Archive for the ‘Brilliant but twisted’ category

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Sock Monkey Mania!

March 16, 2010

– – Sock monkeys seem to be going through a renaissance lately.  I’ve always found sock monkeys vaguely unnerving, and I’m not sure that I entirely trust them, feeling that there’s more to them than meets the eye.  This impression has been heightened for me by the Kia Sorento “Joyride” commercial featuring a life-sized sock monkey together with his equally-unlikely companions that include a robot, a teddy bear, a knobby orange thing called “Muno,” and “Mr. X.”

Well, no good can come from this unholy alliance, and the strange crew goes on a road trip that includes stops at a bowling alley, a mountainside hot tub, a tattoo parlor, and even Las Vegas where they gamble and show off a few dance moves; what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas, often for good reason.

But suddenly, we flash back to reality, where the characters in this surreal little drama turn out to be toys in the back seat of a Sorento!  It’s kinda like A Toy Story on acid, or maybe a rejected Twilight Zone episode…

…and I’m still uneasy about sock monkeys!   Perhaps it’s because he’s shown driving the car, although from what I’ve seen some cars might be better driven by a sock monkey…at least he’s not texting!     😉

Categories: animal oddities, Brilliant but twisted, television
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Billy the Exterminator!

March 13, 2010

– – You may not want to watch this show while eating, especially when he’s grappling with cockroaches, but otherwise Billy the Exterminator on the A & E network is a hoot!

Now Louisiana has lots of critters needing removal, and Billy together with his brother, Ricky, and other members of his family run a small but effective operation that’s shared with you.   Billy himself looks like an over-aged punk rocker or goth, complete with spiked hair, black clothes,  spiked armband, and  an aura of cheerful insanity; such apparently helps in that business.   He seems like a really nice guy and knows his stuff, even if you wouldn’t want him to marry your sister…anyhow, ladies, he’s taken!   As far as exterminators go, Billy’s also refreshingly humane, and tends to be into relocation of most of the life forms he removes, except for the insects.- –Catch and Release, three words to live by!

Watch a few episodes, and you’ll see Billy remove poisonous snakes, raccoons, bats, beavers, and a variety of other mammals and invertebrates from sites where they’re not wanted.  In a recent surreal episode, the intrepid exterminator was called upon to remove a nasty, p.o.’d rattlesnake from the cremation area of a funeral parlor.  It’s not all the glory stuff, however…in an another episode, you crawl along with Billy as he goes underneath a building to remove the festering and rancid corpse of a bloated, decomposing cat that’s stinking to high heaven.–“Fluffy’s not so fluffy anymore,” jokes Billy, noting that bugs are crawling in and out of the late cat’s head.- -Sure am glad that I wasn’t snacking during that one!

So give Billy the Exterminator a look…he’s got an interesting if offbeat life, and you might find a new role model!


Categories: animal occurrences, animals, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furry, television
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Frankie the Fish!

February 22, 2010

– – Not to be confused with the Big Mouth Billy Bass fish, a horrendous novelty gift of almost ten years ago, Frankie the Fish is a similar but distinctive item who memorably hawks McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

“Gimme back that Filet-O-Fish/Gimme that fish,” sings Frankie in his own distinctive fashion in a commercial that tends to run through your head over and over again until you’re ready to filet yourself.   Notable is the fact that the two human actors in the ad don’t talk at all, one shrugging off the singing  fish on a plaque and the other displaying surprise.  The sandwich is made from cod and pollock, and originally a taxidermist created a pollock fish with a remote control device to operate his head and tail.  That creation was considered too scary, so the fish was made more toy-like to be less creepy.

McDonald’s sells about 300 million Filet-O-Fish sandwiches annually, 25% of them during the 40 days of Lent.  Frankie himself is quite the spokesfish, with the ad viewed on You Tube more than a million times…


Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, television
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“Scooter’s” Salvation!

February 18, 2010

– – This Minute Maid commercial is priceless!  “Mr. Hill, there’s something wrong with Scooter!,” cry elementary school students in alarm to their teacher.  At first, he’s drowsy and really doesn’t care, only reassuring the kids that he’s kept the store receipt for the unresponsive rabbit.- –Somebody forgot to boost!

Then in an alternate scenario, the teach when alerted slams down some Minute Maid Enhanced Strawberry Kiwi juice, spies floating helium balloons tethered nearby, rubs the balloons on his hair, and then applies the balloons to the bunny in distress, the static electricity acting like a cardiac defibrillator! Scooter is saved, jolted back to life and awakening with his static-charged fur standing on end while the class cheers!

Now you see why science education must never be neglected, to say nothing of enhanced fruit juices…

Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, humor, television
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Sears Optical Raccoon…

January 27, 2010

– – The lady inviting the “Kitty” into her house to snuggle with her in bed needs her eyes checked badly, ’cause what she’s really inviting in is a rather large raccoon, who roams right in, and makes himself at home!   The commercial ends with the raccoon blissfully reclining on the woman’s bed.

The woman in this hilarious and brilliant Sears Optical commercial needs to be more careful, ’cause raccoons don’t have the best of reputations…  😉

Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, furry perspectives, humor, television
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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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