How cool is this? Band aid is putting braille on their packaging. A little gesture that makes a world of difference for some people and for the rest of us, a reminder that hey, that paper cut probably isn’t the life altering event we’re making it out to be. Plus, it’s always fun to be exposed to new languages.
Classical music reminds me of the dentist office. Every time I think I’m going to mellow out and give my neurons a little pick-me-up I’m gripped by the anxiety of knowing that I will soon be reprimanded for not flossing eighteen times a day. My dad enjoys the old stuff and pointed me in the direction of his favorite station, KUSC, which proffers this bold manifesto on their Web site:
I think this is a station I can get behind.
For my hipster brethren, The Hood Internet is throwing down the awesome with indie/hip hop mash ups that are single-handedly keeping me in the loop with what’s playing on terrestrial radio. More holler, more MGMT…or something like that.
The Hood Internet – Two Weeks Of Hip Hop (Dead Prez x Grizzly Bear) by hoodinternet
Grass seed, seriously?
Generally, with your signage shorter is better. Sometimes, though, leaving out a word…like I don’t know, for the sake of example let’s say “flower,” totally changes the meaning of your sign. On the plus side, I’m sure it can also make a lot of mellow people really, really excited.
There’s no such thing as being too prepared. Danger lurks where you least expect it. The chair that jumps out in the middle of a dark room and stubs your toe. The innocent-looking piece of paper just waiting for the opportunity to taste blood. And then there’s velociraptors. They may look fun and amusing, a novelty pet like the slow loris, but they are not to be trusted!
Velociraptors are extremely dangerous and many would-be pet owners have found the task of caring for them to be more than they can handle. These velicraptors are often set free into the urban wilds where they can wreak havoc on unsuspecting neighborhoods and pedestrians.
September kicks off National Velociraptor Awareness Month and the American Society for Velociraptor Attack Prevention currently provides many helpful tips that can keep you and your family safe from harm. I implore you to discuss velociraptor preparedness with your friends and family, design an escape route and a plan, and always, ALWAYS check for velociraptors hiding underneath your car before heading out on trips. Refuse to be a victim!
Font selection is usually something only graphic designers get excited about. It’s one of those instances when even the hippest hipster lets their inner dork out for an extended rant on Papyrus or Comic Sans. (But then again, having an inner dork is of course a prerequisite for being a cooler-than-thou hipster in the first place).
Generally, I find it all a little meh. Sure, I tried to get in on the action. I watched Helvetica (snooze-a-thon). These fonts created by Vladamir Koncar, however, are something even I can get behind.
Best. Idea. Ever! Threadless, purveyor of awesome t-shirts, is running a contest wherein people who are much cooler than I could ever hope to be recreate the designs on Threadless shirts in cake form. CAKE, people. CAKE. It is, indeed, crazy delicious.
Mental Floss is the preeminent magazine for people who love knowledge. Wired and Print are for a particular type of geek, but Mental Floss is pretty much your catch all for liberal arts nerds. Their blog is thoroughly entertaining and educational which is both wonderful and rare on the internet.
The Mental Floss blog recently ran a post about grammar. Not your boring grammar rules, mind you, more like the history of grammar. Which is awesome, because who ever even considered that there was a history of grammar. It’s just something that exists, like the sense of smell.
Fascinating stuff and double super secret bonus points for their amazing blog post title.
Big to do a few weeks ago about the whole moon landing hitting the big 4-0. Perhaps it was because I don’t have cable anymore and thus missed out on what I’m sure was some exciting programming from the Discovery Channel, but I was pretty meh about the whole anniversary. I think space in general is getting a little passe for us post-cold war kids. Maybe it has something to do with the moon being old news, mars being so far away, and the Internet being so much more tangible and exciting. There’s also the chance that the very idea that defunct boy band member Lance Bass might engage in space travel made the whole thing seem a lot less cool. Although, to be fair, I’m sure a lot of people were very excited about the prospect of Lance Bass leaving the Earth’s atmosphere.
What has not fallen out of favor after all this time, is awesome space art. I’m not talking about your tacky sci-fi book cover illustrations, I’m talking about matchbook artwork. Yes! Somehow that too has declined in popularity amongst my generation. Go figure.
I randomly came across these amazing Russian (or was it the USSR back then, I have no idea) matchbooks celebrating space. I like to imagine that if the WPA had changed their minds about the whole let’s focus on rebuilding America thing and focused on jetpacks and satellites this is what it would have looked like. On second thought, maybe that’s exactly what the space program needs. Beautifully designed propaganda posters advertising the tomorrowland of the final frontier. See the Milky Way! Loose lips sink space ships! We can do it…in space!
