my Skeletor, and fiance's Evil-Lyn won First Prize at an event here in Chicago! there were some nice pieces, but we're most ecstatic over beating out the typical, no-real-effort-i-am-semi-naked, costumes that typically seem to win year after year at these things.

unfortunately, we didn't have time to finish "pocket" considerations, so our pictures were limited, mostly to the graciousness of others. and even then, our staves (huge thanks to buddy Issac Morales for those) only made shots when we were on stage for the actual judging. soon as i'm able to track some of those down, i'll get them up in my yuku.

however, these are 1.0 versions, and we'll hopefully have them fine tuned for other appearances, and a pro shoot eventually.

    

we hope we did all our friends at Snake Mountain proud!

Tags: Skeletor Evil-Lyn "Masters Of The Universe" Costume Nocturna Chicago Hallow

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no no, not that horrible movie that fooled the drones that are the viewing populace for Oscar recognition... honestly, what a bore. but i digress... this is a sort of Cos related post; lots of fun.

i'm talking about the artistry that is the mind of Ben Templesmith, and his latest tome, Welcome to Hoxford. some of you may know his work as the eyes behind the graphicly novel, "30 Days of Night", the humorous horror of "Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse", the cultish, and long overdue "Fell", and the comic prelude to "Dead Space", the highly anticipated next gen, survival horror game... just to name a few.

Welcome to Hoxford is a horrific new series that features an unique and terrifying take on werewolves. in the debut issue, Raymond Delgado is the newest inmate at the Hoxford Correctional Facility and Mental Institution. he has no hope of release, parole, rehabilitation, or decent conversation. on a good day, he’ll tell you he’s Zeus and only bite your arm off - literally. on a bad day, you won’t have time to scream to the prison guard for help. but Dr Jessica Ainley, his doctor for five years, wants to help Ray and can’t understand why the newly privatized, corporately-run prison won’t give her access to her patients. and why are people always transferred into Hoxford, but no records show anyone ever transferring back out?

so Ben recently posted a contest for signed, advance copies of issue #2, in the "... Hoxford" story. all one had to do to win, was to send in the most creative photo with issue #1. simple as that.

of course, being the un-simple, tards we are, Angelique came up with the idea of replicating the variant cover, and we rolled on from there. loads of home made stage blood, a few hours in our gangway, and voila!

these three were my iterations of the photos we selected to run with, followed by Angelique's winning version, posted at Ben's Livejournal, for posterity.

thanks Ben, for all the awesome work you've treated us to! and we'll see you at Hoxford!

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...it's all part of the plan."

mr.J has reached out once more.

those in the know, who navigated to the boss' portal, were treated to another viral campaign for the newest Dark Knight trailer. first being treated to a new hi-res version of the latest promotional poster (following the knifed joker card in the upper right corner of the page),

and then a gallery of defaced ex-presidents- each of which were targeted to a specific city around the globe. upon clicking any of the portraits, you're linked to a countdown, instructions, and coordinates for the meeting place... the plot thickens!

when the count ran down, the online partner in crime was updated with the steps necessary to reach the goal.

following the boss' orders, and gathering the numbers laid out, and killing another 30 minutes in the cold, chicago wind and rain (is there any better weather for nefarious games?), the time came to "crack" the code... and looking behind the portrait, a safe was revealed. and in it, a note from the boss.

   

the masses swarmed on the corner of Ohio and McClurg Court, awaiting the boss's head goons, who would distribute joker cards... tickets for entry to the premier of the new trailer at AMC Chicago 21, just around the corner. so with chill fueling the frenzy, we snatched our cards and made our way to the theater. Folks from the theater, and the "Why So Serious" promotional team of 42 Entertainment, were on hand to pass out Warner Brothers agreements of refraining from capturing any footage from the trailer, as well as taking the added precaution of collecting cell phones and cameras. although my camera was too big for the snack sized ziploc bags, one of the handlers took it off me.

so with everyone corralled into the theater, and after announcing that there's be a raffle afterward, the lights dropped, and the new trailer rolled... well, sorta. not a lot of the scenes were new, but the experience was fun nevertheless. especially for those of us who take to following directions to the letter... as in, "put on a smile...".

to those of you like us, we salute you! 

       

that last shot was from my camera, after getting it back post trailer. and a special thanks to my partners, Angelique and Mike, for having the balls to "grin" and bear the cold! also thanks to Chaz and Bob for being our eyes online!

oh, and as for that raffle... the lucky winner received an iconic 35mm film and can with a message from the boss, to share it's contents with the world. no sightings yet as to what those contents are, but speculations range from nothing (being a joke from mr.J), to exclusive footage or even the trailer itself. a few entries on youtube are up, but have been yanked by WB for copyright. so i'd guess that they had nothing to do with the official raffle prize.

see you in the theater, July 18!

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how awesome is this? a "myspace" specifically for cos!

so this would be my first foray into cos- that is, something that wasn't specifically designed for Halloween. i've always appreciated the craftsmanship and creativity of the cos community. but never found the right time to try my hand at it. until this past year.

my girlfriend and i participate in an annual Cancer Charity, and in 2007 we wanted to up our fundraising potential. we were have breakfast one morning, talking about guerilla environmentalism... not that we're the types, but how hilarious it would be to pick up litter, mow lawns, help beautify our neighborhood, dressed as Superheroes? not looking for money, or permission, we figured it be fun to go about it all guerilla style- they way Heroes handle things. that idea essentially rolled into donning some of our favorite Superhero personas for an annual Cancer Walk. hence TEAM HEROES was born!

we doubled our fundraising from the previous, non-gimmick year, and best of all got a lot of awareness for the cause.

our freshman team included the likes of Ultimate Captain America, Nocturne, Batman, Rogue, Spider-man, Raven, a couple Batgirls, Clark Kent, some random guy (he didn't have time to go all out, but wanted to get into the spirit of things), and supportive family and friends!

the idea behind Team Heroes is to provided that extra "umph" for any fundraising drive or event. unfortunately we cannot commit to every generous cause, but we do plan to involve ourselves in at least two events a year.

we hope to expand our team, as well as our own repertoire of costumes, and consider making appearances for worthy causes. all of which for no fee.

so if you're interested in any way, please visit us online!

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