Archive for the ‘animals’ category

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At One With Beer and Nature?

March 30, 2011

– – The Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World is notable here because of his apparent natural abilities with animals, who also seem to appreciate his legendary charisma.   We pause to salute this man because he goes out of his way to protect animals such as husky dogs, bears, and as illustrated,  foxes. As evidence of his ability to get along with and even control nature we cite the fact that whenever he swims, dolphins follow him.   He has a live owl that is shown in one commercial landing on his arm.  A recent commercial shows this beer-drinking wonder shooing a mountain lion out of his kitchen!

The actor who plays “The Most Interesting Man” is in real life Jonathan Goldsmith, who is committed to Saber Tigers, an organization designed to save big and endangered cats.  That makes Goldsmith one cool cat himself…


Categories: animals, furry, furry commercials, furry spirits, television
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Comments: 4 Comments

Candy, Chicks, & Rock ‘N’ Roll!

March 24, 2011

– – Most Easter family movies are old school cartoons better left forgotten, but Hop may set the bar higher.  Featuring E.B., the teenage son of the Easter Bunny who plays a mean set of skins and wants to become a drummer in a rock ‘n’ Roll band, the hare destined for greatness splits for Hollywood only to be hit by the car of Fred the slacker in L.A.  Alas, one cannot escape their destiny…

Taking the Easter Bunny heir in as he recovers, Fred discovers that he has the world’s worst house guest, and that they both are running from adulthood; do ‘ya blame ’em?   Hop blends state-of-the-art animation with live action, and features some cute touches,  such as the all-female special forces of the Easter Bunny, the Pink Berets, who really kick tail!

Coming to theaters from Universal Pictures on April 1st…it will leave you wanting candy, and singing the song!



Categories: animals, furry, movies
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Comments: 4 Comments

Ram-bo and Gum Gimmicks…

March 21, 2011

– – Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in the Aliens series forever set the bar high for me on what a strong, take-charge woman should be, someone who can hold her own with space marines and even prevail against a ferocious mother alien in mortal combat.  None too shabby either is a young female we are treated to in the latest Stride Spark gum commercial who when charged by a ram, wrestles the sucker to the ground, and uses the power of oomph to intimidate and deter him from additional aggression.

Now we’ve seen ram-tactics successfully employed before by shadowy gum agents, those frightening secret operatives determined to retrieve the long-lasting gum from users in order to compel them to buy more gum; commercialism ain’t pretty.   In an earlier spot for Stride,  a ram is successfully deployed to strike a poor male chewer crossing a street, causing the gum to fly out of his mouth where it can be retrieved.  These same secret operatives are not above using wrestlers or even German ethnic dancers to achieve their objectives.   Probably in the future, the History Channel will link them to Freemasonry or some dark alien agenda.

I fear the gum agents and their unspeakable objectives, and like the truth, I know that they are out there…

Categories: absurdities, animals, Brilliant but twisted, furry, television
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Squirrel Goes Nuts!

March 18, 2011

– – It’s never pretty when a squirrel runs amuck and goes on the rampage in a neighborhood…and so, things must have gotten ugly indeed when a squirrel terrorized a Vermont neighborhood, attacking at least three residents and eluding wildlife control experts for more than a week!

The rascal rodent has bitten and scratched neighbors in Bennington, Vermont without apparent provocation.  One victim was shoveling snow outside his home when the sneak attack began.  “He was holding on.  He wouldn’t let go.  I was finally able to get him off, and as soon as I got him off, he just jumped right at me again,” said one man, who suffered several nasty scratches last week;  the horror, the horror…

A veterinarian has hypothesized that the gray squirrel might have been raised as a pet, and lost its fear of humans.  Wildlife authorities say its unlikely that the squirrel has rabies, as the incidence of rabid rodent cases is reportedly very low in Vermont…

…maybe the poor thing’s having an existential crisis.  At any rate, you who are traveling in Vermont have been warned, and we may at least be grateful that this squirrel doesn’t talk, wear aviator glasses, and keep company with a moose…

Categories: animal behavior, animal occurrences, animals, furry, unexplained
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DIRECTV Mini Giraffe Commercials…

March 16, 2011

– – He looks, sounds,  and acts like a James Bond villain, and I guess not all Russians have suffered since the breakup of the former Soviet Union;  at least one, Epic Win, lives in opulence that would put the Czars to shame, surrounds himself with beautiful young women, has associates who lift massive weights apparently made of gold, and in what I am most interested in, has an affectionate mini giraffe as a pet, one who even has his own treadmill in the latest commercial!

The aptly-named Russian was previously seen in a DIRECTV commercial pictured here named, Opulence, I Has It. While some people have actually posed the question,  there are no giraffes in reality of that size, with even newborn giraffes being much larger.  The wonderful creature pictured in the commercial moves very convincingly, and would presumably be the product of genetic engineering, which our fabulously wealthy Russian with all of those gold bars could indulge in…

…and check out the wealth of detail in the commercials as well; in the original, the obscenely-wealthy Russian has a Van Gogh, and poker-playing dogs appear briefly in the background (one is cheating)!   But  for one of the females to lift a tray of gold bars as if they were light as feathers is perhaps a reminder that we’re seeing an entertaining fantasy…

…Mini giraffes?–I wants it!

Categories: absurdities, animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, strange, television
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Geico “Cats and Dogs” Commercial…

March 14, 2011

– – In a wonderful nod to the classic car chase from the movie Bullitt as well as 1970’s detective shows (think “Starsky and Hutch”), the latest Geico “Cats and Dogs” commercial asks whether Geico can save you 15% with actor Mike McGlone answering himself,  “Do dogs chase cats?” Then we’re treated to an old-school car pursuit with a furry twist…

Cool at the wheel of an early 1970’s Mustang is an orange tabby (Jax the cat),  who doesn’t appear overly concerned about a hot pursuit by a boxer (Drake the dog) in a beat-up gas guzzler through mean city streets.  There’s even a  funky jazz fusion soundtrack to accompany the chase sequence!

While we’re not  shown the outcome of the chase, we do get a cool undercarriage shot as one of the cars vaults a rise in the road.   My money’s on the feline wheelman, who needs fear no boxer for torque art with him…


Categories: absurdities, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furry, television
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Comments: 5 Comments

Eww, Smells Like (Tiger) Poo!

March 12, 2011

– – Smells like teen spirit?–No, it might smell like tiger poo, at least if you want to use an odor to repel pests…

A team from the University of Queensland made the discovery as they researched non-lethal ways to keep herbivores such as goats and kangaroos away from certain plants.  Now animal repellents are typically based on other offensive smells such as rotten eggs, blood, or bone.  Using tiger feces as a repellent came from the logical notion that if you could smell a predator nearby, you’d probably want to go elsewhere!  Tiger poo was found to be a more effective repellent than the feces of other predators, and it was found to be especially effective if the tiger feces collected were from a tiger who had been fed the animal being targeted.

An offended tiger offered the comment, “Hey, whadya expect?–It don’t smell like roses!“

Researchers also found that old goat carcasses also proved effective in warding away goats, but the smell was so bad that it made the scientists feel sick…

…and you thought that you had a bad job!

 

Categories: animal behavior, animals, research, science
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Comments: 2 Comments

Oh, the Fishies!

March 9, 2011

– – Once again, another mass fish-kill has occurred, this one in Redondo Beach, California.  The fish are mostly sardines and other small fish, thought to number in the hundreds of thousands; so massive are their numbers that the carcasses are about a foot deep on the surface!

Biologists have tentatively concluded that the fish died of oxygen deprivation after being driven by a storm into a closed-off pier area, basically swimming in the wrong direction and ending up in an area with insufficient free-flowing oxygen in it.  There is no sign of oil, chemicals, or illegal activity.

Seals and other fish are gorging themselves, while humans are using buckets and nets to remove the approximate one million deceased fish, which will be taken to a landfill specializing in organic materials…

Categories: animal behavior, animals, aquatic, environmental, unexplained
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Thumb Fun, Eh?

March 6, 2011

– – Jimmy the cat is a polydactyl cat, sometimes referred to as a Hemingway cat because the writer Ernest Hemingway grew to love them after being given a six-toed cat.  Extra digits are a fairly common physical anomaly that’s sometimes caused by a genetic defect.  With an extra toe, Jimmy the cat can give the famous thumbs-up gesture made famous by the Henry Winkler super-cool character Fonzie on the 1970’s show “Happy Days.” He’s currently enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame on youtube.

The official Guinness World Record holder for the cat with the most digits is Jake, a Canadian cat with 27 digits.  A 29-toed cat from Hoboken in the U.S. named Bandit is in the process of applying for recognition…

Categories: animal oddities, animals, anomalies, cool things, furry
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Comments: 5 Comments

Of Mice, Men, and Pizzas…

March 4, 2011

– – Some people bug their competition, while others inflict rodent infestations on them…or so it was in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania where a pizzeria owner with mice problems that he blamed on competitors tried to level the playing field by planting mice in two rival shops, presumably to drive them out of business.

Police authorities say that a man requested to use the bathroom in one pizzeria, taking the opportunity while in there to tuck a bag of three mice inside the drop ceiling.  He then walked across the street to another pizzeria, putting a bag of five live and one deceased mouse inside a trash can within that establishment!

The offending pizza-maker is facing charges of disorderly conduct, harassment, and animal cruelty, police said.  “We have never had anything like this where mice have been used as an instrument of crime,” said the police Superintendent.

The mice, evidently purchased the day of the crime at a nearby pet store, were turned over to animal control officers…

Categories: animals, furry, strange happenings, things humans do
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Comments: 2 Comments

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