Boing Boing has a good round-up of tentacle porn-related links today. I studied ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints) as an undergraduate, and we saw a lot of tentacle porn. I wrote a paper tracing the use of erotic violence in Japanese art from Yoshitoshi to Merzbow. I like that certain outlandish themes in Japanese art and entertainment have continued for hundreds of years from woodblock prints to computer-generated anime. Of course, no roundup of tentacle porn is complete without including a piece in my own backyard, at the Albany Bulb:

Many of you in other countries are having trouble understanding the outcome of the recent U.S. presidential election. How could Americans re-elect a president who has entangled us in a disastrous war, bankrupted the nation and alienated half the population?

What non-Americans don’t understand is that we here in the United States don’t choose our leaders on the basis of silly things like policies or facts. No, we rely on something called “moral values:” basic principles of right and wrong. For example, lying to people so you can profit off the deaths of their children is clearly the right thing to do. Poisoning the air and water of your neighbors is honorable. Abusing and sexually humiliating people shows moral backbone. Trampling on human rights is something to be admired. On the other hand, falling in love with someone of the same gender as you is abhorrently evil. Being from another country is pretty bad too.

So, you see, it’s actually pretty simple. Now do you understand?

Me neither.