Fun Friday Resources

If you’re a writer and — like me — hit a dry spell every now and then, try some of Thomas W. P. Slatin’s 130 journal writing prompts. They’re just the thing to get your brain and fingers cooperating again to create words from nothing. (Part of the RITUAL, of course, is that these prompts give you an “idea” of what to write about without worrying about AUDIENCE. You can absolutely crank out an ABORTIVE ATTEMPT and never go back to fix it.)

(Unless you do.)

For those of you who need thousands of little pieces of plastic and mammoth instruction books to keep your brain busy, Internet Archive has scanned versions of Lego instructions. Now all you have to worry about when you pick up the Colosseum at a yard sale is how many pieces you’re going to have to borrow from Hogwarts.

For those typography/design freaks among us — oh, yes, you know who you are — Valery Marier has done a fabulous job of collecting resources from the Internet Archive at her archive.design. Typefaces, poster design, product design: lots and lots from which to STEAL FROM THE BEST. Some very yummy stuff here.

Also of possible interest is linked at the bottom of archive.design: Otlet’s Shelf, a Tumblr theme that allows you to display your reading list, your library, etc.

Finally, a fun tool designed by Deepak Gulati using (once again) images from Internet Archive which allows you to play with 19th-c. tile designs to create your own floors, walls, etc., by rotating and mirroring the original tiles. The essay is worth the read, talking about his process and thoughts.