big statues

hey guys. recently I've been looking into giant statues. 

every year the time rolls around when i think "whats the tallest statue in the world?" and then i search it up and remember a year ago when i did the exact same thing. in case you were wondering, its the statue of unity in India. you can look that up if you're interested, but i think the images are relatively dissapointing because the pictures don't really capture the sheer scale of the thing--at least i think thats the issue, because I've never been. it does make me want to visit, though. few things draw me to india, but i do love a giant statue and i really like indian food. 

if you're looking for big statutes, you're likely to find that virtually none of them are in the western countries. the statue of liberty come to mind, but she's actually not that tall. that being said, i think it was a disservice to her size to put her next to a bunch of skyscrapers. I've been to new york once but i don't think i've ever seen the statue of liberty. i would like to go again, this time with a newfound vigor for large statues. 

christ the redeemer is also a classic example, but is also not actually that tall (sidenote, inanimate beings are referred to as 'she' generally, but jesus was a dude as far as i know, so i think i'll say 'he' for now). the statue is just on the side of a mountain, thats why he seems so big and kind of imposing. still, i would like to see him in person one day. there are other things i want to see in brazil as well, and especially rio since they made that bird movie with jesse eisenberg. 

the second and third largest statues in the world are both of buddha, one is in china and one is in myanmar. in middle school i learnt where every single country is on the world map on the seterra website, which i'm thankful for because i can place where all of these statues are in my mind. i'm also very good at geoguessr. anyway, i prefer the one in china. i like it because of it's looming factor, as in, it looms over the surrounding areas very well. 

the looming factor is characterized by how many and the quality of cool pictures i find of the statue from very far away. those are the ones that stand out to me. i like when a statue peeks out from behind a bunch of buildings, or fog, or is lit up from one angle while otherwise in complete darkness at night. the chinese 'spring temple buddha' does this sometimes, which is why i like it. 

'the motherland calls' is a statue in russia. its number 11 on the list of statues, but its probably my favorite. i had little pull to go to russia before, but the more my russian friend tells me about it the more curious i get, and this statue has kind of sealed the deal. its a poor aspiration, geopolitically. that aside, the statue depicts 'mother russia' and she's in the this stance like shes leaning out, calling to the civilians. it must be a hard thing to pull off from an architecture standpoint, which is why most of the largest statues just kind of stand, or sit there. mother russia has a great looming factor because of her stance though. i would say all of the tallest ones have a good looming factor, but thats a given. mother russia stands out because she looms despite her size. there are some great pics of her at night, or in foggy weather. she's quite expressive. 

well, this is what i do instead of homework. 

if you happen to read this and have any weird statues to recommend me to look up, that would be cool. they don't have to be tall, but i like the tall ones. as long as they're interesting enough. 

peace