Not for the weak

Melizza and I went to see Bodies...The Exhibition at the South Street Seaport in Downtown NYC.

When I received her invite I thought it was to see a show with naked men prancing around and gyrating their gleaming bodies, much like a bridal shower or a gay bar. Well, I haven't really been to either so I wouldn't know exactly but you know what I mean when I say that I was both excited and hesitant at the prospect of some yummy male specimen dancing in front of me.

So Melizza the research queen said that I should Google it so I would know what it was about.


Oookay...I got the male specimen part right but, erm, yummy?

It kinda reminds me of beef tapa. Or bulalo. Or steak.

So anyway, cameras and cellphones are not allowed inside the exhibit.

The reason why we wanted to go in the first place was so we can take photos of the cadavers and blog about it, duh! I mean, what's the use of going to an exhibit as awesome as that without pictures? Heller!

Eh pasaway kami ni Meme so we still took photos:

First try, medyo sablay.

"Darnaaa!"

Kaya pala may Oblation Run...

Face off (and skin and bones and guts)

Muscle man

We weren't able to take photos to our hearts' content because there were security people roaming around.

I just have to mention the circulatory system part of the exhibit.

They were able to extricate the veins and arteries and preserve them in glass containers. They made it so that the veins were shown as they would appear inside your body.

Think of corals in a glass aquarium. That's how they looked like.

Then they had a disclaimer in one of the sections that goes something like, "This section shows disturbing images. You may skip this part of the exhibit by going to the left."

Putting a disclaimer like that only makes me want to come running and see what the buzz is all about.

Ano kaya yun?

Grotesque disfigured bodies?

Bodies with birth defects?

Neither.

It was a whole section on this:

Fetuses.

Siamese twins.

Babies.

It wasn't really disturbing. Well, it is if you think about how they were able to get those fetuses at various stages of development.

But it was more fascinating than disturbing to me. How something that small becomes a human being.

The miracle of life.

And I have two of those.

But I digress.

At the end of the exhibit, there's a guy who has preserved brains and stuff lined up on a table. His job is to educate you on the wonderful world of preserving cadavers so you may finally realize that your one true calling is to become a celebrity embalmer.

So I grabbed half a brain and picked it up.

It felt like it was made of wax. But at the same time, it felt a little sticky. Like it had varnish. And it was a sickly shade of grey.

I had to ask the guy if it was a real brain because it looked fake. And he said that I really was holding a human brain from China. I almost had to check if there was a Made in China tag on it when he said that.

According to them, all the cadavers were from hospitals in China.

You can tell that they were because of the shape of their eyes. But I thought it strange that they put blue eyes in some cadavers. I don't think I've seen a Chinese with blue eyes.

And, their penises were of Asian size. All except one. But I don't think that he was Chinese. He might be some guy who died in China who wound up in the exhibit with females ooh-ing and aah-ing at his size.

Back to the brain.

I sniffed it so I would know what a brain smelled like. Much to my disappointment, it didn't smell at all.

And we couldn't take a photo of me acting like Hannibal because the guy was there. It was so frustrating!

As we were crossing Broadway on the way to the Path, I unconsciously put my hand on my cheek and suddenly realized that it was the hand I used to hold the brain! Eww!

Ang weird no? I didn't feel squeamish at all inside the exhibit but the thought of that brain coming in contact with my face freaked me out. Ugh!

Lesson of the day: Bring hand sanitizer.