British Horror: The Asphyx (1972)

Currently On: House Of Usher (1960)

Heaven (1987)

This is truly one of the most strange and screwy films I have ever seen...and to think it was made by Diane Keaton!!  It really deals more with death and what people have to say about "heaven" as a concept.  I've been waiting for an opportunity to view this on a Friday Fright Night again, which I haven't done since 2006. That day turned into the day when I found out a cousin of mine had died in an early morning plane crash...in Pat Robertson's private Lear Jet. I've been feeling the need to confront it ever since.  The reason it's here today is because it has a brief and really amusingly poignant appearance in full danza regalia of Maestro Lazaro Arvizu of Xipe Totec Danza Azteca (when he still had a moustache!).  Asked if he believes in Heaven, he simply answers "no."  Quite the thing given in the original Mexican religion had 13 Heavens and 9 Hells.  Trick question perhaps, he was asked about "heaven"--maybe Keaton should have said "heavens"....  He pops up again in a small flash in "Hell" section of the film.

Weird Christmas Traditions! The Christmas Spider

OK, I sort of get this.  Me being the mixed blooded freak that I am and coming from a few Native American tribes in the southeast, we have a tradition about the spider:  that spider brought fire.  But I honestly have never heard of finding the spider or the web on a Christmas tree would bring the finder good luck in the coming year.  Good luck pickle (!), I've heard of that...it's a German thing (another part my long list of ancestral ethnicities).  This one is Ukrainian.

Weird Shark #10: Large Toothed Cookiecutter Shark

I've saved the best for last.  Although I written about these weird little dudes before, this is the first time that I am writing about them as part of the fish population in the Gulf Of Mexico.  The are a member of the order of dogfish sharks, but from their utterly other-worldly appearance, you''d never know it!  The are just plain strange and alien in just about every way.  I mean, never mind those teeth(!)...they are one of only a handful of sharks that emit Photophores on their bellies; they also possess extremely large forward facing eyes and it has recently been confirmed that they can see in binocular vision--perfect for extremely low light conditions, as it is thought that this fish migrates from between 200 ft. of water to depth more than 4 miles down.  Closer to the surface that have been known to bite other fish, marine mammals, even other sharks (see photo of from National Geographic below), and in one confirmed case, a human being.  Their bites are perfectly circular in nature.  This is one shark that has for the time being been labeled on Least Concern in conservation status.  See more at Wikipedia.

Great White with a Cookiecutter bite.

Weird Shark # 9: Sand Tigers AKA Ragged Tooth Sharks

As commonly referred to as a Ragged Tooth Shark as by it's proper name Sand Tiger, this shark is weird in part because of it's appearance.  My lord does it look menacing, and it is...to other sharks like dogfish, that is.  To humans, it's rarely a menace at all.  It is a slow moving creature, very docile and a favorite of large aquariums the world over, simply because it's easy on humans caring for them and other aquarium mates that it swims with on display.  It's appearance though, has made it a target of human fear, and they are often killed just for the sake of a misguided sense of safety.  This is a true tragedy, since these sharks have one of the lowest birth rates amongst all shallow water large fish out there.  Which brings me to why they are truly weird!  Female Sand Tigers have two uteruses--called twin unterine horns, so you would think there would be no birth problem, as most sharks who give birth to live pups (some still lay eggs) have the equivalent of a little of puppies or kittens.  Sand Tigers, on the other hand, always only have twins.  Why?  Because the dominate unborn shark of each uterus survives prenatal growing by consuming it's womb mates.  It's one of the world's strangest cases of cannibalism.  National Geographic photo below shows the teeth of two animals.

Weird Shark # 8: Bull Shark

These sharks look even more "normal" in shark terms, than do Nurse Sharks, but they can do one thing very well that most other sharks cannot:  they can survive (probably) indefinitely in freshwater.  This makes them the largest in terms of girth and teeth sharks that can do this.  Many very large Sawfish, some reaching 20 ft., can also do this, but they are rare and not nearly as deadly.  Glyphis, or so called River Sharks, live almost entirely in brackish and freshwater environments, and they are amongst the rarest wildlife on the planet and relatively small animals.  Bull sharks are, of course, found abundantly in salt water the world over; but this shark, the one that I really grew up with, is super abundant in Florida waters, and that includes it's river systems.  Additionally they have differential feeding habits--they are mostly loners, but can "school" and do.  Finally male bull sharks have the highest testosterone levels of any animal on the planet--so that's weird too.

Weird Shark #7: The Nurse Shark

Nurse sharks aren't here because they look particularly funny looking, although they are kinda funny looking--they have very cat like eyes.  It's here primarily because is so dang smart.  While evidence is mounting that most sharks are a heck of a more brainy than they have ever been given credit for, Nurse Sharks demonstrate this in the wild.  A dives, especially those that involve feeding by divers, they've demonstrated an ability to think things through enough to gain advantages over other types of sharks being fed--usually Caribbean Reef Sharks.  In one documentary on the Discovery channel, this was shown to particularly true of a male nurse shark who had worked out how to break into the bait box, he was the only nurse shark on the scene and the divers running the dive knew him--and he was so damn sly about it!  Another interesting fact about them, is that they like the "lay around"--exploding the idea that all sharks must move forward or die (actually a lot of sharks lay about on ocean floors, even bury themselves for ambush).  Contrary to popular belief Nurse Sharks are not entirely harmless to humans--so have a care around them please!

Above video is a bit hard to see, but it's clear this shark is thinking things through, not merely rams the bait sack.  The below video was actually shot in Florida.

Weird Shark #6: The Bonnethead

One of the strangest looking fish in Florida water, it is also the smallest of the Hammerheads sharks.  So, we both the largest and smallest of the group and they equally fun to watch!  They are concentrated in the Florida coastal waters and often end up on the business end of surf and boat rod fishing lines.  They are also found in abundance down to the coasts of south America and on Pacific coasts up through California in abundance.

Weird Shark # 5: Blotched Catshark

Here because it was totally unknown until 1966, though it is concentrated in Floridian waters....and well, it has those eyes!!  A lot of catsharks look very eel like, but this one favors an angel shard, albeit it with head lights!  The fact that they were unknown until the 1960's (all species of catshark in Florida water were basically discovered in the 20th century), and that all species of catshark (rarely) caught in the waters they are so native to have been adolescents, leads the scientific community to surmise that as adults they live in very, very deep water.  The are opportunistic feeders, so have eyes, where you can see in the dark certainly helps!

Weird Shark #4: Basking Shark

Basking sharks are rarely seen in Florida waters, but they are there in greater in greater numbers due to protection.  The above short film documents this, but to truly appreciate the shark, check out the video below shot of off the Celtic coast in England:  Cornwall.  As the photo from a Discovery Channel documentary shows, when these harmless sharks have their massive jaws shut, they just look like super goofy, big ass fish.  However, it's when they begin to feed, that their true "wierdness" begins to shine.  They are the largest member of the mackerel shark family, and one of only three filter feeding sharks known to exist (along with the Whale Shark--largest fish on the planet and the little understood Megamouth, only discovered in late 1976).  They can be found in all waters throughout the world, except fully tropical ones.  Due to their slow nature, they are another popular target for shark finning; and though they are truly pelagic (world wandering) sharks, populations in some parts of the world are becoming extinct.  See and read more at Wikipedia.

Weird Sharks #3: Saw Fish AKA Sawshark

This photo from Wikipedia clearly show the shark like body with large saw extending like a big nose....

One of the weirdest and most endangered sharks in Florida waters, they nonetheless have a pretty wide distribution throughout most of FLA's coast line.  They have mouth that is very similar to the Hammerhead's and tend to feed on crusteceans and such.  The large studded saw in actually referred to as a "rostrum" scientifically.  Not to be confused with the Bahamas Sawshark which lives in much deeper water and is sometimes found off the Atlantic or Gold Coast of Florida.  All of these species are critically endangered, and tagging efforts have begun over the last few years.  Unfortunately, some people who caught these strange creatures will sometime cut the saw off, luckily for the animals, they heal quickly, like all sharks, and can survive without the saw, but it cuts their diet in half and leaves them completely defenseless.  The same cannot be said of shark finning, when the animals, sans fins are thrown back into the ocean alive, to drown.  Here is a link to the general Sawfish page on Wikipedia.  Bottom two photos from elasmoworld.org

Tagging Sawfish (from Wikipedia)