3.12.2010

Some things shouldn't pop....

As a little kid, I enjoyed popup books. The thrill of turning the page and being surprised by an elephant, a tree, or a flying trapeze was too much for me to resist! There's a wonderful connection that a child makes with something that literally springs off the page.

Why, then, did someone think THIS was a good idea???
I have no interest in turning the page and seeing a big hairy spider jumping out at me! Or, worse yet, a clown! Ack!! That would send me to the psych ward!!

This is little better!

Imagine, a gaggle of clowns (or is it a pod? a flock?) popping out into your face? Or an image of you naked in the middle of the office! Or a long, dark hallway with too many shadows and too many doors. Or ... whatever your worst nightmare entails (I expect details in the comments, people!! Nightmares and phobias!) This book is unnecessary, and like the one above it, very likely to cause permanent psychological trauma.

Then there's this one.

This one, I have to say, has potential.

17 comments:

Philippa Lodge said...

I have the Phobia one. It's just warped and twisted enough in a sort of Addams Family way that it's amusing.

La Coccinelle said...

*snort*

LOL

Nerdling said...

I used to work registers at a bookstore, and one day someone came up with a pop-up book of anatomy that didn't have a price tag on the front cover where we usually put them. I opened the book to see if the tag was on the first page and a skull popped up at me. Scared the crap out of me!

And to go with the pop-up sex book... we once got a copy of the Kama Sutra as a 3-D Magic Eye book. It was the only one of those that I ever managed to see the pictures in. We kept it stashed at the registers for our own amusement for quite a while.

JamiSings said...

Well, if you really want to know -

I have a fears of success, heights, and I don't like talking to strangers. My worse nightmare that keeps reoccurring is I'm locked in my bedroom with an invisible demon and I can't turn on the lights. My parents are outside the door saying "We can't help you, we WON'T help you." By the end of the nightmare the demon's presence gets so close that I know I'm about to be violated. That's where I always wake up.

fairyhedgehog said...

I have anxiety dreams more than fullblown nightmares. A pop-up book of a teacher standing before a class without a lesson plan, or a student unprepared for an exam, is not going to make a visual feast!

FrankN.Stein said...

It has potential, yes - it's potent!

Nicole "Gidget" Kalstein said...

I have a MASSIVE phobia of needles. If a huge syringe popped out at me, I would die. Just die. Right then and there. Literally, die.

As for nightmares, I once had one that a friend sent me one of those hanging potted plants, and when I hung it on my back porch, thousands of tiny little spiders fell out of it onto my head. How horrifying is THAT? It still makes me freak out whenever I think about it.

Quite curious about the sex one, though.

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Cliff said...

Let's see, I have nightmares about zombie attacks, nightmares about transcendental Lovecraft-esque horror waiting behind the door that the scientists are drilling through, and nightmares about huge horrible spiders biting me.

xenobiologista said...

I like bats, spiders, and mice (the last is practically a prerequisite for being an infectious diseases biologist...) I'm really scared of anything wormy or sluggy though, to the point that when I read David Attenborough's "Life in the Undergrowth" I turn the pages behind colour plates very gingerly.

Actually when people start sharing what they're afraid of, it always makes me think of "1984" and the rats thingy.

Miss Maggie said...

My teeth always fall out or break up in my nightmares. That, and I need to pack up my house in a hurry. I hate that dream!


p.s. Thanks for picking up the slack, BP. You deserve 10,000 red balloons and a standing ovation or three!!

The Caffeinated Philosopher said...

Like fairyhedgehog, anxiety dreams scare me more than actual nightmares. When I wake up from a nightmare of, say, being chased by aliens, it's easy for me to go, "Wasn't that silly? I know that could never happen."
Dreams about missing an exam, getting fired or being publically humiliated, though...usually after those you'll find me huddled under the covers muttering, "Just a dream, it was just a dream..."

Anonymous said...

Now that last book has potential ;-)

Paula O said...

Thanks for the belly laugh. Loved everyone's else's comments, too!

Mary said...

Oh, my... I take it you haven't seen "Menopop." http://www.amazon.com/MenOpop-Menopause-Pop-Up-Activity-Book/dp/0971909504

:P

Anonymous said...

I keep the Popup Book of Phobias on my coffee table. It's a great conversation piece!

Anonymous said...

My Three-Dimensional Art and Design class is making pop-up books for our final project, and my teacher brought out a large collection of pop-up books to look through for ideas. One of them was the Pop-up Book of Phobias. It does in fact have both a giant hairy spider, and a leering clown. As my teacher and several classmates can testify: it is quite effective.

Brian Busby said...

I suppose you're right that the last one has potential... but doesn't it seem rather small?