All Hallows Eve: Cygnus atratus

Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays (along with the Yuletide, of course!). Apart from spending a copious amount of time with my family and indulging in a little overeating, I have an affinity for the dark that seems to escape most. Witches, magic -- something about All Hallows Eve has always appealed to me. There was a sense of danger, a sense of adventure in the air. And if you ask me, if you tried hard enough, you can almost hear the dead rising from their graves; the spirits mingling with the living.

Additionally, playing dress up has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Not just dressing up in dresses and slabbing on heaps of make up, to be sure, but the dressing up where you just seem to get lost in character... a character that you've pondered for awhile and just makes sense. A persona you can fit and mold yourself into. And a costume befitting the theme. Ghosts, witches, ghouls, goblins, zombies -- so long as it's a dark character, it's fine by me. The exploitation of women through sexy and slutty outfits are in bad taste, and the cutesy outfits just don't get in to the spirit of things. Hey, Easter bunny, unless you plan on murdering someone with a knife, I suggest you wait for your Sunday.

With that in mind, I tossed my idea of going as, gasp! say it isn't so!, either a fallen angel or the angel of death. I knew that a multitude of women would go as the ever-present angel, dark angel, cat, naughty school girl, devil, cowgirl, and other such banal and unimaginative costumes so I instead went as Nina's Black Swan, from Darren Arronofsky's thriller of the same name.



What do you guys think? Personally, I adore it! My mom = GENIUS.

For the past 3 years, I've always dressed as dark ingénues so it comes as no surprise that this year is no different. Last 2007, I was Emily Strange. For 2008, I was Wednesday Addams. Last year, I went as Violet Baudelaire. Adding Nina to my expanding list of costumes is fitting.

I also adore dark films (make no mistake, I didn't say horror or thriller or suspense!), and since I am a film buff, I prepared a list of must-watch movies and made up my own Scream Film Fest.

1.) Practical Magic
2.) Beetlejuice
3.) Double, double, toil and trouble
4.) Death Becomes Her
5.) Casper
6.) Hocus Pocus
7.) Sleepy Hallow
8.) The Craft
9.) The Blair Witch Project

It's safe to say my Halloween/Dia de los Muertos weekend has been kind. How was yours?

Good night boils and ghouls,
Essa.