Raccoon's Finding: fun

Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Creative approach to stationery - back to school

It's September now and many young people have come back to school. They need new stationary, but what can be more dull than ordinary pens, schoolbags, notebooks and other school stuff? Designers are well aware what teenagers are fond of now, so they have developed some amazing stationery stuff which is rather fun, creative and appealing not only to Internet-wise youngsters. Here are some curious samples I've liked more (and I'd like to buy it for myself, though I'm not in school myself...)

The notebook with circles (instead of ordinary lined or checked notebook we've fed up with

A good Doodle Book for those who have to be present on boring lectures or conferences. I think many office workers who have to attend dull meetings would buy this notebook. You can draw some figures, lines and images in it, and sometimes you can create something worthy (the subtitle of this product is the notebook for occasional scraps and non-occasional insights).

A good set of notebooks for military-obsessed boys: 3D pictures of revolver, army knife and grenade must be very appealing for them.

Computer Science Notebook.

The blue screen of death appearing when your computer is out can reflect one's attitude towards Computer Science as a school or university subject.

Electrotechnics from a light bulb to vibrator. It's just obvious what it is: Notebook

The famous photo of Tesla and the quirky slogan make it an ideal notebook for Physics.

This stuff is very useful: different kinds of balls which are to be crumbled and thrown. The ideal device for lessening the tension during the class.

Be Patient

The traditional Russian school notebook is ideal for lazy students who'll be always reminded that they need to be patient in their sufferings during studies.

Famous faces circulating in Internet are chosen for coverings of the school notebooks. Each face reflecting one's attitude towards a particular school subject.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Absurd art

I like the absurd humor because it makes me stop, think over and only then to burst out laughing. So, I've found some nice examples of such absurd caricatures, drawn by the plain pencil on the simple sheet of paper. They are not of much worth in terms of art, but they can be the real hit for those who, like me, love absurd humor and want good and non-vulgar laughing. These pictures are made by an artist from Riga, Latvia, and his approach seems to be a real new word in the area of humor illustrations.

Well, with the help of simple tools you can turn a loaf of white (or brown) bread into a trolleybus... But what for?!

"Aeroflot" is losing its customers

Antique cuckoo clock with pendant (while I was drawing the clock, the horse dreaming of - I quote - "becoming an actress" came to the cadre.

Small people leaving in the tube of toothpaste say me what to draw but I rarely listen to them.

Katyusha

Staff of the State Drug Police use dolphins for the search of drugs in trains.

Lips with ears are gazing at the meat pie.

It is not easy to deliver potatoes to apartments if you have hooves instead of hands.

AutoVAZ employees leave their hands at the factory gate.

Sign: "Show your pass opened!"

That's all. Rice leaves the risotto.

Crosswords - some really original examples

I guess, many people like to solve crosswords (and their varieties) when they have a plenty of time to kill (for example, you're traveling by train or are queuing, or just have a lot of time at night...). They say that the first crossword was invented by the famous Russian writer, the author of notorious "Lolita", Vladimir Nabokov. Since that, this kind of riddles has become really popular and now we have a great number of crossword varieties, such as "scanwords" (Scandinavian crosswords), "chainwords" (when the following word begins with the last letter of the previous one, forming a chain of words) etc. You can find crosswords on the last page of a newspaper or a magazine, and the whole magazines of word riddles can be found everywhere. I think, inventing and compiling of a crossword is the equal intellectual fun. Sometimes you can even find crosswords to occupy your mind with on, say, bus stops or drawn on the wall of an ordinary apartment block. Here are unusual crosswords I've found. They look like traditional ones, but they are nevertheless original.

In 1998 the artist Anton Olshvang used to hang paper sheets with this crossword printed on them at bus stops in Samara, Russia. People waiting for their bus tried to solve it but they always failed to do that. It's not surprising, because Anton had given them a difficult task - there are no words matching to these definitions! You can try to solve this crossword yourself and you'll see that it's just impossible!

Horizontally:

1. Secretly glued dishes. 6. The surprise which is known beforehand. 7. Someone who's missed his or her train or flight. 9. Old insect. 11. The minute before the date. 12. The apartment full of furniture. 13. Unheard alarm clock. 20. The overgrown weed. 21. Grown-up legs. 22. The item hidden in time. 23. The unknown word. 24. The chair which can be turned only clockwise. 26. Two hundred grams of cheese. 30. The unpleasant TV show. 31. A continuous, repetitive sound. 32. The girlfriend's dress. 33. Minimal sovereignty. 34. The food left behind in a fridge. 25. The favorite work carried out on the daily basis.

Vertically:

2. The action which stimulates decision-making. 3. Erased wallpaper. 4. The petty violence of the road traffic. 5. The side opinion. 8. The feeling of social inequality. 10. Pure, but non-transparent water. 14. The sweater which is to put on upside down. 15. The scientific discovery deprived of emotional coloring. 15. The side of a knife which is not sharp. 17. Ink stains in a pocket. 18. Dust in unapproachable places. 19. The old duvet. 25. The empty roller. 27. The good habit. 28. Experience in writing poetry. 29. The absolute material value.

This crossword can make you feel stupid and ignorant, can't it? But it's actually invented as a kind of mockery, so Anton Olshvang is sometimes called "the first virtual troll".

Sometimes crosswords can be a landmark. Imagine a dull, grey apartment block which is a real sight to look at the city suburbs. It's quite difficult, isn't it? But Lvov (Ukraine) can boast of such landmark.

This stylish, ancient city has a wonderful "crossword house" in its "sleeping district" full of standard, dull multi-storeyed apartment blocks. The crossword is not just a decoration - you can actually solve it. Booklets with tasks can be found nearby. You can check your answers at night when the wall is lit by lamps and letters appear in grids. The topic of this enormous crossword - names of famous artists and architects.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday cute cats

Everybody likes cats and kittens here, I guess. But nobody knows why we love them more than any other creatures. Anyway, I know just a few people who don't like cats or are quite indifferent about them. Others adore these furry creatures, though not everybody keep them at home as pets. I've had a lot of cats in my life, I've grown up with cats at home and my first poem was written about my cute black and white (but very wild-tempered) cat called Musya (she lived for almost 20 years, though she had a semi-stray lifestyle, living in the countryside, and she gave birth of enormous number of kittens which, I guess, have formed the distinct cat breed - cute, but wild and aggressive black-and-white cats which are impossible to keep closed at home). Now, I don't have cats at home and I regret it. But Internet gives the chance to see cats and kittens. I like these cat pictures my friend has e-mailed me. Here they are. And here are my comments:

Sleeping cat with these cute pink paws!

A small kitten doing what I didn't like in my former cat's habits - walking on the table. And the cat watching her son with disgust from the window sill - she's educated in good manners)

A cliche romantic picture often used for Valentines - two cats-lovers are having a date on the roof and the full moon is shining.

A library or a bookshop cat) And he is also walking on the table! He can make this cup of coffee fall out. And also the remote cat is watching this youngster with disapproval.

Everybody having a cat has seen the picture like this in the reality. It's cute but I can imagine the number of cat's hairs on this nice bed cover) However, this picture makes me feel comfortable)

A cat and small tiny kittens - a new version of Motherhood concept for all cat-lovers)

Pirate advertisers

I've found some photos of existing posters and ads which can be found in Russian cities and which "designers" (for many such ads are amateurish, "made on a lap") have chosen to take the star's photo (without obtaining his or her permission for that) in order to promote the product or the service. We can only guess whether it helped such "pirates" to raise their sales with the help of Britney Spears or Uma Turman on their posters or not, but they probably considered such approach as effective - or just downloaded some "nice" pictures from Internet without even knowing who this pretty girl or boy is. Of course, that's illegal, but some of these photos are just funny - regarding the choice of the celebrity and the product or service advertised. I'll not give many comments on this, I'll only translate slogans and the wording.