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...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



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...




Monday, November 10, 2014

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES


    What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

    Well, everything actually!

    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.



    TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

    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. 

    The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

  • NEWSLINK: Dead bobcat found hanging from Tennessee...
  • AUSTRALIAN SIGHTINGS: Legendary panther spotted on...

  • NEWSLINK: Safari Lion Zoo in Chile lets the brave ...
  • BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    US Soldier Spots Possible Bigfoot In Afghanistan
    Of all places, Afghanistan would probably the last place we think could support a Bigfoot population. Apparently, back in 2011, a U.S. soldier spotted ...

    Dr. Ketchum Teases Giant Bones of Unknown Hominid
    Does Dr. Melba Ketchum have the goods? We don't know where this bone came from, but like many people, we're pretty curious as well. Ketchum has ...

    The Hunter, The Hoaxer, And The Battle Over Bigfoot
    The Hunter, The Hoaxer, And The Battle Over Bigfoot - posted in Media: http://www.buzzfeed....le-over-bigfoot Jeffrey Meldrum is a respected ...

    China Bigfoot: The Legend of the Yeren - Trailer
    Many countries have legends of Bigfoot-like creatures that roam the wilderness, far outside of human habitation.China is no exception. In China 

    Spectral Motion Just Released Some Awesome Photos of The Bigfoot From
    But pretend bigfoot photos are the same as real bigfoot photos. ... nothing other than hoaxed footprints that lead the simpletons to believe in a bigfoot.

    HOORAY FOR THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

    The Gonzo Daily - Monday
    So it has arrived. The final Pink Floyd album is up on Spotify, and I made it my business to listen to it whilst doing the blogs this morning. It is exactly what they claimed of it; a collection of instrumental jams from The Division Bell sessions twenty years ago, that Messrs Gilmour and Mason have added a few bits and bobs to. Some of the reviews that I have completely missed the point, somehow expecting it to be a 'proper' Pink Floyd album, high concept and all, and somehow feeling cheated that it isn't. In its own way it is the most high concept of Pink Floyd albums; the one which shows that together the band are more than equal to the sum of the individual parts, which is how - of course - it should be, and is what everyone who has ever been in a band aspires to.
    The reviews had mainly inferred that this was three sides of instrumental noodling (using the word 'ambient' more often than I would have liked) with one Pink Floyd song 'tacked onto the end'. In fact I found it to be almost exactly the opposite. This is not ambient or new age music in any shape or form. Neither (with the exception of two rather rough and ready pieces on the end) are they jams. They are seventeen very well structured pieces of Floydian instrumental music which would not have seemed out of place on any Floyd album of the past four decades, and one slightly lacklustre song on which Polly Samson tries to shoehorn her view of the zeitgeist of the band (which is probably pretty much correct) into one final song to wrap things up neatly. But you can't wrap things up nicely: Syd is dead, Rick is dead, Rog is nowhere to be seen.
    In a piece which turned up in a Zig Zag anthology in the mid 1970s Roger Waters admitted that the band were always at their best when they didn't try to be too clever. And so it is here. The percussion workout on 'Skins' for example doesn't really work. And it is not, as he has claimed on various occasions recently, because Nick Mason is a substandard drummer. Not at all. But when they did things like this earlier in their career it was innocent experimentation, whereas now, being played by two pensioners, it sounds like the delicate sound of cynicism.
    But on the whole this is a successful collection of music released for exactly the right reasons, and if it doesn't tick the right boxes for you it is your problem not theirs. Shine on you crazy wassnames!
    GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Faster than life - Kevin Peek
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/gonzo-track-of-day-faster-than-life.html
    THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poemhttp://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_10.html
    Live Review: Steve Hackett – Genesis Extended
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/live-review-steve-hackett-genesis.html
    The Deviants: US reviews
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-deviants-us-reviews.html
    Chris Squire (Yes) interview - 1995: Why Chris is always in the band
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chris-squire-yes-interview-1995-why.html
    Jack Bruce, Corky Laing, Mountain, Tony Palmer, Steve Hillage, Erasure, Keith Levene, Jon Anderson, Yes, Nick Redfern, Cat Stevens, Steve Ignorant, Hawkwind, and Daevid Allen fans had better look out! The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#103) IS available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/.
    It has Jack Bruce on the cover, and features an interview with Corky Laing about his erstwhile bandmate inside. We also have a tribute to Jack Bruce from Tony Palmer, and another from Rob Ayling together with an unpublished photoshoot of Bruce and Pete Brown. But there's more! There is news about Daevid Allen, Doug Harr goes to see Erasure, Jon waxes lyrical about Steve Ignorant's new album, and critiques Yusuf Islam's and comes to the conclusion that Cat Stephens is a very brave man.  Xtul are still in the deep woods, and Corinna finds some real Beatles tat. There is news and unpublished pictures from Keith Levene in Prague, and we send Steve Hillahe to a desert island. There are also new shows from the multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit and from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and the massively talented Jaki and Tim are back with their submarine and Maisie the cow. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and turtles having a snooze (OK, no soporific chelonians, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
    Issue 102 (Steve Hillage cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-gonzo-weekly-102.html
    Issue 101 (Tommy James cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-101.html
    Issue 100 (Jon Anderson cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-100.html
    Issue 99 (Judge Smith cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-99.html
    Issue 98 (Matt Malley cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/10/gonzo-weekly-98.html
    Issue 97 (Evelyn cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-97.html
    Issue 96 (Oz cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-96.html
    Issue 95 (Mick Rogers cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-95.html
    Issue 94 (John Ellis cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-94.html

    All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
    You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
    http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/

    *  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 55 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa 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 infantile orange cat?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Monday

    ON THIS DAY IN 1871 - Henry M. Stanley, journalist and explorer, found David Livingstone. Livingston was a missing Scottish missionary in central Africa. Stanley delivered his famous greeting: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" 

  • Badger culls must be based on facts, not panic and...
  • Live Meerkats at London Zoo broadcast using whites...
  • Why It Pays To Be A Small Male If You're Going To ...
  • Evolutionary Tree Of Insects Released
  • Bear bile farming surges in Lao PDR
  • Creepy Cockroaches Could Be Search And Rescue Hero...

  • A/C came standard on armored dinosaur models

  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)