Photo: “Rhino and Zebra Playing Chess”. Illustration from The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base. (1988)
My uncle could see nine moves ahead in chess. Nine moves. I could never understand how one could predict the future moves of an opponent by sheer chance. A predictable opponent makes predictable moves, yet ...

How Many Moves Ahead Should One See?
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 28, 2022Francis Picabia and the Art of the Signature
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Feb. 21, 2022
Photo: “Untitled Signature” by Francis Picabia
The year was 1915, when a thirty-six-year-old Francis Picabia showed up to the New York Dada scene. His alibi to leave Europe was a story about his travels to Cuba in order to purchase molasses, a story he cleverly forgot once he arrived in ...
Being Unsure of the Ending
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 5, 2022
Unless you're winging it 100%, chances are that you have an ending in mind for your story. Perhaps you even have the entire ending scene plotted out in your mind, the layouts ready, even some of the lines or expressions your characters will say and have.
You might have ...
Fountain of Nostalgia
Banes at 12:00AM, Feb. 3, 2022
I've had this Newspost in mind again since I saw Spider Man: No Way Home. That movie pushes the nostalgia buttons with abandon, to an extent I couldn't believe. To avoid having anything spoiled I rushed out to the theater to see it as soon as I could ...
The Fae
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 22, 2022
Usually when we think about fairies, the mind goes to tiny beautiful girls with butterfly wings and a ton of sparkles. At their most threatening, we got the token fiesty Tinkerbell.
Or do we?
For me, the world of the fae and fairies is a fascinatingly surreal, dangerous, occult world ...
The Magical Adventures of Kirke Ketterley by Hushicho Reaches Milestone, Secret Santa 2021 Comes to Completion
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Dec. 27, 2021
Photo: (clockwise from upper left) nightmarelunatic’s gift for Andreas_Helixfinger; sleeping_gorilla’s for Tantz_Aerine; lothar’s gift for usedbooks; kawaiidaigakusei’s gift for davidxolukoga; and Tantz_Aerine’s gift for hushicho.
A huge Thank You goes out to all the participants of this year’s Secret Santa gift art exchange! Everyone ...
Μerry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Coincidence?
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Dec. 25, 2021
It's Christmas Day today!
What are the chances! It's the first time my day to post in the blog is so perfectly timed for well wishes! So first off, I'd like to wish you all a happy Christmas Day, and if you don't observe it, a ...
Another Year Gone in a Blink of an Eye
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, Dec. 20, 2021
Photo: “Leona meets Marcel Duchamp’s Mechanical Bride” mechanical pencil, digital collage
Eleven days left until 2022 has me reflecting on the year that was basically navigated on autopilot. “May you live in interesting times,” a saying from ancient times that is quoted many times in the forums by bravo1102 ...
Above and Below the Surface
Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 16, 2021
There are a couple of movies I've seen - only a couple that come to mind - with a very specific issue
that makes them not work for me.
It's when the THEME or below-the-surface meaning of the story holds together but the actual plot suffers for it.
Spoiler for ...