If you're a fantasy author/game designer and want to create interesting and biologically believable worlds without resorting to tired Tolkienisms like dwarves, halflings or horses, you need to be reading 'Science of Creature Design' and 'Animals Real and Imagined,' by Terryl Whitlatch.
She served as the lead creature designer on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and created most of the iconic aliens and animal designs we see in that film.
Fantasy fiction is a realm of limitless imagination. You should have no excuse not to create original creatures rather than endlessly importing borrowed ones.
FYI: di video ini adalah pondoknya Mama Ghufron yang maqoli-maqoli itu.
Seumur-umur saya mondok, dari Jawa Tengah hingga Jawa Timur, belum pernah ada kiai-kiai saya yang mengajarkan saya untuk ngesot-ngesot begitu.
Saya pernah mencium tangan salah satu gus saya di Kudus, langsung dimarahi:
"Saya ini kalian hormati karena dosa-dosaku ditutup Allah. Coba kalau aib-aibku dibuka, kalian pasti muak."
Makanya, 'kontrak' saya dengan kiai-kiai saya hanya ilmu. Bagaimana dengan penghormatan? Secukupnya, dan semanusia pada umumnya.
Dan saya bisa sampai jadi seperti ini, ya, karena kiai-kiai saya. Bahkan nama "Rumail" di tashghir nama asli saya pun pemberian kiai saya. Boleh saya bilang, nama itu 'mBerkahi' hidup saya.
Tentu saja doa orang tua saya ada di sana. Siapa tahu, doa merekalah yang membuat saya ditakdirkan mencecap ilmu di pondok pesantren.
😊
There is a certain type of person everywhere now, especially online.
He consumes endless information every day: philosophy, psychology, productivity, spirituality, neuroscience, business, self-improvement, history.
He knows a little about everything and deeply experiences almost nothing.
His entire identity becomes built around understanding instead of living.
He watches videos about confidence instead of speaking confidently. Reads about discipline instead of becoming disciplined. Studies relationships instead of learning how to love. Consumes motivational content instead of taking action.
He feels intelligent because he is constantly mentally stimulated. But stimulation is not transformation.
Most of the time, knowledge becomes emotional protection. Reality is unpredictable. Reality humiliates. Reality exposes weakness. Books and ideas do not.
Inside information, he can continue imagining himself as intelligent, deep, insightful, different from ordinary people. So he remains trapped in preparation.
He constantly feels as if he is "becoming" someone, while his real life remains strangely untouched. He develops sophisticated language for problems he never confronts directly. He can explain human behavior beautifully while being unable to handle ordinary discomfort, rejection, uncertainty, loneliness, or risk.
He slowly turns life into observation instead of participation.
The internet rewards this personality heavily. He receives validation for sounding aware rather than becoming capable.
Eventually, he begins confusing self-analysis with growth and information with wisdom.
But beneath the intelligence usually exists the same thing: fear. Fear of failure. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of reality answering back.
Because action destroys fantasy. The moment he truly acts, he can no longer hide inside potential.
Bagaimana kalo memang semangat melawan dan mengkritik langsung yang ada di kita adalah jawaban dari doa-doa sunyi dari mereka yang bahkan bersuara saja tak mampu?
Jangan lu kira jawaban doa dateng lewat mukjizat dsb doang lah, lu tuh di Islam disuruh mikir, disuruh ikhtiar.