in the event of a water landing, look under your seat for a squid tube flotation device.

Oh man, squid tubes for dinner again??? I'm the luckiest girl in the world!!! (from supremelobster.com) But points for Supreme Lobster on using the really fancy font to describe something that sounds pretty gross.
(*I know, these are just calamari before the deliciousness of frying. but tubes? as a word to describe a food?)

Run octopuses, run! The yuppies are after your tender tentacles!!!!

MORONG brought two articles from the NY times to my attention this morning (do you like how I don't even have to look for cephalopod stories? They just come to me! From the cephalopod fairies!)

Apparently cooking octopus is the new thing to do. You can click on the above link to see Mark Bittman man handling an octopus. Next, the curious cook is trying out different ways of prepping octopus. Apparently the best thing to do is brine it. Like a turkey. But it appears that no matter what, the octopus will turn out quite "gelatinous," a word I don't usually associate with "tasty."

I probably won't be trying out these recipes soon since I feel guilty eating octopus since I started this blog. I mean, someone who had a blog on how smart and cute and wonderful dogs are probably would stop eating them too. Even though hotdogs are so delicious.

Hexapus alert! Hexapus alert!

The blog has been receiving a rash of six legged octopus sitings and reports lately. The first came from Rik, of the Netherlands. (If you have ever spent five minutes with me, you will find out I am 1/2 Dutch, so I'm excited Dutch people are reading my blog.) He sent in the following image, which was drawn by his colleague's six year old:

(Rik said there was more info with the picture, but that didn't come through, so if you have time, send it in, Rik.)

What I suspect is that this six year old was telepathic and already knew about Henry the Hexapus from London:

Don't you just picture the octopus having a Cockney accent? And complaining about the freakish eight legged octopuses in its tank? Thanks to Brendan for sending in the breaking news about the Hexapus!

goodbye tramp stamp, hello sucker implants!

What can I say? If you're still considering a labret piercing you are soooooooo behind the times! Consider getting tentacle implants!

The blog doesn't mention if the implants actually WORK or not. I'm guessing they are just for show and you can't use them to catch prey items, like your roommate's cat. Thanks to MORONG for sending this in.

Squeal like a...squid?

Apparently, there is a show on Adult Swim on the cartoon network known as Squidbillies. I had no idea! I am one of those people without cable, but not one of those self righteous people without cable--i.e. if I come to your house, and you have cable, and it's on, I won't be able to hold a conversation as I stare, slack jawed and drooling at the tv. Anyway, I read some snippets about the show from the wiki page about it. Highlights include squids running meth labs and calling white people "chalkies."

Here's a YouTube video:


Thanks to russell for pointing this out.

HOCKEYOCTOPUS

Did you know that the Detroit Redwings' mascot is Al the OCTOPUS??? And, if you did know this, why the frick didn't you tell me???? (except for my friend rob, who did tell me about it--thanks rob!)

Apparently, there is a "tradition" that during Detroit playoff games, fans fling octopuses onto the ice after a goal is scored for good luck. I know, this is confounding. But apparently in 1952 two brothers who owned a fish market threw out the first octopus onto the ice, because they made the (totally natural) connection that the eight tentacles of the octopus symbolized the eight wins it would take to get the Stanley Cup.

Now the Redwings have Al the Octopus mascot, and here is some information from Al's Wiki page (I know--kids! don't quote wikipedia in your book reports!):
"The Octopus was eventually named 'Al' (after Joe Louis Arena building operations manager Al Sobotka), and every playoff year since, Al the Octopus gets raised to the rafters, when the Red Wings skate out onto the ice. As the years went on some modifications were made to Al, such as making it so his pupils light up red (blinking on and off), the adding of a large Red Wing Jersey to his body, and the removal of a tooth in order to give Al that "hockey player" look."

I love the fact that there was probably a whole meeting devoted to how to make a totally made up purple octopus have a more "hockey player" look. And then they were like, "Oh yeah, let's make his eyes blink on and off! Like real hockey players!"

Also, don't worry, people are still throwing real octopuses on the ice. According to a link on the Redwings site, in 1995 two dudes from another seafood company threw a 38 pound octopus onto the ice. And then the next year, they outdid themselves and threw on a 50 pounder on the ice. I wonder how they made it through security...

Here are some photos from the Redwing site (I like the fuzzy, wispy watercolored memories of octopus flinging days of yore style of these):



And then this one, which sort of makes me feel strange, like, wow, that guy is really gleefully swinging around that octopus carcass. And I suspect he would just as gleefully swing around a human head if it meant the Redwings would win:


After sitting at my desk trying to decide if this whole detroit thing is funny or disturbing, I might need a drink. Whatever the case, I think Detroit should be wondering right now if its economic problems might not be due to industrial outsourcing, but instead to a hex placed upon it by the cephalopod gods.

how i feel being back at work after the holidays.