CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
"Daikokuten, a god of wealth, throws money to people below while Namazu, a giant catfish of earthquakes, is held down by Kashima/Takemikazuch, a god of thunder and swords." Circa 1855. Scanned by the University of British Columbia Library.
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
Here's an ancient precursor to the finale of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," in which the protagonist turns around to scare the audience a second time by revealing yellow eyes. The Japanese yokai demon Shunoban (or Zhu-no-Bon, しゅのばん) scares people twice. The first time he simply reveals his bright-red monster face and horn to startle his victims and cause them to flee. He gives chase, then disguises himself as someone providing assistance. Having lulled his target into a false sense of security, with his back turned, he goes back to his monster face and frightens the person a second time by looking over his shoulder. (Haunted by the fear of seeing that face once again, victims ultimately die of fright 100 days later.) These events occur in the same order in the short film "Thriller," with Michael Jackson's character turning into a monster, giving chase, disguising himself as a rescuer, and then, after turning his back, looking over his shoulder to display demonic eyes. The yokai card in our illustration is from the very charming Obake No Karuta deck, available via Amazon Japan. We're translating the Japanese texts that come with each card — e-mail us if you'd like those translations. (Our e-mail address is at our "About the Author" link.)
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]
[Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.]