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).