A Grain of Salt

My political question:

Has anyone pointed out to the Obama campaign that the O in their campaign graphic looks like the logo for Mobil?

Obama '08: Your engine will thank you.

This is the blog for Salt Magazine.

Tom Vilsack and . . . ZeFrank?

Maybe it's just me, but I'm fascinated by watching presidential candidates announce their campaigns online. From Sam Brownback saying we should all pray together to Hillary's faux-cozy livingroom encouragement to sit down and "chat," they're all so forced. It gives me the same feeling as when I hear someone in their 50s try to use the word "dope" in casual conversation.* It just hurts.

(*"Dope" as in "cool"; not "dope" as in "marijuana." The latter demonstrates that you were a teenager in the 60s or 70s and makes you seem old.)

Anyway, last night I was watching some of the videos online, and while I listened to one of the latest contenders, Tom Vilsack, tell me that he wanted to be my president, I kept feeling like I was having a deja vu. It wasn't that he seemed forced and fake--actually, he succeeds at seeming relatively genuine. It was something about the intense closeups, the jump-cuts, and the editing job. It doesn't look like Vilsack blinks or breathes. And then it hit me: Tom Vilsack's presidential announcement makes him look exactly like ZeFrank. You know, that guy who does a home video every single day, and features (as you might have guessed) an editing style that uses intense closeups and jump-cuts, and makes it look like ZeFrank never has to breathe.

Seriously, check it out yourself (watch Zefrank first and then jump to Vilsack). And then try to imagine that, instead of talking about what makes America a great country, Vilsack is telling stories about poop.

This is the blog for Salt Magazine.