Up in Nederland, CO is a strange festival called Forzen Dead Guy Days, this year held March 5-7. They have the Parade of Hearses with decorated cars. There’s the Polar Plunge with a twist. The main event is The Coffin Race. Teams often have themes and strange uniforms or costumes. They decorate their coffins with plastic flowers. It’s a crazy weekend of fun.

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The carnival season featured creative costumes from around the world. Italy’s known for masks and elaborate costumes. France features local customs that light up the night. Brazil shimmies into the spotlight with the help of samba schools and feathers. New Orleans twists traditions into mega-floats and wild ideas. Portugal has water parades and bands. And finally Trinidad and Tobago. Their celebration has inspired the surrounding islands and an annual festival in England. (more…)

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We are fully immersed in the 2010 Winter Olympics and I’m loving it! I thought we could celebrate the occasion with some pictures of the furry and hopefully very warm mascot costumes.
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So apparently in New Zealand it’s totally cool to wear costumes to sporting events. Who knew rugby was this much fun?

Every time the Wellington Sevens roll around, people go nuts in disguise. It’s awesome. Fans of all ages and all teams dress up as Simpson characters, Stop Lights, and even the kitchen sink. There are parades, costume contests, and fan revelry.

Costume shops hire extra staff to handle the cleaning on the hundreds of rental returns. They even expect there to be stadium stains like beer and dirt.

This phenomenon is a result of crazy sports fans and dorks having babies. I’m a dork. I’m a sports fan (sometimes). Maybe I’ll wear a costume to the next game I attend.

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I only snapped a few pictures at this year’s Dragon Con. I tried not to take the same pictures of the same costumes I see every year. There were a lot of great costumes I didn’t capture because my camera wasn’t out or because I couldn’t get close due to the crowds. I expected the GI Joe and Cobra costumes as well as the Star Trek factions. I didn’t expect to see so many Venture Brothers costumes. The Steampunk genre continues to explode. Alice in Wonderland was huge. There were traditional Wonderland costumes as well as some inspired by the upcoming movie….but I didn’t get any pictures of those.

Highlights:
The first 15 minutes of Season 4 of The Venture Brothers
Adam Savage dressing as a Wookie
Felecia Day at karaoke
Christopher Pike

Yes, he did communicate in light bleeps.

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I had a fun at Dragon Con this year. I was there for Saturday, Sunday and a teensy bit of Friday night. I took two new costumes and a couple of older backups with me.

Friday night and most of Saturday I was dressed as Colonel Hunter Gathers from The Venture Brothers cartoon. I used a sports top and bloomers I already owned as the base for the outfit. I painted the pieces, as is quite obvious, in a camo-like way. I wore two pairs of bloomers because I may be dressed as a stripper, but I am not a stripper and needed to feel like I was covered up. The stubble was dark eyeshadow stippled on with a contour brush. The cigarette holder was an eyeliner pencil with medical tape on the end. The hat is spare green material folded up like a newspaper hat and stitched in the corners to keep it together. I left my white gloves sitting on my bed. D’oh. Combat boots, fishnet stockings, wig, and glasses round out the ensemble. This picture includes a young lady who modified a Sexy Army costume.

I ran into the two creators of The Venture Brothers at a gonzo show. Jackson Publick laughed hysterically and never did say a thing. Doc Hammer shook his head while saying, “He wasn’t supposed to look that good.” I was nervous wearing that getup but that comment gave me all the confidence I needed to keep going. I had my picture taken more times than I could count while in that costume. Now I know how ManWithPez feels when he wears the Seymour and Audrey II costume.

Sunday was my Dr. Saunders day. You may remember my scar test. My technique improved, unfortunately, I forgot to bring my reference so the scars were a bit misplaced. Oh well. I wore the costume briefly on Saturday and discovered my subtle scars were too subtle. No one noticed them. Sunday’s scars are much darker. Dr. Saunders jacket is unique and could only be replicated if I made it…which I plan to do. Until then, I have a simple lab coat with a popped up collar. I wore a blouse, fluted skirt, and heels with the scars and wig. I heard there was another Saunders at D*C but I never found her.

My Dragon Con 2009 gallery is posted. I didn’t take as many pictures this year since I was there for two days and missed the parade. Sorry. I tried to take pictures of the costumes I loved. I hope you like them too. My recap post is on its way.

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