Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln

This past weekend I went to see Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  The movie has stuck with me–the sign of a good movie.  I left the theater both entertained and intrigued–wanting to know more about the 13th amendment and how Lincoln was able to get it through congress (by the skin of his teeth). That night I had a period piece dream where I sat across the table from Lincoln (I have always had a penchant for tall, lean men) discussing the ramifications of the war.

Lincoln was an astute politician who knew how to work the system by greasing palms and making deals, and working across the isle. On the heels of a very divided and close election Tuesday I found the movie to be timely and insightful (Democracy has never been easy). Thanks to Steven Spielberg I spent the rest of the weekend reading and watching movies and video snippets about Lincoln, the civil war and the 13th amendment, hoping to fill in the blanks that I conveniently forgot after high school.

This movie is a must see with an all-star cast including Daniel Day Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field.  The script is written by Tony Kushner (Angels in America).  But be forewarned it will leave you with more questions than answers.   Two thumbs up from me!

Tall Women Talk about How Great it Is to be Tall. I love this video.  These beautiful girls talk about why they LOVE being tall!  Check it out.  It’s fun and inspiring. Whoever they decide to date should always be sporting a gorgeous Longshot Apparel shirt for sure!

Longshot Apparel Says Happy Halloween to all You Tall Men Out There! I love halloween, my husband hates it.  There is something about dressing up like a ridiculous fool that takes me back to my childhood–call me nostalgic.  This halloween we at Longshot Apparel would love to wish you all a spooking and fun loving evening full of hilarious haunts and clever costumes. Happy Halloween!

Frankenstein Costume

Halloween is a fun time of year especially for tall, imposing tpes who can get a rise out of people. But choosing a costume that will fit is not the easiest of tasks. Unfortunately most adult costumes are made for those of average height. Here are some easy and affordable costume ideas for tall guys that can put together in one afternoon.

Abraham Lincoln

Our sixteenth President is a classic costume for tall men. Most men will have a suit in their closet, giving them the base of the costume. A top hat and beard round out the disguise. To make this more than a costume, it is easy to read up on the life of Lincoln and memorize some excerpts from his more famous speeches. If well-liked Presidents appeals to you, but Lincoln seems too easy or over-done, both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were tall men. Dressing as either of these two men would be a more involved process, however, as they lived in a period with more fanciful dress than ours.  And for a more modern option there is always Mitt Romney.

Pez Dispenser

What could be more appropriate for a holiday that is celebrated with the sharing of candy than dressing as one of those treats? Dressing as a Pez dispenser is easy and gives you room for a lot of creativity. For the body of the dispenser, dress with pants and a shirt of the same color. Blue, red, or black would be the best choices, but any color that can coordinate with the head of the dispenser would work just as well. The head of the dispenser can be made to look like just about any head you would want, from famous people to cartoon characters to pets or other animals. Use a Halloween mask or craft your own head if you are handy at that sort of activity.

Grim Reaper

This classic costume is a Halloween favorite and perfect for tall people. The classic black cloak of the Grim Reaper can be made or bought, and it is trivially easy to lengthen a store-bought cloak that is too short for you. Purchase a length of black fabric equal to the width of the bottom of the cloak and sew one straight seam. The scythe the Reaper carries is not a height-dependent prop, so it can be purchased at any costume shop. This is an especially well-suited Halloween Costume for tall people as their height makes them more imposing as the Grim Reaper.

Frankenstein

Then there’s always the best fallback plan….Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein monster. While the possibilities are endless for putting this one together, here is a brief description of old Frank that will help you to inspire your costume.  An 8-foot-tall (2.4 m), hideously ugly creation, with translucent yellowish skin pulled so taut over the body that it “barely disguised the workings of the vessels and muscles underneath”; watery, glowing eyes, flowing black hair, black lips, and prominent white teeth.

Now, go forth and scare the living daylights out of your short friends!

The Tall Man, a great Halloween Movie is a 2012 English-language French mystery film written and directed by Pascal Laugier. It was filmed in the Kootenayregion of Southeastern British Columbia^[4] and stars Jessica Biel. The film is set in a small mining town where children are disappearing on a regular basis, and the abductions are blamed on a local legend called “the Tall Man.” Jessica Biel plays a nurse in the town whose own son disappears, leading her to seek out the mystery of the Tall Man.

Cast

• Jessica Biel as Julia Dunning
• Jodelle Ferland as Jenny Weaver
• Stephen McHattie as Lt. Dodd
• Jakob Davies as David Johnson
• William B. Davis as Sheriff Chestnut

The Tall Man

Plot

When her child is abducted, Julia Dunning (Biel) attempts to unravel the local legend of “The Tall Man”, an entity who allegedly abducts children. Julia lives in a small ex-mining town in Washington. She is the town’s local nurse widowed by her husband who was the town’s doctor. The town of Cold Rock was formerly a mining town but since those mines- forming miles of tunnels under the entire area- the town has become a poverty striken and run down area. There is no school, no work and only apathy abounds.

During her day Julia visits several families, including Jenny (Jodelle Ferland) and her mother who live next door to a violent alcoholic neighbour. Jenny is selectivly mute and only writes down her feelings in a note book which she always carrys.

Julia returns to her large home on the outskirts of Cold Rock which she shares with her son David and her nanny. She eats dinner, puts David to bed then she falls asleep on a couch. She awakes to a noise down stairs followed by loud radio sermon. She finds her nanny tied and gagged on the ground, then rushes to her son’s bedroom from which he is gone. Or at least that’s how it seems at first.

While in pursuit of what the viewer believes is “The Tall Man”, it’s gradually revealed that Julia’s son isn’t, in fact, her son at all, but rather one of the kidnapped children. Julia isn’t a distraught mother attempting to locate her child; she’s actually the person the entire town has been afraid of all this time. The person who took her ‘son’ was actually the real mother of the boy, who by accident had discovered that Julia had kidnapped him and was holding him at her house. The mother, being homeless and regarded as the town crazy, decided to rescue her boy on her own, fearing that if she went to the police the well-respected Julia would have her locked away, dismissing her accusations as the ramblings of a madwoman.

Julia persues the woman and David to the abandoned hospital where she has been living. During a fight Julia knocks out the woman and with the help of Jenny, she returns to her house. Jenny begs her to “Let the Tall man take her too”, something which Julia initially says no to but then relents although she tells Jenny that she should be careful what she wishes for. Julia then takes David down into the tunnels, presumably to hand him over to the Tall man before returning to wait for the mob.

The police and FBI arrive, as does the entire town screaming for Julia’s blood and their missing children. The Nanny hangs herself & Julia is taken to jail, where she is dispised and threatened as a child killer. Julia admits to kidnapping and murdering the children but the confession is later revealed to be a lie. It transpires that Julia is part of an organization which ‘rescues’ young children from bad homes and places them with good ones in an attempt to break the cycle of poverty and abuse which passes from one generation to the next. The organization is world-wide and takes children from all over the globe, giving them a chance at having a real life in good homes free of abuse and neglect.

Soon after Jenny watches her mother engage in a drunken fight with their neighbour before laughing with him over it. Disgusted Jenny walks off into a nearby field where she finds the Tall man waiting for her- Julia’s husband who is not dead after all. He takes her to an almost empty house in the nearest city, where Jenny changes into pretty new clothes- a far cry from her dark and ragged old ones- and is taken to meet her “New mother”. This woman is given documents which change Jenny into Vera, this woman’s daughter. When her new mother attempts to give The Tall Man money, he refuses saying that the organisation faces massive risks to rescue each child & Julia has sacrificed her life (she may receive the death penalty) to let the children begin again.

In Cold Rock, Jenny’s former mother grieves over her missing child, the town continues to decline with no hope of change and Julia sits in jail knowing she will never see the light of day again. The FBI and police have stated that with the massive ammount of tunnels they will never be able to locate the bodies of the children which Julia killed and left down there.

Jenny/ Vera lives in a beautiful home, where her art is encouraged and she has the best of everything. She has begun to talk and seems well adjusted and happy. As she walks to an art class she tells us that she loved all her three mothers- her birth mother, Julia who gave her a chance of a new life and her new mother who is providing her with everything she could want. As she crosses a park she sees David with his new family, which he accepts as his own and he doesnt recognise Jenny at all. The children who were taken are usually too young to remember their birth parents, Jenny is older and the only one who activly asked to be taken.

The movie ends with Jenny wondering if the price she paid for her new life was worth it.

GQ, like Longshot Apparel goes direct to the problem–Trim the Fat. It’s nice to see we aren’t the only ones who are bothered by a billowing shirt that makes a guy look–fat. GQ magazine weighs in on a great “how to” guide for dress shirts.  Check it out.  Naturally they say to “trim the fat,” they are speakin’ the Longshot Apparel language.

GQ, like Longshot Apparel, Says "Trim the Fat"