Czech Painter Jeremiah Palecek has caught our attention on two previous occasions with his knack for turning familiar images from the Web into physical manifestations with just a few fancy brushstrokes. In keeping with that theme, Palecek’s latest project turns away from chiefly Web-based subjects as he lends his deft stroke to revamping previously submitted works from the Creative Commons, adding or altering elements to public domain paintings, and then resubmitting them back from whence they came. It’s like the painter’s version of the remix and it’s ever so eye-catching. The one featured (left) is an oil on canvas work called Cowboy Portal. The one next to it? You guessed it: Obama Riding a Mastodon.

Since Obama is now in his second hundred days (or twentieth business week, twelfth fortnight…) and people aren’t flocking to buy Hope related merchandise, you’d think that Shepard Fairey could take a nice summer vacation. But Arktip found the artist hard at work on a new print, complete with No Age’s punk soundtrack and a nice short-attention-span montage. Makes me want to have a productive Monday.

Yesterday, Rick Smolan released the top secret project he’s been working on with HP: THE OBAMA TIME CAPSULE, a customizable book. Using the HP print-on-demand technology we last showed you with MagCloud, people can weave their own names, photos and messages into an historic large format book featuring the work of the world's leading photographers, graphic artists and writers.

The book can be extensively personalized by answering a few questions and uploading photos to the project website. THE OBAMA TIME CAPSULE offers readers seven different ways to personalize the book. If you’ve been courting your own ISBN, you’ll come close with co-author credit on the front cover and a photograph of you on the back (as well as inside amongst celebrity supporters). Each collectible copy of the book is printed one at a time. Most publishing industry analysts agree that print-on-demand will be the publishing model of the future.

“From grass roots Facebook campaigns to viral YouTube videos, the Obama campaign took the presidential race to a new level in terms of personalization,” said Smolan, co-founder of Against All Odds Productions (AAO). And the book follows suit: Using the Internet, publishers have fewer barriers to market and by only printing what is necessary, excess inventory and waste are eliminated.The OBAMA TIME CAPSULE (retail price $64.95) is now available exclusively through Amazon at an introductory price of $34.95. Additional sponsors for the book include Google, AOL, Facebook, Glam Media, Blurb, Microsoft, eMotion and NewPage.

For the past year, the urban vinyl community has relied on Face Your Manga for all our avatar needs. But now one of our own has stepped up with an app that renders our likenesses in Kidrobocolor. That would be the awesome Tristan Eaton, whose Thunderdog Studios just released the B-BOT app for iPhone. B-BOT is the closest you will ever get your mug to a Munny. You can create your own B-BOT and also customize your contacts. When you receive a call from them, their B-BOTs will show up on the caller ID (and vice versa).

B-BOT was conceived by Tristan Eaton and Peter Cortez while working together on the 2008 Barack Obama Campaign. It was developed by Greg Elliott, the creator of SynchStep.

If you've seen images at the Whitney, SF Museum of Modern Art, or Minneapolis' Walker Art Center (or the Magnum Photos archives for that matter), the shots of photographer Alec Soth may have caught your eye. The Minnesota-based artist's photos are colorful yet haunting, and his most recent frameset, shot in the days before President Obama's inauguration are no exception. “The Last Days of W” is a visual critique of the impact that the outgoing head of state had on Americans — from mothers of Marines to religious imagery in offices. The show opened with an exhibition in Zurich and is now being featured in a self-published softcover book that serves as a celebration/requiem for President Bush, who once uttered that “one of the great things about books is, sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.”  What else would you expect from locations like California's Camp Purgatory and Detroit before the promise of the automaker bailout?

Behance believes there are too many ideas in the world, and not enough action. The name is inspired by Thomas Edison’s famous quote, “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” The conference is for people that already have great ideas, but need to make them happen. The speakers are all people that have a track record of executing their ideas again and again, successfully. Seth Godin, our Threadless friends, Michael Bierut from Pentagram, Scott Thomas, the director of new media for Obama’s campaign, our friend Ji Lee and a few other very impressive folks. Perhaps the 99% Conference will be the kick in the ass that people with great ideas sometimes need?

Get your tickets now. Seriously. April 16th and 17th. Use the code 99EARLY09 and get $100 off the regular ticket prices. This looks like it’s going to be an amazing event, and probably the first of many to come.

Between hosting foreign dignitaries, raising kids in the White House, and, oh yeah, trying to do something about the economy, our newly elected President doesn’t have much time to visit average Americans where they live. But that didn’t stop Jon and Olivia Lancaric, the creators of Obama in Our House, to take shots of the former Illinois senator at their home on election night. (Never you mind that he was made of cardboard — according to the couple, “that didn’t stop people from hugging him, dancing with him, clamoring to have their picture taken with him…in general, just loving the hell out of him.”) When you’re done looking at images of the Lancarics’ personal friends wrapping their scarves around the then President Elect, take a look at the site’s list of good causes, including World Vision and Feeding America. Go on, spread the Obamaness.

Five Locs is a brand new urban streetwear brand based in Atlanta. Yet another independent purveyor of original gear, the Five Locs logo features a silhoutted dome-piece with some gnarly dreads jutting out. The bold emblem is the chest design of their inaugural line of T-shirts, which keep it simple and come in black, white and green. Speaking of inaugural, the brand has its own Obama tee, boasting some ill artwork and the slogan “400 Years in the Making”. They’ve come through with a great initial concept and a dope site to go with it. We’ll surely be keeping an eye on these guys and awaiting new gear, soon to come.

Face it, Shepherd Fairey is not going to be turning your likeness into an iconic poster anytime soon. Unless your name is Barack Obama — in which case, hello Mr. President! But that doesn’t mean you’re SOL. Paste Magzine and the Zazzle – a site that specializes in customizable retail objects – have teamed up to give you the opportunity to “Obamicon” yourself. Just upload an image or use your webcam, select a saying or write in your own, and share it with friends. You can even order U.S. stamps featuring your own mug. Stuck on ideas? Check out their gallery of top picks like “Fail” one featuring George W. Bush.

If you’re not already completely absorbed in this morning’s inauguration activities, jump over to SpeechWars and check out their graphs of different words our nation’s Presidents have spoken in their Inaugural addresses – from women to union to world to evildoers (oh, wait, that’s not one) and notice any trends that may have occurred due to such powerful cultural changes caused by the civil rights movement and the rise of feminism. What Obama will say, we don’t know – strangely, unlike CNN we didn’t receive a copy of it – but we have a hunch the word “hope” will pop up more times than it did in the last eight years.

Back when IWearYourShirt.com launched, I swooped in and grabbed today’s date – January 20th. I thought I’d send him some clever Obama inauguration T-shirt to sport proudly for me, but truthfully I never got around to it. Then I thought I’d send him a ridiculously small tank top, and never got around to that. It also crossed my mind to buy a shirt and have my sweatiest friends work out in it, zip lock it, and send that to him. That too never happened.

And then I realized, I’d make him go shirtless on a cold winter day and just asked him to write “Obama” on his chest in lipstick or something. Tape and sharpie had to do, but it worked I suppose.

All in good fun of course. He took the joke very well. Be sure to check out his video and live-cast later today — very funny.

Today is a very important day. We couldn’t be more excited about an Obama presidency. Just to add to our excitement we cracked up over this Obama Run DC shirt. You can pick up your own here for $20. More importantly, we hope you enjoy today’s celebration and historical significance, regardless of whether or not you have a clever T-shirt on.

People are bound to have a spectrum of reactions to the Inauguration Day proceedings, so if your gut is telling you to react by buying toys, it’s ok. Barack Obama’s message inspired an unprecedented array of art toys in 2008 from action figures to vinyl busts. Now’s the time to stock up. Wizard Sleeve Toys is having a one-day 20% off sale to celebrate the inauguration of our 44th president. Whether you go in for urban or herb-n art, here’s your chance to pick up an Obama action figure at a reduced price. Just enter “NEWPREZ” at checkout.

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We’ve written about the music of Daft Punk, Barack Obama action figures and Daft Punk designer toys, but I never imagined I’d have the occasion to write about all three in one post. In the latest mashup of politics and pop culture, UK DJ/producer Adam Freeland remixes Daft Punk in a video animated by the progressive directing team, GOLD. The stop-motion music video is meant to function as a celebration to commemorate the upcoming inauguration of Obama as the 44th president of the United States. While plastic Obama makes an appearance, designer toy fans will be interested to see Qees, Be@rbricks and other mini-figures getting down on the dancefloor. How many items from your own toy collection can you spot in the video?

Last year, you sported Obama tees, held BBQs at your pad to get likeminded voters together, and threw a giant party on election night – with extra champagne on hand to drown your sorrows should the other guy win. But all of that is passe now that Obama is just days from being inaugurated, so you’ve got to find a new way to show your support. We think this skateboard will do the trick. Designed by illustrator Oliver Barrett of Go Media, this board that has been emblazoned with the President-elect’s mug serves as both wall art or, if you don’t mind a few scratches, your Democratic transportation around town. If you want it, snag it quick, because like tickets to the Inauguration, these 800 decks will go fast.