A platter of assorted deli meats and garnished tomatoes. Bold white text laid over the image reads “THE WEEKENDER”.

The Weekender: It's Nice That's weekly fun supplement – are you ready?

Words: It's Nice That
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Date: 9 August 2013; Work

Remember when you used to get left home alone as a treat and you’d do things like ride a mattress down the stairs or spray squirty cream straight into your mouth? Our editor Rob’s been away this week. So far on the site in his absence we’ve had retro food, saucy embroidery, video games and sausage art. Well, when the cat’s away…

A person holds two realistic prosthetic eyeballs between their thumb and forefinger. The blue eyes are set in silver metallic casings against a plain, neutral background. — Above
Ohh hellew!

6. Raves in the 90s were more fun than they are now

Even though they were riddled with naughty police having a good time, the raves in the 90s looked so, so fun. Documented and bound thanks to Stuart Griffiths.

5. I would 100% rather live in a video game than real life

I want to lie beneath a pixel coconut tree on sherbert-coloured digital sand and let Rafael Rozendaal-style waves lap at my feet…Let Noir Lac convince you to join me.

4. Wow. Retro food looks DISGUSTING

Maybe it was a result of housewives having too much time on their hands and experimenting with stuffing onions and potatoes, but these recipes from the days of yore are totally wack.

3. These neglected basketball hoops are a bit sad

Kids these days, they’re probably all indoors playing on computer games. Theres something kind of beautiful about these though. Edgy. Poignant. Deep.

2. Speaking of edgy and deep

Here’s the bookshelf of photographer Will Robson-Scott. He broke the rules and chose seven books rather than five, but you know what? His selection was so good we kept ’em all in.

1. MARMITE!

As if this King of Spreads even needs advertising, but they’ve gone and bloody done it anyway. One of the best ads we’ve seen in ages

A collection of magazines and zines laid out on a bright blue surface. The publications include a grey cover with the word “touch”, a yellow book titled “Animals with Sharpies”, and two issues of “Hard 2 Digest”. — Above
This week’s Things

This week’s Things is a right stonker! A book about letterpress wood type, a selection of animals scrawling obscenities with Sharpies, a mix tape of French boogie-funk, great design from the catalogue from the National Theatre of Scotland, and for the pièce de résistance a naughty-rude but very funny newspaper parody. If ever there were an opportunity to chortle out loud with your hands on your gut like a Dickensian hero having his feet tickled, this is it.

A grey book or pamphlet lies flat against a bright blue background. The word “touch” is printed in a bold, outlined typeface across the top half. — Above
Touch: The Vista Sans Wood Type Project Book, by Tricia Treacy and Ashley John Pigford

An open book laid against a blue background. The left page shows two photos of a person working with printmaking tools and ink, while the right page features a colourful typographic poster held by two hands. — Above
Touch: The Vista Sans Wood Type Project Book, by Tricia Treacy and Ashley John Pigford

An open magazine lies on a bright blue surface. The right page shows a person holding a blue textured print with abstract shapes, topped by a large, stylised “O”. — Above
Touch: The Vista Sans Wood Type Project Book, by Tricia Treacy and Ashley John Pigford

A grey book and matching card both feature the word “touch” and the subtitle “The Vista Sans Wood Type Project Book”. A small pink note with “hello” handwritten in red ink is laid over the card. — Above
Touch: The Vista Sans Wood Type Project Book, by Tricia Treacy and Ashley John Pigford

Touch: The Vista Sans Wood Type Project Book by Tricia Treacy and Ashley John Pigford

A letterpress wood type geek’s dream, The Vista Sans Wood Type Project Book documents the way Tricia Treacy and Ashley John Pigfrod created letter press wood type from the Vista Sans typeface, designed by Xavier Dupré, and then sent it to 20 international artists to see what they might do with it. Embracing a ‘post-digital’ approach to technology and practice, the final product of the experiment is a proper joy to flick through; carefully crafted with tangibility in mind, and plenty of interesting stuff to learn about design and craft.

The cover of a pale yellow book shows a dog holding a black marker in its mouth. Above the dog, handwritten text reads “4+3=43”. Below this, the title reads “Animals with Sharpies” followed by the authors “Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber”. — Above
Animals with Sharpies: by Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber

An open notebook shows a page of handwritten text and a collage of a black bird. The bird holds a pen in its beak, pointing towards the text which reads, “I HAD THIS BOYFRIEND OF MINE we’ve been to gether ALMOST three years now AND he just Dumped me just like that”. — Above
Animals with Sharpies: by Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber

An open book shows two pages with handwritten text and images. The left page contains a recipe for an ointment, while the right page features the phrase “Tits and Ass” written in large capitals. — Above
Animals with Sharpies: by Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber

An open book shows two illustrated pages with handwritten text. The left page reads “WE ATƎ AT THE GARBAGE BEHIND THE PIZA RESTORANT IT WAS” above a dark figure, while the right page reads “BEWARE!!! YOU HAVE TO BUY TWO TO GET THE DEAL” above a yellow figure. — Above
Animals with Sharpies: by Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber

Animals with Sharpies by Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber

Don’t do yourself the disservice of wondering for even a minute what this might be about; in a refreshing twist, it’s exactly what it claims to be, which is nice animals writing cute things with Sharpies. We’d also rather you not pretend to be too good to enjoy it; nobody likes a know-it-all, and even Nick Griffin couldn’t suppress a smile at a bird scribbling down a musical score, or a duck offering up free kittens. Read and laugh.

A black square album cover rests on a bright blue background. White stylized text reads “Le Prix & Le Sex” and “60 Minutes of Rare French Boogie”, with “Arthur Kings” written above. — Above
Le Fric & Le Sex by Arthur King

An open CD case on a blue background. A silver disc with bold black graphics sits to the right, while a booklet reads “33hours MAXI SINGLE”. — Above
Le Fric & Le Sex by Arthur King

A collage of vintage record sleeves and fragments on a blue background. The pieces feature bold typography including “MAXI 45T”, “RADIO SPECIAL” and “MAXI SINGLE”. — Above
Le Fric & Le Sex by Arthur King

A collage of printed images and text on a folded piece of paper. Bold typography reads “Toulouse”, “Pino Dangio”, “mais quelle idée” and “Funky School”. — Above
Le Fric & Le Sex by Arthur King

Le Fric & Le Sex by Arthur King, designed by Michael Manoogian

It’s been more than a bit quiet in the studio recently with Rob’s absence, but Arthur King’s donation of his great new CD Le Fric & Le Sex is helping us greatly. “A 60 minute long tribute to the unknown genre of French 80’s boogie. It comes in a digipak with a totally meaningless but nice-looking booklet.” And he’s right! It sounds great and looks even better.

Above

National Theatre of Scotland 2013 Catalogue

A portrait of a child with vampire fangs and blood streaming from their eyes and mouth. The print is creased and laid against a bright blue background. — Above
National Theatre of Scotland 2013 Catalogue

An open magazine spread featuring two different articles. The left page has a bold green headline that reads “Let the Right One In”, with the sub-headline “Big-screen chiller on stage”. The right page shows a black and white photograph of two figures in a stone room, with a white box overlay reading “Dunsniane” and “First among sequels”. — Above
National Theatre of Scotland 2013 Catalogue

A magazine spread features a bold green header with white text that reads “Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner”. Below this, a black sub-headline reads “Reconstructing Scotland’s Forgotten Theatre History”. — Above
National Theatre of Scotland 2013 Catalogue

National Theatre of Scotland 2013

It’s always a bit of a joy to come across great design in unusual places, so we were chuffed to see that the National Theatre of Scotland have done an admirable job of their 2013 catalogue. With a giant glossy (and super creepy) poster halfway through and a decidedly green tinge throughout, it maintains a gloomy, atmosphere whilst still making you ant to see everything they have to offer.

Two editions of a publication titled “Hard 2 Digest” lay on a blue background. The covers feature a stylised illustration of a face looking upwards against a red and yellow backdrop. — Above
Hard 2 Digest: Peter Judson

An illustration in an open book shows a courtroom scene with black silhouettes. A figure points a finger while a gavel strikes a surface next to a bold sign that reads “GUILTY!”. Text at the bottom explains that a defendant has been charged with impersonating a door handle. — Above
Hard 2 Digest: Peter Judson

An illustration of Jeremy Clarkson wearing a yellow jacket and hugging a large, purple, teardrop-shaped creature. Handwritten text at the top reads “Jeremy Clarkson visits Sea Pond in Hull to reveal a genuine bombshell.” — Above
Hard 2 Digest: Peter Judson

An illustration of a pale, rounded figure with a red nose and red nails. A speech bubble reads, “Oh crikey, I will in a minute, but I’ve just done my nails.” — Above
Hard 2 Digest: Peter Judson

Hard 2 Digest by Peter Judson

Oh God it’s so CRUDE and so WEIRD and a bit FUNNY TOO. In a slightly distorted version of the news, this wee publication is written, drawn and printed by the many-talented Peter Judson. That’s Jeremy Clarkson’s face upside down on the front (and it gets worse for him). The report on the economy consists of a cartoon of George Osborne and the speech bubbles: “Have you sorted out the economy yet Mr Osborne?” “Oh crikey I will in a minute! Bur I’ve just done my nails”, and the news includes a court case about a hook being found guilty of masquerading as a door handle. Any questions? No? Good.

Tweet of the Week

Simple yet effective. Peter, you deserve a knighthood.

Ugh just bit into a 4-day-old apple that tasted like a haunted house
— Peter Serafinowicz (@serafinowicz) August 5, 2013

Spanish Beatles cover band takes on Yellow Submarine of the week

Nice work, boys.

Hungry raccoon gif of the week

I think I have watched this over 4000 times this week. A friend captioned it as “No eye contact…nooooo eye contact” haha

Cat dressed as a shark cleaning the floor of the week

You heard.

Nicolas Cage as Disney Princesses tumblr of the week

Naturally. Is there anything you can do with Nicolas Cage’s head that isn’t hilarious?

Python-esque, anti-theistic blog of the week

Nothing has given me more joy this week than this blog. Not even that pizza I ate on Wednesday.

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It's Nice That

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This article was written by the It’s Nice That team. To find our editors and writers, please head over to our Contact page.