WEBVTT 00:00:00.786 --> 00:00:03.543 There's this fact that I love that I read somewhere once -- 00:00:03.543 --> 00:00:06.274 that one of the things that's contributed 00:00:06.274 --> 00:00:09.784 to homo sapiens' success as a species 00:00:09.784 --> 00:00:11.799 is our lack of body hair. 00:00:11.799 --> 00:00:13.318 That our hairlessness, 00:00:13.318 --> 00:00:16.714 our nakedness combined with our invention of clothing 00:00:16.714 --> 00:00:19.940 gives us the ability to modulate our body temperature 00:00:19.940 --> 00:00:23.536 and thus be able to survive in any climate we choose. 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:27.543 And now we've evolved to the point where we can't survive without clothing. 00:00:27.543 --> 00:00:29.096 And it's more than just utility, 00:00:29.096 --> 00:00:30.381 now it's a communication. 00:00:30.381 --> 00:00:33.322 Everything that we choose to put on is a narrative, 00:00:33.322 --> 00:00:35.366 a story about where we've been, 00:00:35.366 --> 00:00:36.881 what we're doing ... 00:00:36.881 --> 00:00:38.739 who we want to be. 00:00:39.239 --> 00:00:40.979 I was a lonely kid. 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:43.982 I didn't have an easy time finding friends to play with 00:00:43.982 --> 00:00:46.582 and I ended up making a lot of my own play. 00:00:46.582 --> 00:00:48.583 I made a lot of my own toys. 00:00:49.212 --> 00:00:51.034 And it began with ice cream. 00:00:51.034 --> 00:00:54.039 There was a Baskin-Robbins in my hometown, 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:56.352 and they served ice cream from behind the counter 00:00:56.352 --> 00:00:58.982 in these giant, five-gallon, cardboard tubs. 00:00:58.982 --> 00:01:00.034 And someone told me -- 00:01:00.034 --> 00:01:01.182 I was eight years old -- 00:01:01.182 --> 00:01:03.802 someone told me that when they were done with those tubs 00:01:03.802 --> 00:01:06.228 they washed them out and they kept them in the back, 00:01:06.228 --> 00:01:08.202 and if you asked they would give you one. 00:01:08.202 --> 00:01:11.103 It took me a couple of weeks to work up the courage but I did, 00:01:11.103 --> 00:01:12.099 and they did. 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:13.100 They gave me one. 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:15.243 I went home with this beautiful cardboard tub. 00:01:15.243 --> 00:01:18.742 And I was trying to figure out what I could do with this exotic material-- 00:01:18.742 --> 00:01:20.168 metal ring, top and bottom -- 00:01:20.168 --> 00:01:22.822 and I started turning it over in my head and I realized, 00:01:22.822 --> 00:01:23.824 "Wait a minute, 00:01:23.824 --> 00:01:25.910 my head actually fits inside this thing--" 00:01:25.910 --> 00:01:27.220 (Laughter) 00:01:27.220 --> 00:01:28.936 Yeah, I cut a hole out, 00:01:28.936 --> 00:01:30.478 I put some acetate in there 00:01:30.478 --> 00:01:32.386 and I made myself a space helmet. 00:01:32.386 --> 00:01:33.391 (Laughter) 00:01:33.391 --> 00:01:36.374 I needed a place to wear the space helmet, 00:01:36.374 --> 00:01:39.004 so I found a refrigerator box a couple blocks from home. 00:01:39.004 --> 00:01:40.328 I pushed it home, 00:01:40.328 --> 00:01:43.219 and in my parent's guest room closet, 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:45.535 I turned it into a spaceship. 00:01:45.535 --> 00:01:47.774 I started with a control panel out of cardboard. 00:01:47.774 --> 00:01:49.619 I cut a hole for a radar screen 00:01:49.619 --> 00:01:51.842 and put a flashlight underneath it to light it. 00:01:51.842 --> 00:01:55.047 I put a view screen up which I offset off the back wall -- 00:01:55.047 --> 00:01:57.682 and this is where I thought I was being really clever -- 00:01:57.682 --> 00:01:58.678 without permission, 00:01:58.678 --> 00:02:00.733 I painted the back wall of the closet black 00:02:00.733 --> 00:02:02.068 and put a star field 00:02:02.068 --> 00:02:06.598 which I lit up with some Christmas lights I found in the attic, 00:02:06.598 --> 00:02:08.769 and I went on some space missions. 00:02:09.413 --> 00:02:10.444 A couple years later, 00:02:10.444 --> 00:02:12.045 the movie "Jaws" came out. 00:02:12.045 --> 00:02:13.709 And I was way too young to see it, 00:02:13.709 --> 00:02:17.381 but I was caught up in "Jaws" fever like everyone else in America at the time. 00:02:17.822 --> 00:02:21.369 And there was a store in my town that had a "Jaws" costume in their window, 00:02:21.369 --> 00:02:23.849 and my mom must have overheard me talking to someone 00:02:23.849 --> 00:02:25.899 about how awesome I thought this costume was 00:02:25.899 --> 00:02:27.775 because a couple days before Halloween, 00:02:27.775 --> 00:02:32.334 she blew my freaking mind by giving me this "Jaws" costume. 00:02:32.601 --> 00:02:35.024 Now, I recognize it's a bit of a trope 00:02:35.024 --> 00:02:36.920 for people of a certain age to complain 00:02:36.920 --> 00:02:40.625 that kids these days have no idea how good they have it, 00:02:40.625 --> 00:02:42.693 but let me just show you a random sampling 00:02:42.693 --> 00:02:46.414 of entry-level kids' costumes you can buy online right now ... 00:02:46.414 --> 00:02:50.259 and this is the "Jaws" costume my mom bought for me. 00:02:50.259 --> 00:02:51.264 (Laughter) 00:02:52.941 --> 00:02:56.144 This is a paper-thin shark face 00:02:56.144 --> 00:02:59.803 and a vinyl bib with the poster of "Jaws" on it. 00:02:59.803 --> 00:03:00.798 (Laughter) 00:03:00.798 --> 00:03:02.436 And I loved it. 00:03:02.872 --> 00:03:04.113 A couple years later, 00:03:04.113 --> 00:03:06.803 my dad took me to a film called "Excalibur." 00:03:06.803 --> 00:03:08.868 I actually got him to take me to it twice, 00:03:08.868 --> 00:03:09.998 which is no small thing 00:03:09.998 --> 00:03:13.182 because it is a hard, R-rated film. 00:03:13.182 --> 00:03:15.296 But it wasn't the blood and guts or the boobs 00:03:15.296 --> 00:03:17.222 that made me want to go see it again -- 00:03:17.222 --> 00:03:18.391 they helped -- 00:03:18.391 --> 00:03:19.394 (Laughter) 00:03:19.403 --> 00:03:20.796 It was the armor. 00:03:20.796 --> 00:03:24.724 The armor in "Excalibur" was intoxicatingly beautiful to me. 00:03:24.724 --> 00:03:29.448 These were literally knights in shining, mirror-polished armor. 00:03:29.448 --> 00:03:30.454 And moreover, 00:03:30.454 --> 00:03:33.612 the knights in "Excalibur" wear their armor everywhere. 00:03:33.612 --> 00:03:34.611 All the time. 00:03:34.611 --> 00:03:35.794 They wear it at dinner, 00:03:35.794 --> 00:03:37.401 they wear it to bed. 00:03:37.401 --> 00:03:38.395 (Laughter) 00:03:38.395 --> 00:03:40.240 I was like, "are they reading my mind? 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.876 I want to wear armor all the time!" 00:03:43.645 --> 00:03:46.027 And so I went back to my favorite material-- 00:03:46.027 --> 00:03:47.599 the gateway drug for making: 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.042 corrugated cardboard. 00:03:49.042 --> 00:03:52.138 And I made myself a suit of armor, 00:03:52.138 --> 00:03:55.321 replete with the neck shields and a white horse. 00:03:55.321 --> 00:03:56.626 Now that I've over-sold it, 00:03:56.626 --> 00:03:58.651 here's a picture of the armor that I made. 00:03:58.651 --> 00:04:00.020 (Laughter) 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:01.825 (Applause) 00:04:04.967 --> 00:04:07.610 Now this is only the first suit of armor I made 00:04:07.796 --> 00:04:09.203 inspired by "Excalibur." 00:04:09.429 --> 00:04:10.515 A couple of years later, 00:04:10.726 --> 00:04:14.018 I convinced my dad to embark on making me a proper suit of armor. 00:04:14.642 --> 00:04:16.049 Over about a month, 00:04:16.292 --> 00:04:19.908 he graduated me from cardboard to roofing aluminum called flashing 00:04:20.298 --> 00:04:23.217 and still, one of my all time favorite attachement materials, 00:04:23.403 --> 00:04:24.502 POP rivets. 00:04:24.687 --> 00:04:26.213 We carefully over that month, 00:04:26.415 --> 00:04:28.702 constructed an articulated suit of aluminum armor 00:04:28.893 --> 00:04:29.814 with compound curves. 00:04:29.996 --> 00:04:32.826 We drilled holes in the helmet so that I could breathe 00:04:33.028 --> 00:04:35.735 and I finished just in time for Halloween and wore it school. 00:04:35.949 --> 00:04:39.437 Now this is the one thing in this talk that I don't have a slide to show you, 00:04:39.640 --> 00:04:41.896 because no photo exists of this armor. 00:04:42.149 --> 00:04:43.289 I did wear it to school, 00:04:43.504 --> 00:04:45.578 there was a yearbook photographer patrolling the halls 00:04:45.765 --> 00:04:46.844 but he never found me 00:04:47.054 --> 00:04:48.645 for reasons that are about to become clear. 00:04:49.522 --> 00:04:51.453 There were things I didn't anticipate 00:04:51.638 --> 00:04:55.379 about wearing a complete suit of aluminum armor to school. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:56.499 (Laughter) 00:04:56.740 --> 00:04:57.982 In third period math, 00:04:58.175 --> 00:04:59.176 I'm was standing in the back of class, 00:04:59.393 --> 00:05:00.492 and I'm standing at the back of class 00:05:00.678 --> 00:05:02.707 because the armor did not allow me to sit down. 00:05:02.966 --> 00:05:04.714 (Laughter) 00:05:04.957 --> 00:05:06.637 This is the first thing I didn't anticipate. 00:05:07.617 --> 00:05:09.985 And then my teacher looks at me sort of concerned 00:05:10.179 --> 00:05:11.355 about half way through the class 00:05:11.583 --> 00:05:12.674 and says, "Are you feeling OK?" 00:05:12.909 --> 00:05:13.748 And I'm thinking, "Are you kidding? 00:05:13.991 --> 00:05:14.800 Am I feeling OK? 00:05:15.024 --> 00:05:16.449 I'm wearing a suit of armor! 00:05:16.702 --> 00:05:18.234 I am having the time of my --" 00:05:18.474 --> 00:05:20.963 And I'm just about to tell her how great I feel 00:05:21.162 --> 00:05:23.453 when the classroom starts to list to the left 00:05:23.644 --> 00:05:26.234 and disappear down this long tunnel, 00:05:26.428 --> 00:05:29.888 and then I woke up in the nurse's office. 00:05:30.449 --> 00:05:31.150 (Laughter) 00:05:31.378 --> 00:05:34.566 I had passed out from heat exhaustion wearing the armor. 00:05:35.089 --> 00:05:35.877 And when I woke up, 00:05:36.117 --> 00:05:38.441 I wasn't embarrassed about having passed out in front of my class, 00:05:38.663 --> 00:05:39.277 I was wondering, 00:05:39.491 --> 00:05:40.285 "Who took my armor?! 00:05:40.457 --> 00:05:41.802 Where's my armor?!" 00:05:42.047 --> 00:05:44.025 OK, fast-forward a whole bunch of years, 00:05:44.247 --> 00:05:45.496 some colleagues and I get hired 00:05:45.712 --> 00:05:47.934 to make a show for Discovery Channel called "Mythbusters." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And over 14 years, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I learn on the job how to build experimental methodologies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and how to tell stories about them for television. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I also learned early on 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that costuming can play a key role in this storytelling 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I used costumed to add humor, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 comedy, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 color 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and narrative clarity to the stories that we're telling. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then we do an episode called "Dumpster Diving," 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I learn a little bit more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about the deeper implications of what costuming means to me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The episode "Dumpster Diving"-- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the question we were trying to answer is: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is jumping into a dumpster as safe as the movie would like you to believe? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So the episode was going to have two distinct parts to it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One was where we get trained to jump off buildings by a stuntman 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 into an air bag. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the second was the graduation to the experiment: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we're fill a dumpster full of material and we'd jump into it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I wanted to visually separate these two elements, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I thought, "Well, for the first part we're training, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so we should wear sweatsuits -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Oh! Let's put 'Stunt Trainee' on the back of the sweatsuits, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's for the training." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But for the second part I wanted something really visually striking -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I know! I'll dress as Neo from 'The Matrix.'" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I went to Haight Street. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I bought some beautiful knee-high, buckle boots. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I found a long flowing coat on eBay. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I got some sunglasses 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 which I had to wear contact lenses in order to wear. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the day of the experiment shoot comes up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I step out of my car in this costume 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and my crew takes a look at me ... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and start suppressing their church giggles. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laugh sound) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I feel two distinct things at this moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I feel total embarrassment over the fact that it's so nakedly clear to my crew 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I'm completely into wearing this costume. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But the producer in my mind reminds myself that in the high-speed shot in slow-mo 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that flowing coat is going to look beautiful behind me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Five years into [the] "Mythbusters" run, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we got invited to appear at San Diego Comic-Con. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'd known about Comic-Con for years and never had time to go. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This was the big leagues. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This was costuming mecca. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 People fly in from all over the world 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to show their amazing creations on the floor in San Diego. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I wanted to participate. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I decided that I would put together an elaborate costume 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that covered my completely. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I would walk the floor of San Diego Comic-Con anonymously. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The costume I chose? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Hellboy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's not my costume, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that's actually Hellboy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I spent months assembling the most screen-accurate Hellboy costume I could, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from the boots to the belt, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the pants 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the right hand of doom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I found a guy who made a prosthetic Hellboy head and chest 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I put them on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I even had contact lenses made in my prescription. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I wore it onto the floor at Comic-Con 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I can't even tell you how balls-hot it was in that costume. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sweating -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I should of remembered this -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm sweating buckets 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the contact lenses hurt my eyes, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and none of it matters because I'm totally in love. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not just with the process of putting on this costume and walking the floor, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but also with the community of other costumers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's not called costuming at Cons, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's called "Cosplay". 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now ostensibly, Cosplay means 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 people who dress up as their favorite characters from film and television, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and especially anime, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it is so much more than that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 These aren't just people who find a costume and put it on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They mash them up. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They bend them to their will. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They change them to be the characters they want to be in those productions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're super clever and genius: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they let their freak flag fly and it's beautiful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But more than that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they rehearse their costumes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 At Comic-Con or any other Con, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you don't just take pictures of people walking around. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You actually go up and say, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Hey I like your costume, can I take your picture?" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then you give them time to get into their pose. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They've worked hard on their pose 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to make their costume look great for your camera. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it's so beautiful to watch. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I take this to heart. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And at subsequent Cons, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I learn Heath Ledger's shambling walk as the Joker from "The Dark Knight." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I learn how to be a scary Ringwraith from "Lord of the Rings," 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I actually frightened some children. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I learned that "herr herr herr"-- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that head laugh that Chewbacca does. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then I dressed up as No-Face from "Spirited Away." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you don't know about "Spirited Away" and it's director, Mayao Miyazaki, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 first of all, you're welcome. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Laughter) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a masterpiece 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and one of my all-time favorite films. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's about a young girl named Chihiro who gets lost in the spirit world 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in an abandoned Japanese theme park. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And she finds her way back out again 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the help of a couple of friends she makes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A captured dragon named Haku and a lonely demon named No-Face. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No-Face is lonely and he wants to make friends, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and he thinks that the way to do it is by luring them to him 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and producing gold in his hand. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But this doesn't go very well, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so he ends up going on a kind of a rampage 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 until Chihiro saves him -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 rescues him. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I put together a No-Face costume 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I wore it on the floor at Comic-Con. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I very carefully practiced No-Face's gestures. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I realized -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I resolved I would not speak in this costume at all. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When people asked to take my picture, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I would nod 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I would shyly stand next to them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they would take the picture 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then I would secret out from behind my robe a chocolate gold coin, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and at the end of the photo process, I'd make it appear for them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Ah, ah ah -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And people were freaking out. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Holy crap! Gold from No-Face, oh my god, this is so cool!" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I'm feeling and I'm walking the floor and it's fantastic. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 About 15 minutes in something happens. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Somebody grabs my hand and they put a coin back into it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I think maybe they're giving me a coin as a return gift, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but no, this is one of the coins that I'd given away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know why. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I keep on going, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I take some more pictures. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then it happens again. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Understand, I can't see anything inside this costume. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can see through the mouth -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can see people's shoes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can hear what they're saying and I can see their feet. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But the third time someone gives me back a coin, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I want to know what's going on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I sort of tilt my head back to get a better view, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and what I see is someone walking away from me going like this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then it hits me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's bad luck to take gold from No-Face. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In the film "Spirited Away," 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 bad luck befalls those who take gold from No-Face. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This isn't a performer- audience relationship. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is Cosplay. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are, all of us on that floor, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 injecting ourselves into a narrative that meant something to us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we're making it our own. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're connecting with something important inside of us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the costumes are how we reveal ourselves to each other. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Applause)