Here’s to you, Dad!
by Cookster on May.25, 2009, under Blog Shorts, Non-fiction, Stories
As this is Memorial Day, I wanted to write a tribute to my Dad because he passed away three weeks before I was born and I never got to know him.
James Marion Winter was in the Army during World War II and the Korean War. The only stories I have of him were through my mother and I’m sure her memories became sweeter with time, painting him bigger than life for me. I know he was a captain and at one point used to run cable lines ahead of the troops for communication purposes. There was a time during WWII that he was doing his job high above the ground when a mortar shell exploded nearby knocking him down. He managed to live through that but sustained injuries from vertebrate crammed into his brain. He either had a benign tumor already or developed one from his injuries. He lived for years until the headaches became so severe that doctors at Fort Simmons Army Hospital in Colorado decided to operate. Unfortunately, the doctors in 1953 did not have the skills and resources for delicate brain surgery like they do today. My mother was nearly nine months pregnant with me and had an eighteen month old child back in Arizona. It did not surprise me that she wanted to keep his memory alive as her knight in shining armor.
I had no real emotional connection with my Dad until Saving Private Ryan came out. The opening scene took place at a military cemetery. My thoughts were flooded by a similar memory of my sister and I in our twenties roaming the cemetery in Denver looking for my Dad’s grave. From that moment in the movie, I began to cry. Tom Hank’s character became the image of my Dad and the tears were non-stop as I held my son, Shaun’s hand, through the entire movie. I found the emotional connection with my Dad that day as I literally sobbed for another two hours when I got home. I have never been able to see Saving Private Ryan again.
The horrors of war take a toll on everyone. Please be grateful for all of the men and women who serve this country so we can live the lives we have. Savor your memories of those who have fallen and never forget that they did this out of love for this country and their families.
Wow! That was exhausting!
by Cookster on May.24, 2009, under Blog Shorts
I have spent quite a bit of time working on one of the pages to this blog. Please take some time to check out “My Family” page as it has lots of interesting information about my two sons (and a couple of their small video projects). Thanks!
With the tip of a hat…
by Cookster on May.16, 2009, under Costumes
Hats can really add to the completeness of a costume. I have made outfits for frontiersmen, renaissance, and pirates. None of which would have looked finished without a hat. In some cases, I was only required to make hat when the rest of the costume could be pieced together from thrift store items or forgotten old clothes.
(continue reading…)
Ah Yes! It’s Halloween again!
by Cookster on May.03, 2009, under Costumes
Ugly witches, bed-sheeted ghosts, and ghoulish zombies are on the prowl again. There is a chill in the air and…wait a minute, wasn’t it in the low nineties today approaching 100 degrees by this coming weekend? It’s not Halloween? Oh! I know! There are lords and ladies, gypsies and pirates swinging swords and turkey legs. The Renaissance Festival is commencing! But of course… now that I think of it… Ren faire just ended about a month ago. Let’s see…the stormtroopers are out in force along with the X-men and Ghostbusters. It must be Comicon! No…hmmm…we already did that… or, are we going to do that? Now I know I saw Batman, Catwoman, Scarecrow, and the Joker. I guess that means it could only be one thing…
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY
AZspidey and friends are really trying to get some mileage out of their Halloween costumes this year. (continue reading…)
What the heck is a Chiodo?
by Cookster on Apr.28, 2009, under Costumes
My Twitter friend, Sarah, likes to put together haunted attractions. This year she would like to have some clowns that resemble the ones in the Chiodo Brothers production of Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The film is a 1988 American comedy horror movie, made by The Chiodo Brothers ( www.chiodobros.com ). The film is about aliens (who look like clowns) that arrive on Earth to capture and harvest people in order to use them as sustenance…mmmm…yummy (More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Klowns_from_Outer_Space).
These clowns are pretty creepy, so I could see how they would work in a haunted attraction. Although I have been known to make a clown costume, it was never as scary as a killer clown.
The closest I have come to a spooky costume was when I made Frank the Rabbit from the Donnie Darko movie (another cult classic) for AZspidey’s friend, Ron.
Of course the part I was sewing was the fluffy bunny body, which if worn separately from the mask, couldn’t scare a bunch of carrots (Hey, I live in a world around animators; of course carrots can be afraid. They can even scream!). The mask was purchased online, but was not painted. AZspidey completed the final touches on it for that special ‘don’t even think you’re gonna to make it home’ look. 
How could Ron see (or pee) you may ask? Let’s just say somehow he found a way! See you in an another universe, Frank!
