The tiny monsters inside you…
Long ago in Japan, human illness was commonly believed to be the work of tiny malevolent creatures inside the body. Harikikigaki, a book of medical knowledge written in 1568 by a now-unknown resident of Osaka, introduces 63 of these creepy-crawlies and describes how to fight them with acupuncture and herbal remedies.
The happy looking critter on the right is, apparently, Kanmushi:
Kanmushi is a harmful parasite that embeds itself in the spine, causing it to curve backward. Infected people also develop an appetite for spicy food. The herbs mokko (Saussureae radix) and byakujutsu (Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz) are effective in fighting off Kanmushi.
Lots more of this tripped-out shit over at PINK TENTACLE.
May 18, 2008 at 4:45 am
heh, thats funny. especially after having watched andromeda strain again this morning.
have we talked about this movie yet? is an official post in order?
May 18, 2008 at 8:50 am
Andromeda Strain? I think not! Michael Crichton, back before he sucked…
I’d been digging up some info on Jules Verne recently, and it struck me that, though he’s widely touted as the Godfather of Science-Fiction, what he was really doing was a precursor of the techno-thriller. But I think I’m going to babble about that in the Iron Man thread which I’m going to start right about…. now.
May 19, 2008 at 6:54 am
Shit I still have to see IRON MAN!
We were shown Andromeda Strain
in 6th grade… with no explanation.
The entire school was all freaked out for 2 months.
It did mange to distract us from the threat of Nuclear War.
May 19, 2008 at 7:46 am
Apparently, A&E has created a new Andromeda Strain two-part mini, which SALON.COM hates on over here. (And if the description is accurate, I’m kinda hating on it too…. sounds like they’ve turned it into Outbreak meets “24″, a far cry from the icy, dispassionate perfection of the original movie.)
Gtown: reminds me of the time we got shown the old ’70s British horror anthology flick Vault of Horror in school. I remain scarred for fucking life. I haven’t seen it in years, but JESUS, there’s some fucked up shit in that movie.