Radiohead donated one of their tracks, “Videotape”, for use in a commercial by Leo Burnett designed to raise awareness of the fragile UK housing situation. Samantha Morton, who was homeless for a time before becoming famous, does the voiceover (also donated).

According to Lürzer, this is the first-ever commercial Radiohead has allowed their music to be used for, but a quick search turned up this Steve Nash/Jason Kidd commercial for the NBA (there are a bunch of those There Can Only Be One spots; I like the Shaq/Kobe one). Maybe this is the first one they’ve donated rather than sold. Doesn’t matter, great commercial.

Fascinating profile of Tom Murphy, who "represents the Chess University of Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C." Calls to mind the expression, "good at chess, bad at life." But then again, he sounds pretty darn happy. And how 'bout this anecdote from William Moore, "the checker man":

"I do like to teach people," he said. "And I've taught so many kinds of people, you don't even know. The proudest teaching I ever had was I taught a pimp in New York. His name was Comfort, as in 'comfortable.' I was going down the street to my friend's house. I had my board with me. He said, 'You know anything about that game?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'You have time to show me?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Step into my office,' which was a pink, long Cadillac. I got in. It had a bar in the car and everything. I started thinking, 'Now how in the world am I gonna show this pimp how to play the game of chess?' So he asked me, 'What do the queen do?' I said, 'The queen do all the work.' He said, ' Ohhhh, now what do the king do?' I said, 'The king don't do nothing.' His eyes lit up when he heard that. He said, 'Man, I like this game already.'"

Homeless James from Virginia:

i took to james immediately. he is friendly, open and warm. he says he'll have my back if i should ever need him. he introduced me to his friends as he walked the street looking for a fix. he says he has "a lot of hatred and a lot of happiness." he agrees it's a strange mix.

he doesn't mind people taking his picture. "people say it's stealing your soul; but my soul ain't worth nothing."

but he says he thinks he has goodness in him. "i'm a motherfucker, but i'm good to women and old people. i always give up my seat on the bus. and i'm good to my friends."

James is dying of colon cancer. More on the clickthrough. Speechless.