Twitter:

NPR and CBS News are using two major twitter tags to follow listeners for the Inauguration Report. The first #inaug09 is for updates about Inauguration Day itself. I’ve been using it to follow people are also just posting information before the event itself using the tag, and using it myself to update as well. The second #dctrip is for road-trippers traveling to DC. Click on the linked tags or view a widget with the ongoing feed on NPR.

Are you using twitter when you go to DC for the Inauguration? Follow me @blogislam if you wish and I’ll follow back.

SMS text:

Text 56333 with the category code for the type of updates you want to receive from the Presidential Inauguration Committee. If you’d like to send updates to NPR and CBS news, text 66937 beginning with one of the tags above and include your message afterward.

A photo tagged with inaug on Flickr (Example)

Flickr, YouTube, Blogs:

The tags for these sites are the same as the twitter tags (inaug or dctrip) although there is no hashtag. Example? The photo to the left is tagged inaug if you follow the link.

iPhone:

There are also a couple iPhone apps to point out. First, there’s the Inauguration Report that allows you to submit audio, photo, and text reports to the NPR master feed for all of the incoming tags, without any of the work. There’s a registration, but once completed, is stored in your phone. I’ll be writing more about this as soon I get a better feel it, or have a chance to use it in DC. The other app worthwhile to point out for people going DC is Navigating Washington. It has alerts, polls, a metro station finder, an events function, and finally, a Zagat food guide. Best of all, it’s free to install until Inauguration Day.

Also, if you’re into twitter, don’t forget twitterfon. It’s vastly improved with the new updates and I think is the best twitter app available.

Facebook:

CNN and Facebook will be live streaming the ceremony for users who RSVP to the event on their site. Apparently, you’ll be able to watch live video on one side of the screen and status updates from your friends on the other.

• The Brewmaster’s Castle
• Ben’s Chili Bowl (1213 U St., NW; 202-667-0909; benschilibowl.com) “has been around for 50 years and was the only neighborhood restaurant to stay open during the 1968 riots, which began a few blocks away. During inauguration week, expect long lines and jubilation, especially late at night—the best time to indulge in a chili half-smoke and cheese fries.The Lincoln Theatre is one of 14 stops on the Greater U Street Heritage Trail, a walking tour of historic sites. Other nearby spots on the trail include the African American Civil War Memorial and Howard University. You can download a map of the trail online at culturaltourismdc.org or ask for one at Ben’s. While in the neighborhood, look for the Duke Ellington mural (1200 U St., NW) by local artist G. Byron Peck and the new Barack Obama mural (2007 14th St., NW) by Shepard Fairey.”
• Old Post Office Pavillion: “Crummy shops and what not, but go down to the bottom level in the corner and the Park Service runs an elevator up to the top of the tower. Great photos of DC if it’s a clear day.”
• Frederick Douglas’ house in Anacostia: “The tour is great, and the view of the city is lovely. Especially appropriate for this weekend.”

Inaugural Events:

• Presidential Inaugural Committee Announces Whistle Stop Train Tour Events (Saturday)
• We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration “NPR Broadcasts A Star-Studded Concert; President-Elect Obama Speaks Live Sunday: Listen to the concert here on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m.
• The president, vice president and their families will participate in a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral.

Museums:

• “Smithsonian Exhibits: Inaugural and Otherwise:” open at 10 a.m. Visitors to the Mall will be able to go into the Smithsonian museums throughout Inauguration Day. The museums close at 5:30 p.m.
• The original portrait of Mr. Obama used in his “Hope” poster will also be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.
• “Presidents in Waiting” (On Inauguration Day, the National Portrait Gallery opens “Presidents in Waiting,” an exhibition that focuses on the office of the vice presidency and the individuals who first served in that office and then later became president. It continues through Jan. 3, 2010).
• National Museum of African Art. DJ Adrian Loving mixes African percussion and hip-hop. (Sun., Jan. 18, 2-4 p.m.)
• The National Archives (700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW; 202-357-5000; archives.gov) “has an inauguration exhibit January 12 through 25 that includes the first printed draft of the Constitution with George Washington’s handwritten notes. Elsewhere in the archives, you can see the original Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, and more. On Inauguration Day, the swearing-in ceremony and parade will be shown live in the archives theater starting at 11:30 am. Seats are first come, first served.”
• The Spy Museum
• The Newseum

Restaurants, Bars, Shops:

• Local 16 for a hip hop-type scene
• Spanish food: Great tapas restaurant called La Tasca
• Full Kee Resaurant
• Georgetown Cupcake

It may not be much, but it’s a place to start. Is there anything to add? Tomorrow, I’m off to NYC and Saturday, we’re going to Washington DC. I have my iPhone handy and my Canon ready to go.

All I knew was that I had to do something like the drummer for The Roots plays the drums:

Slam. Slam.

2. American Mullet

3. Burn After Reading:

Here she is, courtesy of Flickr.

I get excited about my collages when I feel their finished in concrete form and you probably guessed that fact from today’s superfluous postings, which was worth the commentary if nothing else. I say that because the links are bum now. I should have guessed myself that my photo editing style is similar to my art. It’s like a second collage! I’m like Charlie in Willy Wonka’s factory stealing soda that makes you fart instead of burp and otherwise breaking the rules.

What does that have to do with photo editing? Long story short, the links in the previous posts are wrong because the images have changed a little for aesthetic sake, and so I reposted them on Flickr. Since Flickr is home of the vomiting rainbow panda bear who eats our photostreams for sustinance, seriously see the photo above, so it’s cool to do that sort of reckless thing but not recommended practice. If she does not have our updated photos to eat, she may ask for first born sons. Not good.

Also, the photos in the posts are bum since I used Flickr URLs to post them. I’ll update them and included a new link below. The good news is I have a cool black and white version of what is considered the general favorite of the three to share now. Dromroll, please. “Signs of Change:”

Signs of Change

I made a Flickr set with the other two if you’re interested in seeing the rest of the Obama series. Thanks for being patient as I find out what works by learning how not to do things first. Ay de mi!

Hope you enjoy the art as much as I enjoy sharing it. Commentary about each piece is here, here, and lastly here.

Pretty self-explanatory: a literal and symbolic interpretation of Obama’s slogans: “Change we can believe in” and “Yes We Can.” Black and white version also available. Click here to view.

Collage Preview

Update: The tangible version has photos of other 2008 media darlings including Amy Winehouse, Sarah Palin, and Heath Ledger’s character The Joker. Carry on.

The section on the left (close-up below) is made up of the magazine covers that featured Obama. The sign below his campaign image says “California” and the three people to the right are other media darlings from this year. I’m talking to you, Sarah Palin, when I say stop talking about people talking about you to the media. They don’t have to cover you know that the campaign is over. Now they just do it out of boredom, for laughs, who knows. Heath your last performance was one of a lifetime in Batman. Amy, I wish you at least three career comebacks from the same genie that afforded Britny Spears so many chances to get it together and just dance at the VMAs. Nobody’s “people” are that good. Magic can be the only explanation.

Obama, you’re still cool. Let’s face it, though, you’re a media dah-ling.

"Hands" Collage

This is the first collage I did from the four or so magazines about Obama being man of the year, or our savior, or a post-racial, and/or post-civilizational president. Yup, I got all of them and, for the most part, didn’t read a word of them. Guilty. Turns out, I’m lucky because the images give you a good idea of the message and meaning behind the upcoming presidency. One of the things I noticed off the bat was the use of hands in the magazine photos. Holding babies and shaking hands when greeting a past enemy or rival are among common, always a little compelling images we see in the media of candidates during the campaign. The point I tried to put across, however, was that the uncommon shots really do point out how very effective it is to feature hands as a sign of political power.

Close-Up (Left Side)

Real quick: here are the things I like about the collage. It starts to take on a life of its own after I work for a while. So, it’s fun to point out what worked. There was a minute there I wasn’t sure that was going to be the case. Also, maybe you think it’s all crap. I’d like to point out why it’s not. I think the hands concept really worked. You can see in the corner that there is a man reaching up–I love that photo find. Also, Obama has a face that only a crazy person wouldn’t like in the large pic. It makes me proud to call him president. I also like the photo with the women touching Obama’s cheek. There’s something very intimate about his expression and her hand motion, wedding ring and all.

Close-Up (Top)

I’ll begin the Obama-MLK, Jr. analogies now. The magazines were full of them, or at least the images were full of them. Like I said, I didn’t read the articles. Disclaimer! I worked with the relationship between them a lot in the series. Here I used a photo from one of Obama’s rallies and a photo of MLK Jr. from back in the day. Both have people reaching toward them in their photos. Hands are grasping toward Obama while hands are reaching upward in the crowd surrounding MLK Jr. I thought that was an interesting, maybe, quite possibly, significant difference.

Close-Up (Right Side)

The photo of the woman crying was the first to jump out and still is the most powerful of all the Obama images for me. I think that underlying Obama’s powerful personality is the ability to get others caught up in the moment. It’s not for me to say whether it’s for better or for worse. Honestly, I don’t know. Also, I’m a hopeless idealist. So, I’m going to wait to state my opinion. It’s just an improvement to see that a lot of people, from different backgrounds, are not only hopeful about the future but also joyful (albeit slightly panicked) in moving forward.

I can safely say that Obama’s power personality has a similar effect as a great video from TED talks. Know what I mean? If not, check out Jill Boyte Taylor’s talk and you will. She’s amazing. Listening to her muse on life is likely to make anyone smile and give him or her a cool story to tell others around the lunch table. See? She’s just like Obama (if she were also a handsome, powerful, charismatic, man like Obama). Admittedly, my analogy doesn’t work as well as the MLK, Jr. one.