LEEAH JOO

Korean-American painter Leeah Joo’s work is inspired by the enigmatic and hidden. In her illusionist paintings, she teases our predisposition to probe and uncover. Intriguing parcels in her Pojagi series are enveloped by a lavish, traditional Korean wrapping cloth and beckon to be unpacked. The richly detailed paintings of lacey drapery in her Parrhasius series present an open-ended narrative, inviting us to question what lies behind the curtain. Joo studied painting and art history at Indiana University in Bloomington and received her MFA in painting from the Yale School of Art, Her paintings have been exhibited widely in the U.S. and South Korea. She is the recipient of notable awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, George Sugarman Foundation, Connecticut Commission on Arts and the Puffin Foundation. Currently, Leeah Joo lives and paints in Middlebury, Connecticut and teaches at Southern CT State University and Paier College.

i love when words fit right. seize was always supposed to be that word, and so was jester. tuesday isn't quite right but thursday should be thursday, that's a good word for it. daisy has the perfect shape to it, almost like you're laughing when you say it; and tulip is correct most of the time. while keynote is fun to say, it's super wrong - i think they have to change the label for that one. but fox is spot-on.

most words are just, like, good enough, even if what they are describing is lovely. the night sky is a fine term for it but it isn't perfect the way november is the correct term for that month.

it's not just in english because in spanish the phrase eso si que es is correct, it should be that. sometimes other languages are also better than the english words, like how blue is sloped too far downwards but azul is perfect and hangs in the air like glitter. while butterfly is sweet, i think probably papillion is more correct, although for some butterflies féileacán is much better. year is fine but bliain is better. sometimes multiple languages got it right though, like how jueves and Πέμπτη are also the right names for thursday. maybe we as a species are just really good at naming thursdays.

and if we were really bored and had a moment and a picnic to split we could all sit down for a moment and sort out all the words that exist and find all the perfect words in every language. i would show you that while i like the word tree (it makes you smile to say it), i think arbor is correct. you could teach me from your language what words fit the right way, and that would be very exciting (exciting is not correct, it's just fine).

i think probably this is what was happening at the tower of babel, before the languages all got shifted across the world and smudged by the hand of god. by the way, hand isn't quite right, but i do like that the word god is only 3 letters, and that it is shaped like it is reflecting into itself, and that it kind of makes your mouth move into an echoing chapel when you cluck it. but the word god could also fit really well with a coathanger, and i can't explain that. i think donut has (weirdly) the same shape as a toothbrush, but we really got bagel right and i am really grateful for that.

grateful is close, but not like thunder. hopefully one day i am going to figure out how to shape the way i love my friends into a little ceramic (ceramic is very good, almost perfect) pot and when they hold it they can feel the weight of my care for them. they can put a plant in there. maybe a daisy.

Mark Aeling sculptured his wife’s lips with pencils

My other fun addition to the Hbomberguy video stuff is not just that you need to start checking everyone's sources just to make sure you aren't being duped, but to not use them as a stand in for media consumption/experiences either. Like I'm not gonna lecture you on reading sources cause I am the first one to not and that's my laziness, but like sometimes more important than checking the original analysis of something is just to... see tge thing being analyzed yourself. That's not even about misinformation or lying, sometimes people's opinions just SUCK ASS.

Like there are youtube video essayists I overall kinda respect but they have dogshit opinions on things. I used to love Jack Saint's bad faith overly critical analyses of throwaway kids films, until I realized he also saw films that in my opinion had a lot of merit, and it turned me off from him. Big Joel is cool as hell, but anytime he gives his opinion on animation save like a few points, I completely glaze over and find him annoying. The other day I watched a video essay about the "Magical Negro" trope, and the first movie sourced interested me, so I watched it and I hardly understand why they put that in, it framed the movie as something it wasn't.

Just in general, it's good practice to make sure your opinions on media are your own and experience it yourself. MY biggest takeaway from the Hbomn video wasn't to throw rocks at Somerton or start obsessively fact-checking every essayist I watch, but to make sure I have a baseline of what they talking about myself and not letting anyone throw around media examples without reckless abandon. The Celluloid Closet and Tinkerbelles and Evil Queens is on my watxh/read list now, but the first thing I did from the words he stole from Celluoid Closet was watch Rebels Without A Cause out of curiosity of this gay subtext in a 50s blockbuster. And it was a super interesting experience that has given me my own unrelated opinions. Not to discount whatever important queer reading and historical importance the film has, but I'm happy I also have more than just that cause I Watched It Myself, not someone's specific and unavoidably biased reading of it.

The video isn't about cultivating suspicion but cultivating appreciation for the skills of analytical/informative/opinion writing. So even when people aren't being lying grifters, it's just good to be your own critic and media analyst. Maybe you'll even contribute to that world yourself, or maybe you'll keep all your cool opinions in your heart and die, who cares. The point is that unlike some people, your opinions and words are your own. It's a beautiful thing to have your own creative voice.

Thank you @rjiprefhwo for letting me draw the video you made on my god I’m still in tears it’s so real

'I trust you with my child, and I see how much you put in for my son; this goes beyond friendship, and I love you to the core.'

(insp. x, x)

Oh, actually, this is really exciting. There are some interesting parallels between Yuji and the white dog (Shiro) _ They both died on the same day _ They are friendly _ Both are trustworthy _ Megumi was very attached to Shiro

In most mythologies, the white wolf symbolizes protection, intelligence, sociability and compassion, being the antagonistic part of the black wolf. Yuji is also associated with the white tiger of Byakko, the protector of the western cardinal point (I talked about it in this post), which ended up becoming his nickname at his old school.

The curious point is that one of Megumi's Shikigami is also a tiger that has not yet been shown, which makes him doubly linked to Yuji. It's interesting for me to see how Megumi and Yuji complement each other, whether it's Megumi being the duo's strategist and Yuji the muscles, Yuji being a melee fighter while Megumi is better at long distances. Black and white, like yin yan.

I wonder if the wolf thing was intentional or just an aesthetic choice, although I doubt Gege would approve of something like that if it wasn't to create parallels. This man likes to pair manga with anime. Overall, I'm just rambling on about these. After the last chapter, I'm getting impatient with the manga and Gege Akutami.

Source

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stars Lupita Nyong'o & Danai Gurira

I am going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life.

Elsie De Wolfe

the first moment I realized what friendship was, I was fourteen. I was back from my first of many doctors appointments. I found a picture of twin lava lamps that lit up into brilliant colors when the other one was tapped. I showed the picture to my friend. “I’d buy this for us,” I say. “You’d always know when I was thinking of you.” I don’t want to be alone. “YES!” She said, laughing. “I would grab it at three am and you’d have to stare at it instead of sleeping! Everything would be purple and blue and you wouldn’t have a chance.”

“I haven’t been sleeping at three am,” I said. I had been lying awake, waiting for the panic attack.

“I know,” she said. “I know. That’s why I’d do it.”

we looked at each other. oh, I thought. oh. so that’s what it is. it’s lava lamps. it’s the darkness fading into blue and purple promises. it’s noticing. it’s love under the guise of annoyance.

I don’t want to be alone.

you aren’t. not anymore.

a blank page.