Spy Finds is a daily series that unveils the coolest, under-the-radar products that you haven’t heard of until now. Each product is curated by our editors who want to help you discover cool finds you didn’t know you needed.
Where’s Waldo? No one cares where Waldo is anymore. Well, that’s like, your opinion, man. The guy you’re looking for is The Dude, and the place to find him is in this awesome new search-and-find book.
This totally unofficial and unauthorized book, Where’s the Dude?: The Great Movie Spotting Challenge, has taken off after being featured on the Dudeism homepage on Facebook. Dudeism, for the uninitiated, is the “religion” based on the Coen brothers’ iconic 1998 cult classic The Big Lebowski — the Way of The Dude, if you will.
For the extremely uninitiated, The Dude is the White Russian-sipping, pot-smoking, slacker pacifist hero memorably brought to life by Jeff Bridges in the aforementioned movie. A lengthy mistaken-identity misadventure involving German nihilists, pornographers, bowling and a peed-upon rug follows. You don’t need to know the movie to buy the book, but it’s certainly doesn’t hurt, and you could end up a devout Dudeist.
The Dude is seriously out of his element in this awesome set of visual riddles. You’re not going to find him in the bowling alley, on the beach scattering Donny’s ashes, or in a Viking-inspired fever dream with Maude. You will, however, find him on a dozen iconic movie sets. See if you can spot The Dude abiding in the midst of scenes from Rocky, The Wizard of Oz, Jaws, Planet of the Apes, Apocalypse Now and Kill Bill. You’ll also find his rug, because it really brings the book together, man.
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And it’s not just The Dude and his rug in these 12 colorful and chaotic movie sets brought to life by illustrator Sharm Murugiah. Each one is filled with faces, characters, props, and references both obvious and obscure to each of the movies represented. So if you’re also a fan of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Titanic or Ben-Hur, you’ll find all sorts of clever little Easter eggs. And, of course, El Duderino.
Where’s the Dude?: The Great Movie Spotting Challenge was produced with hot bimonthly indie-movie magazine Little White Lies. Since 2005 this magazine has championed films and filmmaking, featuring cutting-edge design and illustrations. So it’s not a slapdash effort by people who only know the basic catchphrases from these classic movies. It’ll be easy to get lost in these immersive images as you pick out bit after bit from your favorite movies.
As always, The Dude abides. And so will any Lebowski fans in your life when you present them with this cool book. This is one aggression which will stand, man.