Movember

Today's post is going to be a bit of a deviation from normal. It has pretty much nothing to do with games or gaming systems in any way. There are a few numbers that have been crunched by professionals but by and large this is more of a life post than a gaming post. But the topic is pretty important so it's probably worth reading on.

Today is the 1st of November which is the start of the event known as Movember where men around the world grow moustaches for men's health in general though by and large it's known for revolving around prostate cancer in particular. I was tangentially involved in 2008 through a group at work. I grew a moustache and was in the group pictures but didn't really advertise what was going on or really look into anything at all. In other years I either already had a moustache I didn't want to get rid of or had just gotten rid of one and didn't want it back so I'd stayed away.

This year I figured I'd sign up again. I haven't been approached at work so I've just signed up on my own. I'm actually opposed to a social system which requires charities so I'm not going to encourage anyone to donate money to anyone. Instead I figured I'd go after the awareness point of view and try to actually learn some things and share the results. My idea before I actually did any research was to use this as a catalyst to actually find a doctor and get tested but as we shall see that's not actually going to happen. I should really point out that I'm not a doctor and have no medical training at all. I've done some reading on various websites found via a google search for prostate cancer and from links off of the ca.movember.com site. So don't take anything I say as a diagnosis or a recommendation for a course of action. You should seek a professional if you have a need for consultation. I'm just trying to summarize the information available on the web and try to trick some people into reading it. Lots more after the jump!

Waluigi Wins!

As talked about here I'm going to Fan eXpo and was looking for a moustached costume. Almost everyone who chimed in on the subject thought Waluigi was the best of the provided options. Andrew kept trying to find something better (Von Kaiser from the Punch-Out series was his best find) and the King of All Cosmos holds a special place in my imagination. I don't have any muscles at all though, so I really couldn't pull off the bare-chested beatdown look. If the thought of pastel spandex was bad, this would probably be worse. Waluigi wears a lot of baggy clothes!

So, with Waluigi as the winner, what do I need? Well, the Mario Wiki describes Waluigi as follows:

"Waluigi usually wears a purple undershirt under black overalls, orange shoes, and a purple cap that covers short, brown hair. He has a large, pink nose, a thin mustache which is straight (horizontal) and pointed up at the edge (forming an L much as Wario's forms a W), and gray eyes, surrounded by rings that appear to be a result of insomnia. He also has long legs which sometimes work to his advantage in sports. The yellow symbol on his hat and gloves is a vertical mirror image of Luigi's "L" which forms a "Γ", just as Wario wears a "W" in contrast to Mario's "M". The "Γ" is actually the Greek letter Gamma, which is pronounced similarly to "G" (as in go)."

I placed an order with a Hong Kong company last week for a hat and gloves and they came in today. With the time zone difference they would have gotten the order on Thursday, so the fact it was here in Canada early this morning was pretty remarkable.

The hat's not perfect (it's a cross between a newsboy and a baseball cap while Waluigi's is more of a greek fisherman) but it's pretty close and it's definitely a lot better than anything I could have done on my own. The gloves are puffy and clearly designed as Marioesque gloves but are pure white so there's no yellow gamma on them. It'll be nearly impossible to play board games in them (small wooden cubes + big puffy fingers = disaster) but overalls should have a pocket in them for storing gloves. What's left after that?

• purple undershirt - matching the hat colour may be tricky (guess I need to wear it to the mall one day) but should be doable
• black overalls - getting big yellow buttons might not happen, but I figure a Mark's Work Wearhouse or some such should have black overalls of some kind
• orange shoes - I actually looked in every store in the nearby mall and the only orange shoes I found of any kind were for a 4 year old. I think my best bet is to go to the Crocs store, they have lots of ugly shoes...
• purple cap - CHECK!
• large, pink nose - I may try to find some Hallowe'en makeup
• thin moustache - CHECK!
• grey, insomnia eyes - my eyes aren't grey but I can definitely get the baggy part down
• white gloves - maybe I should find some fabric paint and add my own gammas, probably I will just run with what I have
• pointy ears - CHECK!

A trip downtown to find some Crocs, a shirt, and some overalls and I should be mostly good to go. Then I should probably find some games he's in and play them to get mannerisms of some kind down. Some internet searching did find that he pulls out the D-X crotch chop when he scores a goal in both of the Mario Soccer games. I haven't watched wrestling in 10 years or so, but back in the day I was a big D-X fan so I get a real kick out of Waluigi copying them.

Fan eXpo 2010 Costume

Fan eXpo is a huge geek convention that happens in downtown Toronto at the end of August. It’s a combination convention which mashes together Comics, Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime, and Gaming into one large crazy event. I’m intending to attend this year for a few reasons:

• There’s a cool board game tournament.
• My sister is flying in from New Brunswick to attend.
• Awesome celebrity guests. (Spike, Al Calavicci, Batman, CAPTAIN JAMES TIBERIUS KIRK, Worf, Chewbacca, Leslie Nielsen, etc…)
• An excuse to dress up like an idiot and maybe not look like an idiot!

It’s the last part that’s of concern here today. I asked for options on Facebook for moustachey costumes I might be able to wear and got a couple responses (all from Tom P). Now, I’m not one to just make a decision, I need to make the right decision. I can’t really use a spreadsheet here, sadly, but I can set out some rules for what I’m looking for, provide the options I’ve found so far, and solicit feedback for better options. There is definitely a front-runner in my mind right now, but I’m open to other suggestions for now. Here's what I look like today:

To start with, what am I looking for? Well…

• I don’t intend to shave my moustache and don’t really want to trim or dye it. As such, the character should have a handlebar or related moustache.
• I don’t even have a stapler let alone a sewing machine, so the costume would either have to be readily available for rent/sale at a costume place or be relatively trivial to put together. (Especially since there’s only a month or so to go and I’m spending over a week of that at WBC!)
• If I’m going to look silly, I want to look good silly. This means it should be something many people would recognize (this is many people AT Fan eXpo, not the general population. I don’t care if people on the subway have no clue what I am) and be a reasonable attempt at a portrayal. Two years ago I wore a Star Trek uniform but didn’t have any Spock ears so I wasn’t really much of anything. That’s not cool and not the goal here.
• It would be nice if it was a character I actually like.

Snidely Whiplash

The stereotypical moustached villain. When I started posting pictures of my moustache on Facebook I got multiple comments about how I needed a tophat, a cape, and to start tying damsels to train tracks. How does Snidely (the character, not the rogue in my WoW guild) fair?

• My moustache is pretty much just what I need for this. The colour is wrong since Snidely has pure evil black hair, but that’s not a deal breaker.
• Top hats are surprisingly hard to find (and NOT cheap) but I’ve always wanted one so it wouldn’t be a waste. Beyond that I need some sort of trench coat or cape. A suit would also work, but I’d need a pitch black tie. I have black pants and black boots, so I’m good there. Nothing to really put together and just a few purchases makes this one very plausible.
• Does Snidely actually fit any of the Fan eXpo categories? He’s from an American cartoon from the 60s. He’s tangentially related to Comics and Anime I guess… I suspect he’d be recognizable, certainly I’d imagine most people would know who I was after I told them.
• I don’t really care for or against Snidely as a character. He’s just some guy from a show I kinda watched 20 years ago.

Random.Klingon

Klingons don’t curve their moustaches upwards, and most of them have beards. But they do tend to have long moustaches waxed to the side, so I think it would look factually correct. (General Chang had a moustache with no beard, for example, but he’s also bald with an eyepatch and grey hair…)

• Klingons tend to shave right under the nose, and they curl downwards into more of a fu-manchu than a handlebar. Also: black hair again.
• An awful lot of makeup work goes into becoming a Klingon. Andrew and I found a sci-fi store a while ago that I think sold ridges, so it would be doable. Getting the leather suit/armor would probably be a lot more complicated. It’s certainly possible a costume shop (or the sci-fi store) would have a Klingon suit, but if I couldn’t find one premade I doubt this could be done.
• Done right, everyone would know what I was. I bet there will be other Klingons there though, so done wrong I’ll just look silly silly instead of good silly. Certainly sci-fi.
• I am a huge Star Trek fan, but I never really liked the Klingons. Vulcans, Ferengii… Awesome! Klingons… Meh.

Waluigi

Luigi’s arch-nemesis from many Nintendo puzzle/sports games.

• Waluigi’s moustache takes a near 90 degree turn that’s simply not possible to replicate. I can make my hairs curve, I can’t make them shoot off in a random direction. His moustache is thin and points up though, which are the two things my moustache does well. Also: black hair again.
• I have pointy ears. Beyond that, I’d need to get a purple hat with a L logo. A purple shirt. Black or deep purple overalls. Orange pointy shoes. White gloves, also with L logos. The shoes I have real doubts about but the rest should be doable with a little effort. Also, bright pink nose? Really?
• Who doesn’t know who Waluigi is? He definitely fits into the gaming category.
• Waluigi was introduced to the Mario games after I stopped really playing them, so I never really formed an opinion of him. One thing I can say, though, is I have always hated Luigi with a fiery passion…

The King Of All Cosmos

King from the Katamari Damacy series. He’s a little over the top…

• As a cartoon his moustache looks painted on, but it definitely is a handlebar. Downside, the Knig also has a soul patch and mutton chops which I can’t feasible get so I’d either need to go with fake beard/real moustache or be a little unauthentic with just the moustache. Also: black hair.
• Wow, there’s a lot going on here. The second image above is from a couple that actually made their own costumes well in advance with actual sewing and such. (Aside: I really wish I had a Queen Of All Cosmos…) I’d need to build a gigantic coloured tube to attach to my head, and find a really flamboyant collar. Speaking of flamboyant, that shirt and those pants are so far over the top they’ve circled all the way around. I might be able to find pastel coloured shirts and spandex at some thrift store that would be half-decent, but I have real doubts about getting authentic enough.
• Fortunately, as long as the tube is good enough and the rest is close I have no doubts anyone who’d played a game in the series would know who I was. (And random people on the subway would have NO chance, which is sweet in its own way.) I’m not actually sure I’d be comfortable enough to wear spandex pants in public, but I could see being willing to try.
• Katamari Damacy is an amazing game. In every sense of the word. The King of All Cosmos is awesome. Playing in the board game tournament with a gigantic tube on my head might be hard, though, and if I took it off I’d just be a dude in pastel tights…

Don Paolo

The bad guy from the Professor Layton series of Nintendo DS puzzle games.

• He’s from the DS, so he’s not in a lot of detail. Most importantly, he has the handlebar moustache. Less good, he has a soul patch and a really insane hair style that would be hard to replicate without a wig. The only option that doesn’t demand black hair, but it’s still darker than my hair.
• Black gloves, shirt and tie, purple overcoat, orange pants… All things I can probably buy pretty much anywhere. The lack of detail from the DS means I can probably get a way with a lot of things as long as I have the broad strokes right. Unfortunately, one of those strokes is that crazy hair! Without the hair, I just wouldn’t be Don Paolo.
• I have doubts that even people who have played the first game would know who I was. Definitely obscure, but the people who would get it would probably think it was awesome. I’m just not sure how many people that would be. A failure to get the broad strokes right would really relegate me to silly silly land.
• I’ve only played the first game and didn’t really remember he was in it. I really liked the game (it was a little easy) but not so much the bad guy.

Any opinions or other suggestions? I’m open to ideas here!

Handlebar Gaming

Speaking of New Year's resolutions I have one more that stems from the frustration of trying to eat a bowl of soul or a bag of chips with hair in one's mouth. Get your mind out of the gutter, I am refering to my moustache. It started back in April during the NHL playoffs when I didn't shave while the Wings were still around. By the time they got knocked out I decided to keep the 'stache around and get rid of the beard, with the plan of growing a handlebar. I had no clue how to do that at the time, of course, but it seemed like the thing to do.

It turns out it's not as easy as it sounds. Gravity makes it so hair just doesn't grow like that naturally, so you tend to need some sort of method to force it into place. Moustache wax is the typical way to do it, but it's not like there's a moustache wax store downtown. I've made a couple purchases online, one from a company in California and one from a fireman and his wife in Mississippi but neither really did the trick for me. The first one wouldn't even hold for 45 minutes before it started drooping into my mouth. The second one fared a bit better, keeping the moustache out of my mouth for 4-5 hours, but it failed to keep it in a nice handlebar shape for more than a couple hours. Great for a first impression (I think I almost killed Josh yesterday when he saw it) but gets rather unsightly after a bit.

So, the options become to continue the search for a better wax, or resign myself to rewaxxing every few hours, or give up and shave. Maybe not so much give up as end an experiment... How many people can say they've grown a handlebar moustache? My gnome warrior can! Ultimately I've decided that my hair is just too spindly, it doesn't look like a moustache so much as a bunch of random hairs when it isn't nicely waxxed, and I keep chewing on them accidentally and ripping them out by the root. So, I resolve to not have facial hair this year, woo?


To get things back on topic yesterday a bunch of my old University friends got together at Aidan's place for a New Year's Eve's Eve party, Comfy style. By which I mean there were chips, and drinks, and many board games. Sadly we didn't start until the evening and some of us (like myself) had to work at 8am this morning so there wasn't nearly enough games playing, but I'll recant a bit about what there was.

We started with a variant of Cranium, with everyone who was willing to play involved. We started out with Snuggles and Justyna against Adam, Tom, and Dee against Jer, Lindsay, and myself. My brain doesn't quite work the same as most people's (handlebar?) so I'm not terribly good at this game. We had 3 more people show up and join the game in progress, with Sara joining the first team, a second Dee joining the second team, and Andrew joining my team. Unfortunately for us Andrew is the only person in the world worse than I am at Cranium so we ended up not moving after he joined us. Ultimately the team of two Dee's ended up winning despite Mr. Hurd's best efforts to sabotage them from the inside. It was fun times, though certainly not what I would call a good game.

As this was going on I think a game of Ra had broken out in the basement. Rather than go check that out I stayed upstairs to play Can't Stop. (A game in which I came 2nd at the World Boardgaming Championships which I will be writing more about soon.) Anyway, aparently Andrew is convinced the game title isn't merely a suggestion but a requirement as he decided to keep rolling after he'd finished a row off. It might have been the 'right' choice since he didn't get another turn after that, but he still fell off which is sweet justice as far as I'm concerned. This game isn;t as fun in person as it is online, I think mainly because you don't get an awesome scream when you fall off the mountain. (I try to fill in, but my scream isn't good enough.)

With Can't Stop over and done a game of Apples to Apples broke out. This is another game that is fun enough, but is not a good game. Party games are good and all, but I prefer real games, so I stepped aside and went downstairs to kibitz the second Ra game. I didn't catch the whole game but Adam managed to bamboozle the table somehow, ending up with a dozen rivers along with a ton of other tiles and ended up with a huge lead. Jer and Josh combined barely caught third place which was Tmiv. Tom P was a solid second, but no one was anywhere near Adam.

People were starting to want to leave, but Apples to Apples wasn't done, so we busted out San Juan for a quick four-man. I could say I had a grand strategy for the game but I really didn't. I ended up drawing a Zumfthall and going the tried and true method of Poor House, Smithy, money building, 8 production buildings. Everyone else was doing fancy things with chapels and councilor huts and whatnot but they just couldn't generate enough points to compete with 5 point silver smelters for 3 cards. It's really not fair. Tmiv drew the second Guild Hall, and had a Palace, but had built a bunch of normal buildings to start the game off, which sadly for him wasn't good enough. It's one of the two real problems I have with San Juan, the Guild Hall is too powerful when you draw it early enough to craft a strategy around it. (The other is that the stupid Gold Mine is so swingy, but that's another story...)


At any rate, it was then midnight so we all took off in various directions for sleep. I ended up only getting like 4 hours of sleep which made for a bit of a painful day at work, but playing games with good people is worth some exhaustion any day.

Heck, playing games with bad people is sometimes worth exhaustion, as I am about to proove to myself by starting a game of DotA.

Coming up soon... An attempt to recruit people for WBC!

(Oh, as an aside, I couldn't find my post on Gleemax so who knows what the deal with that is. I may dig into that site in more detail later, but for now I'm just going to use this place.)