On my hops through the internet, I've managed to find lots of juicy goodness for all kinds of people. Artists, linguists, creative types . . . really, if you're a human being, you'll probably find interest in something I've scoured up (or so I hope). I mean, I make no promises, but let's be positive for a little bit, right?
This being noted, I do think that it's my responsibility, when I find cool stuff, to share it and let others discover some new stuff too. After all, the only way I found some of this stuff was via others recommending the stuff to me, too! The Internet leaves us in a unique position to share stuff with other people, including with those we don't even know. But the only way to really make it big on the Internet these days is to get people to talk about your stuff, so if you find something new, you've gotta share it - it's the easiest way to get that person noticed and to do them a favor! That's yet another gem I found reading Austin Kleon's books . . .
Moving on! Here's what I've found over the last few weeks that I've wanted to share with y'all. Hopefully you'll find some of your own gems in here, too!
- Charahub. This is perfect for writer types (like me) who need a place to keep track of all of their characters. I generally have 2 ways of remembering my characters' details: writing down on scrap pieces of paper, or using a template I found on deviantArt to list the important stuff. There are pluses and minuses to each, of course, but Charahub has quickly become my third method for logging stuff about my characters. You start off by entering the name of the character, and from there you go into their bio, links to other characters, and answers to selected questions by Charahub. You can even get rid of a question if you don't want to answer it for all of your characters! There are some downsides, i.e. I think they repeat questions sometimes, but it's a pretty good tool for keeping track of your characters, and hey, it's free. Found this on tumblr via a friend's link, although I've since lost that link. D'oh!
- Seibei's post about the 50 Tee Challenge. This is just one form of a pretty awesome idea that seems to be running around the creative community. At the risk of butchering his explanation entirely, I'll just simplify it like this: Seibei makes T-shirts, so in order to make some decent designs, he forces himself to draw 50 shirts and decorate them all, without overthinking, overworking, or overjudging any design. He's recently expanded this idea to encompass 1,000 t-shirts, which is an awesome idea. I got this gem from Austin Kleon (linked above) yet again, and it's been making the gears in my head turn ever since. Think of the versatility of this! You could expand this idea to drawing 50 characters in a week, making pneumatic devices for 50 foreign language words in a day, or even writing 50,000 words in a month! . . . wait a second . . .
- Duolingo. Having officially graduated from high school (Booyah!), I've been super excited to go to college for arts, languages, and all of that jazz. Here's the problem, though - the school I'm going to doesn't offer much in terms of Spanish, which is my second language. Pooh! However, I discovered Duolingo due to an imgur post and decided I would just derp around with the Spanish course before delving into French, thinking it would be a series of lessons I could finish like that *snap*. I was so wrong! Along with lessons, Duolingo provides discussions and immersion, which I've already hopped into by offering some translations for an article about Chambao (more on that later). While I've only had a few hours to explore it, I'm pretty pleased with its range of activities. It even allows you to take a placement test that will helpfully get you past some of the lessons you might already know! There are lots of options to go with it, and I'm excited to continue with the lessons!
- Chambao. Oh, hey, it's later! While translating an article on Duolingo about this band, I decided to do myself a favor and listen to some of the music while I worked. This sort of music isn't usually my thing, but it's pretty chilled out, and I can get behind that! It's Spanish, of course, but it's great if you just need some background music to work with. Of course, they say that music with lyrics hampers work, but I don't believe that . . . anyways! If you need something new to listen to and don't mind some Spanish, check them out! I linked to a Youtube playlist above.
I have some more I can add to this list, of course, but I think I'll hold onto them for a little while longer - gives me some excess material to make another post about! Have fun with these sites, and don't forget - the Internet is a lot more fun when you're sharing your stuff with everybody else.
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