At The Park

From a visit to Ilsan Lake Park past Saturday.

The Beautiful, Remote Moon II

While checking out some old files as I'm wont to do sometimes, I came across this lovely image.  It was taken back in July -- I don't know why I didn't post it then.  Maybe I was just too occupied with cicadas at the time.

I Read Somewhere

that when you are outdoors in a natural environment, statistically you would never be more than three feet away from a spider.  Well, yesterday a tiny spider was found within a decidedly non-natural, highly artificial environment -- in the lobby of my building, right next to the elevator, and in front of a mirror, too (placed there presumably so you can give yourself a final lookover before setting out).

So I took a picture of the spider in the mirror:

Today I forgot to check on the little fellow when I came home, so I went back down to take a look just now.  He was gone.  The hardworking "environment beautification technicians" (janitors/cleaning ladies) had got him.  Ah well.

Crowned With Glory

Seoul is a huge place, and even after all this time I'm still learning my way around it.  Another random long subway ride brought me to what looked like an old neighborhood with lots of history.  And its own distinctive line of proud, nimbus-wearing clouds.

EDIT:  Out of idle curiosity I looked up the definition of "nimbus", as I knew that this is just one of the names for light phenomena surrounding the persons of holy beings in art.  Well, I got way more than I bargained for -- besides nimbus, there is also halo, aureole, mandorla, cruciform halo, triangular halo, square/rectangular halo, polygonal halo, glory/gloriole, the foreshortened nimbus "plate", which is the nimbus treated as if it were an actual object moving with the person wearing it, and hoop nimbus which is similar to the plate nimbus but is shown as just a thin ring (to avoid the solid nimbus obscuring the scene behind it), all with their specific uses.  And it turns out the type of nimbus ornamenting the clouds here is what's known as "ray nimbus", typified by thin rays of golden light radiating out of the heads of saints and divine beings, as in this miniature illumination of The Savior in the prayer book of Queen Isabela of Castile, from the 15th century:

In fact, I myself have made use of this particular type of nimbus, in this detail showing St. Agatha from a piece made back in my "Northern Renaissance Period".  For a guy who is not formally religious, I sure do love Christian art.

Related posts:  St. George, A Dragon, St. Agatha, My upcoming show

Subway Ad

Korea's Air Busan connects to Japan's Narita Airport, Osaka Airport, and yes, Fukuoka Airport!

The Rest Of The Best Of The Season

Gee, a person could get the impression that Sam is really fond of dragonflies.

 

Wistful

Every so often, I get into this mood where I reflect over my past life as an Angeleno and contemplate whether or not I made the right decision after all in moving back to Korea after a lifetime lived in Los Angeles.  For the second time in my life I'm a foreigner in a new country -- except in this case I'm back in my native land -- which has changed beyond recognition.

This shot was taken from the second story window of a slightly dive-y joint called "L.A. Taco", run by guys who also used to live in L.A.  The food isn't the best I've ever had, and the all-day drizzle already had me in a broody state of mind, but I guess you gotta cut the owners some slack -- after all, they're Koreans making Mexican street food that they learned about in America.

Perfectly Timed, Again

Today I needed to go to Hongdae to buy some art supplies.  This time I took exit 6 out of the subway instead of the usual exit 9, and as I emerged I was immediately treated to the sight of a bunch of late-comer dragonflies swarming about just overhead.  And of course, I quickly took out my phone camera and started clicking away, randomly at first but then I realized the sun among the clouds made a perfect backdrop.  Even with sunglasses on it was hard to keep staring into the light, but I kept at it, hoping some individuals would slow down long enough for me to catch them against the sun.  And... voila!

My reward.  I just hope I haven't done permanent damage to my eyes.

Related posts:  'Tis The Season, Dragonfly Flying Over The Moon

Another Contrail Photo

Haven't done one of these in some time, it seems.  This one deserves at least a peripheral mention.  Not least because in the neighboring parallel universes to either side of this one this photo would be showing that vapor trail a second before and a second after that crucial target point, and therefore considered unworthy to be posted here.

My Card

After four and a half years in Korea I finally had a pack of business cards made today.  I've come to find that it's a very awkward thing for a professional or anyone who does anything in the public's eye not to have a business card, especially in Asia.  It really is something of a polite ritual here to exchange cards when meeting someone for the first time.  So, here it is at last.  Sorry about the phone number.

Big Lunch

Yesterday, 17 September, 2024, was the traditional holiday of Chuseok/추석, also known variously as Han-ga-wi, August Moon Festival, Harvest Festival, and the Korea-centric "Korean Thanksgiving".  It's celebrated on the 15th of August by the lunar calendar, when the Moon is full, the summer heat has largely subsided and "the horse fattens and the sky is tall" (although this year the temps are still quite high, remaining in the lower 30's Celsius (90+ Fahrenheit) when normally they should have fallen to the mid-20's).

So the whole mishpocheh -- most of my extended family in Korea -- got together on the day before and had a big delicious lunch at a Hanwoo beef restaurant (thank you, uncle).

And I presented all present with the Chinese "Moon cakes" that I'd bought a couple of days previously.

Sinister Stare? Mocking Leer?

I was just walking along, minding my own business, when suddenly I began to feel uncomfortable, as if I were being stared at.  I looked around, but saw no one facing in my direction.  Still, no matter -- I just couldn't shake the feeling.  We humans, being social animals, are equipped by evolution to be extremely sensitive to others' gazes as well as any minute changes in their facial expressions.  I just knew I was being stared at by someone.

And finally I spotted the party responsible for my discomfort.

Another "Oddly Even"

I had just turned the corner when I spotted this cloud dead ahead.  It was dissipating even as I watched, so I had to act quickly and shoot it.  If I had arrived just a moment earlier, I probably would have found it in an even more "even" state.

Related post:  Oddly Even

The Secret Language Of The Earth (Pt. 18)

Stream Of Consciousness

Saw this "Dark Moon" at a bus stop and started free-associating.

Which led to this oldie goldie by singer-actress Gale Storm.

Upcoming Show

An acquaintance (my former English student) happens to own a cafe where she displays works by local artists, and some time ago she proposed maybe I could show my photographs there.  I of course jumped at the chance, as this would mark my public debut as a photographer rather than a painter/sculptor.  Today I went and got some advertising material made.  It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Related post:  My upcoming show

One More Crow Photo

I just know there's a story here.  A lone crow in a private, secluded spot away from prying eyes, apparently finally feeling free to say something out loud that she's been keeping all pent-up for the longest, torturous time?  And under an empty flagpole, of all places!  Come now, of course there's a backstory.  It could turn out to be largely humorous, along the lines of "The king has ass's ears" -- but perhaps it's far more dark, like Hans Christian Andersen's pretty-but-ultimately-tragic stories (let's face it, despite the immense popularity of his stories, when it came to his private life Andersen was a rather pathetic, unfulfilled case -- the ladies, including even noble ladies, loved his storytelling, but not so much him personally...) that start out fairly innocent but go on to unbelievably heart-rending conclusions, like the "Steadfast Tin Soldier" and "The Red Shoes".  And here I go, over and down the Pessimist Hill again.

Related post:  Fairy Tale Moon

Funny Coincidence

Just now, I was reading a news article about the economic plight of young Japanese who migrated to Australia on "working holidays".  The comment section was full of negative statements, with a lot of people expressing disapproval of the policies of the old administration under the late former prime minister Shinzo Abe (the so-called "Abenomics").  At the same time I was listening to "The Girl from Ipanema" as covered by Andrea Bocelli.  As my eyes alighted on the word "Abe", Andrea sang "... a beleza que existe..."

Flying Genie

Or djinni, if you prefer.  In the 1940 version of The Thief of Baghdad, starring Sabu as the titular antihero, Rex Ingram plays the genie freed from the bottle that Abu, the character played by Sabu, finds on a beach after being shipwrecked.  The giant imp first appears as a thick plume of scary black smoke that comes shooting out of the bottle, then the smoke begins to coalesce into humanoid form, and his booming voice is heard as he laughs maniacally and thunders (so far as I my memory serves) "FREE!  FREE!  FREE!  Free after two thousand years!!!"  It's a wonderful, enthralling scene.

And someone must have just freed another genie;  I caught him soaring across the afternoon sky even as he kneels reverently, face turned heavenward in gratitude for his liberation.

Here is one of the original Hollywood posters for the movie, courtesy of the internet.  It's a magnificent production, and if you ever get a chance to view it, I highly recommend doing so:

Puffball and Shadow

You see dandelion puffballs all the time, everywhere where there's soil and grass, but do you recall ever seeing their shadows?  I was lucky to have happened across one growing right at the edge of the road verge. 

And here you were thinking, weren't you, that I was going to go off on all sorts of philosophical tangents and expound on the inevitability of dualities and dichotomies in life and the universe -- like light and dark, yin and yang, body and soul, matter and spirit, inseparability of opposites, matter and antimatter pairings, nature and artifice, Siamese twins, two-facedness, complementariness, magnetic polarities, spacetime relativity, not to mention Jekyll-and-Hyde split personalities, and of course, honne vs tatemae in Japan.  Well, I didn't -- fooled ya!^

No-Lotus Lotus

Another Modified Photo

Colorful things.  So far I'm having fun doing them.

I Had To Make This Meme

Because wiser words were never spoken.

I Once Read

in a book whose title I've long since forgotten that old-time lore passed down among lumberjacks in the logging camps of North America included tall tales of a weird creature known, rather literally, as the "Staybehind".  That's exactly what it did -- pick some logger or traveler caught out alone in the woods, get right up behind him and stay with him.  If the unfortunate fellow happened to hear its footsteps or somehow sense it and whirled around to confront it, no matter how fast he turned it was always faster than he was and managed to stay behind him always.  But even though the victim could not see it, he knew the creature was there, he could feel its presence right behind him, and could not escape it no matter how fast he ran.  Naturally, no one could tell you what it actually looked like so there was no visual depiction that I could find.  And I don't remember what else, if anything, the Staybehind did.  Could be, it simply followed a victim around in the woods without actually doing anything else by way of physical harm, but simply aroused fear and anxiety by its very presence.  But on the other hand, perhaps it whispered knowingly in his ear, too, or maybe it touched him softly -- or perhaps not so softly -- in sensitive places, until, perhaps it did perpetrate the unspeakable.  And of course, during his torment the victim, not being able to see the creature, would conjure up all kinds of horrible apparitions in his imagination.  The creature was most likely a crystallization of the vague but very real discomfort one is apt to feel when alone in the wilderness, especially in a densely wooded place with all its unseen potential dangers.

Seeing this photo in my Facebook memories reminded me of an incident from my own life from years ago.  (Here beginneth a yarn) There was a period in my past when, for quite some time, I could not shake the feeling that I was being followed and watched everywhere by someone -- or some thing.  I finally got the bright idea -- way too obvious in hindsight -- to check out my shadow.  And sure enough, to my shock -- and simultaneous good fortune -- I was able to capture my own analogue of the Staybehind in this photograph.  And... it turned out to be a giant floating amoeba.  A giant floating amoeba.  Yes, I did freak when I first saw it:  God only knows where it came from or when and how it glommed on to me, but you know what, the good thing is it also turns out that once you learn the identity of your stalker they lose their power over you, to my huge relief.  The amoeba accordingly removed itself from my life instanter, and I have not been bothered by it since.  Whaddayaknow!

This memory reminded me of "The Old Man of the Sea" episode from the tales of Sinbad the Sailor.  The unrelenting, unshakable closeness of the monstrous Old Man certainly is redolent of the nature of the Staybehind.  And I was also reminded of another monstrous being featured in a movie I saw a few years ago, titled It Follows;  it was all about a mysterious, murderous supernatural creature which was invisible to everyone but its victims, but to its chosen victim it appeared in human guise -- usually of some grotesque or scary aspect -- as it followed him/her relentlessly, tirelessly, at a steady walking pace, until it finally caught up to them and killed them.  Then it proceeded to follow the last person the victim had had sex with, and so on all way back up the chain.  The movie was clearly low-budget, but it was well made and well acted.  And there was no attempt at all to explain away the monster, which was wise;  a clumsy, made-up origin story probably would only have sounded clunky and fake.

He Must Have Refrained From Eating Children

NO FEE-FI-FO-FUM THERE

A giant just passed away in the building on the left.  Looks like his spirit is going to heaven.

Recently Re-purposed

Second time around.  This "fossil" used to be part of a larger piece, but it was not impactful enough, I thought, requiring too much thinking on the part of the viewer, not to mention possibly causing eye-strain due to the fine print that formed the background.  So it's been detached, re-painted and had faint leopard spots added for solo presentation.

Related post:  Recently Renamed

Not A Moth

I wasn't too sure whether this was a butterfly or a moth.  I rather suspected the latter, owing to the rounded shape of the wings and fairly stubby-looking body (it has ever been my -- probably groundless -- prejudice that butterflies have pointier wings and sleek, slender bodies).  But a quick online search disclosed the fact that moths have feathery antennae whereas butterflies have smooth ones, which this specimen has.  So butterfly it is.

Funny Shock

Maybe forty minutes ago I was preparing to make mashed potatoes.  The water came to a boil, I reduced the heat to a simmer, covered the pot, set the phone timer to fifteen minutes and started to watch a video version of Asimov's classic short story "The Last Question" on YouTube.  It's about mankind's unending effort to find a way to reverse entropy and bring the cosmos back to life, all the way down the line without obtaining a solution until uncounted trillions of years in the future, the all-knowing cosmic computer, the only thing that still exists in the nothingness that the cosmos has become, finally figures out how to effect creation out of nothing.  I became engrossed in the video and quite forgot about the time;  then just as the video came to the thrilling climax where the cosmic computer commands "Let there be light!" the timer went off next to me -- and loudly, too:  "BBRRINGG!".  Boy, did I jump!^^

As an aside, I'd wanted to add a little horseradish to the mashed potatoes, but found my supply had gone bad.  I ended up using wasabi instead, and it actually turned out pretty good, even without gravy.