Putting the Black Hat On (Just for Halloween!)

First off, let me tell you, we do not really have Halloween here. Halloween was just more of a Western idea that we often saw in American movies and TV shows. I say “was” because in the past decade, more or less, Filipinos have begun adhering to the Western practice of having Halloween parties, donning costumes and letting kids go trick-or-treatin’ within their neighborhoods, sometimes even in malls (it’s become a commercial thing now, too). In some areas, they have taken to having monster parades, no matter how silly the costumes are sometimes.

Halloween is still not a widely practiced new tradition for reasons I really don’t need to mention for now, but it has become such to others. It wasn’t a tradition that most of us grew up observing. What we really observe are All Saints Day and All Souls Day on November 1st and 2nd respectively. We go back to our hometowns and provinces to flock the cemeteries and visit the dead. In some ways, it has become a sort of annual reunion for families.

I am not really going to talk about tradition, not right now. I just thought I’d give you a little background on how it really is here.

Our office did have our own li’l Halloween fun. Our branch did not really have Halloween parties before, but we did begin having contests (although most would rather participate in the Christmas celebrations instead). I won in one (in 2012, yay!!!), at least in the office, and last year was extra fun for all of us!

This year’s theme was “Techie,” or “Internet-related.” It was up to us what to do so, still in keeping with the occasion, I came up with my costume and called it…

The Black Hatter

HALLOWEEN 2014! Theme: Techie. I came as “Black Hatter” or a black hat hacker, out to steal your passwords, personal/private information (credit, bank, AdSense account), hijack emails and YouTube, cheat Google Panda and Penguin, and basically wreak havoc, unleashing viruses, worms, bugs…MALWARE MAYHEM!!!!

What is The Black Hatter? S/he is one who does what is termed as black hat SEO practices, also often a bad hacker. To know more, well, it’s very Goog-able (he he…I came up with that one first, okay?). Or you can read the image caption above for an idea, at least. Also, the caption explains the whole look.

BY THE WAY, this in NO WAY means I do black hat, alright? I don’t even have the know-how to do those! This was just for cosplaying purposes.

Let me just say I poured my heart and soul in creating this look (the mention of heart and soul makes it more Halloween-y, don’t you think? he he). The cost was very minimal because I only bought two inexpensive materials — the rest were already available. I did spend many hours in the evenings drawing and painting and basically coming up with appropriate props.

What’s a hacker without a computer? In this case, it’s a tablet keypad to serve as laptop

So those were supposed to be a virus and a worm. Had to keep the gummy worms in the fridge for days before I attached them to the jacket and hoped the ants wouldn’t get to them first — they didn’t. HA!

 

I suddenly got inspired and made two of this bug

Your GMail, compromised

Death to Yahoo!

DisLIKE-ing Facebook

 

 

 

 

 

As additional and important props, I carried a stick from which hung representations of those that a black hatter hits and/or ruins — browsers, search engines, Emails and social media (above are just some of them). It was not only to show the extent of what a black hatter can do, but also to emphasize how hackers like to brag about their conquests.

Oh, and for sure you noticed that red (supposedly a shade of orange) thingy on the front of my jacket. I specifically searched for the icon for malware and found it. It did kind of remind me of something but I dismissed the idea until one said, “I know you’re supposed to be Black Hat but why do you have Naruto‘s mangekyou sharingan there?”

Various sharingan “designs,”from the popular manga “Naruto“

Uh…oh. Alarm bells went off in my head and I thought, I KNEW it was a sharingan! But why did Google give it? Thankfully, two peeps said it was the icon for “biohazard.” Well, after careful research, I have concluded that no, it’s not a sharingan, and it’s not 100% exactly the same as the biohazard icon, although we know where the inspiration for it came from.

After all the thinking and effort, I didn’t win, HA HA HAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, I enjoyed it. Below are more pics from our itty-bitty party 🙂

Instagram Sadako. Great idea by Jane C.

Real-life sweethearts, Count Yahoo! Messenger and the Dancing SnapChat (maybe she’ll let us see her little dance)…Cutie-much!

Android E. has lost his screws!

Basketball-ing kitty? Nope. Just Mr. Firefox hugging the world

Doro the Internet Explorer: The new creepy

Speaking of creepy…..!!!!

Well, Safari got lost (broken compass, maybe), but here are your browsers: Doro the IE  who is perennially behind, Chrome Mama (THE WINNER because everybody just wanted to wear the costume, he he), Mr. Firefox, and Opera Diva

Hashtag Lady says she doesn’t have a costume every year, then she whips out one #indenial

Being a very flexible icon, the hashtag is paired everywhere. Here, a smiling Sadako is forced–er–asked to be the Hashtag model #tree. The list continues with #van, #trashcan, #bike, #person, #yougettheidea

Costume failed but this one joins the party anyway

He’s getting made up impromptu #nocostume

How bitter is this mini-Chrome when he comes in to find a giant Chrome? LOL!!!

No costume, too, but don’t you just like his art?

Preparing for the Annual Walk. It’s not the same without the Annual Walk

Group shot! Too bad Mr. Firefox left early. 😉 Oh, and introducing Ms. C-Prompt sitting at far right

Wacky Techies!

 

Photos courtesy of the office peeps so please do not distribute…Just feel free to link back to here, if ever.

 

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Do you have any pics or stories to share from last Halloween? Share to us! We’d like to see what you’ve been up to 😉