A good final Halloween post

Amanda Louise and her friend Chris. Here's Amanda's Etsy shop.

*See more great costumes here.

*Buy costumes at Amazon.

Comic book-style ad, costume

Ad by Grabarz & Partner emphasizes the Volkswagen Golf's speed.






Which gives me a good excuse to be the last blogger to post these photos of a woman turned into a Lichtenstein through the magic of MAC Cosmetics. See more photos of the application process here.

*Previously: Packaging for Villainess Cosmetics.

*Buy romance comic books at Amazon.

Katamari cosplay, Zombie Preparedness Box

Katamari cosplay by Donovan Beeson and friend. Here's Donovan's Etsy shop.





Zombie Preparedness Box. See how it was made here. Via.

*Previously: In case of zombie attack t-shirt.

*Buy emergency kits at Amazon.

Gonk the Power Droid costume (link roundup)

Gonk and Jack Skellington costumes from i09's costume roundup.

And a few more links:

1. Character design and storyboards for a One Laptop Per Child ad.

2. Lego Batman costume.

3. Janosz Poha and more ghosts from Ghostbusters.

4. Ghostly Lego minifig.

*Previously: Long essay explaining OLPC's failure.

*Buy Lego Batman minifigs at eBay.

Splicer cosplay (Bioshock)

Homemade Splicer costumes. See them taking on...Dee Snider here.

*Previously: Pee Wee Herman as a Splicer.

*Buy Bioshock toys at eBay.

The Dead Weather concert posters (link roundup)

One of three The Dead Weather concert posters by The Silent Giants on sale for $30 here.

And a few more links:

1. This is not the bookstore you're looking for.

2. British family snorkeling on holiday found a sunken city in the Mediterranean. Via.

3. Here's how the Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo office dressed for Halloween.

*Previously: Another concert poster for The Dead Weather.

*Buy concert posters at eBay.

American Apparel Halloween Costumes (link roundup)

Go here to see the entries in American Apparel's Halloween Costume Contest - - costumes made using at least a little bit of American Apparel clothing. Above are iPod Silhouette, Hipster Han and Slave Leia, and Wolverine and Poison Ivy. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Fark headline: I just won a radio contest to have backup dancers follow me around for a couple hours this Saturday. Sadly there is no cash equivalent. How can I best utilize this weird, semi-retarded prize?

2. How to design your site to avoid takedown notices. Via.

3. An argument for why we should blanket the world with low-flying satellites to provide internet service, and explanation for why we haven't done it before. (Soviet nukes play a starring role.)

*Previously: Amira Sa'id is a professional Slave Leia belly dancer.

*Buy Slave Leia costumes and toys at Amazon.

Thriller papercraft (link roundup)

Zombie and Werewolf Michael Jackson from Thriller paper toys can be downloaded here. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Four-year-old girl dressed as Jareth The Goblin King from Labyrinth. Via.

2. Concept art for Bioshock 2's Brute Splicer.

3. Comment and win magazines.

*Previously: Daft Punk in Labyrinth.

*Buy Michael Jackson toys at eBay.

Star Wars gashapon by Touma (link roundup)

Star Wars capsule toys/pendants by Touma. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Cake Wrecks fan costumes.

2. Superdeformed Cloaking Predator figure.

3. This I'd like to see: American McGee's Frogger.

*Previously: Macross gashapon.

*Buy gashapon at eBay.

Anglerfish mask (link roundup)

Go here to see how to make this anglerfish helmet. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Funny Fark headline: Pfizer cutbacks to release a flood of disgruntled biologists and chemists into the streets of Gotham, assuring a new wave of cool super villains.

2. Earlier this month, a tractor trailer transporting missile parts overturned after a "large insect" landed on the driver’s back.

3. Bloomberg as Mr. T.

*Previously: Isabella Rossellini wearing an anglerfish mask.

*Buy A-Team toys at eBay.

Horror Manga Makeup (link roundup)

Go here to see how to apply horror manga makeup. Via.

And a few more links:

1. David Kopel: English courts used "law French," which was all but indecipherable to the common man. One smart move by American colonists was to use plain English instead.

2. Two articles shed more light on the goings on at Letterman's show. Via.

3. Lots of interesting comments about what it's like to run a startup. One of my alltime favorite books is Microserfs, Douglas Coupland's story about a startup. Via.

*Previously: Incoming WNBA players taught how to apply makeup.

*Buy The Late Shift at Amazon.

Doctor Bong (link roundup)

Doctor Bong by Ryan Dunlavey, who posted various other commissions and his rates here. Sketch cards are only $5 (for a headshot).

And a few more links:

1. Crooked Vultures concert poster by EMEK.

2. Church marquee advertises book burning.

3. Homemade Fone Bone costume.

*At Toycutter: Doctor Bong custom action figure.

*Buy EMEK posters at eBay.

Mickey Mouse/Venom mashup costume (link roundup)

Mickey Mouse/Venom mashup spotted in this list of costume ideas.

And a few more links:

1. Gawker and Gizmodo are looking for writers.

2. First line in a blog post: "I've pretty much had a sinus infection since mid-December, and its cumulative effect has been to bring me closer to the sense of losing my mental health than anything I've ever experienced in my life."

3. Rihanna's hair looks like ram's horns.

*Previously: Mickey Mouse as Jack Skellington toy.

*Buy Venom toys at eBay.

How to make a Castle Crashers helmet

Go here to see how to use a bucket to create a Castle Crashers helmet.

*Previously: Lego Castle Crashers.

*Buy Castle Crashers toys at eBay.

Firefox/Fennec logo (link roundup)

Logo for the version of Firefox for smartphones. Via.

And a few more links:

1. "Nokia products say 'Made in China' on the back. Chinese-made Nokia-knockoffs say 'Made in Finland.'" Observation by Eric Barker, who discusses claims here that current Olympic athletes were outclassed by prehistoric man. Via.

2. My instant reaction upon seeing that Twitter is sort of down (8am in California) - - what's happened in the world that I don't know about? (Nothing, as far as I can tell.)

3. Cuckoo clock costume.

*Previously: Firefox t-shirts.

*Buy costumes at Amazon.

Greedo Lego CubeDude (link roundup)

Greedo Lego CubeDude by Andrew Lee.

And a few more links:

1. Very little content, but I still like the teaser site for the Motorola/Google/Verizon Droid. (I guess the thought of my smartphone being a droid is pretty appealing.)

2. Valuable advice from Malcolm Gladwell to would be journalists - - learn a skill in addition to writing such as by getting a degree in accounting. That way you'll be more than an easily replaceable and glorified summarizer. He also gives his secret to writing a good story, and advice for improving public schools. Via.

3. Undead Ted Williams (with frozen head) costume.

*Previously: Ghastly allegations about what the cryogenics lab employees did with Ted Williams' head.

*Buy Greedo toys at eBay.

Real life Wild Thing

The notes to this photo by Antonin Kratochvil say Pagan Festival, Hungary (1992). You can see more by Antonin at his official site and at Outside.

*Previously: Pagan Kareem and his goat herald.

*Buy Where the Wild Things Are toys at eBay.

Homemade Batman costume (link roundup)

Batman costume made from a hoody and an umbrella. Go here for instructions. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Probably the most incendiary idea expressed in SuperFreakonomics is that global warming, to the extent it's something we even really need to worry very much about, could be solved in a few years with cheap technology available right now - - specifically using a really long hose, held aloft by balloons, to shoot a relatively small amount of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. The sulfur dioxide would spread out, blanket the Earth, reflect sunlight, and thus cool the planet. (This is expected to work because it mimics the effects of large volcanic eruptions, which have been documented to lower the Earth's temperature.) It's one the many creative solutions to major problems developed by Intellectual Ventures. Of course, it raises the question, if it's so easy to manipulate the planet's weather, then how long until some rogue maniac tries something similar on his own?

2. Papercraft passed-out bear/shriner.

3. Reaping what you sow: A suicide bomber killed 29 in an attack on Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

*Previously: Homemade Where the Wild Things Are costume.

*Buy Japanese Batman toys at eBay.

Fairy Godmothers gaze upon the world

Photo of cosplayers at an aquarium. Here's a shot of a slightly different group. And here's another photo with a more metal feel:



Via these sites.

*Previously: Doctor Doom is so metal.

*Buy the Heavy Metal Fun Time Activity Book at Amazon.

Homemade swamp Yoda costume (link roundup)

Go here to find out how to make this Yoda costume. Really cute beanie.

And a few more links:

1. Tim Schafer's defense of gameplay in Brutal Legend is so absurdly complex that it seems almost intended to further discourage people from buying the game.

2. Pithy film description: A group of people are trapped in an elevator, and one of them is the devil.

3. Those new blogger disclosure rules announced by the FTC are pretty funny when you see the conflicts of interest that the White House glosses over. Via.

*Previously: Remember when beanie babies were supposed to be a valuable investment?

*Buy Instant Period Costume: How to Make Classic Costumes from Cast-Off Clothing at Amazon.