Liberating Lobsters…

Posted August 10, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal rights, animals, aquatic, philosophy
Tags: ,

 – – In Gloucester, Mass. on August 3rd (Wheel Turning Day),  a group of thirty Tibetan Buddhists bought 534 live lobsters from a seafood wholesaler, clipped the bands binding their claws, and then released them back into the Atlantic from a whale-watching vessel, saving them at least temporarily from the boiling pot.   Among those setting the lobsters free was a chef who no longer cooks live shellfish.  The Buddhists typically liberate masses of the expensive seafood a couple of times each year.

While the Buddhists recognize that the lobsters may be re-captured, it is felt that by the action, the lobsters have had a longer life, even if only by an hour.  Lobsters to the Buddhist are viewed equally with other life forms, with their happiness and suffering  just as important to them as it would be to higher life forms. 

And for the fishermen paid for their labors, it’s a win-win proposition…I dunno what the lobsters think about being captured and then released, but they may perceive it as a near-death experience…

Comments: 3 Comments

The Cat Rules!

Posted August 8, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, cartoons, furry, television
Tags: ,

 – – I freely confess that I’ve always been a big fan of Dr. Seuss and his creations, having the stuff read to me and then reading it as a child, and later reading it aloud to younger family members as they were growing up.  Dr. Seuss was light years ahead of his time, coming up with marvelously surreal creatures and plots in painfully strait-laced times.  I credit Dr. Seuss and his works with strongly influencing my generally twisted take on life.

My fave Seuss character not surprisingly is the Cat in the Hat.  The Cat is kind of the kingpin of the Seuss empire, it’s heart and soul, a spirit of gleeful anarchy in a Republican world…yes, the Cat is all that!  The Cat could create joyful mayhem, but not to worry, he always made it right at the end!  And who didn’t envy the Cat’s vehicle, the Thinga-ma-jigger, a device which could sprout disturbing arm appendages, wings, pontoons, rocket boosters, and even change size!  Alright, the styling was bizarre, but I wanted this kind of chariot more than I wanted a Jetson flying car!  Thing One and Thing Two could be called on to execute the heavy-duty devastation, and then there was that marvelous anthropomorphic fish in a bowl, the lone voice of reason and caution in this mad world!  There wasn’t a fish of this caliber until Klaus Heissler the goldfish in American Dad.  Like Klaus, the Seuss fish seems alright breathing air so long as at least one small part of his body is in water.

 

Like the Cat, many Seuss characters were anthropomorphic furries that kind of led clueless humans around by the nose…and I’m glad that the Cat has a PBS series on called, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!  The Cat is voiced by Martin Short, and continues to be utterly awesome…and yes, I’ve been known to steal a look at the show!

Comments: 2 Comments

Foxxy Love

Posted August 6, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: furry-like, television
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 – – Foxxy Love is not really a furry; rather, she is a parody of Valerie Brown from Josie and the Pussycats, her outfit likely inspired by the Pussycats’ cat costumes. Foxxy’s name is derived from the names of two famous “blaxploitation” characters, Foxy Brown and Christie Love.   A character in the animated series Drawn Together, Foxxy is a mystery-solving musician who is sassy, promiscuous, and tactless.  She wears a scanty fox girl costume that has fox ears and a fox tail; the series has produced a number of contradictions about whether the tail is real or fake.  In a handful of episodes the tail appears to be real although Foxxy is seen without the tail on numerous other occasions.  The Foxxy is bisexual and, err, very kinky!  It’s hard to dislike anyone whose former band was called, The Foxxy Five!

Comments: 2 Comments

Wash and Wear Kitty…

Posted August 4, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal behavior, animals, strange happenings
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 – – Sometimes even being cute isn’t enough to save you from being put through the ringer, or at least the washer.  Maybe it was one royal wedding too many, but something drove Princess, an eight-week-old kitten in the UK city of Aberdeen, into a washing machine where undetected, she survived a one hour washing cycle. 

The kitten was found after the wash cycle concluded, clinging for dear life to a pair of jeans. Rushed to a vet following her ordeal, the kitten was shaken, shivering,  and had  a nose bleed and sore eyes but suffered from no lasting damage.  Cats like to hide in small, dark, and sometimes warm places such as washers and dryers, and such appliances should accordingly be checked by feline owners for occupants prior to use …

Comments: 1 Comment

Unsinkable “Battleship?”

Posted August 1, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: aliens, aquatic, movies
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 – – More bad aliens are on the horizon, guys.  While sitting in the theater waiting to see Cowboys and Aliens and wondering why I was being subjected to a Buick commercial as minutes ticked by,  previews also aired,  including one for a movie not to reach the big screen until May of 2012.  The movie is called Battleship, and is loosely based on…the board game of the same name, with alien invaders thrown in as the antagonists.  Said aliens, “The Regents,” have come to Earth to build a power source in the ocean.  During their visit, the aliens encounter a navy fleet, and a very intense and dynamic battle ensues.  The teaser trailer shows a humongous USO emerging from the sea; “Prepare to fire!,” orders the commanding officer.  “Sir, which weapons?,” questions the subordinate.  “All of them,” responds the commander.

Now movies have been made about board and video games before, for example Clue and Mortal Combat.  Battleship will be one of the most expensive movies that Hollywood has ever made with an estimated budget of 200 million, and it carries the distinction of already having been cited by James Cameron (Aliens) as an example of the lack of creativity and viable story lines in Hollywood. 

 

I’m not worried about the outcome of this conflict, however.  We can always turn Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford or the SEALs loose on the aliens…

Comments: 1 Comment

Creative and Awesome “Cowboys and Aliens!”

Posted July 30, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: aliens, movies
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 – – If you go to see no other movie this summer or even this year, go see Cowboys & Aliens, which just opened at theaters this Friday, July 29th.  In a summer filled with disappointments, re-makes, and movies which just should never have been made, Cowboys & Aliens shines brightly, truly a beacon in the darkness.  It boasts an innovative storyline, some superb acting, rich atmospherics, and quality special effects.   While absurd on the surface, the movie works, is well crafted, and totally cool!

Alien menaces have been the rage for the past several years now, and one hopes that such a mentality does not hold sway in a real first contact situation with Earth, or the Vulcans may get blown away when they touch down in the future.  Still, the human race loves to overcome differences to unite against overwhelming odds, and so it was in the western town of  Absolution in the New Mexican Territory circa 1873 when a group of nasty aliens came to harvest gold and humans; when a cattle incineration occurs, we almost expect to see Fox Mulder’s great-grandfather introduced.  Daniel Craig as the enigmatic Jake Lonergan and Harrison Ford as Col. Dolarhyde overcome technological limitations to whip some serious alien butt, in the process uniting diverse enemies and even getting an assist from Native Americans. – – You haven’t lived until you’ve seen vicious aliens peppered by arrows and pierced by a lance!  These aliens are vulnerable because they underestimated us, so they deserve what they get, ‘ya see, and even their inner set of arms won’t save them.

This isn’t a comedy or a spoof and is played straight, although western traditions are played off left and right.  Craig provides a variation on Clint Eastwood’s “man with no name” as the man with no memory who finds himself in the desert soon to be assailed by undesirables.  Fortunately Craig brought his James Bond fighting skills with him, and has a nifty wrist rocket gadget appropriated from the aliens that might have been developed by “Q” himself.  Equally tough as nails is Harrison Ford, looking splendid in the saddle and seemingly as miffed at  government as everyone else.  When James Bond and Indiana Jones get together, you’re in for a wild and fun ride!- – So what if it’s not Shakespeare.

I applaud intelligent and well-done crossover movies such as Cowboys and Aliens, and hope that we’ll see more of them!   When Craig’s character rides off at the end Eastwood-like, a sequel is all but begged for.  Perhaps a few aliens could be spared to vaporize the Smurfs that were playing in the adjoining theater…now that’s a menace!


Comments: 5 Comments

Exit the Tiger…

Posted July 28, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, strange happenings, things humans do
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 – – I’ve seen far better tiger fursuits, but when Oregon democratic representative David Wu was photographed in a tiger suit, it raised concerns about erratic behavior and the congressman’s mental health!   The photo was apparently an attachment to an e-mail sent to a female staffer, and it apparently convinced a number of his staffers that Wu was batshit crazy, causing a number of them to resign and others to plan mental health interventions for him.  Wu said that the photo was taken while he was “joshing around” with his children late at night in October just before Halloween.

Sending the photo may have been poor judgement, but there are far worse photos that might be sent to female staffers, such as the shirtless and flexing  photos sent by one ousted New York congressman to a random woman met on Craigslist.  Later allegations of sexual improprieties would  force Wu to resign, but I will miss this nerdy congressman with limited social skills who in one speech famously said of the Bush administration, “Don’t let faux Klingons send real Americans to war!“

Comments: 2 Comments

Amazing Sea Monkeys!

Posted July 26, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, Invertebrates, strange, stupid
Tags:

– -If you grew up on comic books as I did, you may remember reading cheesy ads on the back pages and cover for things like, well, X-ray eyeglasses and Sea Monkeys!  The ad presented the sea monkeys as being intelligent mer-people who would serve you as their king, “clown around,” and even “learn tricks for your amusement!”- – What child doesn’t nurture a God-fantasy where a kingdom of adoring and obedient subjects would shout “Hail!,” and appeal for attention and approval whenever they enter their bedroom?  Twilight Zone episodes have been built around this kind of thing, and a locker full of a tiny kingdom was also glimpsed in one of the Men In Black movies.- -Works for me!

This would have been a neat trick indeed, because the “sea monkeys” were in reality not primates but… brine shrimp!  Gullible and naive fool that I was, I actually ordered sea monkeys…twice!  The first time, the tiny crustaceans failed to even hatch.  The second time they did hatch, but had an extremely short life span, never living up to my expectations, showing personalities, or considering me royalty…caveat emptor!

Comments: 3 Comments

Hail, Caesar!

Posted July 24, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, furry, furry film classics, furry heroes, movies
Tags: ,

 – – Caesar’s back, and he’s dark and seriously miffed…Caesar of the Planet of the Apes franchise, that is!  It’s been a long time since the original 1968 Charlton Heston Apes movie introduced us to what was then revolutionary special effects make-up  and the delights of Roddy McDowall as chimpanzee archaeologist Cornelius; he would later play Cornelius’ son, Caesar, in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and later in Battle for the Planet of the Apes.  McDowall characteristically spent close to four hours in the make-up chair for each chimpanzee transformation.  Despite wearing heavy ape prosthetic appliances, McDowall was able to effectively emote his character’s personality by exaggerating his facial expressions.

In the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie headed your way in August, a scientist is experimenting on a chimpanzee named Caesar to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease.  Caesar’s intelligence is greatly enhanced by the experiments, and well…you know the rest.  The CGI apes have amazingly intelligent-looking eyes, but it remains to be seen whether this new Apes movie will be more fun than a barrel of monkeys or will simply drive you bananas…

Comments: 2 Comments

Caddy, the Alaskan Nessie?

Posted July 22, 2011 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, anomalies, cryptozoology, mysteries, strange, unexplained, weird

 – – There’s a monster in Alaska…and no, I do not speak of Sarah Palin!  I even dislike the term, “monster,” for its negative connotations.  But in the North Pacific a 2009 video captures a 20- to 30-foot long unknown creature.  The footage, black and white video, was taken by fishermen on a rainy day with (- -what else?) a shaky camera.  


One eyewitness, none less than Andy Hillstrand of the Deadliest Catch reality tv show, describes the creature as a “big, long white thing moving in the water.”  Spray came out of the creature’s head, and the fishermen chased it for twenty minutes.  Described as “definitely not a shark,” the cryptid was unlike anything that the men had seen before.  

This Nessie-like aquatic animal hails from the Cadboro Bay in British Columbia, and is accordingly called “Caddy” for short.  It is further described as having a long neck, a horse-like head, large eyes, and back bumps that stick out of the water.   No newcomer, reports of such a creature have circulated for 200 years.  In 1937, scientists thought that they might have uncovered physical evidence of  Caddy when what was thought to be a sea serpent was found inside the stomach of a whale. 


Alternative identities of the sightings have made mention of the Beluga whale, an oarfish, or a ribbon fish.  In any case, be wary of large, blurry monsters running rampant on the land and seas!  And would someone with a high-definition camera please get out there?!

Comments: 4 Comments

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