Fiendish Curiosities
www.myspace.com/fiendishcuriositiesFiendish Curiosities
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Fiendish Curiosities!Fiendish Curiosities was founded in 2003 by the Prof. Burnaby Q. Orbax, aka the Great Orbax, in an attempt to combine the greatest passions in his life: sideshow, science, and monsters. Having studied as a professional physicist since 1996, and been a sideshow performer since 1998, Fiendish Curiosities was the unnatural evolution of his loves.
From our humble beginnings in a one bedroom apartment, we now occupy a 1200 square foot studio space in Guelph Ontario Canada where we produce leading edge sideshow gaffs and abnormalities for exhibit in modern day odditoriums, touring grimoire's, or nestled comfortably in one's own bizarre cabinet of genetic anomolies.
Our pieces are on display in private and public collections the world over, including Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland, and Ireland. Many of our pieces have travelled across Canada as part of the Great Orbax Sideshow, and have been showcased on television and in print.
Using a combination of current special effects techniques, latex casting and molding, sculpture and modern taxidermy, we create one of a kind works of custom art for the discerning collector. We strive to maintain a scientific approach to our pieces. We attempt to incorporate the sciences of zoology, anatomy, and teratology while devising our curiosities so that in many case, while not cute and cuddly, they do appear as they would had they been the result of natural mutation and adaptation.
Be you a collector or showman, within these pages are reproductions of all types to suit every need, mounted and ready for display. Custom pieces are possible and preferred! Feel free to contact us with your wildest dreams or stangest nightmares, and we'll see what we can do!
.. I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
Comments
Mar 1 2009 9:36 PM
Feb 24 2009 7:25 AM
Cheers,
Greg.
Jan 18 2009 11:53 AM
Nov 29 2008 11:39 AM
Jul 9 2008 12:46 PM
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. The tree is small and deciduous, reaching 5 to 12 m tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately arranged simple ovals 5 to 12 cm long and 3–6 cm broad on a 2–5 cm petiole with an acute tip, serrated margin and a slightly downy underside. Flowers are produced in spring simultaneous with the budding of the leaves. The flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five petaled, 2.5–3.5 cm in diameter. The fruit matures in autumn, and is typically 5–9 cm diameter. The centre of the fruit contains five carpels arranged in a five-point star, each carpel containing one to three seeds.
The tree originated from Asia, where its wild ancestor is still found today. Though the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis is not identified, popular Christian tradition has held that it was an apple that Eve coaxed Adam to share with her. As a result, in the story of Adam and Eve the apple became a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man into sin, and sin itself. This may also have influenced the apple becoming interpreted as the biblical "forbidden fruit".
Apr 19 2008 3:38 PM
Mar 5 2008 1:41 AM
Feb 26 2008 12:03 AM
Mother Lotus
Feb 24 2008 2:40 PM
Cheers,
Greg.
Jan 27 2008 4:06 PM
A cupcake or fairy cake is a small cake designed to serve one person, usually made in a small paper cup container. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as sprinkles, are defining characteristics of modern cupcakes. A simple cupcake uses the same ingredients as most other standard cakes - incorporating butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. The name "cup" cakes or "measure" cakes is believed to have developed because of the use of the practice of measuring the ingredients using a standard-sized cup instead of the previous practice of weighing the ingredients. It is also possible that cupcakes came into being simply as smaller versions of the Victoria sponge cake, as the mixture required is exactly the same.
Sweets for the Sweet!
Dec 20 2007 1:40 PM
The Winter Solstice, also known as Midwinter, occurs around December 21 or 22 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere. It occurs on the shortest day or longest night of the year, often said to mark the beginning of a hemisphere's astronomical winter. The word solstice derives from Latin, Winter Solstice meaning Sun set still in winter. Worldwide, interpretation of the event varies from culture to culture, but most hold a recognition of rebirth, involving festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations. Many cultures celebrate or celebrated a holiday near the winter solstice.
Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. Yule logs were lit to honor Thor, the god of thunder, Feasting would continue until the log burned out, which could take as many as twelve days. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan celebrations had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul.
Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Christmas festivities often combine the commemoration of Jesus' birth with various secular customs, many of which have been influenced by earlier winter festivals, such as discussed above. The date of the celebration is traditional but it is not considered to be his actual date of birth. The word "Christmas" is a contraction of two words "Christ's mass" and is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.
Dec 6 2007 5:06 AM
In the Western Christian tradition, the Devil has entered popular folklore, particularly in his role as a trickster figure. As such, he is found as a character in a wide number of traditional folktales and legends from Ireland, Newfoundland, Italy and the United Kingdom, where he often attempts to trick or outwit other characters. In some of these tales, the Devil is portrayed as more of a folk villain than as the personification of evil.Christian tradition has frequently identified pagan religions and witchcraft with the influence of Satan. In fact few neopagan traditions recognize Satan or the Devil per se. However, many neopagan groups worship some sort of Horned God, for example as a consort of the Great Goddess in Witchcraft.
Nov 9 2007 5:48 PM
Nov 9 2007 1:50 PM
Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress. Although the evidence for ghosts is largely anecdotal, the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread and persistent.
~Happy Haunting~
Oct 25 2007 12:29 PM
Halloween, or Hallowe'en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, Halloween festivals, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses" and viewing horror films. Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is now celebrated in several parts of the western world, most commonly in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom.
The modern holiday of Halloween has its origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain (pronounced /,,sˠaunʲ/ from the Old Irish samain). The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is regarded as 'The Celtic New Year'.
On Halloween night in present-day, adults and children dress up as creatures from the underworld (e.g., ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches and goblins). Halloween was perceived as the night during which the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred so spirits of the dead and inhabitants from the underworld were able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when venturing outdoors to blend in, and this is where dressing in such a manner for Halloween comes from.
The houses are frequently adorned with pumpkins or turnips carved into scary faces; lights or candles are placed inside the carvings to provide an eerie effect.
Happy Halloween my Friend!
Oct 9 2007 12:18 PM
A witch (from Old English masculine wicca, feminine wicce, see Witch (etymology)) is a practitioner of witchcraft. The Online Etymology Dictionary states a "possible connection to Gothic weihs "holy" and Ger. weihan "consecrate," and writes, "the priests of a suppressed religion naturally become magicians to its successors or opponents."Witchcraft still exists in a number of belief systems, and indeed there are many today who self-identify with the term "witch".
Witches are traditionally stereotyped as being female, however their male equivalents were also often referred to as witches .
Probably the most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, a "spell" being the word used to signify the means employed to accomplish a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of runes or sigils on an object to give it magical powers, by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image (poppet) of a person to effect him or her magically, by the recitation of incantations, by the performance of physical rituals, by the employment of magical herbs as amulets or potions, by gazing at mirrors, swords or other specula (scrying) for purposes of divination, and by many others means.
Have a Bewitching Evening,~Wendy~
Sep 7 2007 9:24 AM
Sep 3 2007 3:20 AM
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820. With Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the earliest American fiction still read today.The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, New York, in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a priggish schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of eighteen-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, daughter of a wealthy farmer. As Crane leaves a party at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who lost his head during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head." ."The denouement of the fictional tale is set at the bridge in the real location of the Old Dutch Burying Ground in Sleepy Hollow. The characters of Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel may have been based on local residents known to the author. Sleepy Hollow (1999) is an historical horror film directed by Tim Burton, interpreting the legend of The Headless Horseman and based loosely around the Washington Irving story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The film was written by Andrew Kevin Walker and retooled by Tom Stoppard. It starred Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, and was scored by Tim Burton stalwart, Danny Elfman.Portions of the film's opening (featuring a dialogue-free Martin Landau cameo) were actually shot in New York State, not far from the actual town of Sleepy Hollow.~H
Aug 23 2007 4:48 AM
Ventriloquism is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere. The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing.The Greeks called this gastromancy and it was often closely aligned with aspects of necromancy in that it was used to make it seem that the spirits of the dead had returned to pass on information retrieved from beyond the grave. In the Middle Ages it was thought to be similar to witchcraft. As spiritualism led to stage magic and escapology so ventriloquism became more of a performance art as, starting around the 16th century, it shed its mystical trappings.
The most familiar type of ventriloquist today is a nightclub performer sitting on a stool with a wooden dummy on his lap. In the days of Vaudeville in the late 19th century, the vaudeville acts did not concentrate on humor as much as on demonstrating the ventriloquist's ability to deceive the audience and his skill in switching voices. For this reason, many of the performers used multiple figures, switching quickly from one voice to another. One difficulty ventriloquists face is that all the sounds they make must be made with lips slightly separated. For the bilabial sounds /b/, /p/, and /m/, the only choice is to replace them with others. The dental sounds /v/, /t/, /d/, and /n/ can replace them successfully enough that, if spoken quickly, it is difficult to notice a difference.
Thanks for your friendship!~Wendy~
Aug 15 2007 3:43 AM
Aug 14 2007 1:01 PM
A nursery rhyme is a traditional song or poem taught to young children, originally in the nursery. Learning such verse assists in the development of vocabulary, and several examples deal with rudimentary counting skills. It also encourages children to enjoy music.
Many cultures feature children's songs and verses that are passed down by oral tradition from one generation to the next. In the English language, the term "nursery rhyme" generally refers to those of European origin, and the best known examples are English and originated in or since the 17th century. Some nursery rhymes, however, are substantially older. "Sing a Song of Sixpence" exists in written records as far back as the Middle Ages.
Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Now, wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house, counting out his money. The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes, When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!
Aug 9 2007 4:06 AM
The words to the Ring around the rosy children's ring game have their origin in English history . The historical period dates back to the Great Plague of London in 1665 (bubonic plague) or even before when the first outbreak of the Plague hit England in the 1300's. The symptoms of the plague included a rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin (Ring around the rosy). Pockets and pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The term "Ashes Ashes" refers to the cremation of the dead bodies!
Aug 6 2007 12:23 PM
A brothel, also known as a bordello or whorehouse, is an establishment specifically dedicated to prostitution, providing the prostitutes a place to meet and to have sex with the clients. In some places, licensed brothels are legal , and in many countries, places such as massage parlors are allowed to function as brothels, with varying degrees of regulation and repression. Depending on zoning, brothels may be confined to special red-light districts or 'tolerance zones'.
The word brothel is from Middle English, and stems from 'brothen', the past participle of 'brethen', meaning 'to waste away' or 'to go to ruin', showing the low regard brothels and prostitution have been held in throughout much of history.
Other (older) names for brothel are 'cathouse', 'bawdyhouse', 'house of ill repute', 'house of prostitution', 'knocking shop', 'pleasure house' or 'sporting house'.
Brothels have been known for most of recorded history. Early incidences include temple prostitution in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. By the time of the ancient Grecian and Roman civilizations, brothels were established and sometimes licensed institutions, with the latter first being recorded in Athens in 594 BC.
This first official brothel was soon followed by many others, and also influenced the creation of special schools in which various classes of prostitutes (from slavegirls to future courtesans) were trained for their profession.
Jul 30 2007 1:27 PM
The Ostrich (Struthio camelus) is a flightless bird native to Africa. It is the only living species of its family, Struthionidae, and its genus, Struthio. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at speeds of about 65 km/h (40 mph), the top landspeed of any bird.
~Hello my friend! I hope your Summer is filled with odd fun and many pleasures, as well as good fortune! Thanks so much for your friendship. Please stop by again soon won't you? Have a most excellent week!~
Jul 22 2007 6:28 PM