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Author Archives: mindflowers

Recontextualized: Set and Setting

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Bill Willingham’s Fables is a whimsical comic series about fairytale characters, set in grimy New York City. Ichabod Crane is Mayor, Beauty and the Beast have marital issues, and the Big Bad Wolf is reformed and the Sheriff. There is a hidden farm in upstate New York for Fables characters unable to blend into “normal” society. The now defunct Telltale Tales game company produced an excellent game based on the series called The Wolf Among Us. It is available on iOS and most other platforms. There are impressive female protagonists. You can read many of the comics online here.

Elders: Fashion models

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“They are naturals in front of the camera. Ms. Hsu, 84, exudes the haughtiness of a supermodel but retains an air of playfulness. Mr. Chang, 83, is the perfect foil, complementing his wife’s swagger with a chill disposition while rocking bountiful eyebrows.”

From the New York Times (paywall after a few issues a month), an article about a Taiwanese couple has an Instagram following of ~800,000 at the time I’m writing this. The pair have swagger as they model lost and abandoned laundry left at their laundromat.

I recommend the NYT article as it explores a bit of their bio. The world is sometimes an adorable place. Check out their Instagram.

Sand: Kinetic Table Art

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I haven’t had positive experiences with Kickstarter technology offerings, I’m hesitant to throw money at gimmicks. But I remember lusting after the original Sisyphus Table years ago when it was Kickstarted. These varying sizes of tables create hypnotizing slow-moving patterns from magnets, metal balls, sand, funky lights and geometric algorithms. Fans post their creations online. I still won’t buy one because I’m not rich (I’m a social worker), but if a wealthy reader would like to get one for me I won’t complain too much. You can buy it a Sisyphus Industries.

    Road Trip: Alice meets Dorothy

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    Netflix has ignited a project to unite these two spacey girls who live in the public domain. The Alice and Dorothy crossover is reportedly a “fantasy adventure epic”

    The original script found Dorothy Gale haunted by nightmares of Oz’s impending destruction. Sent to a home for others like her who experience troubling, vivid dreams, she soon befriends Alice, a mysterious girl who involves her in a perilous quest to not only save the worlds of imagination, but the world as we know it.

    More details here.

    Bad Trips: Inherently good?

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    From the article “What Can We Learn From Bad Trips?“ published in EntheoNation.

    “In a society that so prizes pleasure over pain, we are conditioned to regard difficult experiences as “bad” and avoid them at all costs. This encourages an energy-sucking struggle to shut out challenging material, such as traumatic memories and painful emotions. As we confront the shadow, we redirect this energy, opening the doorway to cognitive potential – a process Jung likened to alchemical transmutation, from “base metal” to “gold.” When we integrate shadow content instead of fleeing, we take crucial steps toward manifesting the Self, our true nature, in the here and now.

    Though we often flee the shadow, we see the necessity of its confrontation reflected in countless stories. Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter must face and integrate their internal connections to Vader and Voldemort in order to manifest their heroic nature. Frodo Baggins must endure the sadistic call of Sauron to destroy the Ring of Power. Dante must descend through nine rings of Inferno, for only in descending the underworld can he ascend into Paradiso.”

    Link to full article.

    Quotes: From my 3-year-old

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    Grey is my favorite color of the rainbow.

    I like your necklace. I want to sit on it. 

    Pee. Poop. Blood. Wait, is blood potty talk?

    [while taking photos with a cell phone] Say cheese yoga mat. 

    [holding a cow stufffed animal] Milk is coming out of my cow. But it is yellow milk. 

    Me: You can’t just leave the table. You need to ask to be excused. 
    Her: I asked with my body, not my mouth. 

    Me: It is unsafe to slide down the railing.
    Her: Not in my world, dada. 

    Smell my feet. You know you want to. 

    Her: Can I have a spoon of honey? 
    Me: It is late. Tomorrow. 
    Her. Today is tomorrow, right? Today is tomorrow from yesterday, right?

    I like putting my shoe on the wrong foot. 

    Al is a nice dog. Why does he hurt cows? (I explained he herds, not hurts cows)

    I am not someone else. I am really really just me. 

    Where is my daddy and why are you wearing his shoes?

    You can do potty talk in the bathroom, or you can do a butt show. A butt show is when you run around and show everyone your butt.

    What’s god, daddy?

    [to my grandmother] When are you going to die?

    In Nature: Psychedelic trees

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    The Rainbow Eucalyptus is native to Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It lives in rainforests and is “one of only four Eucalyptus species out of more than 700 that do not occur in Australia.”, according to this Earthly Mission article. The article continues, “Once shed, the inner bark that is revealed is bright green, but eventually matures to blue, purple, orange, and eventually maroon. The rainbow eucalyptus does not shed its bark all at once, but in sections throughout the year, allowing for the amazing rainbow effect.” Check out this Google images link to more photos.