Here are the winners and finalists of American Photo Images of the Year 2009. The winning entries of this competition are divided in different categories such as: extreme, photojournalism, personal works, student works, commercial works, portraiture and nature.

Denis Zilber is an illustrator from Ramat Gan, Israel. I really like how he gives the characters in his illustrations their own vivid personality by giving them those amazing gestures and expressions.

Capitalism, Socialism, Libertarianism, Anarchy and Fascism.

Meesha Shafi features on the new single off Overload’s Pichal Pairee, the long awaited second album from a group better known for hypnotic instrumentals featuring Pappu Saeen and his drumbeats. Intriguing that the album should be named pichal pairee, a Punjabi term that literally means ‘the one with twisted feet’ and reminds one of scary fireplace stories of witches who had inverted feet and were the devil reincarnate. The single ‘Pichal Pairee’ has an eerie quality though it stops short of being spooky and the lyrics do absolutely nothing to back up the element of horror. It develops into an interesting hybrid of horror and rock, not a bad combination at all. And this is Overload’s first proper step into song writing; until now the band has held instrumental - especially percussion - as its forte.

However, more than the mythical pichal pairees, it is model and vocalist Meesha Shafi’s presence in the video that holds centre stage. In an Amy Winehouse-esque avatar - sporting a hairdo that is unmistakably related to the ‘Rehab’ singer’s signature beehive - she redefines rock chic. Dressed in a black tank top and denim, Meesha’s is a clean look but it is Winehouse inspired, minus the eyeliner and body art though. ‘Pichal Pairee’ is in English but Meesha has also indulged in Punjabi on the album. Her vocals are strong and her appearance is even better. A fashion model with a striking face, Meesha never made it to the A-list because of her lack of height, but none of that poses a threat to her as a singer.

It makes one hope and wonder whether Meesha Shafi could be ready to take on the challenge of emerging as the next female pop artist in Pakistan’s male dominated music scene. To date, only Nazia Hassan, Hadiqa Kiani and recently Zeb and Haniya have been able to dig their heels into it. Needless to say, Meesha’s popularity and success will have to be a bit more deep rooted in mass popularity for that to happen.

– Aamna Haider Isani

Meesha Shafi photo by Mohsin Khawar
Today INSTEP

The fifth London Tattoo Convention was held at Tobacco Dock, London. Over 200 body artists from different countries took part in the convention.

There is a huge amount of complementary entertainment and visual experiences to enjoy, including exhibitions, artistic events, live rock bands, burlesque performers from around the world, let alone a range of traditional East End themed bars, restaurants and food stalls. But the best part of attending can be seeing the visitors and their tattoos.

Take any film you wish, and photoshop the scenery, characters or titles into the style of a famous movie poster for a different film…

The Twilight Saga continues:

Timbaland is not working with too many names right now. Other than Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3, he has taken a sabbatical from working on outside music production to finish off his upcoming record, Shock Value 2, due November 23. The surprising bit is the fact that the new record from the super famous producer has drawn inspiration from vampires. The American television show True Blood and the craze behind Twilight films has triggered a reaction in Timbo who is using it as a pretext for writing new material on the record.

Tim says the first single is coming in “a couple of weeks” and, although he wouldn’t give out the title, he did say it was inspired by the world’s most popular vampire franchise, Twilight.

“This record, it’s interesting,” he said of the upcoming single while speaking with Rolling Stone magazine. “It’s very interesting - it features this new artist on my label called SoShy from Paris. We’re both rapping. The song, I can’t describe it, it’s so different. It’s not different for me, but I can tell you this - it fits everything going on with the vampire theme. It fits everything with Twilight. ”

And that isn’t the only surprise. If the first record, Shock Value had names like Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot and Sir Elton John, rest assured the new record has a more eccentric and wild flavour. On the new record, collaborations include Lady Gaga, Shakira, Kings of Leon and Paramore. Do look out for Timbo. This record looks promising, textured and slightly wacky. And that always makes for interesting listening.
Today INSTEP

A collection of photos from fans of the National Football League.

One day Allison Stokke was a just a pretty high school athlete and the next she was an international Internet destination, although not by her own choice. Miss Stokke’s photograph was taken during a high school track meet, where she was preparing to compete in the pole vault, and someone posted it to a web site. It didn’t take long for other less reputable sites to pick up the image and set off a round of Stokke-mania on the worldwide web.

Miss Stokke isn’t just a pretty girl; she’s a pretty girl who happens to be a tremendous athlete. She was the California pole vaulting champion and is on scholarship at the University of California. She wanted to be known for her athletic accomplishments rather than purely for her looks.

The problem began to surface in 2004 when she began to receive messages from her friends that her photo had been seen on the Internet. She had 1,000 new messages on her social network site and a YouTube video of her being interviewed had been viewed 15,000 times.
Allison Stokke interviewed at 2009 Brutus Hamilton Invitational. If you liked this video, please visit flotrack.org for the latest on track and field results, videos, news, records, athletes and coaches: