I am not so arrogant to assume that everybody coming to this site is interested in my art (I get an awful lot of traffic for globalisation and the environment and variants on that) so Why Mice Sing is going to be split into three streams (art, science, society) and a hodgepodge called “Asides”:

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Updated the front page (I couldn’t keep away). It is currently a rip off of the 5ThirtyOne Unstandard theme. I will modify when I am feeling motivated. Also added asides to keep vagaries, such as this, away from main content.

I am contemplating writing an essay(s) on the use of the octopus as a metaphor. However, literature on this topic seems sparse. Database and library searches are coming with very little. I can find plenty of examples of it, but no why this metaphor is so prevalent. Or any historical context in regards to when it became popular. I have examples from the 1900s (political cartoons, Frank Norris “The Octopus”). Are there earlier examples?

I am looking for recommendations on articles, websites or books relating to the use of octopuses, squid, tentacles etc in art/cartoon/illustration, and to a lesser extent the use of octopuses in literature or movies. Any actual examples of the use of octopuses and tentacles is also appreciated. In particular:

1. In political cartoons, political posters or as propaganda.
2. In pulp magazines or other pop culture
3. And in any other areas where octopus imagery has been used to make a statement i.e. graffiti, art, protests

If you know of any, please leave a comment below, or send me a note. Thank you in advance!

EDIT: Added more info (26 Mar 08).

Book and Article List (last updated 7th of April 08)

The following are a few books I have come across (This list will be added to as I find things)

• THE SEARCH FOR THE GIANT SQUID - The Biology and Mythology of the World’s Most Elusive Sea Creature by RICHARD ELLIS
• MONSTERS OF THE SEA - The History, Natural History and Mythology of the Oceans Most Fantastic Creatures by RICHARD ELLIS

Online Articles:

• Justice, C., “Beware the Kraken from the Deep“, Pop Matters (The Tackle Box)

Beware the Kraken from the Deep

I upgraded Why Mice Sing recently. This meant some links were broken. I thought this wasn’t quite good enough - so I broke ALL incoming links. It was just easier that way. Really. Anyway, I only had a day to upgrade. I almost made it. So there are a few odd things in the design like “Subtitle goes here”, “I am footer  hear me roar”. I will get these fixed as I have the time.

Added 16/3/2008:

A few design changes where also made to the site:

• to make better use of whitespace,
• more room for posts
• larger thumbnails
• prettier sidebar
• To be done:
  • change the header (tentaclise it)
  • finalise space in footer (yes, that big white spot next to the cat, and above the logo is for something) for project box
  • add a few bits to posts: subtitles and a tumbnail which will show up in search results and indexes
  • add proper project pages for “The Vulgar Army” and “The Cat’s Paw”
  • Fix stylesheet to show unorderlists within posts *sigh*