Considering the pig, a single-minded bestiary.
The Expositor; or Many Mysteries Unravelled by Wm F. Pinchbeck was one of the first works on magic published in the United States. Published in 1805, it was the first book length expose of conjuring tricks written by a professional magician. It provided readers with explanations and printed instructions for the creation and performance of many marvels including how to create a Learned Pig.
Here is a favorite scene – Den of Pigs – from the film Mail Order Wife (2004). This is a darkly comic mockumentary film about a documentarian who arranges to fund the East Asian mail-order bride of a NYC doorman in exchange for the right to film the experience. The documentarian gets a bit too involved with his subjects and a tragi-comic love triangle develops.
The moon’s wordless cycles are explanations – a trundle of narrative, probability and admonition. By its cycles we plan the best days to castrate farm animals, leave an infant at the monastery door or when to plant and sow.
Here is JD Ruse and the Little Big Band recorded live at the Corner Room with special guests, The Three Little Pigs. The quartet are performing John Donoghue’s song “Whoopee in the Cushion” about one of life’s nagging mysteries: Where does fun come from?
The Sow’s Purse Occasional Video Series will try to root up, save and present overlooked and ambiguously promoted videos that concern pigs. Porkopolis will fetch the old and new, fat and lean and feature them here for another look.