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Naked People Have Little Influence on Society
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." — Mark Twain
Clothing sometimes does make the man/woman/ superhero.
Don't you have an outfit or jacket that make you feel like you own the world? You are winning the game before you ever set foot in the stadium if your outfit is right. Certain clothes make you feel a certain way.
Same thing happens on the days when it is wrong. Ever had one of those "not so cute" days? You know, the ones when no matter what you wear nothing feels right? It happens to the best of us.
We all went out last Saturday to celebrate Bret Harrison's (Sam) birthday. It was a 14-hour Bret-fest that began with a day at an amusement park/ arcade where most of the 15 adults in our group were dressed as miniature golf pros. Tyler Labine (Sock) wore some slick, white leather loafers that he'd purchased in England, which he said had a brand name like "Ask Your Wife." Tyler was playing at semi-pro mini golf level in those shoes. Bret, whose neutral attire always includes a hooded sweatshirt of some kind, played well until the last few holes. If only he'd had the proper golf attire…
Many of the most memorable moments on Reaper thus far involve the special gear worn by the guys on their missions. Who can forget the firefighter outfits and gadgets from the pilot? I was a big fan of the wet suits to fight the slime monster. Then there was Sam's pumpkin costume in the Halloween episode.
Ray Wise told me that he wearing his suit on the show helps him channel Jerry/" The Devil."
Donovan Stinson, who plays uptight Work Bench boss "Ted" also finds some rooting for his character by his plastered side-parted hair, buttoned up dress shirt and tie. Donovan mentioned that sometimes when the extras see him dressed as Ted, he notices their disdain for his appearance and he just wants to do a stroll through the holding area to show them that he's really not at all like Ted.
Rick Gonzales is also a far stretch, costume-wise, from Ben. Rick wears his own customized basketball sneakers with super baggy hip-hop gear and a baseball hat most days. Some days, he's got a lot of colors vying for attention when he arrives at the studio. Ben is far more conservative, even a bit nerdy.
I'm certain that when Toby McGuire puts on his latex Spider-man suit or when any of the Batmans (Batmen?) put on their latex muscles, they became super heroes. That's part of the fun of acting.
When I donned my leg warmers for scene 27 of Episode 11, I felt taller. Hotter. Like I wanted one shoulder of my ripped sweatshirt to hang dangerously low on my shoulder as I ran through a down pour of water. The sweater-knit accessory encouraged me to walk a little more proudly, ooze a little more sex. Prance. Numerous the women on the crew commented on the fact that they never would have worn legwarmers until seeing me strut in mine, now they were more do-able. Many of the men on the crew commented that I looked particularly hot with a few guys even making reference to Flashdance. I was back in the ninth grade on drill team, as a new and improved version. I walked like a dancer in the scene where they debuted. As I crossed the bar, I had to show the leg warmers off. Instantly I was back in my first few days of practice for drill team and the pride I felt in my charcoal grey legwarmers.
My return to the days of adolescence left me feeling invincible, irresistible, and alive. I could do a back flip and land in the splits if the right music were only played. Leg warmers infused me with special powers.
One comment from last week's posting was from a reader who was concerned about Ken Marino's (Demon Tony) well-being after his brief fainting spell. Your concern was sweet. He is fine. It was a combo of exhaustion and timing for a cool effect that was being set up. It will be great when completed. He took one for the team. (Oh how I wish I could tell you more, but it will be worth the wait when you see him in Episode 14.) New episodes begin airing on Tuesday nights starting April 22nd.
In the meantime, I'd say this is another thing worthy of checking out on the show, wouldn't you? Watch Thursday nights at 9 on the CW!
Our Returning Favorites Guide has preview for Reaper and 40 other shows.
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Apr 2, 2008 2:22 PM
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Yea, I was the one that asked about Ken. And while I'm glad to hear that he's okay, I'm even more interested in the what exactly this awesome effect is that we'll see in Episode 14. I can't wait that long!
But again (I think I say this every week after reading), keep up the great work with the blog. I'm stoked to see you keeping up with it, because I dig having some kind of inside scoop about what's going down over at the show.
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Apr 3, 2008 1:42 AM
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