I wonder if President Bush would be pushing for a federal amendment barring gay marriage if Jenna or Barbara was gay. Apparently Vice President Cheney can’t bring himself to.

Of course, this is why opinion polls show an inverse relationship between support for gay rights and age — young people know gay people. Of course, so do those who are older, they just may not know it.

This fact — that The Scream is forever being stolen — has added a new layer of meaning to the original. The sickly fear, the angst which radiates out from the ghoulish face of the screamer, is now shot through with the uncertainty that at any moment the canvas might be wrenched from the wall and shoved in the boot of an Audi. The scream is as much a cry of help as a cry of anguish. The strange stretched lips twist to form the plaintive words: “Please stop stealing me” — but in the empty eyes you can see the dreadful certainty that the theft will take place.

— the London News Review

My most anticipated new music release of the year is coming on August 31 in the U.S.: Björk’s Medúlla. Click the link then click the player at the top right of the page to watch the video for “Oceania”, the first from the new album. Absolutely beautiful.

Medúlla does not use any traditional instruments, relying instead on layered pure and processed vocals.

Björk — backed by animated imagery directly from the video — performed “Oceania” at the opening ceremonies of the Athens Olympics, though the performance was not included in NBC’s U.S. television coverage.

“One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film.”

— Stanley Kubrick

A collection of portraiture by and an essay about the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who died this week. Cartier-Bresson is considered the most important candid photographer of the twentieth century.

Even the (former) Blue LED FAQ admits it: they’re not cool anymore, even if they arguably once were.

Listen. Off-brand clunky electronics with blue LEDs are still off-brand clunky electronics. They just have blue LEDs. So they’re tacky, off-brand, and clunky.

(To understand this outburst, you have to understand that right now I’m sitting in class behind a student whose laptop has three blue LEDs on it. He has attached a mouse that has a blue LED on it. The wireless receiver for that mouse has a blue LED that flashes continuously while the mouse is moved.)

Please, people. Don’t say “jive” when you mean “jibe.”

Thank you.

The title screens of nearly three thousand movies.