cady Heron were right. Sigh. In the meantime, I'll go find an old sheet and dress up as a ghost. Maybe if I cut it up right and bind it really tight I can make it... oh, never mind.

Saturday 4 or 6 or whatever...

cause Jen said I would do it...

> A) Four places that I go to over and over:
the gym, the farmer's market, the pool and yoga
geez, am I really that much of a fitness nut? well, since I eat the way I do, I guess I have to be!

> B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly):
christine, justin, marina and kristy
not counting the one campaign, shopbop.com, daily candy, etc.

> C) Four of my favorite places to eat (this changes frequently) :
burma superstar, yummy (secret) sushi place, mi grullense taco truck, vien huong "go away baby" noodle joint


> D) Four places I would rather be right now
eating macarons and drinking wine with Justin in Paris, surfing in Hawaii, ummm, I dunno. other than that, I like where I am!

> E) Four people I think will respond (/comment):
I don't think anyone reads this anymore. Facebook has taken over!

> F) Four TV shows I watch over and over:
Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, Arrested Development, Freaks and Geeks

And you?

Can't. Frakkin'. Wait.

BSG season 4 in 24 hours!

what i'm up to...

watching... as you wish!

listening to...

TiVoing... It's not the best thing ever, but I like to support the Buffy alums. Besides, just wait till the Sparkles mall tour comes to town! I'm so there.

surfing... Does anyone else remember the Babysitters' Club books? I think I liked Stacy or Dawn the most but damn, Claudia's ensembles would fit right in with Dolores Park nowadays. I was way into them in like, 5th grade, along with Sweet Valley High. It was disillusioning to learn firsthand that high school was not like that (or Grease, for that matter) and more like Buffy.

wanting... friday to be here already, so I can FINALLY watch BSG season 4.

what i'm up to...

reading... a painfully accurate account of academia and family

listening to... still as fresh today as it was 20 years ago. Bono looks so young!

watching ... the book, especially its ending, was better, but I still enjoyed it. It's a frothy little fairy tale, much in the vein of The Princess Bride, and I have to say, I enjoyed the addition of Robert De Niro's character. Much better than the BBC adaptation of Neverwhere.

tivoing... Go Sun! You smack that Juliet bitch around some more!

wanting... my preordered Battlestar Galactica Season 3 DVDs to arrive already! And for April 4 to come so I can watch season 4. I'm on a bit of a BSG kick here. Then again, when am I not?

fangirl dreams quashed

so my fantasy of Joss Whedon directing a BSG episode will never probably nevercome to fruition. :( Studios, you'd better give Dollhouse a much better chance than you did Firefly, or I swear, you'll have a riot on you hands! Well, it's nice to know that they at least tried. But in other (better) news, Caprica's been greenlit and Fray will pop up in the Buffy Season 8 comic.

Words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup

Zack and I just watched Across the Universe, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. Zack did too, though maybe not as much as me. It's a musical love story set to Beatles songs during the Vietnam war movement. Lots of Beatles songs, and not much actual dialogue. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but it actually works. I would say that I would have liked to see this in the theater, as the visuals are stunning, but Zack and I kept singing along to the movie... it's pretty hard to resist doing so, and while our fellow movie patrons might appreciate the sentiment, they might not appreciate it being actualized. Purists may object to the films adulteration of the songs, but I found myself developing a new appreciation (if that's at all possible) for the construction of the songs. Paul's songs dominate, which is fitting since it's a love story and mostly balads are used, but the title and the ending belong to John. They threw George a couple bones, and well, there were a few more songs I can think of that could be used before they got to Ringo. I challenge anyone who ever liked a Beatles song to watch this without at least humming along.