"Left To The Moon"

 

Just What It Says

For some reason she kept staring at me during the whole subway ride, so I couldn't draw her openly.  I only drew this quick sketch from memory, which is why the quality stinks.  Nevertheless, I think it's pretty close to the model;  she really did have an extreme face like this.

Sorry lady, you're probably a very nice person.

The Pub Named Lethe

Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.  In classical mythology it was the river in the underworld whose waters made you forget your former earthly life.  Then you were ready for paradise or reincarnation.  It would have been nice to be able to forget just specific memories, but that wasn't allowed.  You drink, you forget everything including your identity, that was the deal.  You couldn't pick and choose.

There have been times when I almost wished I could drink of its waters and forget.  Almost.

Just as well.  I wouldn't really want to have my memories erased anyway -- not even the unpleasant, sad and disturbing ones.  If I can't partake of the joys, I'll at least keep the regrets.

Anyway, I can experience temporary oblivion from the bottle whenever I want -- and that's enough for me.

COME IN AND FORGET

By the way, my compliments to whomever chose to have the door of the establishment painted that forbidding grey.  It's perfect.

More Trashed Dudes

According to an article I read the most-consumed spirit in the world, by sheer volume, is not vodka, not whisk(e)y, not tequila or rum.  Liter by liter, the rather unexpected winner of that honor, is soju, overwhelmingly the drink of choice with meals, snacks and excuses in Korea.

Related post:  Trashed Dude

Martial Cloud

I've named this cloud "St. Michael".  It reminds me of the Archangel Michael, that most martial of the angels, who led God's hosts with drawn sword against the rebel angels.

Related posts:  Speaking of Dragons...

                         Devil On The Floor

The Temptation Of Eve

For a guy who isn't Christian, I sure like me some Christian imagery.  This is another tiny panel (5 inches high and 3.75 inches across) that I started a long time ago, got distracted by other things and never followed up on.

I once was in a relationship with someone else's wife (actually it was the first of two such affairs in my life, where I was "the other man", but anyway).  She was unhappy in her marriage.  She was bored and frustrated with her strait-laced, hidebound husband and feeling trapped.  I guess she found my somewhat unconventional style fresh and interesting, a kind of escape valve from her stifling situation.  As for me, I found her beautiful and sexy, and maybe I was just a little flattered that someone so attractive would be attracted to me as well.

And it's true what they say about creative artists and their muses.  Her beauty has since informed all my subsequent imagery of nude female figures, be they Eves, Venuses, or just anonymous ideals.

[An amusing side note:  Some time after we started our relationship, I gave her a handmade card with the image of myself as the Serpent, offering the Fruit of Knowledge to her (the Serpent finally had limbs!).  She loved it, and remarked that she especially liked that I made a point of coloring us with different complexions^.  She gave it to a friend to keep though, as she was afraid her hubby might find it]

Monster Eyes In The Sidewalk

Not many people would have noticed it, but I did.

Because I'm always on the lookout for monsters, especially ones that are "hiding in plain sight", like this one.

"Composition With Cherry Bowl"

An accidental arrangement of lowly, random objects -- invested with new significance, simply because they made up this photograph.  The 2-D analog of objet trouvé ("found object").

A Drizzly Day In Hongdae

I took this photo this afternoon in the Hong-Ik University neighborhood (the origin of the name Hongdae).  When I looked at the downloaded image I was immediately struck by its visual similarity to another shot that I took a few years ago.  But that earlier image was quite different in feel;  while it was intended to exploit the ominous, dystopian anxiety of being alone in the midst of an anomalously empty urban environment (wow, I so can wax poetic sometimes), this new image was definitely in a different category.  So I decided to emphasize that difference by modifying it with various editing tools, running it through filters, etc.  The result is a page out of an imaginary picture book dedicated to nostalgia, longing, and faded memories that will die with me.

Related posts:  A Bit Eerie,  Nostalgia,  Two Skies

Red Flyer II

 

Related post:  Red Flyer

Another Worm Rescued

Just came back from a short walk in the rain.  While on the way out I came across a worm slowly inching along, right in the middle of the sidewalk.  Overcoming a certain apprehension -- this guy was Really big -- I tried to pick it up, but as I did so it violently writhed and wriggled out of my fingers and fell back onto the sidewalk.  This happened several times but I finally managed to pick up the slippery, slimy creature and put it down on the rain-softened earth over the adjacent retaining wall.  Before resuming my walk I waited until I saw it start to dig its way into the soil.  This was my first worm rescue since moving to Korea.

Number of worms rescued:  68

EDIT:  I just came back from a quick trip to the supermarket down the street, and on the way back I found another (not nearly so large) worm on the sidewalk.  I removed it onto soil as well.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo.

Number of worms rescued:  69

Waiting

Or "Patience"

Or maybe "Like vs Like"

"Berthe Aux Grands Pieds"

I found these big (for Barbie, that is) feet at a second-hand store and just couldn't resist.

The "Big Apple"

Or,

"How To Make Sure Delivery Drivers Remember Your House In A Maze Of Anonymous Lookalike Buildings".

A Rogues' Gallery / "Novelty Cakes"

When I was in weekly therapy I used to carry the week's production of these masks on a board to show my therapist.  It was sort of like a gauge of my mental states.  As I would walk down to her office from the car I've actually had people ask me if they were edible.  I guess they thought they were made of marzipan or something.

Earthshine

Into The Depths

 

Or perhaps "Out of the Depths"?

"Beyond Residence"

Just because of the juxtaposition, I briefly wondered if she'd been evicted.  But of course it has to be an accident, with nothing to do with anything.

Anyway, I didn't ask her.

A Wrinkle-Lipped Serpent

Has given up the ghost.  It's clearly been dead for some time, doubtless due to clueless humans repeatedly chasing it away from the "poor pigeons".  Poor pigeon hunter starved to death in the midst of plenty.

Related Post:  The Wrinkly-Mouthed Serpent

One Unusual Night

Before it closed up a month or so ago, I used to pass by this kindergarten almost every day.  I never paid it much attention;  it was just another built-in facility for the convenience of the residents of my apartment complex, like the pharmacy, the Taekwondo dojang, the piano studio and the ice cream shop.

On one particular night, though, while making my way back from the convenience store at the end of the mini-strip mall with my beer purchase, my eyes took in this sight -- and I was transfixed.

The gate, the lights, the full Moon, and the ginkgo leaves arching above, all had conspired to create a magical sight -- reminiscent of some enchanted castle from a fairy tale that I've never read but can almost remember.

Yet More Seoul Stairs

Shadows Have Eyes

At The Headwaters

Of the modernized, artificially enhanced CheongGyeCheon stream, Seoul -- indelibly marked by this Claes Oldenberg sculpture.  It is my personal opinion that its toy-like bright colors stand out dissonantly amidst the stream's stark, open environment, but what do I know, it's a popular tourist attraction as well as a favorite hangout of Seoulites who want to relax and enjoy a bit of (semi-)nature along with the herons and cranes, who don't seem to mind the all the human attention.

A Rare Shot

Another rummage session through old files uncovered this humorous accidental image of a gull seemingly reacting to a swimmer.  It somehow went unnoticed at the time, but it's a true "once in a lifetime" shot.

"Dying Gladiator"

I was scooping out material from the back of the mask and went slightly overboard, hence the rip by the eye and the knocked-out teeth.  But that's fine, I'll just say they are old wounds.  Gives the face a final coat of warrior's dignity.

 

One Unforgettable Occasion

The Moon -- so indifferent, so detached and unattainable...

For once was in a compliant mood and did just what I wanted of her.

It was never repeated.

Fresh Fish, Fresher Fish

Wonder if they understand what's in store for them, even as they see what has befallen their brethren?  I remember reading somewhere that some pigs and cattle, at least, seem to realize their fate once they are being herded into the slaughterhouse.

For the record, I'm a fan of sushi and sashimi. 

Obake

Obake (おばけ, pronounced o-bah-kay, from "change") is a term in Japanese folklore (equivalent to bakemono, "thing that changes") that refers to a class of supernatural monsters that can take on shapes that are different from their original forms, most often for some sinister purpose.  They may be living creatures, or they may be inanimate objects that have somehow acquired an animistic soul.  Actually, there are similar traditions in other eastern cultures as well -- I am reminded of the Tibetan tale about an abandoned fur hat that acquired a life of its own through the power of intense thought and started moving like some mysterious animal in the grass, scaring witnesses;  and in Korea some say if a broom is left unused in a cold, dark place, it will absorb yin energy and eventually transform into a dokkaebi (a creature of mostly humanoid appearance, but with superhuman attributes), and of course there is the pan-oriental myth of the nine-tailed fox that can shapeshift into humans -- but the Japanese mythos is truly impressive for the sheer number and variety of its monsters and their representation in art;  it seems just about anything and everything is capable of transforming into a monster at some point -- lanterns, fans, rocks, eggs, umbrellas, you name it.  And trees.  Here is a palm tree, that I happened to catch in the process of such scary transmogrification.

Remarkably, it's almost a twin of another monster-tree that I photographed in the past.  Check out this post: "Another One Of Those Vaguely Sinister Images".  It really seems as if there is a whole other order of existence co-existing with this world, inhabited by mysterious and unknowable beings and subject to its own rules, which only vaguely resemble ours.

Views From The 6th and 12th Floors

One from the window of my old loft in downtown Los Angeles, and another from the roof of the building.  It was situated just about square in the middle between the ritzy postmodern combined-use buildings to the west, the mission district/aka skid row to the east, the imposing government buildings to the north and the industrial warehouses to the south.  The building was 12 stories, almost a century old, and it was largely favored by the hip younger set that was sort of faux-yuppy, sort of maybe not.  There weren't enough parking spaces down in the basement to accommodate all the tenants' cars, so there was no assigned parking;  instead there were valets whose job it was to juggle the cars around as spaces became available as residents went out and came in.  But anyway, living right across Hill Street from Pershing Square (formerly notorious as a gay hangout), I was used to seeing considerable spillover population from skid row, which was just some blocks away.

And it's true, once you step far enough away -- or as I like to call it, "taking the God's-eye point of view" -- what at first looked like ugly tragedy turns out to be a beautiful dramedy.

Related Post:  2 Views

Yet Another "How Appropriate"

Birds of a feather...

 

Related Posts:  How Appropriate, Another "How Appropriate"

Moon King

 

The Wrinkle-Lipped Serpent

Hungrily eyeing the fat pigeon.  Definitely a cousin of the aforementioned "Red Monster".

Another Oddball Object, From The Past

It pays to go back and check out old picture files!  I was going through some old photos when I came across this one.  It was shot in December, 2019, and shows some mildly interesting clouds shot through the windshield of my car.  As I was looking it over, I suddenly realized that I may have inadvertently photographed something else besides clouds.  Obviously, at the time it was taken I did not notice this unusual detail.  Whatever it is, it looks too sharply defined and regular in shape to be a cloudlet.  Rather, it looks much more like some sort of self-contained, concentrated mass -- and no, it's not a piece of shmutz on the windshield either, because it does not appear in any of the other photos.  What it does remind me of though, is the "sky amoebas" whose images appear in Trevor James Constable's book They Live in the Sky.  The heck.

Oddball Object

One more "gonzo" floating thingy.

Related Post:  Gonzo UFO

Just One More Shot of That Kachina Doorway

From way back when.  The left photo was the last one taken, long after the other two, and it completes the classical symmetry of the image.  The result is a composite photograph that was several years in the making.

But Two Out Of Three Still Wouldn't Be Bad*

I just came back from a beer run to the convenience store down the block.  Sounds simple, but that was the second time today I had to climb 11 flights of stairs to my apartment, as the elevator is being replaced and will be out of commission until the end of the month😓  Anyway, at the convenience store I happened across a pair of eyeglasses on a table and turned it over to the clerk.  The thing is, this was the second time this week that I found a random pair of glasses, as two days ago I also came across a pair in Itaewon, near the Seoul mosque.

Now I'm waiting to see if things really do come in threes.

*Like the song by Meat Loaf

The Beautiful, Indifferent Moon II

 

When The Cherry Blossoms Have Passed

I guess it depends on one's personality type -- is the title funny or sad/bittersweet?

 

Playing With The Sun

Plain

Aiming the cue

Poke (sorry😉)

Eclipse