Fred Thompson on the Economy

I've always had a soft spot for Fred Thompson; from his portrayal of a sympathetic, yet hard-nosed, District Attorney on Law & Order, to his self-deprecating humour during his short-lived election campaign, he always comes across as good-humoured and sincere. He is rightly generating some positive comment now with his judgement of the political response to the current economic turmoil, and his interpretation is equally relevant in the UK. (h/t Guido Fawkes).

People Are Strange

People are strange from Denis Fongue on Vimeo. I wish I had the patience to do this kind of thing. Very impressive. (h/t Ministry of Type).

The Loving Kind

While we're on the subject of music videos, have a look at the result of Girls Aloud's collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys. It's the second single taken from their excellent 5th album, Out of Control.

The Fear

I love Lily Allen's videos*; in fact, I enjoy all her marketing: her branding is quite successful and consistent in conveying a kind of quirky, fun, humanity.

Also, make sure you download Alright Steal, music like dirt's compilation of her first album's samples. (Plus Lord Kitchener's fantastic calypso ode to the capital, London Is the Place for Me).

*I should note that I'm excluding 'Smile', a song whose video I found uncharitable and deeply sinister.

Fine Books

I love books and for me nothing compares to the reading experience of settling down with a good-looking, pleasingly weighty, hardbacked tome. This new collection from Penguin is maybe a little too busy in places but they are bold and are definitely worth a look, if only for that great Crime and Punishment cover design. Available exclusively from Waterstones, if you're interested.

Al Awad, Iraq

www.army.mil
Originally uploaded by Army.mil

A fantastic photograph I've been meaning to blog for a while. The greys of the Army Combat Uniform make a beautiful contrast in some of these shots from the hot places; perhaps that's not the point of it, but it looks rather nice.

Political Advertising of the Past

Matches37.jpg
Originally uploaded by gitganben

Now Obama's branding might have been remarkably handsome, self-assured and consistent, but it wasn't on the back of matchbooks was it?

Take a look at the other matchbooks in the set.

Time to go.

What I like most is how he corrects Boulton with exactly the same quotation that Boulton just read out; essentially he agrees that he misquoted Osbourne but says that what he said was right all the same.

Then he says he wanted a market solution over Northern Rock; a market solution he knocked back twice when it was presented to him. At least he learnt his lesson when it came to HBOS, but should HM Government really be run by trial and error?

Uncommon Knowledge - Revisionism

The discussion about opposing Fascist methods with comparably ruthless tactics reminded me of Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff's contemporary arguments in Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

Ayo Technology

When 50 Cent wrote his definitive lament on the perils of pornography addiction back in 2007, he could hardly have expected this Belgian cover to come just a year later; a truly genre-bending work. (h/t Kanye West).

The Archive

Paul Mawhinney owns the largest private record collection in the world: 3 million records and 300,000 CDs totalling more than 6 million song titles dating back to the first flat record from 1881. Since his health has deteriorated, he's closed down his shop and has been trying to sell the collection and pass on the torch to someone else. However he's yet to find someone who “gives a damn“ or at least enough of a damn to pay $3,000,000 for it. (h/t music like dirt).

All it needs is a better title.

I've been a huge fan of Martin Campbell's work from (the original) Edge of Darkness through to Casino Royale - and, of course, Goldeneye - but I think this next instalment of Daniel Craig's Bond may well surpass the last (if only visually...). All credit to Marc Forster if he manages to pull it off.

I want one.

I really bloody want one.

Auto Skooter - Lakeside Park, Denver

Auto Skooter - Lakeside Park - Denver, Colorado
Originally uploaded by Roberto41144

I love Art Deco; the lettering above the shop is so bold and has such beautiful proportions.

Faber Finds

The Ministry of Type has a post up about a new imprint from Faber & Faber called Faber Finds which brings out of print books back from oblivion. This is only possible with Print on Demand so books are only published once they've been ordered, but more intriguingly, this allows each Faber Finds book to sport a unique computer-generated cover design; PostSpectacular details the process of creating a “design machine” capable of generating the infinite "number of unique designs, one for each single book ever printed in this range." Everything about this venture is fascinating and the way Marian Bantjes' border designs are assembled is remarkable.

Society & Its Outcasts

"Prisons, mental hospitals, and other institutions are a thermometer that measures the sickness of the larger society. The treatment society affords its outcasts reveals the way in which its members view one another - and themselves." Thomas O. Murton in Accomplices to the Crime (1969)

"Against Racism"

Pascal Bruckner has written a good article about the obscene spectacle that was the Durban conference and about what our reaction should be to its repeat next year:

Europe must take a firm stand against this buffoonery: boycott it, plain and simple. Just as Canada has done. Perhaps we should also think about dissolving the Human Rights Commission or only letting truly democratic countries in. It is intolerable that in the year 2008 - like in the thirties - nations which recognise justice, the multi-party state and freedom of expression are being brought before the tribunal of history by the lobbies of fanatics and tyrants.

Treehouses

From David Thompson's Friday roundup comes a collection of German Treehouses. They are incredibly impressive and put the rickety dollhouses seen on these shores to shame.

Testing Tanks

Does exactly what it says on the tin (except they're not tanks).

Litterers "are like the Wests"

People who drop sweet wrappers are acting like a Gloucester couple who tortured, raped and murdered at least 12 young women, an Anglican bishop has said.

In a letter featured in parish magazines in the Diocese of Lichfield, the Bishop of Stafford, Gordon Mursell, wrote: "Fred and Rosemary West represent merely the most extreme form of a very common philosophy of life: I will do what makes me happy, and if that causes others to suffer, hard luck."

"In fact you could argue that, by our refusal to face the truth about litter, we are as guilty as they were - we are in effect kidnapping young women and submitting them to a brutal ordeal of torture and rape before murdering them and burying them in the garden."

He said people were "right to be disgusted at these crimes" but that "mere disgust is too convenient".

"There are lessons for all of us to learn," he added.

Battlestar Operatica

I've made no secret of my love for the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and one of the features that makes it so unique is its soundtrack;
Bear McCreary's compositions are astounding in their originality, their influences, and in the sheer quantity he is able to score for what is a weekly television series.

Best. Video. Ever.

If you don't agree: you're wrong.

Going On

I failed to pick up on quite how amazing this song was when the second Gnarls Barkley album was released, but I now agree with Kanye West, this is the best song on it.

A Popular Choice

David Thompson has a post up about the horror of Guardianistas at Boris Johnson's election. The 'racist' and 'snob' epithets continue to be popular - all that hard-hitting research by Compass must have really swayed opinions - but the comment that really underlines the left's problem with Boris is Vivienne Westwood's:

"Boris as mayor? Unthinkable. It just exposes democracy as a sham, especially if people don’t vote for Ken."

Johnson won a bigger mandate on a bigger turnout; democracy hasn't been exposed as a sham, it has been demonstrated in action.

An Unfortunate Choice

The LibDems probably ought to regret their choice for London Mayoral candidate; from Iain Dale:

"Unbelievable. Brian Paddick just admitted on BBC London that he had given his second preference to Lindsey German, the Left List Candidate! Words almost fail me."

Bear Grylls

Tonight's episode saw our intrepid adventurer facing yet another generously shot "sheer rockface" - this time not once, but twice - which led me once more to the inevitable question/survival tip at the heart of his whole 'Man vs. Wild' shtick: why doesn't he just buy a fucking map?

"Without firing a shot..."

This footage underscores pretty well just how foolish John Reid was when he described the prospect of Britain's deployment in Helmand. That we could come out of that place without a battle is not just unlikely, believing such an obvious fairy tale demonstrates a wilful ignorance. Not believing it, but asserting it anyway, demonstrates a much more serious problem.

The footage comes from At War, an upcoming documentary about the war in Afghanistan. Proper coverage of the fight for Afghanistan's future is slowly trickling out now, but it is long overdue.

Champion Script

I've become rather taken with The Ministry of Type of late and it has introduced me to an incredibly impressive font called Champion Script Pro. Now, I know next to nothing about fonts, but I do know that having 4280 glyphs in each weight, covering Latin, Greek and Cyrillic, this one is exceptionally elaborate. Over at their blog you can also read a making of which makes pretty fascinating reading. P.S. I nicked these cool examples of the font from the Ministry of Type too, so double hat tip.

Battlestar Recap

Before Season 4 starts on April 4th it's time for a quick - and quite witty - recap on the Galactica's journey to Earth so far.

Best line: "But then Helo tells Starbuck there's a bun in the toaster..." (h/t Slate).

Kanye Hands

Impressive handiwork. Chortle. (h/t Kanye West.)

Joe Building

Jonathan Meades has just finished his latest series, Magnetic North; once again, relegated to digital, this will not have reached anywhere near the audience it deserves (even on the excellent BBC Four). The programme asked why we are so drawn to the South and toured the cities of the Hanseatic League in order to find a definitive North, but it was in Meades' handling of the dual Totalitarianisms of Nazism and Stalinism that the documentary excelled. Meades is blunt about the similarities between the two and his contempt for 'Ostalgia' and similar romanticisation of the abhorrent Soviet regime. He has tackled Stalin - and his unique aesthetic sensibilities - before, and you can watch that programme, Joe Building, below:

Drudge Report decides to break OPSEC

In case you've missed it, the Drudge Report is boasting about its scoop on Prince Harry's tour in Afghanistan and the rest of the media have now broken their silence and are reporting the story. The Drudge Report's headline ends with "3 MONTH TOUR", and of course, such is the self-fulfilling nature of this headline, it will now only be a three month tour. It is more than likely that Prince Harry will soon have to leave Helmand, where he has been operating as a JTAC since December 14, as the man known as 'the bullet magnet' is forced to fulfil that nickname. Jon Snow thinks this is marvellous and tries to draw a link between this and the recent loss of trust in the media, asking "whether viewers, readers and listeners will ever want to trust media bosses again."

However, this isn't a matter of faked footage or contrived competitions; this is a British Army officer who, through no fault of his own is of particular interest to our enemies and whose life - and the lives of those around him - is now placed at greater risk because of one desperate blogger. A great many people knew he was there; it takes a very special kind of egomania to release that information for one's own benefit.

Update: Channel 4 News' desperate hunt for a negative spin to put on Cornet Wales's deployment knows no end; now they think British Muslims might be offended by Harry's description of his mission there as "killing the bad guys." For British Muslims, as fellow members of the Ummah, must surely feel some affinity for the mass-murdering, medievalist and misogynist fanatics that make up the Taliban's ranks?

The Channel 4 News website reads like the ramblings of a series of competing personalities manifested in a muddled stream of consciousness; it describes its competing - but equally odious - opinions as "voices" and one of these voices is not so sure that Harry's words don't apply to all "Muslim fighters". Quite who Channel 4 News means by "Muslim fighters" is another, more pertinent, question that they fail to address.

Books

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

- Arnold Lobel

Redbelt

The trailer for Redbelt is out; as with any Mamet project, I'm outrageously excited about this film, but with a cast this good, I think I'm justified in that.

Jerry O'Connell on Jerry O'Connell, actor

This is quite funny. And gave me the idea of a Sliders episode where Jerry O'Connell is the world's most famous actor and Tom Cruise is only famous for a '90s sci-fi series.

Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)

This video raises the inevitable question of which Simpson sister is the more artificial; the song, however, is strangely compelling, while the video displays a commendable Surrealist influence.

VISUAL FUTURIST: The Art & Life of Syd Mead

Here's a short video about what looks to be an interesting documentary on Syd Mead's life and work.

(Via David Thompson's Friday Ephemera - a regular post that's well worth keeping an eye on.)