:: stuPendous ::

Thursday, October 31, 2002

Ah yes, another Halloween, and another year abstaining from dressing up in costume. It's not that I didn't think of anything, nor that I had a dearth of free time to construct something - it came down to apathy again. I think I enjoy conceiving of the concepts more than actually realizing them. It would be easy to blame MTV and a society fixated on instant gratification - once I've thought of the costume, it's already old news, and it's time to move on to the hip new idea - but I think it runs deeper. I just watched a movie about the author Yukio Mishima, whose enchantment with the written word was exceeded only by his frustration at its anemic efficacy to change the physical world around him. He believed real change could only occur through the union of art and action, or as he phrased it "pen and sword". Granted, Mishima accomplished this by taking the general in charge of a Japanese defense garrison hostage, demanding that he be permitted to address the garrisoned troops en masse (which he did), and then committing ritual seppuku on the floor of the general's office. This wouldn't have been the method I would have used, but hey: diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

His frustration, though, is something to which I can relate strongly; my seeming inability to produce an actual costume is a prime example. All of us sometimes feel encapsulated by a maelstrom of unrelenting thoughts, concepts, idea, and desires which have little or no chance of actually coming into being. Likewise, we also often act out of instinct/emotion or without really thinking things through. Admittedly, these situations are frequently mandated by circumstance, but there are instances where we ourselves are the limiting factor. Halloween offers us a unique chance: the opportunity to fuse pen and sword with no ill consequence (other than perhaps some time wasted if things go poorly). We have the opportunity to be as creative as we should ever plausibly hope to be, and are restricted in action only by our willingness to put forth the necessary effort. It's as close to a Mishima-esque "gimme" as we ever get.

Of course, after realizing this, I immediately retreated to the pen and forwent the sword. Perhaps next year...

Posted by morland @ 01:28 PM

:: Comments ::

You should be a 50 pound raccoon.

Posted by: G Squee on October 31, 2002 03:31 PM

I recently heard of a costume someone wore which made me laugh. A guy at a halloween party was wearing all black and had barbies taped all over him. Yes, he was a babe magnet.

I told someone of this costume and they informed me of an even more creative variety, the chick magnet. This gentleman had a plus on his chest and a minus somewhere on his lower half, and fuzzy baby chicks all over him.

I think you'd make a good Jack Osbourne.

Posted by: a friend on October 31, 2002 04:12 PM

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