Click the title to read all about it. Good news, but would be better if the movies were being released with the original English dubbing. But still... doesn't seem likely.
December 7th, 2007 - dead link. And I needn't have worried about the releases. Original dubbing has been available where applicable. Labels: DVD, movies, Shaw Bros.
This one's from over ten years ago, though I don't remember exactly when. I'd pulled back my straightened hair and put on an afro wig. There was some controversy over whether a black man with an afro wig constituted a proper "costume", but it went over quite well. I probably should've chosen a better background to highlight the 'fro, but this is the best I got. The purple short sleeved jacket is from my dad's wardrobe. The lapels can't be seen in this photo, unfortunately. It was made by Jamaica Jacs and made in Jamaica. The shirt was given to me by a former employer some years earlier. She got it on her honeymoon in Haiti. I don't remember if she said the fifties or sixties, but apparently the shirt was pretty old and un-worn. I've since worn it out. The shirt sports three pouches in the front. Nothing remarkable about the pants, except, they would be used again, for another costume, two or more years later.
Two or more years later, I show up to work as Elvis... or something like that. Someone guesses Sly Stone, and in retrospect, perhaps there is a bit more Sly here, than Elvis. Later on, on my way home, a group of teens (perhaps a little older), one of whom is armed with an open and full carton of eggs, calls me Rick James. I kept my eyes on them until I was certain to be out of hurling distance. I got home without incident. The top is made, clumsily, of some weird gold leopard pattern material. The collar is supposed to stand up, and does for the most part (not here), assisted by cardboard. As mentioned above, these are the same pants worn in the first "costume", but with flares added at the bottom and somehow much tighter than they'd been years prior. The hair is mine except for the sideburns, cut from sheets of faux fur and stuck with glue.
(edit: I also dyed my hair jet black) I'd also broght my acoustic guitar to work, but hadn't really learned any Elvis tunes, save for one I glanced at in between finishing touches for the outfit. I gave one or two really bad performances of it during the day.
(edit: I think the song was Blue Suede Shoes)
This one shocked quite a few people. By the year 2000, I'd gotten tired of my James Brown look, which I'd sported in variation since the mid/late eighties and it had gotten to the point where it wasn't weird to people anymore, so it was time for a change. Once I figured out what I was gonna be for Halloween, the die was cast. I didn't shave my head until the night before. The concept is Shaolin Monk, influenced by tons of Hong Kong movies from the seventies. I stuck bits of cotton to my eyebrows and beard. Got the bamboo hat from Chinatown. Put the beads together from a kit I bought. The yellow part of the outfit was a kimono a couple of friends gave me a while back. I dyed it yellow. The red part is a few yards of felt. I considered painting a brick-like pattern on it, but was short of time. A broomstick became a staff. Some people couldn't believe I actually cut off my hair and felt around my head for indication of a bald wig or something. Others complemented me on the shape of my head. I liked the look as
well, but after a few weeks I decided to experiment with growing
hair that hadn't been chemically altered.
(edit: I tried to add "incense burns" to the top of my head with yellow paint. Not seen clearly in the picture, perhaps because the paint was waterbased)
In 2002,
I visited Japan. Before going, I wanted to lock up my hair (I had a short 'fro going on since growing my hair from about late 2000/early 2001) and start growing dreads. I got that done maybe 4 months ahead. That really hasn't gotten anything to do with anything, though. Anyway, two of the souvenirs I brought back were incorporated into that year's Halloween costume; a Kimono and a sword (unsharpened). I came as a Samurai. This time I not only went to work in character, but also went out later with a couple of friends. The bamboo hat from 2000 made a return and completing the look is the baggy leggy thing, whose name I've forgotten
(edit: it's called a hakama). It's still worn in Judo and maybe one or two other martial arts, so I got it from a martial arts supply store in NYC. It was an unusually cold Halloween that year, so I had on a couple of layers underneath, including long undies.
Some eggs were launched at me, but missed, on my way to picking up my friends, but otherwise the Samurai getup was a big hit.
I haven't come up with any decent ideas since, plus Halloween keeps falling on my days off as it does this year and last (don't remember if that was the case the year before). Actually there is one idea, but it'll take some doing, and I'm not sure I've got the stones to pull it off.
Maybe next year...
Labels: fun, These pictures will come back to haunt me one day