
Create Your Own Inauguration Speech
They say he’s the best orator of our time. He delivers his message with an eloquence difficult to find in these days of jumbled political spiel. So if you suffered a mild twinge of jealousy at Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday, cast away your tied tongue and get to work on a new skill by creating your very own inauguration speech.
Tagged: Barack Obama, cool websites, politics
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It’s been a while since we’ve had a global leader who also happens to be a folk hero. The amateur portraits of our new Commander-in-Chief posted at the <a href=” http://referencelibrary.blogspot.com/2009/01/obama.html”>Reference Library</a> reflect the reverence so many have for him. Read more

Sure, President Obama is just as human as the rest of us, and there is a certain excessiveness to the extent to which he’s been idealized, but I’d rather have a President the world views as a secret agent ninja than one the world views as a bumbling, ignorant fool. Can you imagine an action figure like this one by Hong Kong-based DID Corporation made of Dubya? If they did make one, it’d probably be along the lines of Maxwell Smart.

Shepard Fairey’s guest edited issue of LAEM
Tomorrow we’ll be sending out a special Shepard Fairey Guest Compiled issue of our free weekly email publication to our email subscribers, featuring the work of his favorite artists, photographers and music. Fairey’s iconic image of Barack Obama was recently the cover of Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year issue, but he was well known previously as the creator of the ubiquitous Andre The Giant sticker. We’re honored to have him write exclusively for us about the artwork that excited him most in 2008. You can sign up to receive this Guest Compiled issue by subscribing to the free weekly Lost At E Minor email publication.
Also by FRANCIS ANDREWS

James Mackay’s Even Though I’m Free I Am Not
Award-winning photojournalist James Mackay’s latest project comes at a time when the world’s eyes are fixed on Burma and the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi. By photographing former political prisoners displaying the names of their colleagues and friends who remain behind bars, Even Though I’m Free I Am Not exposes the enduring pain faced by Burma’s opposition movement. Over 2,100 activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians languish in prisons across the country, and on Friday Aung San Suu Kyi will likely join them. Read more

The blind date of the food world has finally arrived, and it’s proving more palatable than the awkwardness of an evening spent in superficial conversation. Secret Supper clubs are springing up in the backstreets of London: what are attics and living rooms by day get converted into makeshift restaurants catering for an evening of surprise tastes and conversations. Read more

Young British designer Adam Farlie takes a leftfield approach to how people experience interaction with objects, often taking everyday items and toying with their potential to harbour deeper meaning and greater usage than first perceived. He transforms a bed into a ‘vessel that captures and contains the audio-memories of past occupiers through sound’, allowing those who lie on the bed to recall past intimcaties or conversations from years ago, while his take on a chest of drawers’ purpose of holding records of people is similarly intriguing.
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We love the music of South African-born, London-based producer Mira Calix. It’s rustic, cerebral and slow-building, kinda like that first slither of daylight that stirs the morning heartbeat. We interviewed her recently about her new album, Eyes Set Against The Sun. Read more
There’s a shop on Smith Street in Melbourne where all young designers go to live. In.cube8r supports all things craft and handmade in Melbourne, running like a long-term market, with the gallery divided into different areas that the artists lease for a tiny cost. There are more than 75 of Melbourne’s top crafters on show and the gallery is always looking for new designers.
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Whether a torrent of abuse flows in my direction or not, I’ll bite my lip and say that Four Tet’s Rounds is perhaps the greatest electronica album ever released. Read more
I’ve been a big fan of Michelle Vandermeer’s work since I came across her Mini Majellen zines at this year’s Sydney Writers Festival. Describing herself as a doer — as in one of those people who are always doing or making something — Michelle’s work, which includes book binding, illustration, jewelery making and her zines, stems from an internal creative springboard and a double degree in architecture and graphic design. Her work is smart and succinct. Read more
Animator Mathieu Labaye created this short film in tribute to his late father, who had been in a wheelchair for the last 15 years of his life. Read more
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Our celebrity-saturated culture makes many of us irrationally hateful of the faces we see on our TV screens and magazine pages. Good thing there’s Celebrity PunchOut to let off some of that steam.

T-post: the world’s first wearable magazine
So here’s the scoop. Every six weeks, T-post subscribers get a new t shirt issue in the mail, with a news story on the inside and an artist interpretation of that story on the front. Yes, we agree. It’s clever, clever. Read more

1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings
Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more

With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more

There is not a medium that UK illustrator Lizzy Stewart cannot wrap around her little finger to make the most beautiful, whimsical images. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
From this artist selection of t-shirts comes this Christina Koustospirou illustration, silkscreened on a limited edition t-shirt, and distributed in a vinyl sleeve, with a biography of the artist on the back of the sleeve. Every t-shirt is numbered and signed by the artist, and comes in organic cotton. Read more
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Turnip said | 23 January, 2009
I have to strongly disagree with people who say he’s the “best orator of our time…”
Obama sounds like a preacher. He constantly uses parables, and uses the exact same preachery tone whenever he’s in public. I find it irritating to listen to Obama for too long.
There’s definitely a formula to the way he speaks in public. I think he over does it though.