Corny jokes are all that I’m left with, along with growing paranoia.
Just over a week ago, I was trawling (geddit?) through our Netflix queue looking for something to watch, promptly found “Trollhunter” sitting two thirds of the way down, and jumped over to Nekoneko to re-read her review.
By the way, if you’re interested in watching “Trollhunter” I recommend you read her write up. Because you see, I did not finish it. And I wanted to review it. By Grabthar’s hammer, this was not to be…
“The adventures of Tintin” (107 minutes, USA, 2011 – rated PG)
Perhaps the most difficult thing in adapting material like Hergé’s comic books has to do with tone and pitch. To say the themes and characters are dated or fixed in time might be unkind, but it’s safe to say Tintin is steeped in tradition. And in some instances, some would even say good riddance.
Tintin’s adventures spanned about 40 years from the 1930’s until the 1970’s, a period which started between world wars, through European decolonization, the nuclear age, race to space and the cold war, with a hero combining Baden-Powell’s Boy Scouts’ ideals with the romantic depiction of the journalist as defender of the Fourth Estate.
It’s Caturday, but before I get to the pointy eared people, I thought I would announce a pet food recall. Diamond Pet Foods has announced a voluntary recall of dry pet food because of salmonella. It also includes Costco’s Kirkland Signature and Nature’s Domain Products. You can read more about it here. I have also discovered that Natural Balance is also recalling some of their food made by Diamond. You can read that announcement here. The recall includes dog AND cat food, so please check your labels. I don’t want to read about anyone losing their much loved pet to this.
I might add, that while food appears to have been the problem with Kitsy being sick, it was not because of salmonella. The other two were eating the same food and they were fine. Now that he’s on a grain-free food, Kitsy is doing much better. He’s scrawny, but he’s eating well, so he should gain weight again.
Now it’s time for the pointy eared people to shine.
For your enjoyment, two related videos:
While Mazuzu continues his recovery, Jenny shows signs of boredom. Add to that the oh-so attractive scent of freshly laundered socks and she’ll leap into action, ‘sploding the contents of the laundry bag all over the kitchen floor.
She spent so much time rolling in it, biting and clawing, that we actually noticed two colored spots on her gut: a solitary dab of orange and a light blue one where she was, erm…- fixed.
Weird, I know, but there you go. Getting the socks all over the place was just the “apéritif”, and she moved on to paper towel shredding on the bed, attacking our toes and my calves, throwing one of her stuffed toys in the air repeatedly (we had to cover our coffee mugs just in case).
Hours later, the little Hellion’s crashed on the cat tower recharging her batteries while Tito’s out chasing some flying thing, perhaps imaginary.
… What Nurse Jenny does most of the time: keep Maz the Schnazz warm:
“The grapes of death” – (85 minutes, France – NR)
Thirty years before the excellent comedy “Bottle Shock” came out, this little known gem drew its inspiration from the troubled French wine industry. Question is: was it a diamond in the rough or straight up zirconium?
Marking a return to the Midnight Movie Madness review format is this bit of a curio from 1970s France, written and directed by Jean Rollin. I found this looking through Z-movie listings (I mean Zombies), although “grapes of death” isn’t exactly about zombies created by bad wine made worse by overused pesticides, it could have been called “les dégueulasses“, as country folk develop extremely bad acne, smearing it everywhere from car windows to… Well, anywhere.
Continue reading “Midnight Movie Madness: “the grapes of death”, egg yolks and Beaujolais”
Maz has been giving us a scare this past week when we noticed a decline in activity and slight weight loss combined with a case of the runs. Dehydration = weight loss, evidently.
The good news is he is perking up and is now giving birth to healthy cat turds, after being administered some anti-diarrhea medicine and liquids (tuna-flavored water).
Most likely, the weather turning warmer for the next couple days will also help.
The thing is, his metabolism is such that we have to remain on constant alert for any change: another cat may take days longer to exhibit signs of distress, but Maz could crash overnight if the problem is serious.
“Take mah pulse… I know it stinks, idiot, I just buried my leavings! I say, TAKE MAH PULSE!”
In this instance we think the recent change in diet did not sit well with his Formula One car metabolism. As much research as can be done in terms of pet diets, a lot of it is empirical, with forum posts and advice columns taking you down conflicting paths. In other words it’s still kind of an art, especially when the patient can’t talk.
Well, perhaps he can’t talk, but Maz can unfortunately get on the interwebs. After receiving strange e-mails, we had to block payment on bookings he had obviously made for air fare and hotel accommodations in Cuba. He had found a clinic catering to dictators, specializing in eating disorders in the Vedado district of Havana.
Naked bastard… He’s still dropping them outside the box.
The night of Thursday into Friday the 13th, a night of celestial mayhem, turned out to bring Tito and I ever closer…
A storm was moving through the Bay Area, with lightning strikes precise enough to hit not only the Bay bridge but a plane in flight. The plane had to dump fuel and returned safely to the airport.
At home, as we turned off the computer and prepared to do the same with the TV, I caught something strange from the corner of my eye: a rug shimmying straight for the kitchen. A second look showed Tito hugging the floor and running for a kitchen cupboard to hide in.
I have to say, the storm was probably one of the most violent to hit the Bay Area in years.
Maz, while none too pleased, was comfortably wrapped in a heavy blanket on the bed and didn’t budge. Jenny herself was sitting on the bed with a bit more nervous discomfort than he and watched Tito darting away.
While I don’t particularly fear that the sky will ever fall, like my ancestors the Gauls, Tito seems to be afraid of it for the both of us. The only spot he considers a refuge is the lower cupboard in the kitchen next to the stove top and behind a crock pot.
This storm kept on moving through, fortunately, and Jenny helped Tito recover with tender grooming and copious amounts of catnip she shared… Tito the Gaul. Wow. We are kin!
Ah. The movies. And to dream of being more than what we are, or less, maybe even other…
“Hugo” – (126 minutes, USA – PG)
I had really been looking forward to watching “Hugo” because Martin Scorsese is one of my favorite directors and his latest film competed directly with “the artist” at the last Academy Awards.
Both films express a passion for movies at a time when much of the public shuns theaters for at-home viewing, like us here at JBoD. I frankly can only think of two films in recent memory which passed the “windshield rule”: “we are what we are“, Terrence Malick’s “the tree of life“, perhaps even Lars Von Trier’s “Melancholia“.
On my daily commute, especially in the summer months, I get to enjoy both sunset and sunrise, a benefit of working nights. And so I got to wonder just how many films are really worth watching on anything larger than a car windscreen. By and large, especially with high definition TV, I feel most movies fail the test.
This just happened. Oh, in the last 40 minutes or so.
Maz: “- Mmmmraw…. Meeeeewe….
Rudha-an: – Unnnh.nnuh. Nno baby, wut time is it..?
Me: – Hrrumph… I’ts… Four thirty. Jesus.
Maz: – Hmmraow. Rrrweee. MRAOW.
Rudha-an: – Not now baby, it’s too – (another body landed on the bed)
Me: – T-Tito what the @#$%? [He takes off]
Rudha-an (as a result of being trampled by Maz): – Would you stop..? Christ almighty. No I’m not going in there. ‘Course I love you too but Jeesus.
Me: – [BONK] Sh*t, who did I kick off the bed..?
Rudha-an: – Musta been Tito.
Me: – No it felt lighter than – [cats are heard romping through the apartment: TROMP-TROMP-TROMP-MMMMMREEEWEEEE!-TAGADA-TAGADA-TAGADA-TSOIN-TSOIN! I dunno… Suddenly one lands next to my feet before taking off at warp speed, claws raking my ankles] AAAGH!!! @#$#^%&!!!!! F*****G $%&*&##@@!!!!!!
Rudha-an: – Told you to cover your feet….
Me: – [for the umpteenth time] THEY GET WARM… Joder!!! [Yeah, ’cause I cuss in other languages too…] Bastards!
Maz: – Rrrrrewweee!!! MmROW!
Me: – Hey f***k you pal. [I grab him and wrap him in the blanket against me. As I grab him his legs stiffen out, kicking every which way, like hypnic jerking, one claw nailing Rudha-an in the arm]
Rudha-an: – DAMMIT!!!! $#@^%&*!!!!
I’m holding on tight to Maz, petting him as he tries to burrow an escape tunnel. He turns and MMMRAOWS in my face. I gotta come up for air: I just smelled the entire Seattle fish market fill my nose. Blech.
Jenny, I can tell from the weight before she even utters a chirrup, leaps on my shoulder, slides and rakes my neck with a claw. The Deguello echoes loud in my head. Flesh wound. I’ll live.
From a corner of the room, not sure which, I feel Tito either orchestrating the mayhem or perhaps waiting to come in and save us… Who knows, both things have happened in the past.
YES! He jumps next to me and grabs at Jenny who suddenly takes off!
NO! he climbs on my gut and takes a flying leap from there.
I fart. That’s it, I’m awake now…
