The Wisdom of Deep Throat

This one, of course. Not this one. As the infamous "man in the shadows" famously told Woodward in All the President's Men, "follow the money".

It turns out he may be right. Though not necessarily in the sense he intended. I just read an interesting article on the predictive accuracy of betting markets. Evidently, prediction markets have been all but infallible in forecasting the outcomes of a number of elections both in the US and Europe – often in contradiction to the polls. Intrade seems to be the online prediction market leader and, for what it's worth, currently shows Obama with a very healthy lead.

Notes:

1. Please, do not let the election market's current state keep you from voting. It ain't over 'til it's over.

2. I briefly toyed with the idea of headlining this post, "Obama? You Bet!". You're welcome.

Don't Be An *sshole.

If you're not already registered, register to vote. Soon.

And, check out Someecards.com.

A Plea To My Jewish Readership

Please watch. And act.

Reading May Be Fundamental, But Smoking Is Cool.

Now reading can be cool too! TANK Books – classic books in cigarette packs (with foil!).

"Like Hope, But Different."

It seems Will.I.Am may have copped the idea for "Yes We Can" from John.He.Is.

Connecting The Pieces Of My Digital Life

New, over there on the left – between "Fresh Tweets" and "Feed Reading" – is a slideshow of pics (many of which have also been included in a tweet) direct from my iPhone. I've only just begun this direct shooting and sharing, so it's a short slideshow at the moment.

"You might never look at toothpaste the same way again"

So, just as Hirst's haul was causing me to reflect on choices made, acknowledge the negligence with which I've nurtured my "Art" and lament the lack of any real "new ideas" with which to make one's artistic mark, I saw the above image. New York-based artist Erik Boker has taken scalpel to tube, pinned the "skin" back and exposed the innards – the guts, if you will – of toothpaste brands. Part of his "Product Dissections" series I found the images striking, inspiring and... "new". My faith in the potential of Big-A Art restored for the time being.

At top: Aquafresh Extreme Clean Empowermint – 2008
Headline from: Creativity, Peeling Back The Product; Sept. 16, 2008

While "Banks Fall Over, Art Triumphs"

Damien Hirst's unprecedented two-day take for his dealer-eschewing Sotheby's auction: $198 million.

More in the Guardian.

At top: For the Love of God – 2007; platinum, diamond, human teeth

Venn Wisdom

Or, Why You Drink.Le Grand Content by Austrian digital artist, Clemens Kogler.

There's Something Happening Here...

What it is ain't exactly clear.

There's a weird ebbing (I wouldn't call it a turning... yet) of the tide by some fairly staunch messengers of the Right. First, O'Reilly acknowledges that Obama had not been suggesting that Palin was the lipsticked pig. Then Rove says McCain "went too far" in his ads. And now, one of Fox's hounds, Megyn Kelly gives McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds the Campbell Brown treatment. There's a distinct possibility that it's just my political naïvete, and lack of first-hand familiarity with the day to day reporting of Fox, – and a couple of instances do not make a trend – but it seem like these two instances are not even remotely in the Fox playbook of the past eight years.

And then there's this:

Sarah Palin? Ludacris.

I know that earlier this year Ludacris had crafted a cut for Obama – the lyrics of which were denounced by the Obama camp – but, while reading an NYT piece on Sarah Palin I found myself rapping (on my "inside" mic) what may be a more appropriate Ludacris track given the current state of the campaign.

RIP DFW

One of my favorite authors, the brilliant David Foster Wallace, committed suicide on Friday night.

While his fiction could be undeniably challenging, I always found it well-worth the effort. I genuinely felt in the presence of greatness during my first read (and trial by fire introduction to Wallace) of Infinite Jest. It was sort of like running a literary triathlon for which, at times, I wasn't sure I had trained hard enough or well enough. It was often like watching daredevil linguistic acrobatics – amazed and thinking, "I can't believe he just did that!". And I was hooked. I became a DFW junkie and I think I've read just about everything he's published before or since. And I guess that's now all of it. Bummer...

Anyway, just know that it's a great loss to literature.

If you're at all interested in reading some of his work, I can't imagine a better place to start given the imminent election than with his book McCain's Promise, the expanded version of his essay covering McCain's 2000 bid for the presidency for Rolling Stone.

The WSJ had just talked with DFW at the end of May about the McCain essay.

Let There Be Barack!

From Maryland-based designer, El Jefe. Arguably not as "artful" as Shepard Fairey's contributions to the Obama effort, but certainly funnier. The inspiration for the homage. And also here.

Cheap Labor From South Of The Border

The Wave Pictures - 'Just Like A Drummer' @ Yahoo! Video

Guatemala to be exact. London group, the Wave Pictures hired a Guatemalan commercial director to go out on the street and film locals lip-synching to their mellifluous ditty, Just Like A Drummer. Ironically, there is not a single drummer featured.

My Dirty Little (Political) Secret

I've never voted in a presidential election.

I'm not even sure if I've ever registered to vote. But, I did tonight.

After the past eight years I'm thoroughly dismayed at my negligence in the last two elections. In hindsight, it's clear that my complacency (and lack of respect) was inexcusable. Won't happen again.

Anyway, if you aren't registered yet, I encourage you to get registered. I registered online at VoteForChange.com. It's exceptionally user-friendly — you fill out a few simple screens, download a PDF, sign it and mail it.

Photo: Getty Images

A Lighter Shade Of A Darker Shade of Palin

Jon Stewart to the rescue!

Tout de Tweet

As one with a recently renewed enthusiasm for the micro-blogging service, Twitter, I found the above video a brilliant explanation of the service*.

Since becoming more engaged with Twitter, I've gained a deeper understanding of its power and value. Its potential is much greater than what is implied by the service's simple premise of answering the question, "What are you doing?". I've been seeking out, and selectively following, a variety of Twitterers. Since signing up, I've used Twitter to get "up to the minute" tweets from NPR during the DNC and from a New Orleans resident tweeting in the middle of Gustav.

And, I've found that a tweet's 140-character limit (in the right hands) is able to convey volumes (or a least paragraphs). I was having an email(!) conversation with someone this weekend and suggested it would be a dialogue better suited to Twitter and was told by the other party – who shall remain unnamed – that the character limit imposed by Twitter might hamper nuance, complexity, cleverness to which I emailed him my favorite – and immensely clever – tweet by a now anonymous Twitterer:

I like that Twitter's 140-character limits encourages eloquence —brevity is the soul of wit, after all— but too often it also prevents me fr

I encourage my readers – particularly the skeptics – to give it a try. Tweet me when you do.

*The video is by Common Craft makers of surprisingly effective "short and simple videos" that "make complex ideas easy to understand".