My excellent halloween costume

It occurred to me as I was assembling this costume that the costume is at its best when considered abstractly. When considering how it looks in the real world, it loses some of its cachet, a lot of it in fact. I should have just left you with a mental image of my costume, and leave it at that.

Recall its components: bald wig, Bearcats shirt, Military intelligence patch, dress pants, barefoot running shoes, fingerless gloves. For the party, I also brought along some sweet and sour chicken and non alcoholic beer, with plastic silverware (not pictured).

As for the party itself, no one took one look at me and said "you oxymoron, you". Only upon explaining that the elements function independently of another, and not to try to figure out what kind of costume the ensemble looks like, did some people, not all, get it. Even after they figured out what I was, they didn't understand what I had on my head. I didn't go through the trouble of trying to make it look authentic by using putty to 'blend' it into my forehead, and so people thought I was wearing some sort of latex hat, not a bald wig.

I have actually tried the barefoot running shoes a couple of times. Once walking in the woods over some bumpy terrain, and once running on a treadmill. The jury is still out on that.

This concludes the blog. Thank you for your suggestions and to Lona for the fingerless gloves.

Roal

My excellent Halloween costume

Progress report:

I have finally made a financial commitment to this endeavor. Over the weekend, I bought a military intelligence patch and a University of Cincinnati Bearcat T shirt. It was over the internet, so they haven't arrived yet. Today I went to a real store to buy some Barefoot Running Shoes/Foot Gloves (this item is a twofer oxymoron), the vibram five finger shoes. I didn't realize it until I went to the store, but these things have quite a following. It made me more confident in my $85 investment. I chose a modest black pair. They do have some that were more outlandish looking, really looking like the foot equivalent of those "Mule" work gloves, gray with green trim. I thought that would make more of an impact on my Halloween costume, but I also figured that on November 1, I'd be happy to have the pair that I think look better.

I need to get the bald wig soon. The "dress pants" I have. Dottie suggested "fingerless gloves", I always associate them with the Fagin character in Oliver Twist, and I do think that is worth looking into. Sweet and sour chicken w plastic silverware, what else? I think the costume is complete enough that unless it's just too good to pass up, I will forego spending anything more than a nominal amount of money for anything else.

One more thing: the wearer of the cardboard belt. Did someone get that and I missed it? It was Zero Mostel, playing Max Bialystok in the original movie "The Producers" with Gene Wilder. Which brings me to another question, far afield now from clothes or oxymora: what was Gene Wilder's film debut?