Remember the psychic octopus? No? Well here comes a psychic opossum anyways

Rob Sylvester
Feb 13, 2011, 1:30 PM EST

Ah, the Germans. Never one to let a once-cute idea die, they’ve revived World Cup sensation Paul the Psychic Octopus (in spirit anyways) by introducing their newest ESP-laden animal– Heidi, a cross-eyed opossum. You can’t make this stuff up.

Heidi’s task? Picking the Oscars, a seemingly tougher task than Paul’s since he had a 50/50 chance on every match and she’ll have to pick a winner out of multiple choice. Nevertheless, Heidi isn’t nervous. Mainly because she’s an opossum.

Leipzig Zoo Director Joerg Junghold told Germany’s RTL television on Friday that Heidi will be appearing on the “Jimmy Kimmel Show” alongside the Oscars on Feb. 27.

What, Conan wasn’t available?

I’m not exactly sure how an opossum gets cross-eyed (probably from staring at its laptop too long) but it’s admirable that Heidi hasn’t let this disability stop her from chasing her dreams of being a famous psychic marsupial, like so many before her.

In the meantime, let me submit my services a psychic blogger– Toy Story 3 wins Best Animated Film. Now where’s my check?
***
Germany’s cross-eyed opossum to pick Oscar winners [Associated Press]

http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2011/02/13/remember-the-psychic-octopus-no-well-here-comes-a-psychic-opossum-anyways/

'Psychic Panda' No Match for Paul the Octopus

Paul's popularity has led to a spate of copycat "prophetic" animals, albeit with far less success.


THE GIST

A panda named Bo Si picked the nationality of the first gold medal winner of the Asian Games.

Paul the octopus, who died last month, correctly predicted game outcomes in this year's World Cup.
 
First there was Paul the octopus, now there's Bo Si, the "psychic" panda.


Bo Si picked a Chinese athlete to be the first gold medal winner of the Asian Games -- and Yuan Xiaochao promptly won for wushu, boosting the popularity of the 12 giant pandas at Xiangjiang Safari Park in Guangzhou.

But given China are so dominant, are favorites to finish top of the medals table and have the biggest squad at the Games, critics said it hardly proved Bo Si's telepathic powers.

And it emerged Bo Si had been given the option to pick a bamboo shoot, which represented a Chinese winner, or an apple for a foreigner. Pandas exist on a bamboo diet.

"The pandas have tended to favor Chinese athletes," said the China Daily of the 12 giant "predicting" pandas.

"The pandas are expected to help the park attract more tourists during the Asian Games," the paper quoted a park staff member as saying.

Paul the octopus shot to fame during this year's football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, leading to a spate of copycat "prophetic" animals, albeit with far less success.

Paul died at an aquarium in Germany last month.

'Psychic Panda' No Match for Paul the Octopus

Paul's popularity has led to a spate of copycat "prophetic" animals, albeit with far less success.


THE GIST

A panda named Bo Si picked the nationality of the first gold medal winner of the Asian Games.

Paul the octopus, who died last month, correctly predicted game outcomes in this year's World Cup.
 
First there was Paul the octopus, now there's Bo Si, the "psychic" panda.


Bo Si picked a Chinese athlete to be the first gold medal winner of the Asian Games -- and Yuan Xiaochao promptly won for wushu, boosting the popularity of the 12 giant pandas at Xiangjiang Safari Park in Guangzhou.

But given China are so dominant, are favorites to finish top of the medals table and have the biggest squad at the Games, critics said it hardly proved Bo Si's telepathic powers.

And it emerged Bo Si had been given the option to pick a bamboo shoot, which represented a Chinese winner, or an apple for a foreigner. Pandas exist on a bamboo diet.

"The pandas have tended to favor Chinese athletes," said the China Daily of the 12 giant "predicting" pandas.

"The pandas are expected to help the park attract more tourists during the Asian Games," the paper quoted a park staff member as saying.

Paul the octopus shot to fame during this year's football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, leading to a spate of copycat "prophetic" animals, albeit with far less success.

Paul died at an aquarium in Germany last month.

Paul the Octopus - shocking developments

The death of an octopus called Paul in a German aquarium has triggered a global surge in news coverage that underlines the vacuity of celebrity culture, the power of anything football-related to attract coverage, and the relentless march of clever PR.


Far from being a simple cephalopod that got lucky on a 256-1 chance of predicting eight two-option outcomes in a row (matches at the 2010 World Cup), it turns out Paul was / is a publicity stunt for a global entertainment conglomerate, the Merlin Entertainments Group (MEG).

The biggest single shareholders in MEG are Blackstone (one-time favoured financiers of the former Liverpool owner, Tom Hicks), while until recently another stockholder in MEG was Dubai International Capital, former bidders for Liverpool.

Among other MEG assets, the British-based organisation owns and / or controls the Sea Life group of aquariums, one of which in Oberhausen, Germany, latterly housed Paul, who has, incidentally, already been replaced with another octopus, originally called, errm, Paul. Touching.

MEG also owns Legoland theme parks in various countries, the Madame Tussauds chain of waxwork exhibitions, amusement parks including Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures, and the London Eye.

Paul the Octopus, who provided colourful if inane fodder for umpteen news and broadcast organisations during the World Cup, especially those with no rights to any live action in South Africa, was also credited with predicting correct match results for Euro 2008 games. It should be stressed that, contrary to some reports, that was actually a different octopus, and that the different octopus got other results wrong, but such facts shouldn't get in the way of a good story.

Paul – and the Oberhausen aquarium and MEG – got lucky when Paul "defied the odds" to "pick" winners this summer. Since then he has been relentlessly marketed as a brand to make cash.

Ridiculous though it seems, he did indeed have his own "agent", Chris Davis, who did 30 media interviews yesterday, including one during a "breaking" news special on BBC TV in a segment that lasted 5 minutes and 42 seconds. That ridiculous excuse for a piece of public service broadcasting can be viewed within this link. (Second piece of video).

So how on earth did Paul the Octopus get an agent? Well Davis, who has a stable of showbiz clients that includes TV magician Paul Daniels, Daniels' wife Debbie McGee, former Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow, former Neighbours star Mark Little, and actor Ken Morley of "Corrie" fame, has done PR work in the past for MEG.

"And there was a situation where the aquarium had 200 media people asking questions per day in the summer," he tells sportingintelligence. "And they needed someone to handle it, so I became Paul's agent."

Cue some truly ridiculous stories about the octopus, including one that he would record an album of Elvis songs. Chris Davis insists the quotes in the piece linked here were fabricated.

True, however, is that books have been written or are planned about Paul, as are cuddly toys, an iPhone app, and a documentary by film company Cinema Vertige. Due for release in the new year, according to the news section of the firm's website, it's called Tentacles of Divination (The Extraordinary Tribulations and Fabulous Destiny of Paul the Psychic Octopus, Seer of Seers).

And it's being made in association with . . . Merlin Entertainments Group, who own Sea Life, where attendances have climbed up to fourfold on the back of Paul stories. (Octopus, not Daniels).

Davis insists that conspiracy theories about Paul's death are nonsense and says that a Chinese film-maker Jiang Xiao was just trying to cash in on Paul's fame by renaming an unrelated work Who Killed Paul the Octopus?

As the already oft-repeated gag goes, this story still has legs – even if nobody can predict which way they'll go.

Chris Davis says Paul earned "hundreds of thousands" of pounds since the summer, and "was heading towards being a brand worth £1m by January". The profits will apparently go to a turtle sanctuary in Greece.

And the hugely valuable PR will go to MEG and its firms.

Final word to Chris Davis on Paul's career: "I ink it's all over".

By Nick Harris

Sport

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/10/28/revealed-the-ridiculous-dead-octopus-its-links-to-dic-blackstone-ex-liverpool-owner-tom-hicks-and-paul-daniels-and-pr-gone-bonkers/
 

Paul the Octopus - shocking developments

The death of an octopus called Paul in a German aquarium has triggered a global surge in news coverage that underlines the vacuity of celebrity culture, the power of anything football-related to attract coverage, and the relentless march of clever PR.


Far from being a simple cephalopod that got lucky on a 256-1 chance of predicting eight two-option outcomes in a row (matches at the 2010 World Cup), it turns out Paul was / is a publicity stunt for a global entertainment conglomerate, the Merlin Entertainments Group (MEG).

The biggest single shareholders in MEG are Blackstone (one-time favoured financiers of the former Liverpool owner, Tom Hicks), while until recently another stockholder in MEG was Dubai International Capital, former bidders for Liverpool.

Among other MEG assets, the British-based organisation owns and / or controls the Sea Life group of aquariums, one of which in Oberhausen, Germany, latterly housed Paul, who has, incidentally, already been replaced with another octopus, originally called, errm, Paul. Touching.

MEG also owns Legoland theme parks in various countries, the Madame Tussauds chain of waxwork exhibitions, amusement parks including Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures, and the London Eye.

Paul the Octopus, who provided colourful if inane fodder for umpteen news and broadcast organisations during the World Cup, especially those with no rights to any live action in South Africa, was also credited with predicting correct match results for Euro 2008 games. It should be stressed that, contrary to some reports, that was actually a different octopus, and that the different octopus got other results wrong, but such facts shouldn't get in the way of a good story.

Paul – and the Oberhausen aquarium and MEG – got lucky when Paul "defied the odds" to "pick" winners this summer. Since then he has been relentlessly marketed as a brand to make cash.

Ridiculous though it seems, he did indeed have his own "agent", Chris Davis, who did 30 media interviews yesterday, including one during a "breaking" news special on BBC TV in a segment that lasted 5 minutes and 42 seconds. That ridiculous excuse for a piece of public service broadcasting can be viewed within this link. (Second piece of video).

So how on earth did Paul the Octopus get an agent? Well Davis, who has a stable of showbiz clients that includes TV magician Paul Daniels, Daniels' wife Debbie McGee, former Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow, former Neighbours star Mark Little, and actor Ken Morley of "Corrie" fame, has done PR work in the past for MEG.

"And there was a situation where the aquarium had 200 media people asking questions per day in the summer," he tells sportingintelligence. "And they needed someone to handle it, so I became Paul's agent."

Cue some truly ridiculous stories about the octopus, including one that he would record an album of Elvis songs. Chris Davis insists the quotes in the piece linked here were fabricated.

True, however, is that books have been written or are planned about Paul, as are cuddly toys, an iPhone app, and a documentary by film company Cinema Vertige. Due for release in the new year, according to the news section of the firm's website, it's called Tentacles of Divination (The Extraordinary Tribulations and Fabulous Destiny of Paul the Psychic Octopus, Seer of Seers).

And it's being made in association with . . . Merlin Entertainments Group, who own Sea Life, where attendances have climbed up to fourfold on the back of Paul stories. (Octopus, not Daniels).

Davis insists that conspiracy theories about Paul's death are nonsense and says that a Chinese film-maker Jiang Xiao was just trying to cash in on Paul's fame by renaming an unrelated work Who Killed Paul the Octopus?

As the already oft-repeated gag goes, this story still has legs – even if nobody can predict which way they'll go.

Chris Davis says Paul earned "hundreds of thousands" of pounds since the summer, and "was heading towards being a brand worth £1m by January". The profits will apparently go to a turtle sanctuary in Greece.

And the hugely valuable PR will go to MEG and its firms.

Final word to Chris Davis on Paul's career: "I ink it's all over".

By Nick Harris

Sport

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/10/28/revealed-the-ridiculous-dead-octopus-its-links-to-dic-blackstone-ex-liverpool-owner-tom-hicks-and-paul-daniels-and-pr-gone-bonkers/
 

Psychic octopus death conspiracy claim

Paul the octopus is dead – but conspiracy theories are thriving


Death of psychic octopus who proved a hit during the World Cup triggers claim of cover-up


No sooner had death's tentacles slackened their grip on Paul's squidgy body than the first conspiracy theory concerning his demise emerged like a cephalopod from a crevice.

Not everyone, it seems, is prepared to accept the news that the "psychic" octopus – who made such a splash over the summer by successfully predicting the results of World Cup games – passed away on Monday in the comfort of the German aquarium he called home.

According to Jiang Xiao, the director of a forthcoming thriller entitled Who Killed Paul the Octopus?, the creature had really been dead for the last three months. Jiang told the Guardian she was "60 to 70% sure" Paul had died in July and been secretly replaced by his keepers.

Explaining how such a deception could have been perpetrated, she added: "[Octopuses] all look the same. It is impossible to tell the difference."

Jiang said she thought it was "kind of strange" that news of Paul's death had broken not long after the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in western Germany had contacted her team to say they were keen to co-operate on the international distribution of her film.

"We have been keeping in touch with the German aquarium ever since the beginning [of production] but it seemed to me that they were afraid," she said. "The movie is about unveiling the inside story behind the octopus miracle, so they felt nervous.

"For the movie, we had done quite a lot of investigation and I am 60% to 70% sure that Paul died on 9 July [two days before the World Cup final] and the Germans have been covering up his death and fooling us for a long time."

Jiang declined to explain why she believed Paul had died in July — or to say more about the revelations in the movie. Her allegations of submarine jiggery-pokery met with polite bafflement in Germany today.

"It's certainly not true that Paul died in the summer," said a spokeswoman for the aquarium.

"We can absolutely assure you that he died last night. He was about two and a half, which is the average age for an octopus. He died a simple and straightforward death."

Paul is due to be cremated in the next few days. His ashes will be placed in an urn and displayed in a shrine, along with a portrait and video clips from his life, the spokeswoman added.

"We've already set up a condolence book where people can write their tributes to Paul," she said.

But what of the rumours that Paul had pulled off one last magnificent psychic coup by predicting his own death?

"If he did, he kept it to himself," she said.

Tania Branigan in Beijing, Kate Connolly in Berlin and Sam Jones

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 October 2010 18.19 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/26/paul-octopus-dead-psychic-world

Psychic octopus death conspiracy claim

Paul the octopus is dead – but conspiracy theories are thriving


Death of psychic octopus who proved a hit during the World Cup triggers claim of cover-up


No sooner had death's tentacles slackened their grip on Paul's squidgy body than the first conspiracy theory concerning his demise emerged like a cephalopod from a crevice.

Not everyone, it seems, is prepared to accept the news that the "psychic" octopus – who made such a splash over the summer by successfully predicting the results of World Cup games – passed away on Monday in the comfort of the German aquarium he called home.

According to Jiang Xiao, the director of a forthcoming thriller entitled Who Killed Paul the Octopus?, the creature had really been dead for the last three months. Jiang told the Guardian she was "60 to 70% sure" Paul had died in July and been secretly replaced by his keepers.

Explaining how such a deception could have been perpetrated, she added: "[Octopuses] all look the same. It is impossible to tell the difference."

Jiang said she thought it was "kind of strange" that news of Paul's death had broken not long after the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in western Germany had contacted her team to say they were keen to co-operate on the international distribution of her film.

"We have been keeping in touch with the German aquarium ever since the beginning [of production] but it seemed to me that they were afraid," she said. "The movie is about unveiling the inside story behind the octopus miracle, so they felt nervous.

"For the movie, we had done quite a lot of investigation and I am 60% to 70% sure that Paul died on 9 July [two days before the World Cup final] and the Germans have been covering up his death and fooling us for a long time."

Jiang declined to explain why she believed Paul had died in July — or to say more about the revelations in the movie. Her allegations of submarine jiggery-pokery met with polite bafflement in Germany today.

"It's certainly not true that Paul died in the summer," said a spokeswoman for the aquarium.

"We can absolutely assure you that he died last night. He was about two and a half, which is the average age for an octopus. He died a simple and straightforward death."

Paul is due to be cremated in the next few days. His ashes will be placed in an urn and displayed in a shrine, along with a portrait and video clips from his life, the spokeswoman added.

"We've already set up a condolence book where people can write their tributes to Paul," she said.

But what of the rumours that Paul had pulled off one last magnificent psychic coup by predicting his own death?

"If he did, he kept it to himself," she said.

Tania Branigan in Beijing, Kate Connolly in Berlin and Sam Jones

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 October 2010 18.19 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/26/paul-octopus-dead-psychic-world

Paul the Psychic Octopus dead

Paul the octopus, an unlikely star of the 2010 World Cup who 'predicted' the outcome of seven matches, has died at an aquarium in Germany.

Staff at the Sea Life centre in Oberhausen said they were "devastated" to learn that he had passed away during the night.

Paul made his name by successfully choosing a mussel from one of two boxes bearing the flags of competing nations.

Octopuses rarely live beyond two years so his death was not unexpected.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11626050

Paul the Psychic Octopus dead

Paul the octopus, an unlikely star of the 2010 World Cup who 'predicted' the outcome of seven matches, has died at an aquarium in Germany.

Staff at the Sea Life centre in Oberhausen said they were "devastated" to learn that he had passed away during the night.

Paul made his name by successfully choosing a mussel from one of two boxes bearing the flags of competing nations.

Octopuses rarely live beyond two years so his death was not unexpected.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11626050