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Total Tangent Times - Issue 3

Published: May 4th 2025, 5:07:58 pm

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This issue will be one of the last of the weekly publications. Whilst the support for this 'newsletter' has been truly astounding, it really does take quite a lot of time to put them together. I also don't reckon that it necessarily needs to be on a weekly cadence purely for the sake of being 'consistent' (future topic for another video), and as long as I'm still sharing and opening up the conversations with you all, a 'less is more' approach may serve this better.

So with that, next week's issue will be on Sunday again as planned, but following that, I'll be pulling these back to fortnightly. As always, I'm happy to hear what kinds of things interest you as well, dear reader, so if there are topics you'd like to see in a future issue or if you just want to chat about something that piqued your interest, please leave it in a comment!

Started a new course, Book Illustrations, on Schoolism. So far Week 1 & 2 are basics, particularly ones that have actually already been covered in the Pictorial Composition one. Still good to have the reminder since the best way to learn is repetition. Have yet to do the assignment but will try to do it this week.

Speaking of composition, it's still been a struggle to properly get into doing, rather than simply absorbing the information. But at the end of it, the improvement will not come otherwise. It's a matter of feeling the fear and doing it anyway (see Books & Reads).

Coming up with new ideas is daunting in itself, so using existing or old ideas and enhancing them with new knowledge is a good way to get over that 'blank page syndrome'. Taking an unfinished painting started over half a year ago, I applied the techniques from some of the previous lessons. On top of that, I realized that in my fear of backgrounds and reactive desire to avoid doing the hard thing, the story of the image got lost.

It's still a work in progress, but the updated values-only thumbnail reads a lot more clearly than the original and the concept comes through much better.

Current Reads

📕 Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway - Susan Jeffers

No progress.

📘 The Baby Dragon Cafe - A.T. Qureshi

Really, really wanted to like this one. The premise is not groundbreaking, but the idea of contemporary fantasy world where dragons are basically kept as prestigious pets could have been really developed a lot better. Unfortunately the overly-Hallmark scenes get a bit distracting because they provide nothing new from the usual romance tropes. Perhaps it's a case of mismatched expectations, and this is just the state of romance books nowadays. Still, the writing is a little clunky (which I will concede a little on, considering I am reading the unedited proof copy) and I don't feel especially drawn into the main characters. Halfway through and still not really feeling much of the chemistry between them.

Articles, Blogs, & Papers

Podcasts

By now, it should be clear that Ologies will be a regular fixture of this section. This week's episode was part 2 of the previous Salugenology episode of "Why humans require hobbies", and it goes further into the hows of making social prescribing work, even if social interaction 'gives you the willies', in the words of host Alie Ward. Going back in the archives, the episode on Dasyurology (Tasmanian Devils) was actually the first that I ever listened to, if you're ever wondering how I became a convert of this series.

Almost reaching the end of the back catalogue of Every Little Thing, which is both saddening but also continues to bring me small joys in the sheer width and breadth of the world and the curiosities that can lead us to so many fascinating corners of it. For example, "Why Do Strangers Keep Talking to Me?" is actually something I've asked myself, and it turns out that it's not simply a case of whatever the opposite of RBF is. Looking at a broader cultural tendency, "Pink for Girls, Blue for Boys -- Why?" was a great insight into how even some of the things we assume are deeply rooted are actually much more recent, if not fabricated.

As much as I enjoy a good Science Vs. episode, sometimes they can be a little dismal. At least the episode "Caffeine: How Much is Too Much?" isn't completely bleak, though. Regardless of the science, you'll have to pry the coffee from my cold, sleep-filled fingers.

Videos

To close out, here's a quote of wisdom from a famous character, since it also fits with today's unofficial holiday:

The greatest teacher, failure is.
-- Yoda

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