Do you know what the juicy interior of a Kraken looks like? Have you ever seen the inside of a unicorn’s magical horn? What about the biochemical transformation of a man into a a werewolf?
Here are some marvellous anatomical figures from French Chimerologist Camille Renversade who in 2014 combined zoology charts, anatomy boards and scientific literature with sublime fantasy art of magical beasts from mythical lands.
The anatomical drawings show the various stages of phoenix regeneration, mermaid morphology and much more.
Fantastic beasts, their anatomy and how to find them
These exquisite fantasy charts are brought together in the rare, limited release and expensive book Fantastic Creatures Deyrolle, which is inspired by the museum of the same name in Paris.
Creatures Fantastiques Deyrolle by Jean Baptiste de Panafieu and Camille Revensade
Fantastic Creatures Deyolle is by Camille Revensade and Jean Baptiste de Panafieu. Revensade was born in 1983 in Saint Priest near Lyon. He is passionate about adventures, myths, legends and drawing and invented a new discipline: Chimerology.
The Kraken
‘Below the thunders of the upper deep; Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth’
— Alfred Tennyson, ‘The Kraken’ (1830)
An Anatomical Guide to Godzilla and other Gigantic Japanese Monsters
These amazing diagrams showing a medical cross–section of Godzilla along with other Japanese monsters such as Mothra, Gamera and Agurius. These illustrations were created in 1967 by Shogo Endo for a book called ‘An Anatomical Guide to Monsters’. This cult book was crafted by Shoji Otomo (writer) along with Shogo Endo (illustrator) (1967). An Anatomical Guide to Monsters has long since gone out of print.
Red pandas are sweet looking, unobtrusive and stunning mammals that live in the mountainous forests in the Himalayas. With their lustrous and vibrant reddish brown fur and round sweet faces; they have the vague appearance of a fox rather than a Giant Panda. Here’s more about a mysterious animal that my boyfriend and I fell in love with after a trip to the Auckland Zoo.
They love Splenda and Equal
Strangely enough red pandas adore fake sugar. A 2009 study by the Journal of Heredity identified that red pandas enjoy the fake sugar in artificially sweetened water. They are the only non-primate species known to be able to taste aspartame. This ability was previously only thought to exist in Old World monkeys, humans and apes.
They have many other names
Although it shares its name with the giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca, the red panda name is a misnomer. These cute little balls of fluff have more in common phylogenetically with the pinniped (seals, sea lions, walrus) and mustelid (weasels, skunks, otters) families rather than the giant panda. Their scientific name Ailurus fulgens means fire coloured cat. To further add to the confusion, Nepalese sherpas call them variously ye niglva ponva or wah donka.
English naturalist Thomas Hardwicke also wanted to call them wah, when he discovered the red panda in the Himalayas in 1821. Hardwicke presented them as wah to the Linnean society in London. In a distinguished presentation entitled ‘Description of a new Genus of the Class Mammalia, from the Himalaya Chain of Hills Between Nepaul and the Snowy Mountains’. He argued that the animal should be named this because of the curious sound it makes. Something akin to a yodelling drunken cat.
They make a quark-snort
Scientists have called the sound they make twittering and quark-snorting. These people obviously have a decent sense of humour. According to researchers at the National Zoo, twittering is a gentle way of signifying readiness to mate a.k.a panda flirting.
They are herbviborous carnivorans
Red pandas belong to the Order Carnivora. Carnivorans have bodies adapted to eating flesh: large sharp teeth and powerful jaws. Although many carnivorans such as bears and red pandas also feast primarily on plant matter. Red pandas can be tempted by bamboo shoots, fruit, flowers and the odd egg or bird. This makes them a nightmare to invite to a dinner party in the forest. Another carnivoran who is primarily herbivorous diet is the binturong, the funny-looking bearcat that smells uncannily of popcorn.
They compete with cheese factories
Red pandas live in the mountainous forests of Myanmar and the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces of China. Two sub species are separated by the Himalayas. With Ailurus fulgens living to the west in Nepal, Assam, Sikkim and Bhutan. And Ailurus styani living in southern China and northern Burma, east of the mountain range. They survive on the thick bamboo foliage at high elevations above 2,200 metres. At similar elevations and habitat conditions in New Zealand, we can find the Kea, a gloriously colourful parrot.
In Nepal’s Langtang National Park there are around 40 pandas that live in the area. Quite problematically, there are also cheese factories in the area. To produce 14,000 kg of cheese per year farmers keep chauri, a native cow allowed to graze in the national park. Competition between the chauri and red panda, and threats from farmers and dogs, has led to a dwindling population.
But they do have a species survival plan
Although listed as vulerable, the red panda is protected in all countries except Myanmar. A breeding programme involving more than 30 zoos around the globe has managed to monitor and control their dwindling numbers in the wild.
This is a gigantic aquatic bird is fabled to inhabit the lochs and open water around the west coast of Scotland. They are quite bloodthirsty and prefer sheep and cattle but aren’t fussy and may eat people! Via Stephen G Ray on Twitter (Painting origin: unknown)
A classic song from the turn of the century by Sydney electronica group Pnau, from the classic jazz-electronica album Sambanova. I loved this album then and I still love it now. Plus this is a really evocative video clip.
Terry Watkinson is from Thunder Bay, Northern Ontario. He is both a musician and a visual artist and he along with his rock band Max Webster, which toured extensively in Canada, the USA and Europe, and produced five Gold albums. When Max Webster broke up Terry returned to University and became a medical illustrator. He now works as an artist and has gallery exhibitions twice per year. He’s inspired by the landscapes of Ontario and conjured up imaginary scenes from the landscapes.
How we value work, and how, rather than being productive, work has become an end in itself; the way such work maintains the current broken system of finance capital; and, finally, how we can get out of it.
A magnificent and magical triumph of colour. Molas are textiles using a reverse appliqué technique by women of the Indigenous Guna people, also known as the Cuna or Kuna people in Panama.
These Chibchan-speaking Indian people once occupied the central region of Panama and the neighbouring San Blas Islands and are being marginalised by illegal land-grabbing by big companies. Via Twitter
I hope you enjoyed this week’s colourful bold renderings and flights of fancy let me know if these tickled your fancy below…
Standing At the Edge is a once in a lifetime kind of book. I don’t say that lightly either. It’s a life-changing and life-affirming book that combines philosophy, Zen Buddhism, psychology, and much more and manages to be both personal and relevant for individuals as well as being vastly relevant to the entire human race.
Genre: Non-fiction, spirituality, Zen buddhism, psychology, philosophy.
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
Halifax with the Dalai Lama
Author Roshi Joan Halifax PhD is a multidisciplinary genius, although she would be too humble to ever say so. She’s a Zen priest, anthropologist and Buddhist teacher. Through her varied career she has helped many people – even the toughest murderers in US prisons. She has lectured on spirituality and Buddhism in corporations, schools and has led spiritual and emotional recovery efforts in war zones and places where trauma is a part of daily living.
This book takes an exciting interdisciplinary deep-dive into human psychology, spirituality, Zen Buddhist principles and more. The chapters are well organised and delve into five psychological territories known as ‘Edge States’: altruism, respect, integrity, empathy and engagement. Halifax emphasises that these edge states as being the basis of character. And yet each of these five psychological states can also be the source of much of our suffering and pain when we don’t consciously understand them. This book helps the reader to navigate through these edge states and becoming open to the the light and dark of our inner selves and to truly understand ourselves and to truly understand these edge states instead of experiencing fear and anxiety.
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history based not only on cruelty but also on compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness.
What we choose to emphasise in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.
If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least, the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.”
Halifax’s flowing and beautiful writing blends wisdom from Zen Buddhism and from her own hard-won and humbling life experiences, living in different parts of the world and connecting with people who are living on the fringes of society. She manages to connect with people despite of her own personal fears, biases and anxieties.
A video I made which evocative of the peacefulness of one of the temples in Kyoto Tenryu-Ji.
This is one of the best spiritual books I have ever read. It’s not wishy-washy instead it provides concrete lived examples of the different edge states: altruism, respect, integrity, empathy, engagement using provocative writing and insights from wise people from throughout history, as well as Halifax’s own interesting experiences working with people from all walks of life. This is a clever, enjoyable, compelling and insightful book that is helpful in understanding oneself and the world. This is a treasure you won’t regret buying and that you will refer back to for years to come.
A beautiful compendium of universal wisdom that’s simple, wise, soulful and timeless. I fell in love with this book as soon as I saw it. The illustrations and words are by my wise and kind friend Googie McCabe who wrote this book for her two beloved daughters, as a way of healing and dealing with her depression, and also as a manifestation of her artistry, imagination and love for her two girls. It features advice on life, death, love of self, love of others, finding your calling, and how to deal with life’s dark times.
Amber Butchard is the charismatic TV host of the BBC’s ‘A Stitch in Time’, a fantastic show about the history of fashion told in several outfits. She is also a fashion historian and author. She has blazing red hair in a chic bob, wears interesting hats and bright red lipstick. She has a real panache and style about her and I have to confess I have a bit of a girl crush on her.
Genre: Non-fiction, Fashion, History.
Publisher: Hatchett Publishing
Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟1/2 Stars
This book is an important part of the puzzle of history. The sartorial choices of prominent people of history is a topic generally deemed to be too frivolous and or effeminate to be tackled by most (straight male) historians. History is awash with stories of battles and important events, but not enough attention is paid to what people were wearing at the time and how clothing and adornment makes the personal political, and often has revolutionary consequences.
This is the one book that really nails it by focusing on the nexus of power that clothing can be: a tool for sexual power, a way to show off wealth and status, a form of personal liberation from the strictures of society, a way of rebelling against the norm, a way for young people or marginalised people to stick their finger up to authority.
The cover- a bit boring
Clothing can be used to bind and conform, but it can also be used to break free. This is a very powerful book and if you are interested in history, fashion or both. You will see all of the usual suspects from history, a lot of white European aristocracy in here, but you will also get to know a lot of people from history who may have escaped your attention: queer and transgender icons from across the ages, Indian and Asian fashion icons, African queens, early revolutionaries.
David Bowie at his swaggering best
The many faces and outfits of Grace Jones
Butchard has a brilliant and compelling way of writing that’s eloquent and interesting. I would say she’s at the height of her powers. One minor annoyance with this book I had was that whoever designed and produced it has decided on a very dull cover, with the outlines of drawn models on it. The cover art is understated to the point of being boring. Given the topic, the cover should have been outrageously bright and fun, I’m not sure why it wasn’t. Also they have used an almost unreadable font for the body and headings, which is really irritating to read. Get over that by using a huge light and reading it up close to your face and you’re good to go.
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 1/2 Stars (would give the book’s content five stars, but the typography was really faint and annoying, I would suggest a different designer for the next edition)
Thoth is the ancient Egyptian god of the moon. He also represented reckoning, learning and writing. He was held to be the inventor of writing, the creator of languages, the scribe and adviser of the gods. Via Twitter
A bit of 80’s Australian nostalgia in the form of a lost postcard. These ‘all you can eat’ family restaurants were really big in the 80’s and myself and my siblings always went a bit overboard in these kinds of places. At the time, I never noticed the overly chirpy, kitsch, hairsprayed, faux-historical themed extravaganza that went along with it, but here it is, resurfaced in 2021 for you all to enjoy!…
Dining at the Swagman Hotel in Ferntree Gully in the 80’s
Ancient animals trapped in amber
Fossilised but not forgotten!
Chimerarachne yingi a species of arachnid that lived on earth 100 million years ago Ancient gecko trapped in Baltic amber from 54 millions years ago.
The Chimerarachne yingi was a species of arachnid that crawled through rainforests in what is now known as Southeast Asia, more than 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.
A gecko trapped in Baltic amber over 54 million years old. This was discovered in northwestern Russia in excellent condition with scales and all facial details still visible! Via Historical Artefacts on Twitter
Looking like pebbles from the beach or a beautiful mandala – these spiralling full moons were created by the talented photographer Marcella Guilia Pace. I love how every kind of full moon and atmospheric conditions have been captured here and imbue the photo with a deep awe and wonder.
“I have collected all my Full Moon shots that I have taken over the past 10 years. Of these shots I have selected all the shades of color that the Moon has taken in front of my lens and my eyes.
Tofu three waysin a relaxing ASMR recipe channel 베지이즈 Vege is
I love this Korean vegan channel on Youtube 베지이즈 Vege is and it’s easy to understand as there’s captions in English. There’s no talking either which gives this a meditative feeling.
Great audio and visuals including all of the crackling and bubbling sounds of food being prepared and cooked feel homely and comforting.
Giuseppe Reichmuth was born in 1944 in Zürich, he does not belong to any art movement and instead the only fixed attribute to his art is a sense of humour and a sense of fun. As you can see here with his posters about Dinosaurs on the motorway. In the 80’s, this series of artworks was popular all over the world and could be seen on Tshirts, books and posters, especially in the USA.
Dinosaurier auf der Autobahn, 1980 by Giuseppe ReichmuthDinosaurier auf der Autobahn, 1980 by Giuseppe ReichmuthDinosaurier auf der Autobahn, 1980 by Giuseppe ReichmuthDinosaurier auf der Autobahn, 1980 by Giuseppe Reichmuth
That time that Tupac jammed with a Polish singer in the 90’s
No…not really, that was just a click-bait sorry. A clever video editor has managed to blend together the song Jestem Kobieta (I’m a woman) by Edyta Gorniak with Tupac’s classic ‘How Do You Want It?’ into a seamless blend of 90’s hiphop. The video looks like they’re singing together and is brimming with 90’s nostalgia.
Learning languages calms the mind. One has to empty one’s mind and immerse oneself completely in the work of learning any language. Language-learning is my favourite way of distracting myself. It helped me through the most difficult times of my life and it has helped me to find inner peace. Meditation is characterised by (a) emptying, (b) calming and (c) training the mind. Language-learning helps me achieve all three of these. My tireless attempts at successful language-learning have, over the course of many years, helped me overcome many learning problems, including attention problems and dyslexia. Language-learning has significantly improved my reading, spelling, logical reasoning, hearing, speaking, etc. Indeed, it has trained my eye for detail, I notice far more things than I used to, my mind is sharper than it ever was.
Comforting Thought: Polish is a secret language
Operation X has a very interesting blog about languages, linguistics and all of the ways language learning enriches your life, read more by Dyami Millarson.
Istanbul has always been a place I have wanted to go. The beautiful water and landscapes, the culture, Turkish food, carpets, ceramics, Turkish tea, cathedrals, a layer cake of history…and of course…cats! If you have seen the documentary Kedi, you will know what I mean!
Siamangs are the most beautiful and devoted animals and they form strong and close family groups and hug close together. When they get excited they jump around and whoop using their large throat sacks. They live in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and have no known protections. They are threatened by palm oil and the illegal pet trade. Seeing them like this in their innocent love breaks my heart into pieces.Join the #Boycott4Wildlife to protect them!
In this slim and elegant volume of philosophy and inspiration, writer David Whyte tackles the big topics and words that rarely get any airtime in our society, the kinds of things that haunt people but that are difficult to resolve and so are pushed under the rug. In short, punchy chapters he offers comfort and consolation for words such as: loneliness, grief, hiding, forgiveness, dissapointment, procrastination, anger. There’s a good mix of dark and light concepts here that are difficult for the human mind to tackle. Whyte offers insights and new ways of looking at these difficult emotional words.
At times I found his prose beautiful and at others it was a bit too pared down and plain needed a bit more embellishment, but that’s probably just my preference for literary styles of writing.
Book Review: Consolations:The Solace, Nourishment & Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte
On Shyness
Shyness is the exquisite and vulnerable frontier between what we think is possible and what we deserve. Without shyness it is not possible to understand the new. Total confidence in a new phase of life means that we are misinformed and mistaken – about what is going to happen and what we are about to become.
Shyness is our friend. An announcement that we are about to walk through a door, through all our difficulties and attempt another beginning.
This is a slim volume, one to keep by the bedside table, it also may work as a good gift for a friend going through a hard time. If I am being honest I found the writing a bit tough going at times and I didn’t think the prose flowed as well as it could have. The concepts and ideas were beautiful though.
Dr Haare Williams MNZM has been Dean of Māori Education and Māori Advisor to the Chief Executive at Unitec. He was General Manager of Aotearoa Radio. He set up a joint venture with the South Seas Film and Television School to train Te Reo speakers as producers and operators in film and television. He has worked closely with iwi claimant communities and was responsible for waka construction and assembly at Waitangi for the 1990 commemorations. He has published poetry, exhibited painting and written for film and television. He was a cultural advisor for the Mayor of Auckland and is Amorangi at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Content Catnip 
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