just in case all y’all forgot.  tomorrow is thanksgiving, also known as one of the best excuses to stuff your face with food you won’t be able burn off until the winter months are over and you blossom into a beautiful butterfly (6 pack abs not included).  since the big feast is only a few a days away i thought i would whet your appetite with a few of my favorite things:

fried squid.

fry-a-lator

fried mushrooms

fried ice cream

fried food makes me wanna clog!

wondering where you can acquire such lovely fried snack-ums?  well, you have 2 options: visit my dad in taiwan and have him take you to danshui OR get a deep fryer and invite me over to your house.  i WILL clog.  scout’s honor.

Indie Rock Kid Art

Holiday season is approaching fast. Fuck going to the mall and hanging out with all the douche bags and the sheep of the world. Save gas, stay home, go green and fry balls–buy gifts online. Its almost 2k10 the year we make contact, don’t blow your chance.  We all know most people are on a tight budget this year due to Global Warming so go cheap and unique, fuck expensive and boring gifts. Say “fuck off” to diamonds and go “Indie Rock Kid Art” for your special dars or if you are a lady buying for a man say “fuck off” to Craftsman Tool Sets and 62″ Plasma TVs go with “Indie Rock Kid Art”. Its a gift that keeps on giving and there is only one painting like it in the world.  Just like that one special someone is the only one you will cherish forever. Right guy?

To check out Latebloomers Art full line of paintings click on squid.

Just for fun!

When your about to take a picture of your friends, instead of saying “cheese” switch it with the word “whales”, you’ll make them laugh, I guarantee it.

Pilot Whales socializing off the shores of Cape Breton Island

Pilot whales are very social, and are often found in groups of 20 to 90 pods. They swim, breed and eat as a group. Some pilot whales show off and spy hop. They basically stick half of their bodies out of the water, vertically, almost like break dancing. Can you spy hop? Many animals spy hop, not just this big guy. Wolves all need to do this, so they can see their surroundings.

Pilot whales look like black dolphins with a white or light grey anchor-shaped patch on its bottom surface. They have rounded heads with a very small beak. The male’s head may protrude up to 4 inches over the lower jaw! Its body is long, allowing the whale to swim with ease, but very stocky and muscular. They look cute, but they can hold their ground.

Pilot Whale Spy Hopping

Pilot whales are generally found in both the northern and southern hemisphere or in tropical water throughout the world. Short-finned pilot whales tend to chill out in the warmer water.

Did you know?

• Pilot whales eat squid!
• One captive pilot whale named “Morgan” was trained by Navy scientists to retrieve beeper-attached objects from the ocean floor at depths of over 1,600 feet—Pretty incredible!

If you’re ever visiting Nova Scotia, check out the whale watching adventure tours! You’ll get a chance to get up close and personal with these loveable sea creatures. Here’s a video from my last trip to Cape Breton Island, enjoy! Click here for whales

Once you get over the squirmy legs and tentacles, the coolest thing about the squid or  “cephalopod” is the “mantle”! A jet propulsion system! Without it, it wouldn’t be able to swim. The squid sucks water into its mantle and shoots it out with mega speed, much like a jet or an airplane!

The Squid

Did you know squid have the ability to change their colour? Well it does to suit its surroundings, which make them more invisible to predators.

Most grow to 24 inches long, but the GIANT squid, can reach up to 43 feet! Look out for those big guys. If you’re behind one, look out! All squid have an ink sack, which allows them to discharge black ink ward off other predators.

Check out this cool video of some washed up squid in Nova Scotia, you can see the jet-propulsion system in action.

A Giant Squid took over a pub near my home in Islington the other day. Crazy times.

Artists Todd Freemen and Meg Perec have recreated a 60-foot long giant squid as part of a site-specific installation in (unfortunately) Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is the artists’ work statement:

Large animals captivate like few other beings can. They are deified, hunted, consumed and catalogued. While our culture has seemingly amassed a working knowledge of all living species on the planet, one of the world’s giants has successfully eluded the scientific community for centuries. Save for a few partially decomposed specimens virtually nothing is known of Architeuthis dux, the Giant Squid. Architeuthis is a 60 foot ghost, moving unnoticed through deep and dark.

Our representation of the giant squid was conceived out of a need to see the animal for ourselves, beyond pale museum subjects or small renderings in books. At life size, the true scale of Architeuthis becomes clear, a massive, unfamiliar animal deserving of the same fascination and wonder owed to any whale, elephant or dinosaur. Our intent is to bring the myth into a gratifying real space, and give the viewer a chance to be confronted with one of the largest and most secretive animals to ever live.

Detail of The Piece

Found Object Section

The only picture ever taken of a live giant squid, caught off the coast of Japan in 2008.

Find out more here: http://www.artprize.org/artist/id/4156

This image was taken off the Ogasawara Island, Japan.  A female sperm whale came up after catching a giant squid.  Many paintings and drawings were made of this battle between two sea monsters.  However, no one has ever witnessed it until now.  How exciting!

Yahooのトップで見た人も多いかと思いますが、これすごいです。今までほぼファンタジーの世界だったマッコウクジラとダイオウイカの補食シーン。イカ完全に潰れてます。ゲソなくなってる。ビデオないのか？？？

Everyone knows about the giant squid (here’s a cool picture of a live giant squid), but do you know about the colossal squid? It is the largest invertebrate in the world; yes, the giant squid is smaller. It also has the largest eyes. More links here and here if you are intrigued.

”Absolutely sensational” new pictures are rare proof that the world’s largest toothed whales feed on elusive giant squid.

And if researchers are right, the photos may also show a baby whale’s hunting lessons.

Source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/photogalleries/giant-squid-sperm-whale-pictures/index.html

Have I mentioned my goal of becoming a Giant Squid? That means that I have 50 quality lenses. It’s quite an honor. That is my goal, and I am very excited about it! I’d like to reach it by Thanksgiving, but I must apply for it quarterly (which would be at the end of december, so if I don’t make it by Thanksgiving, it’s not a huge deal). Perhaps some of you who Squidoo would like to share me in this goal! If you would then let me tell you about the Giant Squid Challenge on Ning! (Ning is a free social network.) There is a group that you can join on there about becoming a Giant Squid! (Or getting into the 100 Club — which is something I will discuss in another blog post.) If you are interested then Go to my lens and pot a comment asking for an invite (and giving me your email) and I will invite you! You can set up your account (it’s very easy), and then you can post your lenses and get other lensmasters to help you know what to fix. Besides, you’ll have all your friends on there cheering you on! So if you want an invite, please don’t hesitate to post a comment on my lens with your email address. If you don’t want to post it on my lens comments, then send me an email from my lens!

1. I wish there was something witty to say about a sperm whale eating a giant squid. But there isn’t. It’s just awesome.

2. Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire is starkly different from his more recent polemic work as it speaks to something far deeper than agricultural policy or corn syrup, which is why I am excited for PBS’s upcoming documentary series of the same name.

3. Will a flat-out-broke California be the first to brave the untested waters of marijuana legalization? $1.5 billion dollars in potential tax revenue seems all-too-tempting.

4. Say “eeeeeeeeee.” Olivia Judson discusses the value of lifting the corners of your mouth upon our happiness.

5. Climate change sucks. But so does most of our limited attempts at regulating carbon dioxide. Will it take massive amounts of behavioral change before we can really start making a difference?

:)

I am so tired of waking up in the middle of the night and feeling like my feet are on burning because the stupid fire ants keep biting them. Josh seemed to be feeling a little better this morning when he left. I think the fact that I agreed to try pork might’ve helped. Not really but he has been getting on me for that for awhile. Of course now I’m not feeling great but what can you do. It’s part of being married.

He has to sell tickets to Sandblast this morning and then he’ll come home this afternoon before his SGA meeting. He got his final mid-term grade back and ended up doing much better than he thought he would. So all in all he did very well, at least in my opinion. In his head he always wishes he’d done better.

I’m supposed to go on a dolphin and whale watching trip tomorrow morning. Hopefully I don’t start to feel worse because I’ve always wanted to see a whale up close and personal. It’s the one thing they don’t have the aquarium that I’d love to see. Well that and a giant squid but honestly, what aquarium is going to have a giant squid? Apparently there are manatees around here too. I love manatees.

T-4 until daddy comes! He’s packed just about everything up and I just can’t wait for him to get here. Hopefully it doesn’t rain too much so we can enjoy the beach. I’ve been trying not to go to the beach as much these past few weeks so that I’m extra excited to go when he’s here.

Panagiota linked a video of some clips from Boy Meets World on my facebook the other day and I’d forgotten how much that show rocked. I’ve been watching it this morning in between scrubbing the disgusting-ness that is the stove and our kitchen floor. We cook with a lot of hot oil and when it splatters it makes a huge mess.

When I first brought i(nglebert)Mac home, I got down to business exploring his hunky body and all its hunky bells and whistles.  I soon focused my attention on his well-endowed appendage going by the kicky handle of GarageBand.  While GarageBand offered lessons in guitar and piano, I was more interested in hearing myself sing as an epic diva or member of a gospel choir.  And, you wanna know a little secret between you, me, and anyone who’s ever heard me sing?  What comes out of my mouth as song is an abomination to all ears across the world.  Yet, that did not stop me from recording myself over and over and over as I yowled My Funny Valentine repeatedly at the face of i(nglebert)Mac.  I went so far as to export a take or two of my Cat in Heat Wailing on an Alley Wall rendition to iTunes with the express purpose of….posting audio here of yours truly, curbadour.   I know, I know.  Let’s say I was sky-high on Vick’s Vaporub at the time and call it an averted disaster in blog history.

See, that’s the one redeeming perk to being a procrastinator extraordinaire.  I often sit on ideas or posts and never get around to errr posting them.  Sure, I may write about New Year’s celebrations in the middle of October or bring up blazing hot beach outings in the dead of winter.  And, let’s not get into timely birthday mentions.  But, it’s the surprise of it all, yes?  No?  Does not apply?

So, I sat on the dream post idea for a few days and came to the conclusion, “Hmm, maybe that’s funny to no one but myself and the few people actually in the dream.  Better not.”  I’ve yet to completely tantalize anyone with the retelling of my night’s dreams.  However, I am strongly considering using some of the material from my unconscious mind for book writing.  I am far more creative when I’m asleep.

Not to be a total liar liar pants on fire, I will share the more creative dream bits with you.  The part that made me wake up and think, “Interesting.”

Talk about your one-eyed, 8 + 2 phallus

Awwww, dee.  Really?  You’re going there?  We don’t want to hear about the giant squid in Mark’s pants.

No!  Don’t run away!  Come back!  I’ve never seen Mark’s Funky Bunch, but I can bet money that he’s not toting around a mollusk anomaly in his pants.  No, it’s nothing like that.  Far more innocent.  This is how the giant squid came into play.  Literally.

[thus begins the dream sequence]

After an intensive mime course of Pinch-and-Twist wherein I instruct the girlfriend of Mark’s brother how to properly twist his nipples (yeh, that’s as kinky as the dream got, right there…me pinching and twisting the air and telling her, “just remember, pinch-and-twist, pinch-and-twist, simple as that”), Mark and I get down to some sort of card game with a pile of cash involved.  We’re undertaking this game on a curb (nice touch there, unconscious mind).  I had accumulated a healthy stack of winnings (i don’t even remember how to play slapjack irl).  I look over to check the Pinch-and-Twist progress and then find my money has blown away.  I can see a few bills scattered under an 18-wheeler parked along the curb in front of me.  I ask the guy and two girls to my left if they happened to see any of my cash.  “Umm, sure, we found this twenty and a couple of fives.”  I know they’re lying but what can I do.

So, I take the scraps and then begin squirming and reaching under the big rig to retrieve the few bills I can see.  I move around to the street side and, in a effort to impress Mark (this is a recurring dream theme, my total lack of self-confidence and the need to impress friends to get their attention, Look at me!  Look at me!), I James Brown my way along the semi.  Yes, I was bouncing along from standing to splits to standing to splits…  (i may lack confidence in my dreams, but i am flexible if nothing else)  To “thank” the group who had returned a portion of my dough, I flip through the money and offer the guy a bill featuring a pink drawing of a giant squid.

I have no idea what this is.  But, I have several of them.  Here, have one.

Oh, that’s Ben Affleck money.

Ben Affleck money?

Yeh, you pair a playing card with it and then it has cash value.  You wanna hang onto those.

Oh.  Okay.  Thanks.

And, then I woke up.

Spend your Ben Affleck money wisely.

Okay, so the title doesn’t have much to do with anything except I was going to debrief on large squid a little and I realized if you add the word “effect” to anything it sounds like it’s going to be cool. You’ve been duped. Well, not entirely. I still think there’s some interesting things to be said.

So, giant squid seem to be the stuff of nightmares. They scoot around with all the other deep sea weirdos, doing their deep sea thing. They’ve always been enigmatic and have had limited walk-on cameos in literature and mythology, a la 20,000 leagues under the sea
*************************************************
speaking of cameos, here’s an aside. There’s this great moment during saturday night live’s weekend update when Steve Martin does a cameo:

Tina Fey: Hi Steve. What are you doing here?

Steve Martin: I’m doing a cameo.

Tina Fey: Oh, ok. Just doing a cameo huh?

Steve Martin: Yeah, I was just at home in bed, and I thought, “I’d like to do a cameo.”

Jimmy Fallon (quietly) So, what’s he doing?

Tina Fey: (quietly) He say’s he’s doing a cameo.

Jimmy Fallon: Steve, do you wanna tell a joke or something?

Steve Martin: Oh, no. Just doing a cameo. And I think its going well.

Tina Fey: Uh, how long is your cameo?

Steve Martin: Just regular cameo length. Just a few more seconds and…there we go.

Tina Fey: Oh, alright. Well, great work, that was a really great cameo.

Steve Martin: You think? (Gives thumbs up, and then leaves)

Tina Fey: Steve Martin everybody.

****************************************************

Alright, now getting back to it:

So, these guys sorta had something to do with me getting into the whole marine science dealie. I remember reading this book (when I was younger and still thinking maybe I’d like to dig up mummies for a living) that talked about the ocean and described these squid as having eyes the size of frisbees which is pretty hard to even envision.

But it turns out there are several large species of squid, each bigger than the last, sort of like a set of hideous, tentacly russian nesting dolls.

The largest is aptly monikored the Colossal Squid. We don’t know very much about this guys as they’re so rarely found, but there’s a neat article about one caught last year. The longest speciment was measured at 46 ft, but remember this includes all of this handsy creature’s tentacles.

Apparently, as their young form internally, they develop photophores, little light emitting organs and are lighting it up like christmas inside their momma:

“She’s just a sitting duck down there,” O’Shea said. “You don’t want to be lit up like a giant crystal chandelier.”

But, they also mention the red lining of the squid’s mantal probably block’s her glow-happy offsprings halo of illumination from external predators.

These guys have nasty hooks on their tentacles (in addition to some suckers) versus the suckers of smaller species.

Next up: Giant Squid

These are the slightly shrimpier cousin to the colossal squid if shrimpier still meant massive.  These have been documented at lengths of 30-40 ft.

Apparently they have ammonium chloride running through their systems (not sure if this is true of colossal squid?) to act as a bouyancy control as it’s a liquid less dense than sea water and helps them float.

These are found more often than the colossal squid but are still not what you’d call common.

The third-runner up is the lesser known, pimply cousin: the robust clubhook squid.I bummed the photo below from Wikipedia, but it was commented that this photo is exaggerated since taken with a wide-angle lens.

I don’t have anything exciting to tell you about him which is why you don’t hear about him very often.

And we might as well throw in:

Don’t mess with the Humboldt Squid…

These guys are commonly called jumbo squid and more slangily( I don’t care if it’s not a real word) as red devils.  They reach about 6 ft in length, but they’re tenacious and known for going after tough prey. There are rumors that they’ve attacked fisherman and divers. I’m not going to take the time to research this, perhaps this is better left nagging at the psyche.

Well, now you know more than you did, even if it may not be useful in your day to day life, unless you decide to become a squid biologist. Come on, you know you wanna…

Everything you wanted to know about squid but were afraid to ask (seriously, who brings this stuff up in casual conversation… besides me?)

Giant Squid and Colossal Squid Fact Sheet

How Stuff Works: How Squid Work

A number of years ago, when I first heard System of a Down’s debut, I didn’t really like it initially.  It took me quite a few listens to get past Serg’s voice.  However, once I did, it quickly became one of my favorite albums and I have grown to really like his voice, I think its one of the most distinct and powerful in music today. I had a similar reaction to The Mars Volta.  Both bands, however, featured excellent musicianship that complemented the distinct vocals.

The Ichthyologist fall into that same category, Aaron Gregory’s vocal are a bit different, but they are backed by excellent music.  It’s hard to really classify bands like this.  They have very progressive elements, but also have post rock and jazz, as well as metal tendencies.  Add the strings, an occasional horn and the unique male and female vocals, and you end up with quite an interesting sound.

What really makes this band stand out is the songwriting and the arrangements.  Quite often bands will start throwing in all these different elements to create a prog sound; and the music just becomes cluttered and uninspiring.  Giant Squid add these various elements, but they tend to be worked into the music and the songs are arranged so that these elements all add to the overall sound.

In your face, Letterman, says actress

Mackenzie Phillips isn’t giving up the limelight to David Letterman that quickly.

She was seemingly riding a wave of publicity and heightened book sales following her admission to an incestuous affair with her legendary father, but that quickly ended when David Letterman fessed up to banging his entire staff.

“I banged my staff,” said Letterman, “It was a particularly difficult feat to accomplish, especially since the wardrobe guy smells like socks stuffed with day-old Vienna sausage, but I persevered. Mackenzie can take a hike.”

Phillips, who had planned on semi-retirement thanks to the proceeds from her book sales, quickly revealed more details of her sordid sex life on an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

“The giant squid is a mysterious animal,” said Phillips, “Nobody’s actually seen one alive. In 1993, I was drunk on Sterno and trying to score with oceanography Huang Tse, and I guess the squid carcass he had discovered off of the China coast and I just kind of hit it off.”

Winfrey asked Phillips to clarify whether or not the squid was alive after she had finished spitting out most of her drink.

“Like I said, nobody’s seen a live giant squid,” said Phillips, “So I just did my best with the dead one. We were both pretty high, so I don’t remember exactly what happened – just that we woke up in bed together the next morning and it screamed, threw up on my night table and ran for the door.”

According to Phillips, the squid is currently on display at the Smithsonian and quite possibly has a pair of her panties tangled in its tentacles.

“I never did find them,” said Phillips, “They’re orange and the have a picture of the Quaker Oats guy on them. After all, I consider myself a healthy breakfast.”

Letterman, who is yet to directly respond to the one-upsmanship from Phillips, was last seen inquiring whether or not Don Imus and James Carville were available for a threesome.

NOAA via AP

This past Monday some scientists were floating along in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast, when they realized, “Hey. We might have something bigger than a sardine in our trawling net.” The giant squid they caught was pretty surprised too, since the rapid rise to the surface caused him to leave this earth and go to that great ocean in the sky where curious scientists and the word “calamari” don’t exist.

After celebrating the life and death of this rare creature with marinara and a deep fryer, the scientists then brined it like a pickle and shipped it off to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History where it will sit on a dusty shelf for all eternity next to Bigfoot and the New Jersey Devil. Though the published story did not elaborate on the mail delivery method, I have to imagine the act of filling out the UPS packing slip was an exercise in creative writing:

Contents: 1 Suckered Sea Monster
Weight: 103 pounds, but dehydrating by the minute
Special Delivery Instructions: Please ignore the dripping and the fishy smell, the package actually started out that way
Are Contents Dangerous?: At one time, but we took care of that

Giant Squid Found

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090921/sc_nm/us_usa_giantsquid

BrickToYaFace.com Present: The Common Ground Kill That Noise 6 Beat Battle Round 1 Part 1 & Part 2 Sept 13th, 09 at The Vibe in Riverside

Rd.1 Pt.1
Science vs. Lazy G
Giant Squid vs. Robert Redeye
Curtiss King vs. Sallam Said
Azel vs. Dibiase
Seven Four vs. The A3

Rd.1 Pt.2
Critikal vs. 3D Beats
JehPhree vs. Lucky
Captain Vs. Versatile Minds