Sunday: Hili dialogue

December 24, 2017 • 6:48 am

by Grania and Jerry

In India today the Google Doodle celebrates a national celebrity, Mohammed Rafi, a prolific and famous movie singer born on this day in 1924 (he died in 1980). From the very first time when Indian movies featured singing actors , virtually all of that singing was done not by the actors themselves, but by people like Rafi and his female equivalent, the very famous and prolific  Lata Mangeshkar (born 1929 and still with us). The actors, as they do now, simply lip-synched the prerecorded tracks. As Wikipedia says of Rafi:

Mohammed Rafi was an Indian playback singer and one of the most popular and successful singers of the Hindi film industry. Rafi was notable for his voice and versatility; his songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona of the actor, lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India.

Rafi is primarily noted for his songs in Hindi, over which he had a strong command. He sang around 7,405 songs in many languages. He sang in other Indian languages including Konkani, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili and Urdu. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang songs in English, Farsi, Arabic, Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch.

. . . Rafi was buried at the Juhu Muslim cemetery and his burial was one of the largest funeral processions in India as over 10,000 people attended his burial. The government of India announced a two-day public holiday in his honour

Here’s his Doodle (click on it to go to a photographic biography of the man), and below I’ll put one of the songs he sang

Here are Rafi and Mangeshkar together singing a romantic duet (the actors are lip-synching), “Teri Suniya Se Door Chale Hoke Majboor”, from the 1961 movie Zabak, made in Tamil. (English translation here.) This is the precursor of the modern Bollywood musical:

Some bits and pieces from Twitter

Further evidence of the dignity of cats.

And the dramatic rescue of a frozen bird.

Penguins, because Jerry loves them almost as much as cats. Truefact.

Good news, everybody!

https://twitter.com/natureslover_s/status/943798206063939584

Meanwhile in Winnipeg, Gus is wrapping presents, eager to get his promised Xmas present, a pork chop! He adds this assurance to me, his Uncle, that he’s been a good cat:

I haz bin gud, I promize. Zee, I hepped wif de wrapping, zee how fast I movez. =^..^=

The final word is from Hili in which she discovers an unpleasant truth.

Hili: What am I going to get under the Christmas tree?
A: We don’t have a Christmas tree.
Hili: We have so many other trees.

In Polish:

Hili: Co dostanę pod choinkę?
Ja: Nie mamy choinki.
Hili: Mamy tyle innych drzew.

Hat-tip to Matthew

Slate’s sexism on the SAG awards

December 23, 2017 • 11:30 am

There’s no doubt that the call-out of sexual harassment in Hollywood and elsewhere has been salubrious, and a warning to men to lay off the assault, gender-based persecution, and predation. Sadly, in a new piece on the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards, Slate hasn’t learned where the line should be drawn. Herewith is the text of Rachel Withers‘s new article “The 2018 SAG Awards will be presented by an all-female lineup, because women are awesome.” Emphasis is mine.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Wednesday that the 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will be presented by women, women, and more women, as a mark of what womenfolk have been through this year and since the dawn of time.

Like many award ceremonies, the SAG Awards usually pairs a man and a women to announce each winner—but this year, only women will have that honor. The lineup is yet to be announced, but the ceremony, which has never before had an emcee, will be hosted by Kristen Bell. The nominations were also announced by women, with Olivia Munn and Niecy Nash revealing the nominees Wednesday morning alongside SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, awards committee chair JoBeth Williams, and awards committee member Elizabeth McLaughlin.

Kathy Connell, the SAG Awards executive producer, told the Hollywood Reporterthat the decision was in recognition of the idea that 2017 belonged to women. “Beginning with the Women’s March in January, it’s been the year of the woman,” she said. “This is a unifying salute to women who have been very brave and speaking up.”

Men will still be allowed on the stage sometimes, like when they win an award, but with female-heavy ensemble casts nominated for Lady Bird, The Handmaid’s Tale, GLOW, and Orange Is the New Black, hopefully we won’t have to see more than a dozen suits on stage for the evening.

Connell insisted this was not about punishing men for their behavior (even though they definitely deserve it). “We don’t want to slight the men who have given great performances this year,” Connell added. “Knowing our membership, I’m sure our men will embrace the opportunity to honor women.”

Since when did Slate become Salon? As for the bits in bold, I can conclude only that all men, and not just those accused of assault, are being demonized.  (“Hopefully we won’t have to see more than a dozen suits on stage”, etc.) If that’s not sexism, what is it?

Caturday felids trifecta: Holiday Simon’s Cats, a Janus kitten, and Gus on the harpsichord

December 23, 2017 • 10:00 am

Sadly, I’ll be flying on Christmas, and though I’m an atheist Jew—something that Dave Silverman considers an oxymoron—I will be sad to miss the holidays as well as my birthday five days later, marking the end of Coynezaa, my personal holiday. But Caturday felids must go on, and here’s a special holiday edition, featuring two new Christmas editions of Simon’s Cat.

In “A Christmas Yarn”, a catfishing expedition turns into the demolition of one of those horrible Christmas sweaters.

 

In “A Festive Special”, an attempt to make a snow cat is ruined by a duplicitous d*g who pretends to be helping but then pees on the construction, ruining it. Isn’t that just like d*gs?

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From msn Lifestyle we have the story of a Janus cat, a rare anomaly in which a kitten is born with two faces.  These cats almost never survive and most are euthanized. But some live and thrive, and this one might beat the odds:

Her name is Bettie Bee, and she was born on Dec. 12 to a normal house cat in Eastern Cape, South Africa. She’s one of three kittens in the litter, but clearly, Bettie Bee is unique.

This baby is known as a “Janus cat,” and while some struggle (due to problems nursing, among other health issues), others can live long, prosperous lives — like the famous Frank and Louie who lived to the ripe old age of 15. [You can read more about Frank and Louie on Wikipedia, and he (they?) is/are shown below.

But here’s Bettie Bee, who has has four paws, one tail and two ears, but also two noses, two mouths and three eyes. Of course I wonder, as a biologist, how its brain works: does it have two separate “consciousnessses”, like some conjoined human twins, and two sets of olfactory, auditory, and visual inputs? I don’t have time to investigate this, so perhaps some reader can look this up.

And a video (the YouTube site has more information if you click “read more”):

From People Pets:

The rescuer has also started a Facebook page for Bettie Bee, “because of high demand from people to see her progress and too many strangers on my personal profile. So everyone who sent me messages and friend requests to follow BB can like this page.”

And while Bettie Bee is certainly rare, it is even more rare for a Janus cat to survive — and thrive.

Here’s Frank a Louie. Kudos to the owner for her kindness. You can argue whether this cat should have been put down, but it seems to have enjoyed its life.

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And here we have the lovely one-faced Gus, who has jumped up on the staff’s harpsichord. Staff member Taskin notes this: “Gus likes to let me know when I’ve been practicing too much.”

Lagniappe for Xmas! A hyperactive cat:

 

h/t: Heather Hastie, Taskin, Malcolm, BJ

Note to readers

December 23, 2017 • 8:45 am

As predicted, I’m having trouble keeping up with emails as they’re keeping me pretty busy here. I ask again: would those of you who want to send me article or bring other things to my interest please limit your emails to about one a week or so?   Just collect your links and put them in one email.

Thanks.
The Management

Saturday: Hili dialogue

December 23, 2017 • 8:00 am

by Grania

Yes, it’s late. It is Saturday and I overslept. I do that sometimes.

In otter news

https://twitter.com/Otter_News/status/944333859197456384

A short video highlighting the dignity of the cat

https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/943791989002252290

And your daily dose of awwww (with bonus interspecies love)

And finally, today in Poland Hili is being helpful, at least in an existential way.

​Hili: I’m trying to keep it under control.
A: Keep what under control?
Hili: The mess you are creating.​

In Polish:

Hili: Próbuję nad tym zapanować.
Ja: Nad czym:
Hili: Nad bałaganem, który tworzysz.​

Lots of hat-tips to Matthew

Readers’ wildlife photos

December 23, 2017 • 7:30 am

As I said before, my store of readers’ wildlife photos is in Chicago and, at any rate, I have little time to prepare them properly here. Fortunately, reader Chris Branch sent two photos of an oddly-colored squirrel, and I’m leaving them to readers to figure out what genetic or developmental anomaly is responsible for this pattern. Chris’s notes are indented.

Not great quality pics, but here’s an interestingly colored squirrel who’s been hanging out behind our house in the Rochester NY area.  We have lots of gray ones and an occasional black, but this is the only one I’ve seen like this.