Beaufort Books » Halloween

From Our Beau House To Yours-Halloween H20

Beaufort Books — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:28:56 +0000

As Halloween is over I thought I’d catalogue a few impressions from the wonderful night of mischief, vampires, and literary encounters with the ghosts of writers past. If you didn’t spend All Hallow’s Eve at a monster ball in Brooklyn and ended up in a loft party with sparklers, demanding fake passwords from strangers, you may have been in Manhattan, and well, I can’t help you out there, it’s the worst place to spend All Saints’ day.

Back to the Better Borough (yes, said that for the alliteration since this is a publishing house) Repulsed, enthralled, impressed, enlightened, and “Woah, my eyes hurt from all that stardust, Ziggy!” Here are the top 3 costumes I witnessed from my Zombie-Ben-Franklin-Your-Mom persona that evening. Before this list, a quick message on America’s numero uno founding father. First, it’s entirely relevant to this blog: he started as a printer and publisher, dirt poor (like me!) and changed the course of history, while also founding the first Philadelphia public library (not like me!). Back to the list:
1. Some cute little 13 18 year old hipsters (and it is affirmative they were not grad students with IKEA apartments with a creepy obsession with Liz Lemon) dressed as the entire cast of “30 Rock.” So either a) my friends aren’t that cool. b) I don’t have 9 friends.

2. Cast of “Freaks and Geeks.” Now I know you’re not cool enough to think of that, neither was I.

3. Kissing Booth. Genius.

So there you have it, the last ever post on Hallo – remember to hydrate next time kids! -ween.

-Nikki-Lee

From Our Beau House To Yours – Book Philanthropy

Beaufort Books — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:21:15 +0000

While reading Edgar Allan Poe, rather defensively, as I came home to Brooklyn last night on the L train, a young man (ok, let’s say a hipster with an MA in English Lit) asked politely what I was reading. I was faced with a predicament. Do I ignore this (despite what must have been a hipster parody Halloween costume rehearsal) presentable young fellow who was clearly not a subway lunatic, law and order psychopath, or seller of illegal drugs? My non-New York roots said clearly, well that’s just rude. So I answered, rather defensively, Poe. He then said a pretty decent question in my book (yay “book” pun):

“Do you like poetry?”

Me: “Never heard of the stuff (read: lie).”

“What enchanting lies! Here’s a book of poems, take it, it’s good.”

Me: “Um…”

He got off at the next stop while I profusely claimed I couldn’t accept this gift. Now, while my crazy radar went off like crazy, as it does in NY, I thought: well now that’s pretty cool, man. It was an Italian translation of Umberto Saba, and is still in my totebag. In the future I think I’ll be more prone to impulsive fits of literary kindness in the big city. Turn to your neighbor, put on your best smile, a philanthropic book exchange in a looming misanthropic winter!

-Nikki-Lee

From Our Beau House To Yours – Literary Costumes

Beaufort Books — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:12:10 +0000

As schedules become more hectic with the speeding year, it’s easy to forget about one of the best celebrations of the year, that is Halloween. As a firm believer in the make-your-own-costume Halloween ethic, and given the current economic crisis, I hope many New Yorkers steer clear of overpriced costume stores or websites.

Common Store Bought Costume Examples. And yes, everyone can tell you bought it online:

1. Slutty Devil/Angel/Vampire/Werewolf/Meercat/Whatever

2. Slutty Tinkerbell

3. Slutty Hermione Granger

Now, it may just be me, but the standard let’s pick a universal theme and sluttify it doesn’t strike me as that hard to come up with. But bridging into childhood fairytales seems a little off-kilter. Slutty Hermione Granger? Who came up with that? Why don’t they just say outright: Warning – this is a 13 year old favorite literary character aimed at pre-adolescent teens. Just saying it’s a little weird. What about that actress who plays Hermione Granger? On October 31 there’s going to be 20-somethings all over the world dressed like her, but looking like a prostitute. Just a little irresponsible.

To fight the masses here are some AWESOME do-it-yourself-literary costume ideas:

1. James Joyce: don some spectacles, a mustache and a constant supply of Guinness.

2. (for couples) Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes: Red lipstick, 50s garb, and a convincing look of manic depression in your eye.

3. Hunter S. Thompson: this one particularly helps if you look like Johnny Depp, but unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, short shorts, glasses, cigarette and cigarette holder, medicinal marijuana if you have a prescription.

4. David Foster Wallace. Um, too soon? Ok too soon.

And you get the idea: they’re fun, convincing, and you don’t have to worry about pedophilia or going to your cute friend’s Halloween party dressed as a hot dog. Or just the mustard.

-Nikki-Lee