I learned to swim 'cause he said you could fly

[sovay]

spatch has been sending me various cheering links, like a coconut octopus being offered a new home, Peter Falk's self-portraits as Columbo, and Potter Puppet Pals' "The Mysterious Ticking Noise." I appreciate all of these things.

a_reasonable_man went to hear Anaïs Mitchell and came back with the self-named debut single of her new folk group, "Bonny Light Horseman." It's having to share space right now with the rest of the new music, but it's on rotation.

I feel everyone on my friendlist should know that Conjunctions is now reading for Grendel's Kin: The Monsters Issue.

I don't understand how I missed the existence of anything called "the New Thalassology."

Comments

[asakiyume]

"Bonny Light Horseman" is beautiful; thank you for that.

And that little octopus is so expressive with its arms, testing, rejecting, testing, rejecting, until at last it commits.

[sovay]

"Bonny Light Horseman" is beautiful; thank you for that.

You're welcome. I thought it was a good version.

And that little octopus is so expressive with its arms, testing, rejecting, testing, rejecting, until at last it commits.

So I am right now reading Richard O. Prum's The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—and Us (2017) and there is a jaw-dropping passage in which he describes how the early twentieth-century ornithologist William Beebe, after a week of camping in the forest of Borneo, finally had the transcendent experience of witnessing the courtship display of a great argus pheasant in the wild—after which he promptly decided that aesthetic considerations obviously played no part in the propagation of the species, because the female for which the male had put on all this luminous, shivering, thousand-eyed entrancing display did not look all that impressed with it. Prum, of course, points out that the entire purpose of a courtship display is to permit the female to evaluate the male and that she is under no obligation to leap into his arms just because he's successfully made it through the performance; that particular bird might have blown Beebe away but rated only about a B+ in argus pheasant terms. I related this account to spatch who promptly shouted to the long-dead ghost of William Beebe, "Well, why didn't you mate with him?!" Anyway, I thought of it while watching the octopus carefully select its home.

[asakiyume]

Hah! That's hilarious. I'm imagining a cartoon now where Beebe and the pheasant are getting married (and yes, I can see how you'd think of it in this situation)

[moon_custafer]

You should know that the mad genius behind “Potter Puppet Pals” later became Lemon Demon, famous for “Two Trucks” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WchseC9aKTU ) and the album Spirit Phone, on which my favourite track is “When He Died”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2D9B4qV4vg

[sovay]

You should know that the mad genius behind “Potter Puppet Pals” later became Lemon Demon

I do know that! I was trying to decide recently if I discovered him first as Lemon Demon with "I've Got Some Falling to Do" or as the creator of the animutation "French Erotic Film," since there's no LJ-record and all relevant timestamps have long since been lost to hard drive death and resurrection. I think it was the latter, but it's all sort of mulched together under "pop culture encountered in grad school." choco_frosh might remember.

on which my favourite track is “When He Died”

"The odd thing is, they never found his own . . ."

[choco_frosh]

Possibly? I *think* somebody gave me a mix CD that included "I've got some falling to do" in early grad. school, but I don't remember the exact dates. As such, it's also just possible that it was the other way around, and YOU gave me said CD.

[sovay]

As such, it's also just possible that it was the other way around, and YOU gave me said CD.

Well, that would confuse the record.

[asakiyume]

It was because of him and his sister that I joined LJ, back in 2006. I wanted to be able to leave a comment on his sister's LJ. I thought they were both MAD CREATIVE. (And... they were!)

[sovay]

It was because of him and his sister that I joined LJ, back in 2006.

I didn't know that! That's a good reason.

[moon_custafer]

Wow – looking up wiki articles on animutation, etc, pulled up a scholarly paper, “Colin Mochrie vs. Jesus H. Christ: Messages About Masculinities and Fame in Online Video Conversations” by Lori Kendall, University of Illinois. Dating from 2007, it looks almost naively optimistic in the post-Gamergate era, but still a worthwhile read: https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/705/colinieee.pdf

[sovay]

Dating from 2007, it looks almost naively optimistic in the post-Gamergate era

The internet at large also functioned quite differently in the founding years of animutation, but I'm still going to read it! Thanks.

[rosefox]

I have never even heard of animutation. Wow wow wow.

[gwynnega]

That octopus video is so touching, and the Peter Falk self-portraits are great.

[sovay]

That octopus video is so touching, and the Peter Falk self-portraits are great.

I want to know if Falk ever published any of his art! The only other examples I've seen were in Wings of Desire (1987). He's so good with stance and movement.

[brigdh]

That octopus video is the absolute best.

But even better: Anais Mitchell has a new folk group!!! I can't wait to hear more.

You know, I've spent years seeing people quote "snape snape snape DUMBLEDORE" but I've never actually watched the original video. So thank you for all these links!

[sovay]

So thank you for all these links!

You're welcome!

Anaïs Mitchell's new folk group has announced a debut album! Some of those titles I know or can guess at; some I'm just really curious about.

I had never even heard people quote "The Mysterious Ticking Noise," so it took me totally by surprise. I was reminded very much of the Muppets: "Either someone gets eaten or something blows up."