Looking for a great holiday gift for that music lover, techno geek and/or pretentious hipster/snob in your life? Why not give them a copy of Aquatic?
If CD's are too old school, you and always gift tracks via iTunes or consider a subscription to emusic, truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Proportional Fish kinda sounds like holiday music, right?
I haven't been particularly inspired to do any music or art lately – November has been a busy month with work, and the two trips to cities named “New…” – and now the extremely cold weather here isn't helping. Neither is the news, both out there in the world or recent tragedies closer to home. I'm not one of those people who finds inspiration for music from pain and sorrow, so hopefully things pick up…
One bright spot today is Luna's birthday. We marked the official occasion this morning with some gifts and treats, and will probably have some more fun on the weekend (and I'll post some photos).
So what to do when feeling cold and blue and uninspired? Buy a new computer.
It's one of the new Mac Books, the black one of course. That means that I will probably be selling my trusty little iBook soon. If anyone reading this has interest before I list it, please feel free to contact me.
In the department of unloading money, there also the charitable and public organizations I support that could probably use some help.
This is also an opportunity to reflect on what's important and/or precious to me – Luna of course, my music, my home, artistic and intellectual pursuits, family and friends, the causes I support…how bad or not bad are things really right now?
At about the same time I found that last article on cats from Lebanon in Ohio, I came across this horrific story of animal cruelty from Tampa. One of the victims is in the photo to the right. The details of this case are pretty bad, and many of this forum's cat-loving readers would do best not to read the original articles. As for me, once I find out about something like this I feel compelled to “bear witness” painful as it may be, read follow-up reports and hope that some sort of justice or good comes out of it.
Indeed, one of my main motivations for posting is to expose the sick excuse for a human who allegedly committed these acts of cruelty. Apparently, he just doesn't like cats and was mad that they would sometimes climb onto his car. As a cat lover, it is hard to comprehend the level of anger/hatred he must have felt towards them, but even so there is no excuse for his cruel executions of these helpless creatures :(. He has confessed to the killings, and has been charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty, carrying a maximum five-year sentence. I will respect the justice system and not pass sentence on him myself, though many participants in a local online forum have their own creative punishments in mind. It is somewhat satisfying to see a unified front of anger and revulsion, with not one person coming to his defense.
Apparently, this guy took shots at a police helicopter not so long before this incident. That's pretty serious, one wonders why he wasn't already in jail. Indeed, why didn't he end up riddled with bullets? Certainly, that would have saved the cats whose lives seem more worthwhile. But it also raises some interesting questions in light of the recent police shooting in New York – I was actually still in New York for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend when it happened. The cases are of course quite different, but nonetheless I think they are worth comparing. In one situation we have 50 shots fired at three unarmed men who apparently struck an undercover police van – one of the men was killed, on the day of his wedding. In the other case, we have a man very openly taking shots at a police helicopter, and not only escaping the incident unhurt but free to kill three cats days later. Is it just the different locations and circumstances? Is it that black men are invariably more likely to be treated as threats and shot than sick white trash with a known record of cruelty and violience?
I intend to follow both of these cases to see what happens…
Another update on “cats in war”: several of the most “anti-social” cats that were airlifted to the U.S. from Lebanon have found a new home in a suburb of Cleveland.
Happy thanksgiving to all our feline and ailurophile friends, including everyone at the House of (Mostly) Black Cats, who are hosting this holiday weekend's cat blogging.
My office had it's “thanksgiving party” last Friday, and I made sure to bring home some fresh turkey for Luna. As you can see, she quite enjoyed her treat.
You can see video of Luna's thanksgiving and read her own blog entry over at her Catster page.
I have been viewing on and off a collection of short films by Stan Brakhage. Brakhage was a very prolific and influential maker of short experimental films. Most of his films have little or no narrative, and in many cases are made from images created directly on the film (i.e., not filmed with a camera), as in the case of thethe frame from Resurrectus Est shown to the right. Most of the films are also silent, leaving the viewer to focus exclusively on the images.
One of the films that intruiged me was Cats Cradle, originally done in 1964. Basically, it consists of a series of clips of a black cat interspersed with separate closeups of a man and a woman (apparently there were two couples in the film, but was not able to see this as I was watching). The cuts are frequent and the lighting/tinting is an amazing shade of red/magenta. It really is hard to describe, though you can find a better attempt here. An interesting suggestion is that the film can be seen as the “cat's perspective” on the couple.
The film definitely has a sexual feel to it, though there are no explicitly sexual images (discounting the fact that juxtaposing images of a woman and a man usually adds some sense of sexuality). How does the cat fit into that overall sense? Juvenile word-associations aside, cats have a history of association with (female) sexuality and fertility, most notably through the Egyptian goddess Bast. Bast is definitely a goddess for my personal pantheon, and I've been looking for an excuse to use her in a post on this forum. Bast has quite a resume, as the protector of cats, women and children, also associated with perfume, fertility, love, music and dance. It is interesting to consider Cat's Cradle in the context of Bast, even as a tribute of sorts, although I have no basis to assume Brakhage had such an association in mind. Though looking through his filmography, i think he was fond of cats.
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I spent a little time yesterday experimenting with modulated loop selection in Emulator X on a variety of sounds. One sound set that I particularly enjoyed playing was a set of blues harmonica samples at freesound created by TexasMusicForge. For those who are not familiar with the freesound project, it is a great collection of user-submitted samples licensed via the Creative Commons. Anyhow, I created a new EX instrument based on these samples and added multiple loops to a couple of them (actually up to 60 loops in one of the samples!), modulated with random LFOs. The result was quite playable – you can hear an example on the podcast. I would ultimately like to create a full composition with this instrument by refining this improvisation and combining it with other elements. It's not a sound I have used very much in the past, so I'm interested to see what I can do with it.
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Well, it seems like we have a bit of a theme going here this weekend:
At this moment, I'm lying on the couch w/ a purring Luna and a purring iBook resting on top. Life is good.
But I guess it's time to get up off our furry butts and start the Weekend Cat Blogging #76 Roundup. If you would like to be included, please leave a comment here or contact me.
At Jelly Pizza, a routine checkup for Taboo becomes anything but after she makes a snack out of a skink. So far so good, but hope she remains OK. Also, a reminder that googling for cat dangers and diseases can by very scary.
Cuteness alert! Chris Dolley presents Kai searching for Tribbles in all the wrong places. That last photo of Kai, Xena and a “tribble” is great!
It can be difficult for a cat to find good recipes in primate cookbooks, but over at burékaboy we have chez chaton culinaire. Luna's birthday is coming up soon and I was looking for somegood dinner options…
Ostara reports that it has been a gray and rainy week in Toronto, but that is good excuse for Sam to join us in our comfy napping. He also dreams of mailing himself to a warmer climate – it's pretty nice here in California right now.
Nothing is more exciting to a house cat than a forrrrbiiiiden roooooom. Over at Music and Cats, the McKittens get to explore the newly remodeled kitchen. Maybe they can try out some of those recipies from chez chaton culinaire?
The House of (Mostly) Black Cats treats us to one of those “separated at birth?” posts featuring Gree and Sophia. That a purrty good likeness, almost as good as that one I posted with the pope and the emperor from Star Wars…
Upsie is having a bad weekend because sher is sick with a fever and spending more time with two feral kitties learning to trust humans. Cheer up, Upsie. We at CatSynth recommend a nice nap!
Triple threat from thefoodpornographer: Pixel poses in her summer office, Billy Lee gets busted on the forbidden couch, and Pixel pops her head out of a box.
From Lali, Miss Prout sleeps with her friend Petit Tigré. Très mignon, indeed!
Kate in the Kitchen presents Animal Capers, the winter edition. Bustopher seems to enjoy being out in the cold, something that we at CatSynth have trouble understanding. We'll stay nice and warm inside, thank you. Also, a reminder that squirrels need food during the winter, too.
The comfy-resting-place theme continues. At A Cat in the Kitchen, Yoshi sits in his favorite spot, the “now broken” tumble dryer.
Tiggy the Tiny Tiger worries about mom Sarah going off to Japan. Don't worry, Tiggy, your Mom loves you, and Luna seemed to have a good time with the cat sitter last week, and probably will next week, too, when I go back to New York for the thanksgiving holiday weekend.
At Restaurant Window, we have some great pictures of the recently adopted Marble. Love those friendly tiger-kitty faces.
While most of us are enjoying a nice afternoon nap, over at The Westering Hills Colin hunts the laser pointer. There is a cute video of him making that clicking/squeaking sound that seems to be associated with hunting/stalking. Luna does the same thing when she hunts bugs or tracks critters through the window.
Looks like we've got a couple of “food-obsessed voyeurs” over at Rosa's Yummy Yums. But at least they are able to forget food long enough to join us for a weekend nap.
At xenogere, Vazra plans a great escape, albeit through a space not quite large enough for his head.
Sad news from Bonnie and the Charlottesville SPCA that their big, beautiful, and beloved Maine Coon cat, Hans, has passed over The Rainbow Bridge. Our sympathies go out to his friends who loved him deeply.
Voting is now open for the Skeezix the Cat's Tales of Devoshun Kontest. But it's not too late to enter!
Speaking of tales of devotion, Mao Nichols finds out that his mom likes him best after reading her entry. Unfortunately, he is inelegible as a member of Skeezix's household. Grrr on those pesky ethics rules.
More contest fun – Rocky the Gutter Cat is slumming for votes as a finalist in the World's Coolest Cat contest. Looks like the competition is pretty stiff – I think some of the New Orleans “cool cats” should have entered, too.
We have a birthday girl this weekend! Glinda turns two years old, and you can see her over at annesfood, along with some baby photos with her littermates. Looks like Glinda is celebrating her birthday the way we are, with a nap.
Over at I Got Two Shoes, Kamikaze has his laser eyes ready to zap. Hmmm, if this is what passes for “contemplative,” I'd hate to run into him in an angry mood…
Pia lightens the mood with a a basket of kittens. No one can resist a basket of kittens. No one.
Well, that will do it for this weekend. Thanks to all those who participated. Time for a nap…
Well, it's been a tiring week here since my return – both Luna and I really just want to curl up and rest. But we at CatSynth are dedicated to doing Weekend Cat Blogging #76. Thanks to those who already sent in their links. You either leave a comment with your link on this entry, or send me a message.
Also, if you haven't had a chance, please check out last week's post featuring an article on the cats of New Orleans.
Here is a list of all the New Orleans and ICMC articles in chronological order. New readers are encouraged to use this list as a starting point. Enjoy!
Weekend in New Orleans Part 1: Zip visits the French Quarter
Weekend in New Orleans Part 2: City views and Scultpure Garden
ICMC late concert on election night
Preparing for tomorrow's radio performance and more ICMC
After radio performance
NOLA Night Life
Weekend Cat Blogging #75: Cats of New Orleans
The Other New Orleans