automatic drawing
Digital gardens and fungi research (Learning Things: May 15, 2023)
It's really feeling like spring here in NYC (or summer, really—it's been toasty). My wife and I went to Central Park this week, which is in bloom and full of birds (we saw a black-crowned night heron, which is always exciting). The cranesbill bloom pixel art that accompanies this

Vintage zines and research woes (Learning Things: May 8, 2023)
Here's a rundown of what I've been up to this week: Paranormal research Over the weekend, I spent a while looking through old UFO newsletters and zines. I love the aesthetic of the typewritten, xeroxed 1950s-1980s publications (I definitely have a bit of anemoia when it comes to 'em.) I

Learning Things: May 1, 2023
What I got up to last week.

Following a vintage automatic writing planchette ad down a rabbit hole
Digging into the backstory of an ad in Mystic magazine.

The History of Automatic Writing Planchettes
The story of the planchette, a predecessor of the Ouija board.

Tree talkin' and train tracks (Learning Things: April 24, 2023)
I wish I could say that I made a ton of progress on all of my goals this week, unlike last time. But that'd be a lie. I was a bit under the weather this week and moved very, very slowly, so it's kinda a wonder I got anything done

Magnolia trees and frustration (Learning Things: April 17, 2023)
A lot of my efforts (in all areas of my life) this week have felt like trudging slowly through mud. While writing this, I paused and looked up whether a Mercury Retrograde is approaching, and sure enough, it looks like we've been in the shadow period since the April 6.

Starting the biodata sonification build (Learning Things: April 10, 2023)
Biodata sonification supplies and Erik Satie-inspired automatic drawings.

Screaming plants (Learning Things: April 3, 2023)
Thoughts on plant communication and an attempt at automatic drawing.

Planchette and Automatic Writing (Ouija Boards Part 1)
Starting with the automatic writing method planchette, we begin a series about Ouija boards. We’ll dig into the strange history of the much admired and maligned method of communicating with spirits and/or having fun at parties. Before Ouija, there was planchette. Invented in Paris in the 1850s, planchette
