Ding Dong, We’re Back!

Illustration by Jslow.

This is no trick.

Hopefully, dear readers, you will find this post a treat in your in-box or on your computer screen. The good kind of treat like a bag of M&Ms or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (large size, not small), and not the bad kind like sugar-free gum or a handful of pennies.

It’s fitting we’re debuting our new blog “costume” on Halloween. After all, we launched on Halloween THREE YEARS AGO, when Jslow posted about her love for Halloween, and me, my utter hatred of it.

I continue to find Halloween annoying. Although this year, to make it more or less annoying (I can’t decide which), it’s colliding with the San Francisco Giant’s World Series Parade here in San Francisco. I’m a huge Giants fan, as is Jslow, yet I’m not a fan of fans or crowds. I imagine Panda Heads will be out in full force. At least I find them charming. Let’s hope the “Sexy” Pandas stay home.

I find any costumes that involve a giant paper-mache head to be the best. The Jack-N-The-Box head never gets old. I’m hoping to see a few “Franks” from the movie of the same name. I love the anonymous nature of these out of proportion spheres. The expressionless, even keel, chill factor is mesmerizing. Nothing rattles the head. Unless, I suppose, being pelted by candy or rain. Yeah, rain could be bad. And it’s supposed to rain.

Mike Wazowski costume, by Jslow.

Note the above perfect paper mache Mike Wazowski head and monster feet Jslow created for her son. For those without kids like me, “Mike” is the green guy from Monster’s Inc. and Monster’s University, voiced by Billy Chrystal.

I’m pretty much in awe of her handiwork, and how she managed to pull this off given her extreme lack of time.

Truth be told, what I’ve missed most while Blank Stare, Blink was down was Jslow. We both have been buried, ladies of a certain age dealing with the life stuff we all deal with in our advancing ages: work, family, and now for Jslow a new kind of dealing—going back to school—art school in fact. The endless streams of fashion photos flying between our computers have ground to a halt. Texts go unanswered. But fashion will always connect us even with distractions like homework. We should all look forward to how, if at all, Jennifer’s new life as an “adult” student in a sea of pierced and tatted 18-year-olds impacts her sartorial choices.

I’m betting she’s the only one in her classes that made a Monster’s Inc. paper mache head for her son this Halloween. And no matter what grades she gets for this drawing or that, I bet what matters most is that this “Mike” costume gets an “A+” from her son.

As for me, I’m going to pretend I’m wearing the biggest paper mache head ever so nothing rattles me today. We hope you all have a lovely Halloween. Let us know what you think of our blog’s new “costume”.

xo