December 17, 2008 at 8:49 pm (Other Sites, Research)
Checked out the itunesU podcasts on Feral Cities (do a search for ‘feral cities’, you’ll find the files). Feral Cities are cities where law and order as we know it has left and the so-called law of might makes right has returned.
Feral Cities Definition and Article…
which lead to tales of Feral People….
December 17, 2008 at 12:41 pm (Creative Process, Research)
Just youtube hunting for the old ft. & related fun.
Island days. We’ve got traders, british, americans ..decent span of stuff.
Useful …. slightly. Maybe. But hey. Who doesn’t wanna play with a canon?
Very useful. Boom boom boom!
December 5, 2008 at 11:56 am (Art, Art History, Other Sites, Research)
La Specola is a museum in italy that houses detailed anatomical wax models. The models were used in medical instruction in a time when most schools could only afford 1 cadaver/year, and were also there to show the triumvir of reason over superstition, bla bla bla. In short: It has a room full of wax replicas of dead people, that are just really creepy, and awesome. So for your edification I present: Really Neat Dead Things 
FlickrSets Here and Here There’s also a video tour here.
October 5, 2008 at 2:30 pm (Creative Process, Research)
February 3, 2008 at 3:30 pm (Creative Process, Research)
Tags: Art, Joseph Merrick
Working on an artsy project with my friend Kat, involving research into “freakshow” freaks, carnival life, monsters, mayhem and The Island of Dr. Moreau, along with some crossover with other projects, and Kat was so kind as to share this picture. So I present: Merrick, the Elephant Man.
There’s a lot about this fellow on the internet; but here are some links I rather liked;
Joseph Merrick, in his own words
What I’ve read of the man indicates a gentle, compassionate soul that withstood amazing adversity, pain, poverty and trouble with the utmost of grace.
I remember watching a movie about him as a child, and one of my High School Biology teachers had the surgeon’s book about the man. Currently I’m uncertain about his eye color (most reproductions show blue or brown); though a discovery channel rendition of what he may have looked like indicates brown hair.
January 29, 2008 at 7:04 pm (Other Sites, Research, rambling)
Tags: cannibalism, Hannibal Lecter, kuru, Witch Doctor
I was perusing the new White chapel’s new Blog area and found this post by Brandon Cyphered. Familiar territory, as friends and readers may know- I haven’t been idle (though apparently researching Prion diseases is not Politically Correct. Why? No clue. Possibly because knowledge is a dangerous thing, and who knows what I might do with my lingering scientific background).
Cannibalism has intrigued the population for ages. It’s exotic. It’s frightening. It’s intriguing. It has been done over time in many ways, and for many reasons, and movies about cannibals are pretty darn popular; take the Hannibal Lecter flicks for example. According to some, Hannibal the Cannibal is one of the most popular movie villains of all time, and cannibalism can be used as a metaphor that never ends, put to use in a variety of ways in a literary setting, more than just simple hack and slash and violence for the sake of violence.
January 12, 2008 at 3:11 pm (Research, rambling)
Trying to hunt down names for the characters in a projet I’m working on. Got the character’s image in my mind, along with their personalities, and voice, but no names. Gofig; I usually work in reverse, starting with the name…Sometimes when writing I feel like it’s more of a puzzle I’m completing, an image rather than a collection of words.
I’m also trying to hunt down images of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease(CJD) and Kuru in the human brain… and rather lacking; I’ve got a few low-res MRI images, some cellular slides, but what I’m trying to hunt down right now is a side-view, hopefully with comparison to a normal brain.
Kuru&CJD ref. links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_%28disease%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt-Jakob_disease
http://www.adam.com.au/bstett/SupernatKuru86.htm
http://science.jrank.org/pages/1863/Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease.html
http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant570/Papers/McGrath/McGrath.htm
http://www.pathology.vcu.edu/WirSelfInst/INF%20PT4.html
http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/investigations.htm
December 7, 2007 at 12:56 am (Creative Process, Other Sites, Research)
Tags: art therapy, schizophrenia
Schizophrenic Artists – Art helps some Schizophrenics.
Louis Wain
http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/nbb421/student2003/epl8/Blank%20Page%202.htm
David Marsh
http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/Thought_Disorders/schizo/articles/artist.asp
Rodney Smith
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/nyregion/30neediest.html
Nigel Bart
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2005/04/07/985869-sun.html
