Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath the abysmal sea,
His ancient, sleepless, uninvaded sleep,
The Kraken sleepeth …
– Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I remember the day I first saw a real octopus with a hazy, cinematic quality, like I was in shock, transfixed, short of oxygen. It was the same when I went to the Tentacles exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium recently.