Ray Harryhausen, The Patron Saint of Stop Motion Animation

Ray Harryhausen created an excellent body of work, including The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, It Came From Beneath the Sea, and Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers. If you haven't watched the movie, "Jason and the Argonauts", I highly recommend renting it, especially if you have imaginative kids.



A scene from Jason and the Argonauts

On a lighter note...

I usually scorn "cute" photos and stories, out of pure cynicism and a dry, dark sense of humor, but I'll make an exception here. A cute little girl made friends with an orangutan at an animal sanctuary, and they spent a few hours playing together and enjoying each other's company. I don't think we're tremendously different from chimps, apes, or orangutans as toddlers. Humans tend to exhibit a real arrogance towards other species, which is unfortunate, considering how closely related we are. Here's a link to the article.

The Nonist by Jaimes Morrison

In my webby travels I stumbled upon a site called, "The Nonist". Sadly it was discontinued in August by it's author, Jaimes Morrison, who is moving on to other worldly pursuits. Fortunately he's archived and organized everything created during his site's five year run. Thenonist.com is a masterpiece and I encourage you to visit the site, especially if you enjoy forgotten or obscure art, fiction, philosophy, etc. Follow this link to access the site.

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For a nice taste of his style, here is an article that covers the artwork of 1905-07 Russia during the early Bolshevik uprising. Click on the end link to see the artwork:

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In Russia, following a string of embarrassing defeats in the Russo-Japanese War and the infamous Bloody Sunday incident, during the period of the so called Failed Revolution, no less than 480 underground magazines sprung-up to voice the outrage of the many disparate groups and factions and movements—nihilists, anarchists, socialists, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks, etc—which though unorganized, were united in their calls for Tsarist reform. This outpouring of printed materials, critical of the State, was no small thing in a country with a long history of strict censorship and brutal punishments for dissension. These many short-lived publications are referred to, collectively, as “satires.” Read more.

Crunchy Saturday Morning Nuggets

• Can science survive the great chimp, George W. Bush?
• CNN eliminates it's entire science, technology, and environment news staff.
• On the eve of Krampus, here's an excellent overview with scary pictures. - Zomopro
• Something to think about this Christmas season. - Maniacworld
• Are some evil geniuses gay?
• The finest coffee in the land, purchased from the counter-cultural hub of Salt Lake City. Support the Utah underground, fight the right-wing oppressors, buy coffee from the Salt Lake Roasting Company!
  

Say Hebbo to Tarvuism

Become the Priestmunty at your local Chabbernaggle! There's religion... and then there's Tarvuism.

Pullups can be dangerous

This clip was referred by my brother Miguel. Both of us suffer from acrophobia (fear of heights), and both of us found our hands sweating while watching the climactic dangling portion of the video.


Paris-Crane Pushups - A funny movie is a click away

The Pickens Plan

Legendary Texas oil trader T. Boone Pickens has an energy strategy for America: massive wind farms across the great plains, and a switch from gasoline/diesel fuels to natural gas. Watch the video if you haven't before, it's a good presentation and he lays out reasonable ideas that can actually be implemented. It's certainly not the final answer for U.S. energy, but it possibly represents a transitional strategy between the existing dirty, climate changing, imported model and the utopian renewable age (if it ever comes). Job creation and a reduction in imports are nice side effects. Cutting our energy reliance on the Middle East, Venezuela, Nigeria, Russia, and Sweden are bonuses!

Even Meat Puppets Have Dreams.

Introducing Pete the Meat Puppet - From the fine site Ectoplasmosis

Fresh Morning Nuggets

• Algae biofuel - the future of ethanol?
• Excellent underground labyrinths of the world - Weburbanist
• The most remote inhabited place on earth - Dark Roasted Blend
• Laid off? Looking for a job? Avoid these locations - Oddee
• Free Spirit Spheres, the ultimate treehouse / death star.
• German DJ swallows the microphone- Afrojacks

Mormon Onanism

Are you a Mormon? Do you struggle with onanism? Read this excerpt from a 1970's era missionary manual and cure yourself, lest you suffer for eternity in the Telestial Kingdom! The author, Mark E. Peterson also suffers from an affliction: fragmented sentences, but we can't blame him since he dropped out of school in the 6th grade. Mark E. Peterson also happens to be one of Mormonism's legendary racists! Click here for a sample of his fiery speeches from the fifties.

STEPS IN OVERCOMING MASTURBATION
Mark E. Petersen
Council of the 12 Apostles

Be assured that you can be cured of your difficulty. Many have been, both male and female, and you can be also if you determine that it must be so. This determination is the first step. That is where we begin. You must decide that you will end this practice, and when you make that decision, the problem will be greatly reduced at once. But it must be more than a hope or a whish, more than knowing that it is good for you. It must be actually a DECISION. If you truly make up your mind that you will be cured, then you will have the strength to resist any tendencies which you may have and any temptations which may come to you.
After you have made this decision, then observe the following specific guidelines:

A Guide to Self-Control:

• Never touch the intimate parts of your body except during normal toilet processes.


• Avoid being alone as much as possible.
  
• Find good company and stay in this good company.
  
• If you are associated with other persons having this same problem, YOU MUST BREAK OFF THEIR FRIENDSHIP. Never associate with other people having the same weakness. Don't suppose that two of you will quit together, you never will. You must get away from people of that kind. Just to be in their presence will keep your problem foremost in your mind. The problem must be taken OUT OF YOUR MIND for that is where it really exists. Your mind must be on other and more wholesome things.
  
• When you bathe, do not admire yourself in a mirror. Never stay in the bath more than five or six minutes...read more

Hot Creamy Chews

• A tattoo artist should learn to spell, it helps business. - Oddee
• Charlie Brown's Christmas tree for sale. - Holy Taco
• A classic clip, the fruitcake lady. - Dorks.com
• Some primates are more intelligent than the zookeepers. -Boreme
• A classic video from 1928. - Neatorama
• When nerd's die. - AfroJacks

George Bush, keepin' it real.

Finally he dispenses with the bullshit and comes clean with the good folks of America.

Flora Stop Motion Animation

Here is a creepy stop motion animation of Flora decomposing. Very cool.

Conspiracy theories

There are some truly bizarre conspiracy theories running around, no doubt, nothing new here. This one comes from a religious nutcase whose stated purpose is to "expose Satan's new world order conspiracy". He thinks the government is building mass detention camps and is compiling a list of christian gun owners and other undesirables. They will apparently be rounded up once martial law is declared (could happen at any time), thrown onto a prison train, and murdered / incinerated by foreign citizens in these camps. Truly outlandish stuff. There always seems to be a kernel of truth in every hair brained conspiracy theory, and the kernel in this is the building of detention camps. Halliburton subsidiary KBR was awarded a $385,000,000 contract in 2006 by the Department of Homeland Security to build detention centers all over America for use in the event of an "emergency". What that means is up to speculation. It doesn't fill me with good tingly feelings, to be sure.

Krampus - the yang to Santa's yin

Before the 'lump of coal' legend started, parents warned their kids that Krampus would visit them if they misbehaved. This is a pretty frightening tale for a youngster to hear, and more akin to a Grimm fairy tale.

Here's a link for a nice history lesson on ol' Krampus. A little taste of the article:

"In Austria particularly, Krampus Night (‘Krampusnacht') is still vigorously celebrated on the eve of Saint Nicholas' Day (6th December). Young men (and today some women even!) dress up as Krampus and go through the streets of towns - their primary aim to frighten young children..."

Mark December 6th on your calendar, and go scare some children in the name of history.

David Lynch is a daisy.

Documentary: The Golden Age of Lobotomies.

Even though this was produced by PBS, it made me rather queasy. The honorable Joe Kennedy (father of John and Robert, who also made his fortune shorting the stock market in 1929 whilst spreading false rumors about bank instability)inflicted a lobotomy on his 23 year old daughter, Rosemary, because she was moody. The lobotomy reduced her to an infantile mentality and her verbal skills became unintelligible babble. The Kennedy's parked her in a mental institution in Wisconsin and claimed that she was born retarded. I hope you enjoy this footage of the 1945-1950 golden age of lobotomies!



Near the same mental institution where the lobotomies were performed, a cameraman caught a ghost on film:

Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter.

Now that sweet Autumn has officially expired with Thanksgiving (sob), we transition towards the short days and debt-fueled xmas season, followed by month after month of Winter. Here is a goodbye tribute to Halloween...



...And hello to Christmas.

Atomic testing near Las Vegas.

The early atomic age was a strange time to be alive. "Let's have a cocktail and watch the nuclear explosion, maybe gamble a bit later?"