Luna

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Modernist Poses

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Luna has long been comfortable in her modernist surroundings, at it is a common subject of her weekend visits to CatSynth. In the photo above, she is striking one of her attention-getting cute poses against the circular geometry of the rug and the angular lines of the glass table.

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In those photo, she has a more elegant pose, the classic “reclining cat” from many works of art. But she also has a little bit of attitude and disdain her expression, probably directed towards me for snapping pictures.

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

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Listening Intently.

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During yesterday’s rainy morning, Luna sat with me as I listened to the final master for Reconnaissance Fly’s new album. I snapped this close-up with the iPad. She was so calm and poised. And she did listen to the music. I think her favorite track was Oh Goldfinch Cage, not just because of the subject matter, but because its timbral texture is quite different from anything else on the album, with more isolated percussion and sound effects. Lots of things to perk up both cat and human ears.

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Cuteness

The third show of “Three Show Weekend” is coming up in a few hours. It’s been a busy week, not just with the shows but also rehearsals and work. But I still make quite a bit of time for Luna. And who wouldn’t when confronted with an ultra-cute guilt trip like this.

Luna has perfected her cute poses and guilt trips, especially over the past year. And she knows it works. It doesn’t prevent me from getting to work in the morning, but it does sometimes make me a few minutes late.

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Day of Rest

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It’s not unusual for Luna to spend most of her day napping in sun puddles, but it’s a rare occasion when I get do so as well. This month has been rewarding but also exhausting, with work, the Portland trip, multiple shows and sundry other events and obligations. Fortunately, this weekend is largely free and thus a good time to rest as well as attend to health and home. And of course to spend time with Luna.

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

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Black Cat Appreciation Day

Today, August 17 is officially Black Cat Appreciation Day. Of course, that could apply to any day here at CatSynth.

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My black cat Luna, who was originally adopted from a shelter, certainly gets a lot of appreciation and love.

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Black cats are sleek and gorgeous. And I have often found them to be among the most sweet and affectionate of cats. Luna is no exception on either front.

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Sadly, black cats are still among the last to be adopted from shelters in the United States. Whether it’s lingering superstition or plain bias is hard to say. I see way too many heartbreaking stories of abandoned black cats in kill shelters reaching the end of their time. Black Cat Appreciation Day is an effort to highlight the plight of black shelter cats but also to celebrate them as wondrous companions. This video, from the Meadow Lake Humane Society of Saskatchewan, Canada, always gets to me:

There are numerous local groups on Facebook and elsewhere dedicated to helping black cats, and I encourage interested readers to check them out.

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Napping near the Artwork

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Cats always find interesting places to nap. For Luna, that sometimes means next to the standing artwork. We have quite a few free-standing 3D pieces in the collection at CatSynth HQ.

Luna will probably be napping quite a bit this weekend, as I will be spending most of it in the studio with Reconnaissance Fly as complete the final mixes for our upcoming album. In the evenings, I will be back here to work on a completely different musical project, my electronic solo show in Portland next Saturday. But Luna gets to sit in and supervise that one.

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 with Luna

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With the craziness of the Outsound Music Summit and an intense work week behind us, today is about catching up. And that means spending more quality time with Luna, who has been very patient.

More Summit reviews will be posted in the next few days, and I need to plan for upcoming shows and projects in August. But Luna will see to it that I go at a reasonable pace, with time for togetherness and relaxation.

I suppose we could use the common cat-blogging title “Easy Like Sunday” for todays post, but for some reason nothing ever feels “easy” even when it is wholly good and rewarding.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted today by our friends Nikita, Elvira and Kiril at The Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Under the Glass

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We’re in the midst of a heatwave in San Francisco, and CatSynth HQ gets exceptionally warm on these days. It’s on warm sunny days like this that Luna is especially of fond of napping underneath glass tables.

It’s been nice featuring Luna three times in the past week on the blog, but hopefully I will have some time for other posts as well, including getting through the backlog of music and art reviews from the past month or so.

Carnival of the Cats will be coming to Pet’s Garden Blog this Sunday.

Wordless Wednesday: Chrome Jungle Cat

Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: The camera that you have

It’s always about the camera that one has on hand, especially with cat portraits that are in the moment. When Luna jumped on my lap for some affection the other day, the only camera I had was the iPad.

It is lower resolution and optics compared to the iPhone or my DSLR, but pointed correctly it still captures Luna’s features and essence.

This morning, I happened to have the DSLR on hand, and Luna was quite well posed. So it was time for an impromptu photo shoot.

The photos were a good reminder of what the good camera and lenses can do and the “iThingies” cannot. Here, one can control the optics to get a particularly rich and detailed portrait. Of course, it helps that Luna cooperated by staying relatively still, only moving her head into different poses like a professional model.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Life from a Cat’s Perspective.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.