Pharmaceutical Ads

Some things you might not know about Dr. Robert Jarvik, Lipitor spokesman and "inventor of the Jarvik Artificial Heart":

• Dr. Jarvik "holds a medical degree [but] is not a cardiologist and is not licensed to practice medicine."
• Dr. Jarvik is "about as much an outdoorsman as Woody Allen" and cannot row. In the Lipitor ads in which he's shown rowing, a body double was used for wide shots. In close-up shots, he is rowing on a platform.

Fashion

From an NYT article about the dwindling weight of male models:

“Designers like the skinny guy,” he said backstage last Friday at the Duckie Brown show. “It looks good in the clothes and that’s the main thing. That’s just the way it is now.”

Now, I don't know that much about clothing design. Fashion has always seemed to me like a hobby for the rich and prodigal, but I was under the impression that clothes were supposed to be made for the people wearing them and not the other way around. Call me naive.

A Partial Explanation of Why I Voted for Obama, Courtesy of Robert Penn Warren

Tell me a story.

In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.

Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.

The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.

Tell me a story of deep delight.

Literary Endorsements

In a NYT interview, poet laureate Charles Simic, a New Hampshire resident, reveals that he voted for John Edwards.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post is running an op-ed by Michael Chabon, who is supporting Obama.