LISTLISTLIST I LOVE LISTS THIS ONE IS SPECIAL IT IS A LIST OF LISTS OF CREATIVE AND ART

Creation and Absorption Four

[oops i transferred this from my substack way late. please forgive me.]

Hiya! So uh… I didn’t post last week. Sorry! The partner and I made our move on the 10th, and we’ve been so busy with getting set up, hunting for jobs, and exploring the town. Eek!

But here I am now, and here are some delightful little creative items on my bulletted shelves for you to peruse :). Handle them nicely—they could really help or inspire!

THE NEWSLETTER PROPER

Creation

  • 100 Ways to Market Your Creative Work WITHOUT Social Media! by dharma bum poetess - a delightful list of ideas. i probably won’t do 80% of them (bc there’s a lot), but I wanna try a fair number. i especially like the real-world, community stuff.
  • Also, Useful Websites for Creative Inspiration by dharma bum poetess - you may be able to tell that i love a good list of artistic resources and ideas. there are some wonderful sources here, please use them and use them with love :).
  • Free-to-use Picture Resources for Writers by Jordan Acosta - yet another cool list of resources, this time visual-based! explore well and explore with curiosity.
  • Worldbuilder’s Log by Artifexian - ah heck, i haven’t listed this here yet, so here goes. this series is a detailed look into what goes into building an entire world from scratch, as Artifexian makes his own. an awesome resource for planetology, climates, and geography!
  • Alien Biospheres by Biblaridion - another real good resource, though this one starts from the point where the planet is already made, and goes straight into the speculative biology side of worldbuilding.
  • How Democracy Really Dies by Hello Future Me - simultaneously a measured look into what causes totalitarianism to arise out of democracies and some good advice on worldbuilding dictatorships.
  • My advice this time’ round:
    • Go to live readings of things! Be it poetry, short stories, or whatever other creative open-mics are being hosted around you, they are delightful ways to discover small-time art that will surprise you. They may be terrible or amazing, but you’ll rarely be bored.
    • On that note, go to local art galleries and museums. There are plenty of free galleries, and even some art museums are free. And some normal museums! The past wasn’t dominated by algorithms and AI, so even though corporations and empires still held sway for long periods, creativity wasn’t so drowned out back then. Lots to get inspired by, even in a normal history museum.

Absorption

Here’s a grab-bag of works I’ve absorbed recently, including short stories, poems, videos, and artistic curiosities. I hope there’s something here to inspire you!

Also, read more literary journals, y’all. I know there are gonna be some of you who read this who submit to them, but barely read them. Read them.

  • The Egg and the Chicken (1960s) by Clarice Lispector - one of those foundational sort of short stories that i read and was changed, much like most any Le Guin work. dreamlike, wandering, yet always trained square on the theme… which, funnily enough, isn’t even clear. isn’t that awesome?
  • The Leather Boys (1964) - wow, this film is not only historic (it broke several conventions against explicitly gay characters in film from the time), it is just simply good. the love triangle hurts my heart so much, but it’s very compelling, and that ENDING, whew. love a movie that leaves me and my friends discussing for an hour afterwards.
  • Un Chien Andalou (1929) - speaking of a film sparking discussion… well, there are so many ways you could discuss this. it’s a surreal film that seems to have no central meaning or consistent plot. but things sure do happen. you have to see it to understand.
  • Mind Game (2004) - WOW! like, WOW! this animated movie shot to the top of my favorites list because of its sheer creativity, fablelike nature, and messaging. it’s inspiring, it makes you feel good about life, it’s fuckin awesome, man.
  • STOMACH BOOK - PAPER DOLLS (Official Music Video) directed by sul4 by STOMACH BOOK and sul4 - sul makes some of the most creatively-presented animations I’ve seen, and it’s really cool to see them collab with someone making some cool tunes.
  • Addendum to the Martian Social Studies Textbook, 5th Ed. (2025) by Marsha Wristen - a poem with such an interesting format, oh my god. it’s a future textbook for an already future event with personal notes in the lines. it’s so good!
  • Dolly Parton’s A Smoky Mountain Christmas by Found Footage Fest - I HAVE to watch the movie this video cuts through. Soon. I don’t know how I haven’t yet.
  • oh, how we pale in comparison-an experimental short by Camille Cooke - a short video that’s a mix of optimistic films from the 1950s and clips of our modern world. it’s real good!
  • The birth of the internet, according to Jon Bois by Secret Base - ah, Mr. Bois, one of the best video-based storytellers i know, and Pretty Good is one of his best series. this time: the fascinating conception and evolution of the internet. we never think about it, but yes, the telegraph was when immediate communication first began, and thus, a sort of internet.
  • How to do anything (without AI) by Reject Convenience - the presentation of this essay is phenomenal. i love anything in 3D! and the message is something i really agree with.

OTHER

Here’s some of the miscelleny. The things I couldn’t just not include.

The End

yep, that’s all i got for now. bye! see you in hopefully less than three weeks! good morrow! fare thee well!