by Dan Stout
Drawing is an escape from all the unnecessary things in life that get in the way of being free.
--Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz, Tank Girl)
Feel free to swap in writing, singing, dancing, or whatever other place you may find your personal bliss.
More context on this quote at Cartoon Brew.
by Dan Stout
Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Prestonby Dan Stout
Dracula's Heir: An Interactive Mystery by Sam Stallby Dan Stout
I get a good portion of my web traffic from people looking for info about the legendary Congolese giant spider-- the J'ba Fofi. I can't say as I'm too shocked by that, since it's a story that so fascinated me that when I started writing a blog, most everything that came out was somehow related back to it.
Most of what I know of the legend comes from secondary sources, where someone has put together a summary of the different stories, usually with a line like, "For centuries there have been legends..." or "Many natives say...". For some time I've been wondering if there's any collections of the folklore and legends of the Baka people, and the Congo area in general. I'd love to see exactly what the original legnds were, whether Anansi, some variation, or something else all together.
Does anyone out there have any recommendations for such spider-oriented folklore or urban legends? If so, drop a note in the comments section!
(As an aside, the best summation of secondary sources is easily Terrence Aym's article, "Possibility of the Existence of the Congolese Giant Spider". It's a great starting point for reading up on our large & legendary eight-legged friends. )
by Dan Stout
I'm late to throw out my appreciation for Ray Bradbury's work, but since he passed away this week I wanted to acknowledge how much I enjoyed his work, and how much it influenced me as a reader.
In my opinion Bradbury was one of the best American short story authors, but there is a specific kind of story that he wrote better than anyone else. He had a way to spin a tale about youthful innocence endangered which was nostalgic without being overly sentimental, scary but not grotesque. These stories captured a kind of Midwestern ethos that found magic and wonder not only in the overtly fantastic, but also in the shimmer of a sky full of stars, and the trials faced by children straddling adolescent politics and the adult world around them.
In addition to these, he wrote about things that moved me when I was a kid: dinosaurs, Mars, sneaking out of the house at night. As an adult, Bradbury managed to never lose his memory of the magic such things could have for a child. As a child reading his work, I felt like he understood my world, and that these stories were little gifts made specially for me.
Wherever he is, I hope that he knows how much I appreciate his work, and that he's smiling.
by Dan Stout
One of my favorite topics-- Spider Goats-- popped up in the news again recently.
According to this CBC article two of the Spider Goats rescued from the collapse of Nexia Biotechnologies spider silk program ended up on display at the Canada Agriculture Museum. Apparently the two goats have been there for two years, pleasantly munching on snacks and being viewed by families and school expeditions. But this March a complaint was lodged by a part time anthropology professor. I'm not entirely sure what additional gravitas this is supposed to impart, but it seems to be the key reason that the article was written.
Pictured above, the goats are named Sugar and Spice (which is more family-friendly than my suggestions of Lady Arachnae and Web Spinner Gruff). They are still on exhibit, if you'd like to go see them, and there are calls to protest by the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, should they seem protest-worthy to you.
by Dan Stout
I've caught a couple episodes of the History Channel's MonsterQuest. It's a fun show with a casual, and usually intelligent, overview of various "mysterious creature" stories. They do a good job of preserving the fun and mystery of these tales while not straying completely into theoretical territory.
But somehow I had completely missed out on the episode about Giant Spiders. (I know, crazy, right?)
They mention several classic tales, including a reported 1938 encounter with a J'ba Fofi on a Congolese road, and the widely-emailed image of a pair of camel spiders from Iraq. These stories are then used as a jumping off point for an investigation of whether giant spiders can be found, and a reality check about the urban legends surrounding camel spiders.
Of course, as I've mentioned previously, there is strong evidence that in order to grow to the kind of monstrous size described in this episode, a spider's physiology would have to be so altered that we would barely recognize it. Still, I can't help but love a good giant spider story.
Recommended.
by Dan Stout
A Special Place: The Heart of a Dark Matter by Peter Straub
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
From the jacket:
"A rumination on the nature of evil, the story centers on a boy, Keith Hayward, who is drawn by his nature to an irresistible fascination with death and the taking of life. His father's brother, the good-looking suave Uncle Till - the infamous ladykiller, who has led a shadowy career as a local celebrity - recognizes his nephew's innermost nature and gleefully tutors him in the art of doing ill without getting caught. Even a cold-blooded sociopath must learn some lessons in survival, it seems and Uncle Till is only too happy to provide a tutorial..."
An extremely well written, truly horrific book, "A Special Place" is compelling enough (and short enough) to be read in one sitting, but the disturbing after-images will linger for much longer.
Though this book is filled with violence -- physical, sexual, and psychological -- the majority of it is implied, as Straub describes its aftermath and lets his readers fill in the gaps.
The story he delivers is something of the Anti-Dexter, as budding sociopath Keith is encouraged in his interests by his magnetic uncle Till. Keith is presented as thoroughly dislikeable and corrupted from the start, but there are moments of shocking sympathy as he loses his last tenuous connections to humanity. There may not be any world in which Keith Hayward could have been a GOOD man, but Straub still conveys a sense of loss as Keith becomes a monster.
As a piece of horror fiction this is masterful, but I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wasn't committed to taking a very dark ride.
by Dan Stout
Just a random concert poster that I'd like to share:
by Dan Stout
Like most people, I'm a fan of "dumb criminal" stories, in which someone gets busted for being criminally stupid as much as their actual crime. When I came across this story from the Muskegon Chronicle, I found not only stupid criminals, but someone with a surprisingly familiar name...
By Heather Lynn Peters, The Muskegon Chronicle:
MUSKEGON COUNTY — Location, location, location.
One would think two Muskegon-area men might have thought of a better location to smoke dope Monday evening than in the corridor outside the Muskegon County Sheriff's Office Oak Campus, said Undersheriff Dan Stout.
The men were busted around 6:30 p.m. by a deputy who arrived to the Oak Avenue campus, 1611 Oak, Muskegon, to begin his shift, Stout said.
The deputy noticed the two men sitting on the floor “inside the cement corridor leading to our office door,” the deputy stated in a sheriff's office report.
“I walked up to them and asked them what they were doing. The taller, skinny one...stated, 'Smoking weed' and ...handed me some plastic Ziploc baggies that were open and contained a green, leafy substance that appeared and smelled like marijuana,” the deputy stated in the report.
One of the men told the deputy that he bought a gram of marijuana for $20 nearby and they “smoked most of it yesterday” and were planning on “smoking the rest of it today.”
“I asked him if they knew this was a police department, and they both looked at each other in surprise,” the deputy stated in the report, adding that the men told the deputy they “thought it was an old hospital.”
The sheriff's Oak Campus is just south of Mercy Health Partners General Campus — the former Muskegon General Hospital — and formerly housed the county health department.
The building now houses sheriff's detective offices, as well as working space for other law enforcement officials, and Muskegon County Emergency Services.
The other man reluctantly admitted to paying half the cost of the marijuana and said they would have finished smoking the drug Monday “but they were interrupted by my presence,” the deputy said in the report.
The substance believed to be marijuana has been sent to a drug lab for testing, and the two subjects were free to go after they were questioned by the deputy.
However, arrest warrants for both men will be sought by authorities once the test results are back from the lab. An initial “field test” revealed that the substance appears to be marijuana, the report said.
The investigation is ongoing, so authorities declined to release the names of the two men involved.
