#11098: — 12/14  at  06:43 PM
That is one cool 'head-foot' decoration!

#11099: Arcane — 12/14  at  06:50 PM
That is an awesome ornament...

#11105: — 12/14  at  08:22 PM
I agree with the previous comments. That is so cool!

#11111: Mark H — 12/14  at  09:28 PM
Octopus story you might enjoy.

A few years ago I caught a baby (fingernail size) O. vulgaris. As he grew he learned to pick me out of a crowd and loved reach out of his tank to touch me(go figure). We could line up six or seven people in front of his aquarium, lift the hood and all reach out a hand. He would reach one arm out and touch my hand. Then we'd switch positions and do it again and he would pick me out and touch my hand again, ignoring everyone else. Amazing animals. Pretty nearsighted though. If we backed up five or six feet he would frantically swim back and forth trying to pick me out.

Anyway, it's late and I thought it was amusing.
Nice site, by the way.

#11114: Wm Annis — 12/14  at  09:43 PM
Excellent! It survived shipping.

May it bring you joy for many years.

#11115: — 12/14  at  09:49 PM
Hey! I have one of those. Well, sort of. Mine is a lovely solid glass octopus. His beak's in the right place, unlike all my octopus toys (many of which have weird smiley faces on them. That's just wrong.), so I respect him. I've also got a shrimp, a bunch of fishes (including a salmon and a puffer), and a lot of seahorses. Now if I could just find a nice squid...
This all bothers the other members of my household, so it's nice to know there are people out there who would appreciate it.
Thanks for the blog, and the lovely picture.

#11122: Chloe — 12/15  at  12:04 AM
What does the tag on it say?

#11134: — 12/15  at  08:47 AM
Hey! I want! Where can I get those... ?

#11136: — 12/15  at  09:00 AM
Oh man - I NEED one of those...

#11139: PZ Myers — 12/15  at  09:33 AM
I knew everyone would want one. I guess William should have brought enough to share...

The tag has some clues about where to get them. It has a few facts about the octopus, and says the maker is Merck Family's Old World Christmas—they don't seem to have an online store, unfortunately, but do say where to find dealers.

#11141: — 12/15  at  09:49 AM
I can't wait until 50 years down the road, when future generations of Myers children are sharing this lovely ornament with their friends and family - as a sentimental favorite.

(this is assuming the current "favorite" will be long disintegrated by then, sorry)

By then it will be scratched, broken, faded, and with a few arms missing...

...but they'll still find a way to get this beauty onto the tree.

#11142: Nanovirus — 12/15  at  10:10 AM
I see Cthulhu

#11161: — 12/15  at  01:13 PM
A fantastic xmas gift for your cephalopod loving friends may be found here:

http://boutique.lesdocs.com/

Jean Painlevé Compilation N° 1- DVD PAL all zones

One of the first films to use underwater footage, "The Sea horse", 1934, 14 min combines beautiful Black & White cinematography and a Darius Milhaud's score, with an amazingly dramatic shot of the male Sea horse giving birth! "How Jellyfishes' Are Born", 1960 , 14 min, underlines the variety of the species, all breeding differently, to a music composed by Pierre Conté.

"The Sea Urchins", 1954 , 11 min, Painlevé's first color science film, ventures into the forest of spines to reveal breathing, reproductive and feeding habits. Painlevé wrote the music in homage to Edgar Varèse - an organized noise made of pans and forks. "Acera Or The Witches", 1972, 13 min, combines an incredibly gracious choreography of the animal's dances on a music composed by Pierre Jansen, with the description of the mating rituals of these hermaphrodite blobs.

The extraordinary "Lovelife Of The Octopus", 1965, 13 min, filmed in an aquarium, studies in close-up breathing, feeding and reproductive processes of the Octopus. The music, composed by the founder of electronic music, Pierre Henry, and the poetic narration, give humor and irony to the scientific account of this terrifying animal.

#11163: PZ Myers — 12/15  at  01:29 PM
Wait a minute...are you pushing French invertebrate porn on my website? Spammer! How dare you!

That's my job.

#11167: — 12/15  at  02:03 PM
That has got to be the coolest ornament I've ever seen.

#11174: — 12/15  at  03:03 PM
Nanovirus beat me to it - another not-so subliminal Cthulhu fer sure!

#11190: — 12/15  at  05:33 PM
"Wait a minute…are you pushing French invertebrate porn on my website? Spammer! How dare you!"

You don't know the half of it. Wait until you see the footage of a "train" of four or five mating molluscs, going at it like there's no tomorrow. Well, so long as continuing to eat while engaging in an orgy constitutes "going at it like there's no tomorrow" ...

#11303: Mary Kay — 12/16  at  10:56 PM
Oh dear. Oh dear. I love that. I already own so many Christmas ornaments that this year I got out only about 1/2 of them and we still couldn't get them on the tree. (It WAS a smaller than usuall tree). And there are 5 stores in the Seattle area that carry that. One of them less than 3 miles away. Oh dear.

MKK

Trackback: Octoblogging: The holiday edition Tracked on: Majikthise (66.151.149.25) at 2004 12 20 14:12:35
The lucky PZ Myers owns an octopus Christmas tree ornament. Envious, I set out to find an octopus ornament of my own on the Internets. The results of my search ranged from the nifty to the terrifying: Click thumbnails