Out of Character

Every Halloween, the company I'm employed at holds an afternoon Halloween event with fun activities where employees are asked to (optionally) where a costume.

For Halloween 2008, I originally planned to go as Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers, but as Halloween approached (I procrastinated of course), I could not find a suitable vest that would help people make the connection.

So now it was the morning of Halloween and I still didn't have a costume. I stopped in at The Real Canadian Superstore, only to find that all Halloween costumes and accessories were ransacked. But I did manage to pick up a Heads Up Harry (life-size animated talking zombie figure) for half price... If I couldn't dress up, at least I could bring my buddy Harry, who was Halloween-ready.

Now it's lunch-time, and still no costume. I zipped out to the mall for lunch and hit Spencers Gifts. I was able to find a redneck baseball cap with long greasy curly locks attached (last one in the store), glass bottle glasses, and a set of hillbilly teeth. And luckily, I had a set of overalls from a cable company in the back of my car.

I was going to be some fictitious Billy "Cable Guy" Bob character, and no one in the office knew.

I secretly slipped into the costume. But at the same time, I slipped into the character behind the costume. I changed my stance, my walk, and my talk. Of course, the hillbilly teeth had a lot to do with the alteration of my speech, but my words were now from the mouth of Billy Bob.

Here's the before-and-after pics to show my usual office persona and my Halloween Billy Bob persona. Actually, the "before" pic was taken a couple of days ago, but I think you get the idea of the physical transformation. Uh, I'm the one on the left if you're wondering... and that's Heads Up Harry on the right (it looks like he's lost a bit of weight, and I've gained a bit).

(For larger view, click on above images)

A few people had a difficult time figuring out who I was (or even if I was supposed to be there), and I had a great time being someone else for the afternoon. I didn't let up... I stayed in character the entire event, until it was time to pull off the costume.

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any video of my character from the event... that would have been ideal to show how I pulled it off.

So instead, I'm going to try and persuade my colleagues to leave comments about their point of view or experience. If you're curious, come back to this posting during this upcoming week to read the comments left by my colleagues.

Papercraft R/C Nissan Cube

I had a little fun with a papercraft Nissan Cube that I downloaded from SH Illustration Studio, and the chassis from a 1:26 scale Nissan 180SX R/C car (borrowed from a colleague).

Since it was a JDM model (Japanese Domestic Market), I had to tweak the image to flip certain items left-to-right because vehicles in Japan are right-hand drive, and USDM models (U.S. Domestic Market) are left-hand drive. I also had to scale the papercraft images so it would fit over the R/C chassis.

I used wooden stir sticks, which are thinner but longer than popsicle sticks, to reinforce the papercraft construction as well as attach it to the R/C chassis.

The result... my colleague and I had a little cubicle fun driving this little papercraft R/C Nissan Cube around our work area. I only have a Canon A95 Sureshot still camera, but it took decent enough video for me to create this little segment to promote the Nissan Cube campaign...

Cube Events and the Hypercube Presentation Stand

The Hypercube announced that Cube events will be held in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver (possibly other cities), where the winners will receive their new Nissan Cube. But The Hypercube also asked for possible names for the event from us hypercubists (contestants), and the name of the event will be selected from the submissions.

I presented 2 possible names for the event:

1. Hypercube's Boxy Day Extravaganza
   Tagline: Where the box is the gift and Christmas arrives early for 50 Canadians
   
   
2. Hypercube's Block Party

Regardless of whether any of my submissions are selected, I thought it would be interesting if each of the Cubes were presented in a hypercube stand. After all, this whole Word-of-Mouth (WOM) campaign has been branded as "Hypercube", so why not go all the way with the brand.

Here's an illustration I quickly put together to illustrate how the hypercube presentation stand could look:

The hypercube shape lends nicely to having a natural ramp at both ends. Depending on the number of Cubes being given away at each event, they could have a separate presentation stand for each Cube car, where the Cube is parked on the stand prior to the start of the event. Or, if the stands are too costly to construct several of them, they could drive one Cube onto the stand, present it to one winner, who then drives it off the stand. Then the next winner's cube is driven onto the stand and presented, and so on.

Tips for Owning a Unique Car (Like the Nissan cube)

I'm no stranger to owning a strange car on Canadian roads. I had owned a 1989 Nissan S-Cargo for almost 5 years, so I've had a lot of exposure to owning, driving, and parking a strangely unique car.

I had learned a lot about how to interact with people showing interest in the car, and how people react to such a unique car. So here's a few tips to help the winners, or any new owner, of a Nissan cube®...

Tips for Owning a Unique Car in Canada:

1. Have fun! First priority - have fun with this vehicle. It's a funky car, and the first 3 letters of funky spells fun. Take it for a drive, pick up some friends, and have a blast.
   
   
2. Don't be shy. You'll have people approaching you and asking you questions about the car. If you're shy or don't like talking to strangers, you'll have a tough time owning such a car.
     
3. Be personable - your approach sets the tone. The first few times when I walked out of a store and saw people standing around my S-Cargo, peering into the windows, and looking puzzled, I walked up to them and politely said, "Can I help you?". They would step back, look at me, realize I was the owner, and would say something like, "No, it's okay. Just looking," then uncomfortably walk away. I thought I was polite and said it with a smile. And I was sincere about helping them. So what was wrong?
   
   One time, I saw a couple standing next to the car, chuckling and shaking their heads in disbelief. I walked up and started off with a different question, "So what do you think of the car? Be honest." Well, they opened right up and we had a good 15-minute conversation about its features and how I acquired it.
   
   From that point on, I'd approach people with a question that invited a more specific answer or comment, making the experience more enjoyable for everyone.
   
   
4. Have more fun! It's that important. If you stop having fun with the car, it'll become just another car. Plan a day trip outside of the city with some friends. Take it someplace where no one has seen it before. Or shine it up and take it to a local Show'n'Shine for a day and meet more people, especially if you've added some aftermarket bling to it.
   
   
5. Plan extra time for your outtings. It was very common for me to spend an extra 10-20 minutes with people who'd stop me when leaving the S-Cargo to go into a store, or when coming back to the S-Cargo. So add some time for your errands so you can tend to your fans.
   
   
6. Know your car, and be honest. People will ask you subjective and technical questions about the car. So know engine specs, safety features, etc. And they'll ask you what's good, what's bad, what you like, and what you don't like. And be honest with your answers. You're not a salesperson - you're an experienced owner. People want to know the real scoop and will really appreciate your honesty. Let them know when the glove box is too small, or it's difficult to see or reach instrumentation, but always end on something positive or something you really like about the car so they leave with a good impression.
   
   
7. Gawking hazards. People may gawk at your car. This is normally not a problem unless the person doing the gawking is also driving a car. Keep alert and aware of potential gawking drivers as you may need to perform sudden evasive maneuvers or lean on the horn to warn them of a dangerous situation... such as running a stop sign or red light, hitting a pedestrian, or other dangerous situation.
   
   On one particular incident, the driver of the car in the lane to my right was trying to get ahead of me while leaning out the driver's window looking backwards so he could take a picture of the front of the S-Cargo... and nearly ran me into oncoming traffic.
   
   
8. Enjoy the car and have fun! You'll get a lot of attention and meet more people. Enjoy every minute of it. The cube® has a similar cute-appeal as the S-Cargo. And quite frankly, the S-Cargo was a chick-magnet... more so than any high-end sports car. If you're male and single and want to meet girls, the cube® will definitely be an ice breaker. However, after the cube® breaks the ice for you, your personality better be able to stand up to the cube's® personality, or you'll be kicked to the curb.