(no subject)

[somecallmechewy]

I went to see the bodyworlds exhibition in Manchester today, the one where that dude cuts cadavers up and arranges them in interesting and sometimes informative ways then showcases them to the world. It was interesting. I expected to have a deep sense of spirituality, about lives been and gone and some sort of  meaningful experience, as in when you walk through a sacred building, but I felt none of that. They had all been alive at some point yes, but what is on show there is not life. Just lots of empty husks. You could really tell that something had departed from the bodies. Was incredibly strange. It heightened the idea that the body is a sort of incredibly complex vehicle within which the mind sits and controls. Especially when you see the nerves spread like wires snaking their way through the limbs. It's very easy to see how excited scientists must have been when we first began meddling with electricity and cabling as they linked what they were seeing with the body. I was also surprised at quite HOW artistic some of the displays actually were. There was one some 3 meters long which was basically a man who has been sliced into 20 or so thick slabs and then frozen in the plastic coating and the bits then suspended one after the other from the ceiling. A bit like looking at a sliced up body under strobe. Another was a man posed as an athlete and, after skinning the subject, he had removed the actual skeleton and posed it running, then took the musculature and posed that also running in front of it, and the skeleton was passing a baton to it's own muscles which were being held up by nothing but the embalming. The whole effect was very, very bizarre. Was nice to see the brain in all it's glory as well. I'm always surprised at how small an actual brain is outside of textbooks. Oh and there was a gorilla there that reminded me of Matt. There was as well an interesting room full of fetuses from each week of pregnancy. Without wanting to cause another heated discussion on here they do look remarkably human from very young on. Still doesn't change my viewpoint on the whole pro-choice/pro-life debate but it was interesting from a simple fascination aspect.

Does anyone still actually read LJ these days? Someone should post something about anything so that I feel less alone. Please.