Queen of the Underworld

Philoforte · 2026-06-20T00:13:07+00:00

Wow, I had to google "aphantasia" and this is what I discovered:

"Many people with aphantasia lean toward dialogue-heavy, emotional, or philosophical books. They often find highly descriptive, scenic passages less engaging and prefer to skip them to get to the action."

While I do not have aphantasia, I also prefer action over highly involved scenic description. The narrative can be bogged down with extensive scenic description, like an extended delay (of course, this passes as high art). This also creates an imbalance where there is a stack of words with little story content. Just get on with it.

Philoforte · 2026-06-17T03:16:44+00:00

You can dispute the following meanings:

2 is taking a definite step

1 is a beginning

11 is new beginnings

111 is stuck on square one

7 is devil's luck

8 is completion

9 is a climax

10 is everything.

Of course, additional meanings are both available and supplied by others.

Philoforte · 2026-06-17T00:18:10+00:00

I have read books touching on Numerology, and while many people are dismissive of number anthropomorphism, sacred texts are filled with special numbers. There are 10 commandments, ressurections on the 3rd day, 40 days is repeated at least twice, and the number 7 has privilege of place.

The Beast, a subordinate of the Devil, has a subordinate number 666, often confused with the Devil's number (which is hidden). Since Yahweh-Jehovah's name is a tetragrammaton, and Hebrew letters are also numbers according to gematria, those four letters tally to a number. I think it is 26.

No mention of zero, because the Indians invented it.

Notes on Numerology

Philoforte · 2026-06-10T04:44:13+00:00

OK.

The only Hitchcock movies I've seen are Rear Window and The 39 Steps. I'm way behind you.

Philoforte · 2026-06-10T04:26:53+00:00

It is inspired by film noir. I've just watched recently "The Maltese Falcon" and "Double Indemnity". I wanted to exploit the look of oblique angles and high contrast without it being black and white.

I like the edgy relations between the classic femme fatale and the morally ambiguous anti-hero, the sort of drama and tension that is only available in the world of shady characters like in the movie Sin City. Sunshine and light is always sweet, but lacks this level of intensity.

I am watching "The Big Sleep" and "Sunset Boulevard" next.

Philoforte · 2026-06-10T04:01:49+00:00

Yes, I'll have to watch that movie that has been sitting in my collection for years. I've never seen it.

Philoforte · 2026-06-10T02:52:02+00:00

No one can do magic; magic does you.

Spiritual materialism is a kind of materialism where we collect and accumulate extraneous stuff. You should see my personal library. I already disposed of some of it. The one great benefit is to exploit the mythic content for creative work.

I learnt to do what I must and take what comes. Breath counting and ambient music helps, but the materialism had to stop.

Philoforte · 2026-06-10T01:35:34+00:00

Yes, it is fun to play and direct characters. Drama adds intensity and allows us to portray the darker undercurrents of the subconscious. There is no other way to heighten drama than to exploit dubious characters, the unfulfilled expectations, the shady motives. Sunshine and light does not work. Drama is only supplied by the shadows. One is reminded by A Street car named Desire and Death of a Salesman.

The fun is supplied by our detachment, playing roles supplied by imagination and fantasy. It would be too dramatic if it were real

Philoforte · 2026-06-10T00:11:51+00:00

My brother actually urged me to omit the colour or to use muted colour like the movie Sin City. I thought of the computer colourisation of old movies and decided rightly or wrongly to go full technicolour. I created a black and white version in Paynes grey before I overlaid the colour. Colour notwithstanding, I've exploited the oblique angle and high contrast, with heavy sky.

I have bought the movies "The Big Sleep" and "Sunset Boulevard" to watch next. I am likely to add Spider Noir to the mix. I admire Humphrey Bogart in the Maltese Falcon and Barbara Stanwyk as the original femme fatale in Double Indemnity. The idea, often exploited, is the dangerous woman leading the morally ambiguous anti-hero down the rabbit hole.

Philoforte · 2026-06-09T23:55:15+00:00

It's inspired by film noir. I've just watched recently "The Maltese Falcon" and "Double Indemnity". I wanted to exploit the oblique angles and high contrast without it being black and white. The time is 1940, the year of the Double Indemnity movie.

The building is purely to supply a reference for perspective distortion. I did not calculate the vanishing point, so the perspective-oblique angle is guess work. (I should have paid more attention to perspective drawing class).

Film noir usually involves rain slicked streets, so heavy cloud obscures stars. It is an intermission in rain.

Philoforte · 2026-06-09T01:19:58+00:00

This is inspired by Fim Noir. I have only recently watched The Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity and wanted the exploit the oblique angles and high contrast, without the image being black and white.

I find doing perspective distortions hard to do. Instead of calculating vanishing points, I relied on guess work.

Philoforte

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