Waldo was just one of the hundreds of comic book characters
wandering among the mass of fans, along with other comic book creations as Captain
America, the Amazing Spiderman, the Hulk, anime voice actors, comic writers,
designers, and illustrators, and (of course) zombies. Live guests such as anyone from STAR WARS and, of course,
the real Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk of STAR TREK fame are ever present at these
conventions.
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| MIKASA |
FACT: Waldo is
loveable in part because he is unique in costume. Each of us is partly Waldo in this regard. All of us like it or not, are uniquely dressed
for that random first impression. All of
us are wearing particular styles of clothing (costume) portraying current characters,
seemingly moment to moment, oftentimes as replacements for our regular personae. And the reasons for our costumes is because most
of abide by the unwritten rules of formal and casual dress codes. Our day-to-day garb, suit and tie or jeans
and tee, is our costume. And our costume
has social significance. The clothes we
don can indicate our gender, our income, our occupation, and our social class
My point is that one certainly does not need to be at FAN EXPO to be in
costume. All of us our in costume for most of our time. Our costume is our personal signature code
which includes our choice of bald or hirsute, piercings or jewellery, tattoos
or tanning booths, and as importantly, our togs.
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| YAMMIE -- LEAD SINGER OF THE ZYMOTICS |
Whether we are cubicle white-collar office drones, or open
range blue-collar work-to-the-bone grunters, our duds are indicative of
whom we really are, at least in our working moments. Sometimes in the
workplace we can disguise our real selves, because at work we don’t necessarily
have to be ourselves. In a strange way
then, work can be a refuge for those not comfortable with their real selves.
It could be that if you feel the need to hide
your real self, getting the right job will help, because at certain workplaces,
there is a desired kind of costume quirkiness.
For example, if you are a jock and love to show off those
pipes and gams, being scantily attired in a fitness centre is totally
appropriate. If you are the maître d in
a swanky dining room, then being nattily attired fits the bill (pun intended).
A female exhibitionist, who is willing to tightly wrap herself in
cleavage revealing tops and butt clinging skirts will arouse many a tip when
choosing to ply her wears (pun intended) in the breastaurant business.
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| BURRITO EATING CONTESTANTS -- WHOVIAN ROBIN, THIRD FROM THE LEFT |
I know a guy who works the floor at MADAME YES (see
advertisement scrolling down the right side of this blog), and dresses gothic
at his Madame Yes gig (a clothier of the darkest fashion), then ditches the
body darts and collar of darkness for his silver tie clasp and crisp collar of
milk at his other job as an accountant at City Hall.
Henry David Thoreau referred to clothes as a false skin to
gain a false respect. Philosophically, Thoreau questioned how long people would really retain their relative
rank if they were to be somehow divested of their clothes.
Accordingly let us muse … if we all dressed alike, would our
social status be determined by our worthiness, rather than by our worthy dress?
Hmmm … maybe … maybe not. (But what fun would it be? See YAMMIE, pictured above, dressed as MIKASA, and see ROBIN, pictured above, wearing a sombrero, after a burrito-eating contest.)
FAN EXPO, the comic book convention, is really an escape
from the dress code convention.
FAN EXPO is an escape from the blue and white collars of the workplace for the superhero capers of Fantasyland.
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| FARMERS' MARKET NEIGHBOR DAVID (PURE T ORGANICS) |
FAN EXPO is an escape from the blue and white collars of the workplace for the superhero capers of Fantasyland.
And where is Waldo?
We are Waldo … and we are everywhere!
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| THE BUSKOLOGIST -- TAKEN BY GENE BODZIN (MOON DOG THEATRE) |
*Check out our new songs (PHANTOM TIDE) on the YouTube link top right on this blog.
