The most vivid memories of Halloween are of trick or treating and the costumes we wore.

For those of us growing up in the 60s, 70s and upwards, our costumes often were little more than advertising for television shows and movies. These costumes were simple: A plastic mask with eye cut-outs, two hole punches for nostrils and a slit for the mouth-breathers; and a shift of vinyl &/or flame retardant fabric with the film or TV show’s name printed on the front which we were to wear over our clothes. (God willing, in the colder climates of the midwest it fit over our coats too.)

These costumes may be responsible for the dumbing down of Americans because they required no imagination. Neither by the kids who wore them or the adults at the doors who handed out the candy. Even the coolest of old people could tell one Sweat Hog from another when you had Barbarino written across your vinyl chest. But I digress.

If it made a screen, a costume was made and we Americans raced to stores to buy them. Now we race to auctions and auction sites to buy them. Folks want to buy back their warm and fuzzy memories by getting back ‘their’ childhood costume. Or, if they were, say, stuck being Kate Jackson instead of Farrah Fawcett, they finally get the costume they really wanted to wear.

These retro costumes have what is called in the biz “high crossover appeal” meaning that along with the Halloween collectors you’ll have the entertainment collectors bidding.

This makes vintage and retro Halloween costumes very popular.

But these aren’t the only costumes to buy; nor is buying the costumes themselves the only way to collect Halloween memories.

Many collectors turn to photographs of Halloween trick or treaters to get their costumes. Not only are they easier to store, but many of these photos show imaginative costumes that pre-date or for-go the mass-produced mass media corporate costumes.

There’s also something strangely sweet about looking into what you can see of the faces of trick or treaters past.

We recognize not only the fun of dress-up and the anticipation of free candy, but the freedom silliness brings.

Even if we have to guess what they are…

Maybe because we have to guess what they are.

And it’s not just for the kids — adults join in at Halloween too.

Of course, some of these crossdressing photos have their own crossover appeal as well. *wink*

But then I didn’t say collecting vintage Halloween costumes or photographs of them would be cheap; I said it would be fun. And silly.

Let’s not forget silly.

I personally prefer the photos to the costumes.

I can fit a whole lot more of them into the house. And I love to rescue those antique and vintage photographs.

But then this last photo is of me in the Halloween of ‘69 — and if I had the chance to buy this costume ‘back’, I surely would.

I’m not the biggest TV freak, but it can give some comforting background noise on an otherwise quietly bleak night, and it provides something to look forward to on Thursday nights besides the weekly ritual rut of Chinese Food and drawing escape plans, which usually involve the hovercars and x-ray specs I find in the back of 1970s comic books. I’m still waiting for them to arrive.

One of the shows that I attempted to watch religiously was Arrested Development, the Emmy-nominated docu-comedy that lasted three tumultuous seasons on Fox, but finally gave up the ghost when it became clear that the lowest common viewing denomination was not being pandered to enough, instead replacing it with Skating With Celebrities. I’m pretty sure that this is a modern surrogate for one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I enjoy watching C-level celebrities being elevated into false glory and subsequently making asses of themselves as much as anyone else, but not at the cost of my favorite comedy. No, wait, I don’t enjoy it at all, because I have a soul.

After the demise of Arrested Development (all three seasons of which are now on DVD with great extras, so you can enjoy them for a delightful eternity), there was a big ol’ Bluth Family-shaped hole left behind. Sure, they knew that they weren’t destined to remain on the air and the writers wrote a viable conclusion to the whole series on short notice, but I wanted more.

Being a member of the online fan club, I got notification that Fox would be auctioning off props from the show on eBay. Mostly, it was wardrobe items, all of the auctions accompanied by a photo of the actual item, and a screenshot of two of where the item actually appeared in the show. Showing the prominence of the item in the storyline, as well as listing which episode it could be first seen in, was a huge confidence booster in choosing which items were important enough to pay a hundred bucks for. After weeks of missing auctions or being casually disinterested in various shirts and scarves from the show, they finally listed a couple of truly talismanic items from the show. They were essential additions to my prop collection, and I won the heck out of ‘em.

The first item was a small pillbox owned by G.O.B. Bluth (Will Arnett), and often employed as one of his magician’s ‘illusions’, containing Forget-Me-Now pills that would cause anyone who learned his secrets to suddenly forget them. Of course, the very premise of this is ridiculous and the pills were actually roofies, but the pillbox was an important item in a running joke. When the item arrived, I found that it still contained nine of the (fake) pills, which seem to contain corn starch. As far as I’m concerned, they contain pure Hollywood Magic Dust. For a show that produced no collectibles whatsoever (even Lost has action figures coming out), this is the closest that I could come to owning an aspect of something that brought me joy. It’s totally un-zen to want to possess that which brings us joy, but I’m willing to allow crass materialism creep into my life if it means that I can have a real pillbox of real (fake) Forget-Me-Now pills. Hell, anything zen about me left my presence about 5 years ago when I left it in the garage to make room for more action figures and it froze to death during one of the harsh New York winters.

The second item that I bid my heart out on was a true talisman from the show. Presumably, it was an incredibly valuable gold star in a black velvet case that a certain British spy (Charlize Theron) was earning from a government agent (Dave Thomas) through her duplicitous deeds. We saw the item a couple of times within a few episodes, its sheer desirability etched on Charlize Theron’s face. In the end, she ultimately attained the star, but it’s this screen-object-lust that made it an important item to possess. What object better to lust over that something clearly designed for object-lust?

Both items came with certificates of authenticity from the Fox Archives (which is important to look for when buying unusual, unique prop items), and while I have no immediate plans for either item, as they’re both bogglingly useless in any practical sense, it would be fun to display them as museum pieces in some context. Fox continues to offer up items from the show, from more wardrobe items to odds and ends that appeared onscreen, but I think that these items were undoubtedly among the most unique and desirable that I’ve encountered. If you’d just like to keep a bit of the show, you can snag a scarf for around 35 bucks or less, or you can browse all of eBay for many ongoing prop auctions, such as items from Prison Break and 24. With the recent and well publicized Star Trek auctions, TV props are finding the collecting spotlight, you might just find something from your favorite show on there… and be irrationally compelled to take it home with you.

Most who pick up a corkscrew to open a wine bottle are focused on the delights of what’s inside the bottle, but there are those who delight in the corkscrew itself. While the basic corkscrew seems simple enough, there is an amazing array of different corkscrew designs with various hinges, buttons and other contraptions for getting the cork out of the bottle, as well as corkscrews in novelty shapes like birds and swords. No one knows who first came up with the idea of the corkscrew, but it was mentioned in various publications during the 1600s. The first patent for a corkscrew was taken out in England in 1795, and since then inventors all over the world have been patenting their improvements to the corkscrew.

Corkscrew enthusiasts and those interested in learning more about collecting corkscrews will enjoy visiting The Virtual Corkscrew Museum website. This site has a little bit of everything, including corkscrew jokes, corkscrews in the movies and corkscrews in poetry. There are postcards with corkscrews, linens with corkscrews and corkscrew neckties. These guys are REALLY nuts about corkscrews. There is also an extensive list of reference books about corkscrews as well as plenty of photos of unique, collectible corkscrews. To top the site contains the archives of their newsletter, The Weekly Screw, which includes all sorts of information about corkscrews.

Another great site is Corkscrew.com, which has a gallery of antique corkscrews, a list of corkscrew clubs and organizations, books, and tips for identifying a collectible corkscrew. There is also Corkscrew.net, where you’ll find more corkscrew societies from around the globe, as well as tips for classifying and caring for corkscrews.

Perhaps you resist the notion that as a collector you have your own museum. Maybe you (still) imagine that a museum must be significantly historical or be meaningful to society at large. But let me tell you, if other folks believed that their collection had no value, then we would be without the the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia, the Museum of Bad Art, the Cockroach Hall of Fame Museum, and the Lunchbox Museum. (The latter is recognized by the Smithsonian, yet!) Yet these and many other ’strange little museums’ have hundreds of visitors (or more) each year. Even if the number of visitors who would make a pilgrimage &/or pay to see your collection is a very small one, your collection does have merit and meaning.

Do you still think your collection is undesirable and uninteresting? Then ask yourself this: Do you have people bidding against you at auctions?

Yeah, I thought so. *wink*

See, your collection is interesting. You have a collection, you have a museum; that’s pretty clear-cut to me.

As with any museum, there is a curator: You. You are responsible for shaping and preserving the collection.

You may not have thought of yourself as a curator before, so let’s look at what one is.

The U.S. Department of Labor says, “Curators direct the acquisition, storage, and exhibition of collections, including negotiating and authorizing the purchase, sale, exchange, or loan of collections. They are also responsible for authenticating, evaluating, and categorizing the specimens in a collection. Curators oversee and help conduct the institution’s research projects and related educational programs. Today, an increasing part of a curator’s duties involves fundraising and promotion, which may include the writing and reviewing of grant proposals, journal articles, and publicity materials, as well as attendance at meetings, conventions, and civic events.”

This boils down to three rather natural steps for most collectors.

Step One: Acquisition
This is rather simple; it’s the collecting part. In the process of adding pieces to your collection you automatically authenticate and evaluate items to see what pieces are worth your investment. Like any museum, you have a budget which prevents you from having it all. Sometimes you get lucky; you can afford it, so you buy it. Sometimes though, you want it, want it bad, but it’s too expensive. So then you have to save funds as you watch and wait for another like it — or you may may get more creative. You might arrange a trade for other items in your collection, take out a loan (even if it is just from your spouse), or make payments over time. ‘Real museums’ do this too, only they call it negotiating an exchange, finding a benefactor, or fundraising.

Step Two: Storage and Display
Like any other museum curator you worry about how to best show off your collection. Not only should the items be shown to their best advantage, but done so in a way which does not harm them. Depending upon your particular collection this may be as simple as keeping them out of reach of small children or as challenging as shielding the items from the environment at large. Protecting items may mean higher shelves; protective cases, sleeves, or framing; or even storing them out of sight so that they live to see another decade. Sometimes even the best curators at the largest museums will have to pass on a piece simply because they do not have the room or the ability to properly store the item.

Step Three: Exhibition and Education
The more committed you are to your collection, the more knowledge you gain. The more passionate you are about your collection, the more you want to share both your knowledge and your collection. Through this you become an expert. You don’t have to be collecting something for 25 years in order to be an expert. Maybe your collection is a very unique set of items. (It need not be due to the rarity of the items themselves, but in their context to one another.) Or maybe your collection is so specific & limited that it requires you to be an expert in some small niche area. But one way or another, collecting eventually leads to the collector, the curator, becoming an expert.

As an expert you may be asked to share your collection in a more public venue. It may be a casual exhibit at a Scout meeting or local library, or a more prestigious event at an art gallery or state historical society. Now you are “loaning your acquisitions.” It might be that you are asked to write a paper for your collecting newsletter, share photos of your collection in an author’s book, speak at a local collectibles show, or help evaluate items in an estate. Now you are a curator “promoting” the collection.

Of course, being out in the public means you are also more visible to others, making acquisitions even easier. And the circle continues…

See? You’ve been acting as a curator of your own museum for quite some time now.

Among the nigh-endless parade of well-crafted collectibles that DC Direct have been gracing me with recently (for a moderate retail fee), I feel that their line of Infinite Crisis action figures, released this past week, just can’t go without a mention. Sure, I could rhapsodize over the 13” Batman figure with the real cloth attire and an assortment of batarangs, or their collection of mini Who’s Who Dioramas, or even the Alex Ross Justice line of figures with their startlingly realistic faces and excellent character range, but I’ll stick with the Infinite Crisis figures. Sometimes, there’s just too much collectible radness to address in a twice-weekly post.

This set of five figures focuses around some of the major characters of the universe-shattering Infinite Crisis storyline. They retail, as most of DC Direct’s figure lines, for about ten to fifteen dollars each, and are available only at comic shops or online, since they have limited production runs and limited mass-appeal. This separation from large retail chains allows them to produce more obscure (but fan favorite) characters and a much larger variety of characters, putting out at least a wave of five new figures every month, all of them very specific to certain artists and certain storylines. So, instead of five thousand nearly identical Superman Returns and Batman Begins figures clogging up the toystore aisles, we get high quality figures like Blue Beetle and Phantom Lady and Animal Man - things that your average toy shoppin’ kid wouldn’t really be that interested in. We get 15 versions of Batman too, but instead of Party Time Sleepover Batman and Rainbow Strike Force Night Vision Onion Blossom Batman, we get Batmen that have actually appeared in the comics. Ones that make sense. Ones that don’t make me want to tear my kidneys out in a disappointed rage. Ones without the dreaded ACTION FEATURE.

The star of the Infinite Crisis line of figures is certainly Power Girl, and there are two reasons for that. Those reasons are pretty much exposed by her charmingly ridiculous costume, but there’s a third reason also. This is only the second time that we’ve been given a Power Girl figure, and the first time was in the early days of DC Direct before production values were fully realized. She’s a pretty prominent character and an important part of the Justice Society of America, so she’ll be fast to sell out if you don’t grab one now. She’s detailed down to the zippers on her boots, and her presence on your shelf will probably cause women to respect you less. Like most DC Direct figures, she has a limited 11 points of articulation, but it’s enough to strike a few fancy action poses, as aided by the ‘Infinite Crisis’ base unique to this line. These have a small hole in them, the figures have a small hole in their feet, and somewhere in the package, there’s a small peg to join the two. It doesn’t always work and the tiny pegs get lost, but it allows for the most versatility in displaying the set.

If Power Girl is the star, then the enormous Mongul figure is a close second. It’s the largest figure that DC Direct has ever produced in their 1/12 scale line, usually just reducing enormous characters to a more manageable scale when and if they get made. This particular figure stands at over 9 inches tall, a huge difference over the usual 6-inch figure. Scale is a big deal to collectors, you know. You can’t very well have a Spider-Man battling a Flash that’s effectively 4 feet tall. All of the alternate-universe crossover theorems in the world can’t manage to make THAT less ridiculous. It’s all about the synergy. Mongul is tall enough to grasp a hero in his mighty fist and crush them above his head. For all of the vast canvas that is his body, he’s not really all that detailed, but man, is that guy big.

I’ve also mentioned that I’m a fan of Lex Luthor figures, and here we have a young Lex who is extremely notable for one reason alone : he comes with an alternate mullet accessory. Why every figure in the history of figures doesn’t come with an alternate mullet, I don’t know. It seems like the logical addendum to any figure. You know, a ray gun, a jacket, a grappling hook, and an incredibly unfashionable hairstyle. Perhaps it speaks more to his evil nature than all of the planet-crushing antics that he can muster. Being shiny and gold also strikes me as suitably nefarious.

Also in this line is another Superboy figure in a fancy battle-suit and an awesome translucent blue OMAC figure which can alternate between stabby and human hands - something that I aspire to myself, actually. Stabby hands would be really, really… handy. As if blue translucence didn’t immediately key you in to the awesomeness, he’s also got a little flight base, so he can be displayed hovering above the ground. Give me ten of these and we’ll have a real battle goin’ on. Give me about 40,000 and I could re-enact the whole comic. Those guys are bad news.

Even those collectors usually critical of DC Direct’s releases are praising this set, and the story’s not a bad read either. Keep an eye out for the second set in this series, including the classic Superman / Wonder Woman / Batman combo, as well as a Firestorm and a Wonder Girl.