Someone has finally thought of the children.

April 27, 2004 5:02 AM

The grays, the mantises, the snake-skins, and the hybrids are just some of the aliens drawn by children at Aliens and Children. To note: thought screen hats will successfully prevent abduction by the mantis-like aliens, the servants of the mantis-like aliens, the snake-skinned aliens, and the Meek-Moks.
posted by iconomy (24 comments total)

That's a pretty messed up place. Remind me not to go there ever again. On the plus side, however, now I know that it's velostat that I want, not tinfoil. Who knew that aliens could be stymied by a relatively simple, if it's even real, technology?
posted by ashbury at 6:05 AM on April 27, 2004

No abductee has ever been offered food or water by any alien.

How rude!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:26 AM on April 27, 2004

Maybe food and water is their kryptonite!
posted by ashbury at 6:36 AM on April 27, 2004

Dick Cheney's a reptilian in disguise.

Or merely in spirit.
posted by troutfishing at 6:47 AM on April 27, 2004

I don't think people take alien abductions seriously enough. The same thing happened with the income tax.
posted by ewkpates at 6:53 AM on April 27, 2004

My children will definitely be getting one of those hats immediately after birth. My child will be the most precious jewel in the world and the aliens are NOT getting him.

But seriously, shouldn't Child Protective Services get involved in something like this? It appears that the author of the site is planting big seeds of mental illness into his kid's head. Yeah, they have different last names, but that's either his kid or her parents are similarly afflicted.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:14 AM on April 27, 2004

iconomy! Great to see you posting to the blue again... but... this is some seriously depraved stuff. What's the relationship of the "principle artist" to the Web site author? When did she draw these? Under what conditions? According to what principles? Maybe there's a page on that, but I missed it.

Fascinating stuff, but now I feel like I need a shower. A velostat shower!
posted by soyjoy at 7:17 AM on April 27, 2004

iconomy! Great to see you posting to the blue again... but... this is some seriously depraved stuff.

I fail to see the contradiction.
posted by y2karl at 7:24 AM on April 27, 2004

meek mok meek mok me mokk mokk meek meee mok-mok-mok meek meek. mok meek? mok.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:35 AM on April 27, 2004

Mock.
posted by bwerdmuller at 7:36 AM on April 27, 2004

The Meek-Moks shall inherit the Earth.
posted by dfowler at 7:42 AM on April 27, 2004

Hmmm. I suspect this is a bit of of a web experiment kind of thing. Site creator Michael Menkin's father was Lawrence Menkin, writer and producer for "the first science fiction, space adventure program on television", Captain Video and His Video Rangers. There's an interview with Michael and his brother about their father here.
posted by taz at 7:48 AM on April 27, 2004

Won't somebody please stop thinking of the children?
posted by speedo at 8:03 AM on April 27, 2004

Munchausen's Syndrome by Alien.
posted by hob at 8:05 AM on April 27, 2004

That's a new twist to it.... I've heard of Munchausen's Syndrome by internet (think Kaycee)
posted by dabitch at 8:18 AM on April 27, 2004

You may be on to something, ashbury, since water was like kryptonite for the aliens who landed at Mel Gibson's place.
posted by emelenjr at 8:46 AM on April 27, 2004

I think Taz is right- and even if not, then somebody's still doing some evidence manufacturing. Children didn't draw a lot of those pictures. They're drawn to give an early-kindergarten feel to them with the scribbled lines of color, but most of the drawings feature forced perspective (not something kids understand until they're older,) the nares flares on the aliens are drawn with the same slightly askew (but very even) stroke, the eyes are all properly places and evenly-spaced, many of the drawings have "poses" (for example, the first drawing on the alien/human hybrid page, the alien is full-front, but the bybrid is 3/4s, with a properly placed 3/4th shoulder.) Many of these aliens have articulated hands, which is rare for early childhood drawings, as hands are very hard to draw (most kids skip them, or just scribble a ball at the end of the arm stick.)

Most importantly, and what made me notice it in the first place, is that the legs on many of the drawings, whether human or alien depiction, have "fashion sketch segmentation." When a leg is represented by a single line by a kid, it's just a stick line. When a leg is represented by a single line by an adult (especially one with some artistic talent,) theres a slight bend and curve stroke beneath the knee level to give them impression of a stylized thigh and calf. (See especially the red marker drawing on the Hybrid Babies page.)

Somebody put a lot of work into this site, but I'm pretty comfotable saying that somebody's goofy uncle sat down with a pen and paper and said, "Hey, niece, draw me some aliens! Look, I will draw some for you! This is funny, huh?"
posted by headspace at 8:49 AM on April 27, 2004

Headspace, you're onto something there. Note also that the labeling on the images is sometimes written in an adult hand and sometimes in a child-like hand, but the letterforms are consistent in both scripts.
posted by me3dia at 9:22 AM on April 27, 2004

most of the drawings feature forced perspective (not something kids understand until they're older,)

Not necessarily--my cousin suddenly started drawing with one-point linear perspective at age six or seven. Anecdotal, but it is possible for certain kids to grasp art principles very early. And I don't see the intentional stylization on the drawing you mentioned; to me it looks like it was drawn with an uncertain hand that had to start over a couple times.

I agree with you on much of the rest of the analysis, though. Besides, what paranoid parents would allow their young daughter's name and photograph to be posted?
posted by hippugeek at 9:29 AM on April 27, 2004

So: no more jokes about tinfoil hats on Metafilter, right? From now on it's velostat.
posted by kozad at 9:38 AM on April 27, 2004

The owner of that site, Michael Menkin, found a thread about his site on a bboard that the kids I went to uni with made, and responded. At least, we think it was him...
posted by danny the boy at 9:44 AM on April 27, 2004

but most of the drawings feature forced perspective (not something kids understand until they're older,)

While this may be true of most kids, it's obviously not true of those who have been adbucted by aliens. So there goes your whole argument!
posted by soyjoy at 11:57 AM on April 27, 2004

These kids need Leo!
posted by john at 7:02 PM on April 27, 2004

Maybe the aliens are going to be the mechanism by which the Rapture takes place. We'll have a worldwide power outage, MetaFilter will of course not be available to us, a bunch of people will disappear into the bowels of the spaceships, the power will come back on, we'll return to MetaFilter, and our loverly Konolia will be missing!
posted by five fresh fish at 10:20 AM on April 29, 2004