Leather, Plastinized Bodies, Leather

I didn't really know what to get Pete for Valentine's Day. So, I checked out what was going on around town this week and I found something that was somewhat gruesome, but educational and a one-of-a-kind experience. Anybody who's seen the latest James Bond movie will know what I'm talking about. It's an exhibit called Bodies Human, Anatomy in Motion. It's actually a knock-off of the one displayed in James Bond. The Pharaoh's (the scooter club I recently de-pledged because they wanted more time than I wanted to commit to any club) were going on their latest Sunday ride there after meeting up for brunch at Two Fools Tavern.

So, we went and got some shepherds pie and corned beef hash, hung out with friends for a couple hours, and were off to....the mall? Yes, the exhibit was going to be displayed at the mall. When we got there, we wandered around because we weren't really sure where in the mall was an appropriate place to display stuffed people posed shooting hoops. Apparently, that place is sandwiched between Wilson's Leather and some other random leather goods store. We thought it fitting yet disturbing. Seriously, someone who worked in the mall either has a sick sense of humor, or no tact (or both!).

The place was actually set up just as it would be in a museum. There were also lots of friendly people there to answer questions and teach us a little about the bodies we were looking at. There were a lot of fully plastinized bodies, as well as pieces of bodies and casts of the circulatory system. It was really weird, but at the same time it didn't seem real. Kinda like looking at a taxidermied cat. You knew it used to be alive, it just didn't look right. The eyebrows, fingernails, and toes were the things that disturbed me the most, though. They looked the realest.

The ones I thought were the craziest, and the most educational, were the woman on the rings, and the body that was sliced into 3/4 inch slices. The woman was posed like she was swinging from Olympic rings. Her arms and legs had rings of flesh cut away so you could see the bone, but you could also see how much muscle, fat, and veins were in her arms. It was really mind-blowing. The other one, the sliced body, was cut vertically into slices and then displayed one after another in long plastic square sheets. You could see each layer and how they fit together.

It was really bizarre to see the human body this way because it's not like looking at a book that shows a cartoon of the muscles, nerves, brain, circulatory system, heart, etc. It's right in front of you, and it's life-sized (because it was alive). I kept catching myself looking at one of the displays and then feeling my own muscles looking for, and finding, those displayed in front of me in gruesome detail. There were also body parts with tumors, enlarged hearts, and other maladies that caused the person's death. It really made me think of my body as a working machine rather that a vessel that just carries me around from place to place.

It was a strange display of human biology, but one that I am glad I got to see. Pete thought it was pretty awesome, too.