Internet Recommendations of the week with Doug T. Graham/Verge Reporter

Feature Pick - Bad paintings of Barack Obama

An important part of the growing and learning process for painters has for centuries been a very private stage in a painter’s life. We don’t see Van Gogh’s early stick figure etchings or Monet’s failed attempts to draw a decent picture of his left hand because the there was no proper venue for that early amateur work to be displayed to the public so such terrible art can be laughed at and ridiculed.

That is until the Internet was born.

Case in point: badpaintingsofbarackobama.com, a wonderful Web site that contains no layout, buttons or frills. It does just what it promises: shows bad paintings of Barack Obama, which as you can imagine are numerous in quantity. When you access the site, you are greeted with a random picture from the archives, which, along with the site’s popularity, is growing daily.

Best picture:

This artists’ renditions of the now famous Obama campaign poster pretty much sums up the site: the artists on it are trying to honor a man that they like but lack the ability to recreate his image in a way that makes the viewer glad that they tried. This painting makes Obama look so deformed that instead of the message “HOPE” being displayed along the bottom, a more appropriate title would be “OH GOD WHY.”

Photo Pick - Detroit’s beautiful, horrible decline

Transitioning from terrible paintings to amazing photography, we have a Time magazine photo essay called “Detroit’s beautiful, horrible decline.” These powerful images of the severe decline in living conditions really drive home how far the city has fallen and how far a city can fall even in these modern times. The pictures remind the viewer of scenes of bombed out European cities of wartime, even though the only bomb dropped on the people of Detroit was economic.

Fun Fact: In October 2008 the average home price for homes within the city limits of Detroit was $18,513. For comparisons sake, the least expensive house listed for sale in the city of San Francisco was $399,900.

Best Picture:

This photo is of the Spanish gothic theater, which was built in 1928 and closed in the 1970s. It looks eerily reminiscent to images that you might see of a nuclear meltdown site and it makes you wonder how beautiful it would have looked had it been spared its abandonment.

Video Pick: Lewis Hamilton and the RC Office Grand Prix

I like this YouTube video because not only does it feature some awesome homemade technology (an iPhone app that can steer a remote controlled car), it also shows an interesting story of two guys who are able to take a fun side-project they did (construct an awesome race track out of office supplies) and have it receive attention from one of the biggest names in English Grand Prix Racing or something. I don’t know, it’s like English NASCAR, except they turn in directions other than left.

Best Part: The look on the main guy’s face at the very end of the video is the epitome of happiness. I think it should be required that everyone have a poster of that emotion in their dorm rooms so they can start their day with a smile.