Severed foot mystery.

A WSJ interview with David Foster Wallace on the occasion of the publication of McCain’s Promise , a repackaged version of an excellent article he wrote in 2000 about following McCain’s campaign for two weeks. He gets into the current election a little as well:

The truth—as I see it—is that the previous seven years and four months of the Bush Administration have been such an unmitigated horror show of rapacity, hubris, incompetence, mendacity, corruption, cynicism and contempt for the electorate that it’s very difficult to imagine how a self-identified Republican could try to position himself as a populist.

(thx, bill s.)

A WSJ interview with David Foster Wallace on the occasion of the publication of McCain’s Promise, a repackaged version of an excellent article he wrote in 2000 about following McCain’s campaign for two weeks. He gets into the current election a little as well:

The truth—as I see it—is that the previous seven years and four months of the Bush Administration have been such an unmitigated horror show of rapacity, hubris, incompetence, mendacity, corruption, cynicism and contempt for the electorate that it’s very difficult to imagine how a self-identified Republican could try to position himself as a populist.

(thx, bill s.)

The trailer for Burn After Reading, the Coen Brothers’ next film. (iTunes required, I think.) Great cast, but it could turn out to be another one of those forgettable Coen comedies. (See, e.g., The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty.)

Aerial photographs of several members of one of Earth’s last uncontacted tribes shooting arrows at the overflying plane, near the border of Brazil and Peru. I hope that’s the last time we intentionally encroach upon their living area.

Juliet Lapidos at Slate argues that the current and 4th season of ABC’s Lost is the best one yet, in no small part because of the narrative jumps to the future. While I think there were some individual episodes in past seasons that surpass those of the 4th, I agree that the current season has been the most narratively tense and consistently good.

The New York Times on the ongoing filming of the movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road , starring Viggo Mortensen and child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee. I liked the book and have had reservations about the adaptation, but this article increases my expectations. (thx, daniel)

Las Vegas Sun_ does an in-depth article on the graffiti art galleries hidden in the tunnels beneath the city of Las Vegas.

This is some of the best graffiti in town, only nobody will see it. The location of the work seems counterintuitive, considering the visibility and attention graffiti artists crave. That doesn’t matter as much to these artists, who care more about the unlimited canvas and all the time in the world to hone their skills, despite the danger of flash floods, crime and the unknown.

The galleries first gained attention after the publication last year of Matthew O’Brien’s fascinating book on the tunnels beneath Las Vegas, Beneath the Neon.

The New York Times on the ongoing filming of the movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen and child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee. I liked the book and have had reservations about the adaptation, but this article increases my expectations. (thx, daniel)

The New York Times has a somewhat dismissive article about that 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list I posted a few weeks back.

I appreciate the sense of urgency because I feel it myself. But when Professor Boxall brings death into the picture, he sets the bar very high. Let’s have a look at some of these mandatory titles. Not only is it not necessary to read “Interview With the Vampire” by Anne Rice before you die, it is also probably not necessary to read it even if, like Lestat, you are never going to die.

Music video for “Mirando,” a track off Ratatat’s upcoming LP3. For those of you who have fond nostalgia for jungle action movies of the 1980’s.

Woohoo!:

The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.

I was in Massachusetts when it was overturned there, and am now 10 miles away from the second state. Let’s hope that California voters don’t pass a constitutional ban in November.

Scientific American has an interesting article on the neurology of orgasms.

Achieving orgasm, brain-imaging studies show, involves more than heightened arousal. It requires a release of inhibitions and control in which the brain’s center of vigilance shuts down in males; in females, various areas of the brain involved in controlling thoughts and emotions become silent.

Governor Schwarzenegger backs the California Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision and does not support the amendment to overturn it. Considering Romney’s actions after Massachusett’s similar ruling, Schwarzenegger is a liberal hero.

With the official announcement of the tenants of the new West Street Market opening this summer/fall, it seems downtown Reno is about to get a lot better. A bakery, an Italian and a Greek restaurant, a wine bar, grocery stores selling produce from local farms, and a weekly Saturday morning farmer’s market will act as a tipping point for downtown’s already burgeoning cultural center – all within a 12 minute walk from my house. (For those who don’t know Reno, the Riverwalk district straddles the Truckee River whitewater area, and is a distinct entity from the nearby casino strip.)

Inspired by Redbelt , Roger Ebert has coined a new genre: the “Twister” – a movie that’s less identifiable about what it’s about than how it’s about it – specifically, one that constantly plays with the audiences expectations:

Twisters don’t twist only at the end. They pull one rug from another out from under our feet, until we’re astonished by how many rugs we were standing on. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to keep all the versions of reality straight. Sometimes it’s a futile exercise, because we realize the film could continue indefinitely. But when a Twister is in the hands of a master like Mamet, it can be devilish and ingenious.

Inspired by Redbelt, Roger Ebert has coined a new genre: the “Twister” – a movie that’s less identifiable about what it’s about than how it’s about it – specifically, one that constantly plays with the audiences expectations:

Twisters don’t twist only at the end. They pull one rug from another out from under our feet, until we’re astonished by how many rugs we were standing on. Sometimes it’s almost impossible to keep all the versions of reality straight. Sometimes it’s a futile exercise, because we realize the film could continue indefinitely. But when a Twister is in the hands of a master like Mamet, it can be devilish and ingenious.

Josh Marshall has a fascinating post about why Obama has done so poorly in West Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding areas:

There’s been a lot of talk in this campaign about Barack Obama’s problem with working class white voters or rural voters. But these claims are both inaccurate because they are incomplete. You can look at states like Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states and see the different numbers and they are all explained by one basic fact. Obama’s problem isn’t with white working class voters or rural voters. It’s Appalachia.

The post also has a convincing map of all the counties where Clinton has won over 65% of the vote.