I Found a Penny Today, So Here’s a Thought
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"Christmas in July" has become a day. It used to be a season.
In the last fifty years, Christmas in July has become much more materialistic, even perversely overcommercialized.
For too many, Christmas in July is the most stressful event of the year.
The thing is, you can't avoid Christmas in July. Just try not to hear Christmas carols everywhere you go in July. Impossible! And it begins so early, too. Sheesh -- back in the day, we thought that Juneteeth Day was too early for Christmas in July to begin, but now it seems like D Day is what gets it all rolling. Every year the old compromise gets floated around, to begin with Flag Day, but good luck with that.
On a late walk last night, we nearly stumbled over a tinseled star discarded in the street like last week's TV Guide. The photo says it all, doesn't it?
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We were honored to share with Kindred Spirit Magazine insights into our favorite mystical village, Portmeirion. In particular, we expand on how Portmeirion's sunken gardens, sunken forests, and sunken boats constitute a shamanic otherworld, but one so-well marked and so well-lit that seekers can wander safely entranced. Author Simon Wells, of The Rolling Stones: 365 Days and The Beatles: 365 Days fame, said of our travel guide, " Puzzling Portmeirion has detected a labyrinth of wonder and discovery that exists within the village’s many layers." |
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Our work on Platonic solids tumbling through time is entitled Astragalomancy. It's all about how to divine the meanings of 21 discrete dice throws. Knowledge of ancient Greek divination rituals is unnecessary. The simple interpretations are clear-cut, based upon specific, indisputable references to history, mathematics, literature, mythology, and arcane sciences from around the world. Read more about about this work over at Amazon.com. This illustration of Lady Luck appears in Punch, 1877.
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We were honored to consult on the Story Forge card deck for novelists, screenwriters, playwrights, and game masters. The deck is a marvelous accomplishment -- intriguing, inspiring, and as useful as it is fun. Every card is a steppingstone that illuminates and guides the writer toward the heart of his or her work. Indeed, the deck could be likened to a treasure map torn into bits. Each card offers clues, even as it invites us to detour to our heart's desire. The deck is the perfect diversion for anyone with writer's block, since it offers an alternate route to bypass the blockage. Pictured below, we drew "The Hidden" card: "Forces are reaching out from beyond the normal realm, attempting to intervene in mortal affairs for good or ill." But check out the reversed meaning — we like it even better: "The Threshold: Someone is being drawn into other realms, beginning a voyage that largely takes place outside the normal world." One neat thing about this card deck is that you're invited to cheat! If you don't like a card, you get to draw another one.
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We marvel today at the sorry state of the arts, but the Muses were suffering from exhaustion all the way back in 1892. We find proof in The Idler.
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When the treasured Enrique Vila-Matas says that "Occasionally my sense of irony reaches Paris itself" (within the delightful Never Any End to Paris), we might add that it's a longer journey than one might think, when one factors in the meanderings of the Seine. Speaking of irony, we love this Vila-Matas original: "Irony is the highest form of sincerity." |
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This one's courtesy of William Keckler: If you read the Collected Works of Franz Kafka only in elevators, a little bit at a time, it will take you years but you will probably appreciate his writing at a much deeper level. |
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See if this very strange phenomenon happens to you: Do the mystical symbols on the cover of Magic Words: A Dictionary inexplicably disappear in Amazon.com's scan of the softcover? Note that if you click on the Kindle edition of the book, the mystical symbols re-materialize. Here's the link to compare the two covers. Is it just us? If not, what's behind this "now you see it, now you don't" routine over at Amazon?
Scans of the Kindle edition (left) and the softcover (right). Who or what is behind the magical disappearance of the mystical symbols?
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Page 148 of 169
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Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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