the post for implaceable pics

sometimes you see something that tickles or intrigues you - so you take a photograph, and for years thereafter it sits in your "unsorted" album - with no place to go, no folder to belong to.  you never delete these pics, as they are a reminder of that moment in time ... yet, you seldom share them as they have no real "post-worthiness".

today, i've decided to change this. i dedicate this post to the pics of no place, and to honor them, have invented a new word, too.

let me welcome you to the post for implaceable pics:

just in case you were confused on how to behave in a bar, you can refer to this articulate banner which hangs high and proud in the middle of the vudu bar in gangnam. 

elsewhere in vudu bar, the "bitch is back" graffiti inspired this ridiculous photo

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mcdonald's (the empire of evil) uses the ancient and spiritual culture of the east as a theme for it's mcmarketing.  kind of makes this poster as tasteless as their "food".  

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hair-larious!
a sign outside a salon in gyeongju

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pretty hand-painted motif which you see repeated on all temples

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rubber strip curtains hang outside the parking lots of "love motels" to hide the cars (and their owners) from the street.  these motels are frequented by many married businessmen and they playmates for "out of the office" meetings.

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when we can't face another canteen "meal" we make the trek (three floors down) to this - cooking class by day, communal kitchen by night.  

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this is the back wall of one of the classrooms.  by day we use the broadcasting studio to simulate a newsroom environment - by night, we play ping-pong, get tipsy and use the world map to take silly photographs like this one.

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we see this poster in quite a few bars, and for no other reason than the fact that I love it  - it has a place here.

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however ugly some parts of the city may be, i am always touched by the effort that koreans will make to disguise an eyesore with some form of creative-cover up.

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one of my favorite areas in seoul is itaewon.  there are many reasons to like this part of town, one of these being that there's a more adventurous architectural spirit that is expressed here.  this is the 70's style arch of kitschness that welcomes you to itaewon.  it's an arch i'd like to remember driving under.  so it too gets a place on the list of implaceables. 

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also in itaewon, this building regularly changes it's 3-D on-building accessories.  it's like a giant fridge with interchangeable magnets.  pretty cool.

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another reason to love itaewon is for this hole-in-the-wall:  a turkish take away joint called ankara picnic. they serve "kebabs" which are actually wraps, similar to our shwarma places back home.  you can have lamb, chicken or soft serve ice cream - all for 4,000 won. apparently the due of charming young men who run it started out in a street stall.  now they have a small restaurant complete with an entertainment system which blares turkish-styled electronic remakes of popular tunes.   oh, and it is undoubtedly the most outstanding meal we've had in south korea.

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funky bottle display in wa bar.  oddly enough, we had no idea what the pattern "said", until after i took the photo. 

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 footie looks over the menu outside a restaurant in gangnam.

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it's weird how koreans will leave their laptop outside while they pop into a convenience store, and know with 100% confidence that they can trust everyone outside to leave it be - but they won't trust you with toilet paper.  almost every bar or restaurant you go to has tushy tissue waiting for you at the door, which means that you have to let the entire room know that you intend to go to the toilet, and (based on how much you help yourself to), exactly what you intend to do while you're there.  

this one carries an inspirational message (for those of you who look to your toilet paper for a pick-me-up):
no need to speak: i always felt that the great high privilege. Relif and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing. 

 well there you have it. go forth and pee in peace.

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(for those who don't know - this is Fathead's father's first name). 

i suspect that we were behind a sign that actually read "sugna" but that's not the point now, is it?
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electronic darts, people!

that's right.  

the board is automated with an electronic magnet that holds the dart to the board.  when contact is made, it sends a signal to the animated screen above - which works out which player's turn it is, what your score is, what your next shot needs to be, your average throwing speed, strike rate and other utterly useless stats.

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one of our local hangouts has a pyromaniac bartender.  he likes to burn stuff.  mainly alcohol, which he sprays from his mouth - setting the bar a blaze. 

he's rad.

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footnote graffiti on a lamppost at our bus stop. 

so herein ends our first installment.   i know the pics are random, and at times a little schizo in the way they flowed ... but i did warn you that they were implaceable.