Sunday, July 08, 2012

Anthropology of Anthropomorphic Aliens and Cryptic Cryptids

Bust by Fred Press, midcentury.

Alien by Ted Seth Jacobs.

Dover Demon by Aleister Lam.


Chupacabras via Jorge Martin.


Stylized Roswell Alien, artist unknown.

Today is the 65th anniversary of the beginning of the Roswell incident of July 8, 1947, taking place near Roswell-Hobbs, New Mexico, not far from the 33rd parallel.

We all are still struggling to understand what all this "alien" business is about.

Meanwhile, I won't be going to France to intellectually exchange the American view, cryptozoologically and anthropologically, with those involved, ufologically.

Below is the official cancellation of the conference at Les Repas Ufologiques in Paris.

Instead, to date, I have now committed to be (but not speak) at the cryptozoological exposition in Texas, happening soon after the French event was to occur:

   

So, Paris, France's loss is Paris, Texas' nearby gain (in Jefferson), I suppose.

I was looking forward to delivering to my French colleagues a talk that had morphed into the "Anthropology of Anthropomorphic Aliens and Cryptic Cryptids," the strange symbolism to be found in midcentury art, certain replicas of cryptids, and the popular culture synchromystic symbolism of same, for example, as found in the following vintage (but obviously over-stylized African) piece by Fred Press (born 1919?):

    

Anyway, here's the Paris announcement, in French and English:

NOUS AVONS LE REGRET DE VOUS ANNONCER QUE LES ORGANISATEURS ONT DÉCIDÉS D'ANNULER LA SOIRÉE PRÉVUE AVEC LE CRYPTOZOOLOGUE AMÉRICAIN LOREN COLEMAN LE 2 OCTOBRE 2012 La raison en est toute simple, après trois mois, seulement une vingtaine de personnes ont réservées. L'engagement financier étant tout de même important, les organisateurs ne souhaitent pas prendre le risque. Les quelques personnes qui ont réservées seront immédiatement remboursées. Nous sommes désolés pour cette annonce, mais cela démontre qu'il n'est pas aussi facile que cela de nos jours d'organiser quelque chose.

 The robotic translation of this is:

WE ARE SORRY TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE ORGANIZERS HAVE DECIDED CANCEL THE EVENING WITH THE AMERICAN CRYPTOZOOLOGUE LOREN COLEMAN OCTOBER 2, 2012 The reason is simple, after three months, only 20 people have reserved. The financial commitment being the same importantly, the organizers do not wish to take the risk. The Some people who have reserved will be immediately refunded. We are sorry for this announcement, but it shows that it is not as easy as this today to organize something.

2 comments:

Red Pill Junkie said...

Merde! :(

Anyway, that African bust looks a lot like Species' Sil.

Howard said...

You may not have noticed it, but the aliens on Star Trek tend to look very human, too, mostly just having funny ears, noses, and foreheads.