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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Monday, October 14, 2013

CRYPTOLINK: Bigfoot Gets Caught on Camera Again

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.





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CRYPTO-ARTS: Baird brings to life a menagerie of folklore creatures in his First Friday exhibit

(Photo)
Michael A. Baird poses with Tiny, a folklore giant, at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. Baird’s show, “Folklore,” features puppets found in such tales.
(Laura Simon) [Order this photo]
A "creepy" exhibit designed to put viewers in a Halloween frame of mind will be presented by local artist Michael Baird at the First Friday reception at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri.
Baird's exhibit, "Folklore," is his vision of "monsters" such as the famed Loch Ness Monster and the ubiquitous "bogeyman" that are noted in folklore around the world.

The monsters featured in Baird's exhibit will be presented in three-dimensional puppet form, with a display of masks that were inspired by the folklore of gnomes, goblins and pixies.
"Monsters and puppets have been an obsession of mine since I was little," Baird said. "I grew up with Jim Henson's Muppets, and I was always interested in learning about one monster or another. Being able to put on an exhibit that combines monsters and puppets seemed like a comfortable fit."

The exhibit at the Arts Council isn't about standard monsters from Hollywood such as Frankenstein's monster or the Wolfman, Baird said.

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"What I'm presenting is my interpretation of monsters that are somewhat undefinable in folklore," he said. "For instance, there's no real concrete description of the bogeyman, even though parents sometimes tell their children that if they aren't good, the bogeyman will get them. My puppet version of him is really creepy with bony features and a tail."
Baird said expressing his monsters in puppet form is a better way for children to understand them.

"I believe that puppets are more accepted by children than are realistic models," he said. "They're able to grasp the idea better. I've found that realistic models are not as helpful."

Baird, an art instructor at Southeast Missouri State University, said the idea for his exhibit was hatched while he was instructing at Southeast's Art Academy workshops last summer.

"A fellow instructor who knew about my monster creations suggested that I put my works together for an exhibit," he said. "The Arts Council accepted the idea, and we're having it in October so that it can align with Halloween."

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CRYPTOLINK: Bigfoot sighting reported in Michigan's U.P.

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. This post, however, is particularly interesting and the author should be congratulated...
Bigfoot sightings date back to the 1800s, when missionaries reported seeing giant, hairy man-like creatures in Washington state. There have been sightings every U.S. state except Hawaii.The Pacific Northwest may no longer be the only Bigfoot hotbed in the United States, as an Upper Michigan couple say they may have captured the elusive humanoid on a trail camera, according to reports Saturday, Oct. 5.
The sighting was reported by Craig Sulk, of Menominee, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula, and will be featured in an upcoming episode of Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot.
The story began last March, when Sulk set up a series of cameras on his wooded property. While it is common for trail cameras in the U.P. to capture deer, bears, racoons and coyotes, Sulk wasn't prepared for what he saw while examining photos a couple months later.
Certain it wasn't a shadow, tree or bear, Sulk noticed a creature, which he says stood taller than 5-feet, 8-inches. Perplexed, he immediately told his wife, Barb, he thought he snapped a Sasquatch, Bigfoot's scientific name.
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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.





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TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP



The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012 Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.


  • US SIGHTINGS: L.A.'s Griffith Park Mountain Lion |...
  • NEWSLINK: Brenau student leading local effort to p...


  • NEWSLINK: Weather Channel's Brink series: from stu...
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    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN DOES STUFF

    The Gonzo Daily - Monday
     
    My trusty old Daihatsu failed her MOT terminally today. I mustn't anthropomorphise the car, because the truth was I inherited it from my Father, and never liked it much, but I am now looking for another car. Its an irritation, but not entirely unexpected. The next fortnight is going to be complicated enough as it is, with various comings and goings, and a trip to Manchester leaving Richard in charge of the ranch. But with no car, it will be excruciating.
     

    Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet.
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_14.html
     
     
    GORDON GILTRAP/OLIVER WAKEMAN: An evening of beautiful compositions, wit and charm
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/an-evening-of-beautiful-compositions.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:     www.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?
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    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

    http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

     On this day in 2012 the humorously named Felix Baumgartner performed the highest ever parachute jump ever when he jumped from 38969.3m above ground level from a specially constructed balloon. In doing so he also broke the record for highest flight by a balloon and became the first person to break the sound barrier without use of any mechanical propulsion system.

     And now the news:
  • Elephants Know What It Means to Point to Something...
  • Fish Genital Shape Linked to Predation
  • The Surprising Product Used to Attract Jaguars
  • Australia platypus survives 15km ride stuck in car...
  • Orphaned red squirrel Dizzee rescued near Invernes...
  • Meerkats 'pay rent' to dominant female to stay in ...
  • Huge step forward in battle against bovine TB in S...

  • First survey of the small mammal predators of Gabo...

    •  The jump in full with perhaps the lamest most half arsed commentary you'll ever see:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fOrOueF3jg
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