醜聞、頭條人物成萬聖節熱銷面具

Scandals, political gaffes and rivalries are inspiring Halloween costumes this year, from elaborate store-bought designs to do-it-yourself disguises that need little more than a stapler and a wicked sense of humor.

At New York Costumes, a President Barack Obama mask is slightly outselling a mask of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said store manager Tony Bianchi.

Big Bird is sold out, flying off the shelves Romney vowed to defund public broadcasting in a presidential debate earlier this month, said Bianchi and also Ereka Dunn, spokeswoman for Ricky's, another New York costume store.

"Everything is television-driven or scandal-driven," Bianchi said. Costumes go for as much as $250, he said.

Sales of the Joker, the Batman movie villain, dropped below the newer villain Bane this season, likely a result of being outdated than blowback from the deadly Colorado theater shooting by a gunman dressed as the Joker, salespeople said.

Ripped-from-the-headlines costumes are popular among do-it-yourselfers who lack cash but have a wealth of ingenuity.

One costume creator featured online made a mask to look like "The Beast Jesus," the famously botched fresco retouching done by an aging parishioner at a Spanish church. A photograph of the costume posted this month reportedly got 750,000 hits in two days.醜聞、政客出醜、政敵是今年萬聖節服裝的靈感之源，不管是從商店裏買來的成品道具，還是自己動手做的化裝服飾，你需要的只不過是一個訂書機，還有一點邪惡的幽默感。

在出售熱門萬聖節服裝的“紐約道具店”，據該店經理託尼•比安池說，奧巴馬總統的面具銷量比共和黨總統候選人米特•羅姆尼的面具略勝一籌。

比安池和另一家紐約道具服飾店Ricky's的女發言人艾瑞卡•杜恩稱，羅姆尼本月初期在總統辯論中發誓要撤銷對公共廣播公司的資金投入，這讓公共廣播公司著名兒童節目《芝麻街》的主角大鳥成爲銷售熱門。現在“大鳥”道具已經全部賣光。

比安池說：“所有的熱門道具或是因爲電視火起來的，或是因爲醜聞。”他說，道具標價可高達250美元。

銷售人員說，今年萬聖節，電影《蝙蝠俠2》裏的反派角色“小丑”道具的銷量落後於《蝙蝠俠3》裏的新反派“毒藥”，可能是因爲受到身穿“小丑”服飾的持槍歹徒在科羅拉多影院開槍殺人事件的負面影響，不過更可能是因爲過時了。

扮成頭條人物的道具服裝在那些喜歡自己動手、沒什麼錢但是心靈手巧的人當中很受歡迎。

一個道具製作者在網上曬了自己製作的一個面具，看起來就像西班牙教堂一位年邁的教區居民修補的因過於拙劣而出名的壁畫“野獸基督”。本月上傳的該道具的照片據說在兩天內點擊量就突破了75萬。