Iron Man and Indy

Summer movies always give us great ideas for awesome Halloween costumes. And this year we’ve had quite a few movies that had some fun costumes. Now, don’t go all Movie Critic on me. Don’t get all bogged down on how good the acting was, or whether or not it was a brilliant script, or if a movie will get nominated for an Oscar.

So not the point.

Just think about the outfits, the look, the costumes. There were some fun ones weren’t there?? Oh yeah. And there are more movies to come. So over the next few blogs let’s talk about which movie costumes would make fun Halloween costumes.

Let’s start with two movies. One that, if you want to dress up as for Halloween, you should so make for yourself and one that you probably shouldn’t.

Everyone’s favorite archaeologist made his return to the big screen this year, and Professor Jones was looking pretty good after being gone for years. The classic Indiana Jones look was all there. What a fun and simple costume. You can make this one yourself. Just hop on down to your local thrift store and you’ll be able to find the khaki shirt and pants. You’ll want to start now looking for a leather or faux leather jacket. Throw on some hiking or work boots and you are almost there. A brown fedora is a must for this look, so you can head down to any good hat store and get yourself a real one or you can pick up a costume fedora for much cheaper. All you need to finish up the look is a bullwhip – which I suppose you could make on your own. I think I’d save myself hours of learning leather craft and just buy one.

Then we had Iron Man hit the big screen. Finally a movie that wasn’t a sequel or a remake. Nice. And some out there are saying this is possibly one of the very best superhero movies ever made. Whatever you may have thought of the movie, Robert Downey Jr., or how true it was to the comic book, you have to admit, the outfit was pretty stinking cool.

I’ve read about a few people who have tried to come up with their own homemade version. Well there was one guy, who spent months and thousands of dollars coming up with his own custom made Iron Man costume. How many of you really have those resources? I saw some other ideas that even the creators admitted looked just plain hokey - layered t-shirts and face paint. So, for this costume I have to vote for buying the pre-made type. It’s got the classic comic book look, a really cool helmet and muscles, and would be great fun for anyone who’s got superhero longings or ambitions.

Once you’ve got the costume on just remember to walk tall and strong – shoulders back, head held high. You’re an invincible superhero now!

To the Funk Zone

Last year, after a busy, exciting Halloween season, Scavenge closed its doors on State Street after more than 10 years of being a favorite fixture in downtown. You know the story – rising rents on State Street were just too much. So the doors closed, but Scavenge was still out there in cyberspace – shipping costumes and lingerie and everything in between to customers all over the country.

We’re Back!! Oh yeah, it’s the Return of Scavenge! Our store has found a new home. We did not return to State Street, but we’re within spitting distance. Our new home is in the Funk Zone and that is a perfect fit for our offbeat, way-cool store. Our doors opened this week giving Santa Barbara back it’s only year-round, downtown costume shop.

We’re back and better than ever. Come check out the new store at 52 Helena St. For all you Santa Barbarians out there, Helena is that little street that comes right up off Cabrillo (which runs along the beach) between Rusty’s Pizza and Wheel Fun Rentals. Our store has got a new look, complete with purple floors. While the store may seem smaller, our selection is still just as big, maybe even bigger than before – we have a large warehouse that is holding tons of costumes and lingerie for you.

This means you can get those all the costumes you need for those summer theme parties, for your 4th of July celebrations, and the lingerie you want to spice up those hot summer nights. Check out our online selection --- it’s huge, it’s vast, it’s fricken humongous. We have so much more than we could fit in the store. Make your life easier by ordering it online and arranging for in-store pickup.

Keep your eyes on the Independent for special Grand Re-Opening announcement. It will look something like this:

Bring the ad with you and get a free gift. Sorry, can’t tell you what the gift is, but I’ll tell you this – it’s something you can use with a costume everyone should wear at one time or another.

Solstice - Santa Barbara Style

This last Saturday, I headed downtown to be one of the many spectators at Santa Barbara’s annual Summer Solstice Parade. I love this place! I haven’t lived in any other town where they shut down the main drag to have a big parade just to welcome summer. This parade and festival has been a regular event for 34 years and gets as many as 100,000 people out to watch. At this parade, over 1,000 Santa Barbarians of all ages, leave their maturity and worries about what people think of them behind, and just have some good old fun celebrating summer.

Someone just visiting Santa Babara stopped me on the sidewalk as the parade was going by, asking, “What is this parade for?” I explained that the really cool thing about this parade is that anyone can take part. Random people attend workshops where they create their own floats, costumes, and masks. Then on parade day they march, float, dance, ride, skate, or get carried down our main drag, State Street, entertaining the tons of spectators. We all know those watching just wish, deep down inside, that they had the ideas or guts to get out there and join in the fun.









Fun head coverings are on just about every participant. Top hats with artful creations glued, or otherwise attached to them, make a great hat even better and more original. With paper cutouts, a part of a feather boa and some curled paper ribbons, this hat is a example of the one-of-a-kind creations that you'll see.





A whole group of hula hoop dancers showed off their amazing skills twirling their hoops while dancing and running about down the street. I’m betting this woman picked up the butterfly halter top at Scavenge – back when we used to carry that item - and those booty shorts too. They really hold up so well and are amazingly versatile. They can be part of so many great costume ideas.





Young and old really get into the parade. Simple yet effective costume – a wild wig, an animal nose, and some snazzied-up glasses and this lady's got a great look going on. Helmet decorations along with a fun petticoat and this girl is a hit as she skates along doing circles and patterns.





Just what we needed on the hot day – a cool dude on his way-cool bike, looking perfect for solstice with his grass skirt, lei, and surfer-dude wig. He shared his coolness with the crowds, spraying them with his mister.



There are some actual organizations making an appearance at the parade as well – capoeira demonstrators, Brazilian dancers, and drumming groups. Sometimes you just can’t tell if someone is part of the group or just some lone solstice celebrant, like the guy in the toga moving among the salsa dancers. Is he supposed to be there? Who knows? And, if he isn't officially with the group, no one really minds!

Maybe one day I’ll try being a stilt walker in the parade. With a really big pair of stilts, I might even reach 6 feet tall. These people make it look so easy, just cruising around chatting with onlookers as they move past.

Even some of our local dignitaries to get into the act. Check out our Mayor, Marty Blum, getting jiggy down State Street in her Solstice costume.

From elaborate Clowns Going Fishing to the simple, yet highly entertaining, Man-Powered Balls, Solstice “floats” are almost all human-powered as they are pushed or pulled down the street.




As always, there is the grand finale – the one big float. This year’s was a giant see-through ball being pulled by Santa Barbarians looking for a good workout, with a woman doing acrobatics on a rope inside.

Gotta love Solstice; Santa Barbara style!

Turning 232 Years Old

We’ve got a birthday to celebrate! In just a couple of weeks America will turn 232 years old! Everyone seems to celebrate it in one way or another, or at least acknowledge it.

I just say the words, ”4th of July” and immediately you’ve got images of fireworks, parades, and barbeques flooding your mind. Everything is red, white, and blue. Uncle Sam has a big grin and is dancing about in the streets. Flags are waving away and there’s an overall feeling of happiness, right? At the very least, most of us think of the 4th of July as the start of summer and spend some time outside basking or playing in the sun – slathered in sunscreen, of course.

Here’s some interesting facts you may not know about Independence Day. Share them with your friends and family and you’ll look utterly brilliant, and, no doubt be the life of the party on the 4th of July.

• The first Independence Day was celebrated on July 8th, 1776 – not on the 4th!
• The 4th of July wasn’t even a federal legal holiday until 1941!
• In 1776 there were 2.5 million people in the 13 original colonies. Last year on the 4th, there were 302 million in 50 states.
• The US imported about $216 million of fireworks in 2006, with $206 million from China.
• We also imported $5.3 million in flags – again, mostly from China.
• Americans eat more than 150 million hot dogs on the 4th of July!

Throw on your party clothes and celebrate Uncle Sam’s birthday. Do it in style. Red, white, and blue is the way to go - whether you’re in a bikini, shorts and a t-shirt, or a suit. Top off the look with a party hat just right for the occasion. We’ve got your traditional Uncle Sam top hat, a way-cool rainbow version, AND we’ve also special Republican and Democratic versions as well. You just can’t go wrong with these! They are all really well-made and fun. I love the quality of these and the velvet-like material they are made out of. They are comfy as can be and hold their shape fantastically. And they all have this great little feature - size adjusters inside. You can make them fit your head perfectly. This comes in really handy for me – being of the more compact size than most.

These are these are the perfect party-hat for whatever type of birthday celebration you may having for our country this year. I’m thinking --- great with a bikini at the beach or in the stadium watching some killer fireworks extravaganza. Heck, they hold up so well, you can use them again come election time in November. Proudly show support for your candidate (if he’s from one of the big two) at the conventions, on the street or at the polls.

So get out there – watch those parades, hit the beaches, light up the grill, oooh and aaahhh over fireworks, wave your flags, blow your horns this Independence Day. Celebrate! It’s party-time!

Pay Homage to the Sun

Before I moved to Santa Barbara, I barely heard about Summer Solstice. I wasn't entirely ignorant. I knew it was the official start of summer and that it was the longest day of the year – more daylight than any other day. I never really thought much more about it.

Up here in Santa Barbara, and apparently all around the world, people really get into celebrating Summer Solstice. And why not??? First of all, I’m always up for any good reason to celebrate and have some fun. And to celebrate sunshine, well, that just makes total sense to me.

I’m a sun and water girl totally, so this is my kind of celebration. I long for summer all year long. I don’t dig on snow (other than from a distance – like on TV or in pictures). I don’t love the cold and all that bundling up that goes along with it. My friends who live in other parts of the country have diagnosed me with a terminal case of cold weather wimpiness. It’s true. I consider anything under 60 degrees to be FREEZATION! I can’t even imagine living where the temps get to 40 or lower. It just sounds so unreal, so uninhabitable --- like the frozen tundra. Humans were not meant to live there – not this human, for sure.

For these reasons alone I advocate excessive celebratation for Summer Solstice. Enjoy the 15 hours of sunlight you are going to get this Saturday, June 20th. Welcome the first day of summer in a way that befits the greatest season of the year. Winter is passed, the days are longer and warmer, flowers are blooming, the best fruits are in season, and fun is just calling your name.

Summer Solstice has been celebrated since ancient times by so many cultures around the world. There were bonfires, feasts, parties, and love celebrations. What’s it going to be for you? Does your community have some sort of celebration? If so, get out there and celebrate. If not, do your own celebrating.

More daylight than any other day?? Well that just begs a visit to the beach, wouldn’t you say? Solstice and swimsuits are a perfect combination. Tie on that bikini, slather your body with some good-smelling sunscreen and go pay homage to the sun.

Here in Santa Barbara we’ll be having a huge Summer Solstice Parade and Celebration. We’ll have more than 1,000 folks in crazy floats, wild costumes, and huge, colorful masks parading down our main drag on Saturday. It’s great fun to watch. But why be just a spectator? Be a part of the fun. Just throw on a crazy hat or headpiece a wild wig, or some fun wings and you’ll have an even better time and be a part of the celebration. Or do like these two girls did, just throw on a head bopper and glasses and you are set for the parade itself.

Just a Hat

I’ve got three sons --- three grown-up, man-sized sons. In May, two of them turned 21 and the other turned 23. We all got together for three days up in NorCal for a group birthday celebration. For those of you who are not-so-hip, or in the dark, “NorCal” is what we cool people call Northern California. Confession – I’m not that cool myself. My son, who lives up there, recently edumacated me in this very fine piece of information.

We ran around San Francisco and Berkeley for a day and enjoyed the sights, the shops, the scenery, the food, and . . . the people-watching was fantastic. We stumbled into a hat store in Berkeley, where my son saw your basic, cheap, nothing-fancy pirate hat. He just had to have it. It was like one we used to carry in our costume store in Santa Barbara. He was bummed when we replaced with a bigger, better version, so there was no way he was going to pass this one up. He knocked over a student, an old woman, and a blind man in his mad rush to get to the cash register. Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but you get the feeling of how excited he was.

“No bag, thanks. I’ll wear it out.” And he did wear it . . . for the rest of the day . . . everywhere we went. My son already dresses rather interestingly – he calls it dressing cool and original. His little black pirate hat went so well with his lime green shirt with large white polka dots generously scattered about, along with his blue striped jacket with buttons (think of the “flair” Jennifer Aniston was wearing in Office Space), his snug-fitting jeans, and his bright green converse tennis shoes. The only thing truly pirate about him was the hat, yet all the comments he got were piratey.

An “arrgggh” here, a “where’s yer boat” there, with a few “aye, matey’s” thrown in. We heard every pirate phrase and joke imaginable that day. He got all sorts of compliments and those who stayed silent, gave him a smile or the look. You know the look that makes it clear someone has noticed your odd look, that look that is envious but hiding it, that look that admires you for being brave enough to be different and have fun.

Yes, I know, I’ve raised me some fine young men. First of all they get how to have fun!! This is key. And maybe equally important, they love pirates. I think it’s genetic. I’m a big ol’ pirate inside . . . and even outside at times. I’ve been spotted do my rounds in full pirate garb. And the reactions of those on the street or in the stores are just wonderful.

A hat is all it takes sometimes. It’s something so simple, but it somehow it is so powerful. Just a goofy, fun hat and the whole day takes on a whole new feel. BANG! I’m smiling more. BAM! Others are smiling more. BOOM! Perfect strangers are making conversation! BOING! I’m having more fun, just like that. All because of a hat.

Yippee and Yuck Awards

Here we go for my final thoughts on the Rosarito to Ensenada Fun Bike Ride from April. Beyond the costumes and accoutrements (don’t you just love that word) there were other parts of the ride I just have to comment on. I could justify my need to comment by saying it’s for all of those out there considering the ride. I could say it’s that I want to help my fellow fun-loving cyclists have the best experience in future rides. That sounds so good, but, let’s get real. I’m sharing my all-important, ever-so-valuable, opinions on all things Yippee and Yucko, because I can. Sort of like climbing a mountain just because it’s there.

These things deserve a Yippee Award. They made the whole day even better.
Yippee . . . .
~to the one-legged rider! You make us all feel like we can do anything we set our minds to.
~to the “big” people who didn’t walk their bikes during the tough parts.
~for the unexpected route. I thought we were going to take the main road, but instead it was the alternate route through the hillsides.
~for the closed roads – keeping us all alive for another day.
~for the kids who rode
~for the guy on the elliptical bike – never seen one of those before
~for the family on the tandem bike with the attached trailer. Now that took some effort
~to the inline skaters who did the whole 50 miles and kept up with the cyclists
~for no kidnappings or muggings (that I know) of, that our friends and families were so sure would happen
~for the shuttle return. They took good care of our bikes and the ride was comfortable. Enough with the horror stories.
~to the guys with the most unique roadside sign “Show Us Your Tits.” Now that was creative.

If I have a Yippee, you gotta have a Yuck Award as well.
Yuck . . .
~to those walking their bikes for no good reason – no injury, no malfunction
~to the guy hauling humongous speakers in his bike trailer and blasting his music in our ears
~to the guy who grabbed on to the passing truck and hitched a ride
~for the first few miles – way to crowded with crazy, scary, kamikaze riders

As you can see, hardly any Yucks. I loved this ride and this experience. So, if you've been considering joining this ride next time, consider no longer. Go do it . . . . in costume, of course.