exurb1r
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A Note on New Stuff Coming
🕑 Added 2021-12-02 11:21:48 +0000 UTCHello isopods,
(If you haven't seen an isopod before I would recommend not looking them up if you're currently eating lunch.)
How's everything? I'll do a spot of housekeeping first, insult you a bit, then make some recommendations if that's alright.
Right, apologies for going quiet for a few months. The short version is: a mini burnout occurred. The long version is: aaaa miiinnniii buuurrrnnnooouuuttt ooooccuuurrrreeedd. After having tried to lecture the internet on how not to burnout, it was only inevitable I'd walk into the thing myself shortly after. Without going on about it, the last book did a number on me. I didn't really want to admit it to myself, but it did. I thought I could make up for a lack of narrative direction by just doubling my efforts and that's not how stories get written. Nothing was much fun to work on for a while after that, just permutations of stuff I'd done before, or weird stuff for the sake of being weird and it was all terrible.
Anyway, all better now I hope. There are a few finished scripts in the pipeline at the moment (one in particular about mutiny aboard a starship that I hope you'll enjoy) and I'd like to work with animators and artists this time around because it's been five years and I still have zero visual talent and it might be time to just give that side of things to people who actually know what they're doing. Your support would be much appreciated for that. So, if it's quite alright, I'd like to take your kind patronage a few days from now. I thought it might be polite to provide some warning in advance there, and if you don't want to get behind that, as always, totally understood and thank you ever so much for the support so far of course.
Have you seen The French Dispatch? If you haven't seen The French Dispatch I'd recommend seeing The French Dispatch. I've been following Wes Anderson ever since Fantastic Mr. Fox (that one's great too), but I hadn't acquired the kind of religious fervour his fans seem to follow him with. The French Dispatch was something quite different. If you're of an artsy disposition, or get creatively stuck from time to time, this is probably the love letter to craft that you're after—it damn sure was for me anyway. It's beautiful, odd, and has such a heart. Big recommend.
Dune 2021 finally came out of course. I've been meaning to make a video review of the thing, but there really wasn't anything new to say. If you've been waiting for it too, I hope you loved it as much as I did. One of your favourite books being adapted by one of your favourite directors is a bit of a harrowing one, and I walked into the cinema fairly scared that nothing could ever live up to the insane level of expectation we've heaped on the thing—hype is the mindkiller etc. But it did live up to it. Somehow it did. I think so anyway. I can't even imagine how terrifying it is trying to write a screenplay that keeps the fans happy, and simultaneously doesn't get so bogged down in the lore of the story that it draws a new audience in too. I saw it twice, both times with friends who'd never read the book/s and they seemed just as enthralled as I was. Yeah, the mentats kind of got left out, and I wish we could've seen more of what the average people of Caladan and Arrakis actually get up to on a daily basis, but it's a film and time is limited. If you still haven't seen it and would like to: please do so in Imax. Please. It's a drug experience.
Random unrelated news then. The feline is well and finally beginning to chonk out in her teenage years. She kept me sane through the rather unpleasant burnout period. I wish I could tell her that.
Are you following the muon g-2 fiasco? The thing only seems to be getting weirder. It probably won't destroy the Standard Model, but it's a doozy and here's a great summary if you're curious.
Convinced writing would be done forever after the last book, in the way these things predictably go (oh, I'll never love again, wah wah etc) I went for a walk last month and bumped into a story I suspect might be doable. That's what I work on in the mornings anyway. I'll let you know if something comes of it. Actually that reminds me, there's very little out there about proper writing practices, so I'll give you my best attempt.
For whatever reason I sleep better closer to the floor, so when I moved into my empty new place I bought a mattress and no bedframe and that seems to work just great. You get weird looks from your friends when they visit, but who cares. For optimal results with writing I can recommend getting up early and staying in bed to drink at least two-to-three cups of strong coffee if you have the day free. (If you live with a cat or dog invite them onto the end of the bed as a visual aid or moral support. Treats will facilitate this.) The trick is to stay in bed until lunchtime with a laptop or notepad and wait for something to turn up. Reading in the meantime will work, especially something boring so your mind will wander. Keeping some paintings at the end of the bed works too for some reason. If nothing turns up that morning, that's okay, it will the next time or the time after that. The bed part is just incidental really. The real secret, I think, is just to work somewhere self-doubt can't catch you for a few hours, and I hope you find or have already found that place. (Public libraries are very good too.)
A patch of insomnia hit a few months ago. I'm sure you know the feeling when you're too tired to work or read but not tired enough to sleep, and on one of those nights I discovered Sea of Thieves. As with all previous video game recommendations this one is obviously recommended, but I'd advise against it. Because it will consume your life. It's essentially everything ever desired in a pirate game: sword fights, sea battles, and griefing other players by stealing their loot after they've been diligently acquiring it for two hours. (I am usually that other player.) I went through a period of staying up with a friend online and playing it until sunrise (living alone is fun) and it was honestly one of the most powerful bonding experiences I've ever had. The AI is clever enough, but the real horror is going up against other human players. They are sneaky and tactical and will nautically outwit you so humiliatingly you can't help admire it. You can use vomit as a weapon. You can literally use vomit as a weapon. Anyway it's very good and see you on the waves.
Two book recommendations if you'd like them. The first I might've mentioned before, but I listened to it again recently and it's still just so, so fucking good—Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's hard not to spoil, but think deep future scifi with sentient spiders and sentient octopuses. I've been following scifi for most of my reading life (what a flex bro) and there are hundreds of tropes in this one I've just never seen before. It's odd and I hope you like it.
The second one might sound weird but please bear with me. If you're having creative problems or are finding yourself stuck with arting, please read Directing Actors by Judith Weston. Better still give it a listen. This book almost single-handedly got me out of the last stuck patch. I know acting direction doesn't seem like it would have much to say about creativity, but this is a creative hug in disguise. It's the kind voice you need to hear when you've convinced yourself you're shit and useless and out of ideas. It's also full of just the kind of weird approaches to solving yourself that are usually impossible to self-generate. Judith Weston is the saint of unstuckness, far as I'm concerned. And if you're stuck this may well unstick you because it sure as hell did me. I promise it's fantastic.
Righto then. As of now there are five scripts I'd quite like to make real, finally, and I'd be ever so grateful for your support with that. Thank you very, very, very much for bearing with me during the quieter months and sticking around here. I still have no idea why you're doing that, but again, I'm just more grateful than I can say. It took a bit of thinking and worrying, but new stuff coming soon, promise.
I hope you're doing all right covid-wise, because this is getting quite ridiculous now. It's sort of Schrödinger's pandemic in Bulgaria at the moment. Our case numbers aren't great, but somehow life has sort of resumed. If you're able to spend Christmas with your family, I hope it's lovely—I'll try to write before then anyway, but just, yes—I hope everything's okay and that you and your favourite humans are doing well.
Again, a huge thank you for sticking around and new stuff is in the works.
All the best as ever,
Ex.
(Oh, the print version of Geometry for Ocelots should be out by Christmas—if not, just after, and the audiobook is finally done and god-willing will be out around then too. Plus feline photos attached as always.)
Comments
Jérôme H.
Absolutely love the recommendations, thanks! Take care
Lacksi
Im a little bit sad you dont do audio versions of these announcements anymore but I totally understand that it takes time and you might not want to anymore :) anyways, Im excited for the videos, glad to hear from you again
RobotWobot
Idk if you read these extra responses, so I’ll keep this short and share more when I respond to your next post: 1. What you said about burnout and the astronaut saying about space being boring: I think you’d be surprised how much people relate to things. For example, Bo Burnham has talked about his anxiety. He thought it was unique to him as a performer, but it turns out lots of people related to it. 2. I don’t know if I was aware of your left-eye blindness, 🤔 but I’m hoping for the same with tinnitus. Hopefully, Elon Musk or Gabe Newell can finish up their brain interfaces and help us out soon. 🤞
TJ Cerasi
I am 100% actually willing to go. What general area would I travel to, don’t want you to dox yourself here. Also I’ll bring a whole lotta topics to talk about. I’d love to tell you about the film I just wrote. No pressure, of course, but I would actually travel to meet you, you are much more incredible than words can tell.
Gurumaru
Really glad to see you're well and still making stuff. Do you and I'll be waiting patiently 🙏
exurb1a
Hey there TJ. Oh god I'm sorry to hear that, hope things are improving—I'm sure you know this already, but these things do have a way of fixing themselves in the heart after a time. I'd absolutely be up for a non-alcoholic beverage hang out. But really, hope you're doing okay.
exurb1a
Cheers Jesper!
exurb1a
She never does
exurb1a
Cheers FancyPants! - that's much, much appreciated. Hope you don't hate the new stuff when it's done, and thanks for being delightfully understanding.
exurb1a
Excuse my while I steal and then use daily "Keep it fresco out there" because that's brilliant. Thanks Malcolm, much love right back at you and all the best
exurb1a
Hola Robot. A supreme pleasure as always to hear from you. Thank you ever so much for the kind words there, that's more appreciated than I can tell you. I've been thinking about making a video covering burnout properly for a while, but it feels a bit like an astronaut lecturing everyone on how space is probably a bit boring sometimes. Making stuff is literally the best job in the world, it feels weird to complain about. For remedies I will say: stepping the hell back from the keyboard for a while is the only viable solution. Otherwise it turns into a fairly weird vicious cycle of putting more pressure on yourself to come up with something half-decent and nothing half-decent has ever been made under self-imposed stress. Otherwise it just ends up in insomnia and negronis. (Can recommend negronis though, what a cocktail.) Totally understood on The French Dispatch and your disappointment. I've seen it three times now, and on each occasion could tell my accompanying friends weren't as blown away as I was. Honestly, aside from how gorgeous it was, it was the way it treated writers like a sort of societal resource that got me. And they were provided with lots of free alcohol and cake. I don't speak for all writers of course, but free alcohol and cake for those who pursue writing seems like a really good policy. And paaaaaaaahaha, the Ready Player One analogy is absolutely on point. No shame on the forcing yourself to finish Dune, I think it took me 3 goes to get through it originally. Then something clicked for whatever reason. Agreed on the pacing front with the movie completely. My shameless fawning aside, it ended on a slightly strange note I feel, a touch anti-climatic maybe. But Jesus the visuals were gorgeous; it's the best adaptation we're going to see in our lifetimes, I suspect. Ey, you'll have an absolutely wonderful time travelling alone, promise. Airports are super easy to navigate usually, and listening to an audiobook in the sky is one of the most opulent, enjoyable activities the 21st century offers. I'm sure it'll be a fantastic adventure. Extremely sorry to hear about the Facebook episode there, hope you're not too crestfallen, but I can confirm there are lots of other humans out there who'll share your sentiments and mindset, and it makes the journey worth all the more when you find them. Also BONE CONDUCTING HEADPHONES is not a phrase I've heard before, but after a bit of reading they sound fascinating. I also notice a lot of hearing impaired people are using them, which is great. Fairly unrelated, but I may've mentioned somewhere that I'm more or less blind in the left eye. Short of stemcell therapy making some unexpected bounds ahead, I've been holding out for some kind of optical transducer or something that can bypass the eye and send signals directly down the optic nerve. Probably scifi, but it would be a treat to see in stereo one day. Well, the UK was mad enough to give me a driving license anyway, so that's that. (I'll be sure to use the sock trick if I ever buy some of those headphones, thank you kindly. ) I have passed your kind comments onto the feline. She yawned a bit and smushed an ear which, as someone fluent in cattish, I can confirm this means 'thank you'. Getting PCR tested every day sounds like big fun, I'm sure. Nothing like a swab up the nose to get the brain going. (In all seriousness, Omicron *looks* at the moment to be less lethal than the other variants, so hopefully we're not in for another Delta fiasco. Let's wait and see, but I'm staying quietly optimistic.) I forget if we've talked about it, but given your love of Wes Anderson you might also enjoy Wild Tales - my favourite of favourite movies. It has a similar hectic vibe: https://youtu.be/Utq0aDEp084 Massive love, Robotman - hope you're holding up okay, and again, enjoy your Europe trip, it's bound to be an adventure.
exurb1a
Thanks Zack! Big love
exurb1a
I haven't checked it out as yet, but it's on the list. The clip of Bill Murray giving a tour of the boat was very cute, I must say. Best wishes, Raymond
exurb1a
Hell yeah, thanks Silvija, will do! Animated puzzles are right up my street
exurb1a
Ayyyy, hope everything's going well Okwss - we're certainly living in weird times. So, with the vegan video, honestly it just seemed to preachy and self-righteous when I watched it back. Thought it best to quietly discard it on the trash pile. Best wishes, hope things are back to normal for you soon!
Okwss
Ayee The King is back Glad your doing well Covid here sucks, we've been going to opening & closing repeating the cycle Just opened to Malaysia and wham omi variant comes in to wreck our stuff. Also any reason why you privated the Vegan video, i mean i did watch it before it was gone but still kinda sad its gone
feelovenergy
You fiesty Kant you! I am certain there will be abundance via the Exurbia-Army if you say the word and it fills my soul with utmost joy to read that that is in the works. Also, truly appreciate the lil heads up. Keep it fresco out there and much, much love. -M
Tjousk
"I wish I could tell her..." You can, but will she listen?
Jesper the End
Looking forward to the scripts in combination with new visuals :)
FancyPants
Of course we stick around during the quieter months. These times of lack-of-content are quite the reassurance that you are taking your time to put out actual art instead of just random, unfinished junk because tHeReMuStBeCoNtEnTfOrThEmAuDiEnCe. Much love, ex
TJ Cerasi
I can promise you I am not dangerous and I am a random kid on the Internet so you should trust me
TJ Cerasi
Hello hello! Would it be weird to meet you and have a casual chat and what Not? I’d offer to drink but I don’t drink. Girlfriend of 5 years just broke up with me and I have miles to spend from our canceled trip. I’m not one for extroverted actions but you are quite possibly the most fascinating person.
RobotWobot
Aaaaaaa it’s my favourite space tortoise! He’s back! Merry early December! 🥳 🐢 (Hi, future Robot here: I think this might be a particularly long response. Probably best to sit down for this one.) Ahh no, I hear burnout really sucks. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced it myself though. …so how did you overcome it? Just taking a break? To be fair, I think you deserve that after writing an ENTIRE book. I can barely get myself up on a Sunday morning, never mind writing a book! I do hope you’re feeling alright now, and I hope you understand how much of an accomplishment that is. Because it is. I must admit it was slightly worrying that you haven’t taken Patreon money in so long. I’m glad you’re finally back and doing it! ^_^ OH MY GOD, A FELLOW WES ANDERSON FAN! (Very minor spoilers to follow for some movies) Ever since I saw the trailer for The Grand Budapest Hotel (I’ll call this “Hotel” from now on), I’ve been so intrigued by Wes Anderson. Those camera angles and colours make it all so PRETTY! It makes for unique filmmaking. I have since seen Hotel, Isle of Dogs, Fantastic Mr Fox and The French Dispatch. Another thing I love about his movies are how open-minded the arguments are e.g. in Hotel, someone needs a getaway and they needed someone to provide. The only issue was, the person who came to help was severely underprepared. Although, instead of complaining about their idiocy, the person who asked for help was completely understanding since it was their fault for not providing the necessary details. Aside from that, much like Inception, I had no clue what was going on, but loved it nonetheless! After such a positive paragraph, it is with a heavy heart that I admit I didn’t enjoy The French Dispatch very much. Much like Hotel, I wasn’t sure what was happening half the time. But that’s ok as long as the movie is lovely anyway. Unfortunately, half of it was black and white because those bits were set in the past. I get the idea, but Wes Andersons have such a pleasing aesthetic and it was such a shame in my opinion. Furthermore… the movie began with an explanation. I really don’t like it when movies do that. 😅 It at least needs to accompany a visual explanation, too! It reminded me of the intro of Ready Player One when he’s walking to his hideout. It’s a shame I didn’t think it was as good as you did, but it’s great to hear you enjoyed it nonetheless! DUNE! YES! I forgot that came out too. I forced myself to finish the book this year (I stopped enjoying it at some point so I forced myself : /). Then watched your Dune video. (Speaking of which, have you had a bunch more views on it since Dune became really popular?) Then watched the new movie. Wooow, what a beautiful movie. Loud and amazing. Unfortunately for me, I thought the pace was a bit too slow and became relatively bored at parts. I didn’t realise it wouldn’t cover the whole book, either. Either way, it’s a must-watch for the cinema. I didn’t watch it in IMAX though… shame, but holy cow it sounds like you had a great experience watching it. I like to imagine that you wrote that last paragraph and then your cat jumped up on your lap. You thought the whole thing was so sweet that you included her in the post. Don’t tell me otherwise. Let me dream! I have no clue what the muon g-2 fiasco is. I’m also at work, so I only watched 3 minutes of the video at x2 speed 😅. Buuuut I think the first comment accurately describes my thoughts: “this reminded myself that I don’t really know anything”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Last book? But what about Logic Beach part twooooooo? I’m only joking! (or am I?) Also, now I’m curious about your walks: Are they a regular thing? Do you listen to things? Do you take your phone with you? I’m asking because I used to go on walks without my phone through the woods during lockdown last year. I also recently got some noise-cancelling earbuds and one reviewer said they like to go on walks with those. Your explanation of your writing process sounds so sweet. I usually spend my weekend mornings laying in without doing anything productive (most of the time… Last week, I scheduled my Sunday because I had so much to do and I needed to get up ASAP.) Funnily enough, I’m really going to miss 2020 and early 2021 because I started to get myself into a proper schedule and I started figuring out how to be maximally productive (To-do lists were extremely helpful). But now? Since I have this new job (my last job was an apprenticeship and they had to let me go at the end due to their COVID budget). I’ve gone back to having next to no time. It’s not all bad though: Everybody‘s nice and I have a lot of time to do my own things here. It’s a library, so the urgent matters are only students coming to the desk. Oof, sorry to hear about the insomnia. How’d that happen? : / I don’t know a lot about it, but much like burnout, it sounds pretty tough. Meanwhile, I’ve heard a little about Sea of Thieves. Not really a game I’ve ever been interested in playing, but again, it sounds like you had a blast! ^-^ I’ve been wanting to play some games quite a lot recently. Unfortunately, I have so much else to do with so little time. I only really have a good hour at home at my expense in the evenings after work. I think I might go back to playing some games (namely Boneworks or Hollow Knight maybe) tonight or tomorrow. Ought to be nice. ^_^ I will add your book recommendations to my list! I haven’t been reading much lately, so I don’t think I’ll be reading them any time soon. But I’ll add them nonetheless! 😆 Five whole scripts? *Impressed whistle* of course I’ll support that! You’re one of my favourite creators, Ex. 😊 Do I need another reason? I hear COVID is getting annoying again. I swear I’ve had my mask on more than my regular mouth this past year. I’m testing every day for work and I’m double vaccinated. Then the Omicron variant is just around corner! Hahaha hahahaha haha! Ha! Haaaaaaaaaa So I’m going to the Netherlands for Christmas with a bunch of friends I met through the Internet. First time I’m meeting them. First time I’m using a plane by myself. First time I’m going to the Netherlands (but I have been practising via Duolingo. I still remember a joke you made in one video: “Know yes and no, please and thank-you and numbers 1 to 10 in the language and you already know more than 99% of other tourists.”) Also first time I’m away from home without family - except for a field trip during Primary School. So basically… it’s exciting, but I hope I don’t get stabbed! The feline is beautiful as always. Thanks for sharing! 🐈 Meanwhile, stories from my own life: 1. I made a Facebook account and added a bunch of people I used to know. Not going as well as I thought (it’s difficult to talk about things with someone you haven’t talked to for 5+ years), but I’ve been meeting several people. One seems as confident as I was 10 years ago (Not very). The other was my primary school crush. I was so psyched that we got on like a house on fire! We were giving each other long messages like this one. We were writing them every other day (they take a while to construct). It was looking so promising. I got so excited that I could barely sleep. I thought it would be my first real relationship… but it wasn’t. That all died down and I don’t think we’re suited for that anyway. We’re still talking semi-regularly and it’s all a bit off a shame really. But at least I have another friend now. 2. I’ve been cycling to work. I recently bought bone-conducting headphones (Aeropex by Aftershokz) and they’ve been great. Apparently, they’re pretty much the best bone-conducting headphones you can get at the moment. They’re great for cycling and running. I listen to podcasts and sometimes they’re a bit hard to hear with the wind and vehicles, but they’re alright because they keep your ears open. If you cycle, I recommend coiling socks/cat-ears around the front strap of your helmet (in front of your ears) to keep the wind nose quiet. Wow, so I spent hours on this reply… wow, thanks for getting to the end! I’ll keep this short: It was lovely to hear from you again, Ex. And to everyone reading this, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🥳 🎅 🎄 ❄️ ⛄️ 🎉 🎊
Zack
Good to hear from you again Ex-, we miss you <3
Raymond Foster
Fantastic mr fox is literally my favorite movie, and I really liked the grand Budapest hotel, life aquatic was weird though
Silvija Basic
If you're looking for more video games to fill the void in your soul, try out the Rusty Lake game series, I can't recommend them enough
exurb1a
And a very advanced Merry Christmas to you, Owen
exurb1a
Cheers man in a suit, and excellent suit by the way
Owen Manning
Audiobook after christmas!? Best. Christmas. Ever.
Just a man in a suit
You are welcome to my monies anytime. But thanks for the heads up.
exurb1a
And to you!
Alex Taifas
Happy holidays to you mr. depression turtle
