Cristobal’s Crystal Ball for the Week of 3/9
But What if All My Friends Are Ghosts?
Yo! How ya doin’? I’ve been exploring the world of solo gaming and dice/card- based journaling. Naturally, there are going to be times that you can’t get the gang together to roll dice, but you still want to get weird. I look at solo games as the perfect exercise for coming up with new ideas for group-game content.
Evergreen Wilds by Disaster Tourism and The Silence by Under the Dice are to awesome experiences that I explore during my lunch time when I want a burst of inspiration.
I cannot praise The Quiet Year by Buried Without Ceremony enough. You need a couple of players for this, but the return on investment in terms of the inspiration, maps, and weird content that springs from a session is INSANE!
GET WEIRD ALONE SOMETIMES!
Books that Made Me- Robert Henri’s “The Art Spirit”
Robert Henri, The Art Spirit
Hiya, pals! Today we’re talking about The Art Spirit by Robert Henri- a how-to on making art like your life depends on it.
Henri was in the trenches as both painter and teacher, pushing his students to stop overthinking and start feeling. “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.” Boom! Right in the kisser. You don’t do art. You become art. You live it, breathe it, let it take over your bones until there’s nothing left to do but create.
Don’t waste time waiting for permission. “Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them.” That’s Henri telling us our gut instincts are gold. Feel something? Good. Put it on the page, the canvas, the world. Don’t sand down the edges, don’t pretty it up for the critics. Like ODB said, “Oh baby, I like it raw!”
One more cup of coffee for the road: “The artist must be a master of reality, but must refuse to be its slave.” This world will try to box you in, tell you how things should be done. Rules are for squares, ya dig. Be wild. Be fearless. Be a friggin’ werewolf and howl at the friggin’ moon, baby!
So grab your brush, your pen, your pizza slicer, your knitting needles- whatever- and get to work!
Cristobal’s Crystal Ball for the Week of 3/2
Your inner strength is being accosted by anxiety. Your are either doubting yourself or too full of confidence.
Whether you are tired or wired, take a moment to breathe. Perhaps a nap is in order.
Balance your flame to avoid being burned, or burning out.
Mucho, mucho amor
How I Made My Own Website With Zero Experience
Times are weird, pals! I loved seeing what everyone was up to and learning new things on social media, but it was taking over too much of my free time, and my executive function skills made it hard for me to disengage. I knew leaving Instagram and Facebook was probably not the right “marketing” move, but, more importantly, I knew that it would disconnect me from people I care about. Therein lies a big problem- why was I so dependent on these platforms to maintain relationships? With this transition, I am moving to phone calls, texting, and good -old-fashioned letter writing.
I do want to get my work and thoughts out to the masses, hence the website. If I can build one, you definitely can!My only experience with coding was in the mid-80s with Gyromite for the NES.
I want to share with you a Youtube video that guided me through the process and showed me how to get discounts so that the whole shebang cost me less than 30 clams!
Let me know what you think!
Books That Made Me #2- Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
Hiya Pals!
If you’ve ever watched Joey Royale’s Pizza Party, you’ve probably heard me mention Zen and the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury’s masterpiece on creativity, joy, and putting words down like a person possessed.
Bradbury wrote with passion, instinct, and pure love. “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you,” he says, and boy, ain’t that the truth? Every stroke of the keyboard is a sword strike against tyranny, apathy, and complacency. Start chipping away, pal—for all of us!
For me, one of life’s greatest joys is creating. Whatever stands in the way of joy must be conquered. “We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” That’s the game, folks. Fill yourself with life, with weirdness, with joy—then let it explode onto the page.
My biggest takeaway from this book: Let the subconscious spill onto the page before doubt creeps in. “Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper,” he commands. Detach and channel that magic when it hits you. It’s fleeting, so don’t let it slip away.
I dare you to start writing daily—10 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever feels right. I dare you to read voraciously. My schedule only allows for snippets of uninterrupted reading time, so I’ve been focusing on short stories and poetry. You’d be surprised how quickly the muse seeps in after these simple exercises.
A little notebook in your pocket is a portal to new worlds waiting inside you. Create before you can’t. I can’t wait to see what you come up with, friend.
The Books that Made Me #1- The Dwindling Party
One of the first books I remember reading is the The Dwindling Party by Edward Gorey. I cannot count how many times I read it, but it was enough that its many intricate pop-up features required constant surgery with scotch tape. This was one of the books that made me a reader for life.
In short, a family visits an estate and is picked off my beast, statues, and sea monsters one-by-one. Little Neville, the lone survivor, is always distracted during the attacks and his apathy is wonderfully charming.
“And so the MacFizzets, they vanished forever/ At least each and every last one of the rest/ Except for small Neville- who said: ‘Well, I never/ But then, I expect it was all for the best”
Holy Cow, this would make for a great adventure! Who will survive and what will be left of them!
If you ever see this out in the wild, pick it up, for it is now quite collectible. Long live Edward Gorey!