In Japan, there are four "Public Sports" that are public-operated parimutuel gambling: horse racing, keirin (bicycle racing), auto race (motorcycle racing) and Kyotei (boat racing). Edogawa Kyotei is the boat racing place in Tokyo and they have a Goat robot to eat lost betting slips. Ha ha ha, good idea. It's funny, that robot looks real like taxidermy. Because of that, people who lost betting won't kick him even if they are in bad mood?
Talking about Taxidermy, I remember well the Wien Natural Historical Museum still now. It was a long, long time ago, I went there alone, it was an hour and a half before closing time on a very dark, cold winter day. There was nobody inside the museum and every floor was filled up with a huge amount of taxidermy: animal, reptilian, insects, ancient stuff. I felt all of that stuff concentrated on me.
These are the photos of the backyard of the American museum of natural history. All pictures are so nice and there in good art in the site. This site has photos of the backyard of the British Natural History museum. They look like artists waiting for a show backstage. Taxidermy photos are attractive and also weird. (especially taxidermy arts like this and this), so I'm always careful when opening these links.
I'll look at photos, but I won't have taxidermy. In auctions, some sell strange wallets like this and this. I won't be able to have such stuff. I would love to have a fake sheet and fake head as a good joke!! This is a little bad joke though. (Inside is too red!)
It is deer hunting season here in Minnesota. It is a very big deal. Hunters take deer for both food and sport. Trophy bucks are sent to the taxidermist while the does are processed for food. There are a lot of animal heads on the walls in many homes and business (restaurants especially) in Minnesota. A good taxidermist tries to preserve the animal so that it doesn't look like it is staring at you. ;)
If you like taxidermy, take a look at this:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/community/aboutus/retail-detail.jsp?detailedInformationURL=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcontent%2Fcommunity%2Faboutus%2Fretail%2Fretail_stores%2Fcommon%2Fham_store_details.html
Posted by: Heidi | Wednesday, November 07, 2007 at 10:13 AM
This blog is nice!
Your English is so great.
I want to link your blog.
(相互リンクしたい!あなたのブログと・・)
Posted by: diary-english | Tuesday, November 06, 2007 at 10:50 PM
I never knew it was called taxidermi!
Thanks for the new vocabulary Mari!
Posted by: ガブちゃん | Tuesday, November 06, 2007 at 11:01 AM
As a child, my favorite place in the world was the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/). The dinosaur skeletons were my favorites, but I also liked the taxidermic animals and the mummies.
I might like a fake head on my wall, if it were from a fake animal like a dragon. Heh, perhaps I could get a dragon head that looks like Shenron from "Dragonball." No more wishes for you, Goku.
Posted by: bshock | Tuesday, November 06, 2007 at 05:17 AM
Great finds, Mari!
I feel sorry for the little monkeys, though
:-(
http://www.kashyahildebrand.org/newyork/cooper/cooper003_027.html
Posted by: Juan | Tuesday, November 06, 2007 at 12:33 AM