Patti’s Blog

—–9/14/07—–

I had so much fun this year dressing up and having a party for Pirates of the Caribbean 3, I wish it would never have ended (that’s me hamming it up as Elizabeth Swann).

Fortunately, the movie nerd community (which I’m undoubtedly a part of) has Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to look forward to!

You know I’ve got to dress up for this one, folks! And I know I won’t be the only one!

I’m throwing around some ideas. We all know that Indy has 3 lovely ladies I can choose from, each with their respective wardrobes to select from.

Now, my natural inclination is toward Willie’s ‘Anything Goes’ dress from Temple of Doom. But wow, that’s a lot more ambitious than I’m willing to go! Especially since I’ve only ever “made” one other costume in my life. Of course Willie’s Indian sacrifice dress is also awesome, and perhaps a little less work than the Chinese dress.

But the thought of wearing a blonde curly wig activated my gag reflex. So I figured Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark would be more my style and personality anyhow…

But let’s see what her clothing options are: white dress thing, Cairo marketplace, and Nepalese shirt and pants combo. Hardly inspiring. That white dress smacks of horrible big-sleeved 1980s prom dresses, the Cairo getup is really simple and the Nepalese wear is not terribly recognizable. With how short my brunette hair is nowadays, I’ll certainly need a wig for Marion too.

This leaves me thinking about Dr. Elsa Schneider from The Last Crusade. She is, and this is based purely on my own opinion here, the most glamorous and gorgeous of the Indy women (thus far). She’s sophisticated and foreign; she’s ambitious and catty. And most of all she is smart enough to fool the famous Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

Today I quickly reviewed Elsa’s scenes in The Last Crusade, and she wears some really cute 1940s suits and dresses. But when I think ultimate-cool-badass Elsa, I think of the scene in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon:

I’ve always loved the hat, and the goggles would be equally fun. I’ve already found some cool replicas of WWII German Field Caps on eBay and I think the goggles wouldn’t be too difficult to track down either. There seems to be a camisole under her jacket, the pants don’t seem too difficult and I’m sure any old boots will do. The belt looks equally simple. Added bonus: no wig to buy! Weeee! All her hair is tucked into the cap!

It’s the jacket that has me somewhat concerned, with its different colored/shaped collars. I have not begun to search for patterns yet, so if anyone out there can offer advice on that front I’d appreciate it.

So that’s the plan for now. I have a ton of time to think about it and plan it. My fall back costume will probably be Marion’s Cairo marketplace getup or Willie’s Indian sacrifice dress.

My husband planted the idea in my brain … and we might be thinking about an Indiana Jones themed party also… we’ll see.

Stay tuned.

—–UPDATE 11/14/07—–

I bought a “Willie” wig at the local Spirit Halloween store for 50% after the holiday. It was only $6, so if I don’t use it, I won’t be too heart broken. It’s too bright and too long, but for $6 it’s close enough!

Anything Goes!

Hmm… maybe I could make it work for Elsa… (been throwing around the idea of going as Elsa in disguise at Brunvald Castle, so that I can wear the fedora!)

—–UPDATE 4/27/08—–

Yay! Progress!

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updating my Indiana Jones Party planning progress and there are lots of reasons for that: school, work, and the uncertainty of it all. Without my best friends, Lace & Bean, I’d just been so depressed about things. An Indy party just wouldn’t be the same without them! So for a while I decided to forget the whole thing–didn’t want to dress up or have a party… but then I got excited about the movie again and I figured I’d hate myself forever if I didn’t celebrate! (I think it’s the new Indiana Jones M&Ms and Adventure Snicker bar that did the trick. Nothing like candy to get one hyper.)

SO NOW: Costumes are on and the party is a maybe. If the party ends up being “a go” it’ll be not as awesome as I’d originally intended, but still pretty cool. My blog planning wasn’t for naught though; I’ve noticed that a lot of people who come to read my party planning entries are looking for ideas to host their OWN parties. So at least I hope I gave people ideas and incentive!

Since being reinvigorated and rejuvenated I’ve acquired several pieces of my Elsa costume on eBay.

And here’s a picture of my goofy face and some of the items I got from eBay (hat, gloves, goggles):

I’m super-duper pleased with all of the items and can’t wait to complete the look. I already have pants, a belt, and some boots. Just waiting on a jacket I ordered and I need to find a camisole to go underneath it.

My husband has already bought a fedora from Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios and some pants. To complete the whole “Last Crusade” theme that we arbitrarily chose for our costume pairing, we decided to make a grail diary prop and a holy grail prop too! I hope those work out for us because it will REALLY complete the look! Indygear.com is a great site for grail diary and Indiana Jones costume references, if anyone is interested in creating their own props and clothes.

If we do end up having a party, I found some cool Temple of Doom monkey heads that I could use from Target:

Ok, so I know they aren’t like the ones in the movie…. but think about how much more appetizing they are! LOL!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for results from our grail prop attempts and the finished/completed costumes!

We plan to wear the costumes to the midnight showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at AMC Theatre Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney, Orlando, FL.

—–UPDATE 5/7/08—–

Hey! I received more of my eBay items and so forth. I’m planning on tea-staining my jacket because it’s ridiculously white. I’m not quite ready to show progress pictures of the costume at this point, but here are some teaser pictures of our props:

Grail, grail, grail! HUH!

So yeah… that’s my grail. I shined my flashlight inside so you can see the gold.
It’s a plastic cup from Publix that I painted with acrylics. The inside is a lovely shiny gold and the outside is “sable brown” with the gold dry-brushed over random parts of it.
Not terribly accurate, I know I know. But for how little I paid ($3 cup, $5 paints). It’ll do, donkey. It’ll do.

And here are a couple of pages of the grail diary I’m working on:

Stay tuned, yet again, for more costume progress! Woo-cha!

—–UPDATE 5/18/08—–

Almost finished now! I still need to apply trim to my camisole, tea stain my jacket, and paint the top collar black. Getting close to the day now! Stay tuned for pictures from the event!

—–UPDATE 5/23/08—–

Saw the movie! It was awesome! Here’s pics from the midnight showing!

Indiana Jones Widget

I’ve always been a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The movie and the television series. My favorite host is Joel and my favorite bot is Tom Servo. My favorite episodes are “Manos: Hands of Fate” (”What about the Valley Lodge?!?”) and “I Accuse My Parents.” (”He says he’s not here.”)

Now since the MST3K series got canceled, the boys have still been continuing the tradition through projects like “Film Crew” which is basically MST3K without the robots/space/scifi angle. (Already watched their riff of “Hollywood After Dark” and it was HILARIOUS, my friend.)

Recently I decided to give Mike Nelson’s “Rifftrax” a try. The concept is quite ingenious: whereas before the guys had to get rights to the horrible movies they were riffing, this time they found a way so that they could riff any movie regardless of paying studios for permission to use them etc. They are selling MP3 files that you sync up with movies you have already bought or rented on DVD.

Now, that means that they can make fun of any movie that’s been released on DVD! That opens up infinite possibilities!

So far the site has quite a few “rifftrax” to major movies such as Independence Day, Lord of the Rings, (practically all of) the Star Wars saga, Aeon Flux, Transformers. The list is limited, but if successful enough I’m sure their library will grow in no time.

My husband and I had been thinking about trying out “Rifftrax” and last night we finally did. And the movie we chose: “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

There were things I liked and things I didn’t like about the experience.

LIKES:

–The guys are still funny. I had a couple of belly/extended laughs during the movie. (”No, the other Ten Commandments!”)

–MST3K episodes used to be “hit or miss” because sometimes the movie they were riffing was so awful/boring that even the jokes couldn’t come fast enough to entertain. With watching a movie that’s good on its own, I didn’t get bored between the jokes.

–The syncing methods. I was skeptical at first, but they have made syncing the DVD with the MP3 easy. I only had to adjust it about 3 times. What they do is you start the MP3 first and then Mike will say “I’m going to ask you to pause this track and start it again. The Paramount logo will disappear from the screen, and when it is completely gone press play on the track.” Throughout the movie, there is an audio cue to tell you whether you’re still synced or not. A robot voice will occasionally say a line in the movie–if the robot and the character match up, you’re still in sync. And if it’s a little off, all you have to do is pause which ever one is ahead briefly and start it back up again. No prob.

–The selection in the library is not limited to tracks with the three main guys. There are tracks with Mike and the lady who played Pearl and the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory track has Neil Patrick Harris on it! Talk about random.

–I like how the website is written in the style of the riffing. Example. It reminds me of the way Monty Python merchandise is packaged.

DISLIKES:

–Since you have to sync things up, this makes it difficult to go to the bathroom or get up and get some popcorn during the movie. It can be done, but it could be a pain.

–I wish the site was easier to navigate. The main page is uber-crowded and the user/member functions could use some work.

–Actually, that’s about it…. the price is reasonable considering that a 3-4 minute song on iTunes costs about 99 cents. You get a 1.5 hour or more MP3 from Rifftrax for $2-5.

I would definitely recommend Rifftrax to established fans of MST3K and Film Crew. I would advise those who have no prior experience with those series to try out some old episodes of those before trying Rifftrax.

I’m in love. And boy, is he something.

His name is Dexter and he’s handsome and charming, great with kids. He brings his coworkers donuts on a daily basis and he’s awesome at bowling. Even though he’s a man who lives on his own, his apartment is spic-and-span. Everyone who meets him instantly likes him. You should see him and his sister together; he really cares about his family. He works along side her for the Miami police department. She just got promoted to homicide and he’s a lab technician specializing in blood spatter analysis. He’s nearly flawless… nearly. I’m mean there’s just this one tiny thing:

In his spare time he likes to kill people.

……………………………………….

Ok, so I’m happily married to Mika-Mikeys and Dexter is a book/TV character; I admit I made that previous paragraph up. But I have found a new love in this particular TV/book series…

It all started a little while back when Brighthouse had the first season of the Showtime series, “Dexter” available. My husband read the description and thought it might be a cool thing to check out. Knowing that I’m a fan of movies like “American Psycho,” “Red Dragon,” “From Hell,” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” my husband suggested we give it a whirl. The premise is that Dexter, a young boy of about 3 years, is taken into foster care by Harry Morgan, a cop. Harry realizes early in Dexter’s life that he has all of the tell-tale signs of becoming a sociopath and potentially a serial killer (traumatic event, fascination with death and killing, etc.). Rather than punishing the boy or getting rid of him when he discovers these tendencies, Harry decides to raise Dexter so that he can be a “moral” killer–murdering only those who have committed the most heinous of acts of murder. Harry also decides to teach Dexter how not to get caught . . .

The television series is brilliantly constructed, focusing mainly on Dexter as an adult and how he survives on a day-to-day basis–literally faking every emotion and studying human behavior so that he can act accordingly. Ever so often, they’ll cut in a flashback of Dexter at a younger age, learning through Harry or other personal experiences how to become the monster he is at present.

I try to explain the series to people and they tell me it’s pretty far-fetched. To which I reply, “It’s a television show.”

So as long as you can let your imagination run around and have fun, this is a great series. My only problem is that I don’t have a Showtime subscription. And they’re already pretty far into the second season and I’m missing it all! I’ve been feeding my Dark Passenger (that’s what Dexter calls his urge to kill) with reading the book series that the TV show is based on by Jeff Lindsay.

As soon as I heard there was a book, I ran out and tried to buy it ASAP. I had a gift card from Barnes & Noble for about $11 from returning some school books I didn’t need. When I arrived at B&N, they had the second and third book, but not the first one. Dammit! A couple of days later I visited my parents’ area of the state and tried to find a B&N over that way, to no avail. They did have a Borders however. And lo and behold as I entered the “Mystery & Thriller” section of the store, they had loads of copies for all three books. Yay! Added bonus: half of them had been signed by the author! So perhaps it was fate that made the B&N out of stock that particular day when I went to purchase aforementioned novel.

A note to those willing to give the series/books a try: the difference between the books and the series is subtle, but different enough to confuse you if you try to mix and match (i.e. don’t read the first book and then assume that the second season of the TV series is going to match up with the events of the book–it won’t.). Try to take them one at a time. Read the books first, then see the series or vice versa. Assuming you like it as much as I do…

So on my 2007 Xmas list I have the third Dexter book (I went out and consumed the second one already) and the first season of the television series. My husband asked why the BBC’s “Coupling” series was not on my list as usual. The thing about “Coupling” is that I have the entire series already at my fingertips through Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature. Now wouldn’t that be loverly if Netflix also offered “Dexter” on Watch Instantly…. (hint, hint, guys).

 EDIT (2/20/08): Wow! I’m so flattered that “Dexter” read my blog about him!

This past weekend my sister, my mother and I had a marathon of the three original Indiana Jones movies, so naturally that generated some great ideas for the Indy 4 Party that my husband and I are thinking of having for the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in May 2008. Here are the fruits of our ever-attentive viewing:

Raiders of the Lost Ark:

Ark of the Covenant, life size, constructed of a combination of wood and probably clay (for the top pieces). But since that’s a bit more ambitious than my talent capacity for those sorts of construction projects, maybe I’ll settle on the government crate from the end.

Spiderwebs I’m going to get a good deal on these guys once Halloween is over

Booby traps: not a 100% certain on what sort though… probably not the sort that would kill a guest…

“Bad dates” dish of some sort. Probably involving craisins or other substitute since I don’t know what to do with an actual date nor do I know if they are generally liked.

Indiana’s traveling “red line” map for invitations and party directions

Skeleton (with rubber snake emerging from eye socket)

Temple of Doom:

“Club Obi Wan” Marquee, something simple, a poster-style perhaps

Two types of punch at the party: one gingerale based and the other another flavor, colored blue. This will be our Lao Che “poison” and “the antidote to the poison you just drank.” (I’m pretty proud of this one)

Sankarah stone(s). Don’t really know how I want to do this yet; my main motivation here is to get rocks that are longer than they are wide with three marks across and somehow make them glow… somehow…

Indian dish (NOT consisting of eyeballs, bugs, monkeys or snakes! Yuck! But maybe a fake dish alongside it for a joke)

Bargaining lazy susan display: spinning platform with “the diamond” and on the opposite end a coin purse with gold foreign coins inside. Possibly also Nurhatchi urn…

Last Crusade:

Grail Diary prop

German food (Elsa Schneider’s Schnitzel?)

Grail cup prop with “false grails“

Knight’s shield crayon rubbing

Rubber rats–another post-Halloween clearance sale item, to be sure

SO! Any thoughts? Suggestions? Comments? Criticisms (other than “you are a total dork”)?

Read the latest update on my Dr. Elsa Schneider costume progress.

I don’t have a lot of time to write too much, I’ll come back and add some commentary. But for now… Pictures of the Elizabeth Swann Pirate King costume that I wore to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End at Downtown Disney Pleasure Island AMC 24 (and a few other really awesome costumes). My friend Lacey is our Tia Dalma.

Here are pictures from our Pirate Party that we had on Saturday the 26th.

Yay! I finally completed my Elizabeth Swann Singapore costume. After months and months of planning and sewing and gluing and swearing!

Check out my pictures from the midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

Tonight is the midnight showing at Downtown Disney’s Pleasure Island AMC 24! My friends and I will all be dressed and rearing to go! Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End better not disappoint us! My friend Lacey made herself a Tia Dalma costume. Be sure to check out her make-up tests too. More pictures soon to follow! We still have the Pirate Party on Saturday so we get to dress up and see the movie again! Whee!

See the finished Elizabeth Swann Pirate King costume pictures on my blog about the midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

For those of you out of the loop, I am preparing for a massive Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Party hosted by myself and my friend, Lacey for our closest friends and family members. She and I are making costumes for the event (as well as for a midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End at Walt Disney World’s Pleasure Island AMC 24 at Downtown Disney.). With her help, and the help of my dear mum, I am making the Elizabeth Swann costume pictured above. Lacey is making Tia Dalma’s costume for herself. We are making each of our men dress as Captain Jack, though their costumes have been completed ages ago and are not as complicated or accurate as ours…. the wearers are slightly more reluctant and less enthused than we.

The above picture of my costume was taken a couple of weeks ago with the wig I purchased off eBay. I swore I wouldn’t post any pictures with the wig until the costume was completely finished…. but I put it on and then I just couldn’t help myself! It was like Frosty the Snowman or something, haha!

Since taking the above photo, I have completed nearly all of the front embroidery (the sleeves still need work). Lacey has finished one half of my ‘flap’ armor.

And I’ve just bought decorative pieces for my belt as well as a nice buckle for the back of it (purely functional–I don’t know how the actual belt fastens). Also I purchased some thick velcro to attach the armor flaps to the bottom of the belt. I feel so clever for having thought of implementing pockets into the armor flaps! I won’t need to carry a purse for my cell phone etc. and thus ruin the illusion of ‘my character.’ (My Davy Jones’ Locket ringtone helps only so much).

We also made these quick-and-easy gauntlets. No sewing required for these puppies!

Here is the piece I bought for the center of the belt.

I know it isn’t terribly accurate, but I’m a lazy ass and I can’t bear to fail at the Fimo/Sculpty mess that would be sure to result from the attempt of making my own. Also the weight and attachment of said clay would present an even bigger problem. Lay off! I’m pressed for time and I have a Pirate PARTY to plan for as well! My sister was also kind enough to purchase another piece for my belt at EPCOT in Japan–she didn’t know I had already purchased this one on eBay! But I’m hoping to use hers as a piece for the replacement of the metal parts of Lizzie’s upper armor. It’s a beautiful antique bronze color that will most likely match the eBay piece. It depicts a large-winged bird taking flight. We’ll see how it works out.

We made cool invitations for the party. We couldn’t decide between Rum Bottles or Jars of Dirt invites, so we did both!

The Rum label says: “Hector’s Apple Rum: Potent enough to quench the thirst of the undead, distinguished enough to be named for their captain!”

Remember the goal, the goal, always the GOAL:

It would not have been possible to begin this project in January as I did without the guidance of The Costumer’s Guide.

See the finished Elizabeth Swann Pirate King costume pictures on my blog about the midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

Continuing with the theme of nerdiness established in my previous blogs….(Pirate party, Quick Update, Another Update, and Coming Together Nicely)

See those previous blogs for a progression of the idea and process of making this costume. I’m still not finished, we have a long way to go. But here are the latest pictures. You can see the boots I purchased and also the beginning of my belt and armor. Enjoy!

And remember this be the goal:

It would not have been possible to begin this project in January as I did without the guidance of The Costumer’s Guide.

Wheee!!! Slow going. Still much to do. That belt in the pictures is temporary, just want people to see an accurate fitting on me. Took pics with and without the flash so you could see more accurate colors. Only major setback is that the dress is supposed to be black and mine is navy. Oh well, too late now. I kind of like the navy better. 100% sure the trim is gold NOT silver.

It would not have been possible to begin this project in January as I did without the guidance of The Costumer’s Guide.