+
upworthy
More

6 illustrations of monsters can teach us a valuable lesson about empathy.

comedic artist, monsters, creativity, empathy, life lessons
All images from Teo Zirinis/Hands Off My Dinosaur, used with permission.

Sometimes hair can be completely unmanigable.

There are two sides to every story. Yep, even in monster movies.

Have you ever stopped to wonder "Why?" Why does the Kraken destroy sea-faring ships? Why does Godzilla lay waste to city after city?

Why doesn't Medusa just get a haircut already?


Artist Teo Zirinis has wondered.

In a hilarious and poignant set of illustrations he calls "Monster Issues," he sets out to give us the answers and show us what it's like to put ourselves in someone else's shoes — no matter how slimy or smelly they might be.

"It all started with Cthulhu," he told me.

fantastical creatures, H.P. Lovecraft, illustrations, monsters with weird names

Is it harder to spell or look at?

All images from Teo Zirinis/Hands Off My Dinosaur, used with permission.

Cthulhu, the monstrous creation of H.P. Lovecraft, is said to be part octopus, part man, and part dragon.

"It's a name that's pretty hard to spell. I pictured him trying to write it down and failing miserably every time and thought it would be a fun idea to illustrate."

(No wonder Cthulhu is so grumpy; only a few paragraphs into writing this piece, my spellcheck burst into flames.)

More monsters soon followed.

Like Bigfoot, the hairy, lumbering oaf who just wants someone to believe in him:

Looking for Bigfoot, laser hair removal, monsters

I thought you were a successful commercial actor?

All images from Teo Zirinis/Hands Off My Dinosaur, used with permission.

Then there's the mystical cyclops.

technology, movies, 3D-glasses, cyclops monster

These 3D-glasses don't fit.

All images from Teo Zirinis/Hands Off My Dinosaur, used with permission.

Poor guy. Unfortunately the visual effect of 3D doesn't work for everyone.

And Godzilla!

Godzilla, Japanese cinema, monster movies

The real secret behind Godzilla's rage.

All images from Teo Zirinis/Hands Off My Dinosaur, used with permission.

Turns out he's really just an architecture snob. "This skyscraper is so derivative," I imagine him saying as he topples one to the ground.

Finally, there's Nessie, aka the Loch Ness Monster.

Loch Ness monster, unique vacation destinations, illustrators

Is it a monster or is it a branch?

All images from Teo Zirinis/Hands Off My Dinosaur, used with permission.

She might be the most famous monster on the planet, yet there's not a single good photo of her to be found. How do you think that makes her feel?

"It turns out their lives are harder than they seem," Teo says.

Guess I'd never thought of it that way, but you know what? He's right.

And maybe that's what Teo is really getting at in these illustrations. Yeah, his subjects are monsters, but they could just as easily be the guy who just cut you off in traffic or an anonymous stranger on the sidewalk.

Everyone has a story. If we look closely enough, they might just surprise us.

Teo plans to continue the series — after all, there are so many more monsters to cover, including some of Teo's favorites like the Wolf Man and Frankenstein. (Spoiler alert: Wolf Man must be itchy like all the time.)

Keep up the great work, Teo, and thanks for showing us that things we don't understand aren't always as scary as we imagine.







A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less

A nasty note gets a strong response.

We've all seen it while cruising for spots in a busy parking lot: A person parks their whip in a disabled spot, then they walk out of their car and look totally fine. It's enough to make you want to vomit out of anger, especially because you've been driving around for what feels like a million years trying to find a parking spot.

You're obviously not going to confront them about it because that's all sorts of uncomfortable, so you think of a better, way less ballsy approach: leaving a passive aggressive note on their car's windshield.

Satisfied, you walk back to your car feeling proud of yourself for telling that liar off and even more satisfied as you walk the additional 100 steps to get to the store from your lame parking spot all the way at the back of the lot. But did you ever stop and wonder if you told off the wrong person?

Keep ReadingShow less
Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

8 nontraditional empathy cards that are unlike any you've ever seen. They're perfect!

Because sincerity and real talk are important during times of medical crisis.

True compassion.

When someone you know gets seriously ill, it's not always easy to come up with the right words to say or to find the right card to give.

Emily McDowell — a former ad agency creative director and the woman behind the Los Angeles-based greeting card and textile company Emily McDowell Studio — knew all too well what it was like to be on the receiving end of uncomfortable sentiments.

At the age of 24, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma. She went into remission after nine months of chemo and has remained cancer-free since, but she received her fair share of misplaced, but well-meaning, wishes before that.

On her webpage introducing the awesome cards you're about to see, she shared,

"The most difficult part of my illness wasn't losing my hair, or being erroneously called 'sir' by Starbucks baristas, or sickness from chemo. It was the loneliness and isolation I felt when many of my close friends and family members disappeared because they didn't know what to say or said the absolute wrong thing without realizing it."

Her experience inspired Empathy Cards — not quite "get well soon" and not quite "sympathy," they were created so "the recipients of these cards [can] feel seen, understood, and loved."

Scroll down to read these sincere, from-the-heart, and incredibly realistic sentiments.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

This woman's powerful 'before and after' photos crush myths about body positivity

"Body positivity is about saying that you are more than a body and your self-worth is not reliant on your beauty."





Michelle Elman, a body positivity coach, helps people who are struggling to find confidence in their own skin.

After persevering through numerous medical conditions and surgeries in her own life, Elman realized a few years ago that body positivity wasn't just about size or weight. Things like scars, birthmarks, and anything else that makes us feel different of self-conscious have to be a part of the conversation, and she tries to make the movement accessible to everyone.

Sharing her own journey has been one of her most effective teaching tools.

Keep ReadingShow less
via wakaflockafloccar / TikTok

It's amazing to consider just how quickly the world has changed over the past 11 months. If you were to have told someone in February 2020 that the entire country would be on some form of lockdown, nearly everyone would be wearing a mask, and half a million people were going to die due to a virus, no one would have believed you.

Yet, here we are.

PPE masks were the last thing on Leah Holland of Georgetown, Kentucky's mind on March 4, 2020, when she got a tattoo inspired by the words of a close friend.

Keep ReadingShow less