Quote

"The most important tribute any human being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he or she really loves ... is to learn it by heart. Not by brain, by heart; the expression is vital." - George Steiner

Have A Very...

Sullivan's Obama Essay

This month's Atlantic Magazine has an extended essay by Andrew Sullivan about how Barack Obama is the best solution to America's decades long cultural war.
An excerpt:

"What does he offer? First and foremost: his face. Think of it as the most effective potential re-branding of the United States since Reagan. Such a re-branding is not trivial—it’s central to an effective war strategy. The war on Islamist terror, after all, is two-pronged: a function of both hard power and soft power. We have seen the potential of hard power in removing the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. We have also seen its inherent weaknesses in Iraq, and its profound limitations in winning a long war against radical Islam. The next president has to create a sophisticated and supple blend of soft and hard power to isolate the enemy, to fight where necessary, but also to create an ideological template that works to the West’s advantage over the long haul. There is simply no other candidate with the potential of Obama to do this. Which is where his face comes in.
Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but a logarithm. A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can."

Sullivan has been fighting hard for Obama who has been behind in the polls. Obama's starting to make a run. Things should get interesting in January.
The full essay is worth a read here.

Blog Perception

I'm sure this study will be bouncing around the web all day. Politically interested readers view blogs as moderately credible, but more credible than any mainstream media or online source.

Quote

Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child – Cicero

Manifiesto Destino

Two from the Harper's Index:
Ratio of the number of Latinos in Iowa to the number of full-time farmers: 7:4.
Percentage change since 2000 in the estimated number of Hispanic voters in the United States: +122

Photos

Modern Ruins is a great site with an extensive collection of photos taken at abandoned places.

Un Grand Gymnaste

GYMNASTIQUE PEKIN 2008
Uploaded by nqtv

Photos

...of people pointing - collected by Leslie Grant. More pointing here.

List

Here is a funny list over at McSweeney's called "James Bond Films for the
George W. Bush Era" by Christopher Smith. Here's a sample:
"Live in Constant, Irrational Fear of Muslims and Let Die"

8 Year Photo Project

This video via Neatorama of a man who took a picture of himself every day for eight years.

Illuminated Map of Korea

Night time illumination photo of North and South Korea taken from space. South sells more lightbulbs.

Street Art

Courtesy of designboom.

Christmas Wishes

Here's an entertaining list over at Night Swim.

Clown News

This is a story from earlier this year, but we should talk to our politicians to see that this never happens again.

Biblical Events From Space

The Glue Society, a creative collective based in Sydney, has put together this cool exhibit of well known biblical events viewed via satellite. It's called God's Eye View, and here's a link courtesy of Creative Review.

Very Short Film (Shanghai)

train (shanghai)
running time: 1 minute 14 seconds

The Miserablist

From Goldsmith's College, London comes this new magazine for those who think everything is just plain rubbish!

Commercial

A good spot for Norwegian Hydro:

Photos

Swiss designer Stefan Jandl snapped this photo of a man reenacting a famous tennis shot by Boris Becker. More of Jandl's work here.

Invention

Those pesky scientists - first they say the world's getting warmer, and now this.

Best Of CraigsList

Rock on! - with this device.

The National Debt

Yikes!

Very Short Film (Beijing)

toys (beijing)
running time: 1 minute 6 seconds