Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine

Are you old enough to remember the Gong Show? No? Are you old enough to remember drugs then? Or preschool? If so, this will make perfect sense.

I just thought we needed a raincoaster equivalent to the Unicorn Chaser, after the Michael Jackson eye-ripping soul-destroyer of a post below.

the king of pop and lord of the abyss

the king of pop and lord of the abyss

From Defamer comes pictoral evidence that Michael Jackson, the so-called King of Pop, is well on the way to Transition in the classic Innsmouthian mode, if not actually Arkhamian.

Eagle-eyed commenter Valet of the Dolls was the first to suggest the uncanny resemblance to legended and unspeakable aquatic hybrids. I think the connection is more sinister still.

It is the Thing on the Doorstep.

There are black zones of shadow close to our daily paths, and now and then some evil soul breaks a passage through. When that happens, the man who knows must strike before reckoning the consequences…The butler, tougher-fibred than I, did not faint at what met him in the hall in the morning. Instead, he telephoned the police. When they came I had been taken upstairs to bed, but the – other mass – lay where it had collapsed in the night. The men put handkerchiefs to their noses.

What they finally found inside Edward’s oddly-assorted clothes was mostly liquescent horror. There were bones, to – and a crushed-in skull.

Well yes, but he paid for that. And the nose is his own; he still has the receipt!

save the endangered tree octopus

Cascadia Evening Post, totally straight up and honest. Sriusly.

From my earliest childhood to my brief spell as a humble Greenpeace canvasser, I have always been acutely sensitive to the plight of endangered species, and never moreso than now that I live in one of the last great rainforests of the world.

As we hurtle ever faster towards our inevitable sterile, Logan’s Run inspired future, we shed species at a rate of approximately one every 20 minutes. Please don’t let the untamed beauty that is the Pacific Tree Octopus be lost; do not let it go the way of the dodo and the snow leopard.

But together we can work to maintain the wild herds of this noble creature. Hunted nearly to extinction for its incomparable beauty, its fate need not be sealed; indeed, it is possible that, with adequate planning and habitat preservation, we could learn to coexist with this most iconic of Cascadian cephalofauna.

Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus has the full story.

Tree Octopus RibbonShow people that you support the cause of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus by placing a Tentacle Ribbon or badge, along with a link to this page, on your website or weblog so that they can learn more. Together, we have the power to build a grass-roots campaign to save the Tree Octopus!

Why It’s Endangered

Although the tree octopus is not officially listed on the Endangered Species List, we feel that it should be added since its numbers are at a critically low level for its breeding needs. The reasons for this dire situation include: decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water which it needs for spawning; predation by foreign species such as house cats; and booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle and sasquatch. What few that make it to the Canal are further hampered in their reproduction by the growing problem of pollution from farming and residential run-off. Unless immediate action is taken to protect this species and its habitat, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus will be but a memory.

The possibility of Pacific Northwest tree octopus extinction is not an unwarranted fear. Other tree octopus species — including the Douglas octopus and the red-ringed madrona sucker — were once abundant throughout the Cascadia region, but have since gone extinct because of threats similar to those faced by paxarbolis, as well as overharvesting by the now-illegal tree octopus trade.

The history of the tree octopus trade is a sad one. Their voracious appetite for bird plumes having exhausted all the worthy species of that family, the fashionistas moved on to cephalopodic accoutrements during the early 20th Century. Tree octopuses became prized by the fashion industry as ornamental decorations for hats, leading greedy trappers to wipe out whole populations to feed the vanity of the fashionable rich. While fortunately this practice has been outlawed, its effects still reverberate today as these millinery deprivations brought tree octopus numbers below the critical point where even minor environmental change could cause disaster.

Operation Global Media Domination: Best Blog award nominations are open

TIAYou know what to do.

Here is where to do it.

I think it’s probably best if I concentrate on this one, but I’ve also auto-nominated in this one. Gee, does this mean I’ll go blind? All nominations and votes will be gratefully accepted and you’ll be placed on my Christmas email list. Don’t let it go to your head, eh?

Seriously, there must be eight or ten of these popularity contests that I’ve heard of lately, but this is the first one I haven’t missed the deadline for. The only problem with being so weird is that it sorta limits your category choices: there’s no option for Best Cthulhu Mythos and Celebrities Making Asses of Themselves Blog.

But I would own that.

David (Insane) Lynch and his fucking cow strike again!

Is there no end to the madness? Hollywood, a nation weeps for you. Just give Laura Dern the fucking Oscar already and put an end to this insanity, wouldja?

Iconic genius and quirky leprechaun of the cinema David Lynch takes to the road yet again in his bizarre, dairy-themed campaign to bring an underrated actress the acclaim she so obviously deserves.

The cow was on Sunset.

David Fucking Lynch and Daisy the bemused bovine, just hangin' out on Sunset

from Defamer, your go-to source for all bovine and mad director news.

For those of you who found last week’s David Lynch promotional stunt for Inland Empire too geographically inconvenient to attend, you have a second chance to catch the director, his trusty cow sidekick, and various signs celebrating Laura Dern‘s performance in person, where you can possibly absorb some of his cryptic wisdom on the origins of cheese. Alerts a reader apparently unaware that Lynch and his bovine prop previously graced a corner in Hollywood last Thursday:

david lynch is on sunset and holloway right now, sitting on a corner in a director’s chair with a cow next to him.

Well, where else would you expect to find him, eh?