Big Medicine

[perzephone]

Watched a little bit of Discovery's Planet Earth tonight. Rob's irritated with how the episodes skip around, first one continent, then another. I tried to explain the whole 'biome' thing to him & how biomes aren't relegated to just one continent, they stretch across the globe. He doesn't care, it just annoys him that they talk about North America for 4 minutes & then, bam, they're in the Himalayas.

Anyway... we were watching pikas & birds in the Himalayan mountains... and this animal seemed to just pop up out of the ground. We both got chills, hair standing on end, that feeling like someone just sent a low grade electrical current through the couch. It was a Tibetan fox, caught on film for the very first time. It's a weird looking fox, and even Sigourney Weaver mentioned, "It's a bizarre looking fox, with thick fur for the cold weather. But why the square head?" When it layed down in the process of stalking a pika the coloring and square head made perfect sense - it looked like the rocks and stones of its surroundings. But the thing is this:

It's not just a fox. It didn't really look like anything that should be on film in the first place. Even looking at the one lone still-frame photo from the mini-series has that same electrifying effect. It... shimmers. I don't know how else to explain it. It doesn't want to be seen, or looked at, and it didn't want to be on film. Considering recent conversations, I think if someone had this as a totem or a clan totem, either everyone would know it immediately - or no one would ever know. It looks like there's something else looking out from its eyes, like it's wearing a spirit mask. To be truthful, I wouldn't want this animal anywhere in my spiritual pantheon. It's got that look like challenge is too mild a word for the lessons it has to teach.

All I have to say is, that fox has big medicine.



(Edited for content: Originally, I just posted the picture in my post... and then I decided to put it behind a cut because... I don't want that thing looking at me every time I open my lj)

Comments

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Do you know what I find really really really sad? Is that the Planet Earth series is not a Discovery series, but actually a BBC series narrated by the wonderful, amazing David Attenborough.

But because America somehow needs celebrities that don't know as much about the natural world, America is the only country that decided to re-narrate the entire thing.

Go hire out or buy the original David Attenborough version, it's much more knowledgeable. Though I believe even David Attenborough dryly said 'but why the square head?' Lol.

And yeah, the fox does have big medicine. *g*

I like how the series skips around, it's very complementary to David Attenborough's other series (as - indeed - it's meant to be), as others focus more on specific countries, and this one focuses on biomes, whereas other divisions focus on say creatures of the undergrowth / birds / mammals. His last series (so he says) will be on reptiles. Can't wait!

I bet American media will feel the need to re-narrate that too.

Oh god it's such a travesty. :(

Attenborough as Narrator

[perzephone.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I found the BBC version on amazon for a low, low price of just under $60 while Discovery's website is selling theirs for about $85. I might actually buy the Attenborough version, though.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Earth_%28TV_series%29

:)

[khalisfyre.livejournal.com]

SO THAT IS WHAT IT IS!! I havent been able to catch the series at all and I saw it on the commercial. I got the same damned weird feeling seeing. Even its picture makes shivers run up my back. It looks like its looking right through you...O_o

I like it though! ;D

[perzephone.livejournal.com]

It's almost like one of those skewed PhotoShopped pictures where someone has combined a human face & an animal face.

(I thought I would end up dreaming about it, but nope, just the normal weird-freaky dream crap, lol.)