Category Archives: horrors

Baby Mothra!!!

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So I discovered a terrifying (but also kind of fascinating and beautiful at the same time) new element to the garden this morning. We’re having a heat wave here, and so this morning before leaving for work I thought I’d give the tomato plants a spot of moisture. I passed one of the tomato clusters and noticed that one of the (still green) tomatoes had a large bite taken out of it. I assumed it was an experimental bite from a squirrel (my nemesis – or one of them), and muttered dark things under my breath and then prepared to move away the strange coiled leaf that seemed to be on top of it. Then I noticed.

It wasn’t a leaf.

caterpillar_horn_1

It was a HUGE caterpillar! Enormous! Giant and green with spots and even a red horn at one end! There’s a moment when you’re unexpectedly close to a creature like that where your skin crawls for a bit. Well, mine did for a while […] Click to continue reading this post →

30 Years…

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…but apparently, no black people use Macs. Well, you’d get that impression from Apple’s 30 year celebration video (which I was all excited to watch at first), and from the 30 year timeline on the site (which has one face per timeline). In the video, of course there’s some black people dancing and playing basketball (‘cos, you know, that’s all we can do), but when it comes to images of who’s using the machines and being creative with them… a parade of (often smug) white people and a few asians. Really Apple? Out of 30 people representing the past, present and future of your product that apparently “changed the world”, you can’t find even one black face to pretend to use it for your celebration? And of course, I fall into the trap and link to their site like an idiot for you to look at what I’m talking about. Go for it.

Sigh.

-cvj Click to continue reading this post →

Scary Science?

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The mask I wore to two Halloween parties last night. (Click for larger view.) I got the raw mask at a costume shop and then built some interior support into it to have it sit over my glasses without pressing on them uncomfortably… Then I inked and painted some symbols on it. The idea? People often get scared when I mention science or […] Click to continue reading this post →

Halloween Decisions

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So, the West Hollywood Hallowe’en Carnaval is tomorrow! I went last year and had a great time, as you may recall from my post back then. It is rare to get an event here in LA where a truly large number of people turn out in significant numbers, and where at the same time they really make the effort to get fully involved with each other, with genuine connections between people – a real spirit of street revelry abounding. The stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega and Doheny ends actually fills up with people so much that at points it is like being on fifth avenue in Manhattan on Christmas Eve. How often do you get crowd density like that in LA?! The vast majority of people really made an effort to wear costumes of various sorts, some of them extremely creative, and there’s lots of random chatter between people on the streets about each other’s costumes and so forth. Quite excellent, overall.

fangtasticAnyway, I think I shall go again this year, with a few friends, and I’ll do a little costuming, I think. But to what extent? Many years ago I came to accept that Halloween stopped being only about dressing in scary costumes, and just became about fancy dress in general, so it gives me more scope, I suppose. I’ve been wondering if I should do something science themed, or perhaps a superhero of some sort. Following the tradition of reflecting a movie from the year, I’ve the absolutely perfect choice that combines the two, but I don’t think that even in […] Click to continue reading this post →