Out-takes from the Out-of-the-Shower Media Photo

If you saw the story "Out-of-the-Shower Media Challenges Pajama Media to West-Side-Story-Style Rumble," you may have noticed the weird image of a guy with a towel on his head. (If you haven't see it yet, check it out here.)

Many will know immediately that this is a picture of me. I simply put a towel around my head like I had just gotten out of the shower and washed in a red background to make it look more warlike.

So, to answer your first question, no I wasn't naked when I took the photo. Moving on.

The process of creating that photo has a funny story to it. I wanted to mask my identity because I thought the photo was weird. Everything I tried to do, however, made the image look like a recruitment poster for Al Qaida.

Let me make this clear. I am not a terrorist and condemn all terrorist acts. Also, I think it's lame that people automatically associate Muslims and/or Arabs with terrorism. It's not a fair stereotype. That said, I was concerned that my "Out of the Shower Media" goof would somehow imply connection to terrorism. Decide for yourself:

Out-take 1	Out-take 2
Out-take 3	Out-take 4

As you can see from this range of images, each variation attempted to make it less obvious that I had used a photograph of myself. But every time I tried something new, it looked psychotic. The first one blurs the detail enough to look like I was attempting a poorly conceived parody of bin Laden. The worst one was probably Number 2, which looks like a stone engraving of a dude on angel dust. (Plus, the eyes look like the satanic rabbit from "Night of the Lepus.") The third one looks like a sandstone pillar, and last one still looks like me; I just have glow in the dark veins.

I'll be the first to admit that this entire association could be imaginary, but I don't think so. I have a feeling that at least one in every ten people would have thought I was trying to make some connection to the war on terror. And it would have been even worse if I'd gone with my original headline idea: "Out-of-the-Shower Media Declares Fatwa on Pajama Media."