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...

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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Wednesday, September 11, 2013

INAPPROPRIATE CORNER: Tesco apologises for selling horror movie colouring book to children








Tesco sorry for horror movie colouring book
The colouring book, featuring images taken from films such as Psycho, has been withdrawn from sale by Tesco (Picture: Raymonds Press Partnership)

We’ve heard of colour by numbers and join the dots books for children, but not ones where they have to colour in blood-spattered serial killers.
Colour Me Good Arrggghhhh! features line drawings of scenes from 18-rated films such as The Shining, Hellraiser, Silence of the Lambs and A Clockwork Orange, as well as from Psycho and A Nightmare On Elm Street.
The book was listed on the Tesco website as suitable for five to eight-year-olds despite containing ‘really scary stuff’ and ‘more blood than you can shake a dagger at’.
Chris Tuckwood, 56, Spondon, Derby, stumbled across the book while looking for a birthday present for his seven-year-old grandson, Reece.

The Last Tiger in the Zoo


Will Cramp - Tasmania's last tiger feederWill Cramp is likely to be the last man standing to have fed a Tasmanian Tiger.
From seven years of age he spent his Sundays at the Beaumaris Zoo on Hobart's domain, helping to feed the animals and muck out their cages.
He describes the tiger's "remarkable" gaping mouth and eerie yodelling cry, as he recalls those days in conversation with Joel Rheinberger.


GIANT OCTOPUS ATTACK


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.






DALE DRINNON: Ogopogo, Chupacabras, Frontiers of Anthropology, Benny's Blogs

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:
New at the Frontiers of Anthropology:
New on Benny's Other Blog, The Ominous Octopus Omnibus:
Best Wishes, Dale D.

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN GETS HIS HEAD TOGETHER

My head's being stupid again, so today I am not actually firing on all four cylinders, which is an irritant. The Beatles split up over 43 years ago, but the industry surrounding them is more vibrant and busy than ever. Literally thousands of books have been written about the band and their associates. Even I am responsible for a Beatles book, although I wrote it over 20 years ago, it is not very good, woefully out of date, and I am glad that it is unlikely ever to be republished. This week I received another one. And whilst I was preparing myself to write another 'blah blah blah, this was half a century ago, let it lie, blah blah blah' review, the truth is that it is excellent, and shines a light on a surprisingly murky chapter of Beatles history - what Paul did immediately after the band split up.
This book gives an insightful, honest and above all, kind portrait of an immensely talented, but also immensely troubled man doing his best to follow his muse during some very difficult times. I have no problem in recommending this book to all and sundry, and I hope to be catching up with Tom Doyle for a chat soon.
Watch this space.
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_11.html
Drawing (and painting) on rock and roll: Q&A with Grace Slick
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/09/drawing-and-painting-on-rock-and-roll-q.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?

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today


Yesterday’s News Today

On this day in 1862 the author William Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was born.
And now the news:

  • Kazakhstan’s saiga threatened by new border fence ...
  • Female Tiger Sharks Migrate from Northwestern to M...
  • Notorious Indian tiger poachers jailed in landmark...
  • 8 Quirky Species Discovered in Lava-Tube Caves
  • 'Priceless' butterflies found at Oxford museum
  • Snake turned up in a Texas Starbucks, and you don'...
  • Monkey Attacked Baby, Tore Off Testicle And Ate It...
  • DRUNK WASPS: Just When You Thought They Couldn't G...

  • A reading of O. Henry's most well known short story The Gift of the Magi. Enjoy: