The inky salutation of Mrs. Russell’s sketchbook sweetie, at right, does not know the world of taxonomic confusion in which he and I live. Permit me to elucidate my obscure statement.
Last Saturday, Nanette and I made a cheerful sojourn to Craft 2.0 here in Christchurch, where we met the lovely Ms. Tyler and browsed the many crafty delights. The event, held here, was as densely packed as Shinagawa Station, with rather more pushing and shoving (albeit discreet pushing and shoving). As a result, I decided to take the business cards of the sellers whose work I particularly liked, and browse their online spaces at leisure, later.
A small spanner in the works was the number of sellers whose sites indicated a reduction in the amount of available stock as a result of preparing for Craft 2.0. Not particularly thwarted, I browsed further through the Felt shops, looking for necklaces (my jewellery of choice these days). Eventually I found three lovely pieces to my taste and budget, ordered them and waited.
First to arrive was this delightful gentleman at right, a low-hanging octopus whose fierce expression and visible suckers seemed to me to embody the fury and tenacity required by my job. I was wearing him when the señor arrived home from work and directed his attention accordingly.
That’s not an octopus, said the señor. That’s Cthulhu, one of the Great Old Ones. You’re wearing an Elder necklace.
No, no, no, said I. It was advertised as an octopus, and beside, Cthulhu doesn’t have suckers on his tentacles.
You’ve only got six tentacles there, said the señor, already executing a Google Image Search to show multiple illustrations of Cthulhu with suckered tentacles. A non-evil octopus would have eight.
So what do you think, gentle reader? Have the necklace maker and I inadvertently opened the portal to a world of unimaginable horror? Or is sometimes an octopus with six tentacles just an octopus with six tentacles? In truth, I do not mind either way, since plurality of meaning is the name of my interpretative game most days anyway, and the best demons are fictional inventions. Furthermore, I still identify with the fierceness of my pendant’s gaze. That said, I would be interested to hear your opinions.
DandyID
Blogger
Flickr
YouTube
Twitter
Vimeo
Twitpic
Tumblr
Linkedin
LiveJournal
Mobypicture
Facebook
Picasa
Google Profiles
Google Reader
Posterous
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I would say that it definitely is Cthulhu and that I want one. Preferably in silver.
An octopus with six tentacles would be a hexapus, or just very unlucky.
Much as I loathe Lovecraft, I am forced to admit that it looks like Cthulhu to me.
The señor’s take on it was that its occult associations would impress those who recognised them. As I suggest above, I presume both the designer and I were operated from a place of unawareness, but the designer’s shop includes further animal pendants of similar ilk, though perhaps not evil.
FWIW I thought Cthullu-ish but I surveyed my household and the other adult who has a lot more occult knowledge than I (ie has read all of Lovecraft which I couldn’t be bothered with, is currently running a Call of Cthulu games, collects tarot decks etc) says no, it’s just a weird looking octopus.
That reassures me somewhat. What I really liked about it was the arrangement of the tentacles to suggest three dimensions, and the way in which even though the pendant has a three-dimensional element, it’s hollow in the back–there’s really only two-and-a-half.
I’d assume the other two tentacles are floating out behind him (funny how he’s definitely a he), present but obscured.
An excellent point! The actual pendant has a 3D look on its front but the rear is hollowed out. Only four of the six visible tentacles have visible the point at which they join the face, so it would make sense that the other four were on the other side.
That gets my vote too.
Yeah, that looks like Cthulhu to me. It’s not just the tentacles, it’s the face. It really looks like Cthulhu, and yes I do want one.
I do think that an octopus who looked like Cthulhu would get invited to all the best parties. Real funky but not threatening, as the Party Posse put it.
http://community.livejournal.com/squid_news
I am increasingly of the opinion that LiveJournal has a community for everything that is good.
Octopus. The more cultured among them never put all 8 tentacles on display at one time.
The tentacles definitely appear to be displayed in a gymnastic or balletic sort of pose, which suggests an elite octopus.