Castle Themed Halloween Costume

Cas­tle Writer Bul­let Proof Vest

It’s been said I don’t write enough… that I should post more in my blog.  While I haven’t been good on that score, this is quite cool enough for my blog even though it’s some­thing my wife is doing for Hal­loween — mak­ing a “Cas­tle” cos­tume.  Both Chris­tine and I are fans of the Cas­tle show with it’s smart writ­ing and book­ish style.  In the show best sell­ing author Richard Cas­tle (played by cult hero Nathan Fil­lion) shad­ows Detec­tive Kate Beck­ett (played by Stana Kat­ic) and in more dan­ger­ous parts of the show when the police offi­cers put on their bul­let-proof vests that say “POLICE,” Cas­tle puts on his that says, “WRITER.”

Part of the fanser­vice of the show con­cerns things that writ­ers and read­ers of books enjoy.  In many ways, writ­ers, as celebri­ties, have fad­ed over the last 40 years as writ­ers of oth­er media (most notably movies) have out­shined them in our oh-so-celebri­ty cul­ture.  I have to admit giv­ing an admir­ing chuck­le when the show intro­duced the “WRITER” vest for Cas­tle.  It fits per­fect­ly with his personality.

Writer Police Bul­let Proof Vest

Con­sid­er the pho­to to the left here.  Notice that the “POLICE” vests have the word on the left pan­el tak­ing up rough­ly half the width of the vest.  The “WRITER” vest has it’s word embla­zoned across the entire front.  Who’s com­pen­sat­ing for something?

But that com­pen­sa­tion is per­fect­ly part of Castle’s char­ac­ter and pos­si­bly rep­re­sents how writ­ers and book lovers (in gen­er­al) feel about their craft.  That either the book has too long tak­en a back seat to oth­er media (and thus requires the com­pen­sa­tion) or that the book, while impor­tant in their eyes, is less impor­tant to the world in gen­er­al and thus shares Castle’s need for compensation.

Writer Bul­let Proof Vest

Seri­ous­ly, tho, it’s Hal­loween… and this is a cool cos­tume.  Chris­tine has tak­en a win­ter vest (gift from for­mer employ­er) and some dark blue felt (most­ly to cov­er the com­pa­ny logos).  The let­ters are white poster­board — not the best choice, but they’ll do in a pinch.