The Art of Not Moving

Harry Shearer, he of writing/acting renown, has a new installation in D.C. (Connor Contemporary Art) of raw feeds--the film that gets sent to satellites before the live feed begins.

Timothy Noah's story about the installation says, "writer David Owen marveled in the Atlantic about a phenomenon he called "network television in its underpants.""

You can see Dick Cheney twitch and Dan Rather sit very, very still. But the real highlight for me was the John Edwards feed, about which Shearer (I think it's Shearer) writes:

"For a guy who's been known derisively to the Bush crowd as the Breck girl," observes Shearer, vice presidential candidate John Edwards seems "way too interested in his hair." He tries to straighten it with his fingers. A makeup technician approaches with a comb, but the senator likes it just so and does the combing himself. He signals he's ready for hair spray by closing his eyes expectantly, like a child. Then Edwards and the technician straighten a little more with their fingers. Please don't tell me that thing in his hand is a compact. Oh, dear. It is.


This link might work, or you can get to it through Slate.