Archive for September 2010

“Beast Legends” Is Upon Us!

September 9, 2010

– – You gotta give the Syfy channel credit for trying to  please us, and Beast Legends starting September 9th at 10:00 in my area just might be the ticket!  Billed as an “investigative adventure series,” Legends features a team of a globetrotting animal doctor, a Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, a gifted illustrator, and a mythology maven as they explore the truth behind some of the world’s most renowned creatures.  Your payoff will be a life-like computer-generated model of the creature investigated depicted living in the real world at the end of each show, kinda like the mortal combat simulations shown at the end of Deadliest Warrior matchings.

The show will follow season four of Destination Truth, which could make Thursday night quite a draw on Syfy for our types!- –All hail the mighty Kraken!

“Alien” Prequel Coming…

September 8, 2010

– – The Alien franchise has operated with mixed success since 1979, with in my opinion Alien and Aliens being the best of the lot.- -Well, a prequel and perhaps even two are supposedly coming in 2011 or 2012 (hopefully before Dec. 21st), with Ridley Scott at the helm and the film(s) likely to be shot in 3D.- -We’ll even find out what happened with the “Space Jockey,” that poor alien devil found on Zeta Reticuli!

The prequel will be set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney Weaver made her first memorable appearance as Ellen Ripley with the Nostromo, and will in the words of Scott be “…really tough, really nasty.”

…and that’s just how it should be!- –Count me in!

Sufferin’ Shellfish!

September 6, 2010

– – I realize that it’s hard to form an emotional attachment with a crustacean.   I also know that Klingons eat some of their food raw and wiggling.  I am glad, however, that a restaurant in Sacramento, California will no longer serve a cruel dish that’s often called “dancing shrimp” or “dancing prawns.”  The dish’s name is a reference, you see, to the writhing that the animals engage in when their protective shells are ripped off and acidic lemon juice is squeezed onto their raw flesh before they are eaten alive...

Scientific research has demonstrated that prawns feel pain, just as other animals do.  A 2007 Queen’s University Belfast study found that when prawns have acid dabbed onto one of their antennae, they respond by grooming the affected area and rubbing it against the side of the tank, just as a dog might lick an injured paw.  When given painkillers, the prawns felt no need to groom or rub their acid-dabbed antennae.  The researchers concluded that these results are consistent with the idea that these crustaceans can experience pain.

When PETA presented their findings and numerous complaints about the practice of serving “dancing shrimp” as cruel, the restaurant agreed to stop serving live shrimp…

Katz the Cat!

September 3, 2010

— Cats kind of tolerate us because we are useful to them; one can see this orientation in Katz, villain of Courage the Cowardly Dog. Now Courage has faced many enemies, often anthropomorphic, including my personal fave The Cajun Fox, who treats even his rivals with friendliness and can drive a car and pilot a plane!

Not as relaxed and laid-back as the Cajun Fox, Katz is a red, lanky anthropomorphic cat with purplish stripes who specializes in scam businesses, such as a vacation resort and motel, always with the intent of killing the patrons when he has no further need of them.  Katz’s catchphrase is, “I wish you hadn’t done that,” usually uttered after he gets injured.  Katz enjoys a “little spot of sport” with Courage, as all of his battles with the dog are games, such as a staring contest.

Springboarding off our previous post featuring spiders, an episode called A Night At The Katz Motel was indebted to Hitchcock’s Psycho, and featured Katz trying to kill Courage’s masters by using giant, horrifying spiders to eat them.  Katz is a smooth and wonderfully sadistic feline who has a vaguely British accent and his own sinister background music, and lovingly maintains a spider collection.

As Katz did say,  “Yes, set a plan; cunning, elaborate, over the top!”- –This is a furry villain you’ve got to love! 


The Spider Dies Hard

September 2, 2010

– – Most spiders are beneficial creatures, but so many try to kill them, at times to their regret.  So was the case for one guy in Essex, England when summoned by his wife to deal with a spider she had seen scuttling behind their toilet bowl.- – Well, unable to reach the spider, the man attempted to spray it with an aerosol can, after which point he struck up his cigarette lighter to determine if he had been successful as the bathroom light had blown out.  You probably can see where this is going by now…

Yuppers, the lighter ignited the fumes and caused an explosion so strong that it lifted the man off his feet, threw him into his hallway, and lifted the loft door off of its hinges!  The man suffered flash burns to his head, legs, and torso and was rushed to the hospital.

The spider?–Well, there was no sign of it at the scene afterwards, so it may well have gotten away, probably with a great story to tell to its innumerable offspring…