me 30/04/2003
Colossal squid caught in Antarctic waters

The 330-pound, 16-foot specimen was caught in the Ross Sea, said Steve O'Shea, a research fellow with the Auckland University of Technology. He said the squid was a young female; adults are much bigger. All we know is that it can move through the water ... to a depth of 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) and it is an extremely active and extremely aggressive killer," O'Shea said.
It differs from the giant squid "by having enormous hooks arming the tentacles and the arms," he said.
Here is some proof.

A friend told me about this, but I had known it all along.
I remember devouring Irwin Allen's 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' when I still couldn't read subtitles and asking my mother every 10 seconds what they were saying while she was trying to iron on an early saturday evening.
And so, from my grandmother's bedroom on the fifth floor of an appartment building, I learnt all about mummies, werewolves, mermaids and an occasional giant octopus.
This was far better than Star Trek ever would become, a true cutting edge sci-fi series, as you may gather from these authentic plot summaries:

``While transporting an influential senator, the crew of the Seaview seems to be losing touch with reality.
``A kidnapped American scientist is transformed into a mannequin, to be transported to and revived in a foreign country.
``An experimental atmosphere in the diving bell causes Crane to become a man-beast.
``Nelson must contend with both a master of disguise and the impending collision of the earth and the moon.
``Nelson is exposed to high levels of radiation, which once again turn him into a werewolf.
``Crane sees a mermaid, follows and captures her, and brings her aboard the Seaview.
``The Seaview is endangered by a mind-controlled gorilla.

No kidding, the gigantic submarine was very neat, with a smaller flying satellite and a diving bell.

The men may look like action man puppets now, but I loved the diving equipment -no full dress pics available-.

And then there were the creatures that came out of the sea.

So now you all know where I got the strange idea to get wet in a plastic body suit,
just looking for some monsters to play with and waiting for that one moment where
``Crane sees a mermaid, follows and captures her, and brings her aboard the Seaview.

I met one once...
It took me some time to recover,
but that's not enough to keep me from wanting to hear their call.

By the way, in the pursuit of my early erotic visions, I am not a fanatic.
Mermaids don't have to be big bosomed brunettes with long legs and a flower in their hair.