This requires being a two-parter. You'll understand soon enough. As people here well-know, we have a lot of Broadway around these parts. So, it's only proper that on occasion we go to the dogs. That means that, thanks to the fine folks at The Dodo, we begin with an adorable Chihuahua named Casper who is obsessed with singing show tunes, joined by his good and understanding friend Pam Quinn. For what it's worth, this won me over -- on several levels -- after just seven seconds. But it builds from there. In the video above, Ms. Quinn mentions going on the show America's Got Talent with Casper. So, it's only proper that, as they say in sports, we go to the video. And here is their appearance. What I love is that Pam Quinn handles the judge's comments and the whole situation magnificently and with great, warm, unpretentious humor. As does Casper. In the first video, she mentions how Casper nailed it. Since you've already had the spoiler, I'll just reiterate -- he did.
0 Comments
It's only nine seconds, but that's enough. I love it. What I particularly like is the dog's initial reaction -- and then the cat's. I shall say no more. From the fine folks at The Dodo, once again as we do every year at this time, I just thought it would be the fine and proper thing to post a video on Groundhog Day about, no, not the movie, but an actual groundhog. All the better since it's such a wonderful one. I think that after today's latest GOP meltdown, it would be right and proper to have a really good dog story. It's not an Adorable Animal Video (though that's a notable part of the story), but something richer. This is a fun, fascinating report from 60 Minutes in 2014 about the first serious studies of dogs’ brains. Among other things, the studies tried to answer the age-old question: does your dog really love you? Or is it just scamming you because it knows it will get food? But they go a lot farther. Starting with a look at the border collie named Chaser. This is a television news report from the other day in Los Angeles from station KTTV. It's not the sort of thing I post here, but there's a reason, a sort of point of personal privilege. It's an awful story about a confrontation between neighbors and concerns a pet dog being killed, so I want to make there clear up front. You don't see anything, but it's heart-breaking. Just sick and inhumane. But if you don't like such things, I want to give a warning. I bring this up because I was made aware of it when a friend sent me the video. And it turns out that he sent the TV report because he's on the legal team of the family that suffered the loss. I told him that I hope he the nails the defendant to the wall and makes the guy's life a living hell. But he was waaaay ahead of me on that. Anyway, I wanted to bring as much attention to this story, not for my friend's sake, but because the defendant deserves as much attention for his mindless cruelty as possible. As I watched the story, by thought was, "There is no way this will be a bench trial to be heard before a judge. I am absolutely sure the plaintiffs will only agree to a jury trial, knowing that all 12 people will sit there aghast, anxiously waiting to string the guy up the moment they hear the story." As you hear the story develop, I can't imagine any defense, other than insanity. And that's not on the table. Just from the very opening five seconds of the story (I'm not exagerating), the sadness of this will be clear, because I'm not sure if I've ever seen a TV reporter so upset over the pure mindlessness of animal cruelty as this. I'm just glad that my friend is on the legal team going after this. It's the one thing that gives me great comfort. A couple of months ago, I posted two, long, 25-minute videos made by a fellow named Mark Rober that I said (for my taste) were the two best Adorable Animal Videos I've seen. The basic concept was that he wanted to see if he could build a convoluted, Rube Goldberg-like obstacle course that squirrels would have to go through, in order to keep them from eating food meant for birds. (Though it's clear he was pretty much rooting for them.) The first one is here. And the second is here. They are total joys. And Mark Rober has now made a third. This one is basically from the standpoint of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." As he writes -- "I gave up on trying to battle my squirrels... but what if they battled each other?" And so, here are: The Backyard Squirrelymics 3.0 The Summer Games Featuring your play-by-play announcers and color analysts – Mark Rober Mr. Beast …and Jimmy Kimmel |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|