greys

The Total Tangent Times - Issue 1

Published: April 20th 2025, 7:32:30 pm

Welcome, dear readers, to the first issue of The Total Tangent Times!

'What the heck is this?!' you are probably asking. It's a fair question, but I'm afraid that I actually don't know myself. What was supposed to be just a weekly "What I've Been Up To" has turned into a newsletter of sorts. Because as always, I can never be just chill with my ideas and have to make them ridiculous. (See: header image.)

This will ideally be on a weekly cadence, so that I can both use it as a way of documenting what I've consumed throughout the week, but also to keep you in the know with what's going on with me and what I find interesting. If this is of no interest to you, obviously feel free to skip these. But someone mentioned lately that, with all the fractured social media platforms, there seems to be a trend of searching for more curated sources of information. So what better place than here on Patreon, where it's about actually connecting with people rather than just achieving follower goals? (Also I've been having issues signing up for SubStack but that's a whole other matter.)

I hope that by sharing all these with you, I can connect with you on a deeper level than just my inane quips or clickbait posts on regular social media. Therefore I've also decided to share these for all of you, Shining Star Patrons, including free members. Please consider this my way of showing my gratitude to you for showing interest in me. 💖

Currently on week 4 of the Pictorial Composition course on my Schoolism subscription. Started this back in January at the beginning of the subscription but have been dragging my feet in getting through it because it's actually pretty advanced and heavy stuff. Was fully intending to do the assignments each week but they're also really hard. Only did a few in week 1, but been taking notes during the lecture videos.

As the course goes on, the more I realize how important composition is, and how much I suck at it. The exercises are difficult and for good reason -- it's a complex topic. It's staggering to think how all these old masters of art figured all this out in the first place.

On a self-imposed library embargo right now, except for the one book still checked out. Need to finish the books I actually own first... Typically my daytime reads are non-fiction and nighttime reads are fiction.

Current Reads

📕 Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway - Susan Jeffers

Long time on my list and only finally getting around to it. Some parts are dated now considering the original publishing date, and concepts are not new. Pretty repetitive but at least a much shorter read than more modern self-help books. Like everything else in this genre, there are parts that don't land, but I'll take what works from it.

📘 Heavenly Tyrant - Xiran Jay Zhou

Book 2 of the Iron Widow series. Read the first one back in the summer of 2022 during the Mega Depresso™ and apparently remember almost nothing lol. Interesting takes and a lot more relevant to current times than I would have thought. Not even halfway through yet and preparing for the inevitable gut-punch(es).

Recently Finished

📗 For She Is Wrath - Emily Varga 3.5/5
📗 Immortal - Sue Lyn Tan 3/5
📗 Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop - Hwang Bo-Reum 5/5

A smattering of subjects and sources that tickle my fancy on an ongoing basis. My attempt at trying not to just doomscroll, although that's actually where a lot of these come from in the first place.

Podcasts

As always, OLOGIES. Pretty much have listened the entire backlog, with the exception of some repeats. From the recent episodes, the most deceptively fascinating was definitely Medieval Codicology. Came for the snails, stayed for the nuns.

Getting back into Hidden Brain and listened to a banger episode: Dropping the Mask. Big inspiration for next video essay topic... 👀

Still sangry (sad + angry) they cancelled Every Little Thing. (Sorry for the Spotify links but literally all the old Gimlet links are forwarding now. 😭) Going through the backlog and particularly tickled by Symphony Secrets and Ever Felt Someone's Pain...In Your Butt?

Videos

• The big opportunity for artists in a recession - @struthless
  

• Art Without Free Will - Steven Zapata
  

• why are the robots taking MY job? - David Achu
  

• Why Watching Successful Artists Made Me Feel Stuck - @ArtsyLifeStudio
  

• I'm Sick of It - @streaac
  

Articles & Blogs

• Can we both listen to our bodies, and control our bodies, at the same time? - Dr Rosie (Disclaimer: my IRL friend! You should follow!!)
  

• I want community - but am I prepared to put the work in? - Elle Hunt, The Guardian
  

• Practical Pigment Mixing for Digital Painting [PDF] - Sochorová, Š., Jamriška, O.
  (The technique in this paper is implemented into the digital painting app Rebelle.)
  

That's it for now. It could have been much, much longer, but I'll try to save some for later.

As always, thank you so much for being here with me. The fact that you even care enough to keep up with what I do is a huge boost to my motivation, so...thank you. Eternally. 💖