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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

A Coney Island of the Mindfuck

posted by on August 6 at 16:10 PM

New on Coney Island, as reported in the New York Times:

It looks at first like any other shuttered storefront near the boardwalk: some garish lettering and a cartoonish invitation to a delight or a scam — in this case there’s SpongeBob SquarePants saying, “It don’t Gitmo better!”

Water1650.jpg

Inside, artist Steve Powers has designed a “Waterboard Thrill Ride” where you stuff a dollar into a slot and watch animatronic figures torture each other.

The whole recreational waterboarding thing is as old as the hills, whether for the purposes of kink (hello, ancient Japanese porn) or publicity (hello, Christopher Hitchens). Just a few weeks ago, Jen Graves wrote about Jon Haddock, an artist from Arizona who makes animatronic torture figures.

But that’s the point—torture is nothing shocking.

Remember the days—circa Halloween, 2004—when people got all worked up about this?

halloween04_10.jpg

Those days are done.

Back to the Coney Island article:

“I love it,” said Ricki Rosen, the mother of the family. “Hilarious!” Her daughter asked what it was all about, and Ms. Rosen responded: “Waterboarding, Sweetie, is a kind of torture where they pour water on people’s faces so they feel like they’re drowning. But then there was a big controversy because a lot of Americans are saying you shouldn’t torture people even if they are terrorists.” She paused. “The baby is hilarious!”

“Waterboarding, Sweetie, is a kind of torture.”

That phrase is now burned on my brain.

RSS icon Comments

1
On Aug. 15, Mr. Powers and some invited lawyers — “the group who most stands to benefit from the knowledge,” he says — will indeed have themselves waterboarded

And all those commenters who say taggers should be tortured will finally be placated.

Posted by danny | August 6, 2008 4:43 PM
2

Well I had a really good run up comedy about the Braille Playboy in the Seattle Weekly Box in front of Charlies, but alas, my fumble fingers deleted it before posting time.

I guess it is better to give in to the time clock {and not try to recreate the moment of wonder}than to have not tried at all,

...and of course leave important commentary to tag artists who shit in doorways and leave garbage on walls who will be better served by the above commentator and a Playboy without fuzzy naval pictures.

Posted by danielbennettkieneker | August 6, 2008 5:07 PM
3

Best dbk ever.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | August 6, 2008 5:42 PM
4

DBK for Guest Slogger.

Posted by it'smarkmitchell | August 6, 2008 5:43 PM
5

DBK
what is this child talking about ?

Posted by reverend dr dj riz | August 6, 2008 10:08 PM

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