IT STARTS OUT WITH A VISION: I could not be happier to announce that I've finally found a new working link to the Barack Obama theme song, which we haven't had for some time. Enjoy, because there aren't any new campaign theme songs I know of this term -- not even from former Orleans lead singer John Hall (NY-19).

Yes, I'm sure I'll read the book, but first I need to get through my just-delivered Spy: The Funny Years, a hardcover compilation of the best that the snark-eriffic publication had to offer, including the complete Philip Weiss article "Inside Bohemian Grove", unavailable online and previously hailed on these pages as My Favorite Magazine Article Ever.

ALSO, ALBERT PUJOLS NEEDS A NICKNAME: Official baseball predictions and analysis thread. I'll take Cardinals in six, just because it's so illogical to think that the Tigers won't just continue this momentum.

I'M EMMY WINNER CHEVY CHASE AND YOU'RE NOT: Since 1998, it's been commonplace to refer to Academy Award Winners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in press materials even though neither has won for acting, so I was curious what allowed Law and Order to promote the upcoming appearance of "Emmy-winner Chevy Chase!" as notMelGibsonreallysirpleasedon'tsue us. The answer? Mr. Chase has three Emmys, one for co-writing this episode of SNL, one for his performance in this episode of SNL, and one for co-writing the 1977 Paul Simon Special. Sadly, The Chevy Chase Show was snubbed when it came to the Emmys.

HEY HIRO, WANT TO TRY SOME SNOW CRASH? Adam has pointed me to an article from philly.com that puts some flesh on the bones of the vitual-economy question some of us were turning over the other day with respect to trade within gameworlds and its all-too-frequent translation into profit in the real world. It's about the Second Life game/service/space/thing and a man who's suing the company that runs it for confiscating his virtual holdings.

I don't play around in Second Life, mostly because it doesn't -- from what I gather, anyway -- offer significantly more swordplay, explosions or space battles than my average afternoon at the office. It's conceptually interesting to me as a creative community and social space, but what I really want from virtual recreation is the chance to blow stuff up, or hack it to bits, without real world consequences. The comparative tedium of chatting with a guy who prefers to present himself as a blue-haired leather goddess... that, I can get on the subway.

But the article and the lawsuit beg the same question as the proposed Congressional economic analysis of in-game transactions: when should your virtual "property" be assessed, assigned (or otherwise legally recognized as having) a real world value? "The second somebody pays you for it," is my answer, and no sooner.

I think the Second Life Terms of Service make this abundantly clear, at least as a practical matter:

5.2 All data on Linden Lab's servers are subject to deletion, alteration or transfer.

When using the Service, you may accumulate Content, Currency, objects, items, scripts, equipment, or other value or status indicators that reside as data on Linden Lab's servers. THESE DATA, AND ANY OTHER DATA, ACCOUNT HISTORY AND ACCOUNT NAMES RESIDING ON LINDEN LAB'S SERVERS, MAY BE DELETED, ALTERED, MOVED OR TRANSFERRED AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON IN LINDEN LAB'S SOLE DISCRETION.

Similar provisions are in the EULA and/or terms of service for every persistent world on-line game I've ever played.

OLD RED EYES IS BACK: Many out there probably had better things to do with a fine Friday night in early autumn, and are saving their Battlestar Galactica on the Tivo (or similar) for viewing on a lazy weekend afternoon when there's nothing good on.

For those of us who (a) stayed in, and (b) can't wait, however, here is an open thread.

IN ITS FAVOR, I DO NOT BELIEVE ANY OBNOXIOUS REALITY COMPETITOR HAS EVER TATTOOED 'ST. LOUIS' ON HIS THROAT: Eminem v. Nelly. Faygo v. Anheuser-Busch. Windsor v. East Saint Louis. Chuck Berry v. Bob Seger. Stan Musial v. Hank Greenberg. Leon Spinks v. Joe Louis. . . .

Evaluate the relative merits of Detroit and St. Louis on any metric you want -- except, of course, the relative merits of their current baseball teams, which we'll save for another thread.

McFILTHYRICHLINGERIEMODELANDSMARTTOBOOT: I don't recall whether there was a Grey's post before the blogout started stealing things, but if not, here's a thought: Doesn't Izzy have to cash that check in time to pay her taxes?