s

“I want you to do this with me for one month. One month. Write 10 observations a week and by the end of four weeks, you will have an answer. Because when someone writes about the rustic gutter and the water pouring through it onto the muddy grass, the real pours into the room. And it’s thrilling. We’re all enlivened by it. We don’t have to find more than the rustic gutter and the muddy grass and the pouring cold water.” -- Mary Karr

cultivate your obsessions. adore them. dote on them. write about them

read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read everything read as much read little poems all the time <3 you need to be eating words if youre going to give them away. writing is a mass balance problem

keep a tiny notebook that u carry everywhere and fill it with observations, especially about anything that catches your attention! fill it in the spirit of marie howe's glass of water, but also in the spirit of elaboration and association and poeisis or whatever you want..render it incomrephensble, play with it, change something about its reality. then you can go back through the notebook later and shake its contents around on a new page

journal but let it go off track; take your life-sized, you-sized topic that was easier to think of and widen or narrow it into something tinier and more immediate or something huge and forever

transform what you already do into writing... in high school i mostly wrote when i was writing papers for class and I would get too passionate and get extremely tangential untilI I found myself in the middle of some sort of prose poem monster and so before deleting it and finshig the essay id paste it into its own document and keep adding to it. lately after my dance rehearsals i write down the choreography in abstract ways, it becomes a writing prompt. i used to write in the margins of my bio textbook...whatever inspires you, iterate off it

take really long baths and once your thoughts become obsessed start recording them... in general i think what i do is become a transcriber of myself....sort of just let yourself steep in language and then practice recording what is happening in your head, or different ways of paying attention to your thoughts. what's the furthest away sound that you can hear right now? how far away is it? or sensation or thing you can see? sometimes i think its about getting away from the daily thought pattern of planning, executive function, future-thinking, etc, and just letting there be room in your head for other things. if you are very busy and juggling a lot, that mental energy can block you from looking for shapes in the quiet goo that is always writhing underneath yourself

#unemployment

or something close to unemployment like a workaway or wwoofing or something. maybe you want to get ourself out of the psychogeography of the post-industrial landscape. or whatever. during the pandemic i would spend like 6 hours a day writing poems and then walking around fainting because id forget to even drink water. it was awesome

the point of all this is that the default mode network aka the "resting" state of consciousness when your mind is just wandering is also connected to creativity. so making time in day to just sit in a peaceful place-- putting a high value on doing nothing, i think, is sooo important or at least its really good for me

none of this may be true for you this is just how i tend to write

the winter of civilisation

fruits we'll never taste, languages we'll never hear: the need for needless complexity

emily dickinson and the creative solitude of space

the lost art of looking at nature

the bowl, the ram and the folded map: navigating the complicated world

ada limón on preparing the body for a reopened world

before it was 'bittersweet', nostalgia was seen as a parasite

why alien languages could be far stranger than we imagine

the fig leaf, benjamin shane evans

cat pianos, sound-houses, and other imaginary musical instruments

of shark moves, shell shocks, and trash landings on the moon

as bright as a feather — ostriches, home dyeing, and the global plume trade

getting ahead, jonas karlsson

do these florida dolphins have a language?

the form of a demon and the heart of a person: kitagawa utamaro's prints of yamauba and kintarō (ca. 1800)

who needs ai text-generation when there's erasmus of rotterdam

when memories from fiction become part of who you are

the pink triangles: the story of the gay holocaust

nawal el saadawi on feminism, fiction and the illusion of democracy

life beyond: alien life, deep time, and our place in cosmic history 

life beyond II: the museum of alien life

stephen axford: how fungi changed my view of the world

man spends 30 years turning degraded land into massive forest 

the prisoner of azkaban - why john williams’ score is the best in the series

video essay: the world of wong kar wai

vozes da floresta | ailton krenak

the beauty of wong kar-wai

a japanese ufo? - the utsuro-bune incident in 1803

the ghosts of hokusai

“confidence” is a cult

why are wong kar-wai films so dreamy?

the stages of whale decompostion

what happens when you put your head in a particle accelerator?

how brazil’s music hid protest inside harmony?

hayao miyazaki: a importância do vazio

how nope tricks your ears

serj tankian eats his last meal

birds do not sing in caves

understanding snufkin: a moomins essay

the appalachian rainforest

in search of the greenman

two alaska towns: one survived. one disappeared

when a director understands sound

the life of an old school japanese cafe owner

the cotswolds most haunted stately homes

when the audience is tricked by the director

That said, this website provides very simple instructions on how to do everyday tasks such as making your bed, using a washing machine, cooking different foods, washing dishes, taking a shower, etc. All you have to do is use the search bar to find the task you're struggling with, and it'll come up with what you need + other related how-to's:)

If you're having trouble navigating it, let me provide you with some examples:

How to clean dishes by hand

How to make your bed (with visual demonstrations of each step!)

How to fold clothes (with visual demonstrations of each step!)

How to take a shower & dry yourself off (also provides ways to shave beards, armpits, legs and genitals)

How to shave legs, armpits, beards, pubic areas, etc. (a more in-depth guide)

How to mop the floor

How to sweep the floor

How to swallow pills

How to make small talk

How to make eye contact in different situations (or how to avoid it while still looking natural)

in decent quality too!

here is the archive collection of these films so you can favorite on there/save if desired.

links below

black girl (1966) dir. ousmane sembene

the battle of algiers (1966) dir. gillo pontecorvo

paris, texas (1984) dir. wim wenders

desert hearts (1985) dir. donna deitch

harold and maude (1973) dir. hal ashby

los olvidados (1952) dir. luis bunuel

walkabout (1971) dir. nicolas roag

rope (1948) dir alfred hitchcock

freaks (1932) dir. tod browning

frankenstein (1931) dir. james whale

sunset boulevard (1950) dir billy wilder

fantastic planet (1973) dir. rené laloux

jeanne dielman (1975) dir. chantal akerman

the color of pomegranates (1969) dir. sergei parajanov

all about eve (1950) dir. joseph l. mankiewicz

gilda (1946) dir. charles vidor

the night of the hunter (1950) dir. charles laughton

the invisible man (1931) dir. james whale

COLLECTION of georges méliès shorts

rebecca (1940) dir. alfred hitchcock

brief encounter (1946) dir. david lean

to be or not to be (1942) dir. ernst lubitsch

a place in the sun (1951) dir george stevens

eyes without a face (1960) dir. georges franju

double indeminity (1944) dir. billy wilder

wild strawberries (1957) dir. ingmar bergman

shame (1968) dir. ingmar bergman

through a glass darkly (1961) dir. ingmar bergman

persona (1961) dir. ingmar bergman

winter light (1963) dir. ingmar bergman

the ascent (1977) dir. larisa shepitko

the devil, probably (1977) dir. robert bresson

cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) dir. agnes varda

alien (1979) dir. ridley scott + its sequels

after hours (1985) dir. martin scorsese

halloween (1978) dir. john carpenter

neocities guide - why you should build your own html website

do you miss the charm of the 90s/00s web where sites had actual personality instead of the same minimalistic theme? are you feeling drained by social media and the constant corporate monopoly of your data and time? do you want to be excited about the internet again? try neocities!!

what is neocities?

neocities is a free hosting website that lets you build your own html website from scratch, with total creative control. in their own words: "we are tired of living in an online world where people are isolated from each other on boring, generic social networks that don't let us truly express ourselves. it's time we took back our personalities from these sterilized, lifeless, monetized, data mined, monitored addiction machines and let our creativity flourish again."

why should I make my own website?

web3 has been overtaken by capitalism & conformity. websites that once were meant to be fun online social spaces now exist solely to steal your data and sell you things. it sucks!! building a personal site is a great way to express yourself and take control of your online experience.

what would I even put on a website?

the best part about making your own site is that you can do literally whatever the hell you want! focus on a specific subject or make it a wild collection of all your interests. share your art! make a shrine for one of your interests! post a picture of every bird you see when you step outside! make a collection of your favorite blinkies! the world is your oyster !! here are some cool example sites to inspire you: recently updated neocities sites | it can be fun to just look through these and browse people's content! space bar | local interstellar dive bar creature feature | halloween & monsters big gulp supreme peanutbuttaz | personal site dragodiluna linwood | personal site patho grove | personal site

getting started: neocities/html guide

sound interesting? here are some guides to help you get started, especially if you aren't familiar with html/css sadgrl.online webmastery | a fantastic resource for getting started with html & web revival. also has a layout builder that you can use to start with in case starting from scratch is too intimidating web design in 4 minutes | good for learning coding basics w3schools | html tutorials templaterr | demo & html for basic web elements eggramen test pages | css page templates to get started with sadgrl background tiles | bg tiles rivendell background tiles | more free bg tiles

fun stuff to add to your site

want your site to be cool? here's some fun stuff that i've found blinkies-cafe | fantastic blinkie maker! (run by @transbro & @graphics-cafe) gificities | internet archive of 90s/00s web gifs internet bumper stickers | web bumper stickers momg | gif gallery 99 gif shop | 3d gifs 123 guestbook | add a guestbook for people to leave messages cbox | add a live chat box moon phases | track the phases of the moon gifypet | a little clickable page pet adopt a shroom | mushroom page pet tamaNOTchi | virtual pet crossword puzzle | daily crossword imood | track your mood neko | cute cat that chases your mouse pollcode | custom poll maker website hit counter | track how many visitors you have

web revival manifestos & communities

also, there's actually a pretty cool community of people out there who want to bring joy back to the web! melonland project | web project/community celebrating individual & joyful online experiences. Also has an online forum melonland intro to web revival | what is web revival? melonking manifesto | status cafe | share your current status nightfall city | online community onio.cafe | leave a message and enjoy the ambiance sadgrl internet manifesto | yesterweb internet manifesto | sadly defunct, still a great resource reclaiming online social spaces | great manifesto on cultivating your online experience

in conclusion

i want everyone to make a neocities site because it's fun af and i love seeing everyone's weird personal sites that they made outside of the control of capitalism :) say hi to me on neocities

EDIT: part 2!!

✮⋆˙ emojicombos.com:

cute emojis and ascii art

✮⋆˙ glitter-graphics.com:

many old web styled graphics, rainbow text, animated text generator and many, many gifs

✮⋆˙ color-hex.com:

color IDs useful for css

✮⋆˙ w3schools.com:

great for studying css and html!

✮⋆˙ pixelsafari.neocities.org:

many graphics can be found here. baisically a list of blogs collecting stamps, blinkies and etc.

✮⋆˙ rentry.co/depressantbuttons:

buttons for blogs like myspace and spacehey

✮⋆˙ ezgif.com:

gif resizer

✮⋆˙ imgbb.com:

free image hosting (for example if you don't have the valid img url)

✮⋆˙ iloveimg.com:

all things image (remove background, watermark adder, photo editor, compresser, crop, upscale, etc.)

✮⋆˙ lingojam.com/AestheticFontsGenerator:

lots of cute fonts!! you just have to copy and paste the text you want to generate

✮⋆˙ ascii-art-generator.org:

generate ascii art from image in different sizes

I Want You To Quiet Down by Patrica Grullon

2011, acrylic and ink on wood

this time will pass anyways.

not every haunting is a horror.

there are things that trying solves but this is not one of them.

the rain will never stop falling.

leap too into the light if given the chance.

let's not hurt each other if we can.

Any help and advice is appreciated!

I'm also looking for a sort of study buddy/accountability friend who can help me (and get help from me in return) keep to my studies instead of letting myself slip like this again!

Requirements

18-30 age range (I'm an adult and I would prefer to study with someone who is as well)

Learning a new language

Willing to talk over either tumblr IM or discord messages

Studying can be overwhelming, especially if you have a lot of other things on your plate (or the world is in turmoil). And sometimes if you skip studying for a few days, a week, a month, a year... it can be hard to get back into that old study rhythm, or to know where to pick back up.

So, I try changing things up.

📚 Pick up a textbook that makes you feel good (I still have my textbooks from when I took Japanese in undergrad and they remind me of a time where I really enjoyed studying).

📚 Read a manga in Japanese that you have read before that you liked (and bring back the nostalgia of a story you really enjoyed).

📺 Watch a drama/anime/talk show that you like or have wanted to watch (this works best with no English subtitles so you can see how much you understand).

📱 Search for a subject you are interested in, in Japanese (and try to read some websites about them - add こどもむけ [for kids] to your search if the first results are too high level).

📱 Try reading some news articles in Japanese (either try NHK News Web Easy or the regular news, depending on your level).

🎧 Listen to a podcast made for Japanese learners.

Let's Talk in Japanese!

日本語の会話のpodcast -ことのは-

Nihongo con Teppei (Beginners)

Nihongo con Teppei Z (Intermediate)

Bite Size Japanese

Nihongo Picnic

YUYUの日本語

For me, studying isn't only about drilling grammar and kanji and vocabulary. It's about doing something you enjoy with the language you are learning, and making learning fun. Start with small steps, and once you feel that spark again, keep going!

So, your landlord/parents/home inspector/favorite movie star is dropping by, and your place is a disaster. You don’t have much time to clean it up. You’re in emergency mode. Let’s get started.

Don’t panic. Panic leads to fear, fear leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to the dark side. You can do this, but you have to stay calm.

Unlike maintenance cleaning, we’re not looking to completely unfuck one space at a time. Instead, we want to decrease the overall mess in stages, spread evenly across the whole area that we’re concerned about. If you think your home is at Level 10 filth, we want to bring the whole thing down to a Level 9, and then down from there. One really clean spot in an otherwise messy home is not going to be helpful here.

Get prepared. You’ll want to shut the computer down (or turn the modem off if you need your computer to play music). Trust me. Get your music going. Gather up trash bags, your vacuum and mop, some rags or paper towel, sponges, and other cleaning supplies. Use what you have on hand. Don’t get distracted running to the store and spending an hour browsing cleaning supplies. A multi-purpose cleaning concentrate or a jug of vinegar will be just fine.

Breaks are very important. Depending on your time constraints, work in 20/10s (20 minutes working, 10-minute break) or 45/15s. But take breaks because otherwise you’re marathoning, and marathon cleaning is no one’s friend. Keep hydrated, don’t forget to eat, and check in with yourself frequently to make sure you’re physically doing OK.

Make your bed. This will be your home base if you get overwhelmed or need somewhere clear to take a break.

Start with the garbage. Going from room to room, throw out anything that is obvious trash. Once you fill a bag, take it out. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Move on to dishes. Gather the dishes from all over your house and bring them to the kitchen. If you can, start them soaking in a sink of hot, soapy water or start loading the dishwasher. After the dishes are all in one place, spend one 20/10 getting started getting them under control.

Now it’s time for your flat surfaces. Countertops, tables, dresser tops, etc. Clear them off and wipe them down. Don’t get distracted in too much sorting and organizing. We’re in crisis mode here. There will be time to get in-depth once this is all done. The same applies to cabinets and closets. Unless you have reason to believe people will be opening closed doors, leave these alone for now.

Attack the floordrobe and shoe pile. Get your clothes either put away or in the hamper. Start a load of laundry if you need to, but keep in mind that laundry and dishes have three steps: wash, dry, and put it away, goddammit!

Get random stuff up off the floors. If something is trash-worthy, throw it away now rather than just move it around a bunch of times. Otherwise, put stuff where it belongs.

Take another 20/10 or 45/15 to catch up on more dishes, if needed.

Head into the bathroom. Pour some cleaner in the toilet bowl, fill the sink with hot water and cleaner, and either spray the tub and shower with cleaner, or fill the tub up with some hot water and add cleaner and let it soak. Put everything away that’s out and shouldn’t be, clean the mirror, counters, and toilet seat. Sweep or dry mop the floor. Wipe down the sink and tub/shower, and give the toilet bowl a scrub. Mop the floor.

Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Vacuum everything you can, and sweep everything you can’t.

Walk outside of your house (don’t lock yourself out, please). Walk back in and see what catches your eye first. Go and deal with that.

If you’re being inspected or your landlord is coming in for repairs, spend time on whatever area they’ll be focusing on.

Give the whole place one more once-over and pay attention to anything you’ve missed so far.

It’s an old trick, but if your place is a little funky-smelling, put a pan of water on the stove on low heat and add some citrus or cinnamon or vanilla. Don’t leave it unattended or forget about it.

Take a shower, put on something clean, and eat something.

You can do this. It’s overwhelming, yes, but it is not impossible. You just need to do it. You have a list. You have directions. You have a whole bunch of Internet strangers who have been there before and who are cheering you on. You can do this, but you need to get started.