Shadows Have Eyes

At The Headwaters

Of the modernized, artificially enhanced CheongGyeCheon stream, Seoul -- indelibly marked by this Claes Oldenberg sculpture.  In my personal opinion its toy-like bright colors stand out dissonantly amidst its stark, open environment, but what do I know, it is a popular tourist attraction as well as a favorite hangout of Seoulites who want to relax and enjoy a bit of (semi-)nature along with the herons and cranes, who don't seem to mind the all the human attention.

A Rare Shot

Another rummage session through old files uncovered this humorous accidental image of a gull seemingly reacting to a swimmer.  It somehow went unnoticed at the time, but it's a true "once in a lifetime" shot.

"Dying Gladiator"

I was scooping out material from the back of the mask and went slightly overboard, hence the rip by the eye and the knocked-out teeth.  But that's fine, I'll just say they are old wounds.  Gives the face a final coat of warrior's dignity.

 

One Unforgettable Occasion

The Moon -- so indifferent, so detached and unattainable...

For once was in a compliant mood and did just what I wanted of her.

It was never repeated.

Fresh Fish, Fresher Fish

Wonder if they understand what's in store for them, even as they see what has befallen their brethren?  I remember reading somewhere that some pigs and cattle, at least, seem to realize their fate once they are being herded into the slaughterhouse.

For the record, I'm a fan of sushi and sashimi. 

Obake

Obake (おばけ, pronounced o-bah-kay, from "change") is a term in Japanese folklore (synonymous with bakemono, "thing that changes") that refers to a class of supernatural monsters that can take on shapes that are different from their original forms, most often for some sinister purpose.  They may be living creatures, or they may be inanimate objects that have somehow acquired an animistic soul.  Actually, there are similar traditions in other eastern cultures as well -- I am reminded of the Tibetan tale about an abandoned fur hat that acquired a life of its own through the power of intense thought and started moving like some mysterious animal in the grass, scaring witnesses;  and in Korea some say if a broom is left unused in a cold, dark place, it will absorb yin energy and eventually transform into a dokkaebi (a creature of mostly humanoid appearance, but with superhuman attributes), and of course there is the pan-oriental myth of the nine-tailed fox that can shapeshift into humans -- but the Japanese mythos is truly impressive for the sheer number and variety of its monsters and their representation in art;  it seems just about anything and everything is capable of transforming into a monster at some point -- lamps, fans, rocks, eggs, umbrellas, you name it.  And trees.  Here is a palm tree, that I happened to catch in the process of such scary transmogrification.

Remarkably, it's almost a twin of another monster-tree that I photographed in the past.  Check out this post: "Another One Of Those Vaguely Sinister Images".  It really seems as if there is a whole other order of existence co-existing with this world, inhabited by mysterious and unknowable beings and subject to its own rules, which only vaguely resemble ours.

Views From The 6th and 12th Floors

One from the window of my old loft in downtown Los Angeles, and another from the roof of the building.  It was situated just about square in the middle between the ritzy postmodern combined-use buildings to the west, the mission district/aka skid row to the east, the imposing government buildings to the north and the industrial warehouses to the south.  The building was 12 stories, almost a century old, and it was largely favored by the hip younger set that was sort of faux-yuppy, sort of maybe not.  There weren't enough parking spaces down in the basement to accommodate all the tenants' cars, so there was no assigned parking;  instead there were valets whose job it was to juggle the cars around as spaces became available as residents went out and came in.  But anyway, living right across Hill Street from Pershing Square (formerly notorious as a gay hangout), I was used to seeing considerable spillover population from skid row, which was just some blocks away.

And it's true, once you step far enough away -- or as I like to call it, "taking the God's-eye point of view" -- what at first looked like ugly tragedy turns out to be a beautiful dramedy.

Related Post:  2 Views

Yet Another "How Appropriate"

Birds of a feather...

 

Related Posts:  How Appropriate, Another "How Appropriate"

Moon King

 

The Wrinkly-Mouthed Serpent

Hungrily eyeing the fat pigeon.  Definitely a cousin of the aforementioned "Red Monster".

Another Oddball Object, From The Past

It pays to go back and check out old picture files!  I was going through some old photos when I came across this one.  It was shot in December, 2019, and shows some mildly interesting clouds shot through the windshield of my car.  As I was looking it over, I suddenly realized that I may have inadvertently photographed something else besides clouds.  Obviously, at the time it was taken I did not notice this unusual detail.  Whatever it is, it looks too sharply defined and regular in shape to be a cloudlet.  Rather, it looks much more like some sort of self-contained, concentrated mass -- and no, it's not a piece of shmutz on the windshield either, because it does not appear in any of the other photos.  What it does remind me of, is the "sky amoebas" whose images appear in Trevor James Constable's book They Live in the Sky.  The heck.

Oddball Object

One more "gonzo" floating thingy.

Related Post:  Gonzo UFO

Just One More Shot of That Kachina Doorway

From way back when.  The left photo was the last one taken, long after the other two, and it completes the classical symmetry of the image.  The result is a composite photograph that was several years in the making.

But Two Out Of Three Still Wouldn't Be Bad*

I just came back from a beer run to the convenience store down the block.  Sounds simple, but that was the second time today I had to climb 11 flights of stairs to my apartment, as the elevator is being replaced and will be out of commission until the end of the month😓  Anyway, at the convenience store I happened across a pair of eyeglasses on a table and turned it over to the clerk.  The thing is, this was the second time this week that I found a random pair of glasses, as two days ago I also came across a pair in Itaewon, near the Seoul mosque.

Now I'm waiting to see if things really do come in threes.

*Like the song by Meat Loaf

The Beautiful, Indifferent Moon II

 

When The Cherry Blossoms Have Passed

I guess it depends on one's personality type -- is the title funny or sad/bittersweet?

 

Playing With The Sun

Plain

Aiming the cue

Poke (sorry😉)

Eclipse

Red Monster

The Sinchon neighborhood is home turf to the Red Monster.  Normally it pretends to be a piece of street sculpture and watches the pedestrians passing by, eagerly waiting for one to come close enough to be gobbled up.

One rainy afternoon I saw it eyeing this Umbrella Girl, probably trying to decide whether or not it was hungry enough to engulf her from behind and swallow her up right then.

I was in a rush and couldn't wait around to find out what ultimately transpired.  But the incident kept bothering me... 

I went back the next day and looked directly up into the creature's maw (from a safe distance, of course), looking for any signs of Umbrella Girl's fate.  But unsurprisingly, there were none.

I still wonder what happened to Umbrella Girl.

"Scuola Metafisica"

I took this shot of the old train station at Daegok the other day, just north of here.

But wow, it came out looking like a spiritual cousin of something out of Giorgio de Chirico's studio!

Rather like Arnold Böcklin (see below) with his "Isle of the Dead" paintings, de Chirico executed a number of versions of this dreamlike, oddly disquieting image ("Piazza d'Italia") and others in a similar vein in the early years of the 20th century.  Also called "Pittura Metafisica" in Italian, de Chirico's works (and also those of Carlo Carra) from this period are translated into English as "Metaphysical Art".

Another Optical Illusion

I looked down this alley as I walked past, and just for a moment, thought I was looking at an intensely blue sky.

But no^  The real sky above the blue-draped building was the same old boiled blue.

Related Post:  Almost As Soon As...

"Upstart"

 

Fliegende Hexe

I saw this sight and was immediately reminded of those weird cosmic monsters in the past that swallowed (or tried to) the Sun.  But upon closer look I recognized this sinister creature for a much more familiar being - an old hag of a witch, with meeting nose and chin, laughing as she prepares to devour the Sun.  A quick hot snack on the way to the Sabbat, perhaps?

Optical Illusion

I walked past this bakery and, just for a moment, thought those loaves were eyeballs.  A bit startling, to be sure.

Moon Lamp