pianoer 's Library tagged oblique → View Popular

06 Jun 07

It was created as a way to quickly generate new ideas when your mind goes blank. While Oblique Strategies decks are hard to obtain these days, you can use this concept and the Portable Muse idea to hack together your own Oblique Strategies deck.
Once you've read the words on the card(s): follow the direction on the card or write down your thoughts and reactions to the images on the card and what they mean to you. It's that simple.
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- Oblique Strategies is a deck of cards first published by Brian Eno that contained a cryptic quote, question or remark on them to get your mind thinking.
- Let's talk about gear first. You'll need a small, portable notebook to keep all your images and written prompts in.

In the film Slacker, a character offers passers-by cards from an Oblique Strategies deck. Strategies mentioned are "Honor thy error as a hidden intention," "Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify," "Not building a wall; making a brick," "Repetition is a form of change," and the one which came to be seen as a summary of the film's ethos (though it was not part of the official set of Oblique Strategies), "Withdrawing in disgust is not the same thing as apathy."
They can be used as a pack, or by drawing a single card from the shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case the card is trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear...
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- Oblique Strategies (subtitled over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas) is a set of published cards created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Now in its fifth edition, it was first published in 1975. Each card contains a phrase or cryptic remark which can be used to break a deadlock or dilemma situation.

Instructions: download the PDF file and print it out on a laser printer onto card/cover stock. Most laser printers provide the ability to hand feed stock and open up the rear end to provide a straight paper path. Crop marks are provided for cutting the finished stock. I found using a metal ruler and a heavy duty razor black works better than a paper cutter.