Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I probably would be too

When Eadweard Muybridge set about photographing and publishing the 11 volumes of his monumental Animal Locomotion, he had a couple of target demographics in mind as possible purchasers. Scientists might be interested in the mechanics of simple activities like walking -- the sequence and the timing of muscle movements -- as revealed by 781 sequences of stop-action photography. And then there were artists, who might want accurate poses displaying musculature they could use in paintings, so the volumes include sequences of (a) unclad men fighting, playing sports, farming, blacksmithing and riding horses; and (b) women carrying water, disrobing, pouring tea and handing flowers to children.

For the fetishists -- and YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, you filthy perverts -- Animal Locomotion shows a couple of abnormal walks performed by amputees and a 340-pound woman.

That said, I have no idea whose tastes he thought he was appealing to here.
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Come on, bouncer, help a brother and let me in. This isn't just any furry suit, you know; it's Armani. It's Friday night and I'm hanging out for some action. Let me show you my moves.

No can do, mate. The club rules are perfectly clear. Furry Nights are on Monday. Friday nights it's Fat Women and Amputees, and quite frankly they just want to boogie down without sickos like you skeeving them out.

16 comments:

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

It's Friday night and I'm hanging out for some action.

He looks like he's out for a devilishly good time.

Animal Locomotion shows a couple of abnormal walks performed by amputees and a 340-pound woman.

He's making a motion-capture... TEXAS STYLE!

ckc (not kc) said...

...umm, do you have the one with the stop action of the torpedo? (..or did "torpedo" mean something different in ye oldene dayes?) ...and did they call him Ead? Eaddy? Tead?

ckc (not kc) said...

He had his son, Florado Helios Muybridge (nicknamed "Floddie" by friends), put in an orphanage. As an adult, Floddie worked as a ranch hand and gardener. In 1944 he was hit by a car in Sacramento and killed.

...no photos available.

[wv ledliest - ledly is as ledly does]

Substance McGravitas said...

Definitions of torpedo on the Web:

* gunman: a professional killer who uses a gun


Did Muybridge scare them himself?

Smut Clyde said...

In 1944 [Floddie] was hit by a car in Sacramento and killed.

Vehicular accidents seem to have been something of a family tradition.

do you have the one with the stop action of the torpedo?
It is not among the sequences that Penn Library has seen fit to digitise. I have a printed copy on hand (thanks to the wonders of Dover Books) but so far haven't motivated myself to scan it.

It shows two small explosions that raise clouds of dust while the chooks run around and flap in the air and have full-scale PTSD flashbacks. People back then knew how to make their own entertainment.

mikey said...

Open outer doors.

Up Scope. Final bearing.

Final bearing three three one degrees, mark.

Final range.

Final range, fourteen thousand six hundred yards, mark.

Firing solution, sir.

Fire tubes two and four.

Aye, firing tubes two and...

Belay that. Cease fire. Up scope.

What is it, sir.

There are wild animals, birds and chickens between us and that ship, ensign. They'd be scared by our torpedo.

So?

So get the camera. You KNOW we're going to need stop action photos!

Jennifer said...

Love the shoes.

Smut Clyde said...

The bouncer doesn't seem so impressed by them. "What are those piece-of-shit knock-offs on your feet? The heels'll break right off soon as you hit the dance floor."

Smut Clyde said...

I reckon he might be allowed in if he loses the shoes and sprinkles himself with non-pareils.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

At least that might start negotiations.

Furry: I'll sprinkle meself with non-pareils!

Bouncer: Double those up with red hots and you're in.
~

ckc (not kc) said...

..is there a significance to the 4 lovely rocks on the hillside? or is it just to the show that the artist has mastered "rocks"? This, of course, is a question to myself, to which I answer - have another glass of wine.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

(..or did "torpedo" mean something different in ye oldene dayes?)

Originally, a "torpedo" was what would be called a "naval mine" in modern parlance. Farragut's line (paraphrased) "Full speed ahead, and damn the torpedoes!" makes more sense in this context.

It also suggests that the use of "torpedo" as a VPR is a modern concept.

Sebastia said...

"torpedo" was in fact a well known chicken frightener working the side shows and carnivals of San Francisco in the 1880's. His renown ability to scare poultry was appreciated by Muybridge and many of the leading photographers of the West Coast photograpghic fraternity. Less well known for his ability to frighten gazelles and other small woodland creatures.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

His renown ability to scare poultry was appreciated by Muybridge and many of the leading photographers of the West Coast photograpghic fraternity. Less well known for his ability to frighten gazelles and other small woodland creatures.

He then tried to pull that shit on a Bengal tiger. Ironically, his birth name was Claude Bawles.

Smut Clyde said...

is there a significance to the 4 lovely rocks on the hillside?
Rocks?!
The Hills have Eyes!

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

I must say you folks over here really know how to enjoy yourselves.