Fairy Tale Moon

I love this image.  If no fairy tale can be found that this scene can illustrate, one needs to be written.

Spectacular View

An amazing sunset scene taken a couple of weeks ago.  If this sight were used in a movie it would probably either:  #1. show the reverent aftermath of a miracle, or #2. herald the imminent arrival of some cataclysm of cosmic proportions.

As Expected, But...

I needed to visit Insadong again today, and happened to pass by that shop where I bought the catfish paperweight Saturday.  I checked to see if the proprietor had rearranged the remaining three catfish to make them chase each other's tails again.

Yes, he had.

Which set me to thinking and worrying -- what about the next time somebody buys another of the catfish?  How will the proprietor deal with having just two left?  How will he arrange them?  I mean, obviously he could place them side by side, head to tail, and that could be seen as the fish chasing each other, but it's also conceivable that some people will see them as swimming past each other, like ships in the night or the stars in the cosmos forever growing apart, rather than being united in a yin/yang-like whole.  Oh, what will he do, what is he to do? 

Related post:  My Latest Acquisition

Always Take A Picture First

Four days (I think) ago I rescued yet another worm on the sidewalk.  It was kind of middling-sized, between your regular American-sized worms and the ridiculously scary big ones they've got here in Korea.  I had forgotten about it because I had neglected to take a photo.

Number of worms rescued:  73

Related Post:  Presbyopia Creeping Up On Me

Iridescence By Day

Iridescence At Night

Still Another "Miscellaneous"

My Latest Acquisition

I was in tourist-friendly Insadong earlier and passed by this shop that sells artsy-craftsy knick-knacks.  There I spotted this bronze catfish paperweight, actually one of four arranged to look like they were chasing each other's tails, and it was love at first sight.  Just look at that slick sinuous streamlined body attached to that big flat head with the silly goofy smile -- could you resist?

Eight Tamales Later...

That's how I titled this selfie because I'd actually bought eight tamales earlier that day, but it looks more like eighty tamales would be a better fit.  This is from the time I found a website that instantly adds fifty pounds to your photo, absolutely free of charge.

Not A Portrait

I once worked on a life-size nude female figure.  It was to be an honest -- if a bit idealized -- portrait of someone I was in a relationship with.  As such, it was going to include certain features of her body that only her mother and her husband would know about.  Needless to say, when she realized my intention she made me change them.  We broke it off not long afterward, and the painting was left unfinished.  This paper doll is a kind of tribute, to both her and the failed relationship (which I guess was a non-starter anyway), hence the skull and the black patch hiding her identity.

Related post:  Double Portrait, Vanitas

More Angel Wings Over Seoul

Related posts:  Dark Wings Over Seoul, Another Wing Found, Today's Find, An Old Sketch For Something..., Devil On The Floor, More Angels

The Beauty And The Terror

Like a planetary nebula somehow transplanted to terrestrial atmosphere, both dramatic and scary to behold.  Seen over northern Seoul around 3:40 PM on August 16.

"Neighborhood Guardian"

That's what some people call this big old ginkgo tree, estimated to be in the neighborhood of five and a half centuries in age, in Hoehyeon-dong.  At the time I discovered it I didn't know it, but an online search turned up the legend that a wish made at the site will come true.  Maybe some day I'll go back and make a wish.

Cute Accident

After uploading this image of a looming cloud to my computer I noticed something rather amusing.  The cloud was "photobombed" -- by a cicada!

Related post:  Find The Birdie

Errant Kuromi

Came across this cute/evil Japanese cartoon character (cutely evil? is that a word?) somebody dropped at the Hwajeong subway station entrance.

Speaking of which, I am reminded that I am wont to say -- with tongue firmly in cheek -- "Japan used to have a wonderful aesthetic tradition, but then came the invasion of the 'kawaii'...".

Oh, and just for a moment, I thought those pink buttons were NIPPLES.

Related posts:  Errant Bunny, Errant Teddy, Errant Sparrow, Errant Concrete Mixer

The Waxing Moon

...above, and a very suggestive-looking cloud below.  Toward evening yesterday I went out for a quick beer run (like I said before, during these dog days I don't go out without a good reason, and beer is one of the best reasons I can think of), and as I came down the steps this is what I saw.  I must have taken a couple dozen shots immediately, until the fast-dissipating cloud became too ragged at the edges to continue.  I guess I was really lucky to have caught this cloud in its "prime".

 

And Before The Day Is Over...

This "memory" for today popped up on my Facebook page.

I remember actually driving by this restaurant in Westwood, just to see if there was anything unusual about it, like a map of Echigo province on the sign or maybe an image of the monk Ryokan, but no, there wasn't.

Interesting. Wow...

Today is August 14, 2024.  Just now I was again rummaging through old folders, mining for previously overlooked photos, when I came upon this image of a glove sticking out of a pond.  It was quite striking, and fairly surreal-looking as well.  It evoked de Chirico and others of his ilk from the early decades of the last century.  Maybe someone had marked a spot with it, to do some maintenance work later?  I played with it a while, trying this and that with editing software, then got the bright idea to turn it upside down.  It turned out to be a winning move, as the glove was crumpled in an unnatural way and turning it upside down made it somewhat less conspicuous;  and it also made its striking reflection stand out even more.  So then, after some more work I felt it was finally ready for posting, and I opened this blog and clicked on "hand" in the sidebar to link to related prior posts.  The first post that popped up was the one with the shadow of my hand, which was kind of like the yin to this yang, I thought.  The hand shadow was reaching out from darkness, whereas this reflection seemed to be reaching into the water.  So they complement each other -- O.K., good.  Then I looked at its date -- August 14, 2023, same date, exactly a year ago!

Related posts:  Suddenly Sad (the hand shadow), Glove

And it's happened before:  The Very Next Dream Log Entry

The Eye Of The Firestorm

Maybe this sounds like something a fan of those old kitchy Hammer Horror movies might say (I confess I am one), but surely this is Baphomet, the horned goat-deity of old, come to unholy life and staring out of the hellfire to which it had been consigned!  Burning in the deepest pit of Hades, and over it a dragon biting its horn -- perhaps Satan himself..?

Two x Two x Two

That's what I was thinking of titling this image as I worked on it, cropping and cleaning, etc., when I suddenly realized the song I was listening to was "Just the Two of Us".

Third Time's The Charm

For the third time this summer, I found a cicada sitting on the bug screen this morning -- but this one was on the inside!  How it got around the screen, I have no idea.  It really must be charmed.  Anyway, those fat little "thighs" are kind of cute.

KFC - Kentucky Fried Cloud

Another find in an old folder.

Torch

With all due respect to Paris, I think this makes for a much more picturesque torch than the Olympic one.

 

Hooded And Hung

Visited Garak Market in Gangnam (as in "Oppan Gangnam style!") for the first time the other day.  It turned out to be really a group of sub-markets in separate areas, each specializing in a particular type of comestibles, like seafood, produce and meats.  And in the area reserved for dried fish, I saw these yellow corvinas strung up on cords.  I'd seen that arrangement before, but these fish were wearing little see-through hoods on their heads.  I'd never seen that before, and I actually thought it was kind of cute.  It also reminded me of bank robbers wearing pantyhose on their heads by way of disguise.

One More "Miscellaneous"

Related post:  Parking Lot Cracks

Incipient Mammatus Cloud

...in the evening sky.  These days I don't go out during the heat of the day without a good reason.  The air conditioner broke down several days ago, and I thought maybe I could make do with just a couple of fans, thinking it would be cheaper than running the AC;  but now I'm thinking maybe I should call in a technician after all -- I don't know if I can last much longer like this^. 

Find The Birdie

I took a shot of these dramatic clouds on a whim, as I'm wont to do.  I'm always taking multiple shots of whatever happens to catch my fancy at the moment;  most of them get deleted later, as they don't stand up well to a second look and I'm a miser about memory space.  This one, though, passed muster thanks to an overlooked detail that added a "small" but well-placed layer of interest.

Dragonflies Mate On The Wing, Too?

Related post:  Butterflies Do Not Mate On The Wing?

Jennie Thinks So, Too

I was just walking by when I spotted this unusual "snaky-looking" cloud.  And the giant photo of the K-pop idol, Jennie, of the girl group BlackPink.

Looks like Jennie thinks the cloud is peculiar as well.

Living Illustration

Of a famous Buddhist parable, which goes like this (in one of several versions):  On the surface of the World Ocean there floats a piece of driftwood with a hole in it that's just large enough for a turtle's head to poke through.  And at the bottom of the ocean there lives a turtle.  Once every thousand years the turtle surfaces to breathe -- so what is the likelihood of that turtle breaking surface once in a thousand years and just randomly happening upon that piece of wood and putting its head through that hole?  That's the kind of odds that you've had to overcome already, just to be born as a human being after millions of lifetimes as a lower being.  And that is why life as a human is such a precious opportunity, not to be frittered away -- and murder such a terrible sin.

This red-eared turtle seems to be embodying the lesson using a leaf.

Ya Lookin' At Me?