Rad Nauseam

Picross puzzles (generically, and snoozingly, called “Nonograms”) are easily the most satisfying kind of pencil puzzle there is. This isn't an opinion, it's simple and obvious science^†.

They're like a blend between Sudoku and Paint By Numbers but more awesome than either. The numbers describe how many squares have to be colored in a given row or column. The solution techniques are fairly simple and, unless you're playing the hardcore puzzles, require little to no guessing and checking -- something I loathe about your typical Sudoku shenanigan.

The best Picross puzzles are like the under-appreciated Connect The Dots: they unfold slowly, only fully realizing an image when you've finished. This is a nebulous process, though, as you can't guarantee the "rube" (as we call them in Picross construction) will solve the puzzle in a specific order. I can't say my first effort really lives up to this ideal but by golly I tried. The other concern with puzzle creation is that the numbers should only describe a single image, which isn't as simple as it sounds. It's incredibly easy for a puzzle to have multiple solutions and it's only with complex robotic verification systems (in the form of Nintendo's Picross DS) that I could complete this.

Anyway, I hope someone plays this. I doubt anyone will, but I'm damned proud of it.

Download a printable PDF version!

^† http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science

My fiancée bought this book for me back when I was in that "esoteric/vintage instructional material book collecting" phase most young men go through in their early twenties. Flipping through it for the first time, it honestly didn't really impress me. On a closer look though, there's some remarkable gems in this sweet little mama.

The use of white space throughout this book is awesome and surprisingly sophisticated for a children's book. The pages are otherwise filled with bright two color illustrations of various "things-to-do". I'm fairly certain this book was meant for the poorer youth as most of these games use household objects and sound incredibly dull.

In the above game you flick coins into cups in a miniature approximation of golf. In the below, kids compete to remember things. Grand Theft Auto, suck a fat one:

The included activities have such provocative titles as "Canteen", "Semaphore", "Soup to Nuts", "Blow It and Bust It" and "Schnozzola". No comment on the below:

A surprisingly modern turn can be found in the "Book Plate" activity.

This kind of playful geometric lettering is über hip right now with poster designers.

The real diamond in this book, though, is the instructional page for a game titled "Ghost". When I saw this, I swear to god my jaw snapped off, dropped, rolled down the stairs and went missing. This is fucking AWESOME:

I can't even begin to describe how god damned cool this page is so I'm just going to let it stand for itself.

There's a girl's version of this book as well, which I hope to get soon. While I'll probably never play any of these games as they sound stupid as all get out, the Treasury will be a proud member of my library for a long time.

This is a printer test, not the invitation. Come on people!

My fiancée and I got off pretty easy today. Initially convinced an expensive print house had to be involved, we weren't exactly looking forward to getting our wedding invites done. We thought we were in denial when we tried feeding the thick card stock into our miserable HP PS C3180 (special POS edition). In what can only be described as proof of a high power, the paper came out unscathed. On the other hand, the ink was 'all fouled up' as they say in the armed forces; in a couple of these pictures you can see the jetsam from the repair process. Photos by my aforementioned ladyfriend.

During library time in elementary school, for months on end, there was one book I would always read. It was always in the same spot and, in fact, I can still picture the position in the shelf. I've never met anyone who knows about this book, most likely because it's out of print (used copies in the right condition can go for hundreds of dollars). Ed Emberley's other books (which are all fantastic) appear to have remained very popular, and with good cause. Loaded Questions has a charming interview with Emberley, which reveals I'm not the only one to have taken a life long impact from his books.

Wizard of Op appealed to me in particular because of my (still extant) love for magic, illusions and anything having to do with the mind. The art is incredibly striking, using only full black and full white in heavy compositions:

The story revolves around a prince who gets turned into a frog. As princes tend not to enjoy being frogs, he seeks out help from a wizard:

The wizard is rather inept and causes all sorts of havoc with his attempts to de-frog the prince. Each spell manifests itself as a two-page spread optical illusion:

I don't think I'm overstating anything when I say there are psychedelic undertones to this book:

Unfortunately, due to its high collector's value and my insistence on owning everything in mint condition, it's going to be a long time before I get my own Wizard of Op. I had actually considered just stealing it from the library (where I got this copy), but I would hate to deprive a new generation of illusion nerds like me.

Working in North Beach, I pass an amazing array of signs. Expect to see plenty more in the future.