Gull checking out man checking out gull

From another one of my many weekend excursions to Venice Beach.  I just happened to catch this gull as it flew by, inspecting me out of the corner of its eye. 

Lost Balloon

 

In A Somber Mood

Yet another image that reminds me of the "Isle of the Dead" paintings by Böcklin. 

Maximum Security Pigeons

 

How Appropriate

"The Covenant"

Related Post:  Another "How Appropriate"

"Train To Busan"

On a whim, I took a train ride to Busan.  I was rather surprised to see much of the city is quite hilly, almost like San Francisco;  I had naively expected it to be all flat, being a big port.  And some of the streetscape actually made me think of Japan, with all the crowding and the old vertical shop signs.  But then, Busan is at the southeastern tip of Korea, where it's the closest major city to Japan (it's common knowledge that the southeastern dialect of Korean sounds rather like Japanese in pitch-shape and accenting;  it could be due to the historical fact that in olden times this was the area where Japanese merchants were allowed to set up shop and do business - at least some of them must have settled for good, married and left progeny that spoke both languages).

Anyway, I had some time to kill before the return trip, and as chance would have it, there was a bus tour of the city that fit right into the schedule.  This shot was actually taken through the bus window as the vehicle wound around a cliff road.

Cold Air

Russian Orthodox Church Near Hollywood

I miss L.A.  I think I'll go back some day.

Huckleberry Gulls

FROM ONE OF MY MANY VISITS TO VENICE BEACH

"Yo' feets, dey sho' am big 'n flat."

"Hunh!  So am yo's!"

ANXIETY

Vanitas

"VANITY... ALL IS VANITY"

A Scold

LAST LIGHT OF THE DAY

Scaredy Fish

Believe it or not, that's an actual dirigible -- a funny-printed one -- in the far distance, accidentally juxtaposed with the scary dark tree just as I came along.

THE SINISTER DARK THINGS ALONG THE WAY

Nostalgia

FOR SOMETHING THAT NEVER WAS

Does anyone else ever feel like this?  Wistful, melancholy, and kinda sorta sad and longing for something, but not quite knowing what it is you miss.  

In Korean folklore, a human soul is a star that came down from the sky and became embodied.  When the body dies we go back to the sky and take our place among the stars again.  You might say that when we feel a vague longing without knowing the cause, it's our soul longing for our old home in the heavens.

EDIT:  Someone told me that the musical style of Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi (born Mamoru Fujisawa), longtime collaborator of animation director Hayao Miyazaki, has been described as making one "nostalgic for things that never were".  Come to think, that description really does fit much of his music. 

Related post:  I-Witness: 2 Angels