Tag: Cats

  • Weekend Cat Blogging with Sam Sam, and Remembering Luna on #BlackCatDay

    Weekend Cat Blogging with Sam Sam, and Remembering Luna on #BlackCatDay

    Sam Sam continues to delight every day with her adorable antics.

    And she certainly gets lots of love and attention in response.

    It’s interesting to see how different her unique facial markings look from different angles.

    Of course, being the constant center of attention can be quite exhausting, so there is always time for naps.

    Sam Sam often sticks a paw on her tail while sleeping, a trait we have remarked on before.  I don’t know whether it serves a purpose or is just a quirky habit, but it is very sweet.


    Today is #BlackCatDay, and an opportunity to celebrate and recognize black cats as we close in on Halloween when stereotypes and threats sometimes reach a crescendo.  It breaks our hearts to think of any cat being hurt or abused, but black cats can face an especially different time.

    For years, the celebration of black cats on and around Halloween was a ritual, with Luna often hosting the special Halloween Black-Cat Edition of Weekend Cat Blogging (back when that was a shared thing).  Now it is more a time to remember and reflect on Luna, who left us on October 31 two years ago.  We will have a proper remembrance on that day, but for now, we just want to bask in the beauty of our beloved black kitty.

  • CatSynth Video: Flying Techno Kitties

    CatSynth Video: Flying Techno Kitties

    https://www.facebook.com/charles.whiley/videos/10103713222165017/

    “Flying Techno Kitties”: a video of two cats getting down to some beats in the studio.  From Charles Whiley via Facebook.  Watch all the way through for some fun flying action 😸

  • CatSynth Pic: Demons of the Studio

    CatSynth Pic: Demons of the Studio

    The title says it all.  Two laser-eye cats with modular and tabletop synthesizers by Elektron and Arturia.  From blush_response via Instagram.

  • CatSynth Video: Sarper Duman and his Cats

    CatSynth Video: Sarper Duman and his Cats

    Sarper Duman returns to CatSynth with one of his beautiful serenades with his cats 😻. From his Facebook page.

    If you want to wake up to every new day with a real and unconditional love, adopt an animal.. Even if they don’t see, even if they’re missing a leg, they have no handicap in loving and being loved.. 🖤🐈🎹
    .
    Her yeni güne gerçek, çıkarsız bir sevgiyle başlamak istiyorsanız, hayvan sahiplenin.. Görmeseler de, bir bacakları eksik de olsa, sevmeye, sevilmeye hiçbir engelleri yok.. 🖤🐈🎹

    The moment where the tabby crawls onto the keyboard is priceless!

     

  • Weekend Cat Blogging with Marlon…and Sophia

    Weekend Cat Blogging with Marlon…and Sophia

    Today we visit with our feline friends in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland.  First up is Marlon, formerly known as “Fluffy.”

    Despite living outdoors, he is healthy and well-fed, and clearly has a past that includes life as a pet cat.  He loves people and didn’t need much convincing to spend time indoors.  Indeed, he is living it up with his indoor time, getting food and scritches and soft blankets to relax on.

    He is a big fellow but has a tiny voice that sounds more like “merp” than “meow”.  I don’t yet have any video of his vocals, but you can see him thoroughly enjoying himself in this Instagram video with the music of John Schott playing in the background.

    You can hear more of John Schott and his Actual Trio in this CatSynth TV video.  In the meantime, let’s check in with Sophia, formerly known as “Hissy.”

    As one can see in this photo, she is a beautiful cat, with Siamese-like markings and a graceful bearing.  We think she might have once been a pet as well, but she is still extremely skittish around people.  I mostly just get a glimpse of her from a distance and she runs off at any attempts to get closer.  But she usually remains hidden nearby when Marlon is around.  The two of them seem to have a special bond, despite their divergent attitudes towards humans.

    We hope all our human and feline friends have a lovely weekend.

  • CatSynth Pic: Ok Housecat

    CatSynth Pic: Ok Housecat

    Our friends at Ok Housecat are at it again!

    This is awesome you’re going to hate it 🆗🏠🐈vids tomorrow

    And here is the promised video.

    Both the photo and video came to us via Ok Housecat’s Facebook page. Follow them for more DIY and circuit-bending fun.

  • CatSynth 12th Anniversary

    CatSynth 12th Anniversary

    It’s our twelfth anniversary!  It’s hard to believe that this little project I started as a lark in 2006 is still going and expanding.  Here is that first picture of Luna that went up on July 19, 2006!

    As always, we look to the anniversary as a moment for reflection and for changes.  We don’t have compiled detailed stats this year, but we do have several high-level milestones.  Most notably, we launched CatSynth TV last October, and since then have shared 74 videos! More are on the way.  We have continued to develop our apps, including the original CatSynth: The App! and Highway☆, though there is so much more we want to do there, both with existing and new apps.  And Sam Sam has blossomed into the new star of CatSynth!  With so many facets competing for our attention, there has been less time for the long-form reviews that once dominated this site, though we still write long-form articles when we can.  So with that, we make some announcements:

    • Sam Sam finally takes her rightful place on the masthead alongside the late great Luna!  It’s a change that is long overdue.  And appropriately, we are featuring one of her scratch’n’roll poses.
    • We are going to open up the site to new voices.  We have already had a couple of guest music reviews, and of course the semi-regular Mensa Cats cartoon series.  This is going to expand in the coming months.  If you have an idea for an article you would like to contribute, please let us know.
    • And as always, please keep sending us your cat-and-gear pics.

    So please join Sam Sam and me in celebrating twelve years of CatSynth!  We look forward to sharing many more with all of you.

  • CatSynth Pic: Shadow, Brodie, and M-Audio Axiom Keyboard

    CatSynth Pic: Shadow, Brodie, and M-Audio Axiom Keyboard

    Our feline pals Shadow and Brodie are back!  And they appear to be hard at work on their next hit song as they sit at their keyboard – an M-Audio Axiom – together.  Submitted by Anne Corwin via our Facebook page.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging with Fluffy and Hissy

    Weekend Cat Blogging with Fluffy and Hissy

    We introduce two new kitty pals today: Fluffy and Hissy.  They are outdoor kitties who live in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland, California.

    This is Fluffy.  He is a big fellow, and quite friendly.  As far as we know, he lives outdoors full time, but he is very comfortable around humans, especially when they provide food.

    By contrast, Hissy is much more skittish around people, and it is quite difficult to photograph her.

    Usually, Hissy backs away, but if one does get close, she lives up to her name.

    Both Fluffy and Hissy seem to be healthy and well fed in comparison to some of the street cats I have encountered in the neighborhood, so they probably have a network of food and safety options, beyond our “satellite office” in the neighborhood.

    We hope to get some better photographs of them soon.