Ritual by Signe Vilstrup for Treats! magazine Issue #3 / Spring 2012
god bless the art book
god bless the banana hammock
Death by decapitation has been assumed to be instant and painless throughout most of history (the guillotine was designed as a humane execution method, the fact that it looked freakin’ cool was just a bonus) but there’s much evidence that your brain remains aware anywhere from several seconds to a minute after your head gets lopped off. One of the earliest and best-known proofs of this came from a Dr. Beaurieux, who conducted an experiment on a French murderer named Languille. After he was guillotined, Languille’s eyes and mouth continued to move for five to six seconds, at which point he appeared to pass on. But then when Beaurieux shouted the subject’s name, Languille’s eyes popped open. In Beaurieux’s own words: “Languille’s eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine, the pupils focusing themselves,” and the good doctor continued to get similar results for up to 30 seconds.
Pretty chilling stuff, so let’s leave you on a lighter note. In Africa, there have been certain tribes who will tie your head to a springy sapling before chopping it off, so that your head is then catapulted into the distance after the final blow. Thus your last few moments of awareness are of your head sailing breezily through the air.
This animation is absolutely glorious. Just take a moment to appreciate that this was all done by somebody’s hand; that they slaved over this, and this was the result of a human, not a computer. It’s completely perfect.
are we not gonna talk about the fact that the reflection is Ariel and Prince Eric?
Holy shit
wait… but Sleeping Beauty came out in 1959, and The Little Mermaid came out in 1989…. that’s a 30 year foreshadow….
Disney you clever bastards.
(Source: upsidedowndominos)
