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June 2008 Archive 26 June - The Beautiful Phrase  Zoidberg in Heaven A nice illustration from the new Futurama movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs, of the most beautiful phrase in the English language. link home 26 June - Ugly Cat Ex Voto Update  Friend Lisa the Tsarina wonders if the characterization of the ugly cat in the ugly cat ex voto the other day was simply, as the image above painfully illustrates, a failure of taxonomy. From Fail Blog. Once again I've received the dreaded warning from our hosting service that the site will probably exceed its miserable bandwidth allowance and, if it does, will be taken off the air for the rest of the month. If so, read a good book, like this one, 'til the first of July. link home 22 June - Brave and Ugly Cats  A couple of superb cat-related ex votos - commemorations of miraculous interventions - have shown up on eBay recently. The ex voto shown above is particularly inspiring - here's the inscription, as supplied by the seller: When I got out from my house a thief tried to steal my purse, but when my cats seeing the man attacking me with a knife were rushed above him and they and they clawed him. The thief threw the knife on the floor and ran away very scared. I thank to the Virgin of San Juan because my cats are very brave and they love me a lot.Yeah, except the guy on top of the doorway looks he's asleep. Still, a very gratifying story that I intend to share with my cats.  In this touching ex voto we have two sisters cast in the heroic role: My sister and I were taking a walk when we listen some plaintive meows, we saw that it was a very ugly cat that had fallen to the ravine and it was in a salient of rock and it couldn't climb again, I felt sorry and went down to help it but I noticed then that I couln't climb neither, my sister tried to help me but she isn't strong enogh, we thanks to San Francisco because he gave extra energy to my sister and she could finaly pull me up. The cat is realy ugly but very affectionate and sweet and we adopt it.He may be ugly, but a green cat is quite rare, and should be a real sensation on St. Patrick's Day. Previous cat-related ex votos featured here: Miracle of Feline Augmented Literacy Pretty Hairy Kittens Miracle Demonic Fear of Kitties Cat Scratch Fever Miracle Miracle of the Cat Husband The Miracle of the Embarrassed Cats Tragic Love Canción de los Gatos San Pascual's Cat Aunt Honorata's Cats The Perfect Cat Storm Cat Pi Milagro Greedy-guts Miracle Cat link home 22 June - Culture and Sausage A charming morning in Washington Grove, it being the day of our annual Baroque Breakfast. Above, the Museum's Video Unit captures the excellent Homewood Brass Consort's rendition of the Washington Grove anthem, Washington Grove on the Fourth of July, usually heard played by Washington Grove's own Muskrat Band at the annual Washington Grove Fourth of July celebration on the Fourth of July in Washington Grove. Here's the Muskrat Band's performance of Washington Grove on the Fourth of July at last year's Fourth of July celebration - in Washington Grove. While Josh and the Video Unit were humping the equipment and doing the filming, I had it made in the shade, listening to the delightful music and gorging on sausages, deviled eggs, ham, my own ham and cheese roll, a miso rice ball, home fries, cookies and sangria. It put me in mind of Sydney Smith's notion of paradise, mentioned here previously. link home 21 June - On Smelling the First Trash Train of Summer You know, I'm not convinced that the world needs yet another video of the Derwood-Dickerson Trash Train (CSX D765 Intermodal). And yet for reasons I don't pretend to understand, the Museum's Video Unit has produced another installment to take its place along with the other two Trash Train videos presented here last March. But today's outing has a director's commentary track - it's narrated by Josh Sackville-Cohen, the Unit's cinematographer. Enjoy. link home 21 June - At the Box Office  I noted last August that the Janus Museum Video Unit's most popular production, Giant Squid vs. Cat, had reached the 100,000 views mark. Well, the views are now over 200,000 - 202,130 to be exact. And now it can be watched in higher quality - Youtube has bumped up the resolution on a selection of their finer videos, including GSVC. Watch it here, and click on the "Watch in High Quality" link. However, I have to confess that the Unit's sequel, Giant Squid vs. Cat II, has suffered the universal fate of sequels and has been viewed only 539 times. Even though it is, in my opinion, a superior film - better production values, a tighter script, and a fabulous soundtrack. But I blame the schedule - it opened around the same time as Speed Racer - how could we have hoped to compete with that? link home 16 June - Heavy Cat Artillery  Friend Keith West sends this snap of Cat Clyde taking his ease, unperturbed by Blue Jay strafing. Because why? Because Clyde recently shot down two jays and et them up. Why can't we all just get along? link home 14 June - Terror from the Sky  Two years ago, I reported here on the thrilling reenactment of the Battle of Midway with Blue Jays portraying the Dauntless dive bombers and poor Cats Natasha and Leroy standing in for the Japanese fleet. Yesterday it was Stukas vs. orphans as a Jay repeatedly strafed Nutmeg in the Circle. At first, Nutmeg watched with mild interest, as if she was at an airshow watching the Blue Angels. Above, the Jay begins his high speed pass...  ... And goes around for another pass...  Poor Nutmeg's nerve began to crack, and, under constant attack, she took refuge in the North Wallow:  ... Where she watched in horror as the Jay swept in on his final strafing run:  Later on, the Jay extended his attacks to Natasha and Leroy - Natasha legged it to the porch of the Historic Cottage, while Leroy cowered under the azaleas. I've ordered our maintenance man Gus to dig some cat-sized slit trenches - must procure some defensive gear, too. Update - a reliable source tell me that Buddha Minor, who I shall now call Flak (from the German Flugabwehrkanone, aircraft defence cannon), brought down a Jay yesterday. Don't know, yet, if he shot down Nutmeg's nemesis, or if the Jay attacks were retaliation for Buddha's aggression. And this used to be such a peaceful place... link home 7 June - Documentary I digitized an old VHS copy of Washington Grove - Town Within a Forest, a 1989 documentary on the rustic community in which I reside. With the permission of the mayor and council, I posted it on Google Video - it's too long for Youtube. It's pretty interesting - lovely views of the town, interviews with neighbors, vintage photographs. But for some reason, the Janus Museum isn't mentioned in the piece at all, which is a curious omission - then as now, the Museum is one of the chief attractions of Washington Grove. At the time the program was made, the incumbent curator of the Museum was attempting to convert the institution into a water park and miniature golf course, and feelings were running high against us. Also, I'm told that the producers asked the Norbeck family to keep Gus, the Museum's maintenance man, indoors during the filming of the program, and they kept him locked in the attic, along with his mad aunt. And I don't appear in the show, either - wasn't employed by the Museum back then, and was living out of state. It's an excellent program, anyway. Loader Update - the fleet of New Holland skid steer loaders, mentioned here last week, has now departed. I'll miss them. link home 6 June - Excellent Bandit Haberdashery  Fine exotic headgear is on view in the 1974 Polish televison series Janosik: The Highland Robber, based on the exploits of the 18th century Polish - Slovakian Robin Hood of the Tatra mountains, Juraj Jánošík. Above, the late Marek Perepeczko as Janosik (right) wears his fabulous dress bandit chieftain hat as he chews the fat with an Austrian officer in a lovely dragoon helmet. The historic Janosik was executed in 1713; this series is set in the early 19th century. The series is great fun, as the brave noble wise and buff Janosik outwits the nasty count and his margrave - the King John and Sheriff of Nottingham analogues - and occasionally gets to neck with the spunky yet beautiful peasant lass Maryna (Ewa Lemanska). Comic relief is provided by the exasperated margrave (Marian Kociniak) and by a couple of bumbling bandits, Kwiczol (Bogusz Bilewski) and Pyzdra (Witold Pyrkosz). Several excerpts can be viewed over on Youtube. Oh! Here's a takeoff on Youtube - very funny if you understand Polish. And here's the cool theme music, which will run continually through your head for a week or two (streaming MP3). The series is available from Netflix. 6 June - Cat Herding Update - Recipe Corner Old friend Dr. John Herrera, long-time head of the famous High Speed Triumph Research Laboratory of Myersville, Maryland, sends his own startling anecdote of cats herding cats: A while back, I had to give Felix medicine for some ailment. One afternoon, the time came for his medicine but Felix was nowhere to be found. Buster was hanging about, so I told him, "Go find Felix and tell him to come home and take his medicine." Buster ran off somewheres and soon returned with Felix, who greedily licked his medicine from the eyedropper. Wonder what it was flavored with? If you're getting tired of grilled brussels sprouts, you might enjoy a dish I'm currently working on - I've recently become a fan of pasta with spinach; the recipe is still evolving, but it stands thusly at this point (in time): Sauté onion in olive oil. When it turns golden, add chopped garlic. After a minute or two, add sliced mushrooms. A little bacon would probably be nice, but I haven't tried it, yet. Let it all cook for a while and season as you will - I add dried red chili. Turn the heat down. In the large pot of water you put on the stove earlier, which is now boiling, add pasta - I suggest linguini. As the pasta cooks, turn the heat up on the onions and mushrooms. Add lots of fresh spinach. Toss well to mix with the onions and mushrooms. Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Toss with Parmesan, and add the spinach/onion/mushroom/optional bacon mixture. Toss well, adding some of the pasta liquid (or a little half and half if you're feeling opulent) as needed. Toss with more Parmesan and top with a couple grinds of black pepper. |
