More Of Seoul Stairs

Related posts:  stairs

A Butcher With A Sense Of Humor

I have to admit I was just a tad startled.

Another Mysterious Whatsis(?)

Back in 2018 I was living in a loft in an old highrise in downtown Los Angeles.  This image was shot in March of that year from the sidewalk next to the building.  Evidently it had rained earlier in the evening, and once the rain was over I had decided to step out into the fresh night air and shoot some street views.

What is that colorful gleaming circle at top center right?  My first thought was it's an unusual lens flare, possibly caused by a drop of water on the camera lens.  This was an entirely reasonable suspicion, given that the air must still have been damp from the rain.  But then I looked up images of lens flares and raindrops on lenses, and they were not close matches at all;  the complexity of colorful internal detail present in the "flare" in my photograph was lacking in all of the internet images I found, and also the absence of any other similar artifacts in the photograph is suspicious, as misty wet air would naturally be full of water droplets, but all of the images I found on the internet search were of groups of water drops, not isolated lone drops.

Of course, a flare doesn't have to be caused by water on the lens, but compare the first photograph with this other one from the same set.  Very different, are they not?

Actually, all of the foregoing is just a lead-in to what I really wanted to talk about;  that it reminds me of the fictitious creatures known as "Vitons" in the novel Sinister Barrier by British writer Eric Frank Russell.  Vitons were described as living beings made of energy that resemble large floating spheres.  They share the earthly environment with humans, but normally they are invisible and imperceptible to human senses.  They are conceived as the true masters of this world, who raise humans as livestock, just as ranchers raise cattle, vampirizing humans by feeding on the electrochemical energy of human emotion.  Well, in the novel this discovery of their existence was supposedly made in 2015, and that year came and went without any such startling announcements, so I guess the novel was not meant to be prophetic and we're safe^.

[Eric Frank Russell was (1905-1978) a "Fortean" writer who took the words of Charles Hoy Fort (1874-1932), the American writer, ant-establishment-science iconoclast and cult favorite, fairly seriously when the latter said "I think we're property", half seriously, one-quarter tongue-in-cheek, as was his style.  Russell's novel was originally serialized in the magazine Unknown in 1939 and published in book form in 1948]

(I do suspect that the light circle in the first shot really is an especially fancy sort of flare, despite its significant difference in appearance from the flares in the second shot -- due in no small part to its suspicious proximity to the same street light.  But still, who knows -- maybe the camera really did capture something that was invisible to the naked eye)

Related post:  Mysterious Floating/Flying Object

Cat Demon In The Sky

Related posts:  Dark Wings Over Seoul;  An Angel And A Devil

Talk About A "Commanding View"

Now THAT's what I call a throne!

The Sky Beyond The Sky

Perchance To Dream

This clip reminded me of the ending of the movie Inception (2010);  if the top continued to spin without toppling over, it meant the protagonist was still trapped inside a dream.

 

Knives

My old collection of (mostly cheap) knives.  I miss them.

A Heartfelt Evening

Errant Superhero Ox

Or bull.

Related posts:  Errant

Mysteries

 

A Cloud Desperately Reaching

It looked like a cloud reaching out from an undifferentiated sea of mist toward a state of individuated being, grasping for whatever prize awaits in that existence.

But I guess, in the end, what we see is ourselves reflected.

Errant Ankle Brace

Probably the most unusual "errant" item I've come across so far.  Well, maybe other than this one.

Related posts:  Errant

Condemned

This afternoon I went on a random jaunt, as I am wont to do every so often.  I didn't know where I was going, but I had decided to explore some areas in my local neighborhood that I don't usually frequent.  So I just picked a direction and set out on foot.

For a while there was nothing particularly interesting, just the usual rows and rows of impersonal apartment blocks, prettified villas and small shops, and I was on the verge of giving it up as a bad job and turning back when I spotted something that seemed more promising.  Some ways down a side street off the main road I could see some rather desultory-looking buildings, with what looked like broken furniture and trash strewn about.  As I turned the corner and went down the lane, the buildings became more rundown and before long I finally came across a subject that's right up my alley -- a whole block of condemned apartments!

They obviously had been abandoned for quite some time.  They were all open to the weather and overgrowth and trash littered the sidewalks.  Loose wires hung down from windows.  The only living things I encountered were two stray cats -- one calico, one tabby.  Although I would have dearly liked to explore the interiors, some of the buildings actually had "Danger -- do not enter" tape stretched across the entrance.  I chose not to enter.

I wonder why the buildings were simply left to rot, rather than being subjected to demolition.  Maybe the city ran out of budget.  In any case, it was to my profit.

Return Of The Prodigal

"Dad!"

"Son!"

How I Used To Eat

vs how I eat now.  It's been many years and it's taken time -- and also a certain amount of willpower -- but now it's become the new normal.

Back then:

And now:

The great thing is, I don't need to force myself into a diet mode;  it's become natural to eat light and eat less.  Sure, I can still slide back a big steak now and then, no problem, but I can't imagine eating that way more than once in a great while.

Midnight Snow

 

Around A Random Corner

in Sindang, a mazelike neighborhood of meandering alleys in the central part of old Seoul, full of fortune tellers and shamans plying their trade of minor miracle-making.

Timid Kisser

A Slightly Creepy Lucid Dream

For some reason I had long thought this was an entry on this blog, and a fairly recent one at that, but it turns out I had actually posted it to my Facebook page on February 18th, 2016(!).  Once I found it in my Fb history it seemed worth posting here, so here it is.

A LUCID DREAM(LET)

Last night I went to sleep thinking about lucid dreams.  I wasn't feeling well and didn't feel like making the effort to will myself to have one (doesn't usually work like that anyway [at least not for me, not so far].  Instead, I went to sleep telling myself that if I was determined to dream lucidly, it will eventually happen naturally.  Well, I was right, it happened.  Some time in the early morning I dreamt that I was up and brushing my teeth, getting ready to go to work.  It was very vivid and real, and I was convinced I was really awake -- until I started singing, and looked in the bathroom mirror, and saw that my lips weren't moving (it was pretty creepy at first, like a scene out of a horror movie)!  I realized then that despite the apparent reality of the situation, I was actually dreaming.  Unfortunately that's when the dream ended.  I would have loved to explore this dream world, but oh well.

A Small Clue

Round Peg And Square Hole

 

Truly Hellish

CLAUSTROPHOBIA + *TRYPOPHOBIA

Being locked into a sarcophagus exactly your size and shape with absolutely zero freedom of movement.  Not to mention resembling:  #1. sinister living kernels hiding in tight little burrows;  #2. ripe pimples ready to pop.  To say this wall gives me the willies is a massive understatement.  Who could possibly have thought this would be a clever, pleasant little display?

*Trypophobia:  Fear of small holes, especially when numerous and grouped together.  Here is a typical example of such hole-ly surfaces, courtesy of the internet:

Related posts:  Custom-Made Hells;  My "Phone Doodles"

Another Ghostly Staircase

 

Related post:  The Ghost Of A Staircase

Angel Or Devil?

While descending the subway station stairs, I noted someone had spilled a drink on the landing and left a rather large -- and suggestive -- stain.  I, of course, recognized the possibilities right away, turned around and photographed it from the "bottom" side.

The resemblance to a winged, robed figure was unmistakable.  An angel!

But was it a "loyalist" angel, who fought on St. Michael's side, or one of the "fallen" ones?

I decided not to decide.

Related posts:  Dark Wings Over Seoul;  Winged Figure In Parking Lot;  Devil On The Floor