– – It’s not well known that Batman creator Bob Kane also created a comic parody called Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse. Originally run from 1960 to 1962, the series almost anticipated the campy extremes of the later-appearing live action Batman TV series. The ‘toons averaged five minutes in length, and 130 were produced, intended for use as airtime filler to accommodate a movie or another feature which didn’t quite fill a time slot.
Parallels to the Batman series were numerous, with “Courageous Cat” and “Minute Mouse” anthropomorphic animal superheroes who lived in the “Cat Cave,” were summoned by a “Cat Signal,” and drove a sleekly-feline “Cat Mobile” which could convert to a plane or boat. The villains were likewise furry, with a frog a recurring archenemy.
The theme music for the show was fashioned after the memorable theme for Peter Gunn! All in all, Courageous Cat was campy fun decently done…
– – Up until recently, people had to relegate deceased animal companions to the grave or cremation; a few even chose to have deceased animals stuffed, although traditional taxidermyinvolves stretching theanimal’s hide over a three-dimensional mold, which tends to yield a rather generic appearance. Requests by grieving owners, however, have led a handful oftaxidermiststo pioneeranimal preservation through freeze-drying, which results in a more individualized, natural appearance.
Freeze-dry chambers lower air pressure to the point that ice turns directly into gas without going through the liquid phase; internal organs and fat don’t freeze-dry well, and accordingly must be replaced with artificial fillers. The machines themselves are incredibly expensive and require lots of electricity to run; the process is also a slow one, requiring perhaps six months to prepare a ten-pound cat, and up to a year for preservation of a large dog. The process costs hundreds of dollars for even the smallest of animals, and thousands for a larger dog.
Despite the high cost, businesses piloting freeze-drying animal preservation report handling between 150 and 200 deceased pets per year…
– – A rhinoceros, a cheetah, and a gazelle walk into a bar…it sounds like a hokey joke, but it’s the theme for a Kraft MiO liquid water enhancer commercial! Blending the line between live action and animation,the spot makes over wild animals into twenty-something dudes, inhabiting a bar appropriately called, The Watering Hole. The Rhino is a solid, muscular guy with glasses wearing a tight T-shirt labeled (–What else?) “Animal.” The Cheetah is a sleek speedster in a leather jacket who bewails the fact that MiO energy drinks are “completely crushing my game” by making everyone “…more energized, more alert” after mixing MiO into their water. As a result, the Cheetah is no longer the fastest beast around!
“Remember when I used to be it?,” continues the Cheetah. “I was the man. If you needed to track a gazelle down for dinner, you came to me.” At that point a jeans-jacket wearing Gazelle literally laughs in the Cheetah’s face!
It’s a great furry bar scene, a place where I’d certainly be at home! Watch for a future spot to include a giraffe…
– – Think The Muppets meet Family Guy, and you’ve got a starting idea of what the show Mongrels is like! This British sitcom revolves around the lives of five anthropomorphic animals who hang around the back of a pub in London. I’m an easy sell for the show as one of the main characters is Nelson, described as a likeable middle-class urban “metrosexual fox.” Other regular characters include an Afghan hound, a borderline-retarded cat, a pigeon, and another sociopathic, foul-mouthed fox. The pilot of the show also included a suicidal chicken!
Definitely not for the wee ones, the show features neutering, incontinence, cannibalism, and catnip overdoses! The show was described as attempting to do for puppetry what American shows like The Simpsons have done for animation. The show, which took five years to make, ran on the BBC for two seasons between 2010 and 2011, but sadly was not renewed for a third seasondue to poor viewing figures. Episodes and clipsof Mongrels may still be viewed on Hulu and YouTube, and Nelson has a page on Facebook as well as another promoting him for Prime Minister…what a fox!
– – Riding on the coattails of the popularity of Geico’s Maxwell the pig, Cici’s Pizza has unleashed near look-alike pigs seen speeding around in a blue van…and the kicker is, these pigs are advertising not insurance, but (-gasp!) a Hog Fest promotion, which means a pizza with bacon, sausage, ham, and pepperoni!- –Oh the horror, thehorror!
Things may get ugly in the Pig Wars from this point on, but you may count on Foxsylvania to give you an unflinching look at the atrocities and keep you fully informed, for you deserve nothing less!
– – In times gone by, New Jersey’s fabled Atlantic City featured at their Steel Pier a so-called “diving horse” act which began in the 1920’s, and was shut down five decades later. In the stunt, a horse ascended to the top of a 40-foot platform, and didn’t as much dive as was tipped off it, plunging the animal and its rider into a 12-foot deep water tank below. Animal rights advocates maintained that the act at the very least scared horses, and carried the potential for them to be injured or even killed.
A brief return of the act happened in 1993 with riderless mules substituted for the horses, but protests ended that revival. Nostalgia for Atlantic City’s edgy past prompted recent plans for anotherdiving horse comeback, but successful online petitions against the plan caused the revival rather than the horses to be tanked…
– – A series of DirecTV commercials shows us the consequences of making bad decisions in a chain of events fashion reminiscent of Laura Numeroff’s 1985 children’s classic, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. It seems that if you pay too much for cable, you throw things. If you throw things, people think that you have anger issues. When people think that you have anger issues, your schedule clears up. When your schedule clears up, you grow a scraggly beard. When you grow a scraggly beard, you start taking in stray animals; and when you take in stray animals, you can’t stop taking in stray animals!
In this half a minute gem, we are shown each step in this downwards spiral, winding up with our unfortunate man at home looking cheerfully demented with unkempt hair and beard, clad in his robe and slippers and surrounded by numerous stray dogs and cats and even a raccoon and opossum! We are told that one may break out of this bleak cycle and stop taking in stray animals by getting rid of cable, and subscribing to DirecTV…
Aspects of this commercial are funny and I take it in the spirit in which it was intended, but the problems of animal collecting and hoarding are real as are the problems of homeless, neglected, and abused pets. The commercial might also be criticized for potentially ridiculing those who have taken in stray animals, a practice which is far from objectionable if done responsibly and in full awareness and acceptance of the commitment involved…
– – Geico continues to produce noteworthy commercials with a furry twist, one of their latest featuring a magnificent black panther doing duty as a money-saving home security system! I certainly wouldn’t mess withhim…trouble is, the couple employingthebig feline’s services aren’t getting much sleep out of the deal, especially since the panther appears to be sizing the duo up, staring as cats do so uncannily well and licking his lips- -heck, they can’t even talk as the fearful woman “shushes” the guy!
The point of the commercial is that Geico offers security that will save you money and doesn’t involve adopting a rescue panther, but cat people will enjoy seeing this black beauty, who as David Bowie sang so memorably, “…can stare for a thousand years.”
– – Maxwell the Pig seems to be getting into extreme sports, and continues to be hamming it up and having the time of his life! Geico’s original 2010 commercial turned the porker into a web sensation, and the last time we saw him he was flying down a zip-wire. Now Maxwell’s trying out a street luge, and making it all look easy; he catches up to a street-luging human, gives him a memorable “bro-nod,” warns him “Ahh…heads up!,” and then becomes airborne! At no time does Maxwell lose his blue and white pinwheels or express anything but giddy delight as he “Weee’s” his way along in his quest for the ultimate thrill!
– – With Stride gum packing long-lasting flavor, management has to take strong measures to get consumers to spit out their gum wad, take a new chew, and so grease the economic wheels. They have devised ingenious ways of doing just that; past commercials have depicted rams butting customers, wrestlers squeezing the gumout of them, and German folk dancers slapping them chew-free. Now, an even heavier hitter has been recruited; the legendary Yeti!
This isn’t your father’s abominable snowman, mind you, although he certainly is cool! This Yeti enters a marketing meeting wearing a headband and earphones, and delivers a gut punch to one manager, physically forcing him to expel his gum. A voiceover warns, “Spit it out. Or Yeti will find you.”
Stride Whitemint gum is licensed by gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White, although I’d much rather meet the Yeti…
– – A rhinoceros, a cheetah, and a gazelle walk into a bar…it sounds like a hokey joke, but it’s the theme for a Kraft MiO liquid water enhancer commercial
– – Riding on the coattails of the popularity of Geico’s Maxwell the pig, Cici’s Pizza has unleashed near look-alike pigs seen speeding around in a blue van…and the kicker is, these pigs are advertising not insurance, but (-gasp!) a Hog Fest promotion, which means a pizza with bacon, sausage, ham, and pepperoni!- –Oh the horror, the horror!
– – In times gone by, New Jersey’s fabled Atlantic City featured at their Steel Pier a so-called “diving horse” act which began in the 1920’s, and was shut down five decades later. In the stunt, a horse ascended to the top of a 40-foot platform, and didn’t as much dive as was tipped off it, plunging the animal and its rider into a 12-foot deep water tank below. Animal rights advocates maintained that the act at the very least scared horses, and carried the potential for them to be injured or even killed.
– – A series of DirecTV commercials shows us the consequences of making bad decisions in a chain of events fashion reminiscent of Laura Numeroff’s 1985 children’s classic, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. 
– – Maxwell the Pig seems to be getting into extreme sports, and continues to be hamming it up and having the time of his life! 
– – With Stride gum packing long-lasting flavor, management has to take strong measures to get consumers to spit out their gum wad, take a new chew, and so grease the economic wheels. They have devised ingenious ways of doing just that; past commercials have depicted rams butting customers, wrestlers squeezing the gum
FOXSYLVANIA 
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