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The Elusive Street Artist's Identity on the Block at eBay

● Condom makers decide to get into the extra-small water balloon business, make extra small condoms for 12-year old boys. [The Awl] ● Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter may be Tim Burton’s next project; Fran Leibowitz may be Martin Scorsese’s. [GNews, Playlist] ● Schnabel, Johns, Murakami, Koons, Hirst, Kapoor and Marden are the wealthiest living artists. [Art Info] ● Mercedes Benz commercials about to make you start tearing off your clothes in search of a tall, dark, handsome jerk, as Mad Men’s Jon Hamm signs on to do the car company's voiceover work. [NYTimes]

The enigmatic artist talks Banksy, Madonna and Fairey

Banksy, who won our hearts last fall with his tender pet shop of horrors among other notable public treasures, has placed his latest work in his hometown of Bristol: a 12" by 18" piece that features a rose on a mousetrap, framed and encased in glass. All at the expense of local homeowners looking to protect the work from the antics of wannabe-Banksies.

If we promised to curb all future fervor about Banksy's guerrilla art projects, we'd be lying -- in a city overstuffed with artists and vandals dying to get their voices heard, his is one of the few we never tire of (and clearly we're not alone). After adding the Soho rat to his collection of politically conscious animals, Banksy moved over to the West Village and set up shop at "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill" on Seventh Avenue near Bleecker Street.

Only yesterday did Banksy give the posh New York neighborhood of SoHo a gift that every doe-eyed art collector (including Dick Fulds, no doubt) dreams of having -- or as part of their private collection, anyway: a giant rat, rendered in spraypaint. Whether the rodent was stenciled on to protest the delay of the TopShop launch or possibly for a more poignant reason (is there such a thing?) remains a mystery. But the rat joins a zoological cavalcade that includes farm animals like sheep, pigs, and a lone cow, a dove of peace, the cast of The Jungle Book, a camel, and of course, Paris Hilton.