Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you it is official. I have a grooming appointment tomorrow morning at nine. As much as I dread going in, I do look forward to getting this infernal hair out of my eyes. Not to mention my overtly long nails. My novelist purchased an electric nail sander for me some time back, but I hated it when she used it. I will only allow a professional groomer to file my gorgeous claws. Around the same time my novelist also purchased an electric grooming set. Her attempts to shave me were horrifying, and I put a quick stop to that wicked habit. However, my insistence on having these things done by a competent professional has made it difficult for me to go up and down stairs as my nails are a bit long and I am having difficulty seeing through my flowing curls. A bit of a conundrum you see as my groomer was on vacation during the holiday season. Therefore, much to my sorrow, I will go tomorrow morning to be clipped and shaved and washed and filed. Such is the life of a poodle.

Bernard finds the whole grooming affair amusing. I must say though, it is easy to laugh when one is wild, has perfectly beautiful fur all the time, and does not require grooming. However, I do like the comfort of living in a temperature-controlled house, having my meals at times that I designate, and sleeping in an actual bed. Bernard is just jealous. But then who wouldn’t be jealous of such an astonishingly perfect example of Canis lupus familiaris. And with that, here is my novelist.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: WALLACE AND GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL (2024)-Netflix

The strongest movie category this year is animation. After suffering through some dull if not lousy storylines for the past few years, (except the shorts, and Ghibli Studios) 2024 animation is the shining star burning brighter than all the rest of the film categories. And that includes the ones that aren’t eligible for nomination for an Oscar because of archaic backwards thinking in Hollywood. And when more of these darlings are available on streaming, I will make it a point to feature them as my Stream of the Week.

Starting the list is this film from one of my favorite animation studios, Aardman. This is the second delightful and charming stop motion animation movie Nick Park has released in the past two years. Last year he gave us Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget that was unfairly snubbed by the Oscars. This year he has put together another whimsical delight for the senses aimed at kids aged one to one hundred. The film does an excellent job of being both visually stunning and entertaining while presenting a looming concern about the onset of AI and the sinister dangers it can cause when left in the hands of pure evil.

Park has dusted off a couple of his most famous characters, Wallace (voiced by Ben Whitehead) and Wallace’s best friend, Gromit. If you are not familiar with these two charming personalities, Gromit is Wallace’s wise non-talking dog and Wallace is an eccentric inventor who this time has come up with a “smart gnome” named Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith). Wallace’s intent on creating the strange little creature was as a gift to Gromit to help with the dog’s chores. Gromit is skeptical of the invasive creature and is torn between making Wallace happy and disposing of this annoying little clay menace.

Meanwhile, over at the public zoo looms a captive by the name of Feathers McGraw, a psychopathic penguin who was once thwarted by Wallace and Gromit after trying to steal a large blue diamond. Being an evil mastermind as well as a tech savvy hacker, Feathers devises a plot not only to reprogram Norbot, but also to multiply the smart gnomes to carry out his vengeance most fowl.

Rounding out the cast are Lauren Patel who voices police officer PC Mukherjee and Peter Kay who voices Chief Inspector Mackintosh who together attempt to crack the case of the criminal smart gnomes.