The Weekender – a US Election special with sad people and happy people

This week in America some people said they wanted a new man to be the leader but more people said they wanted the man who’s already the leader to keep being the leader for a bit longer. This fundamentally simple process became a bit more than that though as first of all the two sets of people were VERY SURE they were each right, and the rest of the world piled in on the Twitter telling them which man to pick. To mark this historic moment, The Weekender this week is donning its cowboy hat and whitening its teeth to bring you a US election special (although as ever these constraints may prove to be quite loose…)

Best of the site

This week Bob Dylan’s classic protest song The Times They Are A-Changin’ was re-recorded using some clever programmed scanners and printers, Thomas Brown and Anna Burns paid homage to the American B-Movie with the help of some umbrellas and while lots was made about naughty political types telling lies, Craig Ward punctured some popular myths around graphic design with his lovely new book.

Best of Best of the Web

Down in the Deep South of our BOTW section we watched the best speeches in movie history to get us in the mood before Tuesday, we loved Wired’s round-up of the nerdiest election ever after the big day and watched Will Ferrell’s brilliant voter encouragement video pretty much all week.

Best of the Rest

Elsewhere we liked The Guardian’s road to election day in graphic novel format, enjoyed a jaunt round some of America’s strangest polling stations and were convinced that nothing says “vote for my guy” than a customised bicycle wheel.

Tweet of the Week

“MOVE MITT! GET OUT THE WAY!”
Who knew that @Ludacris would be able to adapt one of his ditties for such satirical ends. Lovely stuff.

Schadenfreude of the week

In his victory speech President Obama expressed his desire that both sides of the polictical divide might unite for the good of the country now the election is over. Thanks to sites like White People Mourning Mitt Romney, that’s probably not going to happen quite yet. Look at their grumpy little faces though!

Understanding one of the new political power groups chart of the week

Much was made of the fact Obama’s huge support among Hispanics and women helped return him to the White House, but are you in need of a bit an insight into this new political force? No not Hispanics, these women. Well this handy 19th Century Map of A Woman’s Heart should help give you a few pointers. Look out for the valley of Fickleness we say…

Wish we lived in the land of the free moment of the week

Now America as you know is all about liberty – they ruddy love the stuff over there (*insert your own biting “unless you’re a xxxxx gag" here if you’re cleverer than us) but us Brits, maybe not so much. Exhibit A: Goldsmiths student Liz Baldwin decided to draw a record-breaking mile-long chalk drawing through London recently and was nearly there when a policeman stepped in to stop her. Look out especially for his withering critique which could basically apply to all art if you were so minded – “There’s no real need for it.”

American Dream of the week

They say the thing about the USA is that no matter who you are you can make it through hard work and talent. Or, if not, those crafty buggers will find a way to fake it, such as this amazing plan for a fake marathon, which will take place next year merely through the forged photo documentation. In just a few days it’s running six times over its hoped-for Kickstarter goal, proving that lazy people have a bit of disposable income.

How Democrats are feeling of the week

Quite simply, this.

Yee-haw you beauties!