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From Boston.com: Propaganda of the year

Barack Obama is Time Magazine’s Person of the Year and for the cover they’ve chosen a new Shepard Fairey work.

“Our cover portrait is by the street artist Shepard Fairey, whose roots are in the skateboarding world and whose early poster of then Senator Obama became the great populist image of the campaign,” editor Rick Stengel writes in his opening letter. “With this cover, Fairey has now created a new iconic image of the President-elect — a rich, multilayered poster that echoes but then expands on his original.”

The piece by the Boston Globe, Propaganda of the year, disagrees with the selection of Fairey’s work for the cover saying:

Not only has Time abdicated a journalistic opportunity to freshly interpret Obama’s significance in visual terms, but it outsourced the work to the campaign itself: the graphic equivalent of headlining an Obama profile “Change We Can Believe In.”

I don’t think we’re missing a whole lot from Time’s interpretation.  Most likely we’d have yet another photograph of Obama on the cover.  Time’s already done that- Obama’s picture has been on the cover of half of Time Magazine’s covers this year!  The Shepard Fairey image captures the spirit of the campaign and the idealism behind the movement that put Obama in the White House.

Shepard Fairey created his original Hope work on his own without involvement of the campaign because he felt strongly about Obama and what he stood for.  This idea is mirrored by the many who volunteered and donated their time and their efforts to the Obama campaign.

I am a huge fan of Shepard Fairey’s work which I found through his Obama posters.  I would love to add this print to my collection when it becomes available.  I think in many ways this new image is a more sophisticated, realistic portrait than the iconic Hope poster.

UPDATE 12/19: Added Time.com: Icon-maker Shepard Fairey

I’ve added some more of Amazon’s free Holiday MP3’s to my Things I like Store.

I definitely recommend Elf’s Lament by Barenaked Ladies and Michael Buble.  Great song.

From NYTimes.com: Legal Hurdle in Blagojevich Case: A Crime, or Just Talk?

“This town is full of people who call themselves ambassadors, and all they did was pay $200,000 or $300,000 to the Republican or Democratic Party,” said Mr. Bennett, referring to a passage in the criminal complaint filed against the governor suggesting that Mr. Blagojevich was interested in an ambassadorial appointment in return for the Senate seat. “You have to wonder, How much of this guy’s problem was his language, rather than what he really did?”

It’s an interesting question of when political donations crosses the line into political corruption.  Donors have influenced policy decisions and appointments for years.

From Huffingtonpost.com: Yankees Sign Iraqi Hurler

In their latest bid to beef up their pitching rotation for the 2009 season, the New York Yankees today signed Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi to a three-year deal worth $32 million.

The right-handed al-Zeidi, 28, impressed the Yankee scouts with his performance in Baghdad yesterday when he threw both of his shoes at President George W. Bush.

While neither of the shoes hit their target, both throws “had great velocity and good movement,” said Yankee owner Hank Steinbrenner.

From logodesignlove.com: Obama logo ideas that weren’t chosen

An interesting look into some of the other Obama logo ideas that ended up not being chosen.  The logo they chose was in my opinion by far the strongest one.

Thanks to my friend Annie for sending this to me. 

I’m seriously impressed with President Bush’s reflexes.  But where is the Secret Service?  You’d think that after the first throw, the Iraqi would be on the ground tied up in a pretzel, but no, he manages to get off a second pretty good throw.  And where’s the agent that’s supposed to jump in front of the President?  Does that only happen in the movies?

From dubailadiesmasters.com: Monke wins Sorenstam’s final tournament by three shots in Dubai

I was reading the story about Annika Sorenstam’s last tournament when I saw a small picture of the winner holding a trophy that looked like a giant thumb.

It turns out to be a sculpture of a woman wearing a burqa.  It’s ironic that women in tiny skirts playing the Western game of golf wins a trophy of a woman who’s face is totally covered and wouldn’t have the opportunity to play the game of golf.

Sorenstam unveils Dubai Ladies Masters trophy

From CNN.com: Zakaria: There is a U.S. auto industry that works

CNN: So you are against the bailout?

Zakaria: No. But the reasons the CEOs of Ford, GM and Chrysler present — that they will restructure, they are still competitive, they will change — are bogus; they won’t. The best argument for the bailout is that it is the most cost-effective jobs program that the government can run in the short term.

Spending on infrastructure to create jobs will take months, maybe years. However, keeping the Big Three afloat will keep hundreds of thousands of jobs in place quickly and easily. It’s true the companies will eventually go bankrupt, but by then hopefully the economy can withstand it.

I think Zakaria has hit the nail on the head. 

I’ve been collecting Battlestar Galactica posters.  I’ll have to find a space on my wall for this one. 🙂

The new Webisodes that lead into the second half of the final season begin today on Sci-Fi.com.