Results tagged “halloween”

Every year the boundaries for acceptable Halloween costumes are tested. Every year those boundaries are most certainly crossed, if only for a few of us at Chicagoist that insist on wearing the Ninja Turtles costume we've worn since we were eight. Halloween in some ways has become a social experiment, measuring the capacity for tolerance by exploring what really is in fact taboo by today's standards. For some, we found out where the line was drawn after photos of two local individuals dressed as "blackface" for Halloween surfaced on the Internet a few days ago. The two who dressed in blackface are believed to be students at Northwestern University and, as a result, there has been considerable public outcry in Evanston. The university even publicly addressed the photos, calling the costumes insensitive and in poor judgment, although not in violation of any university rules.

            

Yesterday we wandered around East Lakeview to see what kinds of post-Halloween detritus we could find. In addition to lots of stray feathers and empty bottles and cans that once contained alcoholic or energy beverages, we also spotted the following items. We're sure that every one of them has a quirky story behind it; feel free to get creative and make some up in the comments section.

            

Last week, we celebrated Halloween by looking at some costumes of Halloweens past. Now, as we move on past the spookiest of holidays, we look back at a few of this year's costumes seen around town.

This seems like a no-brainer for today, especially given the film from which this clip comes. Last night at Jewel, as Chicagoist staff members made a last-minute candy run (for ourselves; screw the kids), Christmas decorations were up in the next aisle over.

     

Happy Halloween! Have you been wondering how your favorite politicians, Chicagoist editors and, um, Richard Marxes are going to dress this year? Eyewitness News Chicagoist has the scoop!

           

It's a slow day around the Chicagoist Office and the weather has us down. So a few of the braver souls decided to dig up some old Halloween costumes from childhood and share them with the world. Behold the glory of it all.

           

Halloween is tomorrow which means there's lots of pumpkins all carved up. Last week, we asked to see your pumpkins and many of you were kind enough to oblige. Enjoy!

Call it a hunch, but we’re guessing you weren’t invited to Redmoon Theater’s Halloween performance at the White House. Yeah, we weren’t either. But no worries, there are plenty of shows to check out this weekend. In no particular order:

      

We're in the full throes of Fall and Halloween is this weekend which means pumpkins are everywhere. And some animals at Brookfield Zoo were the recipients of a special Halloween treat.

On Halloween, there are those of us who like to get dressed up and go to parties. And there are those of us who like to stay home curled up with a mug of hot cider and watch scary movies. We know who we are. A new Scorsese list got us thinking about what movies we would recommend. Here are five:

Every Halloween we’re treated to warnings from media, police and elected officials about “suspicious” candy handed out by nefarious adults. If you’re not afraid to ask strangers for candy yet, you clearly haven’t been paying attention to more than 30 years of perpetuated myths about poisoning. The Tribune reports the DuPage County Police department will assuage public fears this year by using its high tech crime lab facilities to test suspicious candy local residents drop off. [Ed's Note: No word if this extends to religious literature, like that a neighbor used to hand out to us instead of candy. Jerkstore... - M.G.]

Halloweek is here and it's time to throw together your best sexy Daft Punk costume, prepare to arrive at work hung over at least once before the Devil's Day and immerse your ears in the city's vast Halloween-centric music offerings.

Let's check out some of the spooky goings on taking grip of Chicago this week. Shall we?

Man puts on giant bat costume. Man runs about town in said costume. Hilarity ensues. [via]

    

One of the things we love most about Halloween is carving pumpkins and the creative ways our friends and readers decide to carve theirs. So we'd like to ask you to share your pumpkin carvings with us. Between now and next Thursday, October 30, if you get your carvin' on, take a photo and share them with us, either in our Flickr pool, or simply tag them with "Chicagoist Pumpkin" in Flickr. We'll flip through the submissions and post our favorites next Friday, October 30. Now get carving!

• The latest parking meter issue has Mayor Daley annoyed, calling the issue "unacceptable."
• The Sun-Times' union workers will shortly assemble to vote on concessions requested in Jim Tyree's bid for the paper's parent company. A smaller paper in the STMG family - the Post-Tribune - voted against the concessions last night.
• The IHSA has reinstated all levels of football at North Chicago High School after the program was suspended following a brawl with Simeon High earlier this month.

Oh, Drew Peterson, why can't people just leave you alone? Bolingbrook's Most Notorious Ex-Husband™ got an odd start to his Halloween on Friday thanks to a radio station's prank. It seems that some of the folks at B96 issued a challenge to its listeners: be the first trick-or-treaters at Peterson's house and win a shiny new cell phone. A pair of folks showed up on Peterson's doorstep on Friday morning, but hilarity did not ensue.

"The police heard about it," Peterson said, and the law showed up to intervene.

Continue reading "D-Pete Gets Punk'd"

      

If you missed our first round of your Halloween photos, taken from our Flickr pool, be sure to check it out here.

         

The first of a few rounds of your best Halloween shots from our Flickr pool.

Our girlfriend is gonna be a sexy (duh) zombie tonight, so we feel a special affinity for the event captured below.

Happy Halloween! After a rather cool and brisk week, temps have warmed for the weekend and the holiday is looking to be bright and mild. In fact, it could wind up being the warmest Halloween in eight years. The warm temps will get up to the upper 60s tonight; clear skies and lows in the mid 50s prevail tonight. And remember, children, if your costume is Cobra Commander and it involves fake weapons, be careful how you display them in public.

Still smarting from the mess of the "Egg War of 2006," residents hope a recent crackdown of selling eggs to youths before and on Halloween in the Howard Street area, marking the border between Evanston and Chicago, will help to keep similar messes at bay. The move was spearheaded by Evanston Ald. Ann Rainey (8th). She said, referring to the 2006 incident, "It was a disaster. Given the world situation, calling throwing eggs a disaster might sound like a stretch, but some people had to spend $1,000 to clean up the mess." Last year was pretty successful, save for a few stores that sold to youths anyway, stores that have since been warned. Most grocers have been supportive of the decision. Yourash Matti, of Leon's Liquor and Grocery, said, "I don't sell at Halloween now to kids any age. This is not a joke, really. From tomorrow, no eggs in my store."

Not interested in dressing up as Sarah Palin this year, like just about everyone else is planning to do? You rebel, you. But maybe you're uncreative and can't think of anything else to be. To the rescue we come, bearing suggestions (none of which involve being "slutty" something -- score!):

Good grief, people. After this week's hanging of a Sarah Palin effigy in West Hollywood comes word that an effigy of Barack Obama was found this morning on the campus of the University of Kentucky. The Secret Service claimed the Palin effigy was okay because it was part of a Halloween decoration. Um, no. An effigy is defined as "a crude figure representing a hated person." So it's kind of not okay. As for the Obama effigy, U of K President Lee Todd said he was, "personally offended and deeply embarrassed by this disgusting episode." There was also an effigy of Obama found on the campus of Oregon school George Fox University in September.

After all the carving is complete and your floors are covered in pumpkin guts, the temptation is to pick up ALL of that newspaper (or garbage bags or tarps) and toss it all in the trash. But wait! You have, within your grasp, a tasty, nutritious snack! And best of all? You’ve already paid for it.

In the midst of many Happy Halloweeners scrambling to find last minute costumes and the best deal on fun-size candy, today the Trib outed their crotchety counterparts - the Halloween Scrooges. Sure it's fun to get all gussied up, be someone else for the night and gorge on lots of sugary drinks and chocolately snacks, but sometimes we wonder if it's really all worth it. Isn't it really just a night out, but higher-maintenance? A lot of times Halloween is built up to be one of the most rockin' party nights of the year, but in the end all you have to show for it is a puked-on rental costume you can't return and a hangover. As Trib interviewee Alex DiGiacinto put it, "If you hate Halloween, people take that as an opinion that you hate fun..I like fun. I just don't have it on the 31st." In kicking our various Friday plans around the Chicagoist offices, we determined we have a love/hate relationship with Halloween hullaballoo. Should we get in the spirit and party hardy, or hole up in our darkened houses and whip water balloons at trick-or-treaters? Here's how our decision-making process went:

Chicagoist certainly is a hard and serious Halloween celebrator, with info on costumes, zombie pin-up calenders -- and adding to our previous list of A&E Halloween treats -- here are a few more events to keep on the radar.

Halloween is coming up quicker than Sarah Palin at a first-come, first-serve scrunchy sale at Marshall's, so it’s time to snag a costume before they all get picked over. Where to go? Here’s our list: