Apocalyptic Skies

I seem to be on a bit of a "hellfire" jag lately.  It's probably not healthy...

Could It Be...?

While going through unused photos in old folders, I came across this image of a "ghost in the clouds" from April, 2021.

It looked decidedly odd, so I closed in and heightened contrast, and whaddayaknow, it was a giant cell in the sky!  Trying to blend in with the surrounding clouds, but it stood out with its unusually well-defined boundary (cell membrane?!) and what look for all the world like a nucleus and organelles within the "cytoplasm".

[With a wink and a nod to Trevor James Constable, author of They Live in the Sky!]

Compare to this diagram of a typical animal cell found online.

Looks like I'd come across an actual sky-amoeba.  And come to think, it reminded me of this, and this, as well as this.  The skies are indeed full of w̶e̶i̶r̶d̶ s̶c̶a̶r̶y̶ m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶s̶  life!

"You Can't Keep A Good Cat Down"

The pawprints of a cat who climbed up these stairs, imprinted when the cement was fresh, cat-lifetimes ago, but preserved for all time.

Brimstone Angel II

 

I'm finding this one actually frightens me, just a little.

[But at the same time, I sure like me some hellfire, it looks like]

New Wallpapers

While watching the classic silent film Metropolis online I got the bright idea to take some screenshots and make wallpapers for the computer.

This particular edition of the movie has been remastered and colorized, hence the somewhat unnatural and exaggerated color, but I liked it that way -- it actually fits the concept of German expressionist cinema of the era.  Silent movie acting itself was generally exaggerated anyway -- just look at those faces!

[Mild spoiler ahead] In the above scene an audience of men from the privileged upper class of Metropolis, a great dystopian city of the future -- as envisioned by director Fritz Lang in 1927 --

are getting their first look at Maria, the female protagonist, and are going mad with lust as she dances for them.

Except, it is not the real Maria, who is a champion of the exploited underclass who labor literally underground to keep the city runnning,

but a robot

that's been transformed to look like Maria by Rotwang, the mad scientist/wizard with an artificial hand (could be this visual detail inspired the character of Dr. Strangelove, whose black-gloved hand kept giving the Nazi salute against his will),

for the purpose of leading the workers astray.

I won't spoil the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it.  It's a masterpiece, though -- I mean, how can a movie be bad that includes amazing visuals like these?

(and of course, This)

Exit/Transfer

Related posts:  A Drizzly Day In Hongdae

                         A Bit Eerie

Evening Hush

Somewhat Surprising

It was early afternoon on a clear Wednesday. I was strolling down a neighborhood sidewalk in the sunshine, relaxed and with not a care in the world, when suddenly something caught my eye -- a bright flash of light at the edge of vision, that quickly streaked across a road sign and disappeared.  I looked about, looking for the source, but didn't see any likely candidate.  So I was about to resume my walk when I saw it again, very clearly this time because I was looking right at the sign; and not only that, it seemed timed to match my movement.  Intrigued, I cautiously moved forward again -- and yes, there it was.  This time it stayed on the road sign long enough that I could tell it was mimicking my movement.

That's when I realized it was sunlight reflecting off the "steampunk" goggles on my hat!  I turned my head slowly back and forth, and sure enough, it followed my movements.  I was a little amazed that the spot of reflected light was so concentrated and clear-edged, with no dispersal to speak of, just like when I used to play with a hand mirror and sunlight as a child.  To look at the (cheap)goggles casually, you wouldn't think the lenses would be this effective as reflectors.

As for why there was only one reflection instead of two, the only possible explanation I can come up with is that perhaps it was due to the slight divergence of angle between the two lenses, magnified by the distance.  You know, like how a Venus probe going just a few degrees off orbit early on could necessitate a course correction of tens of thousands of miles later on.

More About Gloves

So yesterday I came across yet another "errant glove" on the sidewalk. 

Over the years I have lost several gloves myself, but always the left glove only.  Never the right glove -- why would that be?

Somewhere there could be other bloggers posting photos of lost left gloves... mine.

This morning I found an old pair that I had forgotten about (in fact I couldn't remember them at all even after finding them);  they did not have conductive fingertips for touchscreen functions, so after some hesitation I decided to cut the tip off the right index finger.

I tried it on my phone and it was comfortable, and so I was about to cut the tip off the thumb as well, but then I realized I could expand and shrink photos with the thumb intact😐  Too late, I checked the print on the back of the glove, and realized these were "smart gloves", made of conductive material that made the use of special fingertips unnecessary.  Oh well.

I'll just pretend it was still worth it to open up the index finger;  that, for example, the naked finger is more precise for selecting words on the small phone screen to look up online and such😁

"Space To Let"

Or in more common American idiom, "For Lease".

First A Triangle,

and today, a rectangle (or parallelogram).  Maybe a pentagon is next?

 Related post:  Luckiest Day Of The Week

Climbing Santa

The first one that I spotted this season, yesterday.

 

Goo-Goo Eyes

on a subway station air purifier.  A conspiracy theorist could well suspect that this is part of the government's first steps in getting the public accustomed to seeing robotic interfaces everywhere -- the ultimate aim being digital ID and facial recognition in every aspect of life.  Think that's extremist thinking?  Today I read about how China has actually started using facial recognition tech for dispensing toiler paper(!) in some public restrooms to prevent random people stealing toilet paper -- apparently that's been a significant problem in some places.

Errant Bouquet

Found during an outing to the Han River.

A bouquet of flowers someone had abandoned, wedged between rocks.

Not randomly thrown out, but carefully placed to make certain the flowers would be facing up and their stems would stay dipped in the water, to keep them fresh and abloom as long as possible.

Scenarios...

Related posts:  Errant

A Memory

This came up in my Facebook memory feed today.

I hope I racked up a teeny bit of good karma for this act of sympathy and goodwill toward a fellow human.

I'd better have...  on that day I was acting quite against my natural impulses -- which incline more toward Wine, Women, and Song.

Just kidding -- I've only ever had any luck with just two out of the three...

Looming

I stood on a street corner for some minutes watching this cloud growing and advancing over the building, as if to overwhelm it by its sheer presence.  It was fascinating, and at the same time, a little ominous.  I took a shot every minute or so to keep track of its progress, but then this street proselytizer lady came up, handed me a leaflet (with a piece of candy attached, and bearing this passage from Matthew 11:28 -- "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest")

and tried to engage me in conversation.  I responded mostly out of politeness, but the distraction caused me to momentarily forget to photograph the cloud -- which is why there is a bit of a "jump" between photos 4 and 5.

Related post:  Blooming Darkness

The Dragon's Return

I took this quick shot of a moderately interesting, but otherwise fairly unremarkable, cloud while out walking.  I didn't think much of it then.

However, upon taking another look later at home, I thought I noticed something, a tinge of familiarity(?);  so I gave the image a quarter turn, sharpened it up a bit, heightened contrast... and yes, my hunch proved correct;  it's another dragon -- a skeletal dragon, not my other dragon Dracovolans australocaliforniensis maximus -- falling down from the sky!

But a Dragon falling out of Heaven... isn't that Lucifer?

Related posts:  Something Really, Truly, Is Going On Up

                          There

                         Dracovolans australocaliforniensis maximus

                         Another Dragon

                         The Fall Of Lucifer