Dervish and Fordy Tell You Stuff!

Standing cat is standing!

2010-04-08T11:23:00.002+10:00

Silver Screen Cats

2010-04-06T10:49:00.004+10:00

Vivien Leigh

Susan Heyward

Laurence Olivier

Kim Novak

Jane Fonda

James Mason

Brigitte Bardot

Grace Kelly

Anthony Perkins

Joan Crawford

Marlon Brando

Carole Lombard & Clark Gable

Carole Lombard

Classic Cat Cameos: Meet The Parents

2010-04-04T23:34:00.007+10:00

Fordy: The cat has been criminally overlooked in cinema and I aim to right this wrong with Classic Cat Cameos - a series that honours those unsung heroes of film: cats. This is part 2 of this epic series and today we will be looking at Meet The Parents. And when I say 'will be looking at' I mean 'throw a sideways glance at' because, frankly, any movie starring Ben Stiller spontaneously makes me bring up a furball or two.

However, there are numerous scenes that feature a lovely kitty called Jinx. Jinx is crucial to the plot because....well, let's not get into the plot. It's Easter, I overdid it on the tuna (with real shrimp!) and I simply don't have the strength. Suffice to say that that lovely mister DeNiro loves Jinxy a lot and he teaches him tricks like peeing in the toilet. And flushing.
Dervish: Most people hate it when Robert DeNiro does funny, but I actually really enjoy him in comedies.
Fordy: OK. But that's not what Classic Cat Cameos is about, is it?
Dervish:No, I guess not. I apologize.
Fordy: Apology accepted.

Happy Easter everyone!

2010-04-02T13:41:00.002+11:00

Dervish and Fordy wish you a Happy Easter. We're having a nice Easter lunch. With tuna.

...and dream of cats.

2010-03-31T13:28:00.007+11:00

Dervish: Did you know that dreaming about cats has a strong symbolic meaning?
Fordy: Really. I did not know that.
Dervish: Yes, according to Dream Moods, there are lots of symbolic meanings to dreaming about cats.
Fordy: So how do you know which symbolic meaning it has?
Dervish: Well...I'm not sure.
Fordy: Right.
OK let's have a closer look at their dreams about cats interpretations.

To see a cat in your dream, symbolizes an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power. It also represents misfortune and bad luck.

Fordy: Those are four completely different things. So...which is it? And why are cats always about female sexuality? What if you dream of a neutered tomcat? And associating cats with misfortune and bad luck is just a throwback to the black cat superstition thing. Many people associate cats with love, warmth and playfulness, to name just three other things.

If the cat is aggressive, then it suggests that you are having problems with the feminine aspect of yourself.

Fordy: That's not only insulting to cats but to women as well.

The dream may be a metaphor for "cattiness" or someone who is "catty" and malicious.

Fordy: Yeah, just like when you dream of dogs, it's a metaphor for "doggedness".

To see a white cat in your dream, denotes that you are going through difficult times.If you see a black cat in your dream, then it indicates that you are experiencing some fear in using your psychic abilities and believing in your intuition.

Fordy: Yeah, Dervish was dreaming of a black cat the other day and it made him realize he was afraid of levitating his coffee cup with his mind.
What a load of cat litter.

Piano kitties

2010-03-30T14:37:00.004+11:00

Dervish: We all know and love Keyboard Cat.
Fordy: We love him.
Dervish: Did you know Keyboard Cat is actually from 1984?
Fordy: Really. I did not know that.
Dervish: Ofcourse he wasn't the first or last musical cat to play a keyboard. YouTube is littered with videos of cats playing piano.
Fordy:'Littered'? That was bad.
Dervish: Let it go.
We found another video that has several billion cats playing piano. Apparently, the way it's edited, they actually play a composition by Arnold Schoenberg.
Fordy: But we don't care. We just watch it for the kitties.

Cat Tattoos

2010-03-28T21:00:00.001+11:00

Dervish: We don't like tattoos, do we Fordy?
Fordy: No, not really.
Dervish: Though you have one, inside your ear.
Fordy: Yeah, I got that back when I was living with my homies when we were roaming the alleys.
Dervish: You got it as a kitten at the cat shelter.
Fordy: Hmm yeah, OK.
Dervish: Anyway , we found this website called Ugliest Tattoos, which we love because we can't get enough of looking at pictures of the most revolting, idiotic and puzzling things people get permanently etched into their skin.
Fordy: Inspired by that, we went Googling for cat tattoos and this is some of the stuff we found:

Fordy: Pretty straight forward, nice looking kitty.
Dervish: Yes, that's quite a nice one.

Dervish: Cute kitty. What's with the kite?
Fordy: And why is the cat not eating the ducky?

Fordy: Yaaay! Keyboard Cat! We love Keyboard Cat.
Dervish: It's not that well done though.

Dervish: This looks good close up, but from a distance it would just look like a weird black smudge.

Dervish: What the...? A cat in a womb? That is just wrong.
Fordy: Either that, or it's a cat on a pizza. Which is equally wrong. And not tasty.

Dervish: Now here's one we like. Felix the Cat.
Fordy: Can't go wrong with the classics.

Catzilla!

2010-03-25T11:11:00.000+11:00

Paris, je t'aime

2010-03-25T11:09:00.003+11:00

Dervish: Of all cities, I love Paris the most. From the Sacré-Cœur to the Centre Pompidou to the Louvre and everything in between...to me the place is just magic. And now I can visit whenever and as often as I want, thanks to the Paris 26 Gigapixels website.
They cleverly stitched together 2346 high resolution photos to make up an interactive panorama of Paris. You can zoom in and out on everything.
Fordy: Oooh...that's pretty cool. Très sophistiqué!
Dervish: Isn't it? Turn off the cheesy accordion music on the site, though.
Fordy: Oh look, I found a Parisian cat on a Parisian roof.

Dervish: You did not!
Fordy: Did too.
Dervish: Fordy, you didn't find that cat on the Paris 26 Gigapixels site.
Fordy: I never said that's where I found him. He's a Parisian cat.
On a roof.
He looks hungry.
I think he might want some tuna.
Just sayin'.

Cats in everything

2010-03-24T12:38:00.001+11:00

Dervish: Fordy, why do cats sit in things like boxes, sinks, drawers or anything else that will hold them?
Fordy: Um...because we can?
Dervish: I see. Well, here are 100 pics of cats in things over at Damn Cool Pics.
Fordy: Are there cats in salad bowls?
Dervish: Probably.
Fordy: Cool.

TUNA TEST: Purr - Tasty Tuna Whitemeat

2010-03-24T12:03:00.003+11:00

Fordy: I found this product to be DEELISHOOS!
Dervish: ...
Fordy: What?
Dervish: No more tuna reviews.
Fordy: None?
Dervish: No.
Fordy: Oh.

Sky Mall Kitties

2010-03-23T12:57:00.001+11:00

Goldfrapp - HEAD FIRST

2010-03-19T23:20:00.003+11:00

Dolly Parton once famously said: "You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!". Something in that vein could be said about Goldfrapp's fifth studio album Head First. The songs are deceptively simple and the sound is trashy commercial late 70's/early 80's disco pop - but it must have taken real dedication and artistry to get those synths to sound just right and not too obviously retro in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way.
All the tracks remind you of some other music, heard long ago, only half-remembered - or does it? I think Goldfrapp may have accomplished something extraordinary: nostalgic music that refers to an earlier time that never was. There are wisps of ABBA here and there, a smattering of Giorgio Morroder...but nothing too concrete or identifiable.
The album counts only nine tracks, most of them around the three/four minute mark - an oldfashioned vinyl kind of tracklist. It's a good thing though: nothing really outstays its welcome.

Rocket - The first single and possibly the most commercial thing Goldfrapp ever produced. The chorus is designed to do just one thing: anchor itself in your head to never, ever leave again.

Believer - If Kraftwerk and ABBA would have had a baby, it could possibly have sounded like this. This is a real favourite on the album for me. Gorgeous vocals by Alison throughout the track with sparse use of those retro synths.

Alive - This is one of those tracks that reminds you of about three or four other songs but you couldn't name them if your life depended on it. A cheerful tune that bops along nicely with synths that give you flashbacks to Atari gamecomputers and early digital watches. I like how it all just ends - most songs on Head First do: a quite sudden end without ceremony.

Dreaming - The longest track on the album at just over five minutes, it takes its time to build and grow. At first I thought it was the weakest song on the album, but now I see that Dreaming reveals its beauty only after repeated listens.

Head First - Title track and centrepiece of the album, this really makes me think of Scissor Sisters. I can so easily imagine them performing this song. Quite a bit of ABBA in here as well. It's all just so damn likeable!

Hunt - Much more 'Goldfrappy' than everything that went before, Hunt is a gorgeous song. 'All you love you destroy/Everyone is your toy', Alison breathes over a very sparse backing track.

Shiny and Warm - Again, a lot more obviously Goldfrapp than the other songs. And again, the instrumentation is so economic it's almost not there. Alison is wearing her Strict Machine persona on this, which I always enjoy a lot.

I Wanna Life - A chorus so fat and in-your-face it will probably be the next single. Meh.

Voicething - A gorgeous doodle.

Classic Cat Cameos: The Godfather

2010-03-19T13:16:00.004+11:00

Fordy: The cat has been criminally overlooked in cinema and I aim to right this wrong with Classic Cat Cameos - a series that....*sniff*...NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM...
Dervish: Fordy??
Fordy: Oh sorry, I got distracted by some tuna. As I was saying... a series that honours those unsung heroes of film: cats. For this first episode I will be talking about the cat in The Godfather.

This feline thespian appears in the important opening scene where Don Corleone is petitioned by Bonasera. We see the Don sitting at his desk, with the Cat on his lap. He pays a lot of attention to kitty and kitty is very happy and playful. The Cat instantly establishes the godfather as a man of dual characteristics: at once ruthless but also capable of tenderness. Therefore the Cat is crucial to the entire movie! I rest my case.

Mae West - WAY OUT WEST

2010-03-18T12:32:00.000+11:00

This is as awful and fabulous as it looks: an album of Mae West 'doing' 50's beat songs. Covers include Twist and Shout, Day Tripper and When a Man Loves a Woman. Mae purrs many of her famous quotes throughout the songs.

This album just screams out to be remixed - it would make someone a lot of money!

He-Man like you don't remember him

2010-03-17T01:12:00.000+11:00

Library

2010-03-16T00:01:00.000+11:00

This is the Kansas City Public Library and it's all kinds of awesome.

NAY/YAY: Lady Gaga

2010-03-14T14:52:00.002+11:00

Ten things we love and ten things we hate about Lady Gaga:

Reboot

2010-03-14T13:41:00.002+11:00

For more goodness, visit HackedIRL

k.d. lang - RECOLLECTION

2010-03-13T13:02:00.004+11:00

Dervish: I've never been very interested in 'best of' albums. Either you're a fan of an artist and you've got all their stuff anyway (which is why there's always a new track on these type of albums to lure the already converted), or you just kind of like the artist and you end up with the tracks you like and a whole bunch of them you could do without.

Recollection is no different in that regard, but it's definately good value for fans and casual admirers alike. Among all the gems here, it's surprising that Constant Craving serves as the focal point for the entire album. It just sounds so solid.

This is 25 years of a brilliant career, from the early 'punk country' years to the later sophistication of Ingenue and beyond. The instrumentation and the musical styles may change but there is always That Voice.
The k.d. track that I love most, The Air That I Breathe, is on a loop here while I'm writing.

Fordy: What's up with the lower-case spelling of her name?
Dervish: I''m not sure...she's just always insisted on it being written that way.
Fordy: And that photo on the cover. That must be the ugliest picture of her ever.
Dervish: You're not wrong.

TUNA TEST: Fancy Feast Sensations

2010-03-10T15:54:00.003+11:00

Fordy: For my first Tuna Test I have chosen Fancy Feast Sensations - Yellowfin Tuna Cuisine Infused with a Delicate Sauce.
I found this product to be DEELISHOOS!
Dervish: Fordy?
Fordy: Yes?
Dervish: I thought we had agreed we weren't going to do tuna reviews.
Fordy: No tuna reviews?
Dervish: No tuna reviews.
Fordy: Oh.