[Jimmyjimjim]

Lunatique!!!

Your art is now part of an Urban Legend! Apparently an email is going THE WORLD around that says this:

"In Japan shortly before a teenage girl comitted suicide, she drew this picture, scanned it and posted it online. In korea this story broke out and it spread like wildfire. There are various posts around in korean forums that say that the viewer gets drawn to the girls blue eyes, they say they can detect a hint of wraith and sadness within the eyes. Maybe the girl had died with so much sadness and anger that her spirit haunts the image, or maybe the image provoke sadness, similar to the song \'Gloomy Sunday\'. The freaky bit is this, they say it is hard for a person to stare into the girls eyes for longer than 5 minutes, there are reports that some people have taken their own lives after doing so. People say the picture changes, as you view it there is a hint of a growing taunting smirk appearing on the girls lips or a dark ring grows around the girl or her eyes. How do the eyes of this image draw the viewer in so deeply?"

This is the pic that comes with it:


Dude, congratulations! A piece of your artwork is capturing the imagination of the entire world.

(P.S.- If you are sick of this already, or don't want the image reposted, tell me and I'll take this off)

[Sumaleth]

I saw that too and did a double-take.
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[[Shizo]]

Lol, you wish you had 1c for every silly korean forums post and email about this pic, DON'T YA?!

[Ranath]

OMG!!

I'm gonna stare at it for 5 mins

anyways, is that considered fair use or are they just sending copyrighted material left and right? You could maybe sue them - they're giving the credit of this piece to some "teenage girl who committed suicide"..


EDIT: If you squint your eyes, she looks more evil but that's all

[lysander]

hahahahahahaha. crazy internet geeks
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[Lunatique]

*sigh*

I see it has now reached the English-speaking world as well.

I still have no idea how this whole thing got started. Probably some kid with an overactive imagination was bored, saw my painting somewhere online, and decided to start some urban legend around it. When I was first contacted about this whole ordeal it was from the Chinese, and it was like "WTF are you people smoking in your pipes?" It was amusing at first, and I posted on one of the Chinese forums to identify myself and clear up the whole silliness. I thought that would be the end of it, but later on, people I meet in real life started to tell me about the urban legend when I showed them my paintings. They'd be like "Wait a minute, YOU'RE the guy who did that picture??" It was kinda like the cart before the horse--not as amusing. And now I find out it's gone all around Japan, Korea, and God-knows where else.

[Jimmyjimjim]

I can certainly see how that would get old. Hope I did'nt bring up anything embarassing to you.

Well, the bright side is:

How many current artists have a piece that is as widely known to the general public?

[Gort]

Thanks Rob. Thanks. Thanks a lot for helping to screw up the human race.


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"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[Lunatique]

jimmy - Nah, not embarrassing at all. Just silly fun--no harm done. Kind of cool I guess, in a backhanded sort of way.

[Nilwort]

If you stare at this picture for more than twenty minutes, her mouth starts to form the word "porcupine" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

[Domino Harvey]

I'm surprised it isn't on myspace yet. To my knowledge, anyway.

btw, Lunatique, that is an incredible picture, Ringu-esque "curse" aside.
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[Joe84]

ughh koreans will call anything a ghost story...

[balistic]

The funniest Korean superstition I've heard of is "fan death".

They believe that if you leave a fan on and then fall asleep in the same room, you will die. It's just accepted as common knowledge.
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[Sumaleth]

Soccer fans can be pretty dangerous.
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[Diruo]

Heh... at first I thought you meant a "fan" as in "enthusiast". What... they kill you while you're sleeping?

The truth is equally bizarre though... I had to look it up.

[Tzan]

So if we ever catch an asian terrorist we could "torture" him buy putting him in a closed room with a running fan

[Jimmyjimjim]

[balistic]

[Lunatique]

What would've been far cooler is if the urban legend was about how anyone who saw my painting would masturbate furiously until he died. Now THAT, I would proudly bring up during conversations with strangers.

[Freebooter]

Hey It's not THAT good. I only got my right hand sore.

[Domino Harvey]

[seeamon]

you know that picture's come all the way to sweden. there's a major thread about it on the swedish counter strike forum www.fragbite.se (http://www.fragbite.se/?threadID=260028). i hope you find this amusing

[Andromeda]

damn ...... ive a wide grin on me ... i will spread the good word ! its true dammit ! its true !!!

[Affected]

Regarding fan death, it was suggested somewhere that the media in South Korea report suicides as "fan deaths", due to the taboo nature of suicide. Who knows.