#vincent homesick for the land of pictures

[llovelymoonn]

favourite poems of july

knar gavin strindberg grey

dahlia ravikovitch the love of an orange (tr. chana bloch)

danez smith summer, somewhere

hannah gamble your invitation to a modest breakfast: “your invitation to a modest breakfast”

claire schwartz lecture on the history of the house

joseph brodsky collected poems in english, 1972-1999: “a part of speech”

ralph angel twice removed: “alpine wedding”

bob hicok insomnia diary: “spirit ditty of no fax-line dial tone”

caleb klaces language is her caravan

philip good & bernadette mayer alternating lunes

hester knibbe light-years (tr. jacquelyn pope)

tracy k. smith life on mars: “the universe as primal scream”

rigoberto gonzález other fugitives and other strangers: “the strangers who find me in the woods”

stephen edgar murray dreaming

james schuyler other flowers: uncollected poems: “light night”

amy beeder because our waiters are hopeless romantics

diane seuss backyard song

tomás q. morín love train

safiya sinclair the art of unselfing

carol muske-dukes skylight: “the invention of cuisine”

peter gizzi the outernationale: “vincent, homesick for the land of pictures”

william matthews selected poems and translations, 1969-1991: “onions”

c.k. williams butcher

mark mccloskey the smell of the woods

jennifer chang the age of unreason

richard blanco city of a hundred fires: “contemplations at the virgin de la caridad cafeteria, inc.”

bob hicock the pregnancy of words

j. allyn rosser impromptu 

carl phillips then the war

stephanie young ursula or university: “essay”

gloria e. anzaldúa the new speakers

kofi

[naturallyteal]

René Magritte predicted the ineffable divorce already in 1940!

😉

Magritte’s Le Mal du Pays (Homesickness), 1940, with adjustments by me (hair-colour, sunglasses, tattoo) to make the black-winged person look more like Crowley.

Fun fact: Magritte originally thought of calling it Menopause (a period of depression).

(Fake) Interpretation: Crowley is obviously pining for Aziraphale, standing on a bridge looking out over a river (a symbol of time going by), thinking about what happened (what we call “the final fifteen”), trying to understand (don’t we all!). The regal Lion, a symbol of power and grace, stands in for Aziraphale, the “elephant in the room”, the surrealism of his presence underscoring his absence. The picture emanates an atmosphere of sadness, longing, loneliness. The scholar only wonders, how Magritte could have foreseen all that more than 80 years before it happened. But studying his body of work makes it easy to believe that he had The Sight. Maybe he was the last witch of Belgium.

Here’s the original version:

View more of my posts of famous artists and their Good Omens fanart:

[Titian]

[Raphael]

[Simon Vouet]

[Vincent van Gogh]

PS: I made the Crowley version of this painting originally for this post, a fanfic/podfic recommendation for “The Voice of the Lion Was Heard in the Land” by A_N_D and SkyAsimaru, respectively. If you haven’t yet, please have a look and then go read or go listen, it’s marvellous!

PPS: René Magritte is one of my top favourite painters, his surrealism is so evocative, expressive, touching! Check out his other works on both the sites linked above (artist’s name, picture’s name) or on wikiart. Here’s a small preview:

[im-totally-not-an-alien]

Final Fantasy 7 prompts # 42

1. Cloud gets sick so Vincent shows up and basically stands guard at the foot of the bed like a very handsome gargoyle.

He also takes care of him but I just wanted to say the gargoyle thing.

2. Murder mystery.

Sephiroth doesn't take it seriously until he wakes up in a semi drugged haze, the revived Zack having saved his life. The silverette thought that was ridiculously stupid, considering he wished to destroy the planet, but he was greatful nonetheless.

3. Sephiroth finds a man incased in a mako crystal, enchanted by his beauty, he came closer to view him better.

He wasn't expecting the soft, "Hello?" that echoed in his mind.

As it turns out, this man was a failed attempt at creating a God from the remains of an eldrich goddess named Jenova. He had sacrificed himself centuries ago to stop her revival, sealed away both her and her monster children, and saved the world.

The two became fast friends and Cloud allowed Sephiroth to take a piece of crystal from one of the surrounding stalagmites so that they could communicate even after the silverette leaves.

Sephiroth wears it as a necklace and has telepathic communications with the man frequently. He decides to just not tell Shinra what he found...but the desire to have the man by his side grows with each passing day.

Darker fic.

Based on The Willow Maid by Erutan

4. Sephiroth traps Cloud in the dream world and plays the world's deadliest game of hide and seek

5. Time travel fic where Cloud doesn't know he's in the past and just keeps fighting Sephiroth everytime he sees him. He and Tifa broke up, so now he avoids Midgar and Edge like the plague. He runs his business like everything is the same, and nearly kills the silverette every time he sees him.

Cloud thinks it's wierd that Sephiroth is so much weaker, but chalks it up to the lack of J cells available.

6. Au where Cloud is a clone Hojo made from the Sephiroth, Zack, and the real Cloud.

He gets turned into an eight year old, his true age, and booted back in time.

He gets stopped by Angeal, because seriously, and eight year old driving Fenrir? Insane. Anyway, he sees not Clouds slit pupils and is like, "I have to take you to my friend."

When asked about his name, he tells Angeal the truth. He's a clone made from Sephiroth and a few other people in a lab where they proform cruel and horrific human expirements and he doesn't have a name beyond "Subject C".

And that's more of less the beginning of the end for Shinra.

Also Sephiroth, Zack, and Cloud coming together to raise thier child.

Featuring: Zack, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal arguing over baby names, not Cloud coldly shooting most of them down, the real Cloud quietly fretting over him, Kunsel being a tea aunt and occasional babysitter, Genesis proforming poetry for the baby, both Clouds falling asleep on the couch together and Kunsel taking pictures, Angeal being a mom, Zack being more of a big brother than a parent, until he gets lectured by Angeal.

In other words, baby gets a home.

You could add toddler remnants for extra flavor.

7. Or. Cloud has a spell cast on him to "reveal his true age" and #6 happens but without the time travel.

AVALANCHE has to take care of child Cloud...and if he was born shortly after the Nebilheim incident...

8.Cloud getting into a competition with former Shinra Weapons Department employees

But it's a trap!

9. Cloud loved doing sketches of people...until he started finding some he didn't remember drawing. What's stranger is that he doesn't know some of the people in the pictures.

Honestly, why would he draw a SOLDIER 2nd? Especially since all of the pictures of him have his helmet on.

10. A group of guys in the world Cloud landed in dressed up in the male honey be inn uniform at Sephiroths suggestion, stating he might be homesick.

Cloud walks in, honestly baffled, and asked, "Why are you dressed as whores?"

11. Denzel dragging Cloud to safety after a motorcycle crash.

12. A cat attacks Cloud. Like, full on flies at his face.

It's okay, it gives him kisses later.

13. Genesis takes in a kid he found on the road and bonds with them. He winds up being a dad.

Aka. Dad Genesis

14. Cloud travels back to the place where Aerith died and retrieves Holy. Sure, it might not be useful without a Cetra to use it, but he'll be damned before he lets Aeriths sacrifice be forgotten.

He takes Holy to Wutai and meets up with Yuffie. He explains everything and she tells him she'd be honored to display it they way it deserves.

Later, there's an entire temple dedicated to Holy, and it's last master, Aerith

15. Sephiroth tries to flirt with Cloud and doesn't understand why it's not working. Everyone he had hit on before had practically bent over backwards in hopes of gaining his affection.

So why is this pretty blond denying him?

[randoreviews]

OTTAWA REFLECTIONS

     Let’s reflect. Where is Ottawa? Just past those three stars in the sky and down the rainbow road a ways. No, if you’re going from New England, you have to go through Buffalo. Buffalo will let you know that you shouldn’t be sad to be leaving America. Even if you like a good wing, you can get that anywhere now, with as much blue cheese as you want.      Once you’re in Canada, the land flattens out to reveal power lines and stations stretching on for miles and miles. They look like electric scarecrows. If now you get a faint tinge of homesickness, again think of Buffalo. We went in the summertime, in August, but if you go anytime between November and April, this will be a winter oasis. The swirls of wind and snow will almost seem to be carrying your car along. (I know from going to Quebec City many times in the winter... dear old Quebec.) Take heart in the snow: it’s not cold, it’s comforting. Aren’t you warm in your car? But this was August and no rain, and my friend kept talking about how he could see how the rail system was all connected. (He had just read a book about trains and had a fever for talking about it.) Once you get somewhere abroad, even if it’s on the highway in the middle of nowhere Canada, you start to think you see things with a fresh eye. This may in part be due to the fact that we all leave some baggage behind in our home countries, as soon as we cross the border.      I was a little homesick. I always think I want to travel across the world, but as soon as I get ten miles from my house I start to think about my friends and my houseplants, etc. It’s quite the dilemma being a person. We’re all just walking question marks. We got to Ottawa (which I’ll point out, is the capital city) at sunset and I immediately thought I had made a mistake in bringing us here. It seemed small and nondescript. It seemed like something that would hardly be a city in the U.S. Well, we would at least have three days to see how boring it was. Sometimes it’s fun to see just how bored you can get. It’s a fun, fully immersive activity. We met our AirBNB host, who, do I even need to tell you, he was Canadian so he was friendly. (Not as many French Canadians in Ottawa, to my knowledge, so they are apt to be more friendly.) He was a male hairdresser and we were staying behind his salon off of a little gated courtyard with a little fountain, and he made haste to introduce us to his wife, I think to prove to us right away that he wasn’t gay, even though he was a hairdresser. (Still could have been gay... and who cares anyway? Be as gay as you want.) The apartment was a sleek little place, what you would expect from a hairdresser. White everything.      We turned on the local news and started to drink some beer. Of course we connected to the WiFi and I responded to a couple friends’ texts telling them that I was in Canada, to make it more real for myself. Aren’t you jealous? I’m in Ottawa. How can you travel and not watch the local news? It really puts you there. If they’re having a pumpkin festival the next day on the outskirts of town, or a lumberjack competition, don’t you want to know? Just for your own edification? Thinking about it, we got the beer in Burlington, where me and my friend went to college. So we didn’t go through Buffalo. I made that up, I guess just to talk some shit about Buffalo. (Sorry all you Sabres fans.) And the beer was strong, and before we knew it we were drunk. I was playing songs on my phone. John Coltrane, Bob Marley. Legendary Americans to remind us of home. (Okay, Bob isn’t American but we’ve basically adopted him.) Once a friend asked how I was doing and I never really know, but I told them I could play any song on my phone, so that was at least something.      A stones throw from our place was a bar called Atari. I figured they would have some arcade games — not that I would want to play, I just like looking at them. For aesthetic pleasure. You understand. It was a bit of false advertising because they didn’t have any games, but they did serve strong drinks. We sat on the roof and our server (he was definitely gay... and friendly), he sold us on one, two, three drinks. My friend doesn’t drink very much, but will drink if that’s what we’re doing. We became best friends with our server for that hour or so. He told us that Ottawa was okay but that when he graduated college he wanted to move to Toronto. Toronto is like the LA and New York and Miami of Canada all combined. Ottawa isn’t the Washington D.C. It’s more like... Richmond, Virginia, or some place like that. EXCEPT...      ... EXCEPT... where the government buildings are it is beau-tee-full. It’s called Parliament Hill and it’s like all of a sudden you’re in London, without all the smog and the congestion and people throwing acid in your face. It’s real chill. And international! Canada’s immigration policy is more lax than Uncle Sam’s, and if you’ve just moved to Canada from, say, Ethiopia, you want to see the capital with your family. You want to go to Parliament Hill and see the Peace Tower, which is like Big Ben, but again, more chill. I saw some high-class pretty women who, maybe this is my bad but I just assumed they were prostitutes and I thought, politicians DO work here! The Hill is on a river, not too far-fetched of a name, the Ottawa River, and it’s a pretty idyllic scene. I live in a suburb, pretty much all white, so really it was just good to see some black and Middle Eastern and Asian people.      We paid for those drinks, I mean the following morning we paid for them, and after we got coffee the following morning, which wasn’t quite strong enough to be a silver bullet, my friend went back to the place to rest more and I sojourned around the main market that’s near The Hill. I saw a picture of Obama from when he visited the market a few years back, shaking someone’s hand, and thought to myself, this place is all right. I stood in front of the U.S. Embassy, took a good long gander at it. It’s not a modest building, I’ll say that. It almost looked more like the real seat of power. It has what looks like a steel spine running down the middle, like a combination of Alien and Predator, like it could get up and shoot lasers and eat the rest of the city. It’s probably the only thing in the city that isn’t chill. If we somehow got in a mishap about some stolen poutine, my friend and I, we would seek refuge in this building. Not only are we Americans, our I.D.s would show them... we’re from Massachusetts, basically the birthplace of the country, if not of all civilization.      That second night we didn’t do anything besides to tell ourselves we weren’t drinking. And we didn’t. I can’t drink more than once a week. Thankfully my body revolts. Besides that drinking is fun, it’s almost worth drinking to then not drink the next night and just eat and sleep and watch TV, to remind yourself of the good, quiet life. I’m pretty sure I did some stretching that night too, just in the little corner of the kitchen. Made it my little impromptu yoga. Felt so good. We also happened to get the Lions-Patriots preseason game, because we were close enough to Detroit. Home has a way of finding you wherever you are.      Now the THIRD day (technically the second DAY we were there)... the third day was the big day. Hangover... gone! The gay bartender was great people but we hadn’t gotten pulled in by him again. The third day late morning we went to the National Gallery. First we stopped in an antique bookstore and I looked at the spines of all these books about traveling to Antarctica and taking a dogsled across the Yukon. Crazy shit, man. How bad does your wife have to be for you to be like, fuck it, I’m traveling to Antarctica! I may not make it back! Was Ernest Shackleton’s wife just one of the worst people in the world? Or was she lovely and Ernest simply had the exploring bug? Something must have been going on there. Then when we went to the National Gallery we saw all these paintings of people in canoes and dogsleds, and houses in winter, and rivers... lots of rivers. Canada, man. You know what’s north of Canada? The North Pole. That’s how far it goes up. Do you know how cold it is in Canada in the winter? Like, everywhere in Canada in the winter? It’s fucking freezing. Do you know what extreme conditions do to people? It makes them make great art.      The most famous group of Canadian artists is the Group of Seven. I only really knew Lawren Harris’s work from this group, but the member probably most central to the group, who drowned in a damn lake, is Tom Thomson. Tom Thomson is one of those artists like Van Gogh who, although not nearly as prolific as Vincent, you just fall in love with him right when you see his paintings. Or you fall in love with his work... but isn’t that the same as loving the man? Trees blowing in the wind. Trees standing stalwart way up on the side of a mountain overlooking a lake. Trees in the deep woods next to a river. From the little I know of his death, I got the impression that some folks have tried to make it more of a mystery, possible foul play, but probably he just drowned and it’s their way of making him more of a legend. I have to get a hamster or something and name him Tom Thomson. Such a strong name.      Anyone who knows me knows I’m an art and museum lover, and less the sports bar kind of guy, but you reach a point in a museum where you say, no more, please. Please! You’ll bring the Mona Lisa to me personally right now and I can look at it close up with no one else around? I’ll punch a hole in that bitch’s face. My point is you reach a saturation point. If you don’t reach a saturation point, that means you haven’t been absorbing anything, which probably means you’re a robot. We retired to the AirBNB to sit and look at our phones and stare at the wall and not look at any art of any kind. We then went to a medicinal shop and imbibed some medicine, allowed by the government, and then the art could really blend and distill in me. We walked around The Hill and, jeez, it was one of the most beautiful late afternoons I’ve ever seen. Sun shining, the sunlight twinkling off the water. Real magical travel shit. We walked down by the river and canal and inspected the lock system. My friend has a very curious mind. Maybe in his next life he’ll be an engineer.      The big boxing match happened to be the last night we were there, and we went to a pub beforehand and the female bartender sold me on a place to go to. At first I thought she was just being nice to me because maybe she liked me, and then about eight seconds in I was like, nope, she’s selling me on something. I could die in a fiery car crash in a ravine and she would sprinkle down advertising cards to her friend’s club on my dead body. Come to think of it, I’ve never met a female bartender who you could describe as, Oh, she seemed shy and genuine. I get it because they have to deal with so many people, so many assholes, so they have their shtick and their guard up, but it’s never a good feeling when someone treats you like an easy mark. To further perfectly emphasize my relationship with women (not that I was interested in her), we ended up going to her friend’s club, because I told her I would go and I stupidly stupidly have integrity or whatever when it comes to that stuff, and it was at full capacity. A woman who I didn’t even like who I was just trying to be nice to swindled and sold me on something that I was then shut out of. Kind of wish I was a politician so I could just fuck high-class prostitutes and not care. But then do you even have a soul at all? Could you appreciate the Tom Thomson paintings?      It’s funny, I have no idea what we ate for breakfast the next morning before we left. Totally gone from my mind. (I am writing this on my phone on a red eye at about three in the morning.) It wasn’t a crepe, I would have remembered a crepe. It wasn’t chicken wings, I don’t eat too many of those. I’m desperate to remember in part because I’m hungry right now. Maybe a chocolate croissant? Chocolate croissant is my best guess. Always my best guess. As we got close to the border and our phones really started working again, we picked up the baggage again that we had sort of kind of left for a few days, back to our regularly-scheduled lives, but with the sunlight flickering on the water in our minds in the late afternoon sun.

[janeeet-n]

 I have visited Tahoe EIGHT times within ONE year.

Oh Tahoe, how many times I’ve visited you and the infinite number of times I’ve fallen in love with you. Lake Tahoe is about an hour away from my university so visiting Tahoe was a MUST for my dad every single time he came up. I won’t complain though because Tahoe is such a beauty, and I don’t think I’ll ever be sick of it.

First Spring

Above are pictures from my first visit to the lake during my spring vacation. I went with my cousin, dad, and my two high school friends, Khuyen and Vincent! We were going on a college road trip (College Road Trip: Part 1 & College Road Trip: Part 2 ) and decided to visit Lake Tahoe before going back home. Discovering new places with family AND friends was a blessing and definitely a heck of a time to remember. Hahaha, I remember playing arcade games in the hotel and taking hundreds of pictures in the forest. Vincent also ended up bruising Khuyen’s arm because we were playing the license plate game. Definitely a trip to remember.

I have seen Tahoe in all four seasons! It’s just I don’t know where my summer pictures are, hahaha. Maybe one day I’ll find it but what I remember from my summer visit is that I had a horrible migraine, and it was hot and crowded. Shortly after our visit, news about the bears coming out to the lake went viral. We missed the sighting by a day, sadly. 

Autumn

I did not take a lot of pictures during my autumn visit to Lake Tahoe because I spent most of my time enjoying the last few days with my parents before I was sent off to college. (Homesickness is real!) This was probably one of the most memorable trips to Tahoe for me. My parents, cousin, and I decided to spend a day hiking. Due to the change in altitudes my cousin actually got lightheaded to the point where she couldn’t walk, and I had to call 911 in the middle of a freaking hike. It was absolutely bizarre and scary but so memorable. The firemen came to the rescue and we made it out just fine- thank goodness!

Winter

I spent a couple of days here at the closing of my winter break, and I am still in awe at how BEAUTIFUL winter is. I may be weak to the cold but winter is my favorite season, ironically. Being a southerner (hahaha) myself, I never really got to experience snowfall or white out winters. Being able to witness Tahoe coated in fresh white snow was just absolutely breathtaking. I remember waking up from a nap and seeing the drive through the serpentine mountain roads. It was like I had woken up in a dream itself. Both sides were coated with snow and the road in front of us was so white and mysterious. I remember the excitement that coursed through me, and thinking about it now still gives me the chills. Honestly, a dream come true. Snow covered trees are to die for. 

Winter into Spring

This time around we got to explore more on the north side of Lake Tahoe and even though our time was short, we spotted a mini castle on an isolated patch of land in the nook of the lake. (Pictured) I hope to be able to come back some time during the following school year and see more of the north. (My dad and uncles actually spent a whole day exploring the north without me once, and they discovered new viewpoints and waterfalls. I’m a bit jealous.) During this trip our rental van actually got a flat tire on the way down the mountains, and we had to wait for two hours for help. It was very scary, but we did get to spend some more time exploring the area! There’s always some form of good in the bad.

Processed with VSCO with t1 preset

More Spring 

This time I actually went with my friend, Myat, for a project! We helped collect water samples at the lake. It was pretty fun and the view was absolutely surreal. I had such a great time walking through the icy cold waters and then onto burning hot sand. I love how the water here is so clear, and the reflection of the sky onto the water is just perfect!

I tend to not take too many pictures because I want to live in the moment rather than trying to capture the moment. We live in such a digitalized world that we forget to take in what’s in front of us before having a camera take it in for us. I sometimes find myself “snapchatting” a moment rather than taking in its entirety first, and I don’t want that to become a habit. When you go somewhere- take in the view first before your camera does! Maybe you’ll just be able to see that bird swoop into the water instead of your iPhone’s lockscreen. It’s amazing how things can happen so quickly within a blink of an eye and imagine missing it because you were fumbling around for your smart device. (Internally screams)

Lake Tahoe has inspired me on so many accounts to live a more meaningful and simple life. I hope one day you get to visit Tahoe and see its beauty for yourself.

Safe travels,

Thao Janet

    My 8 Visits to Tahoe  I have visited Tahoe EIGHT times within ONE year. Oh Tahoe, how many times I've visited you and the infinite number of times I've fallen in love with you.

[llovelymoonn]

on light

franz wright circle \\ peter gizzi the outernationale: “vincent, homesick for the land of pictures” \\ gail wronsky light chaff and falling leaves or a pair of feathers \\ maggie nelson bluets 

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