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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Thursday, June 29, 2017

THERE'LL BE ANOTHER RISING

The CFZ has always had a soft spot for peculiar art projects, especially when said art projects have some sort of relevance to monstrous occurrences. So, it is with great pleasure, that we tell you about the latest project from our friend, colleague, and promoter of Weird Weekend North: Glen Vaudrey.

He wants nothing more than to erect a 6ft high, bronze statue of Great Cthulhu on one of the Orkney Islands.

Over the years, my friends have come up with absolutely bloody stupid ideas but this one completely takes the biscuit, and so I am massively proud to be able to throw the entire weight of the Centre for Fortean Zoology marketing team (me and Olivia) behind endorsing this remarkable project.
It is said that when the stars are in position Cthulhu will return. If that’s anytime soon it might be a good idea to get on Cthulhu’s good side.
Like the best of ideas this came to me in a dream. While Cthulhu is well known it appears that there is no large monument to celebrate HP Lovecraft’s greatest creation so I am looking for funding to place a bronze statue of Cthulhu in Orkney.
You might be wondering why Orkney is the ideal place for this statue, it might be thought an unlikely location for the city of R'lyeh. However it does have a better case than many other places. The reason is that I have been researching reports of strange creatures and monsters in both folklore and written records from the isles and have found many of these reports are similar in substance to the works of Lovecraft with tales of people interbreeding with fish folk and islands that rise from the depths only to vanish again.
If the funding target is met I, as an artist and sculptor, will design a 6ft tall bronze statue of Cthulhu which will be cast and then placed in a location in Orkney. The site will have full public access.
Sadly casting large bronze statues isn’t cheap and that is why this fully costed appeal for funds appears high.
If funds exceed the target for Cthulhu there are further plans.
One thing is for certain there will be nothing like it anywhere else in the world



The concept design for the statue
The concept design for the statue


The concept design for the statue itself. Alongside is a 6ft tall figure to show just how imposing the completed work will be. If enough funds are raised this is the basic plan for the start of the sculpture park.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1556041024/the-world-needs-a-cthulhu-bronze-statue

CRYPTOLINK: Russian lake monster

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.

Forget Nessie...it's Ness-ski! Nature lovers spot Loch Ness monster in a Russian lake

  • Supposed mythical sea creature was captured on camera by a morning jogger
  • The photographs were taken at Lake Khanto in the city of Noyabrsk in Russia
  • Pictures show what appears to be a white head and part of a body of a sea beast 
The supposed Russian Nessie - the mythical sea creature - was captured on camera in photographs showing what appears to be a white head and part of a body of a sea monster coming from the water.
The photographs were taken at Lake Khanto in the city of Noyabrsk in north-central Russia's Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug region by a man out for his morning run.
The white head of what nature lovers claim to be a Russian version of the legendary Scottish Loch Ness monster
The white head of what nature lovers claim to be a Russian version of the legendary Scottish Loch Ness monster
Dmitry Kim was on his morning run when he saw what looked like a white neck and a part of a body sticking out of the water
Dmitry Kim was on his morning run when he saw what looked like a white neck and a part of a body sticking out of the water

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4646648/Nature-lovers-spot-Loch-Ness-monster-Russian-lake.html

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN LOOKS FORWARD TO A KIP

The Gonzo Daily: Thursday
 
Yesterday was one of those days that if I could actually get away with telling you about, you probably wouldn't believe me. But many thanks to Rob and Sandy for bgeing sweetiepies, and to Corinna for putting up with me. I have been advised that I probably shouldn't mention the product by name, but there is a new budget vodka on sale at one of the major supermarkets that I would very much like to not recommend. It has a boquet with a tinge of ammonia and an eggy aftertaste, and it smells of acetone. Did I throw it away? Don't ask stupid questions.
 
But now, here is the news:
 
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Steel Pulse- Your Hous...
YES IN THE NEWS
TIM BLAKE TALKS ABOUT DAEVID ALLEN AND HAWKWIND
FRANK ZAPPA IN THE NEWS
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
 
Gonzo Magazine Issue #240
THE SUMER IS ACUMEN IN ISSUE
 
We mark the Summer Solstice, with an issue including Alfredo Zitarossa and The Beatles, and an exclusive excerpt from Tony Klinger’s new book. Alan reviews The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon, Biffo looks at Video Games featuring Pop Stars, and Jeremy goes to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
 
Good ‘ere innit?
 
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney, Strange Fruit, and the final episode of Jeremy Smith's Seven Deadly Sins, but Friday Night Progressive is on hiatus for a few weeks. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons outside zoos (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, 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!!!
 
This issue features:
 
Alfredo Zitarrosa, Queen, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Yoko Ono, Coldplay, Eno, Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy, Barry Gibb, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Strange Fruit, Jeremy Smith's Seven Deadly Sins, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Albert Johnson "Prodigy", Brian Cant, Stephen Furst, Sheila Raye Charles, Byron Christopher Murrell, Belton Richard, Mary Hopkin, Steve Howe, Ashton Gardner and Dyke, Tony Klinger, Alan Dearling, Joanna Cannon, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Kev Rowland, Elephant Plaza, Wednesday 13, Witch Vomit, Flyinglow, The Ferrymen, Jim Jackson, Mr Biffo, Paradise9, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Xtul, Martin Springett, The Beatles, Elvis, Motley Crew, Biz Markie, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Bob Marley, Neil Nixon, The Dope King’s Last Stand
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
 
Issue 239 (Miss Peach)
Issue 238 (Hawkwind)
Issue 237 (Hawkwind)
Issue 236 (Manchester)
Issue 235 (Jon Anderson)
Issue 234 (Al Atkins)
Issue 233 (Richard Strange)
Issue 232 (Roy Weard)
Issue 231 (Allan Holdsworth)
Issue 230 (Curtis Womack)
Issue 229 (Larry Wallis)
Issue 228 (Space Pharoahs)
 
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:
 
SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
 
* 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.co.uk
 
* 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 57 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown kittens, one totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. 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 Archie and the Cats?

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.



BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF




Rob Lowe says a hairy encounter in the Ozarks left him fearing for his life after he encountered the mythical 'Bigfoot' - or one of its relatives. Lowe, 53 ...

NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Thursday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1888 First (known) recording of classical music made, Handel's Israel in Egypt on wax cylinder
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Group monitoring the amphibians in the Western Gha...
  • Turtles Bred for Food in Asia Can Transport Choler...
  • Octopus inspired adhesive patch works under water
  • Distant fish relatives share looks
  • Research on lab chimps is over. Why have so few be...
  • Scientists once gave dolphins LSD in attempt to co...


  • 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.)