'Kings of Leon Tour Bus Catches Fire' And Other Headlines SF Artist Johnny Selman Should Interpret

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What's that you say? A San Francisco-based artist agitating for sociopolitical change? My stars, now we've seen everything!

But seriously, folks. Transplanted Virginian and extremely assiduous master's candidate Johnny Selman has embarked on a pretty cool project for his Academy of Art thesis: for BBCX365, he's making a new poster daily for 100 days, each inspired by a BBC News headline. As of last week, some of his work to date can be seen and studied in the windows of businesses along Valencia Street (check Uptown Almanac for a non-exhaustive list of them).

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Selman's stated goal is to "promote the awareness of global current events with the American public," which he's doing in a subtly masterful, ideally unexpressive kind of way: unlike, say, Adam Infanticide, Selman is coy about his politics but not his identity. "I thought my own knowledge of global current events was lacking," he told an Academy of Art interviewer. "I'm trying to encourage more young people -- like myself -- to engage with the news. That's the goal: To present the news in a visually interesting way, to get to the heart of the story. If readers do a little work and think about the story conceptually and critically, they might retain the story better than through just a once-over and a bunch of pinpoint type in a newspaper."

You have to admire Selman for keeping his posters so starkly topical, of course, but if you're anything like us you wouldn't mind a little more frivolity, even if that would, you know, fly in the face of everything the project stands for. But wouldn't it be great to walk by Aquarius and see a poster inspired by "England demands apology from Butt"? Or to scratch your head at "No contempt charge for Poots" in front of Dog Eared Books?

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Anyway, humbly submitted for your consideration, maestro Selman, are some of today's less pressing BBC headlines.

Spanish stolen art haul found after offer to scrapyard
Supermarket lorry crashes into house
'Chocolate cough remedy' in sight
Jack and Sophie most popular baby names in Scotland
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg visits China

and of course: Kings of Leon tour bus catches fire.