Archive for the ‘Brilliant but twisted’ category

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Elmer Does Geico!

January 4, 2010

– – Elmer Fudd has always been the perfect patsy for Bugs Bunny; although the outcome of their encounters is a given and you know Elmer couldn’t possibly hurt Bugs, you have to admire the rabbit’s artful and leisurely baiting of the incompetent, bumbling hunter.–Just sit back, relax, and watch a true master at work!

The great classics never really get old, and the woodland encounters of this duo are timeless, playing as well in the present as they did decades ago.  Besides being hopelessly inept, Elmer is cursed with a speech impediment, engineered back in the days when Porky Pig stuttered painfully and it was not politically incorrect.- -Well, Elmer still has trouble with his /r/ sound, so “rabbit season” comes out “wabbit season.”– – We wouldn’t have it any other way!  But after being coached and corrected several times on the /r/ sound, Elmer is spent, stomping off with complaints that the director is “getting on his nerves!.”

As part of Geico’s “Rhetorical Question” series, it’s good to see the mighty hunter again.  Just be “vewy, vewy quiet, he’s hunting wabbits!”- –Looney Tunes forever!!!

Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cartoons, television
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“We’re All Mad Here…”

December 16, 2009

– – I confess that I’ve always loved Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, and especially had a soft spot for the Cheshire Cat…well, said feline has never looked better or toothier than in the upcoming March of 2010 version by Tim Burton!–Who better to capture the notes of madness, darkness,  and menace in the piece than Tim Burton, especially with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter?!  Stephen Fry plays the Cheshire Cat.

It’s very hard to do justice to Alice In Wonderland, and many attempted adaptations have fallen short of the mark and been disappointments; the recent SyFy Channel’s adaptation comes to mind, while it did have its moments.– This could well be the definitive version!– The Cheshire Cat looks ten times creepier than in all previous versions!!!

…It’s gonna be a weird, wild Wonderland in amazing 3D…March 5th, 2010 can’t come soon enough for this fox!




Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furries, furry, furry heroes, furry spirits, movies
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Rampant Rodentia!

December 12, 2009

– – He ain’t cute, cuddly, or good-looking.  It’s not even a great fursuit.  But you gotta love this guy, and these commercials!

It’s the d-Con Dinner Guest or “Get Out” commercial series, featuring an uninvited guest of the rodent persuasion as he gets into homes where he’s simply not wanted.  In one episode, this life-size, scruffy-looking mouse is confronted by the female homeowner, who sneers,  “You disgust me!”  to our hero.  He’s not shaken; “Prove it!,” he counters in a deadpan monotone.

Maybe you wouldn’t want this guy in your house either, but I’d have him in for coffee and a Danish…he’s refreshing, furry, and a wonderful antihero!- -What a great counter to the usual cutesy mice we see!- –Bravo!!!- –As Soupy Sales would have had it, “Let’s all do the Mouse!”

– -Two paws up for this world-weary, unflappable rodent!


Categories: Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furries, furry, humor, television
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Soupy Sales Gone…

October 24, 2009

Soupy Sales— I can’t take the loss of many more of my childhood icons; Captain Kangaroo has passed on, and now also Soupy Sales at age 83.   Soupy in my opinion has never gotten the credit or recognition that he deserved; a comedian of television, radio, and film born Milton Supman, Soupy drew heavily from slapstick and also used word play and improvisation. His comedy wasn’t always sophisticated, but it could be clever and was always funny; taking a pie in the face was a stock in trade, and Soupy estimated that he and his visitors took 20,000 pies in the course of his career.  Soupy was big at the time in the New York area where I grew up in to the extent that kids would imitate him and do his routines.

Soupy had furry elements; two of the visitors to his shows were dogs called White Fang and Black Tooth, who appeared at his door as giant shaggy paws with felt triangular claws.  White Fang spoke with unintelligible growls and grunts which Soupy repeated back to his audience in English; Black Tooth was also unintelligible, but was into giving loud and sloppy kisses to Soupy off-camera.   Then there was Pookie the Lion, a hip character prone to appearing in Soupy’s window who you could understand. – -Soupy even had a novelty dance record and song called The Mouse which was wildly popular in the mid-1960’s!- –Hey!–Do the Mouse, Yeah! I last saw Soupy on game shows, those last retreats of celebrities past their popularity prime.  Even then, he was funny, using his improv talents to transcend the medium and material that he had to work with.

As Soupy was influenced by the Marx Brothers, so he also influenced other comedians including Andy Kaufman and Paul Reubens; if you twist and press Soupy’s persona, you get Pee-wee Herman!   Soupy was an earlier prototype of the cheerfully demented childrens’ TV show host, filled with manic energy.   All of these comics realized that much comic inspiration can be drawn from childhood, which can be darker and more twisted  than many realize…

Thank you, Soupy, for all the laughter and the furry undertones!   To quote lyrics from The Mouse, “every cat in the neighborhood will be in shock.”

Cats, you see, loved Soupy Sales, and will miss him as will I…


Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, furry, furry heroes, furry spirits, humor, television
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Nostradamus Effect

September 17, 2009

Nostradalmatian– -The end is near!– -At least that’s what the doomsday predictions from Nostradamus, the Book of Revelation, the Mayan “long count” calendar and many others would have us believe.  A new show on The History Channel, Nostradamus Effect,  examines end-of-time predictions from cultures across the globe, questioning whether they constitute inspired visions or crackpot conspiracy theories.

Now Michel de Nostradamus was a 16th century French physician and astrologer whose name is synonymous with apocalyptic visions of the near and distant future…kinda the gold standard for that type of thing.  But we furries have our future-predicting psychic seers, too!

One such is Nostradalmatian, a canine seer seen in the comic strip Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley.- -Don’t you believe in Nostradalmatian’s uncanny powers?!–Oh, he knew that you were going to say that!!!

Categories: anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, comics, furry, furry heroes, psychic
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The Crasher Squirrel…

August 22, 2009

crasher squirrel—  He’s furry, he’s fun, and he’s…everywhere!–The crasher squirrel, that is!

It all started out when some people were taking a family photo in Alberta, Canada’s Banff National Park…ho hum!   A ground squirrel then decided to check out what was going on, perhaps intrigued by the novelty of the camera or the sounds being made, and stepped right into the foreground of the photo, taking it over and casting the intended subjects into the background!–What could be more appropriate?–This little guy brightens up any photo, and looks like he belongs!

The rest, as they say, is internet history.  Photos of the little guy have appeared in a variety of settings, both past,  present, and future.   He has been seen with people famous and unknown, the former including Lincoln and his generals as well as contemporary leaders.  The crew of the Enterprise-D would certainly have benefited from a furry crew member, even if he is out of uniform…

There’s no reason why you can’t join in the fun as well.  Just go to http://www.lutralutra.co.uk/squirrelizer to invite the little guy to step into your favorite action!

Two paws up for the crasher squirrel, easily the furry of the week!

Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furry, furry heroes, humor, trends
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What Cats Know…

July 29, 2009

Rorschach

If you like complex comic book heroes and dark story lines, you just might enjoy Watchmen, now available for purchase or rental.  Set in an alternate reality circa 1985 that’s teetering on the brink of nuclear war, Watchmen covers the exploits of half a dozen flawed superheroes as they investigate the murder of one of their number and uncover a sinister plot threatening the world.

While the avian-themed Nite Owl appears to be the only quasi-furry character in the movie, for me the heart and soul of the flick is Rorschach. Looking like some 1940’s gumshoe detective in a trench coat and a fedora, Rorschach also sports an enigmatic mask on which play constantly-changing inkblot images that give the character his name.  Rorschach also has the best dialogue in the flick, lines like:

“Felt dark planet turn under my feet and know what cats know that makes them scream like babies in night.”

(…from the journal of Rorschach as seen in the movie, Watchmen…)

While a sociopath as “crazy as a snake’s armpit,” Rorschach makes disturbing sense at times,  has a kind of tragic nobility to him, and is exceedingly tough and cool.  When locked up in a prison with fifty or so criminals he placed there, Rorschach re-frames the situation to consider the cons as locked up with him, not he with them…he is the alpha predator there, and he proves it!

Watchmen also features Ozymandias, the world’s smartest human, with his intriguing animal companion, lynx. There is also the blue-skinned Dr. Manhattan, yet another physicist given awesome powers to manipulate matter as a result of a terrible accident.   Nearly-omnipotent, Dr. Manhattan  spends much of the movie fully-exposed in the nude…(when you’re omnipotent, you can dress pretty much any darn way you want!)

The movie also has a wonderful historical perspective, going back to 1940 or so to chronicle the early history of these superheroes and their parents; you’ll even catch glimpses of President Kennedy and the legendary second gunman who assassinated him, and view Watchmen fighting on the American side in Vietnam.  There’s a Mothman in this group as well, but he’s not the cryptid and winds up in an asylum, possibly due to a cheesy costume.

You’ll probably either love or hate Watchmen, but I fell into the former group…guess I’m learning what cats know…





Categories: Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furry spirits
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Taco Bell Chihuahua Dies!

July 23, 2009

taco-bell-240— Jeez,  you  can hardly turn around these days without another beloved celebrity passing away…and so once again we mourn the passing of one of the truly great furry ones, Gidget, the former Taco Bell chihuahua, who died of a stroke Tuesday night at the age of 15.

Yes, Gidget was really a female playing a male dog who was voiced by Argentine-American actor Carlos Alazraqui!  The commercials featuring the chihuahua haven’t aired in nine years, essentially killed by a rash of political correctness.  In their peak in the late 1990’s, the canine actress traveled by limo and went first-class in planes.  Following her retirement, Gidget is said to have lived “like a queen.”

The hugely-popular commercials which immortalized the phrase, “Yo quiero Taco Bell” drew the ire of Hispanic watchdog groups which claimed that it promoted stereotypes, and demanded that the commercials be taken off the air.  I, for one, never saw the chihuahua as being anything but hip and cool, an articulate and bright furry spokescanine that could be appreciated on a variety of levels.

In one late commercial of the series lampooning a variety of fast-food spokesmen, I’ll always remember the chihuahua driving up in a tank, and saying, “Hey, look what I found!”  Rest in peace, Gidget…you were among the best!

Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furry, furry heroes, television
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The Demonization and Canonization of Michael Jackson

June 27, 2009

Jackson— So what’s a Michael Jackson post doing in a furry blog?  Well, don’t forget that he did a rather good were in his Thriller video!

I think it’s important to separate Michael Jackson the artist from Michael Jackson the Sideshow, which occupied most of the public and press attention for the past 20 plus years or so.  Michael was a great performer with a variety of gifts, the megastar of the 1980’s.  In addition to the music, Michael was a dazzling dancer whose moves at times couldn’t be believed even when seen; he radiated vibrant youth and kinetic energy at his prime.   Thriller was as good a concept piece as has ever been done, the video inspired by Jackson’s enjoyment of American Werewolf in London. The dancing zombies of Thriller continue to awe me even today.

It’s unfortunate that Michael’s personal idiosyncrasies diminished his popularity and earned him the “Wacko Jacko” label; he didn’t need all those plastic surgeries, and at times conveyed an edge of creepiness.  Michael needed better handlers to save him from himself.   In middle age, Jackson struggled to recapture his earlier fame and fan base, following the destructive downward spiral that Elvis and other great performers have traveled, apparently and sadly not omitting the drug component.  As with Elvis, death is likely to provide Michael with a post-mortem career boost and solidify his reputation; the soaring accolades have already begun.   One wonders where all of his well-wishers were when Jackson stood almost alone on abuse charges, and when he was in crying need of interventions for apparent prescription drug addictions.

Immensely talented, tormented, and twisted, both child-like and complex, Michael Jackson was one of a kind.  Adored by some, demonized by others, he was always intriguing…rest in peace, Michael, and thank you for sharing your uniqueness and great performance gifts with us.

Categories: Brilliant but twisted, furry perspectives, Off-topic, television
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The Barrel Monster!

June 17, 2009

090616-barrel-monster-hmed-.widec– -Hehe! –Maybe MonsterQuest should cover the Barrel Monster!

It’s an arresting sight…or at least it got its creator arrested!  Standing ten feet tall, the Barrel Monster was the creation of Raleigh, NC history major Joseph Carnevale, who chopped up three stolen orange and white traffic barrels from a construction site to create this 10′ sculpture of a roadside monster thumbing a ride.

The police, natch, seized the monster and will probably charge its creator.–Is it art, vandalism, or both?–You decide, but I think it’s cool, as do a lot of other folks who’ve rallied to the artist’s defense!

Next, the street artist and college student may be attempting a barrel sculpture of a T-rex!  And by the way, his 1997 VW Jetta is covered with hot-glued beer bottle caps!–Bravo!!!

Categories: Brilliant but twisted, cool things, humor, Off-topic, strange happenings, things humans do
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