morty

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Missed

The theme if this week’s Photo Hunt is missed.  So for our combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt post, we present Morty:

As one can see, Morty was a rather smart cat, and like some other individuals we may know enjoyed his coffee and newspaper every morning, and kept his cell phone nearby.  Though it does appear that Morty enjoyed the department-store ads more than the news.

The cell phone definitely dates this picture, which I’m pretty sure was taken in early 2002. Seen in comparison to the current iPhone, it is definitely not missed. I still have that coffee mug, which I had originally gotten from a used store when I first moved to California several years earlier.

Morty was actually the first cat I lived with.  He was a rather impish character, always getting into mischief but also seemingly aware that his cuteness would prevent him from getting in trouble.  Even though he often drove me crazy, I still miss him once in a while. (As far as I know, he is still alive and well and still making mischief.)

Appropriately for a post featuring a tabby cat, Weekend Cat Blogging #310 is hosted by the “three tabby cats in Vienna”, Kashim, Othello and Salome.

Photo Hunt 265 is hosted by tnchick. This week’s theme is missed.

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

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

CatSynth: "Me, a synthesizer, and a cat."

No, not “me”, but leslie.paige at flickr. Her photo comes to us via matrixsynth:

Leslie says the she found the cat “near a dumpster.” We at CatSynth are always happy to hear about cats being rescued.

He reminds me a lot of Morty, who some readers might remember from this post.

Morty was also a rescue. He was found as a kitten by a rescue group and raised until he was ready for adoption. He was the original “Supa-Bad Kitty,” and quite a mischief-maker, really the opposite of Luna in a lot of ways. I still miss him sometimes, though.

Weekend Cat Blogging #82: Black Pride

This New Years edition of Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Champaign Taste. We wish all our WCB friends, feline and human, a happy and healthy new year!

Our contribution this week continues our tribute to James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, who is a hero of ours here at CatSynth; he passed away this past Monday. In addition to his music (which is playing in the background as I write this), he made contributions to civil rights and the “Black Power” movement, through his efforts to promote African American ownership of the distribution of music on records and radio, and of course his classic anthems such as “Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud.” It is in honor of this anthem that Luna strikes a proud, stately pose this week, reminiscent of the iconography of the Egyptian goddess Bast:

The connection between black cats and civil rights isn't entirely gratuitous. Consider the well-known symbol of the Black Panther Party. Although founded in Oakland in 1966, the story goes that the party took its symbol from the Lowndes County (Alabama) Freedom Organization:

We chose for the emblem a black panther, a beautiful black animal which symbolizes the strength and dignity of black people, an animal that never strikes back until he's back so far into the wall, he's got nothing to do but spring out. Yeah. And when he springs he does not stop.

Getting back to James Brown, I would be remiss if I did not also recognize one of my former cats Morty, the original “Supa-Bad Kitty”:

He got his nickname for his constant mischief, like sitting on the dining room table, but remainingly devilishly lovable. Plus, he could shake his money maker like no other kitty I've met. I miss him – he was taken by a former girlfriend and although I haven't seen him in many years, I hope he is doing well.