Halloween Costumes & Arduino
This year for Halloween, I dressed up as Antoine Dodson, otherwise known as the guy from the bed intruder video, or the “hide your wife, hide your kids” guy. In practice, it meant I walked around with a wifebeater and red bandana.
Even though I had the song memorized and ready to go, I got a near-zero recognition rate. On one hand, I was surprised more people hadn’t seen the video (40 million views on YouTube and counting), but on the other, I was a dead ringer for your average redneck.
It did get me thinking about Halloween costumes for future years. I’ve been interested in light-related art installations for a while now (you might see me occasionally link them on my Twitter feed), but have recently come across some wearable light-related projects.
For example, one talented designer built a functioning replica Daft Punk helmet. It’s beautiful:
While the creator of this helmet built his own circuit boards, I recently learned about Arduino, a small, programmable circuit board that can be used to sense its environment and control lights, sounds, and other software. I haven’t had the chance to play with one, but it seems like it has the potential to be a great side project.
For example, check out this light-up suit using an iPhone to control an Arduino board. I think building something like that would be a lot of fun for a Halloween costume.
Finally, Kanye West performed at the 2008 Grammy Awards in a glowing jacket and glasses, as seen here:
When I watched this performance, I was mesmerized by the light show and his outfit. I’ve been interested in replicating his outfit since then. I’ll try to use his jacket and these other projects as inspiration for my own work.