Shark Week, the Discovery Channel's annual deep-dive into the bewitching world of those big-teeth'd, nearly mythical superstars of the ocean, is as much a part of summer as sprinklers and sunshine.
But there are, of course, a number of other captivating critters that call the drink home, and finding a week on the warm-weather calendar to spotlight them, via television shows and special events, seems like it might be a wise move, the better to cover more beasties.
Grouper Week? Spotted Trout Week? Prawn Week? TV execs, please ponder.
There is, however, a Cephalopod Week, and Science Friday, the long-running public radio show, is tributing the heck out of our tentacled, sucker-laden, multi-armed, ink-wielding, ocean-dwelling pals.
The Los Angeles Obscura Society and The Cinefamily are on board for the bash, which includes a few special nights in a few cities, including our own. And while The Bob Baker Marionette Theatre is several miles from the beach, that's where the cephalopods shall gather, on Tuesday, June 20, or at least cephalopods on screen, and in puppet form, too.
A quartet of films will be screened — all hail from Science Friday, with two described as new and the other two bringing up the classic end of the spectrum — and a special marionette presentation, themed to "underwater," is on the bill, too.
And "octopus wrangling stories" are promised as well, from an Aquarium of the Pacific aquarist, who will also call upon the downtown-close theater, in addition to the Science Friday, Cinefamily, and Atlas Obscura gang.
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What's your favorite thing about cephalopods? That hugely viral video that shows an octopus ably opening a jar? The fact that cephalopods can curl up behind a rock so completely that you feel they could successfully teach Camouflage 101 at Ocean School?
They're amazing, so much so that a host of smart-people'd outfits are teaming up to fête them, with marionettes and science films and aquarium-cool talks. And, yes, they even have their own week, we mean Week, rather, just like those equally amazing sharks.
