820 – Costume Crossover | Within the Wires & ings

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and friends beyond the binary, it's time for the podcaster patrons who you allow me to have the ability to keep my peas from popping, and also from the podcast from ever stopping ideally because of your support, so thanks patrons. I don't know what else to say other than thank you, and what do you say we get on with the show? 

Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. What we do is a bedtime story. All's you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play. I'm going to do the rest. What I'm going to do is try to create a safe place where you can set aside whatever's keeping you awake, whether it's thoughts, things you're thinking about on your mind, feelings, emotions coming up for you. Maybe, you're in the middle of your own great reckoning. 

I'm here to take your mind off that. Physical sensations, anything physical coming up, changes in time or temperature, or schedule, routine, or the baffling stuff. Oh, boy. It feels like I say this every week because unfortunately it feels like I say this every week, not last night. Now, Oprah's right about those gratitude lists. I got a message from somebody else that said, “By the way, Scoots, Oprah didn't invent gratitude.” I said, “Well, she's just the best at it, so that's neither here nor there.” What I was going to say is I'm so grateful. Do you hear this, sand people, just in case you're listening? 

I was so grateful for last night's sleep. It wasn't a 10 out of 10, but it was pretty good, especially contrasted with the night before. Let's just pretend that was an anomaly. Let's just pretend that it was an anomaly. I've been there. That's what I'm saying. If you're tossing and turning, whatever's keeping you awake, or sometimes you just don't know. That's what my main point was. Whatever's keeping you awake, I'd like to take your mind off that. What I'm going to do is, as I said, I have this safe place to set aside here a cleared out, prepared, or prepared in a way you love preparation. I don't like any preparation. I say, “Oh boy, do we have a safe place for you.”

Do you remember, I don't know if it was recently or in the future, I'll say, “Oh, but this safe place has cubbies. We have a section of it with cubbies, or we have a section for cubbies.” You say, “Well, I'm a Cubbies fan.” I say, “Oh boy, which cubbies are we talking about because we've got it for all kinds of cubby fans?”

I was thinking of Chi town. Yes, we have a safe place, very adjustable, and you could look in from the outside and decide. Then what you'll notice is I'm going to send my voice across the deep, dark night. I'm going to use the lulling, soothing creaky dulcet tones. Oh so creaky, so creaky, some people don't find them dulcet, but eventually you may. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the creaks to my dulcet tonight. That's what I say when I bed down.

Again, I haven't mentioned it in a while, but that's when I favored the Beastie Boys tracks, Bed Down. It was on the unreleased rarities, side Z. Yeah, what was I saying? I'm forever to forget. Yeah, when I get there I say, “Oh boy, am I going to send my voice across this dark night? Long, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones. Pointless meanders. Sometimes they're even subconscious, like that one.

I'm going to go off topic. I'm going to ramble. I'm going to be goofy and nonsensical. Really, I'm here to keep you company. Now if you're new, particularly if you just found your way to this show, welcome. I'm really going to try to make you feel welcome. At the same time I totally understand if you're skeptical, or doubtful, or you say, “What is this?” My forehead is permanently furrowed. If you're furrowing your brow, believe me, they said if there was any Olympic events that were based on strengths of brow… If I ever change jobs, I guess I would have had to do this in another life. You're talking about a one-trick pony. Because I then just thought for a second and I said, “Well, it's probably not going to be any Olympic events based on furrowing of brows.”

Then the next thought that just popped in my head was, “Well, maybe I could crack nuts with my brow, particularly that thing in between your eyes up above.” That's the furrow zone. Then I said, “Well, I'd have to travel the world going from square to square in the nut-loving regions, wherever that is. I don't know if that's in Scandinavia, Europe. Maybe, I could do Within The Wires tour. That was live Within Wires shows. I guess I could pitch Jeffrey and Janina. Then they'd said, “Well, it would be unrelated to Within The Wires.” 

I would just go to locations. Go to their town squares and crack nuts with the thing in my forehead. I don't know if it's a furrow. We could even get Helen Z from the allusionist involved and say, “Helen, is it a verb, my furrowing my brow? I guess you are. If a brow's been furrowed, it's a verb, right? That's a subject. I mean, I guess the verb is also whatever that thing is, the thing doing it, and being done.

I've never thought about writing a story from the… I guess we know what an upcoming episode one day will be. Because it's got to be confusing for the brow because it's being furrowed and it's furrowing. What I was saying, then they'd say, “You're going to crack nuts with your forehead.” Well, I guess it's kind of near my forehead. Oh wow, I didn't even know you could do that, Drew. Well, I don't know if I can do it, but I know the muscles are developed. Where was I though? Thanks for steering me back.

If you're a new listener, your brow may be furrowed because you might say, “Okay, wait a second. Did this dude just talk about furrowing his brow and say the word, furrowing 45 times?” I'd say, “Yeah.” You're lucky I only said Cubbies four times because that's a nice, sleepy thing. If you're new, this podcast is different. It's strange, but it's well-intentioned. I hope it can help you. Just give it a few tries, almost every regular reviewer says, “Hey, it took two or three tries, five tries. Someone just reviewed the show.” Not that I gain anything from you listening to it, I gain the most within my heart. No joke, knowing that you're getting a good night's sleep that you deserve.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work for everybody. You can check out Sleep With Me podcasts/no thank you. That's like other stuff. If you're new and you're skeptical or doubtful, totally, I would embrace you with open arms, but obviously when my brow's furrowed, it says, “Please don't embrace me or smile at me.” I want to respect that. If you're new, a couple of other things to know. Structurally, this is a little late to tell you that. I could start massaging brows. I have massaged my furrow before. Who was that king who said, “Out darn furrow, out?” It was Lady MacBeth trying to get rid of the furrow in my brow. That could be metaphorically related. She probably did have a furrow in her brow at that point.

Okay, where was I? Who would have thought I would had a Shakespearean tangent? Okay, Shakespearean life. I got it. It's still Shakespeare even though it's the one we read in fourth to sixth grade or seventh grade. Now I'm having a debate with some sort of Shakespearean critic in my brain. Structurally, what to expect? That's what I was saying. Show starts off with a few minutes of business. That's how we keep the podcast free for everybody and not behind a pay wall.

Then there's an intro which we're about eight to nine minutes into, which is usually about 12 to 15 minutes of me just rambling and getting you ready for the podcast to start belatedly, but it's always on time. Because I want to give you plenty of time to wind down, whether you're getting ready for bed, or you're already in bed getting comfortable. Maybe, I'll start making a podcast for all the furrows out there. Am I right, furrows or brows? Okay. I will have to talk to Helen Zaltzman about this because I say, “Well, is it the brow that furrows, or the furrow that brows?” Now there's some Shakespeare there.

Maybe, somebody could write a thesis on that. Did the Macbeths furrow their brows before or after? The furrowing of the brow, okay. I get a sand subject. The intro's just me goofing around in a way to help you get ready for bed, in a way that's familiar. It's to regular listeners, but Ideally it gives you an idea what to expect for new listeners. Also, it feels a little bit silly and a little bit fun to take the seriousness out of bedtime. Dial it down, to honestly try to relax those parts of you that may trigger the thing. I try not to use that word anymore.

Here's a compliment I've never gotten, which they say, “My, is that a furrow on your brow? Holy cow.” You say, “What are you into, furrowed brows?” I say, “Hello, hello.” Then they say, “Well, I'm doing a thesis on the furrowed brows. That's why I'm into that for that.” I say, “Oh okay.” Okay, if you're new, that's the intro. Then there's some business. Then there's a story.

Tonight, it'll be, not a crossover, a tribute to the wonderful podcasts, and it's four season, Within he Wires. That's Within The Wires because I don't always pronounce things clearly. I'll talk more about that at the top of the story. You can check it out in your podcast of choice right now Within The Wires. Just search for that, and there will be a link in the show notes. Then we'll talk about that. That'll be about 45 or 50 minutes. Then eventually we'll have the thank yous at the end of the show. That's the structure of the show.

Like I said, the podcast's about an hour. Oh, I want you to have plenty of time to fall asleep. There's no pressure for you to listen to me or pay attention. There's also no pressure to fall asleep. The reason the podcasts are that long is so that you can ease in. You have plenty of time to drift off. If you can't sleep, I'll be here until the very end because I know what it's like there, tossing and turning, mind racing, or trouble getting to sleep or getting back to sleep. I've covered all those areas in the last few recently.

I'm glad you're here. I work very hard at yearning and striving, and I really want to help you fall asleep. Thanks again for coming by. Here's a few of the ways we keep this podcast free for everybody. Hey, everybody this is Scoots. This is a tribute episode. Well, I just want to tell you that, so you know. It's like you have a bonus tribute and a tribute. This episode is a tribute to the podcast, Within The Wires, which if you haven't heard it yet, do yourself a favor. If you listen to podcasts not at 1X speed, I guess you probably do because you listen to this podcast. If you're listening right now, you could even search within the app you're listening in Within, W-I-T-H-I-N, The Wires.

Click subscribe. Start listening tomorrow. It's about halfway through the fourth season. It's a fictional podcast of found audio from an alternative universe. There's four seasons. The seasons are serialized, but each season's serialized. They're serialized, but each season is interrated but not interdependent. They could be interdependent. I don't know. You could listen to the seasons in any order, basically, what I'm saying, or out of order. Do yourself a favor. Start listening to season four. Then you could go back and listen to season one, or you listen to season three, or you could listen to season two. You could listen to those in any order. You get what I'm saying, but probably start with season four because it's going right now. 

Each season is its own story with different narrators and timelines. They do overlap, very, very immersive. Great with headphones at 1X speed. That's what I was going to point out. If you do listen while you're doing dishes or whatever on the speaker, that's fine, too. It's fun to listen to with headphones because it's a very intimate show. Within The Wires is written by Jeffrey Craner and Janina Matthewson. It has original music by Mary Epworth. Each season has its own narrator and its own style and feel. Just amazing. I got to see a live version from season three which really impacted my relationship with that season. It's really the kind of thing. You just really do develop a special close relationship with podcasts, especially fictional podcasts.

Do yourself a favor, if you're not subscribed now. I just want to talk to a quick second. My first encounter Within The Wires. I guess I wasn't walking. I was picturing myself walking. I was listening to season one, I think, episode one or maybe it was episode two when everything dawned on me. It was in what's called a shuttle. It was a super old bus. It was a bike shuttle that goes from where I live, Alameda, to a BART station in Oakland. I think the grant ran out on that, but back then I think it was a free shuttle for bike commuters, not that that has anything to do with it. 

I listen to a lot of podcasts. I was making Sleep With Me at the time. I'll just never forget, starting to listen to it and enjoying it. Season one is like a relaxation, in a sense. There's a huge story weaved within that premise. At first, I didn't know that really. Like I said, “Huh, what is this?” Which is a great way to discover podcasts anyway. This sounds interesting to me, and then between listening to the first episode and then the second episode I was like, “Holy mackerel, this is the beauty of podcasting.” It is being able to do the kind of things that Jeffrey and Janina do Within The Wires and all the wonderful people that work on the show.” I just remember my mind literally being blown as I was sitting on the shuttle headed towards Lake [Mirabart 00:17:00] through downtown Oakland. Probably drove right by. I think we could probably drive down Radio Row. Maybe, one block or two blocks before it where some other podcasts are made.

Yeah, I just remember. This was years and years ago. I lose track of time. I don't know if it was four years ago when the first season came out. Then, again, I say, “Well, I'm not really equipped to do a tribute to this because they say, “Well, how would we talk about it so that each listener can explore Within The Wires on their own, without changing their expectations or spoiling anything, or my own relationship getting in the way of talking about it?' Then still making it sleepy, right? Those are the rules of these tribute episodes.

I decided to turn things over to one of the fan favorites, Reginald Cusack who ran, what is it called, Happily Enrobed, the robe shop. Reginald agreed to take the helm on this which is really generous. I mean, not really because Reginald made it into something tangible. That's that. Then tucked in here is also a bonus tribute to my friend, Ames, because Ames came out and opened up my last live show. Ames is a guitarist and maker from Seattle, Washington, who plays lullaby rock, the Rex music videos. She's a community facilitator. Does DYI shows and festivals. Writes commissioned love songs. Has earned over a million streams on Spotify, two EPs, dog physics and afterthoughts. She did the South by Southwest official showcase, The Thing Fest, toured North America. She was up and down the West Coast this past month. 

She's about to release in 2020 lullabies for grownups. That'll benefit organizations that provide legal services to people at risk of deportation. It's also linked to that. Because Ames came and did that. Reginald was like, “Oh, let's do it,” as we were prepping for the live show. That's what we did. Yeah, also there's season four, and Ames had indirect connection through northern Europe. I guess without further ado, make sure you listen to Within The Wires. Check out Ames' music and enjoy.

I guess my job's done. Now I'm going to turn things over to Reginald Cusack. If you don't know, they'll take care of everything. Thank you then, Scooter. Thank you everybody. I'm Reginald Cusack of the Cusack family but not of the Joan and John Cusack family. If that was, that would be my claim to fame, I guess. I'm the proprietor of the Happily Enrobed Shop, where we happily robe you.

I'm really happy to bring you this tribute episode of Within The Wires podcast, which I've become a huge fan of, thanks to Scooter and of Ames' music. This should be the eve, not Halloween eve, but the eve before Halloween and also the different celebrations that take place on November 1st, the Dios Day, the sleepy stuff. This episode is coming out with a very intentional way on this evening. Because a lot of people have Halloween and costumes on the mind.

Scooter and I meet on a regular basis. You may not believe that, but I may or may not reside. Where I live is in a musty place with creaky dulcet tones echoing the halls, my sister and I. I was sitting down with Scooter, and I was telling Scooter… I was talking about Halloween. This was when it was a few months ago. I guess you could say I was going, not on a tangent but like a tirade. If you said, “What's the tangent?” It's like a tirade. Make that into one word about Halloween because it's a commercialized holiday, correct?

It's one commercialized holiday which I guess is a good thing. I don't know why. I guess I do know why I was going on a tangent, it's not about Halloween itself. Let me just clear that up. I'm pro Halloween. I guess at this point I was still making the observation that it's a commercialized holiday, that no one has an objection to the commercialization of. One, because there's so many treats, and two, because I think people enjoy getting dressed up and then decorating now. It has become more and more of a thing. Then people that like to party.

There's a lot of different commercialized aspects to it where the holidays that take place at the end of the year, which are combined across a phase. People have different objections to the commercialization of those, that kind of thing. I'm not weighing in on anything. Then there's Valentine's Day, which some people object to, because I don't know, or Easter I don't hear a lot of objections to. Then, what is the other one? Oh, Mother's Day. I don't know if you're complaining about the commercialization of Mother's Day. 

What I would say to you, but I think Brent from The Good Place has probably complained about Mother's Day and Valentine's Day and the commercialization of those things. Oh, I said, “This is one everybody can get on board.” Commercialize Halloween, correct? For me I make robes to suit people's needs and their personalities and their feelings. For me, the commercialized costume business is where… They call them costumes, yes I said it, is to simply say, “I have a great sensitivity to,” and that's what my tirade was about. 

Now you do have a resurgence of homemade costumes. Then Cosplay which is separate from Halloween, but it shares similarities where people take really a lot of time, and pride, and effort to put time into what they're wearing. I don't want to call it a costume because I would say that might be demeaning to it. I think we can agree just for this tonight because it's Halloween Eve that we can use the term, costume, and it can mean more than just plastic stuff that you put on for the evening.

I was telling Scooter my strong feelings about costumes, especially cheap ones, because Scooter was telling me about some of the ones he had that weren't homemade, that he bought at the store. Then Scooter paused and looked at me and said, “Reggie.” And I said Reginald. He said, “Reggie?” He goes, “You're my second favorite Reggie after Reggie on the morning news, local morning news. Anyway, he said, “Reggie, I got a great idea.” He goes, “Usually I made a joke about somebody took that from something, and we took it back” about that song. I said, “What are you talking about, Scooter?”

He started to tell me about Within The Wires. At first, I didn't understand where he was going and how is he going to do a crossover, a tribute for that. He said, “You can make costumes based on episodes of Within The Wires.” I said, “Well.” He said, “No, no, no. I'm going to give you one more piece of information, Reggie.” I tried to pretend that I was Janet and he was Jason. I said, “Not a Reggie, I'm a Reginald.” He said, “Okay, think of the costumes you have the most objection to, the main stream ones that get on your nerves.” 

You're going to take an episode of Within The Wires, and you're going to craft that episode. In that costume you're going to re-invent and combine the two. That's exactly what I did. What we're going to do tonight is have a little fashion show within the theater of the mind here. Then we did the same with a few of Ames' songs. It was really taking a costume. For example, I'm trying to think of one we didn't use, an airline pilot, and re-inventing that where the costume both belongs something more than just a regular generic airline pilot but also is a very specific, in a tribute way, is as Scooter usually says, like the song from that band whose name I forget. Oh, Tenacious D, Scooter just said that. It's a tribute, so I'm not going to be mentioning characters except for, maybe, one character that I can think of at this time, and some initials, and some tertiary characters. Ideally, very little about the plot.

Of all the seasons, we'll do a couple of episodes from each season of Within The Wires. I did want to make sure you were listening to season four which is called The Cradle, thematically. Maybe, that's just the title of the season. It's about a mother and a daughter. As the season starts, the mother is recording tapes for her daughter. They're the leaders of this family-centric commune outside of the society called The Cradle. They start out deep in the Scandinavian forest. The season is going to be 10 episodes.

The first part of the episode is a tape recorded letter to her daughter who's trying to lead the commune. The mother is the main leader or founder. Maybe, it was her mother. Then the second half of the tape, side B, is a message to the commune from the mother that's not currently present at the commune. That season four, you could start right away. Yes, I think you'll enjoy it greatly. Just in case, I wanted to tell you too. Season one is relaxation cassettes. Season two is, I guess they probably talk about this, season two is museum audio tours, so audio guides walking through exhibitions.

Again, there's stories weaved into all of these. Season three is dictations from a bureaucrat. It takes place in the 1950s. Someone who is trying to work within the new society dictated to Amy, their secretary which, like I said, I wouldn't say character name. Oh, boy. Oh, Reginald. We have to start as Jeffrey and Joseph say, start with this. We'll start with season four, cassette one. That takes place in the spring of 1993 within this world of the story, within the world of Within The Wires.

I want you to picture a very popular costume, not currently. It comes and it goes. I would say for anyone, it may sound like I'm judging, but I'm just not. I'm trying to do you a favor, not a good look for anyone. If you want to buy the costume and use it at home for something, that's your own business. It's the adult baby costume. Usually, splainers would be the most person likely to have this. It usually consists of a diaper, an adult wearing a diaper. I don't think it's ever a functional diaper, but I'm sure people have… Then usually a bonnet, a baby bonnet. 

Accessories could include a rattle or a big bottle. Usually if it's a party, then they would say, “Well, the diaper works.” Then they would have something in the bottle. Probably a bib would be a smart thing, and that's about it. Maybe, some booties, functional booties. That's really it. I didn't even think about functional booties. If I was in a funk band, it would be called Functional Booties, Bootsy Collins or the Bootsy Collins family band, I guess would be better. Let me focus on this costume. That's the costume that brings my ire, one of the ones that I've thought about.

I wanted to change this. This is a costume, again, for an adult to wear, or my costumes are a little bit more than that. You may say, “What, Reginald?” I would say, “These are for very exclusive clientele.” These are conceptual, unless you're in a position, just the construction. Also, I try to make the majority of my things accessible to all. This one starts with it. Instead of just a big, human baby, we built this around a cradle that your upper body would be in. It'd look like you were in a cradle. We'd have little fake baby feet hanging over the edge of the cradle, like you're sitting up in your cradle. Maybe, you're getting out. Maybe, you've positioned yourself in a way that's very cute.

I've also crafted the cradle. Depending on whatever your mobility is, or if you need any assistance with your mobility, this costume could be worn by anyone. It is moveable. I can adjust it and put wheels in or whatever you need. I guess for a price I could probably do a very lightweight balsa version. So there's a baby in a cradle. You are playing the baby, but the cradle you just get a sense. It's the colors of the wood, the patina. A little bit of a gnarl that makes it feel very comforting, subtle coloring. You could picture it there. Colors that comfort you. I put a little brand because you wanted people to really like it. The brand or the company that made this cradle is Scion of leadership.

As Scooter always tells me, that's how you pronounce it. I don't know if that is though. Now, also, this cradle is world sensitive. There's a headboard there. Inside the headboard are some canned goods because it is a moveable cradle. If you're on the move with your baby in the cradle, there's places for canned goods and cured things. Also, a seed catalog starter kit we have in there. Also, a guide, how to plan a fun feast. I thought that would be fun. Then underneath the cradle is actually a bookcase with books because I said, you like books.

There's a book of fables with some pictures of our shadow buddies, forest friends whispering behind trees, good things. Then also in the cradle crumbled up, but this is exactly part of it. It's a piece of paper. Now if someone reaches in and opens it, it's just the depth of illusion I'm going for. It says brainstorm, what to get a 19-year-old for her birthday. There's pictures of families. I wanted it to look very nourishing, not just physically nourishing, along the side. Again, if you're buying this, you can say, “Oh, what nourishes you?” All the things that go up, they call those guardrails, right? I have a little thing on there. Instead of calling them guardrails, they're called mother security.

Also, underneath is the cradle. If you're really looking for details, it's a heavy cross which helps weigh the cradle down against its wheels. Then on the back end of the cradle, I put a couple traveling stickers. It says Oslo, Lake George. I'm trying to think of other stickers we could slowly add there. Also, on the headboard is a secret panel with a disguise in there. If you need new documents, especially forged documents, so a place for those. Right now we just have a Groucho Marx disguise in there. That's that. Also, some cash for bribes. All those things are there. That's my re-invention of the big baby.

This is inspired by season two, set two from the Ulster Museum, 1973 within the world. Now we all know that super heroes are a big thing. That's undeniable. Also now are branded super heroes based on a few select pieces of intellectual property that are very popular and have been rebooted. Now if you say, “Well, that could be a classic super person or a more modern super person. Of course, I had to try to do a take on a super hero. This super hero outfit or costume is called Red Love. That is the name of the hero. There's a headpiece with a mask, and I tried to pick some colors that said Red Love. Then there's blue stars on the headpiece, and a clock that hopefully looks like it's spinning counterclockwise.

Then on their chest you really have to notice, but I'm here to explain it to you. A lot of people would say, “What is that on the emblem on the chest? Is that a beanstalk?” Is what I get when I was testing the [inaudible 00:38:16] which is understandable, but no, it's a tomato plant, and it's growing. Then the sun, whatever that's called, where they have a solar glare in the movies, a lens flare, like a sun effect coming from behind the beanstalk or the tomato plant, in this case. There is a tomato there. It's not a bean. It's not green, it's a purplish-red tomato. Because with Red Love, I just wanted to give more shading.

Now, there's also, if you get really deep into it, there is a mound of dirt on the bottom of the emblem which goes along with the story. If you really want to get to know the back story of the character, you listen to that episode. Now there's also on the belt of the hero a wooden sword which is a replica. It's silver, but it's made from wood, and it has the name of a cafe on it. It's in the cape, and now the back of the cape it was greatly inspired by the idea of imagery of a marketplace in the afternoon. This heroic cape on the outside that you would see from behind. You'll see some apple carts, merchants.

Again, when it's flowing it'll look like there's activity at the marketplace. You say, “That's a lot to have on a cape.” I said, “Well, I take my job seriously.” Also, on the belt of this hero, Red Love, is a stapler, a black Swingline stapler. That, again, is it really a stapler? I say, “Well, it's supposed to look like a stapler, a nearly realistic version of a stapler.” But if someone reaches out and touches it, they realize that it's a paper recreation of a stapler.

Now on the shoulders I wanted to put images on the shoulders. It's almost like shoulder pieces with paintings. On one side is two sets of fingers intertwined, fingers of two different lovers. It's, maybe, something that you've seen on dorms of colleges. Oh, the pants, I got distracted. The pants, I call Zoo Bob's basement. I've tried to  make it look like on the inside they're leggings, not pants actually, but I call them pants. I call them Zoo Bob's basement on the inside.

On the skin side, our paintings could be found in Zoo Bob's basement, or maybe ones that are never found. Okay, the right side of the shoulder, or did I say left side, I guess again I'm already so immersed is I call it a self-portrait with a cat, but it's really just try to imagine. Imagine your own self-portrait with a cat. I guess we could do that if we're developing it for you. Then the leggings are made to look like, on the outside. Now the inside is paintings from Zoo Bob's basement, but on the outside I call it sunshine afternoon influenced by something. It's sunlight going through gray clouds. There's choppy water as you get down towards the legs. From the upper thighs would be the clouds, the sunshine down to the water.

Now the inside of the cape, I've tried to play a game which you'd have to buy the outfit to see. There used to be a game called Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego. This would be really in depth, but it's Where's Claudia? You could play that game on the inside of the cape. That is that. 

Now this next one is from a song from Ames. It's a traditional Swedish Oak song, Who Can Sail Without The Wind Is the English translation for that. A popular costume, I think this is the one. It's a popular costume, especially now. In a different way is a sailor in a sailor suit, they call it. Now it could be someone that looks like Scoops Ahoy from that show that things can be strange from the youth that were working at that store.

I took that idea, and then I thought about this song. Who could sail without wind? I made a costume that is a bit more than that. It's a boat. Again, this is for all accessibility. It looks like a small rowboat. Your upper body would look like you'd be sitting in the boat with the legs that are just stuffed to create the illusion. Now this boat, it has oars, but the oars are pointing up. The oars are shaped like eyes. They're painted. They're hazel eyes, and the eyes are crying. Now the illusion of the tears is just I'll tell you. It's Lucite balls and fishing line. But it's made to look like the oars are crying. Then there's the sail. On one side of the sail is a crying eye. There's actually flaps in there and sparkles, so when it's moving in the wind, it looks like it's really crying.

On the other side, also with the wind to create an illusion are two hands. When the wind blows, it looks like they're being pulled apart. The water's sparkling. I like sparkles and Lucite. It create tears, in this case. Then the head of the boat is like a person, a bust or whatever. I don't know what they're called. I've told Scooter to look it up. He never got back to me. I don't know if it was that, a masthead. I don't think so. The goddess on the front of the boat is waving goodbye towards the back of the boat, towards shore. Something saying goodbye and that kind of thing. 

This is from season three, reel three, episode three. This is, again, in world Within The Wires, November 26th in 1953. Now this is one costume that gets worn more outside of Halloween. You'll see buskers, or street performers, or advertisers, maybe, even a better call Saul. If not on that show, but on the original show, I'm not sure about that, but is a person is a statue. Now sometimes, they're robots, and sometimes they're statues. I thought about that one whereas a monument… I started to design that. A person is a monument, taking the idea of a person is a statue making them into a building which, for me, starts at the legs and the feet which would be columns.

Again, you could say, “Well, I prefer my Doric to my Ionic column. I'd say, “Well, we'll discuss that in the process.” I made little flying buttresses coming off it, the ankles, which I thought was cute in the back over the Achilles. The hat of the costume is the capitol dome. You say, “This looks more like I'm going to do some sort of parody, a musical act. I said, “You could.” Again, what looks like flowing robes. Now there's a couple of other important details just shining through.

When people wear t-shirts sometimes and they wear a t-shirt that has something printed on it. Then they wear a shirt over it, and you could still see through the t-shirt. This is done intentionally, and the t-shirt underneath says in big black letters, “It's complicated.” Then it has a White House, but the White House it's frowning. It's a frowny face White House, but it's just barely showing through.

All of it's built like a robe, especially if you were in Washington DC, if you were a monument. This is where the extra twist comes in, and you need to be prepared for it if you purchase this costume. It's that the entire costume is made from papier-mache. While it's well crafted, it is not well made. It is made, when you put it on or when we put it on you and let it dry and then re-put it on you, papier-mache, and within the world of this episode, it's made from shredded newspapers, and that's very specific.

As the night wears on, the illusion of this costume and the costume itself will slowly deteriorate and fall apart. You have to be prepared for this to happen. You could say, “Well, I have my This Is Complicated t-shirt on.” If you're just wearing that, you will decide how you spend your evening and how you deal with that deterioration and how other people react to it. Remember that. Just to think about that.

Okay, this is from season one, cassette two. It has a theme of about anxiety and stomach are the themes of this episode. Now there's an idea of these costumers that are supposed to be titillating, right, and revealing. This costume is popular in that section. I think it's probably popular in other things, and there's been enough movies that there's other takes on this costume. It's of a nurse, but to me this was ripe for re-invention based on the influences or a tribute to this particular episode.

Most nurses, in respect to those institutions, have a name tag. This one has a name tag, but on the bottom of the name tag where you think would be the name of the institution, it says, “Pay attention” and then on the name it says, “Not a siren of redress.” Now the nurse's hat, again, sometimes I don't look at these technical names. I'm so deep in creations. I don't know what that's called, the head thing they wear. Embroidered in the front of it is a third eye. You might also think, “That is a little bit bigger than I normally… There's something heavy about that hat.” You're correct in that assumption.

Now this uniform is very good for movement. I made it out of stretch materials, breathable materials. This is a costume that you could actually work in, or you could run in. You could climb in. There's actually pocketS in there. If you needed to keep a flashlight, there's a map pocket with a grease pencil pocket in there. There's also a controller, for in the hat is a drone. If you needed an aerial view to search the area, there's that.

There's also reminders. This is embroidered in white on a white uniform to breathe, all over the uniform. If you're looking at your wrist, now I wrote them in reverse and mirror, but it says breathe, so you remember to breathe. On the shoes, again, written in the same color in stitching, in reverse it says, “Safe place, nurse.” Also, now above the hip on the waistband is a camera and bug detector. It'll just shine a green or a red light, if you cup your hand around a certain part of the waistband, it could also detect Wi-Fi. I don't know how to use a VPN, but I'm trying to figure that out.

Now here's another thing. Because also I call it a lab coat, there's actually on the back side lower than your behind is a pocket for an extra pair of shoes or slippers so you could change those out. Then stitched in the lab coat, what is that thing called, the collar. It says, “Listen, remember, comprehend.” Then on the left sleeve are what look like coffee stains, but they're not coffee stains. They say those coffee stains look a bit like cameras. I'd say, “Those are cameras.” It goes one camera, then two cameras, then one camera. Then there's a big blotch. One looks like a door, and one looks like a corridor between those cameras.

Then on the right sleeve it looks like it was a mistake in the stitching. It's a line with five doors on it. I'm just telling you this because you're purchasing the costume possibly from me. It's supposed to look like a mistake in the stitching. Then because it's a mistake in the stitching, if you flip it over, you'll notice it's loose on the other side, the opposite side from where the five doors are. If you unfold that loose stitch in the sleeve, you'll see, again, printed in mirror reverse in the same color the letters BCDD ACA. That's that costume.

This next one is based on an Ames song, based on a Norwegian folk song called Mama Troll. It made me think of a troll doll, which has been not popular right now, but they have troll movies. Maybe, it is. Hopefully, those McElroy Brothers will get in that movie. Is it already Troll 2 or 3? We're not sure about that. I thought about the troll doll, which is a doll with poofy, spikey hair. I've always found the quality of the hair of troll dolls, talk about palpable and wonderful. I don't know why they need fidget cubes if they would have given out troll dolls, and troll hair stroke. I guess it's not appropriate to say, but I'm talking about on your cheek, or your chin, or your arm. It is very nice.

I thought about a giant troll, like a troll doll. Then I thought about mama troll. Then I thought about this song, troll more it goes. Then this is mama troll. I thought about the human idea. Some people have one baby. Some people have two. Some people have more. Then they get these giant strollers. Some of the strollers go side to side. Some are like a train. I prefer the train ones because I see your blocking the whole sidewalk with that stroller. I mean, that's just me.

I thought about the troll mama. Again, I thought about making sure these costumes are accessible to whoever would like to wear them. Obviously, financially they're not accessible, but who are we kidding? In the theater of a mind, you could wear whatever costume you wish. I thought about 11 baby trolls in a stroller in a row. So 11 little carriers. Then I put the mother troll, five in front, six in back, with the mother troll there. It's like a bike, so she can pedal. All the little trolls will be tucked in, and then the mother has one of those old-fashioned communicators where she could talk into what looks like a bike horn. It channels her voice to all of the baby trolls. She could whisper to them in there, like a listening horn. I don't know what they're called.

Okay, so this is the one, season four, cassette two, autumn 1993. Now this is a costume that's not popular currently, but it's been popular. It's a good one to make at home. Don't make it with cheap plastic bags, garbage bags. I'm not talking about California raisins, I'm talking about a cassette tape. Now for some of you, you might not know what a cassette tape is, but I think it's gotten back in vogue. First, there was records. Then there was cassette tapes. Then there was CDs. I know there was 8-tracks or whatever, and then there was digital. Maybe, there was stuff in between that I don't know about.

Now the nice thing about cassette tapes was that you could make mixed tapes. That was what was really beloved about cassettes, supportability and the ability to make mixed tapes and make them for people you cared about or you had crushes on or to communicate things. I made a giant cassette tape costume. Now this is more the container of the cassette tape. That was where you would write out the songs, the song lists, I guess. Now this one I did want to put in character because I just thought about it a lot. I thought Sigrid. I said, “Would it be Sigrid's mix,” or I'm not sure. That's what I think about it. I'm calling it now. Then for me I started to play with, what music would she be into it? Is it jazzy? Oh, what if we name the songs? Is she into metal, hip hop, the 80s, the 90s? What would be her influences?

I thought about would she doodle? Would she draw? I know her writing would not be bubbly. I don't think it would be strong and decisive. Again, I'm always projecting onto these costumes. I thought there'd be some rivers and mountains. I'm big on this with Scooter, too. The first song is Sand Point, but then in parentheses it says, “Not a love song called Rosy and David. Then the next song is Evergreen, like arrowheads. Then this one, she took the time to write some of the lyrics out. It says, “Hedmark, H-E-D-M-A-R-K.” I feel almost as if I could like a stroll through the trees and find myself at home with you.

Grandma Brigit, and then next to that one. I'm not sure if this is a song or not. It says, “Have I Forgotten?” Then the last song on this side, Great Anthem for Reckoning. Oh boy, I'd like to listen to that song. Then Hazel Eyes. I don't know if this is another song or part of it. Just A Print, it's written separately. Bear Mother, that's another one I'd like to listen to. This song, Civilized Debates, fighting at the dinner table. Cradle of Lake George, that seems picturesque. Baby Freya, Selkirk Mountains, How to Start Your Own Cradle In Just 200 Pages. I don't know. I was only five in Stockholm, walking, shambling, low moans, and shadows. Last song, Manifestation Of Our Isolation. I guess that makes sense. Well, maybe it's a little Goth in a good way. I'm looking forward to listening. That would be more of a cassette container. What are those called? The cassette case, and you'd be the cassette inside, really playing from the heart. You know what I mean.

Okay, one of the big challenges was season two for me because the idea of paintings and being in a museum of how to transfer that to a costume and the super hero was one. This is another one. This is season two, cassette one from the tape, Modern 1971. The way I thought about that was it was a deck of cards. I thought of a deck of playing cards. That would be the way that we did it. I had to do a lot of prototypes. At first, I started with sandwich board. Whatever that stuff's called that kids use now, instead of paperboard, foam core. I wanted it to be able to change out the cassette tapes. I said, “Well, you couldn't fit all the foam core. Even with magnets, it didn't work. Again, I wanted to have some variety.

Then I was at a truck stop. I was thinking of the other podcast, Alice's, Isn't That The Big Farm, that Alice podcast. As I was using the restroom, I went to wash my hands and dry them. This was an old truck stop restroom, and a set of paper towels or a blower. It had one of those things like a cloth on a scroll, an endless scroll that sanitizes itself with magic, I guess. But that's when it clicked in my mind. I said, “This will be how I'll have different playing cards. I'll put them on a vinyl scroll within the two sides of the costume. You'd be wearing a box of playing cards, but on the front would be a current card, which you could change again through a motorized thing that you could control with your thumb.”

The card company would be Tape Modern, and the back would be red. Then I thought about, “Okay, the first two cards, the number one card for the number one are oranges and minty green building drapes with an orchid there. I'm not doing these in order, again, because I said that would be boring. The joker, I thought just of a magazine lying in a café, lying open. I don't know. I like that idea. Number eight, I'm naming it after the Moby Strip. It's something that looks noble and wispy.

10, I would classify, I call number 10 feelings. It's something symbolizing. It looks like emotional storms, correct? For the king it looks like. At first, you say, “What is that?” I say, “It's a broken plate. It's a broken rhino plate, but a close up of it even though it's a painting or it's a drawing. Number two is a family home. It's a house with a yellow door. You could play with it. It's within the world and you see how many windows are there. What is the meaning of home?

Number three is a low gray building. You could think about it. Is it on an island? It looks like it's on an island. Does the colors give you the sense of a mutual compromise? Number nine is people. It isn't nine people dancing happy and free. It's just people dancing happy and free. Number six, this one is six. It's six forest friends hiding in the shadows. Number seven is a fun one for people coming in. It's a set of velvet ropes, and you say, “Please stay behind my velvet ropes.” I just like that idea.

Now the joker, the wild card, is a famous art critic named Alfred Bond. I spent way too much time on this one. Again, it's all about, too much time on this. Can a bowl of fruit just be a bowl of fruit? If you want me to really just make that costume for you, I could. Number four is a woman in a bath and her arms trailing along the floor. She's looking away from you. Also, with that is the queen which is just a bathtub sitting in a room by itself.

Number five is just a self-portrait with a cat. I thought about that again, but then I thought I didn't finish this one because I said, “Well, if she's never had a cat. Then I agreed. I said, “Well, would she like a cat? Then on the back of the card, I have other things symbolizing living on an island. you see on the edges a low cliff and some of the patterns to feel like a tide, and blue water, and sand bars. Actually, this is a secret, but it's also an animation on the back of the card. Now it's on the upper left corner, if all the cards are aligned. It shows someone on the beach painting.

Okay, this is from season three, episode two, reel two, August 13, 1953. There's a popular costume of people dressed as cats, right? Cats is coming back out, I think, as a film. I thought about the idea of a cat person, but that was dull to me. I did like the idea of this cat named Constance with an orange bandana, violet writing that says Constance on it. This one spans more than one episode, a little bit. I thought about the cat laying on a bed of pillows. A lot of the pillows are cross stitched or thematic. Then, again, just use your upper body or whatever part to use for the costume and then behind you is a tattered tapestry. The pillows and you are underneath is a rug that has hair balls on it. 

Then one of the lowest needlepoints, is that what they're called, not cross stitch, needlepoint. It says, “You can only clean a rug so many times before it becomes quite a different rug.” Another pillow says, “Mean what you say but rarely say what you mean.” My favorite pillow personally is, “If Amy can't do it, no one can.” Also, talk to Nate. One of the pillows is a play bell from Last Night Was The Wind, an article about the topaz window. Oh, this is a good pillow. There may be no borders, but there are a lot of feelings. That looks like it's painted on the Berlin Wall, even though it's just a cross stitch, or whatever. 

This one is on a bathroom wall. This is another one. It says, “Kevin Prince is a terrible secretary.” This is a quote. It says, “Act first, argue semantics later-VR.” Then another one, “If you receive an order, ship it.” That's from Sioux City Shipping. The cat's fur. This was another thing that I wanted to do, artistically. Some of the cat's fur in the patches in black, whites, and grays look like clouds, but if you really look at the clouds, you'll see on the left side. Are those swords going into plow shares, or is it your imagination?

On the back of the cat, is that a message carved into a block of ice, or just cat fur? Then on the right side, you could easily, clearly see that that's a stacking up of tea cups, each a different size. If the cat's standing up on two legs, they're trying to keep the tea cups vertical. Then this one I did have to decide. I did want to call it something. I named this one Jazzy Bureaucat. I like to say bureaucrat because a Jazzy Bureaucrat sounds better, not a Jazzy Bureaucat. I guess I'll just call it Jazzy Bureaucrat, as a cat.

Okay, we have one more here. This one, season one, cassette one, stress in shoulders. Now there's two versions of this that are popular in recent history as costumes that get on my nerves. One is a Napoleonic costume. Also, it could be unnamed French general or some old naval officer, all of those styles. Then there's the Patton general, the general who pulls himself up by the bootstraps, a historic American general, pre-1960, I'd say. Both of those are costumes, I'd say, “Well, that's an interesting choice in costumes, maybe better for a historic living diorama or something.

I've recreated both of those in the same way. Just because I said, “Well, some people want their desert tans, and some people want their blues, and their whites, and their fancy buttons. Again, you picture either one of those, but I tried to do something. I could do either one of those. This is what I'm envisioning here. Now I want you to listen and remember and comprehend as I tell you this. 

Now the first thing is something no one will see, but it is, I call it, The Weight Of The World. It's a dense globe on a necklace that no one sees. The globe is made from, picture lead and the weight of lead. It's a material that has more mass than that, but it feels heavy even though it's a small globe. You'll wear that around your neck. It's a walking metaphor, I guess. 

The other thing I noticed right away if you're wearing this is that there's a lot of air flow. A real general would want that, but our purposes you need that, too, from the armpits and the back. It allows the thing to breathe. I also think that if you were wearing this at the weight around your neck, if that necklace had the weight of the world, it should also remind you to breathe. It'll be a suit coat. Most of the, whatever you call it, a coat, military coat, I don't know. But I like mine to have piping. This has blue piping on all the edges of this coat. It's going to air water blue piping.

First, it's subtle. But then when you start to notice it, I hope it feels sharp. I also added a little bit of air flow for when you walk and your legs move. That'll pump air like a breath behind you, up the back of your jacket and out the neck of the coat. It's just like someone breathing on your neck and walking behind you. I think the things on the shoulders are called epaulets, but I'm not positive about that, those big mortar board-type things. I don't know what they are. In this one, I put a different one on each shoulder. One looks like it's made from stone, and one looks like it's made from sod. They're very detailed, but I put them both in balances. Size-wise and weight-wise, they're the same.

They're in balance, but separate. Now the jacket, I made it a forest green color, unless you want that tan or that blue, but it's a wool blend. There's big buttons on there that look like milky half moons. It's almost like on the inside of your fingernail. In the inside of the jacket are lots of pockets. There's a long one for a magic wand. There's other pockets you could keep toys or other things in. Now the jacket also has an internal super structure. You wouldn't believe this, but it's made so that the jacket, while it looks like it's a regular jacket on the outside, it's much like a weighted blanket. 

When you sleep, I built it, what is those called, those backpacks? This is suspension backpack, internal suspension system. This is an internal holding system. When you're wearing the jacket, you feel held in because it's an open weaved wool. You feel held and enrobed. But you also feel exposed to the world. I want you to feel both a comfort and an exposure at the same time. You could feel the breeze, but you still feel a sense of security.

Now instead of medals and badges, I've worked on this. Instead of a name, it says, “Listen, remember, comprehend.” Then there's five rectangular medals that are made to look like doors. On the left breast Is another medal, too. Number five, it's just a circle. It says, “Number five.” Then one of the things on the back that is surprising to most people are wings that look like they're stained glass wings. Dragonfly wings, they're tear drop shaped, but they're not the kind of wings that have spread out. They're pasted to the back, a bit off kilter. Almost like the wearer of the jacket went to sleep on the wings and woke up with them stuck to their back. 

Then you may notice us as you look at the jacket, and the legs, the pants for a while, that the color of the green slowly goes from dark forest green. As you get past the knee on the pant, that it slowly changes to the color of bird guano, bird droppings. That's another one I've thought about. Now finally, I hope you check out those Within The Wires. You may be even more confused if you've listened to every episode now  One day you'll listen, you'll remember, and you'll comprehend, but you don't really need to, just go out and shine in whatever costume you need.

This last one is based on a song from Ames, Love Goes On And On And On And On. You could get it for free using the link. You could check it out. This one, I immediately thought of this season's gift. Even though people used to say, “Squat goals and whatever 2015.” I think they say, “Well, nobody uses that.” What are going to say, Disco Girl next, Reginald? I'd say, “No.” Well, this is just a thing. This is a costume that's worn by four people that are friends. You can't deny that it's 2019. It is the costume that's probably selling very well for adults, and that's the Golden Girls. 

Now the Golden Girls were a group of older adults that were friends, based on a TV show. You'll see it tomorrow, or at the parties of the past weekend, you saw a team of friends dressed as the Golden Girls. For some of you, you said, “What are you?” Some of you knew. It's a cutesy thing. I'm a fan of the show, Golden Girls. And so, I thought about how could we do this. I want you to forget everything I said now because this one, I thought about this song, Love Goes On And On And On And On. 

When you see this costume, at first you're going to say, “It's just a giant wrapped gift. That's what I'm going to be inside that box. I'd say, “Correct.” But look closer. If you look closer, you'll see the gift is wrapped in handmade wrapping paper and painted wrapping paper by myself. You'll see on there, you'll see Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. You say, “Okay, Dorothy.” You'll see roses everywhere. You'll see what looks like someone blanching something. It was asparagus being blanched in an ice bath. You say, “Oh okay.” Then books symbolizing wisdom for Sophia. I did put a couple of Sophia the first influenced pictures there just in case. That represents Dorothy, rose, blanch, and Sophia, the Golden Girls.

Then instead of a ribbon, I took a tin heart. Then I cut it up, and then I made it into a metal ribbon wrapped around the president into a bow. Then on the gift is a tag. On one side of the tag, it says, “Officially the world's biggest gift.” According to the Gift Giving Institute, this is the biggest gift. You will see that. Then on the other side, it'll say, “From me.” It'll say, “Thank you for being a friend.” Ideally, that would get people to sing along, travel down the road. Do yourself a favor. Travel down the roads to this four seasons of Within The Wires. There really are a lot of roads to travel down there and back again.

As Scooter says, he called me the other, “Don't hear a worm anyone.” So I'll just change the subject. Check out Within The Wires. Check out Ames music and enjoy your costuming. If you ever want to think about who would I be, it would probably be the art critic, Bond, because I always feel awkward at parties. Everyone's dressed, and I show up and eat a cucumber sandwich and have to go. Now it's time for you to go to bed. Good night.