Naughty or nice: You decide
HALLOWEEN from page 12
movies that are coming out, so we try
to order things that are current,” Spahn
said.
Meier said Thingsville followed a
similar protocol, but because the
orders are made in advance, late
breaking trends are sometimes hard to
come by.
“Clinton and Monica Lewinsky
were really popular last year, and we all
figured that this year it was going to be
over, so we didn’t order much,” Meier
said. “But if something comes up at the
last minute... like this whole Pokemon
thing.. We were barely able to get in
on that.
“It’s kind of like a hit-and-miss
thing. When you order, you don’t know
what people will be looking for five"
and six months down the road.”
Even if the local costume shops are
out of Pokemon getups, kids today
have more selection than in the past.
Gone are the days of suffocating in
brittle plastic jumpsuits with a picture
of the character on the front rather than
the actual likeness of the character’s
outfit.
Today, the aisles of Wal-Mart and
Super Kmart are packed with cos
tumes that look not only more comfort
able but more realistic. Spiderman
suits are made from spandex and look
like the real Spiderman’s suit, and
wrestling outfits come with puffy, fake
muscles that have tattoos on them.
This surge of quality in the cos
tume industry is relatively recent,
Meier said.
“They’re definitely getting more
elaborate, with the sequins and differ
ent materials, like vinyl,” she said.
“You didn’t see that a few years ago.”
And of course, a few costumes pop.
up every Halloween.
“Every year, there is the generic
priest and nun, the genie and jester out
fits,” Meier said. “Those are kind of the
last-minute thing that people grab for
when there’s nothing left.”
Meier said most people opt for
comedy rather than horror.
“As far as gory stuff, I think people
might think that’s just too much work,”
Meier said.
No one ever said holidays were
easy.
Boo.
Improvised Halloween
costumes catch attention
By Josh Krauter
Senior staff writer
While most people are parad
ing the streets this weekend as
witches, ghosts and devils, or
Bills, Hillarys and Monicas, some
students will be pushing the
Halloween envelope.
For them, Halloween is the
proper time of year to express their
individuality, sense of style or
maybe just their mental instability.
The wilder the costume, the better.
For some students, the risque
route is the way to go. Doug
Maaske, a senior civil engineering
major, said a group of his friends
went as a harem last year.
“They were very scantily
clad,” he said.
MaasKe said ne s going as a
mad scientist this year.
“I’m going to have big hair, a
lab coat, thick-looking stupid
glasses, a pocket protector - just
stuff laying around,” he said.
Most students with wild or
unusual costumes forgo the
expensive costume shops and use
the “just-stuff-laying-around” aes
thetic, hitting thrift stores or mix
ing and matching items from
home.
Kelly O’Connor, a senior ele
mentary education major, said she
and a friend dressed as their cafe
teria lunch ladies, finding parts for
the costume at a thrift store.
She said her costume was
white pants, a brown shirt and a
wig.
Matt Kahler, a first-year law
school student, improvised his
costume at home.
“I dressed as a PLO agent,” he
said. “I wore a ski mask, fake
weapons and a jumpsuit with PLO
in big letters across my chest. It
was a big hit with the ladies.”
Improvisation was key for a
«
I dressed as a PLO
agent. ...It was a
big hit with the
ladies
Matt Kahler
NU law student
few of Kahler’s friends, too. He
said a friend didn’t have a cos
tume, so he decided to put a bunch
of jumper cables around his neck
at the last minute. In high school,
another friend of Kahler’s tore the
head off of his sister’s large stuffed
bear and wore it over his own
head. He used the bear’s body for a
iricK-or-ireat Dag.
Greg Fry, a senior exercise sci
ence major, said his most unusual
costume was inspired by a fellow
Abel Hall resident.
A student who lived on Fry’s
residence hall floor frequently
wore baggy, yellow pants. The stu
dent left his baggy, yellow pants in
his old room after moving out of
Abel.
For a joke, Fry decided to dress
as the student. He got the yellow
pants from the student’s old room
mate and wore a shirt with the stu
dent’s name written in marker on
it.
Fry said most people at
Halloween parties had no idea
what his costume was supposed to
be, but his friends thought it was
funny.
Whether it takes jumper
cables, left-behind baggy, yellow
pants or thrift store clothes, an
unusual Halloween costume is
waiting to be found. All it takes is
a little ingenuity.
Predictable ending ruins film
By Andrew Shaw
Staff.writer
“The Sticky Fingers of Time” is
not what you would expect to watch
at the End of the Millennium
Gay/Lesbian Film Festival. This sci
fi flick focuses little on the sexual ori
entation of its characters and mostly
on the complicated, confusing plot.
Tucker Harding (Terumi
Matthews) has just finished writing a
story about the H-bomb for the local
newspaper, unaware of the effects the
radiation might have had on her.
So when Harding, an author
struggling with the conception of her
novel, steps out for coffee in 1953,
she steps into a world that has
changed drastically. She has been
transported to 1997 through a muta
tion of her soul, credited to the atom
ic blast.
Harding catches sight of Isaac
(James Urbaniak), a friend who sup
posedly died in 1953, and follows
him. Isaac introduces Harding to
Drew (Nicole Zaray), a-modern
author^who also happens to be an
uneducated “time freak.”
- Drew and Harding end fall in
love, and when Harding turns up
murdered in 1997, her body taken
back to 1953, Drew finds the drive to
travel back in time to persuade
Harding away from the explosion that
starts the entire “trippy” escapade.
“The Sticky Fingers of Time” has
no outstanding aspect to offer the
viewer. The acting could use major
tweaking: The hero characters do not
become likable, and the evil charac
ters are not quite menacing enough to
suffer their own fate.
On the other hand, the film-mak
ing itself is quite intriguing. It is
never difficult to understand what
time period one is visiting.
The 1953 scenes are filmed in
black and white, the modem ones in
color. Beyond that, the props, cloth
ing and atmosphere of the different
times are right on target, giving the
viewer two different worlds to experi
ence.
The main problem with “The
Sticky Fingers of Time” is the far
from-simple story, which detracts
from the rest of the film. Wasting lit
tle time with set-up, the story flashes
by like lightning, giving little chance
for the viewer to catch up with the
complexity.
The explanation of the story, con
cerning the possibility for time travel
after the atomic discharge, isn’t
offered until well into the movie, and
it’s then spilled out in seconds, leav
Film Review
The Facts
Title: The Sticky Fingers of Time”
Director: Hilary Brougher
Grade: C
Five Words: Dark, complicated time travel
flick
ing much of the audience looking to
each other for answers.
As the plot wears on, and the love
story becomes more predictable, the
film begins to drag, creating an
unfortunately slow ending to one of
the strangest movies this reviewer has
seen.
The average person would find
this film exceedingly surreal, puz
zling to the point of distraction and
even a little unsettling in its obscurity.
Yet, if you are a fan of science fiction,
out-of-this-world stories and visually
pleasing film-making, you should
consider traveling to see “The Sticky
Fingers of Time.”
H allow een W eekend
;r a from Denver
PaulG alaxy
Saturday:
"PaulG aiaxy and theG aiactix"
Sunday:
"LiiSlm and the Back A He/ B lies Band"
and a oostum e aontestw ith $50 First
Prize at 11:00
Gay writer focus
of documentary
By Emily Pyeatt
Staff writer
If Picasso were imprisoned, and
his paint and brushes were taken
away, he would have probably still
drawn with his spit on the walls.
The film documentary/biogra
phy of gay writer and activist Paul
Monette begins with parallels of
Monette’s passions for writing to
Picasso’s art. What follows is a
poignant, personal exploration of
the childhood and relationships that
influenced Monette to write and
fight until his death from AIDS in
1995.
“The Brink of Summer’s End”
successfully explores the pain that
fueled Monette’s greatest writing.
What makes this documentary
interesting is the use of narrations
from Monette, his lovers, his broth
er and ms rnends.
The narrative conversation style
casually reveals Monette’s life in a
non-pretentious manner, speaking
directly and personally to the audi
ence.
The narratives are interwoven
with lo-fi home-movie footage,
excerpts from writings and snap
shots from Monette’s childhood and
college life.
The film covers a 3 Vi-year time
span of the author’s later life, while
reflecting upon the childhood that
haunted and influenced him.
The film begins with Monette’s
childhood, relationships with his
family, intellectual interests and dis
covery of his sexuality.
Him Review
Tin Facts
Title: Taul Monette: The Brink of Summer’s
End”
Director: Monte Bramer and Lesli Klainberg
Grade: A
Five Words: Cinematic biography of gay
writer/activist
Monette was constantly pres
sured to become the perfect child in
his family, since his brother suffered
from a physical disability. The per
fectionist pursuits seemed to trouble
Monette, especially when he began
to question his sexuality at the early
age of 7.
Monette battled with his differ
ences and passions before coming to
terms with his true self.
“The Brink of Summer’s End’’
adequately demonstrates not only
the author’s discovery of his sexual
ity, but his relationships with his
lovers, the development and success
of his writing career, his activism
for gay rights and the painful trials
of living with AIDS.
The film uses powerful excerpts
of Monette’s writing from through
out his award-winning career.
These excerpts embrace the gay
community and gay themes in a
voice that desperately needed to be
heard.
“The Brink of Summer’s End” is
showing with James Broughton’s
bizarre short film, “The Bed.” “The
Bed” exploits all forms of sexuality
that take place in bed.
In support of
their new CD
"Come On
Now Social"
7:30 PM - THUR DEC 2ND
THE MUSIC HALL
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE CIVIC AUDITORIUM
BOX OFFICE AND ALL TICKETMASTER OUTLETS
PRODUCED BY STEVE L1TMAN PRESENTS
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