Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
Urged by a reader and previous buzz, I finally managed to watch the Calamari Wrestler. The movie is an over-the-top satire of Rocky with a Star Wars twist finish. Fortunately it is much better than the festering heap of movie, Rocky XXXIV. The plot is the tale of a wrestler and son of a geisha, Kan-Ichi Iwata, reincarnated as a squid who fights for more than a wrestling title.
The Calamari Wrestler is from the hills of Pakistan and may be related to the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Kan-Ichi easily defeats his first opponent due to the fact "joint locks don't work on an invertebrate, they're too slippery" and because he is "incapable of fighting to lose." There is the antagonist who claims, "You're no hero! You're just an ugly, disgusting, giant squid!" and urges him to take a dive in match. "By seeing a mysterious creature defeated, anxiety will turn into hope." A minor subplot involves Kan-Ichi's girlfriend overcoming her fear of loving a squid and the Calamari Wrestler waking in a cold sweat from dream about her. Overall, I found the movie hilarious although the ending had me torn who to cheer for. In the words of one of the characters, "I'm sure it will be a tasty fight." You can also read PZ Meyer's review.
Comments
That sounds like quite a movie. Perhaps you need to start a deep sea movie guide ;-) I recommend Devil Fish (although you might find the Mystery Science Theater Version more fun).
Posted by: chris
| December 29, 2006 2:31 PM
Calimari Wrestler is genius!!! ending was amazing
Posted by: Derrick | December 30, 2006 4:10 PM
It's a preconception by mediocre minds that squids can only live in water.
Posted by: Mustafa Mond, FCD | January 2, 2007 9:20 AM
Calamari Wrestler was much better than Tentacles.
Posted by: Mustafa Mond, FCD | January 3, 2007 7:11 AM