The Dancing Plant

March 12, 2003 6:38 PM

The Dancing Plant -- Darwin was obsessed by it, although even he never trained his weedy Asian shrub to twitch its leaves to the sound of music. But in a small town in northern Thailand ... [Some people may experience a time-delay ad]
posted by titboy (13 comments total)

"Excuse me, are you the singing bush?" [wav]
posted by kirkaracha at 6:43 PM on March 12, 2003

I'm sorry, I usually ignore posts I don't like, but this is personal. Not with "titboy,"but with Salon. I've been reading Salon for years (and paying for it, these days) and this is the single worst article I can recall reading. I read the whole thing, too - I was at lunch, reading printouts, and running out of good shit to read - and was totally bored. What was the fucking point?
posted by kozad at 7:48 PM on March 12, 2003

I thought it was awesome. thanks, titboy!
posted by mcsweetie at 8:37 PM on March 12, 2003

kozad must have read a different article from the one i read.

great link, titboy.
posted by donkeyschlong at 9:16 PM on March 12, 2003

I hear you, kozad. All it was was a story about a guy obsessed – really obsessed – with a twitching plant that Darwin also liked. What was the fucking point?

And titboy: A story about a guy obsessed – really obsessed – with a twitching plant that Darwin also liked? That was pretty awesome, dude.

Time for more tea.
posted by BirdD0g at 9:18 PM on March 12, 2003

Right on kozad. Gee, I can't understand why Salon is going bankrupt. Next post please.
posted by stormy at 9:24 PM on March 12, 2003

I agree, the story is really about the guys obsession, not the plant. Waste of a read.
posted by HTuttle at 9:32 PM on March 12, 2003

This plant, it dances?!?!

*ducks*
posted by elphTeq at 9:34 PM on March 12, 2003

It dances, says Kampermpool defensively. "According to our experiments," he says, "when we are using electronics it doesn't work well. It likes humans, it likes musical instruments, but they have to be played by humans, my friend. If you sing a song composed by the king, it's dancing better."

Plant, prepare to GET DOWN!

A well I bless my soul
What's wrong with me?
I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree
My friends say I'm actin' wild as a bug
I'm in love
I'm all shook up
Mm mm mm, mm, yay, yay, yay
posted by Slithy_Tove at 9:54 PM on March 12, 2003

Is this story just trying to capitalize off of the recent success of Adaptation?
posted by dgaicun at 11:25 PM on March 12, 2003

dgaicun- That thought occurred to me while reading it as well. I kept waiting for the story to get better or more interesting towards the end of the article, but it just kind of seemed to end up where it started, with a whimsical description of an old, obsessed man in Thailand.
posted by lpqboy at 1:47 AM on March 13, 2003

Bad post?

Pshummph!

Bad article?

Pshummph!

Salon is bad?

Pshummph!
posted by titboy at 5:42 AM on March 13, 2003

Right on titboy - some of us like plants, like natural history, and enjoy reading about the personalities and egos that get entwined in the study of our surroundings.

If you don't like it, don't fucking read it. I don't get the hostility lately. I came to Meta for the diversity of posts, not to read the same bullshit all the time.
posted by tr33hggr at 6:34 AM on March 13, 2003