Cartoon Gravity 36

This is more of a newsletterette, because the well has run a little dry here this week - there has been lots of output, in the form of work and notes, and relatively little input. I'm in the process of remedying that.

I've repurposed an old school desk, that has been floating around our flat for years, into a stationery store and a space dedicated to working with pen and paper. That means I now have a computer space and an analogue space, and the set-up is working very well so far. The increased real-estate on the computer desk means I can once again put some mechanical keyboards into rotation.

This is the kind of thing you decide to spend time on when you have two feature film scripts, a novel, several pitches and a TV project on deck.

Wednesday Wonders

I launched Wednesday Wonders on this site last week. The very simple idea is that every Wednesday, I will post five things that are worth your time; articles, objects, ideas etc. I hate listicles generally, but I have really enjoyed other people pointing out random things that interest them, so I'm giving it a go. The first one is here: Wednesday Wonders 1. Subsequent editions will go out to this mailing list every Wednesday.

Cartoon Gravity Pro

I've decided to write a series of pieces on the art of directing for film and television. These will be on the Cartoon Gravity Pro subscription, but the first one, "On Directing", is available free to all subscribers for this week only. If you enjoy it, please consider signing up for more.

Pleasant Green News

Things have been a little quiet over on the Pleasant Green blog of late. This is mostly due to life getting in the way of things. The latest instalment of De Kliek should be up this week, though, and I'm working on a schedule for other bits and pieces on there.

Something I have discovered about content schedules, is that they don't work how they are supposed to for me. An agenda of things I need to write and post just turns into a list of overdue items, and then a catalogue of things I probably won't now get around to. What I have found, though, is that adding items to a calendar AFTER I publish them is strangely motivating - seeing the trail of breadcrumbs behind me makes me want to keep it going. It surprised me when I realised this, but now I'm wondering if there's a way to apply the same thing to project management (and thus write a million-selling self-help book about it). I definitely get more momentum, and thus more motivation, from things having been done that I do from having things to do.

Obsidian

The new BASELINE theme for Obsidian is very nice. I'm sure it's not doing anything particularly radical but, like a fresh coat of paint, it is making Obsidian feel shiny and new, which a theme has not managed for a long time.

As regular readers know, I go back and forth on Obsidian, but I always seem to return to it. Recently I became aware of the company's guiding principles for the first time, and that has made me far more enthusiastic about using the app over the long term.

From the vault...

A few bits and pieces I have dug up this week, in my attempt to go back to the well...

There’s a Thriving Market for Human Body Parts on Instagram | WIRED

The Forgotten Tale of George Lucas's Writing Tower - Cal Newport

Cities Are the Future of Human Evolution

Oh, Just a Decaying Soviet City in the Middle of the Sea

And lastly, the always interesting Kirby Ferguson has collaborated with artist Karin Fyhrie to create a video series exploring the AI landscape from a creative point of view. It's neither pro nor con, and the pieces themselves are really interesting. Here's the fist episode:

Fuck it. Send.