Jeanne d’Arc : la Passion, l’Adaptation Essai sur le cinéma
Mehregan, the Persian Festival Some culture
Trick or Treat It’s All Hallow’s Eve
Halloween Costume Iceberg Fashion coucelling
Starring:
Anastasiia SHKAMERDA - self-proclaimed non-artist
Ane INIGUEZ - Anna Kendrick stunt double
Angelica RINGS - #1 monster energy consumer
Bill SYLA - currently on fraud watch
Chloé LEMONNIER - find me at the uni library, knitting
Dorian SOUSA CALVO - gets shampoo in his eyes too frequently
Hugo NAZAC - average Jean-Luc Godard enjoyer
Kristina SHATOKHINA - woman of vision; high priestess
Lina HARRATI-SCARPA - I like cats
Lisa NEY - fuelled by caffeine and sarcasm
Lu CULLEN MORENO - no, I’m not a vampire
Margaryta ALEKSANDROVA - the witch
Pegah & Pariya PALIZBAN - not twins :)
Stefan CAPITANESCU - the brainrotted kid
Stefan DIAC - sober philosopher
Umut UCAK - rank II level 67 yapper
Valère GAUBE - a.k.a. The Knight of the Noodle Necklace
Zoltan TAJTI - founding father; Maecenas of the online edition
We are thankful to: Ramona Ventimiglia and the Office of Student Life, Veerle Waterplas, Margaly Monelus, Sonja Di Renzo, Antonio Tavan, the Repro Team, Espace Cultures, Anouk Wies, Karin Langumier, Alannah Meyrath, Bianca Pirrelli, Student Lounge Belval and all children of SAUL, Dalmat CoffeeHouse, Jolt Coffee Roasters, Julie Toussaint, LLC and Café Saga.
Autumn in a Cup Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe
Unless otherwise noted, all images in the magazine are public domain as described in the Creative Commons CC01.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication licence, and fall under no copyright obligations.
Direct all copyright claims to: paper.roux@gmail.com
Find us at: campus buildings (reception areas, magazine stands), student lounges, chill-out-zones, Dalmat CoffeeHouse, Jolt Coffee Roasters, and LLC.
Join us! We are always looking for graphic designers, writers, artists, photographers, reporters, administrators and all sorts of sailors willing to (wo)man the good ship ROUX!
Contact us: paper.roux@gmail.com
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The hell is empty, and all the devils are here. William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Belval is a wicked place, forsaken for the greater part of the year. Only in October, when the days grow shorter and the shadows longer, the aspect of the place does alter -- it may not quite attain to life, and yet neither does it remain wholly dead; rather, it assumes that intermediate condition some might call... the undead?
Now, and only now, does Campus Belval bestir itself, peopled at last by creatures of the most singular and curious description: lost souls wandering the corridors in search of the SEVE office, scavengers of grimoires in LLC (Luxembourg Learning Crypt), hunters of the ever-elusive affordable treats & coffee options. It is in this liminal season -- call it Halloween, All Saints, Samhain, or simply October -- that we shall learn the arts of welcoming the deadly, the grotesque, and the gloriously macabre with this special, darkling edition of ROUX Magazine.
There is something inherently uncanny about schools, won’t you agree? Such strange, purely artificial spaces where knowledge, social hierarchies, and pursuit of identity collide, they are the perfect hunting grounds for both literal and metaphorical monsters. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) a teenage fashionista -- a chosen one, of course -- patrols school corridors and fights demons that embody the shadow of her suppressed self. Each season begins with the return to school, and escalates swiftly into scarier monsters with sharper teeth, and progressively more traumatizing angst. Like Buffy, we too walk these halls followed by our shadows, discovering that some of the monsters we fear most are reflections of ourselves.
Among these many spirits drawn to our crypt, the most heartening are you: our readers, students and staff alike, and, of course, the brave new members who keep materialising in ever greater numbers. Your potent energy feeds this bonding ritual we call a “Monthly Magazine Creation Workflow”, and for that, our gratitude is boundless.
So, dear reader, do take this as your invitation: to wander the corridors of university, and while at it, to confront the monsters you thought were only in fairy tales (in high heels and sexy outfit, Buffy-style), to pick up a copy of ROUX and to discover that the line between the beautiful and the terrifying is far thinner than you imagined. In the words of our serpentine guide Medusa: watch carefully, for as the snakes bite, they also bless.
Welcome to October’s ROUX, where the hell is empty, and all the devils -- at last! -are engaged socially on a voluntary basis as writers and artists at your local student magazine.
by Kristina Shatokhina
Lëtzebuerg Spirit
INTERVIEW WITH
ALEKSANDROVA
How did you get into art? Do you remember how you started drawing?
I was a boy of six when my grandmother took me for a walk to the city. I was mesmerised by the Adolphe Bridge and Gëlle Fra. When I got home, I decided to draw a bridge. It was a very simple child’s drawing, but I was so proud. I brought it to school and showed it to everyone: “This is my bridge, my country. That is Luxembourg.” And this trip changed my life. I’m 40 now, and I’ve been drawing and painting almost every day for 34 years.
I realised that even if you speak different languages or are dyslexic, drawing is a universal language.
How does Luxembourg inspire you?
Everything inspires me. For me, the most important thing is sharing. Life is not interesting if you don't share. A country in the heart of Europe, with ~180 nationalities, Luxembourg’s diversity enriches us. We may not share the same age, gender, or views, but that diversity builds an incredible nation, full of debate and ideas. Unlike places that stick to a single way of thinking, Luxembourg embraces many.
What is your favourite project?
That’s hard to choose – I usually juggle around seven hundred projects! Social projects in art are especially meaningful to me. I often collaborate with foundations, associations, and schools on initiatives for children and the community. With my art, I try to reflect our society and country and the people who build it.
For National Day, I created a large flag made from 15,500 individual portraits. Not everyone pictured was Luxembourgish, but together they formed the nation. If you remove even one face, it’s no longer the same flag; that’s my vision of society: everyone belongs.
My last big project is to make one thousand drawings of all the monuments of the country. My inspiration comes from memories of my childhood, the beauty of the landscape, and the spirit of the people. Whenever I look at a monument or a view, it brings back those early memories and fills me with positive energy; that’s what fuels my work. I imagine the positive vibe is what’s most important about the current exhibition It’s been my dream for twenty years. Whenever I create a collection, I set aside one or two works, telling myself that one day I’ll stage a major exhibition. For the past decade, I’ve been searching for the right venue. This summer, I found it – and a wonderful owner who said “yes”. This isn’t just an exhibition; it’s a big part of my life and my vision of the Luxembourg spirit – my feelings about life, Luxembourg, culture, and openness.
You’ve probably seen his art on the facade on some bakery on the Avenue de la Liberté in Luxembourg City: a pop art-y cutout of the Grand Duke and Duchess with hearts in their eyes. Roux has had the pleasure of interviewing the artist Jacqus Schneider, asking him questions about his artistic projects, his approach, and influences. 4
Do you have one main project in life?
Yes: it’s my art. It’s my whole life.
How would you describe your work with Grand Duke Henri?
My first encounter with Grand Duke Henri, years ago, was unforgettable. That night, I realised the man himself was nothing like the stiff official portraits you see in ministries and public buildings. I wanted to portray the person I had met – the values, the humanity, the positive energy. I wrote to propose an unofficial portrait, with complete artistic freedom and no patron or constraints. He said yes. That “yes” began the collaboration and confirmed why I love portraiture: to show a human being directly, without filters, with heart. The key thing is freedom, having the liberty to offer another point of view. That’s why Luxembourg is special: where else would a head of state say to an artist: “Make an unofficial portrait”? It says a lot about Luxembourg.
Do you want to have an impact?
I don’t claim my exhibitions or books “change the world”. That’s not my aim. My goal is to create opportunities, to open a door. I’ve made a series that I imagined one hot summer, full of bold colours and movement. It’s my personal vision –one option among many. Some will love it, others won’t, and that’s fine. What matters is giving people the possibility to see differently and make something of it themselves. My work isn’t a rulebook; it’s an invitation. I try not to over-impose myself on the work. If the artist’s “impact” is too heavy, the work can stop being itself. Think of blue ink: on solid paper, it’s vivid and strong; poured into a lake, it fades to almost nothing. I want the work to stay vivid, so I keep my touch light.
Have there been times when your work was rejected?
You don’t have to like my work. Art is a mirror; people see themselves in it. Whether someone says “beautiful” or “terrible”, it doesn’t change what I do.
Advice from Jaques Schneider:
To younger artists, I always say: make your own choices, your own experiments. Respect yourself and create. Some will love it, some won’t. That’s not the point.
Edited
by
Lina Harrati-Scarpa
Special thanks to Valere de Gaube and Lu cullen
Worlding Airs
The aerial explorations of the Masters in Architecture, University of Luxembourg
from studio reader
Graphic Design: Inès Hosni
Editorial Design: Julianne Sedan
In this October issue of ROUX dedicated to all kinds of spectral, ghostly things, we introduce a local discussion about the most haunting of the elements – air. We also attempt to answer a question: What do architecture students of the university do, actually? (Spoiler: this time, there will be no building houses.)
In September, the Master in Architecture at the University of Luxembourg opened the design studio Worlding Airs. Led by Dr. Marija Maric, Dr. César Reyes Najera, and doctoral researcher Kristina Shatokhina, the studio invites firstsemester architecture students to investigate air as an environment, a medium, and a shared commons. Worlding Airs builds on Worlding Soils (2023), a previous architecture studio led by Marija Maric, César Reyes Najera, and David Peleman. This new iteration extends their research on the politics of elements into the aerial realm, rethinking architecture’s relationship to life’s most ephemeral medium and imagining cities where care for air is inseparable from how we build and inhabit spaces.
Imagine the air we breathe as an archive of things: the fine dust that may soon settle on skin the smell of whatever that nasty thing is particulate matter from construction sites freshly-baked croissants emissions from highways perfume and sweat in the morning bus smoke from a bonfire voices carried through open windows pollen, spores, and microscopic seeds the metallic tang of old steel tear gas from a protest carbon from forests burning elsewhere laughter; contagious coughs!…
You begin to notice that air is the medium of harm, but also of connection: the medium through which ideas and revolts circulate. Worlding Airs asks: what might it mean to think air as a site of dwelling, politics, or justice? Drawing from critical theory, architectural history, queer ecology, and feminist thought, students explore the “forgetting of air” in Western architectural discourse, “worlding” it as a subject of architectural research and speculation.
Luxembourg’s landscapes provide the site for these enquiries. From Belval, a former steel industry site now undergoing transformation, to borderland highways polluted with daily commuter flows, to urban heat islands, air is never neutral. Architectural students are encouraged to investigate these sites, working on interventions that might reimagine current systemic distributions of care and resources.
The studio is organized in three phases. Students begin by mapping out the landscape of their enquiries and translating their first findings into research questions. Mid-semester, they present proposals that imagine interventions at multiple scales – urban, architectural, infrastructural –addressing air as a shared, living medium. By the semester’s end, their work will take material form in models, drawings, textiles, video, and installations, culminating in a public exhibition at Casino Display Luxembourg. This exhibition will become a stage for a local encounter with architecture that does not simply “creates space,” but inhabits and reclaims the invisible flows around us.
Since September, Casino Display has been hosting a series of public lectures as part of institutional collaboration. Researchers and practitioners such as Nerea Calvillo, Olga Subirós, Sam Erpelding, Elise Misao Hunchuk are presenting their work which will extend the studio’s enquiries into the imaginaries and politics of air and the role of elements in contemporary spatial practice.
For more: masterarchitecture.lu | casino-luxembourg.lu
Exams Can Wait: A Knocked Loose Live Report from the Heart of the Pit Exams Can Wait: A Knocked Loose Live Report from the Heart of the Pit
This whole story starts with me waking up this morning – eyes barely open, launching Instagram to check on my friends. But on my "For You" page, I discovered what might be the most intense concert I've ever been to: Knocked Loose playing at Den Atelier on June 9, 2025. However, there was one little problem: this concert was literally planned during exam season. So, it was with some mixed feelings about this announcement that I went back to sleep. th
A few weeks passed, and I received my exam schedule, which was very positive news for me. I thought it would be of clear interest to write a live report about one of the most viral acts in the metalcore/hardcore scene. Thanks to the amazing team at Den Atelier, we were granted official press accreditation for ROUX, allowing us to cover this event from the inside. I want to extend a huge thank you to them for this opportunity, it truly means a lot to us. After being granted press access, I decided to get myself ready – mentally at first, then physically – for what I was about to witness. May I clarify that concerts in these scenes are known to be pretty extreme, especially for Knocked Loose, who have a very strong fanbase that, from the live videos I've seen on YouTube, seemed to be pretty wild.
So, here we are! Accompanied by two friends, I wasn’t ready to believe what my eyes were about to see. Honestly, I'll skip the support band because it was a quite generic blend of metalcore with some nu-metal touches, which may sound good on paper but in reality, was far from the interesting mix I just described. After the first act, the room went dark, with only light coming from the cross they brought to the centre of the stage – a reference to the cover of their last album, You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To
Following this, we got an exceptional song selection, including some of their older songs such as Mistakes Like Fractures or Belleville While you could hear there was no playback except for special effects and backing tracks, the execution was immaculate. It's not only about the right notes at the right time; here, the intensity was unmatched.
After this throwback, I rejoined the crowd as they delivered an unapologetic performance of God Knows, one of my favorite tracks, followed by Counting Worms with its viral dogbarking breakdown. I got into the moshpit, and oh my goodness, I should have gotten an appointment for a back massage afterwards, because the pain I felt the next day was more intense than any of their blasting beats. After a few more pogos, circles of death, and moshpits after each single song, they played Where the Lights Divide the Holler, the intro to their most recent EP. Again, I can't express the joy of being there, getting pushed from side to side and just hearing these songs so loud and with such a filthy sound.
They finished this setlist with the double singles Sit & Mourn / Everything Is Quiet Now, ending majestically and with one of the shortest but most insane setlists I've heard in a while. Summing up to a little over an hour, there was no need to prolong this massacre. After the concert, I permitted myself to enjoy a "cornet de frites”, seeing as that cardio session made me lose easily six or seven kilos right on the spot. 10/10 concert. Fantano should have let this album into the very exclusive "10 club."
The moral of the story: exams can be retaken, concerts cannot.
Written by Stefan Capitanescu
Designed by Ane Iniguez
safe to say that nothing about it makes sense and it is a total disaster. Trust me, not worth your time and the pain. It was so bad that I had to rinse my eyeballs and ear canals by revisiting the original, which is THE one to watch. Originally released in 1994, ‘The Crow’ – based on the comic book of the same name, created by James O’Barr, and published in 1989 – has become a cult classic, and, in my opinion, the quintessential goth movie. Let me explain. After the first watch – for it will make you want to come back – you will realise it is a perfectly curated concoction of a tragic yet tastefully poeticised romantic story, entertaining action, and handpicked soundtracks. It features artists such as Rage Against the Machine, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, and Pantera (not to mention the bespoke music made for this movie – fantastic job, Graeme Revell!), that encapsulates everything in a chilling and dark atmosphere. However, the entire movie is shrouded in tragedy, and it’s not just the storyline. The premise of the story is very simple, yet strong in its essence. Eric Draven (played by Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon), a member and composer of a rock band, and his fiancée, Shelly Webster, are murdered the night before their wedding in the worst way possible. Shelly sided with the people that could not defend themselves against unjust eviction laws enforced by the lawless and, in doing so, she pissed off the sovereign of the underworld –Top Dollar, a psychopath who does crime for the sake of fun – resulting in him sending his four devilish goons after them. While they
Every night I scream your name Every night I burn The Cure:-
Burn
take their sweet time to torture Shelly, who dies many, many hours later in intensive care after having suffered unbelievable pain. But “sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with the soul and
Now, Eric is hell-bent for leather only when it comes to the four culprits of the terrible acts committed against Shelly, and nobody else, even though they are not the main villains. He finds them, through The Crow’s eyes, and I won’t tell you how he kills them, but I will give you some clues: Tin-Tin, the knife juggler, Fun Boy, a drug enthusiast, T-Bird, a speed demon, and finally Skank (uuhm… yeah, he’s just that). Once Eric has carefully packaged those fools for the afterlife, he wants to reunite with his love, thinking that justice has been delivered. Top Dollar, however, has taken an interest in him. He heard about Eric multiple times, how he disappears into thin air, the method to his killings, that he is invincible. Even though he did not believe any of that, he was intrigued. He commissions his personal hitman to find and kidnap one of Eric’s old friends. Turning The Crow’s thirst for revenge against him, the ruler of the underworld lures him into a trap. The final fight rages on in a Gothic cathedral: Eric Draven becomes vulnerable; he struggles as he tries to save his friend, and well… I’ll let you discover the rest. I will just say this. The final fight? Truly poetic.
By the way, remember that I mentioned how the original movie is shrouded in tragedy, and not only in the storyline. That is because, in 1993, a tragic accident happened on set: there was a bullet fragment stuck in the barrel of a prop gun, and when fired at Brandon Lee while filming a scene, the blank cartridge was powerful enough to send that fragment through his abdomen, into the spine. Unfortunately, Brandon died despite multiple attempts to save his life. In the final scenes of the movie, Chad Stahelski (who would go on to direct John Wick), with the help of some CGI, replaced Brandon as Eric, all in the name of not making it feel that he was not replaced at all, and they succeeded. If you know anything about Bruce Lee, Brandon’s death was just as mysterious as his father’s..
In essence, ‘The Crow’ (1994) is not your typical supernatural vigilante-type movie. It is the style that everything is wrapped in, which gives it a very specific aesthetic, that makes it essentially a masterpiece. That is why I genuinely believe that it is worth your time and I recommend you give it a try. As for the remake, its intrinsic tragedy lies not in what happened in or around it, but in the fact that it exists at all.
written by Stefan Diac designed by Kristina Shatokhina
Adapter au cinéma n’est jamais une histoire facile. Quand on parle adaptation, on peut penser à des romans adaptés au cinéma comme Harry Potter ou encore Nosferatu, de Murnau, paru en 1922, qui fut la première adaptation de Dracula au cinéma. Cependant, un procès eut lieu pour violation de droit d’auteur. La veuve de Bram Stocker demanda compensation et destruction complète et soudaine de toutes copies du film – film qui, par la suite deviendra un classique absolu du cinéma.
Quelque chose m’intrigue cependant : qu’est-ce qui fait qu’un film est une bonne adaptation ? Pour que je puisse répondre à cette question très vague et complexe, je vais me pencher sur un moment historique qui me paraît extrêmement intéressant et que j’aime par-dessus tout : Jeanne d’Arc. Pour les deux/trois du fond qui ne savent pas trop qui c’est, la Pucelle d’Orléans, ou Jeanne d’Arc, est une figure majeure de la guerre de Cent Ans. Une jeune femme de dix-sept ans qui mène une armée pour libérer la France des Anglais et faire sacrer Charles VII à Reims en 1429. Cependant, elle se fait capturer par les Bourguignons et est vendue aux Anglais pour se faire juger et brûler vive pour sorcellerie. Un nombre incalculable d’adaptations seront faites pour raconter l’histoire complètement invraisemblable de cette jeune demoiselle. La fin de vie de Jeanne d’Arc est, à mon avis, plus intéressante et extraordinaire. Comme je viens de dire, Jeanne d’Arc a été victime d’un “procès”.
Deux excellents films ont été tirés du procès. Le premier, La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc de Carl Theodor Dreyer, est paru en 1928, film muet et film culte, considéré comme l’un des meilleurs long-métrages jamais réalisés, basé sur le procès de condamnation de Jeanne d’Arc qui fut rédigé par les juges ecclésiastiques à Rouen. Le second, Procès de Jeanne d’Arc de Robert Bresson (qui tient une place particulière dans mon cœur fragile), paru en 1962, se concentre sur son procès. Bien que les deux films racontent la même histoire, ils sont bien différents. Ceci pour la raison qu’est la mise en scène. La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (film que Nana voit dans Vivre sa Vie de Godard et qui la fait pleurer) nous livre une Jeanne qui est entre une jeune fille complètement dévouée à Dieu et à ce qu’elle croit juste et une hérétique dans le plus complet délire. Pendant tout le film le doute persiste : on voit que la ferveur de Jeanne est alimentée par quelque chose, mais on n’arrive pas à mettre la main dessus et on reste dans cet espèce de flou. À la fin du film, on nous montre les Rouennais se révolter contre la décision prise par l’Église et prenant Jeanne pour une sainte. Cette scène en particulier pourrait nous montrer la passion de Jeanne (d’où le titre) comme Jésus sur la croix dans la Bible : les derniers moments et la souffrance d’une sainte. Dans Procès de Jeanne d’Arc, c’est une Jeanne complètement différente qui nous est proposée. On voit une Jeanne qui essaye de contourner les pièges des juges et qui essaye de s’affirmer en soutenant sa foi et son rapport direct à Dieu, face aux pièges des juges et aux menaces de torture. Dans
ce film on peut voir une distinction entre l’âme et le corps de Jeanne. Une Jeanne forte et ferme défendant ses idéaux et ce que ses voix lui disent, en témoignant avec une part de vérité aux juges. Cependant, plus le film avance, plus on voit une Jeanne qui a de moins en moins d’espoir qu’on lui rende sa liberté. Dans un premier temps, elle signe l’abjuration que les juges écrivent pour éviter la mort par les flammes, puis elle revient sur sa déclaration et finit par accepter son devoir. A la fin du film, la division entre le corps et l’âme se fait encore plus distinctement au moment de son supplice sur le bûcher : avec un fondu – pouf ! – son corps a disparu et elle n’est plus qu’âme (si vous aimez Star Wars, c’est un peu comme Obi-Wan qui, dans l’épisode IV, s’évapore en fumée pour montrer qu’il n’est plus qu’âme, sauf que Bresson l’a fait bien avant).
Avant de clôturer ce beau chapitre d’histoire, il est intéressant de faire quelques mentions honorables sur la vie ou les légendes concernant Jeanne d’Arc. Jacques Rivette a produit un film en deux parties qui s’intitule Jeanne la Pucelle. Ce film se concentre sur les intrigues politiques autour du roi Charles VII et comment elle le fait sacrer à Reims. Une dernière mention honorable est Y a-t-il une vierge encore vivante ? réalisé par Bertrand Mandico. Attention, toutefois, âmes sensible s’abstenir : ça dure 9 minutes et c’est… spécial ; ça pourrait choquer la sensibilité de certains et certaines.
par Hugo Nazac illustré par Kristina Shatokhina
LISA NEY & LU CULLEN
DESIGNED BY
WRITTEN BY LU CULLEN
HALLOWEEN COSTUME ICEBERG
ARE YOU SCARED OF SHOWING UP TO THIS SEASON’S PARTIES IN THE SEXIEST OUTFIT, ONLY TO FIND OUT THERE’S ANOTHER THREE PEOPLE IN THE EXACT SAME OUTFIT? IS YOUR WORST JUMPSCARE EXPLAINING YOUR PUNNY DISGUISE AND NO ONE GETTING IT? BE NOT AFRAID! THIS ARTICLE WILL B E Y OUR GUIDE TO FIND A COSTUME WITH THE PERFECT RATIO OF QUIRKY TO CONFORMATIVE FOR THESE COMING HOLIDAYS. These are the costumes you’ll see in the movies, perhaps you have a picture of your parents in their youth dressed as some of these. What’s the classic-est of the classics?
The lazy zombie, of course! Our models predict that, this Halloween, at least 40% of the club will dress up in their regular clothes –spill some fake blood on them and call it a day. We obtained this number with the Michaelis-Menten equation, using the estimates of the concentration of people at the club who would be susceptible to wearing a basic costume and of the maximum number of lazy people the club can hold before it sucks.
Honestly, can we talk about the fact that movies and TV shows aren’t influencing culture anymore? Like, honestly, is this capitalism really late-stage? Cause it feels more like post-mortem. Anyways, here’s all I could come up with for this tier: Daphne and Velma ( Scooby-Doo ), Anything from Beetlejuice , Wednesday Addams (AGAIN), Dubai chocolate
In a way, these are a subset of classics, except that you watched some horror movies. Most often slashers (which belong in a different tier), but sometimes other villains. If you dress up as the puppet from Saw : congratulations! You’re less of a bum than the guy with the slasher mask and jeans. Please, don’t bring a real weapon to the party!!! Your costume is enough to hurt my eyes.
Honorable mentions: It, the girl from The Exorcist , Pinhead, The Blair Witch (if you need an excuse not to show up)
Now THIS is our generation’s culture. Think about it, one day you’ll tell your grandchildren of the time we let the machines take over because they made funny memes for us. Now, as an attempt to show our future overlords I deserve clemency despite my public criticism of their ancestors, I’m pleased to announce that our pick for this year’s chronically online costume, and biggest meme of the year, is: Italian b rainrot! Yes, Tralalero Tralala. Yes, Ballerina Cappuccina. Yes! TUNG TUNG TUNG SAHUR. There really are few things scarier than AI taking over all our media… Honorable mentions: Biblically accurate angel, Labubu (preferably 24 carat), Spencer (baby demon) Finally, it’s time for the really scary stuff. If you ever dressed up as a sexy cat and want to redeem yourself, this might be your chance. Dr ess u p like a realistic animal. “What the hell is that?”, you ask. My answer: whiskers, fangs, disproportionate head to primordial pouch ratio, FUR. Meow. Purr. Hiss. Most importantly, be the biggest asshole at the party. If you want to be extra scary, bring your labradoodle to the party. Everyone will think it’s your quiet friend dressed up as a dog and chaos is bound to ensue. Just make sure to not c onfuse them with an actual person in a dog costume on your way out.
Honorable mentions: Christian Girl Autumn, E. coli , Papa Smurf, Aunt Gladys
These are the costumes you might not wanna do if you still live with your parents… or anyone that might see you on your way out, to be fair. If you really want to bring that uncanny valley element you could try: deepfake of yourself. Maybe you want to pay hom age t o a classic arthouse film? Then you and a few friends could be the human
centipede from The Human Centipede ! Or if you’d rather wear something that reminds everyone of the impending doom of the workforce, our own mortality as humans, and the horror of feeling like you’re alone in the universe and no one will ever love you: dress up as your teenage self!
