Inspir | §250116

Weird numbers, magickal librarians, dangerous citrus, and electrocution.

I’ve been playing around with AI for a long while now… 2 years?… and it’s nice. Very useful. Sure cuts down on a lot of busy work. And the images are interesting, too, but I’ve gotten to the point (and read enough counterpoints) that I don’t think it’s really appropriate for this newsletter anymore.

And even as I was writing the above, I was thinking, “well, shit, I haven’t come up with what to replace the AI stuff with,” but then I just went to a fire festival, and below there’s a literally a bunch of sparks of inspiration, so… why not just use images of fire I’ve taken?

Let’s see how that works.

Stacks: Cosmographia

Computation Systems of the Middle Ages

Interest in esoteric number systems notwithstanding, I’m particularly attracted to that 2nd numerical script, which is completely different in practice from my own weird writing systems (example below), but does bear some resemblance, aesthetically speaking.

matthewbketchum

A post shared by @matthewbketchum

Reading: Promethea

Alan Moore’s probably best known for his graphic novel The Watchmen which was adapted into a relatively well-regarding movie in 2009, and while I am a fan of that serial, it’s not his best. His version of Swamp Thing, for example, is shockingly romantic.

But of all the great series he’s put to paper, Promethea is easily the best. Hermeticism meets library sciences meets Wonder Woman, it’s a very esoteic jaunt into the deepest layers of the human psyche.

I blasted through it years ago and it left quite the impression on me, and I realized recently that while I reflect on it fondly, I couldn’t remember that much of the story. Welp, no time lie the present to fix things.