Step into the small web
Welcome to the Mythical Type newsletter, where I share projects I’m working on, things I’ve been watching, and sources of inspiration.
Hi there! I hope your summer is off to a good start. Are you in a heat wave? I’m in a heat wave.
This newsletter has rabbit holes, FYI.
I have been trying to be more intentional about the time I spend online in my free time. My goal is less time scrolling, scrolling on social media. More time reading blogs and browsing personal websites (more on that below). I am having mixed success, but I am finding interesting things along the way.
A few years ago, I read the term “IndieWeb,” as in independent (personal) websites. Not corporate-owned websites or social media platforms.
More recently and relatedly, I came across the term “small web.” These are personal websites, too, and the focus is on creative freedom for coding and layout. Website as self-expression. Both IndieWeb and small web fit under an umbrella of web revival.
After lots of clicking and browsing and opening tons of tabs, here’s what I narrowed down to show you.
GusBus.Space, who created the Smallweb Subway - an old school webring!! Gus is connecting personal websites based on shared interests: science fiction, zines, art, comics, and poetry. (I’m in the zine line. 😃) It’s pretty new, so links are still being added.
MelonLand is a fun, chaotic website. Please just go look. If you’ve seen web design like this before, I bet it’s been a while.
Leaky Homepage Ring - Every now and then, I find something online that makes me think, okay this is the weirdest/coolest thing I've seen on the internet. It just happened again with this. Go see for yourself.
Survey results
I sent out a test survey, just to see how it worked on Substack. Ten of you actually answered, so thank you for that!
Here are the results:
Favorite season - fall (5 votes), followed by winter (3), and then spring and summer tied (1 each).
Listening to music - over speakers (5), followed by with headphones (3), and in the car (2).
Interesting facts:
Crows have their own language!
Estonia is across the sea from Finland, and Libya is next to Egypt (to the left of looking at a map).
Western Tanagers are not Tanagers but actually in the Cardinal family.
MoviePass was started by two entrepreneurial men who loved going to the movies and after some success, two tycoon con businessmen swept it out from under them.
The OneRepublic did an ending song for an anime this season, and it's actually decently good. :D
A zebra stallion and a horse mare can make a zorse.
In the state of California, it only costs $143 to become legally married.
Chance of rain in weather forecasts refers to the percent of the area that might get rain…not a measure of how likely it will rain.
Submit to Urban Legends
I’m accepting submissions to Urban Legends, a zine about urban legends, local myths, and folklore. Art, photography, and writing are welcome. This will be a quarter-page zine, printed in black & white. Deadline is August 18. Open to anyone in the world. All skill levels welcome.
You can see full guidelines and submit work on my website.
If you’re around Lancaster, PA, in the next couple months, there are plans for zine events in the works. Nothing finalized yet, but hopefully a workshop (or two) and a casual zine meet-up. I’ll share details on my Instagram. I could post to Substack notes, too…does anyone read those?
A few more things
I just finished reading Moonbound by Robin Sloan. Sci-fi and fantasy blended together. It’s bonkers, in the best way.
I’m working on a zine with an outer-space theme. I’m using washi tape as collage.
I re-organized the list of links on my website. If you like my work, you may find more stuff to like in the list.
A reminder: I have 2 zine resources and 2 digital zines on Ko-fi, if you want to check them out. You can download them for free or pay what you want.
Thank you for reading!
As always, thank you for following this newsletter and supporting my work.
If you want to see more from me, you can follow me on Instagram, check out my blog, or browse my zines on Etsy.
Until next time!
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