"Bugs, Mr. Rico. Zillions of em!"

May 21, 2021 3:32 PM

Visualizing a cicada’s life A Washington Post multimedia visualization traces one Magicicada from birth to demise, using a variant on the Snowfall web storytelling/scrollytelling model. Be sure to turn the sound on. (Content warning: bugs!) (SLWP) (previously)
posted by doctornemo (12 comments total)

(Mods, I struck out trying to get a non-paywalled version. The Archive.org copy is just a top-level skin. Is there one I missed, and which we could add?)
posted by doctornemo at 3:33 PM on May 21, 2021

I didn't see the part where the males fly around in random patterns, eventually crashing into your forehead while making this agonizing deathshriek.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:37 PM on May 21, 2021 [5 favorites]

I also don't see the part where they leave their carapaces behind so grade schoolers can surreptitiously hang them on the backs of each other's shirts. Hey, it was Southern Illinois in the 70s, we were bored.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:44 PM on May 21, 2021 [9 favorites]

I like the layout and had no idea about the later phases of their transformation. Really cool, doctornemo!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:48 PM on May 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Oh oh oh the part where my 20 month old twins who usually just hand me backyard leaves now pluck them from our fences and hand me crispy crispy cicada carapaces. I do not scream because at least they are not gooey and I don't want to give them a weird bug complex. But, reader, confidentiality, EW!
posted by atomicstone at 5:18 PM on May 21, 2021 [6 favorites]

I'M FROM BUENOS AIRES, AND I SAY KILL 'EM ALL!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:08 PM on May 21, 2021 [11 favorites]

Loved the 'Starship Troopers' reference but for a brief second I thought it was referencing one of the segments in 'Creepshow' (Romero, 1982): 'They're Creeping Up on You!,' specifically this line:

Good evening there, Mr. Pratt. Got bugs again, huh, Mr. Pratt?

Brilliant little sketch. And timely now too!
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 7:41 PM on May 21, 2021 [3 favorites]

Bradford Dillman's Dr. Parminter rattles the ice in his glass, motioning for another round. He leans into your tape recorder's microphone:
"But what they don't tell you about, with their fancy slideshows, is the part where the [madagascar hissing cockroaches] start setting fires. Y'say you like storytelling, I got a story for ya."
posted by bartleby at 8:36 PM on May 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Good evening there, Mr. Pratt. Got bugs again, huh, Mr. Pratt?

Creepiest part of that bit, which I can still quote 40 years later....

What's the matter, Mr. Pratt? Cat got your tongue?

(you do not want to know the answer to that question)
posted by lon_star at 6:12 AM on May 22, 2021 [2 favorites]

On Firefox I saw a cicada gently rocking back and forth.
Cool.
posted by tigrrrlily at 12:50 PM on May 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

That's really neat!
posted by brundlefly at 11:00 AM on May 23, 2021 [1 favorite]

One of our local photographers is having fun with those cicadas.
posted by gudrun at 6:30 AM on May 25, 2021