black cat

Weekend Cat Blogging: Back on the Patio

As summer weather comes to San Francisco, we at CatSynth venture out onto our patio.

The patio took quite a pounding this past season. During one particularly bad storm with high winds and heavy rain, that plant on the left side of the photo came crashing down from the sky, destroying a screen and one of those nice modernist black benches :(. Fortunately, everything can be cleaned up or replaced. And the sculptures were not damaged.

Luna ventures out onto the patio:

Of course, she goes right for the grass in that pot that fell fromt the sky.

I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be brown, as many decorative grasses are. But I don’t know that it’s safe for cats, so I tried to discourage Luna from chewing on this. It’s not easy, as she particularly loves found grass.

Weekend Cat Blogging, Mothers’ Day Edition, is at Mind of Mog.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Kashim, Othello and Salome.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Luna and Luna

In honor of the full moon last night (dubbed the “supermoon” in the media), we present Luna along with her namesake.

I always thought the name suited her well.

Photographing the moon is even harder than photographing cats. But I did also create this highly stylized image of the full moon with traffic from nearby Interstate 280 as it descends into downtown San Francisco.

Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Samantha, Clementine and Maverick.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted today by Ritzi at iInfidel.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Texture

We at CatSynth have been absent for a few days. Most of my time that wasn’t spent at the day job was devoted to preparations for last night’s Night Light Multimedia Garden Party at SOMArts here in San Francisco. All the work paid off and the show went quite well, and I will be talking about that in a later article. But the combined silent-video-and-live-improvised-music piece featured several clips of Luna, including this one that is perfect for a combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt with theme texture.

This is a fun clip that combines cats, abstract digital imagery, and even highways with our I-80 sign in the background. You can see the short segment that appeared in the video below:

Luna black cat I-80 texture from CatSynth on Vimeo.

A sad note this week, our friend Meowza passed away suddenly last week. It was unexpected when we read of his passing in the comments for our Carnival of the Cats last week, he was so full of life. We remember him through the many images of him rolling around in the dry Arizona dirt:

We send our thoughts to Mog and all of Meowza’s family on their loss.

Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by…no one this week. In fact, it looks like this week was completely left off the schedule, which resumes with edition 360 next weekend. But Elivra has stepped in to combine WCB 359 1/2 with Carnival of the Cats.

The Weekly Photo Hunt is up with the theme of Texture.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Sturdy

We return to a combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt this Saturday on the theme Sturdy. Here we see Luna passing by some of the sturdy support columns that hold up CatSynth HQ.

The wooden beams are quite thick, and fastened with multiple bolts and metal junctions both on the top and bottom.

The diagonal beam adds addition sturdiness, especially in the event of a seismic event. But the strength also has a modernist aesthetic quality that fits the overall style of our space.

Weekend Cat Blogging #356 will be hosted by Kashim, Othello and Salome at PaulChens FoodBlog?!.

The Saturday Photohunt theme is Sturdy.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at When Cats Attack!

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Awesome and Passover

The theme for our combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Saturday Photohunt is Awesome. Here we see Luna looking down upon us all from her awesome balcony perch.

Cats of course like high places and are fiercely territorial. Luna is no exception, so she enjoys the many high perches we have at CatSynth HQ. And as a shy cat, it gives her a way to observe guests without having to get closer, unless she chooses to do so.

Passover began last night at sundown. This is the holiday where we at CatSynth attempt but ultimately fail to follow the strict dietary rules for eight days. But what about cats? According to this website, several brands have varieties that are approved for Passover in 2012. One of our brands is on the list, though not the particular variety that I get for Luna.

Weekend Cat Blogging and the Carnival of the Cats are both hosted this week by Meowza at Mind of Mog.

The theme of this week’s Saturday Photo Hunt is Awesome.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

Weekend Cat Blogging: Rainy Saturday (Hipstamatic and Instagram)

It’s a miserable rainy and windy Saturday here in San Francisco. Perfect weather for turning inward, and curling up for naps.

I took a couple of photos of Luna sleeping with Hipstamatic and Instagram. Which one is which?

For those who use Instagram, we can be found there at “catsynth”.

On a non-cat related note, I encourage visitors to check out our Reconnaissance Fly album demo, with three free tracks.

Weekend Cat Blogging #356 is hosted this weekend by Smudge, Coco and Patchouli at Pam’s Sidewalk Shoes.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging: The Blue Glass

This weekend, we are feeling a bit festive. Here are some Hipstamatic photos of Luna with a blue cocktail glass. Perfect for a Manhattan or catnip.

Luna is curious about the glassware, which fits the overall CatSynth HQ design concept.

Actually, Luna is a shy cat, and like most cats she is fiercely territorial and prefers to keep an eye on things from the upstairs balcony whenever we have guests.   She often seems relieved when they finally go home.

Speaking of festive, Weekend Cat Blogging #354: St. Patrick’s Day Edition is hosted by our Texas friends Samantha, Clementine and Maverick.

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

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

For those who may be curious, please check out yesterday’s Puerto Rico edition of Fun with Highways.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Portrait

Today we are keeping it simple, and sharing a portrait of Luna.

With all the recent fun with Hipstamatic and other iPhone-based photography, it’s good to remember what the DSLR can do. Over the last couple of days, I have been working with the fixed-length portrait lens, which I rarely use. But it quite good for taking portraits without much distortion. Especially for a cat like Luna with dark fur, it’s nice to be able to capture so much detail and expression.

Weekend Cat Blogging is at Mind of Mog this week.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted this Sunday by Kashim, Othello and Salome.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator