On my way back to work from lunch I passed one of The Stranger‘s distribution boxes, paused a moment to check out this week’s cover — and probably startled a couple of the people around me when I burst out laughing at the cover photo.
This week’s issue has a feature on 2004’s Scariest Halloween Costumes, and it is so not ‘politically correct’. It’s also really damn funny (if you’ve got a sick enough sense of humor, I suppose, a category that I easily fall into).
This was the costume they used for their cover. It’s so wrong, and so perfect — I love the combination of one of the most widely-seen of the horrific images from Abu Ghraib and the smiling, innocent face of a child.
Your child will be the hit of the neighborhood costume parade in this recreation of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal’s most indelible image. As an added bonus this easy-to-make costume will remind everyone on your child’s trick-or-treat route of our national shame! Simply roll a cone from a sheet of 24″x38″ black cardstock, making sure to cut out a hole for the face. Drape with two yards of black felt, and add leftover wires from your last lamp-rewiring project. Voilá! So easy, so quick, and so terrifying!
I’m quite sure that Dan Savage, David Schmader, and John Hollingsworth are going to be going straight to hell (do not pass go, do not collect \$200) for this piece of work.
But I’m going right along with them for laughing.