SCULPTURL

Nam June Paik, Dadaikseon (the more the better), 1988. Erected for the Seoul Olympic Games. Youtube.

Games people play:

• As seen on hot American bods on television, the Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer—a ridiculously good swimsuit—can also be seen on display in the Met's "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" exhibit. [Globe & Mail]

• Fake, computer-generated fireworks in the form of "a series of giant footprints outlined . . . from Tiananmen Square to the Olympic Stadium" were added to the Opening Ceremonies broadcast—as if Cai Guo-Qiang's display wasn't kind of amazing by itself. [Radio Australia, Wired]

• Ethnic-minority children, one cute little girl, all the gold medals, and probably several gymnasts' ages were all faked as well. Dude, so were the wtf-high scores the judges gave China's gymnasts last night after they fell all over the balance beam. Not that even a conspiracy of judges could pull it away from the USA in the end. [Borowitz Report, Independent, Sun, Time, New York Times]

• Beijing is offering American-style corporate naming rights for the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, a proposition that's riskier than it might sound given the intense Chinese adoration for these buildings as nu cultural icons. [Wall Street Journal]

Richter Scale

A Gerhard Richter–esque photo makes the BBC's lede art today:

That's an Agence France-Presse photograph; the AFP story features other generic images from file—nothing taken from the attack. Probably only state media are allowed to cover the story. That context lends a subtle subversive quality to the BBC's photograph selection, don't you think?