CATZ

A couple of recent posts from Animal Planet have got me wondering whether we're on the brink of a species breakthrough. Of sorts. First there's LOUIS v/s RICK -- The Story of The Man Who Taught His Cat To Use Instant Messaging. It's hilarious, of course. But then there's also Cooper, Ansel Adams of the Cat World. After I'd watched the Australian TV spot, and visited Cooper's web-site and watched Cooper's video (taken by himself) as he walks around, I began to feel a sense of déjà mew: the feeling that they've been acting superior all along, but we've just not had evidence before of quite how cool they really are. I mean, here's this little furry character wandering all over his neighbourhood, putting together a show of photographs and publishing a book and becoming an internet celeb -- and HE'S A CAT.

Time to re-read Saki's classic short story, TOBERMORY.

PUNZ

Okay, time for a silliness break. I got these from a punny guy called Ranvir S!

Did you hear about the glass blower who accidentally inhaled? Now he’s got a pane in his stomach.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U.C.L.A.

The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.

The batteries were given out free of charge.

A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.

A will is a dead giveaway.

If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.

With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.

You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.

A boiled egg is hard to beat.

When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.

Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

Did you hear about the fellow whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

Acupuncture: a jab well done.

Review of ESCAPE

This review, by RIMI B CHATTERJEE appeared in the American Book Review earlier this year. I wasn't able to link to it there but RBC has very kindly scanned the printed review, blogged it and then sent it to me. Here's a link. It's definitely the best review that ESCAPE has received so far but more than that, it's the kind of review that makes an author feel that some readers really DO make the effort to read all the way through a book. That is SO RARE ...