What more is there to say, really? It’s a tentacle arm.
A friend of mine told me I need “at least two” of these. . .
. . . at LEAST two???? What??
And once the first one’s on, how do you get the second on. . . ? Do I want to know?
Tentacle Arm from GaiaStore.com
1 comment January 19th, 2008
This stunning silver urchin ring and squid tentacle earrings are from emily amey.
The paperweights below, including “an exact replica of a mammalian heart,” are by Walteria living.
2 comments December 8th, 2007
I saw this at Bibliodyssey. The next day I had to go back and click the link again.
A few days later I went shopping at the always-inspiring Anthropologie, and on returning home, had to go back and browse again. Then I was putting up some of my antique prints on the walls of my new apartment and. . . you guessed it.
I cannot get over how beautiful this book is: the quintessential bibliocabinet of curiosities. And the images are HUGE. Enjoy.
BibliOdyssey: Museum Gottwaldianum
1 comment September 8th, 2007
Jellyfish room
Porcelain
Alissa Coe & Carly Waito, 2007
Via Ullabenulla.
(Regarding categories: of course cnidarians aren’t cephalopods, but jellies are part of the deep sea ambiance. . . and just imagine what a school of porcelain squid from this duo would look like!).
2 comments June 2nd, 2007
Mother
David Hochbaum, 2006
David Hochbaum rocks. Enough said.
Add comment May 18th, 2007
Dumbo Octopus
From The Deep, by Claire Nouvian
www.thedeepbook.org
Collision Detection posted this link to a French film of deep-sea organisms. I don’t know if it’s the hypnotic French narration, or the freaky organisms, or that fact that I went running five miles in a rainstorm and may have pneumonia, but this is trippy.
The star is the Dumbo octopus, Grimpoteuthis, which has actual flapping Dumbo ears. I now have a favorite cephalopod (for all the times I’ve been asked that question at cocktail parties, which is of course many times indeed). The picture above is from this promo for The Deep, a beautiful book of photography by Claire Nouvian. But it doesn’t do the ear-flapping justice, so check out the video too.
2 comments May 2nd, 2007
my apologies for the lateness of this post - although it is still Friday here on the West Coast. I’ve been without a computer most of this week, but I had to post SOMETHING for PZ Myers‘ birthday. So I’ve mashed up two of his favorite things: Charles Darwin and a cephalopod. I hope you had a wonderful day, PZ, and thanks for all the inspiration!
Add comment March 9th, 2007
Science scouts: much better than plain old girl scouts!
Is it scary that I would qualify for so many merit badges? Actually, I could invent a few more, such as “I have administered illegal drugs of abuse to insects,” but then I’d be giving away all my Science Secrets. (See the link for the meaning of these badges).
Note that there is also one for, well, cephalopodmania (although I am not yet worthy):
From the good folks at SCQ.
2 comments February 14th, 2007
chasing logarithms
Ronald Kurniawan, 2005
Ronald Kurniawan is one of three artists in a show opening February 9 at Roq la Rue in Seattle. You can also see some of his work for sale, including the graphite version of the piece above, at Nucleus. I don’t know what it is about the surreal naturescapes full of giant numbers, but I really, really like this guy’s work!
Add comment February 1st, 2007
British Mac Ads So Much Better Than U.S. Ads (Gizmodo)
Now the octopus tentacles wiggle their way into Mac ads. I feel completely disoriented.
Still, the Mac actor’s British accent is adorable. . .
Add comment January 30th, 2007
Galactopod
2007
Watercolor on Winsor & Newton Paper
My friend Seth and I have been mailing art back and forth for years. I don’t remember how it got started, but in the past year or two, I’m pretty sure he’s sent me art three or four times with no reciprocation. I’m a bad art friend. To make it up to him, I had to do something dramatic. And what’s more dramatic than a gigantic, vaguely alien-ish cephalopod brooding in the inky blackness of space?
2 comments January 24th, 2007
If I had to make a choice between Macs and Legos as commercial objects of devotion, I think my head would explode. I adore my Mac, I love my iPod, but as a child, Legos were my life. Even now, I still envision simple math problems as stacks of onesies, twosies, and sixers.
I always had suspicions that they’d turned me a little “science-y.” Now I have proof of their technological agenda! Check out their latest ad:
Hat-tip: Inky Circus
Update: On reflection, this might make an even better Lego ad:
hat-tip: Pharyngula
Add comment January 20th, 2007
Bisbiglio d’Amaranto
Adam Wallacavage, 2006
Mixed media, epoxy resin coated cast plaster with lamp parts
Welcome to Captain Nemo’s dining room!
I’ve capitulated, and created a new post category: cephalopodmania. Where else can I file the unique work of Adam Wallacavage? Check out his octopus chandeliers on his MySpace page or the Jonathan Levine Gallery. It looks like you can still purchase this fuschia beauty — if you have $10K in your renovation budget.
Wallacavage is also a photographer; his 2006 book is called Monster Size Monsters
5 comments January 19th, 2007
Out of reach
Dave Rau
www.redlabor.com
Just as I began to fear that no topic could comfortably follow a post invoking medievalism and cephalopodmania, Phantasmaphile pointed me to the artwork of Dave Rau. Grungy engravings, fonts, textures, collaged and screened with random animal appendages? I’m so there!
Redlabor also hosts the art of Josh Bertrand; check out his “Beautiful Armaments; Rocket”. They even have a store where you can indulge in T-shirts with peculiar pseudo-biological motifs. Here’s how they describe “Two Guys and an Octopus:”
19th century twins gone awry in a wicked science experiment involving an octopus, insects and two gorillas. Old school biotech never looked so proper; the top-hats really finish their outfit.
Sweet, guys! But I did notice there aren’t any women’s shirts with octopi on them. . .
Add comment January 9th, 2007
Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog reminds me why I didn’t do my PhD in medieval lit:
So it befel in dede that a volvo did pulle up and a voys from it seyd, ‘You going to Philadelphia?’ And thys creatur seyd, ‘I go to MLA,’ and the voys seyde that MLA was part of Philadelphee and thus sche cam with hem. And in the volvo was a cumpany of thre yonge scolers, to wit I woman and II men. And thys creatur spak to them and seyd, ‘Tell me what maner ffolk ye aren.’ And oon the men seyd, ‘My dissertation addresses the pressing question of the relation of the Owl and the Nightingale to the paradoxes of materiality and to changing ideas of spirituality at the same time that it questions what I would call outmoded models of allegoresis. Essentially, I propose that this heavily mediated text engages with debate poetry not as a generic exemplar but rather vis-a-vis an interstitial combination of truth claims and bestiary passages about cephalopods.’ And thys creatur was soore confusid, and sche prayid to ower lord and wepid gret teares for the passioun of the child Jesu who had been born in a maunger to taak awey the synnes of all ffolke and also to deliver her from MLA.
The most amazing revelation here is not that the MLA is frightening (duh), it’s that cephalopodmania has infiltrated humanities circles. I thought this was a strictly scientific affliction. What IS it with the damn squid (and octopi)? Somebody? Anybody??
1 comment January 7th, 2007
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