Chimpanzees

October 9, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my blog. This week I have been considering chimpanzees. They are intelligent primate, but can show physical aggression and be extraordinarily dangerous. They like to stand up on their hind legs, swagger, bang on objects, charge, hit, throw rocks, and bite. They like to change their physical appearance by making their hair poof as if they had goosebumps. They also like to form social coalitions so they can form a group and have control over other chimpanzees. We know now, thanks to people like Jane Goodall and Darwin that many animals have feelings, emotions and inner lives. But what if, like humans, some of them don’t. Chilling to consider, isn’t it?

I thought I would ask AI about the matter and here is what it said:

“Yes, some non-human primates, especially chimpanzees, do exhibit behavioral traits that resemble human psychopathy. While we can’t diagnose animals with psychopathy in the clinical sense, researchers have used models like the triarchic model of psychopathy—which includes boldness, meanness, and disinhibition—to study these traits in chimpanzees.

🧠 Key Findings from Research:

• Chimpanzees have shown individual differences in traits like:

• Meanness: aggression, lack of empathy, and callousness toward others.

• Boldness: fearless dominance, social assertiveness, and low anxiety.

• Disinhibition: impulsivity and poor behavioral control.

• These traits are assessed using adapted personality measures and behavioral tasks, such as approach-avoidance tests with novel stimuli (e.g., mannequins).

• Some chimpanzees engage in violent or manipulative behaviors that mirror human psychopathic tendencies, including brutal intergroup aggression and strategic deception.

🧬 Nature vs. Nurture:

• Just like in humans, early-life experiences and genetic predispositions play a role. For example, trauma or disrupted social bonding in infancy can influence the development of antisocial traits.

• Interestingly, the genetic contribution to psychopathic traits appears strong in both humans and chimpanzees, suggesting evolutionary continuity.

This line of research is helping scientists understand the biological and evolutionary roots of psychopathy—not just as a disorder, but as a spectrum of traits that may have adaptive functions in certain social environments.”

Although my novelist has occasionally visited zoos, I have not. I am afraid to go because I might see a chimpanzee. How would I explain to this sometimes volitile creature that they are acting rude? How would I explain the importance of manners? How would I teach it to speak French? How would I show it how to drink tea? How would I attempt to educate it in how to use a map? This puzzles me greatly. NASA did something interesting with chimpanzees. They shot one into space. That must have been a relief knowing there was one less chimpanzee on earth for a while until it was returned to avoid bad press. It was aptly named Ham. In fact, something like thirty-two primates were shot into space over time. That made me think I might like to study rocket science. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

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: BALANCE (1989)-YOUTUBE**

One of my favorite shorts, if not my most favorite short of all time is this Academy Award winning mini masterpiece written and directed by Chrisoph and Lauenstein Wolfgang. I might note, I am not the only one out there who has marked this special cinematic piece amongst their personal best of breed as well. The premise is simple yet striking. A group of five well-dressed fishermen stand on a square platform somewhere in space and time. Each of them has a different number on the back of his coat: 23, 35, 51, 75, and 77. What the numbers mean are up for debate. However, they may be there to identify each character in lieu of a name to show anonymity or perhaps show how people are reduced to nameless cogs in a corporate, societal, or political system. When each fisherman moves, the platform tilts, and the others must move a few steps to get the platform back into balance, so no one falls off one of the edges. To say much more would be to ruin it for the viewer. I will instead give you this link and this link to watch the short. An absolute must see film.

Aesthetics

October 2, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. For the past few days, I have been pondering the word aesthetics. Certainly, I consider myself a poodle of extraordinary aesthetics. However, being an ENTJ and my novelist being an INTJ, aesthetics seems to mean less to us than whether something works. Sensory perceptive and sensory judgement personality types, which we try to keep our distance from, especially the extroverted ones, are all about aesthetics because, well, they are sensory. They will have never ending discussions on how the perfect butter horn should be made or exactly, precisely what color the banister should be painted. Or how to spend shocking amounts of money to sculpt themselves into the perfect body type. My novelist and I prefer to discuss abstract ideas and visionary brainstorming. It isn’t that we dislike beautiful things we just like things to be well-made and/or work well no matter what they look like. Some of the greatest rock stars of all time are not pretty but their music is astounding. Some musical celebrities today are hired for their looks, which is most unfortunate. Especially when someone whose aesthetics are not as exemplary may be much more talented and would pen far better music gets left on the sidelines. Beauty in our society is more than overrated. It’s disturbingly worshiped. If the dull flat metal plane with the small worn brown seats and no first class can take off, fly and land and the shiny sexy one with the neon party lights and the big plush cherry red reclining chairs crashes into the ocean, bursts into flames, is circled by sharks, and everyone and everything on it gets destroyed, which one are you going to board? Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: AKA CHARLIE SHEEN (2025)-NETFLIX**

This week’s film is a biographical documentary on one of Hollywood’s most notorious living movie stars, Charlie Sheen. This two-parter is told mostly through Charlie Sheen’s memories of his life from childhood to present. It is fascinating which celebrities participated in the documentary and what they had to say about the man who include Jon Cryer, Chuck Lorie, Dennise Richards, Sean Penn, Heidi Fleiss, and brother Ramon Estevez. Sheen’s father Martin Sheen and his older brother Emilio Estevez decided not to be a part of the documentary but footage of them is in the film.

The challenge in watching this movie is what made/makes Charlie Sheen tick. His association with other celebrities is fascinating, such as Nicholas Cage and Mathew Perry. His experimental lifestyle and capacity for living the fast life is harrowing. And his relationship with his father and ex-wife Richards is extraordinary. But the real question here is how we decipher what kind of person he really is and why he has lived the life he has. Some experts think he has bipolar disorder. Others believe he has extreme narcissism. Still others think his actions may be linked to drug withdrawal. Some believe he exhibits psychopathic traits. I do agree with most of these thoughts and would add it appears he has a good chance of having the genetic allele MAOA which is responsible for aggression and impulse control. He also might have 5-HTTLPR which is associated with psychopathy and addiction. But only a psychiatrist could make these determinations. He is typed as an ESTP which is the most likely personality type to be psychopathic (and an actor for that matter) followed by ENTP, ENTJ and ESTJ. ESTPs are even jokingly called the Con Artist Personality Type. Interestingly his father Martin Sheen is typed as an ISFJ which is a perfect match for ESTP and probably explains their incredible bond as a father and son. The bottom line however is Charlie Sheen is interesting to listen to and you kind of like him…at a distance…and hope he can and is pulling his life together.

Go To University

September 25, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my blog. This week my novelist’s alma mater commenced fall classes, and it got me thinking about my time at the Sorbonne. I adored studying Literature, Language, and Culture there. One may not realize this, but they have a special program at the Sorbonne for highly gifted poodles. I was delighted to spend time relaxing and studying at the Montparnasse and engaging in intellectual conversations with other highly gifted Caniche. It put a wag in my tail and a spring in my trot. Which makes me think of all those Gen Z students out there who should be going to college right now and are not. How much is this generation getting lied to and cheated? My novelist and I worry that the great scheme is that universities may start only offering classes in business, law, communications, law enforcement, religion, and political science. Or in other words, vocations psychopaths go into. I find it perplexing that most of the individuals who stand on golden soap boxes and tell people not to go to college, go to college themselves. Send their mentally compromised offspring there to boot. I might add there are a fair number of young men out there who should be studying at universities and are not. Do they think they are going to get the woman of their dreams who is likely going to college if they themselves do not go? Do they think an educated woman is going to want an uneducated man? It seems to me that that there is an evil force that wants this generation and the one after it to be uneducated, impoverished fools, draining their parents’ savings by living at home and working menial labor occupations. All this wilst our country’s level of knowledge falls behind the rest of the world, and we collapse into a state of disease, famine and oppression. I am but a mere poodle, but I would say a con artist who tells an intelligent young person who should be getting an education not to go to college should be doused with honey and introduced to a pack of angry rabid chihuahuas. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: SIZU (2022)-HULU**

If you are looking for a smart, intense, amusing action film this cleverly written and directed piece by Jalmari Helander is for you. Set in the Lapland wilderness of Finland in 1944 towards the end of WWII, we meet a man named Aatami (Jorma Tommila who turns in a great visceral performance). Accompanying him are his beautiful horse and his unbelievably cute well-trained Bedlington Terrier. Aatami is panning for gold in the river and isn’t finding all that much…until by happenstance he comes across enough gold to fill a couple of saddle bags. All he wants to do is peacefully return home and be rich. As the three of them begin heading back, they happen to cross paths with a caravan of Nazi soldiers. The soldiers are led by Bruno (Aksel Hennie) and his right-hand gunman Wolf (Jack Doolan). The Nazi’s have captured several young Finish women, including one named Aino (Mimosa Willamo) that they are hiding in one of the trucks and are using for recreational purposes.

Bruno is aware the Germans are going to lose the war, and he and his entire troupe will all be executed. But when Aatami falls and his large and numerous gold nuggets tumble out of the bags, Bruno sees it as the answer to freedom. He thinks it will be easy to overtake the old man and gather up the gold for himself. What Bruno doesn’t want to believe are the reports he gets from headquarters of what kind of a man Aatami is and the unbelievable lengths he will go to so he can stay alive and keep his treasure.

I will add this film is unashamedly gory at points and not for the squeamish, but if you are a fan of tarantinoesque films, I highly recommend this entertaining dark humored thriller.

Back to Back

September 18, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce our blog and to tell you it has been a brutal week. I had terrifying appointments back-to-back. On Tuesday morning I was rudely awakened and whisked off to the groomers where I was bathed, trimmed, buffed, brushed and every horrific thing you can imagine. After it was over I was certain I was done with all the nastiness for the week. And then Wednesday morning, I was snatched up, put in the car and dashed off to the vet. THE VET! I was not ill. I eat healthily and keep myself in good shape. But there I was at the vet. Whilst there in that cold minimalist building, they poked, prodded, snogged and weighed me. I was escorted into the dreaded back room where I was administered shots. Shots that hurt. They also drew blood out of my neck. It was mortifying. All just to be told I was fine and to come back and get my teeth cleaned. TEETH CLEANED? That’s near surgery! They knock me out and when I wake up, I am in unbelievable agony. I was terrified getting my teeth cleaned was on today’s agenda. I mean, why not? I’ve been thoroughly tortured two days in a row, why not make it three? Fortunately, my sarcasm led to nothing. I am writing this in the safety of my home or my palace, as it should be. But just to be safe as soon as I finish this, I am spending the rest of my day hiding under the bed covertly penning my blog story. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: UNKNOWN NUMBER: THE HIGH SCHOOL CATFISH (2025)-NETFLIX**

Here is a popular, riveting documentary that plays out like a dark twisted fairy tale. After you reflect on watching it, you’ll know what I mean. Without giving too much away, the story focuses on the first love of a couple of middle school students. Lauryn is a quiet, pretty athlete, and Owen is a likeable more outgoing one. The two are happy and have a lot of fun together. Their parents befriend each other, and everything seems idyllic in the kids’ small-town world.

And then when the young couple enters high school, Lauryn starts receiving angry, vicious text messages from an unknown source. Shortly after, Owen starts to receive angry, vicious text messages as well. Whoever is sending the texts seems to know a lot about the two kids’ lives. Disturbingly so. Suddenly, the texts stop for several months…and then they start up again with the messages becoming more brutal and relentless than before.

Everybody becomes a suspect: fellow students, rivals, teachers, cousins. Paranoia abounds and fingers get pointed at everyone, while the two kids spiral further into despair. The principal is alerted, the police are brought in, and then the FBI is assigned to the case as all of them try to sort out this dirty snowball that continually rolls, grows, and barrels out of control.

Most profoundly is the oddity of the perpetrator. But even more illuminating is how bad humans are at recognizing when someone close to them is mentally ill. And of course, in the end it is technology/science that finds resolution where people fail. Some viewers will find the whole story disturbing, unbelievable, and disgusting. Others will see it as a study in psychology. Although I did not know who the perpetrator was until their reveal, once I did, all the puzzle pieces fell into place. Because the bottom line is trying to apply logic to the actions of a compromised mind is an act of futility. And believing the words of a pathological liar is the folly of fools. Anything they say is up for debate. Overall, I found the film to be a well-executed exercise in predictable human behavior.

After watching the film, you can read this article which may give some insight into the perpetrator’s actions.

MY FRIEND NOEL

September 13, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

I was profoundly sad to find out yesterday that a wonderful, intelligent, talented man died due to complications from diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition I never knew he had.

Noel Wilks was a gentleman and a scholar. I first met him in middle school, and we were in a play together called I Sincerely Doubt That This Old House is Very Haunted. He played a ghost, and I played the mother of the lead actress. Noel was always kind and polite to me. He always treated me with respect and I in turn treated him the same. This was not often the case amongst other students who were usually malicious, and it was part of what made him stand apart from the herd. I remember when he was elected student body president in eighth grade, a position he very much earned and deserved. He was always a gifted public speaker who not only wrote well but spoke well.

In high school Noel was on the debate team where he competed in Lincoln Douglas events. Unfortunately, he had left the team by the time I joined and competed in Interp events, so we did not get to go to tournaments together. As a freshman, he was cast in the school dramatic play in the fall and had only one line; “Me too.” I was an usher for the play and got to see the performances. He delivered it remarkably well and did what any good actor would do on stage when one does not have much dialogue, he used props and physical actions to bring his character to life. He went on to become the high school student body president, a position he unfortunately later relinquished.

During a couple of summers while I was in college, I had the great misfortune of returning home. I worked full time during those warm months to pay for school, often two jobs, one of them being first a busser and then a waitress at a restaurant called Sophia Maria Browns which served Italian, Mexican and American food. Sometimes I would see Noel come into the establishment, and we would chat briefly. My hope was he would find a way to leave the small-town wasteland where we grew up and go to college which is where he belonged.

After I graduated from the UW, Noel and I crossed paths again. He lived across from me at an apartment complex. I moved there to work on plays at WWU to gain further experience in acting and theatre. While doing so I was again employed as a waitress, despite my vehement hatred of serving people so I could save as much money as possible. My goal was to attend the NSC in NYC where our fellow high school student Brina had studied. Noel often talked about wanting to attend college, which I encouraged him to do. Once the hotel where I waited tables had a Christmas party for the staff. It was a formal event, and Noel was the date of one of the waitresses I worked with. We dressed up and had a lot of fun that night eating a great meal and dancing. A couple years later when I was preparing to leave for the NSC, I gave him some of the items from my apartment. It was heartbreaking to move away from him.

Noel and I crossed paths again occasionally and spoke at all the class reunions I begrudgingly forced myself to attend. It was always worth the misery just to get to see Noel and have a conversation with him. I was hoping to see him again because over time I had changed from acting to writing and thought perhaps I might hand him one of my novels which he would be welcome to read or use to prop up a table leg if necessary.

Sometimes I had the opportunity to speak with Noel on the phone. He was the first to alert me to the unexpected news that our classmate Brian Flemming had died. I remembered the first time I saw Brian in Kindergarten, and the thought that came into my six-year-old mind was, I feel sorry for him. I don’t know why.

The worst part about hearing of Noel’s passing was knowing how much he brought to the world and how much more he had to offer. Noel was not perfect, but he was perfectly wonderful. I knew he was deeply affected by his father’s untimely death, and I had always hoped Noel would not experience an untimely passing as well. Unfortunately, we cannot always get what we hope for. I genuinely wish I had spoken to Noel more. I wish I had known him better. I wish I could have been a better friend. I send his family my deepest condolences and prayers.

Science Fiction

September 11, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here once again to introduce my blog. I continue to work on my blog story which I am doing differently than ones in the past. I am writing the full story before I post it as opposed to posting one chapter at a time as I go along which I did with my other six stories. The way I did it before was a more experimental attempt for me to craft a story. My novelist, in the meantime, is preparing to take a writing class concentrating on science fiction.

She tells me the most difficult part of writing science fiction is doing research to understand the science one is writing about. Some writers don’t believe in doing research, but my novelist is not one of them. She is stringent about trying to get every scientific or technical thing she writes about correct. I think this attempt to achieve technical accuracy may be a major difference between the two most common types of writers, NTs & NFs.

For instance, in Hollywood one would find most screenwriters to be ENFJs. Many novelists would likely be INFJs. However, when it comes to rational thought, NTs would start to populate the author & screenwriter list. For instance, Arthur C. Clarke (INTP), Issac Asimov (INTJ), Christopher Nolen (INTJ), Quintin Tarantino (ENTP), Stephen King (INTP), Jane Austin (INTJ), Mark Twain (ENTP), Emily Brontë (INTJ), Chuck Palahniuk (ENTP), C.S. Lewis (INTJ), James Cameron (INTJ), etc. In other words, when it comes to thinking rationally and outside the box, NTs tend to creep into the writing realms.

But enough of this blathering. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: ONE OF THEM DAYS (2025)-NETFLIX**

One of the best comedies of the year is now streaming on Netflix. This clever and funny script was written by Syreeta Singleton and directed by Lawrence Lamont. The story takes place over the course of one day in Los Angeles where Dreux Jones (Keke Palmer) is underemployed and working as a waitress. She gets off work in the morning and is picked up by her roommate, a free-spirited artist named Alyssa (SZA). The two are the best of friends but there is a wedge between them named Keshawn (Joshua David Neal). Keshawn is Alyssa’s boyfriend. He’s a get rich quick kind of guy who has been flopping at the women’s apartment. Alyssa made the not well thought out decision of giving Keshawn the $1500 in rent money to give to the landlord Uche (Rizi Timane). However, Keshawn decided to spend the money on printing T-shirts he plans to sell instead.

When Uche comes to the door asking for the rent, Dreux tells him Keshawn paid him. Uche says otherwise and if the two women do not pay the rent by 6:00pm that evening, he will remove all their belongings from the apartment and put them out on the street with ex-neighbor Fabian (Ray Santiago). This is not the best day for this to happen as Dreux has an important job interview that afternoon for a management position.

She heads back in to confront Alyssa about Keshawn and the stolen money and, both women suddenly realize Keshawn has taken off. Turns out he’s been cheating with Alyssa with a woman named Berneice (Aziza Scott) who becomes vengeance driven when the two women head over to her apartment to confront Keshawn. The two friends manage to escape and spend most of the day desperately try to come up with a way to scrape together the rent money in time for Dreux to get to her interview and for both to pay the rent before they find themselves on the streets.

Squirrels

September 4, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. Today I am delighted to report this week I had no baths, no trips to the vet, and no time in the clink. I am a free and happy poodle with plenty of time on my hands to continue penning my blog story and enjoy tea and discussions with Bernard D. Bunny. He was delighted to have me back as well. As we were sipping a lovely Irish Breakfast blend, he mentioned the grass is slowly getting greener and the squirrels are quite active. He said he had a chat with Sergio, one of the resident squirrels and Sergio explained that it is time to save up for winter. I found this whole process rather fascinating. Poodles do not save up for winter. They delegate their novelist to do it for them. I am impressed by the self-sufficiency of these creatures. I even considered applying their methods to my life. Not the living in a tree part, that is gauche. But the way they utilize planning ahead in their daily lives. And of course, the beauty of sporting a bushy tail. Fascinating. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: MANHUNTER (1986)-AMAZON PRIME**

Here is a great blast from the past. A solidly written thriller that sometimes gets overlooked. Although bloody at times, it relies far more on tension and psychology than gore. Michael Mann directed this chiller and co-wrote the script with Thomas Harris based on Harris’s bestselling book Red Dragon, the first in his Hanibal Lecter series.

Will Graham (Willam Peterson) is a gifted former FBI profiler. He has a past with Hanibal Lecter (Brian Cox who reprised the role in Succession) whom he caught, and it is not a pretty one. Will spent a long time in a hospital and later its psychiatric ward after Lecter attacked him before being incarcerated. Will retired after that. But his former FBI superior Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina) comes to him for help. A new deranged serial killer is on the loose who likes to murder a family each full moon. And he likes to make a big bloody mess when he does. They call him The Tooth Fairy (Tom Noonan) and he’s on the hunt again. It is up to Will to figure out who he is and where he will strike next even if it means having to consort with Dr. Lecter and putting his marriage and his safety on the line once again.

Rounding out the cast are Kim Griest as Will’s wife, Molly Graham and Joan Allen as blind film lab worker Reba McClane. Look for Chris Elliot in an early career role.

Déjà vu

August 28, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle and I must tell you I cannot fathom what happened this week. On Saturday at noon my novelist whisked me off and took me back to the clink! Why? Why did she do this to me? I was just there. This time, I was forced to stay with a poodle, a doodle, a chocolate lab and a Shepard mix named Sophie. Sophie and I had met before, so I had at least one familiar companion, and it was a delight to see her. But the point of the matter is my novelist abandoned me yet again. At least I have one element in my favor. In the clink, my name is Emperess. I may be the smallest dog there, but I am the most sovereign. However, I am still sad. I now understand what royalty goes through when its members visit one of their countries that is not their home. They may be royalty there, but homesickness sets in.

Sophie and I went on walks around the grounds. She told me she was delighted I was staying with her. I explained I had just been here two weeks ago. I told her about Gemma, the kind Boston Terrier. She told me she knew Gemma and that she thought she was a kind Canis lupus familiaris as well. She said she was sorry to hear about my plight, but not to despair. My novelist would indeed return.

During the evenings, the standard poodle, the doodle, the chocolate lab, and Sophie and I played Charades. I was superb at it although I lost a few rounds to the standard poodle. He was quite arrogant about it as well. He’d just been to the groomers and constantly pointed out I needed grooming. A bit cheeky, don’t you think? What is it to him whether I’ve been preened and primped? The point of the matter is he won some of the Charades games and I won the others. Next time that pompadoured narcissist is going down.

The biggest insult of all was my novelist did not come to pick me up. Apparently, she had an appointment. So, she sent…Him…and the dogsitter. I was absolutely mortified and confused when they arrived without my precious novelist. How could she be so cruel? They drove me home and when I arrived at my residence my novelist was there to greet me. We had words, let me tell you. Or at least I had words I barked at her. She remained calm and took me outside as if she never noticed my anger.

We are now back in the office; I am on my pillow in front of the window, and she is at her desk. I am calmer now. Miffed but calmer. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: HORRIBLE BOSSES (2011)-NETFLIX**

This week’s pick is raunchy, shameless, and disturbed. And for you lucky Netflix subscribers it’s available to stream. Three good friends in Riverside, California all have one thing in common: they each have a horrible boss. Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) works for a financial firm under Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey) who forces him to work long hours and refuses to promote him. Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) is a dental hygienist who made the mistake of exposing himself on a schoolyard playground and works for Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston) who sexually harasses him on an hourly basis, and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) who happily works at a chemical company for owner Jack Pellit (Donald Sutherland) has his life put in a tailspin when Jack dies and his heartless cocaine-addicted son Bobby (Colin Farrell) takes over.

Over drinks at their favorite bar the three of them start to imagine how much better their lives would be if they had their bosses killed. They head for the wrong side of the tracks and at a bar there meet ex-convict Dean “Motherfucker” Jones (Jamie Foxx) who agrees to be their “murder consultant” and begins instructing them in how to carry out their nefarious plan.

The hilarious script was penned by Michael Markowitz and directed by Seth Gordon who directed the fantastic documentary The King of Kong : A Fistful of Dollars which was one of my Streams of the Week and I heartily recommend it.

Under the Bed

August 21, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. Today I am writing this from under the bed. I know that it is bath day, and I am using a new tactic. If I hide under the bed long enough my need for a bath will be forgotten and finding me will become my novelist’s primary focus. I have even put my computer in dark mode. I am not sure that helps. But I am doing it just the same. It is also a good place to work on my blog story. I wish my novelist would…oh, no! I think I just heard the dogsitter come into the room. Was my novelist too cowardly to give me a bath herself? Dreadful! Go away, dogsitter. Go away. The dogsitter is kneeling by the side of the bed…the dogsitter is lifting the comforter. The dog sitter has kidnapped me! Augh! I am kidnapped! Help! Help! I am on route to the bathtub! Rescue me! The water is running! I hate baths! I hate baths! Until next week, I bid you adieu…augh, that’s cold!

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007)-PRIME VIDEO**

Psychiatrists Dr. Samuel Leistedt and Dr. Paul Linkowski joined together to determine which characters were the most realistic and dangerous of all the psychopaths portrayed in movies. And topping the list is the chilling villain of this masterpiece of cinema. You can read their research findings here. Based on the book of the same name by Cormac McCarthy with a script written and directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Cohen, here’s a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat till the credits roll. The film deservedly won four Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Achievement in Film Direction, Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem and Best Motion Picture of the Year. If you have not seen this one, get to it.

The year is 1980. The place is Terrell County Texas. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is out hunting pronghorns in the desert and comes across a slaughter, the result of a drug deal gone south. He looks around the dead bodies and finds one man in a truck still alive but not for long. He also comes across a suitcase filled with two million dollars. The man in the truck, a member of a Mexican cartel, asks him for water. Llewelyn tells the man he does not have any water and takes the suitcase of money and heads home to his wife a sweet young woman named Carla Jean Moss (Kelly Macdonald). She asks how his hunting went, and he tells her about the suitcase.

In the middle of the night, Llewelyn’s conscious catches up with him and he goes back out to the scene of the crime bring the man in the truck water. But after he parks his truck on the hill and heads down to the scene of the crime, he finds himself being chased and shot at. But what he doesn’t understand is who is shooting at him.

Earlier that day, a man named Anton Chigurh (chillingly played by Javier Bardem) a psychopathic hitman whose name translates to Priceless Follower was picked up by the police. He escaped after strangling the officer with his handcuffs after the two arrived at the police station. Driving the officer’s police car, he pulls over an innocent driver and uses his beloved captive bolt pistol on the man’s forehead. This is the guy shooting at Llewelyn who has been hired to recover the stolen money.

Tears of Abandonment

August 14, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Gigi the parti poodle here and I can’t even say good afternoon because I am sobbing. On a poodle neurosis scale of 1-10 I am an eleven. My worst nightmare came true. I was right. My novelist abandoned me. Utterly abandoned me. It happened late Sunday afternoon. I was peacefully lying in the office on my pillow by the window as my novelist worked. Then, suddenly, the clock changed to 5:30pm and she scooped me up, slapped on my harness and leash, and whisked me out to the car. I hate cars. They are frightening and I never know where I am going when I am in them. I ended up in the clink. The clink is somewhere I have no idea how I got to or know how to find the path home from. I was taken to the clink in August a year ago where I was incarcerated for a week. It was one of the lowest points of my life. And this week, she took me there again.

During my stay, I met a rather kind Boston Terrier named Gemma. She was older and wiser than I, so I stayed close to her during the day. As it was a minimum-security facility, we would go out onto the porch in the mid-morning where we played checkers. Gemma was a master at checkers. I lost every game. But I did enjoy her company. She told me her owner often goes on business trips, and she stays here frequently. I told her how difficult it was for me to be away from my novelist for even a few hours. She told me I must try meditation. She said to request my novelist put on soothing music for dogs and then relax and know that she shall return in time.

My novelist returned around 6pm yesterday and I was very relieved. I barked and walked around in circles in the car the entire way home. She took me outside to touch the dry grass, and Bernard greeted me with open arms. I told him about Gemma and her suggestions and Bernard said she must be a very wise dog to give such advice. And so, as I write this with teary eyes of joy and relief I am listening to soothing music for dogs. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: RED EYE (2005)-NETFLIX**

If you have never gotten a chance to see this movie, make sure you catch it before it leaves Netflix on August 31. I am always fascinated when movies get a resurgence on Netflix. It often goes to show that audiences are craving films with something more to offer than people running around in capes and tights. I keep crossing my fingers and hoping there is a golden age of movies on the horizon. Or are we just heading for Armageddon? Anyway, this week’s pick is a whole lot of fun. Wes Craven directs this juicy little thriller written by Carl Ellsworth and Dan Foos. The plot is straightforward. A young woman named Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) has the horrid misfortune of working as a manager at a high-end hotel. Because anyone who has ever worked in customer service at one point or another, knows what it’s like to be on the brink of becoming a killer. Lisa’s customers are like an exceptionally annoying trail of assclowns coming out of a miniature car. But for one reason or another she is a genius at her job. She knows how to juggle these dip wits like balls. She helps her poor coworker Cynthia (Jayma Mays who adds wonderful comedy to the film) via phone deal with them as they come at the poor woman like a rabid platoon of Nazis.

The reason Lisa is communicating with Cynthia by phone is she is heading for the airport to board a plane. She is catching the red eye flight on route home after attending her grandmother’s funeral. As she gets in line at Dallas Love Field, she meets a sweet young man named Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). The two hit it off well and even find out that they are seated together on the same plane. But as the plane starts to take off Lisa begins to realize anyone knows a sweet young man with a name Jackson Rippner is bound to have ulterior motives. Rounding out the cast is Brian Cox who plays Joe Reisert, Cynthia’s father. And he is a much gentler paternal unit to her than he is when he’s running Waystar RoyCo.