Paul the Octopus

[Nancy]

Paul the Octopus's fame is growing by the hour. He has a Wikipedia article about him, and a couple of Facebook pages. He's received death threats because of his prediction that Germany would lose the last match (they did), and some people seem to feel that Paul CAUSED the Germans to lose!

A group of Spanish businessmen have offered $38,000 to buy him (not to eat).

More information about Paul is coming out, but much is still conflicting. He is now reported to be born in 2008, which is more reasonable than the 2006 we originally saw. He is a common octopus, an Octopus vulgaris. His name comes from a poem in German about an octopus named Paul.

In German he is known as Oktopus Paul, Paul Oktopus, and is sometimes referred to as a Kraken or a Tintenfisch.

The Sea Life Center where he lives has rejected efforts by Peta to have him released, saying the Paul has lived his whole life in an aquarium.

I think it's good that an octopus is in the news, and so favorably, too. What do you think?

Nancy

[OB]

All depends on tomorrow night, until such time, I will refrain from commenting

[Fujisawas Sake]

¡Goooooooal! ¡VIVA EL PULPO PAUL! ¡Los cefalópodos prevalecen!

[Darth Kraken]

I hope he stays safe regardless of the outcome of the Cup.

[DWhatley]

I agree Nancy, this is good ceph press, regardless of how silly.

[djkaty]

It was Paul that sparked my interest in octopuses. I also only bet against him once so he netted me a tidy profit at my bookies to boot :D

[DWhatley]

Don't expect it to pick lottery numbers for your

[djkaty]

But but... I was thinking of putting 49 boxes into his tank numbered 1-49 each Saturday at about 7pm :P

[DWhatley]

No, you would have to use 7 a day or go to a multi-week draw and spread it out over a month. We are not sure how well they do choosing between more than 2

Oh, and how much of your winnings got spent on the octo tank?

[djkaty]

Haha, actually I have just withdrawn the winnings and I'm planning to use them on exactly that :D Quite ironic eh?

[GPO87]

I just saw that:
a) he now has had a movie made about him, set to be released in august. and
b) he has an agent: apparently he is the spokesoctopus for a "save the seaturtles" organization set in greece!
Talk about an over night celebrity... and I couldn't think of a species more deserving! ;)

[GPO87]

also... someone wrote a song about him!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7srKP9kakQQ

[DWhatley]

Arms, octopuses have ARMS

"You pick a winner when you eat your dinner" is catch though

[GPO87]

I personally liked "your tentacles are magical!" :D

[djkaty]

Too bad the movie is called "The Murder of Paul The Octopus" :P

http://blog.taragana.com/e/2010/07/2...s-soon-152128/

I also found this which was quite amusing:

www.paulpredicts.com

[Nancy]

The movie was being called Kill Paul Octopus - I didn't get the impression he was killed in the film.
I wonder how the octopus actor does playing Paul?

Nancy

[djkaty]

Saw this in the news today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...opus-Paul.html

[GPO87]

hmm, i don't really think the article did a good job of explaining his point of view... as it did not clarify how Paul the Octopus is "everything that's wrong with the western world"... maybe I just need to listen to his whole speech?

[djkaty]

I read it on the Norwegian news so I had to search for an English version to post here. They basically said more or less the same thing though, wasn't very clear, something about western decadence and us believing in superstitious nonsense, but, don't quote me on that. To be honest though I can almost sympathise, it is amazing what some people believe.

[DWhatley]

it is amazing what some people believe.

... but that is not just a western culture observation.