In the future we will all have…robot dogs

Caught a bit of the Battlestar Gallactica marathon this morning (the 70s version). I’d forgotten about that creepy robot dog, Muffit. Wonder Woman had a robot dog, too. Battle of the Planets, although a cartoon, still had a robot pooch named 1-Rover-1. Buck Rogers was more progressive, instead of a robot dog they had gay humanoid robots, but that’s really the subject of a whole other post.

We didn’t have television in my house for part of the 70s so my memories of 70s TV shows are a bit dodgy. I was searching for more instances of robo-dogs of the 70s, and chasing rumors about Muffit being played by chimpanzees but I got distracted by a post at sciencefictionblog titled Dog of the Bride of the Reanimator?, which linked to an article about The University of Pittsburgh’s Safar Center for Resuscitation Research and their work re-animating dogs.

[The original link is dead, but I swear the project is real. This link added August 23, 2018. “Reanimated chickens and zombie dogs.”]

I consequently got distracted contemplating the ramifications of zombie dogs. Then I lost interest in the whole 70s robot dog thing altogether. Zombie dogs are way more interesting.

yes, I have heard about the naked painting of W

I keep getting outraged emails asking me if I have plans to protest over an alleged flagrant violation of the First Amendment. (see: Ailing City Museum Cancels Funky Furniture)

Nope. Not gonna do it.

Why? ‘Cause the news reports are becoming so innacurate it’s silly, folks. It’s like performance art – a giant game of telephone.

Before you try to shout me down, like many otherwise uninvolved artist/friends have, keep in mind the fundraiser was largely my responsibility so I might have at least a vague idea what’s up. Sure, I’m in the dark about some of the stuff that’s going on, I’m sure, but no one’s Constitutional Rights have been violated, of that I’m certain.

My neverending headache did make it onto my fave show, Countdown, last night:

And number one, the city museum of Washington, DC which has cancelled an exhibit called funky furniture. They thought it was supposed to depict furniture. In fact, it included a painting that was a takeoff on the masterpiece ìOlympiaî by the impressionist Manet that was a painting of President Bush naked. Need some wood?

Yeah, so that’s why I’ve been missing. Again.

the cooter festival

Last week, as you well know, I was down in la florida. Life is so strange there that it’s normal, if you know what I mean.

I laughed hysterically when I saw that Inverness was planning a month-long “Cooter Festival” but then didn’t even bother to mention it here because I figured it wasn’t that interesting. I figured I was just getting in touch with my inner Beavis and Butthead the first day I saw a poster advertising the festival (now I wish I’d stolen one of the posters).

Consequently, when I saw last night’s Daily Show, I laughed til I couldn’t breath. I actually thought I was going to pass out. I’m both relieved that other people find it funny and disturbed that I passed so quickly into acceptance when I saw the ads for the festival in the first place. You can take the floridian out of florida, I guess, but there’s apparently no cure for our particular brand of madness.

The press in Florida still doesn’t seem to get why it’s so damned funny:

‘Daily Show’ crew gets crack at city

By Mike Wright
For three guys used to dealing with the media, this was something quite unusual.

A city manager, a newspaper editor and a government critic all were put on the spot Wednesday by a crew from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” a news program that tends to poke fun at small-town life.

The crew was in Inverness for a story about the Cooter Festival or, more accurately, the strange controversy that has erupted regarding the festival’s name.

City Manager Frank DiGiovanni said the festival, which debuts in October, was named after a small turtle common to small lakes such as Cooter Pond.

Greg Hamilton, editorial page editor for the St. Petersburg Times’ Citrus edition, wrote a column last month that noted the “cooter” also is a slang word that refers to the female anatomy.

[read the rest of the article]

I just refuse to believe that the reporter who wrote this piece – or anyone else – thinks this is funny just because the Daily Show likes to “poke fun at small-town life.” People, people, people. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel, making fun of this festival. I don’t think Ed Helms had to go far out of his way to make the whole thing look silly.

I think Inverness is just bitter because Allendale, South Carolina already owns the domain name for Cooterfest.com.

Silverdocs

Last night Husband and I were guests of the AFI and Discovery Channel at the presentation of the Charles Guggenheim Award as part of Silverdocs, I’m so greatful to the person who put us on the guestlist, it was such an incredible evening. Not only did I get to speak with two of my heros, Barbara Kopple (the night’s honoree) and Al Maysles (one of the great gods of documentary film), but I got to see Harlan County, USA on the big screen.

After the symposium and the film we attended the closing night gala and ate terrific food and consumed yummy drinks and listened Hazel Dickens perform. I really would have liked to talk to her but she and her band were still going strong when I ran out of steam. I did get to catch up with lots of colleagues who I haven’t seen since I went back out on leave, so that was fun, too.

It’s been an enjoyable documentary weekend. Friday we finally caught Super Size Me and tonight we’re going to see Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.