As the post-Halloween haze lifts, lets take a moment to reflect back on some of the more imaginative, creative, and/or topical costumes from around the country that reverberated around the Internet and blogosphere this week. My favorite this year fell on the surreal artsy side of things. Artist Eric Testroete built a “papercraft self-portrait,” which reminds me of those easter egg modes in video games that turns all the characters heads into “big heads.” More after the jump.

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What’s one to do with all that leftover candy from Halloween trick or treating? Turn them into a delicious treat with this non-serious baking trick suggested over at Serious Eats. Dump all the extra candy you couldn’t finish into a pie and let it all melt together (recipe here). Feel free to then submit a photo of your final Frcandyenstein entry to the popular website This Is Why You’re Fat, a home devoted to gastro-explosive creations.

Think of this as your FULL FRONTAL FASHION cliff notes.

Design sketch for Halloween ’09

Prepare for Halloween, the biggest amateur fashion show of the year, as Bradford Shellhammer designs his costume.

Check out the runway looks south of the border at Mexico Fashion Week.

Have you ever been arrested for making art in a dressing room?  Elle Muliarchyk has.  See her photos here.

Filmmaker Loic Prigent sits down with the shoe designer, Pierre Hardy, to discuss his TOP 10 FAVORITE FEET.

There are a lot of top ten lists for “scariest movie of all time,” but from box office hits to oddball cult classics, there are some movies that turn up again and again. You’ll notice a few favorites are missing, namely HALLOWEEN (1978), which has great 70s kitsch value and hands down more naked boobs than any movie on this list, but as a movie, it’s really not all the frightening, right? And no, I didn’t forget THE EXORCIST (1973) either, but buckets of green puke are more gross than scary. You’ll notice, too, that there aren’t a lot of new scary movies, and that’s not because I don’t like them, but I think we should let them stand the test of time a bit before we start putting them on all-time lists.

10. WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967)

This oft-forgotten gem stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized by Alan Arkin and his gang of thugs who think she has a doll full of heroin. Bet you never thought a refrigerator light would save your life.

9. NOSFERATU (1922)

Greatest vampire movie of all time? Michael Myers stole all Nosferatu’s best moves in HALLOWEEN (the white face, the lurking) but the original is still the bone-chilling best.

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The annual UK FrightFest is serious about scary movies. So serious they screen them all year long. But if you’re like me then you need Halloween as an impetus to indulge in all things poltergeist, zombie, monster and mutant. Fortunately, FrightFest is good for that too. All night long on Halloween, from 7pm to 7am, FrightFest will take you from goofy slasher to downright freaky with flicks like JENNIFER’S BODY, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and winner of most promising title, WRONG TURN 3.

And as a reminder that scary can be funny too, FrightFest founders Adam Green and Joe Lynch bring you the festival teaser, “American Douchebags in London, Part 1.”

How To Find A Masculine Halloween Costume For Your Effeminate Son

The Onion is rather hit-or-miss these days. But the above video really made me laugh. And as a gay guy, who was once an effeminate little boy, it also resonated. All over this great land of ours on Saturday night moms and dads will try to butch up their girlish sons. It’s part of growing up gay in the USA and also why we see so many grown gay men, myself included, dressing up as princesses and stewardess and nurses in adulthood. It’s what we always wanted.

Artist and New York Times contributor Kevin Van Aelst finds a way to put all that Halloween candy swag to good educational and artsy use. Not that shoveling as many Raisinets as you can into your mouth (37) isn’t educational per se, but Van Aelt’s gummy bear periodic table and gummy worm chromosomes are a bit more visually appealing to look at. Check out his website for more of his fantastic and clever work.

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image by King Chimp, from “Nosferatu”

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Halloween can be a source of stress for many over-anxious people as the burden of selecting a costume becomes nerve-racking process the closer the witching hour approaches. The Internet provides a wondeful source of inspiration as well as costumes to avoid, but of all the various costume ideas I’ve seen online, I “licht” this “real life” Lichtenstein costume the most. Click after the jump for a few photos of the process behind this costume.

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Photo credit: Linda Simpson

Halloween is terrifying! It brings swarms of normally well behaved adults into the streets, where they stomp around oozing pus and looking like ghouls—and some of them aren’t even in costume.

This year, October 31 falls on a Saturday, so the terror alert will be even higher in scary-enough New York City. That’s the night the bridge-and-tunnel people invade Manhattan every week for low-budget thrill seeking, and anyone sane double bolts himself inside his apartment while ritualistically throwing garlic out the window. As a B-and-T person myself (I’m from Brooklyn), I know just how crass and awful these people can be. And when you add vampire fangs and Sarah Palin drag on them—not mutually exclusive motifs, by the way–the effect is even more chilling than the SAW series.

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