Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you yesterday was most horrifying. I was lying on my pillow in the office around nine-thirty in the morning when my novelist suddenly snatched me up and whisked me off into the car. Mind you, I had a comfortable blanket to lay on but that didn’t prepare me for one of my most strenuous mornings of this year. I was driven directly to the vet for a checkup. A checkup! I could not believe it. I thought my professional toothbrushing last summer was enough. But no. Apparently, I was due for my rabies shot. And another horrific shot. And then a blood-draw. At first, I thought all I had to do was look cute and stand on the scale. But the doctor came in and checked my heart which was beating like a mad drum. My novelist just stood there and let them paw me. I mean the nerve! Afterwards I was taken to the dreaded back room where the real horror befell me. There was no use in screaming for help. I was trapped. After the nightmarish ordeal I was whisked home as if the whole thing was perfectly normal. I am sore and traumatized and tired. It took everything I had just to get out of bed this morning. I am not speaking to my novelist right now. What happened yesterday was the most unforgivable affair. I shall have to spend the entire rest of the week and all weekend trying to recover. Until next Thursday, I bid you a most nerve-jangling adieu. And Happy Oscar Day on Sunday!   

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: THE WILD ROBOT (2024)-PEACOCK

One of the strongest Oscar categories this year, if not the strongest, is Best Animated Film, and this week’s pick is one of the finest of the five. Not only is this movie stunningly beautiful but the story is top notch as well. In addition to Best Animated Film, the movie is also nominated for Best Sound and Best Original Score for Kris Bowers.

Based on the beloved children’s book of the same name by Peter Brown who co-wrote the script this marvelous tale written and directed by Chris Sanders starts with a shipwreck. A humanoid style robot ROZZUM Unit 7134 or Roz for short (beautifully voiced by Lupita Amondi Nyong’o), wakes up and finds herself alone in the wilderness. She is factory programed to be a helper to her owner. She tries to assist the woodland creatures on the otherwise uninhabited island but finds them to be less than welcoming and injures herself in the process. Shortly after, she is chased by a grizzly bear named Thorn (Mark Hamill) and accidentally falls onto a goose nest crushing both parents and all but one of the eggs.

Determined to protect the one remaining egg she carries it with her but runs into an opportunist fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) who tries to steal it from her. But Roz succeeds and the egg hatches. Roz suddenly finds herself a mother to a Canadian Goose and names it Brightbill (Kit Conner). Brightbill turns out to be the runt. But Roz is determined to make it a proud member of the island’s gaggle of geese.