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...




Friday, August 30, 2019

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. 

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.



LAKE AND SEA MONSTER NEWS

The hunt for Lake and Sea Monsters is probably the most iconic branch of Cryptozoology. Following our successful Mystery Cat and BHM Study Groups, we feel that these sightings should also be archived and published in a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. Curated by Sally Watts and Richard Muirhead.





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.




THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS TREADING WATER


The Gonzo Daily: Friday/Saturday
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/

Well, it has been a long and rather strange week, and I have to say that I am rather glad that it is over. Corinna is still poorly, poor lass, and so I am trying to keep things as easy for her as possible. This weekend Richard Freeman is paying us a visit to do a big wodge of filming for OTT, but as I a,m still on the wagon, the resulting socialising is unlikely to give poor Corinna any additional stresses.

I am in a bit of a quandry this week. Bon Iver is - as many of you will no doubt know - an American indie folk band founded and fronted by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. The name "Bon Iver" derives from the French phrase bon hiver ("good winter"), taken from a greeting on the TV show Northern Exposure.Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, independently in July 2007. The majority of that album was recorded while Vernon spent three months isolated in a cabin in northwestern Wisconsin. For Emma, Forever Ago was one of those albums that took the critical world by storm, with everybody and his aunt heaping praise upon it, as if it were the long awaited follow up to Abbey Road.

Everyone except me, that is. I didn't get it at all. I thought it was massively over-rated and a little dull, but in the intervening years, whenever a new Bon Iver album comes out, I truly make an effort to like it. After all, my emotional makeup is riddled with enough self-doubt that I find it hard to accept that I might be right and everyone else might be wrong. (This is probably not the time to mention Oasis whom I always thought were massively over-rated, but I digress). And so when the new Bon Iver album came out a few weeks ago, I tried again. On first listening it ticks all the right boxes, but I can't think of it as being anything but heavy handed and contrived. Maybe it will grow on me, but I doubt it.

YER EDITOR SEZ: THE DIGITAL PRAYER FLAG
You guys recently did massive amounts of praying for Corinna, and in February, at least, she appeared to be cancer free. I am convinced that these two things are related, with the outpouring of good vibes transmitted electronically, being a little like a Tibetan prayer flag. Having used it once to such good effect - I want to try it on a larger scale. I am still trying to work out the details, so watch this space.

Find out more:
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/a-prayer-flag-lung-ta-is-colourful.html

Blessed be.

ALL TODAY'S GONZO NEWS WOT'S FIT TO PRINT:

https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/mark-e-smith-on-music-politics-and.html
Mark E Smith on music, politics and refugees
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-beatles-funny-interviews.html
The Beatles funny interviews
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/corky-laing-in-news.html
CORKY LAING IN THE NEWS
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_30.html
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-gonzo-track-of-day-flying-burrito.html
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: The Flying Burrito Bro...

THE GONZO PRIVACY POLICY
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-privacy-policy.html

And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
http://tinyurl.com/y7b9rlog
And, yes,
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-privacy-policy.html

CHECK OUT THE GONZO STORES:

UK
http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/
US
http://www.gonzomultimedia.com

AND OTHER STUFF FEATURING VARIOUS GONZO CONTRIBUTORS:

Our webTV show:
https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/posts/632561497117057
And if you fancy supporting it on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/CFZ

And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore may seem to be in order:
https://gonzotesting.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-notion-of-shopkeepers.html
Meanwhile I continue to pretend that I am a popstar, because now I have sold eight whole copies of my new album Coldharbour. If I continue at this rate I will get a silver disc sometime at the beginning of the next millenium. Coldharbour, by the way, can be found here: https://jondownes1.bandcamp.com/releases

I think it is really rather good, but then again I would say that wouldn't I?

AND THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE GONZO MAGAZINE:

Gonzo Weekly #351/2
THE ICONS ISSUE
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/

In this rollicking royal issue, Doug goes to see Yes, Asia, Carl Palmer, John Lodge from the Moody Blues, and the inimitable Arthur Brown, Steve Andrews (The Bard of Ely) goes to see Bob Dylan and Neil Young in Hyde Park, Alan goes to see Jonathan Wilson, Jon gets all Metaphysical, and Graham looks at the latest twists and turns in the saga of the Hawkwind trademark dispute...

Groovy eh?

Hail Eris!

And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Strange Fruit, there are columns from Kev Rowland and Mr Biffo, C J Stone, and Roy Weard, but Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna are on hiatus. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and antichinuses who have lost their shoes (OK, nothing to do with tiny marsupials who are searching for their footwear, 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:

Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Alan Moore, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Yes, Nick Cave, Rod Stewart, Penny Lancaster, Neil Young, Richard Freeman, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Erling Sachs Wicklund, David Cloud Berman (born David Craig Berman), Danny Doyle, Francesca Sundsten, Nick Wonder (born Nick Walusko), Martine van Hoof, Henri Belolo, Stephen M. Perry (aka Lizzie Grey), Vilen Tokarev, Robert Sage Wilber, Damien Richard Lovelock, Ian Gibbons, Jim Cullum Jr., Paul Grace, The Fall, The Fall's Mark E Smith and Ed Blaney, John Denver with the Mitchell Trio, Man, Justin Hayward, Nico, Michael Bruce, Steve Andrews, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Sam Fender, Boy Azooga, Laura Marling, Cat Power, Doug Harr, Arthur Brown, Alan Dearling, Jonathan Spencer Wilson, Kev Rowland, Wayfarer, Witchskull, Witchsorrow, Yesternight, Kenny Mitchell, Greenrose Faire, Carl Marshall and Geordie Jackson, Dark Matters, Charles Manson, Tony Klinger, Mr Biffo, Digitiser, Roy Weard, C J Stone, Hawkwind, Jonathan Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Thom the World Poet

And the last few issues are:

Issue 351-2 (Royal Affair)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-351-2-fvxuatzgf.html
Issue 349-50 (Experimental Sonic Machines)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-349-50.htm
Issue 347-8 (Gary Duncan)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-347-8.html
Issue 345-6 (RDF)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-345-6.html
Issue 343-4 (Auburn)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-343-4.html
Issue 341-42 (America)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-341-2.html
Issue 339-40 (Kev Rowland)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-339-40.html
Issue 337-38 (Zee)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-337-8.html
Issue 335-36 (Raz)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-335-6.html
Issue 333-34 (Nepal)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-333-4.html
Issue 331-32 (Scott Walker)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-331-2.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/

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 59 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, three other cats, 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 elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention Archie and the Cats?

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF


North Carolina Man Captures Video Of Bigfoot Along With A Footprint Of The Creature
A man named Doug Teague from Hickory, North Carolina, took a video of what appears to be a bigfoot.
New Hampshire Man Blames Bigfoot for Recent Break-Ins
With forests similar to the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast creates excellent habitat for Bigfoot. After much human intervention, supplies are becoming ...


The North American Bigfoot Center launched a soft opening in the ... couple met on the set of the "Animal Planet" show Cliff starred in, Finding Bigfoot.


NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Friday/Saturday

ON THIS DAY IN -  1146 - European leaders outlawed the crossbow. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk
  • Parasitoid wasps may turn spiders into zombies by ...
  • Features that make Male lizards sexy to females ar...
  • Rare bumblebee to get boost from bilberries in cag...
  • Blue whale fossil provides evidence that baleens g...
  • Mountain hare 'saved by grouse moor'


  • 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)