I was saddened to learn today that Paul the Octopus, a soothsayer who went 8-for-8 in correctly predicting World Cup soccer matches earlier this year, died in his sleep yesterday morning. He was 2.
(Seriously? 2? And apparently that's about the average lifespan of an octopus. Man, talk about drawing the short straw as a species.)
It's always sad when an octopus dies. But to me, what made Paul special was his love of liberty. Iranian president Mahmous Ahmadinejad criticized Paul several times as a pawn used to spread "western propaganda and superstition." Any cephalopod who gets under Ahmadinejad's skin is an ally of freedom.
Then, I learned that Paul's agent, Chris Davies, said "It's a sad day, Paul was rather special, but we managed to film Paul before he left this mortal earth."
Huh? Paul had an agent? Either he was much more of a rock star than we all knew, or Chris Davies is an agent who's really hurting for clients. Still, you have to give major props to Paul for marketing himself. I wonder how many agents Paul interviewed before settling on Chris Davies.
it is always sad when an octopus dies.
ReplyDeleteOh, so that's where Chris was when he had to suddenly cancel on me today!
ReplyDelete