Gothic Kittens

Holly Crawford, 35, from Pennsylvania, is set to go on trial today for cruelty to animals because she was trying to sell Gothic Kittens online. It's not the act of selling the kittens that has Holly in trouble, however. It is the fact that the kittens were pierced (as pictured). When humane officers searched her home in December, they found three kittens with ear, neck and tail piercings. Holly's attorney has posed the question “Why is it a crime to pierce a cat’s ears?” and she claims that she had no cruel intentions. Reader comments on the article (which you can read here) range from "punish the freak" to "if you punish this woman you should also punish people who declaw cats". What's your opinion?

Royal Doulton Lucky Cat

Is this Royal Doulton figurine particularly creepy, or is it just me?

Kickin’ It With The Kitties

A few months ago, an inspired couple went digging through their old photographs to find just one that didn't involve alcohol. Unfortunately it seemed that all of their trips down memory lane included mass quantities of beer (and what's wrong with that?). But those types of photos can make a negative statement when posted on social sites like Facebook and when found by employers, or even worse, mom and dad. The quick fix? Replace all of the beer with cats. Yes, cats. And thus, Boozecats was born! So kick back with a tall, frosty Himalayan and enjoy the weirdness.

Early Slapstick and Boxing Cats

The more of these early Edison clips I see, the more convinced I become that the great inventor was a prankster nerd.

Tattoos, Telephones and Tabby-cats.

When Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere decided to have the Latin for "live without regrets" tattooed on her back, she was probably not expecting it to be a test of whether she actually would. Unfortunately her tattoo, which reads "vivere senza rimipianti" is misspelled, the correct phrase is "vivere senza rimpianti". Hayden is, to her credit, taking it all in her stride and told a reported from the UK's Daily Mirror "It is misspelled, whatever, vivere senza rimipiantic means live without regret in Italian. I just put my own spin to it." (Digital Spy).

Someone else who's - so far - taking misfortune in their stride are the family from Oldham in the UK who receive upwards of 60 phone calls a day from people hoping to reach the chart-topping rap artist Soulja Boy. This is down to the fact that SB's latest single, "Kiss Me Through The Phone", includes their 12 digit phone number as part of the chorus, causing many fans to try ringing out of curiosity. Given the near ubiquity of tie-in media in modern films and television programs (think of all the websites spun off from "Dr. Who" or "Lost"), this is perhaps understandable, if a little inconvenient for Gerry Matley and partner Catriona Smith. "It's easy to understand that, isn't it? When you look at me, I've got the perfect profile for a rapper," joked Matley, 54 (Guardian).

And surely if a 54 year-old Oldham man can make it as a rapper, a 1 year-old cat can be a political pundit? A woman whose cat had gone missing a few hours earlier was astonished find out that it had made an impromptu appearance on a weekly live UK political debate program. That week "Question Time" was being recorded at a community college in Newquay, close to where owner Jackie Ellery lives. She was wondering where Tango the cat had got to when he walked unnoticed into shot behind the host and his panel of MPs. "My friend phoned me to say, 'Have you seen your cat on the telly?' And there he was," said Ellery (Digital Spy).

Finally, it is with regret that I relay news of the death of the queen of the "pussy joke", Molly Sugden. Her most famous role was in the light-entertainment sitcom "Are You Being Served?" as the pompous, and frequently inept, shop assistant Mrs. Slocombe, who could not make an entrence without commenting on how the weather/busman strike/energy shortages were 'effecting' her pussy (BBC News).

The Ritz Brothers

This novelty song and alleged "comedy" act is guaranteed to stink up your day, it's so incredibly bad.

Tokyo Cat Cafes

You pay $9 for the privilege of spending an hour in a cafe begging some cats to pay attention to you. Apparently the concept has become very popular in Japan due to a combination of factors that make pet ownership difficult: people spend too much time at work, and many apartments have no-pets policies.

As someone who owns a 15-year-old cat that insists on spending a large portion of her time every day sleeping in my lap -- and instead of trying to move her I've just learned to work around this -- I'm not really in a position to make fun of anyone else's weird cat-related behavior. If I didn't own a cat, and I lived in Japan, I'd probably be one of the people hanging out at the local cat cafe. (Thanks to Cassie Sperry for the link!)

The Private Life of a Cat

And now, 20+ minutes of kitties, from Maya Deren's husband, Alexander Hammid.

Bad Luck Blackie

We all know that cartoon genius Tex Avery was an utter madman in his animation. But BAD LUCK BLACKIE strikes me as the most bizzare and surreal example of his art that I've ever seen.

Teenage Catgirls In Heat

I have not yet watched this 1997 film from infamous Troma Studios, but I could not resist putting up this trailer.

Have any WU readers actually subjected themselves to this one?

NOTE: clip is very mildly NSFW.

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.