CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the Track: 09/10/13

WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS HUMMING

Tuesday lunchtime and I am alone in the house with the dogs, cats and other smaller creatures. Corinna is at the dentist and Graham is driving her. Is this not her husband's job? I hear you all thinking loudly. Well, it would be under normal circumstances, but my legs are particularly crappy today and I would very much rather not have to drive. I am also expecting a delivery that I shall have to sign for, so I am here holding the proverbial fort. The digitisation of the Weird Weekend films is now finished; four are up today and the final three will be up tomorrow. Plans for WW2014 gather pace, and tickets will be on sale once I get around to it....

Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_10.html

Today's Track of the Day is by Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-gonzo-track-of-day-marscape-jack.html

Yes invented prog rock claims Chris Squire
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/we-invented-progressive-rock-chris.html

Captain Kirk and various Yes alumni to play live
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/william-shatner-to-perform-new-album.html

Gordon Giltrap to headline guitar festival
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/gordon-giltrap-to-headline-guitar.html

Stephen Stills to Perform with Buffalo Springfield Band Mate Richie Furay at Americana Awards Ceremony
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/stephen-stills-to-perform-with-buffalo.html

* The Gonzo Daily is a two-way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work or even just say hello, please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow....

* The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

* We should probably mention here that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

* Jon Downes, the editor of all these ventures (and several others), is an old hippy of 54 who, together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange), puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon, which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus... did we mention the orange cat?

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in. So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.

CORINNA: Bin art - the conclusion

Further to my last diatribe with reference to the kitchen bin, I can now reveal the culprit (s). It is 4.00 am and all is quiet in the house, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse. Not in the kitchen anyway, until – that is – Morticia appears on an evening pad around the joint. Completely ignoring the bin at first, she is soon back to remove a scrunched up kitchen towel, then back for something else, and then on the third not-so-delicate pick, down the bin goes.

Read on