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explorations in iphone notes

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2023/07/06

July 6, 2023
It is very late evening or very early morning. Standing in a grassy meadow is a giant round sign, maybe 10 feet in diameter: a smiley-face that appears to be constructed from metal and plastic, like a sign for a gas station or roadside attraction. The sign is falling apart: panels are missing or broken, revealing the metal framework underneath, and plants dangle from the frame. In the background is the suggestion of a foggy tree line. Standing to the right of the sign is a person, shining a flashlight up at it. The darkness and the beam from the flashlight throw the seams and contours of the sign into sharp relief, making the smile empty and menacing. As Lon Chaney once said, "There's nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight."

2023/07/04

July 4, 2023
A creature with heavy, primitive facial features, pointed ears, fur all over its face, and eerily expressive eyes stares pensively at a small sphere suspended by a string above its head. Only the creature's conical, gorilla-esque head is shown.

2023/06/26

June 26, 2023
A hiker stands on barren ground, dotted with rocks and patches of grass. We are looking at the back of the hiker. The hiker is wearing a backpack and carrying a walking-stick in their right hand. Above them, looming out of what appears to be fog, is a vast creature whose shape could best be described as "large". The creature is mostly shapeless, with a large body, head, and horns. The creature's face is just a giant, staring eye. It does not appear to have any appendages.

2023/06/25

June 25, 2023
A person wearing a v-neck sweater and T-shirt. Just the person's upper half and head are visible, like a portrait. The thing about this person is that their head is a large, spherical boulder. On top of their head is perched a small bird.

2023/06/19

June 19, 2023
A two legged creature with horns and/or pointed ears stands in the grass. It seems as though the interior of the creature is visible, perhaps a cutaway view, like a biological diagram. This cutaway view obscures the creatures face. Inside the creature are various beakers and tubes containing glowing green liquid, connected by piping. The creature holds a test tube with the same glowing liquid in one of its hands. The overall effect is of a furry, walking chemistry set.

2023/06/11

June 11, 2023
A face in profile, with a blur of short, dark hair. The face is sterile, minimalist, and expressionless, like that of a mannequin. It appears to be a mask, but other lines and seams make it look as though the entire head is assembled of multiple parts, as if the entire figure in the drawing is a machine or robot of some sort.

2023/06/10

June 10, 2023
Several people are walking around in a space. They are wearing full-body suits, almost like space suits, with only their faces visible. The suits have fur, horns, and various odd and indeterminate details.

2023/06/06

June 6, 2023
A large human face in profile, both eyes and mouth wide open. The eye contains a blurry television screen; the cavernous mouth contains a stereo speaker.

2023/06/04

June 4, 2023
A large, egg-shaped, furry creature with two horns. The entire front of the creature's body is a mirror, in which is reflected a blurry figure wearing a coat.

2023/05/31

May 31, 2023
A huge, somewhat robotic-looking figure, arms stiffly at its sides, hands balled into fists. It looks like a large person wearing an unremarkable pair of pants and coat. Where the figure's head would be sits a person on a chair, watching a boxy, old-style television. The background is indeterminate: suggestions of clouds, and a blurry horizon.

2023/05/28

May 28, 2023
A figure with three legs and a face made of two masks, each mask itself half a face. It looks as though one three-legged person—or maybe one one-legged person next to a two-legged person—are standing behind two giant half-faced masks, holding them together. The eyes of both masks are empty; one seems to be a hole with light behind it, one is totally dark. This bizarre assemblage stands outside, the suggestions of grass and cloud around it.

2023/05/25

May 25, 2023
A black, furry, slightly hunched over creature dances while juggling balls. The creature is wearing a mask that looks vaguely like a jester's face and cap, except more minimal and eerie: blank and white, with black holes for eyes and a mouth.

2023/05/23

May 23, 2023
A portrait-style close-up of a figure with a wrench for a head. Basically it looks like a wrench is wearing a collarless shirt. The wrench is one of those ones with a square mouth, tilted at about 45°. Inside the mouth of the wrench sits a small figure holding out a phone as though it is taking a selfie.

2023/05/22

May 22, 2023
An imposing figure sits in a high chair on trusses, similar to a lifeguard's chair. The figure is wearing a suit and has a long-necked desk lamp for a head. Below the figure sits a person in a normal-sized chair, reading a book. The scene is at night; the desk lamp person casts a light over the person sitting in a chair reading a book.

2023/05/20

May 20, 2023
A large, high-ceilinged room with an old-style mainframe computer in it. The room is somewhat dismal, containing a wall clock, bucket, and mop. The computer has a data cassette on the front, and a steel-framed door and window below it. The computer has many large pipes coming out of it, as though it is a furnace. Below the computer room, in a basement area, the base of the computer extends into a large concrete fireplace with a fire burning brightly inside. The basement is dark; there's no light except for that cast by the fire. A figure stands next to the fireplace holding a shovel. The effect is of a large computer with a door that opens into a coal burning furnace below.

2023/05/13

May 13, 2023
A map of two islands, a large one and a small one. The large one has forests, mountains, a tower, and pathways. At the north end of the island is a well-like opening to a tunnel or tube. On the smaller island, which is totally barren, stands a monster that looks like one of the Pac-Man ghosts. This monster has a face and a ragged lower edge. In the lower-left side of the map is the letter N with an arrow pointing up, signifying that, as on all well-drawn maps, North is up.

2023/05/11

May 11, 2023
A large, shadowy figure with huge eyes and a head that doesn't look quite human stands in the moonlight. The silhouette of a person is visible in one of its eyes, as though someone is standing inside the head, looking out. From one of its hands dangles an overhead light, like something you'd find in a kitchen. The light illuminates a person sitting at a table, using a laptop. The light is white, and inhumanly bright; more like a spotlight than a house lamp.

2023/05/10

May 10, 2023
A person stands on a barren hilltop on a gray, cloudy night. Next to the figure is a phosphor-green bonfire, pouring smoke; the smoke forms an enormous figure looming overhead, wearing a formal hat. The person is holding a phone and seems to be looking up in surprise at the figure. This is not what DoorDash deliveries typically look like.

2023/05/06

May 6, 2023
A furry, slightly disheveled creature, wearing suspenders and a sandwich board with an icon on it that looks like a vague blend of the bitcoin symbol and a dollar sign. The creature's face is covered by a sinister smiley-face mask with perfect teeth and empty eyes. The creature is doffing a top hat with a clown horn affixed to it via a spring, and also ringing a bell, like a carnival barker. The creature is slightly hunched, trudging along a barren landscape with sparse grass. This is totally not a passive-aggressive reference to the crypto scammers who have been making a particular nuisance of themselves lately.

2023/05/04

May 4, 2023
Eek! It's a large, furry creature casting an anxious glance over its shoulder, and finding that its pointed tail is actually the nose of a face with a scheming expression. The face is located where none of us would want to find another face on ourselves.

2023/05/03

May 3, 2023
A traveler stands on a road in a wide meadow, a mountain and clouds in the background. Next to the traveler is an abandoned telephone pole with wires dangling from it. At the top of the pole sits a large, furry creature with horns and bat wings, dangling a television as if it were a lure. The television screen is filled with static.

2023/05/01

May 1, 2023
An irregular shape that is composed entirely of jagged lighting-bolt-like branches. At the center of this shape is a single eye. Imagine Mr Ouch as designed by H P Lovecraft. (Yes, I know nobody knows who Mr Ouch is. Look him up. The Wikipedia article is fascinating, which I'd know because I wrote it.)

2023/04/29

April 29, 2023
An armless trenchcoat or cloak, worn by a tall figure. There are three heads emerging from the open front of the trenchcoat. The first two have leering expressions; the last is bearded and looks thoughtful, like an old man.

2023/04/22

April 22, 2023
A horned, furry monster with one large green eye and two legs. That's the way it was, folks. (Bring on the "Among Us" references.)

2023/04/21

April 21, 2023
A shadowy figure with circular glowing eyes—possibly glasses—stands in a dim, foggy area. There are suggestions of blurry trees and vines in the background. This is not a nice place, and one is left with the suspicion that this may not be a nice person, either—if it is a person at all.

2023/04/19

April 19, 2023
A hulking figure whose head is either very smooth or encased in a helmet stands, holding a large leather bound volume in one hand. A small glowing figure with wings is standing on its other hand. The figure is looking at it. The rear cover of the volume has a vague, expressionless face molded into it.

2023/04/18

April 18, 2023
A chapel-like building with three tall bearded, robed figures carved into the walls. It has no windows; the walls are covered entirely by the carvings. The doorway is an arched overhang. Below the entrance steps is a large arch over a drainage ditch or something. A figure with horns sits in the ditch, possibly seeking protection from—but, most likely, simply admiring—the vast fireball streaking overhead; the reckoning that those tired old men on the chapel wall failed to prevent.

2023/04/17

April 17, 2023
A large, black, furry creature with a giant head. Where the face would be is a large radar screen instead, depicting several glowing blobs. The figure is holding a walking stick; several complex antennas bristle from its head. Inside its belly sits a person looking at a phone.

2023/04/16

April 16, 2023
An eerie figure that seems to be carved from stone stands in the light of a moon that looks like the Facebook "haha" reaction. The figure has no ears, a strange smile, and wears a suit and fedora. One side of the figure's face is hidden in shadow; on the side that isn't, there's a smiley face instead of an eye.

2023/04/14

April 14, 2023
A house with a clock cupola stands on two legs. The feet of the legs are wearing yellow Chuck Taylor All-Stars. The setting appears to be evening; there is moonlight, but no moon. The house has three windows: two small, on either side of it, and one large. One small window is lit, one is dark. The largest window, in the center, is brightly lit. The silhouette of a human figure with antlers stands looking out.

2023/04/13

April 13, 2023
A scene of two large, tenement-like blocks placed on a flat, desolate plain. Between them stands a huge, blazing figure, terrifying in its brilliance. Those who imagine angels as being of light should picture Lucifer. Standing in the shadows of one of the blocks is a small figure, up against the wall so as not to be seen. The blazing figure appears to be looking for something.

2023/04/12

April 12, 2023
A bleak, featureless setting: no scenery or landscape, nothing except for a dark, staticky background. A gray figure who looks sort of like an early all-in-one Macintosh with legs and an antenna wanders forward. Where the figure's face would be is a glowing white screen, showing nothing except blazing white light that illuminates the area in front of it, as though the air is slightly foggy. The figure has a disk drive for a mouth and knobs on the side. In the immortal words of Gary Larson, "it was late and I was tired."

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    All work © Chris Silverman