dropping the baton

I would vote Bob Costas into any office in this country. Small and intelligent, the man is loosening up gloriously as the Olympics continue. When both the men and women of Team America lost the 4x100 relay, Costas welcomed us back into the womb-like NBC studio by announcing that USA Track had "laid an egg in the Bird's Nest." Like most of the Thousands staff, I care about puns more than my physical safety.

But the Olympics are also hilarious not-on-purpose: "Cuban Athlete Is Barred for Kicking Referee in the Face".

You'll be flabbergasted to know that I am not the only person in and around the internet making Olympic jokes: in their current issue, the New Yorker's Nancy Franklin bemoans Misty May and Tall One's "Victoria's Ill-Kept- Secret" outfits, and the masterful Anthony Lane draws terrifying comparisons with the fascistic foreplay of the 1936 Berlin Games.

I am going to be drafted by Google into the war against Ruso-China.

Below, the assembling of a Denver installation called "I See What You Mean" by Lawrence Argent. I love the title, in all likelihood because it smacks of LOLcats.



Can you blame him? The bear just wants to hang out. "Give me art and companionship!" he seems to say. The bare blue necessities.

(Photo credit: the City of Denver, I think.)