Heh.

Hat tip:  Marginal Revolution

Related posts

• Torture, Bailouts, and the Theory of a Unitary Executive
• Today’s Political Haikus
• Thought for the Day
• Thought for the Day
• The Perfect Metaphor for the Administration’s Bailout Proposal

The League of Photoshop is, of course, the democracies response to the Axis of Photoshop.

We have our first entry.  And I have to say I should have seen it coming.

Heh.

Hat tip:  Slog

Related posts

• Your Own Personal Jesus (Buddha)(Marx)(Whatever)
• You’ve Been Barrack Rolled
• You Know It’s DC. . .
• You Have Got to Be Kidding Me, Hillaryland Edition
• You Have Got to Be Kidding Me

Okay, not technically photoshop, but its Darwinian ancestor:  the propaganda poster.

You gotta love the North Koreans.  They’re not only the kings of robotic precision and the heroes of Zhang Yimou, but also gold medalists in over-the-top cheesy propaganda.  You just don’t find many good agitprop posters anymore, so I appreciate their careful conservation of the art form.

The California Literary Review has put together a small collection of some of the best worst examples.

My initial reaction?  I wouldn’t want the drugs these guys are taking.

“Let’s Drive Out the Imperialists and Reunite the Fatherland!”

(Note the cross on one soldier and Nazi-era cap on the other.)

“Wicked Man”

(Sounds like the name of a good Warren Zevon tune.)

“Let’s extensively raise goats in all families!”

(Really.  Trust me.  I mean why would I photoshop a goat?)

“Though the dog barks, the procession moves on!”

(Sounds like a Zen koan, not North Korean propaganda.)

“When provoking a war of aggression, we will hit back, beginning with the US!”

(Winner of the Noam Chomsky prize for 9/11 sensitivity.)

And now my favorite.  I’m thinking of using it for my screen-saver:

“Do not forget the US imperialist wolves!”

Ah yes, the ol’ dropping the baby down the well trope.  Talk about an overused propaganda cliché — the British had German soldiers dropping babies down wells over ninety years ago.  Come on, Kim Jong “Licensed to” Il, you don’t need to borrow from imperialist propaganda to remain on top!

I do have one question, though.  How did they get Telly Savalas to pose for the painting?  The soldier looks like Telly in The Dirty Dozen, down to the half crazed look.  Think I’m kidding?  Just take a look:

One other bit of art criticism:  if you’re going to drop a baby down the well, wouldn’t it make more sense to point your machine gun at the baby?

Hat tip:  Passport

Related posts

• North Korea: Dear Leaderless?
• Axis of Photoshop: Card Games
• Diplospeak Translator: Licensed to (Kim Jong) Il
• Dillweed of the Day: China’s North Korea Booster
• Axis of Photoshop: Is Kim Dead?

Watch out, Iran:  your Photoshop Dream Team has a new challenger:  the Chinese, who are determined to wrest the gold medal from your angry jihadist hands.

First came the government’s use of digitally created fireworks during the opening ceremony:

While the dramatic display actually happened as portrayed on television, members of the Beijing Olympic Committee said it was necessary to replace live video with computer-generated imagery because the city’s hazy, smoggy skies made it too difficult to see, according to The Beijing Times, which first reported the story.

Now the netroots (bambooroots?) are getting into the act.  But unlike the government, the current obsession is not fireworks, but fake movie posters.  The site Mop has a number of examples, headlining its post (as translated by Chinasmack) “China Olympic Team posters, extreme lightning, extremely charred, If it does not knock you down, it is not lightning!!!!”

Designers have borrowed from both American and Chinese films, and clearly there are favorite athletes and themes.  The most popular is Yao Ming and the Chinese team beating the American “Redeem Team” (whoopsie!):

Hancock

Saving Private Ryan

Kung Fu Dunk (a 2008 Chinese film in the tradition of Shaolin Soccer)

If I were Yao Ming, I’m not sure I’d be happy about this one:

Shrek 2 or Shrek 3

The same applies to two other members of the team, Yi Jian Lian and Cheng Jia Hua:

Dumb and Dumber

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Another popular theme is the ineptitude of the Chinese Olympic soccer team:

Death Sentence (a 2007 Kevin Bacon film)

According to China Smack, the poster’s translation reads

You killed the football fan’s heart.
Death Sentence

10 years ago when I saw China’s team lose, I wanted to die.
5 years ago when I saw China’s team lose, I lost hope.
Now, even if the China team dies, I will pretend I did not see.
I no longer have a dream.

A second poster mocks perhaps the most infamous moment for China so far in these games, when a member of the Chinese team, Tan Wangsong, kicked a Belgian player in the crotch, receiving a red card for his efforts:

I have no idea what movie, if any this is copying, but the tagline on Mop reads, according to Yahoo’s Babel Fish translator, “The foot becomes famous; the ball becomes famous.”  Heh.

A third popular subject is Liu Xiang, China’s star 110m hurdler:

Spiderman 2

Last but not least, my favorite, which is about an American, not Chinese star:

The inclusion of the Water Cube is an especially nice touch.

Big hat tip to Chinasmack for pointing me to the Mop site and providing some of the translations.

Related posts

• Where’s My Cane, Sonny?
• The Wit and Wisdom of Comrade Joshua
• Quote of the Day
• Picture of the Day
• Paralympics: Shame on NBC