[rrtt]

HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

By: RISHIMA TALWAR, MACINSIDERS

I was working in the lab, late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight. For my monster from his slab, began to rise. And suddenly to my surprise...he did the mash, he did the monster mash! The monster mash! It was a graveyard smash. He did the mash. It caught on in a flash. The monster mash!

Oh yes, it’s that time of year again. I can almost hear the zombies awakening, and the monsters getting ready to come out and play.

With decorations, candies, costumes, props and more, Halloween is, not surprisingly, one of the largest commercial holidays. Ranking in billions of dollars per year, Halloween can end up haunting you for a few months with credit cards bills and payment reminders. However, there is no need to fret. This MacInsiders article will help you save on one of the most important things for Halloween – the costume! With a few tricks, you can look spectacularly spooky, without breaking the bank.

Make your own costume
Although this may take a bit of time, it will definitely save you money, and it will guarantee that no one has the same look as you. And it doesn’t have to be rocket-science! With a cardboard box, some scissors and some paint, you can easily transform yourself into an iPod. If that doesn’t appeal to you, you also use almost the same materials (just switch the paint for wrapping paper/ribbons) and make yourself into “God’s gift for the ladies/men.”

Reuse
Unfortunately, the lifetime of most Halloween costumes is only one year. But why not change that this year? You may have a costume from a few years ago that would look perfect on you for this upcoming Halloween! Go home during the weekend and look for any old costumes that you might have. If you do not have old costumes, look for old uniforms. If you went to Catholic school, you could easily dress up as a Catholic school girl for Halloween (I’m sure it’ll get you a few appreciative stares). If you were in a band, dress up as a drummer. Although these ideas may not be very creative, they will save you quite a bit of money.

Costume Swap
If you do not want to reuse one of your own costumes, why not swap your old costumes with a friend? This will allow you to dress up as a new character, without spending any money! If your friend does not have any gently-used costumes, just raid his/her closet. By simply borrowing your boyfriend’s dress shirt, you can transform yourself into the “Morning-After Girl.” This is your chance to get creative. You are sure to find some good, individual clothes in someone else’s closet.

For more ideas on how to make your own costumes, check out these MI approved (by Chad Fullerton himself!) Do-It-Yourself video sites:

1. VideoJug: VideoJug mixes user generated clips with professionally made content. Videos are accompanied by a text version, and you can download clips to your iPod or PSP. This UK-based site is receiving a lot of hype from the British press. What we like: great Halloween make-up tips.

2. Sutree: Sutree is a video aggregator that pulls in videos from sites like YouTube and Metacafe. Clips are picked by users and approved by moderators. There are no user profiles or playlists, making it a fairly lightweight offering.

3. 5min: 5min is a “videopedia” with a large amount of content. What we like: it offers unique features like slow-motion and zooming, especially useful for learning new skills.

4. Expert Village: Expert Village is trying to win on volume, with thousands of videos posted by experts. Currently, the site counts more than 1,700 experts and some 17,000 videos.

5. ViewDo: similar to VideoJug, ViewDo provides tagging, comments, video embeds, and RSS feeds for each expert. The contributors are ranked based on their expertise.

6. Vidipedia: Vidipedia wants to be the Wikipedia of the videos. It provides info on personalities, historical events and other content you’d expect to find in an encyclopedia. You can leave comments, download or embed videos elsewhere.

7. YouTube: Don’t forget YouTube itself: the YouTube category “How To and DIY provides a massive number of how-to videos and inspiration for projects. In fact, it could crush the others simply because of YouTube’s massive userbase.

Hopefully these videos and tips will help take the stress off Halloween. The most important thing to remember in regards to costumes is to be creative. Don’t be afraid to try something new or different. Have fun and be safe. And, last but not least, have a TERRIFYINGLY TERRIFIC HALLOWEEN!!! Happy trick’or ‘treating!

I'm going as a middterm...then I'm using it as toilet paper xD

I was waiting for this article to come out, good job! (Although if a homemade costume is cheaper than a store bought one, you aren't doing it right )

I'm going to suggest that everyone posts pictures of past Halloween costumes, because its awesome.

I'll start:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...f&id=518519216
^Edward Scissorhands, from highschool
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...7&id=518519216
^A slightly more obscure costume, the companion cube

Oooh!

Last year I went as Starbuck from BSG, along with lots of other BSG'ers

The year before I was a zombie schoolgirl

The year before that my roommate and I were devil and angel!

...this year I'm being Carmen Sandiego

Originally Posted by micadjems

...this year I'm being Carmen Sandiego

That's an awesome costume idea!

I'm hopefully going as Where's Waldo? but I'm having difficulties finding the needed materials. Which is kindof stupid because I picked it specifically because it wouldn't be hard to make >.<

I was going to use an Anime North cosplay that I used two years ago - Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. I have all the stuff I need here in my room (Except the shoes - DANG! I forgot them at home!) but then I decided that I wasn't in the anime mood this year.

Solution: No classes after 2:30 on Thursday! Hitting Value Village and just going with whatever inspires me first! =)

For the last few years, I've always gone as some sort of Math thing (har har. Big surprise right?).

Of particular note, I went as a diffeomorphism...whic h was (at the time) one of my favourite mathematical ideas. It's kind of like 'paper mache-ing' surfaces onto each other, in a special way that lets you do calculus on the surface (instead of in Real-space). I drew this on my shirt (see attachment 1) and wrote various explicit (accurate) math formulae all over the place.

Another notable one was going as a "Closed differential form." Basically, if w is a differential form, then its exterior derivative is 0, ie. d(w) = 0. So what I did was rig up a hat with some clothes-hangers, so that I had two sheets of paper (as in the 2nd attachment) that made me a closed form.

Both costumes got me some laughs, particularly because no one understood what I was talking about.

As for this year, I'm not sure...I'm thinking of going as the "House with 2 rooms" (a clever construction in Algebraic Topology), but I'm not sure how to make that into a costume.

House with 2 rooms:

Originally Posted by Mowicz

For the last few years, I've always gone as some sort of Math thing (har har. Big surprise right?).

Of particular note, I went as a diffeomorphism...whic h was (at the time) one of my favourite mathematical ideas. It's kind of like 'paper mache-ing' surfaces onto each other, in a special way that lets you do calculus on the surface (instead of in Real-space). I drew this on my shirt (see attachment 1) and wrote various explicit (accurate) math formulae all over the place.

Another notable one was going as a "Closed differential form." Basically, if w is a differential form, then its exterior derivative is 0, ie. d(w) = 0. So what I did was rig up a hat with some clothes-hangers, so that I had two sheets of paper (as in the 2nd attachment) that made me a closed form.

Both costumes got me some laughs, particularly because no one understood what I was talking about.

As for this year, I'm not sure...I'm thinking of going as the "House with 2 rooms" (a clever construction in Algebraic Topology), but I'm not sure how to make that into a costume.

House with 2 rooms:

Wow. That is amazing (and pretty hardcore). I have absolutely no idea how you could dress up as the "House with 2 rooms". If you figure out a way, please post a picture! Good luck!

i am going to be listerine!! Saving your gums from plaque!!

Originally Posted by manu

i am going to be listerine!! Saving your gums from plaque!!

what about floss, isnt that more effective?

perhaps...but i am going to try and get my cousin to be a toothbrush and I will post a picture...Dual action power

i would get a dante (devil may cry) costume if there was time and money

I always wanted to dress as Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2, but I'm too fat to pull it off... :(

Oh, and here's me back in Grade 12. Ignore the fob pose. >_>

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...454_957 1.jpg