Imaginaerium, Day 7 - XL Edition

Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but most of all, endurance.

— James Baldwin

One week into these posts, it has been interesting to trawl the range of sources to see what I draw inspiration for myself. And it has been fun to share it with every one of you. Summer Camp is soon on us, and we'll have to put all the ideas we're getting together for the prompts. I can't wait!
And to really kick it off, it's going to be an extra chunky Imaginaerium today!

Book Recommendation

Project PIG officially got underway with its first meeting at the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department.
All told, there were a dozen people, most of them strangers to each other and identified by pink name tags cut in the shape of pigs.

— Jackson, Steve. No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators

No Stone Unturned is a book about both evolution and development of forensic science for solving crime, and some of the people behind the effort. NecroSearch essentially starts as a volunteer force of civilians who tested, developed, then helped out police in the most unfortunate of missions - finding bodies. It's an interesting piece of lore, full of history and characters.
As it's a book about horrible crimes, it can get pretty bleak - so reader discretion is advised.
You can find it here:

Video Recommendation

And since we're talking about finding bodies, what about hiding them?
The Modern Rogue is a youtube channel that tests a wide range of different weird things, from bypassing RFID badges to how to dissolve bodies in lye.
Check them out here:

As a bonus and a youtube channel they have occasionally mentioned, check out the LockPicking Lawyer, a channel about.. Well, picking locks.
If you ever wanted some detail of what lockpicking looks like, or the various screw-ups lock companies get up to when trying to check a few bucks, check him out.

Shows, Movies, Anime

Okay, it's a bit of a silly shonen... But Toriko is interesting from a world-building perspective, because it is a world centered very tightly around food, cooking, and eating. Everything in the world revolves around it - from ingredients, to cooking, to kitchen knives, even fighting styles.
It's an interesting look at a form of high-concept world building, and pretty entertaining.

And how often do you watch a show where the protagonist lives in a house made out of candy?

Podcast Recommendation

I mentioned Sarah Painer in the first Imaginaerium, with her book "Stop Worrying, Start Writing" - she also hosts a podcast called the Worried Writer, where she interviews authors, talking about the trials and tribulations of writing.
It is available on Spotify, here:

Music Recommendation

F-777 is one of my favorite bands to just kind of zone out to, with a nice mix of fun tunes. Check 'em out!

World Recommendation

Today, I'm going to recommend you have a look at Stormbril's excellent Cathedris. It's a weird, steampunk-ish world where one of the central hooks is the so-called God-Husks. Remnants of a deicidal war, where all the gods killed each other... Only to find out they can't actually die.
So you have undying, mindless titans wandering the land, engaging in all kinds of strange behavior while their reanimated limbs, blood, and organs cause all kinds of chaos. As a bonus, he has some of the best CSS/Styling going on, with the godhusks especially.
It is very highly recommended. Go check it out!

Images to Inspire

by Colleen Atwood

by Deformities, Including Diseases of the Joints and Bones. A. H. Tubby, 1912

by Tomasz Strzalkowski

by Joe Robbins

by Nyaka-N

by Tatsuya Nemoto

by Marc Scoll