black cat

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Lazy Cat?

For this week’s Photo Hunt theme of lazy, we have a photo of Luna napping in an extraordinary sun patch.

Luna being a Lazy Cat in the Sun.

While Luna may be able to enjoy a lazy time this weekend, I do not have that luxury. Both today and tomorrow are filled with band rehearsals – three rehearsals for two bands, including preparation for an album release next week – plus stops at an art exhibition and a cat video festival in Oakland tonight. Yes, a cat video festival. There are all of course rewarding experiences and I freely chose to commit to them, so I’m not complaining. But I do sometimes think there is wisdom in the path of the “lazy cat.”

I did hesitate to write this post because of the pejorative use of “lazy” to describe cats. It’s not uncommon to hear cats’ propensity for napping described this way, and I read frequent unfair comparisons to dogs. But domestic cats fill the roles they were bred for, and do so quite well. There are working cats, on farms, in wine cellars, and even at one of our neighborhood arts institutions, SOMArts. The role of the house cat is to provide companionship, an important social and emotional function. Luna does this spectacularly, as do many of the other cats I have met though blogs. And it not a role without risks, as companion animals are especially vulnerable to abuse (sadly, so are humans in domestic situations). So let us honor the “lazy cats” and maybe learn something from them about being in the moment.

The Saturday Photo Hunt is up. This week’s theme is lazy.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by the Florida Furkids.

And the Friday Ark is on hiatus this week, but will be back on May 17.

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna

We at CatSynth are looking forward to a quiet and sunny weekend. Here we see Luna enjoying her morning sunshine patches:

The crispness of the filter and the lines and tones around Luna make for a particularly elegant and sophisticated image.

Our primary agenda for this weekend is to relax. And while that involves a fair amount of lying around (especially for Luna), it also includes some time outside, going to see art and making music without any particular agenda in mind.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Samantha, Clementine and Maverick.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Quirky

We usually present Luna in an elegant or creative manner, but for this week’s Photo Hunt theme of Quirky, it is an opportunity to present her quirky goofy side. That is particularly visible when she gets a new scratcher and fresh catnip:

As one can see, she is quite happy and blissful, though perhaps a bit less dignified than usual.

The Saturday Photohunt is up. This week’s theme is Quirky.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Mind of Mog.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna

This morning, I acquired the new Silverlake lens and film pack for the Hipstamatic iPhone app and tried it out on Luna. After a few attempts, I got this particularly nice portrait.

I like that even through the filter, Luna’s green eyes stand out.

She was also quite talkative, and I captured a short iPhone video where you can hear her sweet little voice:

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at the Tuxedo Gang Hideout.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Monochrome

This week’s Photo Hunt theme is easy. We have tons of monochrome photos, from art photos to snapshots and everything in between. Here is a snapshot of Luna taken this morning with a black-and-white film preset on the iPhone Hipstamatic app:

This photo, with Luna walking among the chrome pillars around CatSynth HQ, could have easily worked for last week’s theme as well.

Looking back, I have definitely moved between periods of color and black-and-white in my photography. 2010 was probably the most monochromatic year for me. Here is a monochromatic close-up portrait of Luna I used for a Weekend Cat Blogging back in 2010.

We should do some more portraits like that again this year.

My video from last week’s performance came out quite dark, and ended up being a de-facto monochromatic piece with a purple tint. I encourage visitors to check it out in yesterday’s gig report.

The Saturday Photo Hunt is up. This week’s theme is Monochrome.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Mind of Mog.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.