John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Next stop: Where the wild things are

My thanks to my friend Tim for pointing me to this picture, the best family outfit for Halloween I've seen this year, by far. As seen here.

The New Yorker cover on Halloween, parents and phoning it in

The New Yorker's Halloween cover is brilliant. Although I saw nary a parent out there tonight (mind you, we weren't out long) with a smartphone, I think artist Chris Ware - more from him here - nails something about the obsession grown-ups have with their gadgets, perhaps at the expense of their kids.

My boy, Death

This wasn't the plan. The plan, hatched in February, when we visited Disney World, was that Nick was going to go as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. (You know, Mickey Mouse in the red cape and blue hat, the one with the stars. The side deal, which I was willing to go along with, is that I would go as one of the brooms carrying pails of water (the pails actually holding treats and such), with Martha more than willing, somehow, to turn a grass skirt into the broom part of my costue. Like I said, we were all willing to do what we had to do.

Well, that got cast aside, as nine-year-old boys are wont to do. Instead, in September he informed us that he was going out as the Grim Reaper. And that was that. Martha stitched the costume this week, and it turned out really well, given that it was just one big heaping pile of fabric at the start. Our friends Christine and John donated their (plastic) scythe.

I'm suggesting that Nick go around tonight with a sack with "soul food" on it, for his snacks.

RSS: Really scary syndication

One of these years, I'll get around to carving one of those brilliant pumpkins that people talk about for years. In the meantime, here's a link to a collection of pumpkins with social media motifs. Very clever.

A skeptical thought on spooky things

"A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere."
- Groucho Marx

Yorick, Nick. Nick, Yorick

Our son was being outfitted just now for the costume he'll wear for Halloween. He's going as the Grim Reaper, and was holding up an almost weightless plastic skull, which was part of a lawn decoration we bought last year. I couldn't resist, and got him to repeat, "Alas, poor Yorick" .... and I misfed him the line "I knew him well," which I should have known instantly is not what Hamlet said next. (That would be, "I knew him, Horatio.") (And the words after that spawned one of the better novels of my generation.)

Thus was our son Nick's introduction to Hamlet. "What's with the Shakespeare stuff?" he asked. Good question. And I'm sure he'll have decades to think about how rich that answer can be.

Monster Mash, a la Lego

For my son, who got quite a chuckle today from this, and before Halloween slips too far away:

At Halloween, one always appreciates the classics

As seen here.

A Halloween T with a retro-minded cat

This T, featuring an art-deco style, is part of this retro-minded collection. Click on the link below for more T-shirts I've virtually clipped.

Spooky moon

'Tis the season. Unfortunately, we don't have a real full moon up there at this time of the year ... This pic comes from this Flickr contributor.