Holding Barack Accountable

The elections are long gone. The excitement from it was quickly subdued (mainly thanks to the big Wall Street mess).

Santa is having to buy a lot of over-priced coal this year.

Obama is making his selections for his cabinet. Many voters are blindly agreeing with his decisions, and on the other end of the spectrum there are already some heavy critics.

Me? I am right smack in the middle, unsure of what the future will actually bring.

I want to believe Barack is making the right choices already, but I also want to make sure he's held accountable for everything he promised. That is to say, I don't believe he will fix everything in his first term (hopefully a second term will see some progress).

The Phoenix has begun a great little project called "Take Back Barack", a blog written by Jeff Inglis.

Here's the rundown straight from the site:

"So, what can you do? And what's this blog all about?

First, check out our story - "Take Back Barack" is its name. Also, see the stuff I've tagged as related in some way or other, using Google Reader. (The link is also an RSS feed, if you want to get updates on the stuff I tag in the future.) Then, post comments here on this blog, saying what you want Barack to do, and what you think of his choices so far."

Please check it out!

P.S. I designed the Header for the Blog!!

Hero Dog "Saves" Best Buddy

!!CAUTION!!
The footage may be upsetting to some...

I am calling Bullshit that Scrappy here saved his buddies life...maybe saved him the humiliation of being scraped of the road, but I am pretty sure he is a gonner...

See the video

Graffiti Wars

Would you like your city spent about $250,000 a year cleaning up graffiti in your neighborhoods?

Some would argue that this is money well spent because Graffiti is a damper on our society.

Other have the opinion that it's artistic expression.

I'm of the opinion that as long as Graffiti is done in it's most elaborate form (masterpieces or pieces): burners, rollers, etc. should be respected and left up for the public to enjoy, comment, and critique. Places like heaven spots (high-up places like rooftops or sides of buildings) and slams (highly dangerous locations) should also be given some respect due to the extreme danger the artists put themselves in to accomplish their piece. Simple Throw-ups or tags are a thing of the past, because of their simplistic and careless nature. Long gone are the days when bombing a street or neighborhood got you respect, now it's about how creative you can be.

Public places are becoming more popular with shops, stores, schools, and neighborhood rec centers giving up a space or wall for local artists to show off their talents.

This Phoenix article discusses the great lengths which Massachusetts authorities have undergone to disrupt and prosecute Graffiti artists.

Make a Scanner Camera

Pretty fun little project, reminds me of the old camera obscura.

All Dogs Go To Heaven?

DIY- Braised, Stuffed Pig's Head

For any foodies out there, you may have heard of Carol Blymire, a PR exec who decided to cook every dish in the French Laundry cookbook and blog about each and every recipe it took her over 18 months to get through the 100 recipes in the book, some of which take several days to prepare. French Laundry of course, being one of the nicest (if not the nicest) restaurant in the US. The cuisine at the restaurant is ridiculous in both imagination and scope of preparation (a tasting menu runs about $250-$400 per person, between 5-20 courses, with dinner lasting between 3.5 and 4 hours). Now, this blog has been out for a while, and as I write this she's completed the challenge she set for herself, but I recently came across this post, which details the 3 day process of braising and stuffing a pig's head. Bad. Ass. With video footage.

The 8 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books Which Most Desperately Need Movies

It's been a slow and very distracting Monday, so, courtesy of FARK, I present the list (complete with explanations) of the 8 sci-fi and fantasy books which most desperately need to be made into movies. In addition to the lovingly arranged summaries of each book ("An albino emperor and last descendant of an ancient dynasty with a sentient, evil sword that gains power with each being it kills, Elric is the ultimate anti-hero and a complete badass"), take a moment to appreciate the fact that this list was posted on a website called ToplessRobot.com- a site dedicated (in its own words) to "Nerd news, humor and self-loathing."