Mixed Bag

I just thought I'd quickly post up some of the stuff I've been looking at over the past few days. Firstly, here's a track from Mos Def's new album 'The Ecstatic'. The track is called 'Supermagic', and it's the opening track on the album. I'm so glad that the album is great, Mos has always been one of my favourite musicians. I'd really encourage everyone to check it out:

Second, here are some shots from Dina Goldstein's 'Fallen Princesses' project. These have been posted on a few different sites, so you might have seen them by now, but I thought you all might enjoy them. Dina has taken princesses from Disney movies and put them in real life, real depressing situations:



And lastly, I'm sure everyone is seeing how Twitter is involved in the current developments over in Iran. I've posted about Iran's nation of bloggers before, but it's just stunning to see how social networks are circumventing the mainstream media, and getting the world to take notice of what is going on. For live updates on major stories, check out The Huffington Post, and read this great article on the different ways that the mainstream media and social networks have responded to the crisis here.

I'll probably post an image dump later today, so stay tuned for that as well...

Obama art and inauguration

So at 9pm tonight, Dubai time, President-elect Obama will become President Obama, the 44th President of the USA. Whatever your political views, people will certainly be asking "Where were you when Obama was sworn in?" in a few years.

Shepherd Fairey has once more put his hand to some designs to celebrate the occasion, and is putting on an exhibition titled "Manifest Hope" at a Washington D.C. gallery. Here's a great video that I found over on Hypebeast, where Fairey talks about the creation of his iconic "Hope" poster:

It's amazing how much great art Obama has inspired so far. Fubiz has a small sample of some of the collected works that have been based around Obama's campaign and personality, some pieces being better than others:


So, tonight at 9pm. Should be fascinating stuff..

The year that was..

It's the time of the year when everyone is posting their 'best and worst' lists for 2008. I'm mildly addicted to this kind of thing, but rather than posting my own list (which I'll do later), for the time being I thought I might just grab some other lists, and link to them (for your convenience, dear reader). First off, if you're not reading the Big Picture blog, you're really missing out. Here's part 1, part 2, and part 3 of their amazing retrospective of the best photojournalism of 2008, which includes amazing shots like these:

On the music front, Pitchfork have released both their top 50 albums list, and their top 100 tracks list. Here's Rolling Stone's picks for top 100 singles, and what they thought the best 50 albums were.

Over at AdFreak, they've rounded up their best and worst advertisements of 2008.

Time Magazine named their Person of the Year. Drum roll please..

Creativity Online asked some high-profile designers what their highlights of 2008 were.

Here are the funniest and best media errors and corrections of the year. This one, from the UK's Press and Journal, is great:

We have been asked to point out that Stuart Kennedy, of Flat E, 38 Don Street, Aberdeen, who appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court on Monday, had 316 pink, frilly garters confiscated not 316 pink, frilly knickers.

The New York Times has put together a list of the best ideas from 2008. I have to say, they got it right with this one. It was definitely one of my highlights:

And finally, The Smoking Gun collected the 20 best police mugshots of the year (possibly NSFW).

Enjoy the lists, and I'll be back a bit later to my own version of the year-end roundup.