Infinite
Cat Project Archives for March 26-30,
2018.
Mewsings, March
26, 2018: "Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil,
and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities
as well." - Missy Dizick
Gratuitous Kute Kittiness: Paws for thought.
Cat Mewvie: Lemme hear ya say "Yeah!"
Today's Kitty
Komic
Feline Art: "Pepsi"
by Diane Irvine.
R.I.P.
Keyboard Cat
by Gavin Haynes
Tonight he’s jamming with Kurt and Jimi. Keyboard Cat, the internet
meme that bookended a thousand pratfalls, is dead.
In April 2009, thanks in part to a single tweet by Ashton Kutcher, videos
of a cat “playing” a junky little Casio riff became the de
rigeur way to “play out” any footage of, say, a man falling
down an escalator in a wheelchair, a singing woman collapsing a table,
or just a mortar round misfiring.
The cat’s owner, Charlie Schmidt, posted the news on Keyboard Cat’s
Facebook page, with its 820,000 followers.
Only, that isn’t quite the story. Schmidt’s original clip
of a musical cat – the one you’re most likely to have seen – was
shot in 1984. Hence the grainy VHS quality, which made the vaporwave-obsessed
internet of 2009 fall in love with it. The cat in that video was called
Fatso. He died in 1987.
The recently deceased Bento, born in April 2009, just as the Keyboard
Cat phenomenon was hitting its peak, was already a remix. It seems that
Keyboard Cats can spontaneously regenerate whenever a few million dollars
are dangled in front of them.
Schmidt used Bento to make a second Keyboard Cat video, plus any number
of side adventures: a parody of Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball, an
ad for Wonderful Pistachios, all the way up to a spoof on Banksy’s
Exit Through The Pet Shop.
You can hardly blame Schmidt for needing a physical product. Grumpy Cat
is reputed to have a net worth of $100m. Within days of the first post
to a Reddit thread, Grumpy Cat’s Red Lobster waitress owner was
able to quit her job and go full-time. She shares a manager with Keyboard
Cat, and with fellow celebrity felis catus, Lil Bub, and with animated
cat meme Nyan Cat. Lil Bub generates enough that owner Mike Bridavsky
can give away $200,000 a year to animal charities.
Hamilton, the moustache-toting “Hipster Cat”, had a web series,
appeared in commercials, and had his own calendar line. Henri, a black
cat, who appears, subtitled, in black-and-white, in French, like a cat
Sartre, earns a $1,000 a week just from his online store. Appearance
fees can be far greater. Maru, a Japanese-owned Scottish Fold, is the
most watched cat of all time, with 325m YouTube views of him doing very
basic cat stuff, like getting slightly freaked out by boxes.
The internet cat-industrial complex is vast. Cat food company Friskies
flew Grumpy Cat, real name Tardar Sauce, first class, to South by Southwest.
They paid for a chauffeur, a personal assistant, and unlimited food.
At a conference with Al Gore and Elon Musk, she was the star. The 2013
documentary Lil Bub and Friendz began when the makers witnessed 10,000
people turn out to the Internet Cat Video Film Festival.
How do you make a smash like Keyboard Cat? “You start with $850
of cat piano lessons,” Schmidt once quipped. Certainly, it helps
if the cat has bodily issues. Keyboard Cat is notable among the truly
great cats of the internet for being just a standard moggy, who had to
work his way up on his boogie-woogie skills alone. Grumpy Cat has an
underbite and feline dwarfism. Lil Bub a short lower jaw, toothlessness
and osteopetrosis. Pop Tart Cat (Nyan Cat) has a pop tart for a body.
Hipster Cat has a strange white moustache.
Bento’s generation is getting long in the tooth. Perhaps not for
nothing has Maru’s owner adopted and begun showcasing a second
cat in addition to the 10 year old. The death of a cat is a private tragedy.
The death of an internet cat is an economic catastrophe.
Mewsings, March
27, 2018: "One is never sure, watching two cats washing
each other, whether it's affection, the taste or a trial
run for the jugular."- Helen Thomson
Gratuitous Kittiness: "Next time tell them to hold the starch."
Cat Mewvie: Tigers chuff.
Today's Kitty
Komic
Feline Art: Papier mache
cat, artist unknown.
Mewsings, March
28, 2018: "Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped
as gods. Cats have never forgotten this." - Anonymous
Gratuitous Kittiness: "Love the new weathervane, Frank."
Cat Mewvie: The Tornado Siren
Effect.
Today's Kitty
Komic
Feline
Art: "Two Cat Nap" by Peggy Johnson.
Mewsings, March
29, 2018: "A cat sees no good reason why it should
obey another animal, even if it does stand on two legs."-
Sarah Thompson
Gratuitous Kittiness: A sign of the times.
Cat Mewvie: If it fits, he sits.
Today's Kitty
Komic
Feline Art: "Chillaxin'"
by Dreama Tolle Perry.
Mewsings, March
30, 2018: "Cats are kindly masters, just so long as
you remember your place."- Paul Gray
Gratuitous Kittiness: "Hmmm. Does essence precede existence?"
Cat Mewvie: Why do we love cats?
Today's Kitty
Komic
Feline Art: Japanese
art print, by Saatchi.
Easter
lilies are cat-killers.
(Meredith) – Easter lilies may look pretty, but did you know they
are actually hazardous to your cat’s health?
Most cats eat small amounts of plants and grass but lilies are poisonous
to felines. If a cat eats the leaves of most lilies, or simply licks
pollen grains off of their fur, the exposure could lead to kidney failure.
If your cat vomits right away after eating lilies, you should call your
veterinarian right away. As far as urination is concerned, your cat might
start to urinate frequently, but that will taper off until urination
almost completely stops. If left untreated, a cat may die within a week
of eating a lily.
If you suspect your cat has eaten or come in contact with a lily and
is showing any signs of illness call your veterinarian immediately.
The best advice for cat owners is keeping lilies out of your home, and
if that is not an option, keep them far away from your pet.
What about dogs?
Lilies aren't as dangerous for dogs, but they can give your pup an upset
stomach. However, it's generally not life-threatening.