Costume Challenge #39-43: Final Stretch

Costume #39: Horror Movie

This might be the easiest costume I've done yet. Well, not counting the lion hat.

If you're having flashbacks to a particular horror movie, you're on the right track. I decided to go as an onryō, a kind of ghost from Japanese mythology that's become a staple of horror movies. (You can find out a little more about that on the TV tropes page for Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl)

I borrowed the old-fashioned nightgown from my Mom, then brushed my hair so it was all in my face. (For once a costume where my hair is an asset instead of an inconvenience!) I didn't bother with any makeup-- I'd been planning on doing something crazy with my face, maybe a slit-mouth like a kuchisake-onna (another staple of Japanese horror stories) but since I still had a runny nose from last week's cold I decided that sleep was more important than makeup. The teddy bear I actually made myself as a project back in college-- hand sewn (and pretty badly if you look closely) out of a bunch of scraps I had on hand. When I was making it, I hadn't gotten the pieces to do the face yet-- but when I saw how delightfully creepy the bear looks without a proper face I decided to just leave it that way and call it "No Face Bear". Perfect for a creepy ghost girl.

Time: 5 minutes. 

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Hm. On the one hand, I loved how this turned out. Fast, easy, looks great and kind of eerie. On the other-- having my hair in my face is a huge pain. Itchy, hot, and hard to see. I gave up on the hair style by the time I'd been working for just a few minutes. So I'd want to think hard about what I'd be doing before deciding to use this costume. There are a lot of things that could be done to punch this costume up-- add some fake blood, doing something with the face, etc. For that matter, I think this costume would benefit a lot from just a bit of acting-- making weird noises, walking backwards, that kind of thing.

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: This is my only costume that even slightly fits with the Ghostbusters Theme, let me have this. (Though I think Still Doll by Kanon Wakeshima makes a decent Runner-Up)

Costume #40: Rebels

I knew when I saw the theme that they were intending rebels as in counter-culture: tattoos, punk clothes, mo-hawk, that kind of thing. But I felt kind of like taking a different approach-- specifically, a Star Wars Rebel.

I really enjoyed this costume.

I started out with a pair of khaki capris and a grey t-shirt. The cloth wraps actually used to be a hotel curtain-- my Mom has a big box of them left over from one of her jobs as a seamstress, so I cut it into two large strips for the body and two smaller strips for the arms. I added a brown belt, a pair of knock-off Uggs, and my trusty aviator goggles. I borrowed a toy lightsaber from my Mom's dress-up bin to complete the costume. The arm wraps were actually really annoying-- they kept unwrapping, or sliding down my arms, which started messing with my sensory processing disorder. I think in the future I'll have to figure out a better way to make those-- maybe sewing fitted arm-bands with some kind of fastener, and then putting fabric strips on that so it just looks wrapped. 

I didn't bother with makeup, but I gave my best stab at Rey's triple-bun hairstyle. It didn't turn out super well: my hair is just too long and too heavy (and I just didn't do that great a job) but it was close enough that most people still recognized who I was.

Time: 50 minutes (most of which was spent on the fabric strips)

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: I had actually been wanting to do this for my costume last year, but sadly I didn't get to dress up at all. So I was really happy to have a chance to try this! I don't know if I'll ever do it again for a Halloween costume, but this is definitely coming back out when I see The Last Jedi. (Am I excited? Yes. Have I seen the trailer? Nope, and I'm not planning to. I don't want any spoilers. And if you think I'm not serious about this, you should know that I succeeded in not seeing a single promotional image or trailer for the recent live action Beauty and the Beast that included what the Beast looked like so that I could see him for the first time when I actually saw the movie. This involved a lot of clapping my hands over my eyes and stumbling around blindly. For months.)

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: There's no beating The Imperial March by John Williams for this one.

Costume #41: Steampunk

This costume almost slipped past me-- I had a lot of ideas of what I wanted to wear that didn't end up working out for one reason or another (too small, impossible to walk in, ran out of time to make) which made me very sad because I love the theme so much. But then I remembered my Movie Stars costume and remembering thinking that it looked a little like a robot... and I knew how I could make this work.

I went with simple clothes-- a maroon velvet skirt and a black t-shirt, with a creme colored camisole worn with the sleeves tucked in to make a make-shift corset. The top-hat I made for a costume several years ago, and I added a brown belt, a pair of gloves, and a necklace with a steampunk-esque design.

I based my makeup design on some of the makeup worn by members of Steam Powered Giraffe, my favorite group of singing steampunk automatons. I started by using gold eyeshadow as a base (not as good as metallic face paint but it at least gave me a bit of a sheen) then drawing in panels and screws with eyeliner and filing in/shadowing with eyeshadow and lipgloss as appropriate. I tried drawing some gears on my temple but they ended up kind of wonky-looking.

Time: About 40 minutes
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Certainly, though there's a lot of details I'd want to fine-tune, fix, or add to make this costume really shine. A better blouse, a corset or waist-coat, some spats, more practice on the makeup... you get the idea.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Though there are tons of great Halloween robot songs, and just as many if not more great Halloween robot songs, I've got to go with Brass Goggles by Steam Powered Giraffe. Actually, a lot of their songs over the years fit the bill.

Costume #42: Hunting Season

For some reason during this whole challenge, black t-shirts have sort of become short hand for "you can ignore this part of the costume". Anyway, brown pants and a t-shirt, pretty normal clothes, this costume was just in the makeup. 

I used bronzer and brown eye-shadow to darken my skin. While I'm still out of white eye shadow, I did dig out an old container of white body-shimmer powder that did well enough for adding the spots and lightening the eyelids and nose. Then I did the eyebrows, nose, and eye-shapes with black eyeliner. 

Time: 25 minutes

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Probably; I was really pleased with how it turned out. I'd want to get a brown shirt and maybe some antlers, but this was a good look for a surprisingly simple makeup job.

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: There's not really a lot of "spooky" songs about deer; the best I could come up with is Deer In The Headlights by Owl City. 

Costume #43: Zootopia

I have a pair of tiger-stripe pajama bottoms so I just wore those with a black t-shirt. Again, this costume's really in the makeup. 

I'm having a lot of fun with these animal-makeup costumes: maybe I should've just done forty animal costumes for this challenge. Or maybe I should do my makeup like this everyday, what do you think?

Eh-- anyway. I used orange and yellow pastel chalk, white shimmer powder, and a few different shades of eyeshadow to do the base. Then I added in the nose, stripes, and other details with eyeliner. For the mouth, I outlined my lips with black lipstick, turning up the corners, then did purple on the outside and pink on the inside to try to imitate actual tiger lips. To finish up I did my hair in two high buns to look a little like tiger ears (which, oddly enough, my hair was the part of the costume that got the most compliments).

Time: 1 hour

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Sure, I'd consider it. It's a fun makeup job to do. I'd want to get a tail and some ears, maybe find or make a nicer outfit.

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Tiger by ABBA. (Incidentally, I spent a long time debating whether or not to do a black cat instead so I could do Superstition for a theme song, but in the end I decided a tiger was more fun)

And I'm off Saturday, so that's it for this week-- in fact, that's almost it for the challenge. All that's left is Halloween proper. That doesn't have an official theme, it's just whatever costume we come up with. And I've got an idea that I'm pretty excited about, though it's a little ambitious so maybe I should have a quick and easy backup on hand just in case. 

Before Halloween, though, I did want to give you a link to this little Playlist I put together on YouTube. It's got most of the "Most Appropriate Halloween Song" entries I've been collecting over this challenge and a few other favorite gems. So if you're in the mood for a mix of familiar and obscure Halloween songs, are playing DJ to a Halloween party, or just think your costume deserves it's own theme song, be sure to take a listen!

Strange Things You See at a Thrift Store: Halloween Edition

As I've said before, Halloween is a big deal for thrift stores. (*Looks at the last fifty or so posts that are just me playing dress-up* *coughs*) At the store where I work, this means a couple of things. One is a big section just for costumes, designed with some... interesting decor choices. One is that we stock a line of new costume and Halloween products alongside all our used goods. And one is that the weird things you see in a thrift store start to get even weirder.

Let's take a look, shall we?

We'll start with the decorations, which basically just means weird skeletons trying on costumes.

*squints and tilts head* It's like Captain Jack Sparrow was a Death Eater and died in prison and so did the dog.

Yes, a skeleton with an uncomfortably placed scythe and devil horns definitely makes me think about turning in a job application.

OK, this is a weird thing. We've been having an epidemic lately of these little statues-- just the sort of cute, kitschy collectible stuff we get all the time-- except painted black, with little red eyes. This is the only one I've been able to photograph because they disappear as soon as they appear-- I don't know if people are buying them or if one of the other employees is just throwing them away. 

At least, I hope those are the only two options.

Ah, a t-shirt that manages to combine poor grammar with poorer life decisions.

Here's one for that subset of people who are fans of both Star Wars and the Haunted Mansion.

Not, strictly speaking, a Halloween Shirt, but I found it pretty terrifying all the same.

Now, thanks to some family history I am uncomfortably aware of the many problems which can affect the human back. Enough to be able to say that if your spine looks like this... something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. 

On a semi-related note, one of my favorite things about the "new" costumes is how awkwardly they try to avoid copyright violations when naming their products. A wig with Princess Leia's iconic side buns? Sell it as a "Space Princess" wig. Blue gingham dress and ruby slippers? "Tornado tossed maiden." Obvious replica of Snow White's dress from the animated Disney Movie? "Fair Princess". Mario and Luigi outfits? "Video Game Guy" and "Video Game Dude". Queen of Hearts dress? "Royal Sweetheart". (Not quite how that character is usually interpreted...) Or my personal favorite-- a wig modeled after Harley Quinn in the recent Suicide Squad movie becomes: "Bubblegum Villain".

I'm not sure how to tell you this, store supplier, but... spiders are invertebrates.

I kind of want to see someone do a reading of The Call of Cthulhu while snuggling up with one of these. Kind of makes it hard to take your cosmic horror seriously when it comes with baby blue eyes and a care bear heart. 

Also, we live in a strange world when a toy Pomeranian looks more like a horrifying Eldritch Abomination than the poster-monster for Lovecraftian horror.

OK. I can see why these didn't get put in the toys (fragile and breakable, and most parents who shop here seem to treat the toy aisle as a babysitter). I can see why putting them behind glass would be preferable to putting them on the small shelves that usually hold home decor and tiny collectibles-- they're just too big. What I don't understand is why someone decided to put these in the glass case for fancy and antique items instead of throwing them away and/or killing them with fire before they come to life and murder us all. 

And just in case you thought the employee break room was safe from creepy items:

That's it for now. My second to last costume post will be coming in a bit. In the meantime... be safe, be smart, and don't associate in any way with creepy dolls. Just say no. 

Costume Challenge #36-38: Getting Sick of Halloween OR The Head-Cold from Hades

I ended my last post saying we'd need to see if I could survive two more weeks of costumes. The answer appears to be... probably not?

Costume #36: Monsters

I had to go with a classic, here: Frankenstein's Monster. Very fun costume to do, though the fun was unfortunately diminished by the fact that I woke up that morning with the beginnings of a nasty cold. I had to adjust the makeup a little bit from what I'd planned so that I wouldn't smudge it every time I blew my nose.

The clothes were pretty simple: brown slacks and a purple shirt. I borrowed a brown XXL men's blazer from the store for the photo, but it was a little too warm to wear for the whole shift.

For the makeup, I started out by dividing my skin into sections and coloring them-- most of my face was normal colored, then I had a section that I used a bronzer to darken a little, and then on my neck and one side of my face I used green eyeshadow to make the skin look sickly and dead. The main idea was for my skin to look mismatched, like it didn't all come from the same source.

The stitches were kind of complicated but quite fun: I started out by using red lipstick to make the dotted lines (like tissue peeking out from underneath the skin) then used some brown and white eyeshadow to give it kind of a 3D effect. Then I added the stitches in eyeliner. Up close you can see that I made a lot of mistakes, but it looks fantastic from a few feet away.

The neck bolts were a bit of work-- I had my Dad help me cut the threaded tops off of a couple of plastic water-bottles (this was the hardest part), then used fun foam and hot glue to make and attach the bolt heads. These were all attached to a piece of wire clipped from a wire hangar, which I bent around the back of my neck. Then I painted everything with metallic acrylic paint. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, and doing it this way was much more comfortable to wear than if I'd tried to glue the bolts on somehow or tie them on with elastic. The only downside was that I had to be really careful about turning my head from side to side or else the bolts wouldn't turn with it.

Time: A couple of hours prep, One hour day of
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: I had a bunch of customers tell me I looked like I'd had a rough weekend.
Now, by the time work was over I was actually feeling pretty miserable-- you know how a bad cold starts, you get achy and sore and fuzzy-brained and your throat hurts. We didn't have any cold medicine in the house so as soon as I got out of work I headed over to the pharmacy at the grocery store to pick some up. Still in costume. Which was kind of gratifying; out of the thrift-store insanity filter, I got a lot of odd looks from the other customers. The cashiers, though, didn't even bat an eye-- which probably says something about the kinds of people you deal with as a grocery store cashier.
Would I Actually Wear This for Halloween: Definitely! I really want to break this one out again sometime when I'm healthy enough to really enjoy it.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: The obvious choice has to be The Monster Mash, by Bobby Pickett. Honorable Mention goes to I'm Alive by Strawberry Traffic Jam and to the Munsters Theme Song.

Costume #37: The Wizard of Oz

Here's the thing. On Tuesday I was feeling pretty miserable. On Wednesday I was barely functional. So I borrowed a lion hat from my Mom's costume bin and called it good. But by the time I'd been at work half an hour, I knew it wasn't going to work out-- I was having to stop every two minutes to blow my nose or hack up a lung, and I was pretty much dead on my feet. I left early and spent the rest of the day-- and the next two days-- in bed, trying to sleep it off. Thank heavens the school I teach orchestra at was having their fall break.

Time: 1 minute

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: If I did a lion costume for Halloween, I would do it much better than this.

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: The most accurate would be The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens. Alternately there's The Wizard of Ahhhhs by Pentatonix and Todrick Hall, or you could just break out some Pink Floyd. But for my main choice I have to go with gem of a deleted song from the old 1930's movie, "The Jitterbug" by Harold Arlen.

Costume #38: Flies (kind of)

Saturday I was finally feeling well enough to go back to work. The costume theme, though... it's a pretty lousy one. I thought so as soon as I saw it, and everyone I mentioned it to agreed. Still, I did my best to come up with a suitable costume. Apparently while I was home sick, however, someone convinced the managers just how dumb the theme was, because the theme was changed (without my knowing) to "Animal Kingdom". Which made my costume a little less funny, but oh well.

Venus Fly Trap!

For the clothes, I just went with a lot of pink and green-- a pink blouse, layering pink and green skirts, pink and green striped socks, pink shoes. 

The traps I made out of fun foam, basing off of the look of my own Venus Fly Trap. I had one I held in my hand, one I pinned to my shirt, and then I used bobby pins to anchor the big ones to my braid so they'd fit around my head. 

The makeup is toned down a little form what I had in mind because I needed to be able to wipe my nose, but it's mostly pink and green pastel chalk. (I keep doing this because I have it, but it's probably a bad idea. I haven't looked up any health warnings or anything, I just try to be really good about washing my face. But probably when I'm fifty or so I'll be in the Doctor's office and they'll say, "We're terribly sorry-- usually this only happens to factory workers and street artists-- but I'm afraid you have chalk poisoning. You will have toxic multicolor zits for the rest of your life.")

As a final touch, I added some green lipgloss, a heavy sprinkling of green body glitter, and a big toy fly that my Mom had hanging around. (Though I left the fly in the breakroom until the costume fashion show)

Time: About an hour

Unexpected Reactions: I got a lot of compliments on my costume-- despite the fact that nobody could figure out what the heck it was. Most people settled on guessing I was a butterfly. (Weird looking butterfly...) The announcer for the fashion show on the other hand... just had no idea. "And next here we have Jennifer, a lovely... a... she's a... she made this costume herself, ladies and gentlemen, let's give a hand for Jennifer!"

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Maybe? It was kind of fun, but people didn't really seem to get it and I don't like having to explain my costumes-- too many times I've seen people's eyes glaze over. If I did this again, I'd get more fun foam and make more traps, try to make the look a little more extreme.

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: I was thinking I would have to do something from the Soundtrack of Little Shop of Horrors, but then I discovered this strange and surreal song that I'm rather taken with: Venus Fly, by Grimes. 

Phew. This has been a weird week, and I am so behind on my to do list. And still a bit sick so I keep falling asleep when I sit down to work on said to do list. Oh, well. at least I'm doing better. And just one more week of costumes before Halloween! 

Costume Challenge #31-35: Generation Gaps

Costume #31: Snoopy!

(The managers added the exclamation mark to the theme, not me)

Woodstock! I wore a yellow t-shirt and (since I don't own yellow pants) khaki.

I had to rush the face makeup because the hair took a lot longer than expected, and I'm not super pleased with it. I used some yellow pastel chalk to color my nose and above my eyebrows then tried to draw in a beak and feathers with eyeliner. 

I spent an hour or two cutting feathers out of yellow construction paper the night before (though I did find one actual yellow feather to include). Then I put my hair into lots of small ponytails and stuck the feathers into the elastic. This proved to be much more difficult than I was expecting: my hair kept getting tangled in the feathers and wouldn't separate properly for the ponytails. The end result was a tangled mess, but at least a feathery one:

Time: Forty minutes.

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: This, no, but I might consider another bird-themed costume someday. Given more time I could really step it up-- wings, a tail, more extreme makeup, actual feathers, you get the idea.

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: "Great Pumpkin Waltz" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

Costume #32: 1960s

Those of you who knew me well in my Sophomore year of high school might be giving that picture a double take. 

I had a feeling most of the people who dressed up would go with a Hippie theme (this proved accurate) so I decided to do something different and go for more of a mod style. I happened to have an old... well, it was sold as a dress, but when I got it I thought it would make a cool jacket. So cool that I wore it every day for a chunk of that year of school. I, uh, went through a long stage where I thought of fashion as something that happened to other people.

Anyway, it was still lurking in the back of my closet and with the buttons done up and the belt removed it was perfect for the 1960s style. I wore it with black slacks and a red t-shirt. My Mom lent me a pair of amazing white GoGo boots, but after standing in them long enough to do my hair and makeup my feet were killing me. So, sadly, I went with more practical footwear.

Based on my research, I went for makeup that emphasized the eyes with more natural lips. I wore a red ribbon as a headband to go with it.

I really did my best to try to tease my hair into the big poofy style appropriate to the era, but I'm still new to this technique (I tried it for the first time ever on costume #3) and it's not as dramatic as I would've liked. 

Time: An hour

Unexpected or Notable Reactions: I knew this one wouldn't be getting any huge reactions when I walked upstairs for breakfast and my Dad asked, "Um, aren't you wearing a costume today?" (Yes, I have given him a hard time over this). After I explained the theme, he told me that I did look pretty period accurate, but not really different enough from current styles for him to have noticed on his own.

Sure enough, I didn't get much in the way of reactions from anyone-- not even when I dressed like this while running errands that afternoon-- though a few people said I looked nice so maybe this is a look I should be incorporating into my day to day styles?

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Probably not, see the previous answer for my reasons why

Most Appropriate Halloween Song:  Let's go with the era appropriate "Devil in Disguise" by Elvis Presley. (Which, looking at the lyrics, would have been a great one for Angels & Devils last week)

Costume #33: Where's Waldo?

I wore blue jeans, a knit hat, and a red and white striped shirt. (Well, actually, an old pajama top. I felt kind of silly, I kept thinking I didn't have a red and white striped shirt to wear for this costume right up until I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror that morning).

I did my hair in loose pigtails, and borrowed a pair of fake glasses from my brother (part of his "nerd" costume. Which, come to think of it, I never did get a photo of him in that getup). I kept the makeup simple, but did bright red lipstick to match the shirt. I think the result looks kind of hipster? 

Time: 20 minutes, but only because I had trouble finding the glasses

Unexpected or Notable Reactions: I had a coworker say to me, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you in makeup before."

I started to laugh-- until I realized she was serious. This is someone who's commented on a lot of my costumes, too, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: You know, I think I would. It's a cute idea, especially if you're going to be in any kind of group photo, and it's very quick and easy. 

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: ...Um... Yeah, I've got nothing. Instead, here's a fun fact: Waldo has an evil nemesis: the wicked Odlaw. (Waldo spelled backwards). He shows up in some of the books and frequently argues with the narrator in the tv show. Other fun fact: There was a Where's Waldo tv show. And a video game, though the video game is considered one of the worst ever made. (I'm learning a lot of interesting things by researching these costumes.)

Costume #33.5: Turtle Power

No costume for this one, they scheduled this theme for a day that I'm not working. But I did want to share the Most Appropriate Halloween Song for this one just because I had such an awesome one: "We Are Ninjas" by Pentatonix

Costume #34: 1920s

This flapper dress is one my Mom made for a dance performance I did back in college-- she got the dress at a thrift store, hemmed it shorter, and added the fringe. I wore it with a pearl bead necklace, black stockings, and mary jane style shoes. 

I went for simple, more or less period-appropriate makeup (slightly darker eyebrows, red lipstick, etc) but the big job was the hair. In 1920s, pretty much all women had their hair bobbed. Meanwhile, I have thick long hair that's just getting to the point where it reaches the middle of my back. Kind of inconvenient. I could have gotten a haircut, but that seemed a bit drastic for one costume, so instead I did a faux bob. This involved an hour of braiding, tucking, and pining about 70 or so bobby pins to get my hair into something like bob length, and then using a truly unholy quantity of hairspray. (This was actually the quick and dirty version-- to get a really accurate faux bob I'd have had to get up at 4 in the morning to start curling everything.) And even then, while working I had to pause every half hour or so and repin hair that had come loose. But I don't think it looked half bad!

Time: An hour and a half-- mostly spent on the hair.

Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Sure, but I'd be more likely to wear this to some kind of Big Band Swing Dance event. (I actually did this look for a Decades Dance while I was living up in Boise, and one of these times I might have to tell you the story of that dance-- after I've had a little more time to get over the particularly embarrassing parts)

Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Let's go with "Swinging at the Seance" by The Moon-Rays. (The video is pretty cheesy, but this is the title song of an excellent album of Halloween themed swing music.)

Costume #35: Zombies

If you're having trouble reading the t-shirt, it says, "I volunteered for the zombie apocalypse and all I got was this lousy shirt." It was a souvenir from volunteering for Last Night On Campus, a charity event run by the Humans vs Zombies group at USU. The brain I borrowed from my Mom's costume bins.

I didn't wash or even brush my hair the day before, so it still had all the weird kinks and tangles and hair spray from that faux bob I did. I sprinkled my hair and shirt with a mix of baby powder and a little bit of hot chocolate mix-- looks like dirt but smells quite a bit nicer. For makeup I mostly did a lot of brown and black smudges, trying to emphasize make cheekbones and the bags under my eyes. Then I added red lipstick and a little eyeliner to make my mouth look bloody and do some scratches over one eye. 

The part of the makeup job that I ended up liking best was the neck wound. I tried using lipstick to draw a bite mark, but it didn't look terribly convincing, so I filled in with black. It still just looked weird so I tried using lipstick to make the wound look bloody. That looked worse, so I started to remove the extra lipstick-- and then I saw what the smudges looked like. I smeared a little bit of lipstick all around the bite. My Dad (who reacted with disgust when he saw it) said it had the effect of making it look like an injury that had tried to heal but failed. All in all, not too bad for something that almost entirely came out of a normal makeup kit. 

Time: About 45 minutes
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Maybe. I think if this was my main costume, I'd want to find ways to play it up more-- there are all kinds of prosthetic injuries you can make or buy that would add a real punch. But as is, this is a great costume to break out for a Zombie walk or some other kind of zombie themed event that isn't on Halloween proper.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: There are so many great Zombie songs. Thriller, by Michael Jackson. Dead Man's Party, by Oingo Boingo. Re: Your Brains, by Jonathan Coulton. (I think a good case could be made for Chained to the Rhythm by Katy Perry, too.) I could go on. But I kind of have a soft spot for "African Zombie" by Alex Boye, so that's going to be my #1 pick.




And that's it for the week! Man, just two weeks left. Let's see if I can survive it.