Seasonal Post: Back to School Preview

July 4, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon and Happy 250th 4^th of July. Usually, Gigi and I only post on Thursdays. But we would like to start doing an Annual Back to School shopping post in July which we have touched on in the past couple of years. We are from the Pacific Northwest and are fans of one of our favorite northwest traditions, the annual Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. We are not, however, fans of fast fashion and believe in purchasing, as best as possible, clothes and accessories that are made of natural fabrics. We will discuss our beloved Nordstrom Anniversary Sale later after the catalogue comes out on July 6th. First, a few things:

We are not influencers. We are writers.
We do not receive money or any other compensation for our selections.
We ourselves have purchased mulitple items from the establishments we list.
We see the value in purchasing quality clothes and accessories that will last and not fall apart and are made of natural materials with a few occasional non-natural exceptions.
We hate seeing students getting ripped off.
We believe in getting the best possible deal for the best possible items.
We believe financial literacy should be taught in schools so that everyone can make the best decisions on their purchases and investments.

The reason we are doing a preview today is some of these online sales end this weekend or Monday and we think they are worth a look. Here they are:

Monica Vinader Summer Sale Final Markdowns

Monica Vinader makes excellent demi‑fine, refined jewelry. By demi-fine we mean her pieces are made from solid sterling silver, gold vermeil, 14k gold and real stones. She often does one of her best sales of the year at the end of June and early July. This year it is 60% off many sale items. If you are considering purchasing a quality piece of jewelry that will not go out of style and last for years, this is an excellent opportunity to pick up one or two of her pieces. She has Free US Shipping on $150, and her regular shipping is very reasonable. Last we checked for shipping to our location it was under $5.

Classic Hardware 31% off Sitewide

Classic Hardware is high quality small batch jewelry made in the USA. They are known for durable, expressive, hypoallergenic fashion jewelry. Their lines have been sold in Nordstrom and Disney. Their jewelry is lead and nickel free and made with solid construction. Amongst our pieces we have one of their Disney Tinkerbell bracelets as well as one of Gigi’s personal favorites, Scottie Dog drop earrings. They hold up very well and tend to be artsy and rockabilly in nature. The selection is large and a lot of fun and their prices are very reasonable. And at 31% their prices are outstanding. We highly recommend you check them out. Free US Shipping on $35. Coupon Code is WEBE31.

Levi’s Extra 50% Off Sale

Levi’s is a solid well-known clothing brand that has been around since 1873. Their clothes are easy to wear, wash well and make a great standard denim choice for the school year. Right now, they have an extra 50% of their sale items online. Which means if you see a pair of jeans on sale for $44.98 the actual cost of them is $22.49. And it isn’t just the jeans that are in the sale. There are also denim jackets, T-shirts, skirts, hats, etc. We also find they often have great prices in August as well. If you want to take advantage of some early school clothes shopping, we recommend checking them out. Make sure to carefully check the red writing at the bottom of the picture of the item to make sure it is specifically on the extra 50% off sale. Free US ground shipping on $75.

Westminster, 1921

July 2, 2026July 2, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember from last week, we turned the tables on the kidnappers and when the woman in the silk camo dress and the woman in the olive trench coat boarded the van. Under my command we slammed the door shut and Ruffles hit the gas. For a moment both women were stunned as the van barreled towards the parking lot exit and then pandemonium broke out.

The woman in the olive trench coat yelled, “Stop this van! Stop this van!”

Charlotte the Chow, bless her heart, hurried over, knocked the woman to the ground and stepped on her. The dachshunds, who are normally ditsy, sprang into action and started scratching their big thick paws at Demeter’s cage. Their efforts paid off and they managed to spring the lock on the cage open and Demeter rushed out.

Poignant is the word that came to mind when we saw the twin Persian sisters reunited. Much caterwauling ensued. But we had to burst into action to stop the woman in the silk camo dress as she ran up to the front to try and oust Ruffles the bulldog from the driver’s seat. This was no small task as Ruffles and Charlotte were the biggest of all of us. Charlotte already had her paws full keeping the woman in the olive trench coat pinned to the floor and Ruffles needed to keep the van from driving out of control. But one should never underestimate the power of the Felis catus. Madeline the British Shorthair and Edison the Manx leaped on top of the woman in the silk camo dress and forced her to pry her lime green acrylic nails off our dear driver.

Believe it or not, my next plan was to engage Bernard D. Bunny and his little sister Belle. Our magnificent Ruffles rolled out of the seat, knocking the woman in the silk camo dress to the floor. He then commenced to stand on top of her as the cats surrounded her and growled. Bernard hopped into the driver’s seat and Belle positioned herself at the peddles. Bernard clucked and honked out commands. He manned the wheel as she pressed the gas and the brake as we drove out of the parking lot.

“Get off me, mangy cur,” the woman in the olive trench coat roared at Charlotte.

“Watch your filthy mouth,” I barked at the woman with a growl. “I am the one running the show!”

“Don’t try to pull the fur over my eyes, parti poodle. You aren’t even all one color.”

“Do not try to pull the fur over my eyes, black market thief. Parti poodles were allowed to compte in dog shows in the United States in 2001. And might I add a parti Spaniel won Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club in 1921!”

“But a parti-color Poodle has never won Best in Show and never will!”

“Your harsh words do not affect me. Someday we will. Someday we parti poodles will win all sorts of Best in Show titles.”

“Of course, it would be a non-winning dog who would be behind this,” the woman in the silk camo dress said. “A common house pet.”

“I take offense to that. I am a common house pet who is driving away with you instead of you driving away with us. Bernard, let’s go see what Crispin is up to, shall we?” Until next week I wish you a Happy 250th 4th of July and 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: SHARP CORNER (2024)-HULU**

This week’s pick is a smart, tense, psychological thriller featuring another terrific performance by Ben Foster. The movie was written by Jason Buxton and Russell Wangersky and directed by Buxton.

Josh McCall (Ben Foster) and his domineering wife, psychologist Rachel Davis-McCall (Cobie Smulders) have just purchased their dream house. The corner house lies outside the outskirts of suburbia on what seems to be a quiet and peaceful upper middleclass paradise. But as soon as they start moving in, their son Max (William Kosovic) takes an instant dislike of his room. Small wonder as in the late evening shortly after they move in, a car swerves around the corner and crashes into the tree outside their house, killing a teenage football player who was driving some of his friends around on a weekend night.

Josh is the first to run to the car and find the driver dead. He wants to discuss the incident openly with Rachel, but she wants to push it aside and move on, proving she might be one of the world’s worst counselors. Instead of allowing him to talk about his feelings, she belittles him by saying he should be thinking about his son first and foremost.

But as Josh watches the dead teen’s family place a cross at the location of the road where the car swerved off, he begins to think more about the incident and question his job, his value as a person, and his place in the world.

Once the Butterfly is in the Net

June 26, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I, Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. The kidnappers were skulking around Ruffles’ the bulldog’s owner’s van. The woman in the olive raincoat had made the cheeky remark, “I’m looking for cats, not dogs.” I wanted to have Ruffles unlock the door so I could spring out and give this rude woman a stern talking to. But Bernard D. Bunny spoke sooth and thus I chose not to reprimand this heathen. Instead, I have come up with a plan to thwart these evil black market catnappers once and for all.

Inside the van we all stoically watched as the man with the tattoos attempted to open the door.

“They’ve settled down now,” he told the woman in the olive trench coat.

“As it appears,” the woman in the olive trench coat replied.

The man pulled out a long Slim Jim and slid it down the length of the driver’s door.

“He’s getting in,” Ruffles the bulldog said. “He’s getting in.”

“Okay,” I said. “Everyone needs to stay calm. Once the butterfly is in the net, we will pin it to the board.”

We watched the man wriggle the long thin metal in the lock. He looked up at us and we stared back. A perplexed, worried look crossed his face. He did not know what to make of our stoicism. He wriggled the metal one last time, and the door unlocked. I could see Ruffles gripping the wheel with his paws. Madeline the British Shorthair, Edison the Manx, and Artemis the Persian were all hissing. I think this is what they do to warm up. Charlotte the Chow, Bruiser the Jack Russell Terrier and I all had our ears perked. The Dachshund twins had gotten bored and were playing go fish with a deck of cards they found under one of the seats.

“Go ahead and take a look,” the tattooed man told the woman in the olive trench coat.

The woman in the olive trench coat looked at him as if he were out of his mind. “You expect me to enter your den of misbegotten animals? I think not. You open the door and go into your own van.”

Tattoo man looked at the woman in the silky camo dress who shrugged and back at the woman in the olive trench coat. “Do you want to see the merchandise or not?”

“Obviously, you’ve just gotten your hands on this merchandise. Not only that but you’ve stolen the van as well if you had to open the door with a Slim Jim.”

“I take offense to that.”

“Am I wrong? You are a criminal who works on the black market. And apparently aren’t averse to committing grand theft auto as well.”

The man sneered at her “You need to give the cat back to her until I get out of here, then.”

“Not a chance.”

“Fine.” Tattoo man said. “Then you can’t see the merchandise.”

The woman in the olive trench coat huffed. She looked at the cage and then at the man with disdain. “I have my cat. I don’t need to be led into a trap.”

“Oh, no,” Artemis said as we watched the woman in the olive trench coat turn on her heel. “She’s leaving with Demeter!”

“Don’t panic,” I whispered. “Stay the course.”

Suddenly, the woman in the silk camo dress said, “What if you both went in the van together?”

The woman in the olive trench coat stopped and looked at her. They stared at each other for what must have been a solid minute. “I’m taking the cat inside with me. And you are going into the van. Not him.”

Tattoo man frowned as the woman pointed an angry finger at him.

“Alright,” the woman in the silk camo dress said. “Let’s do this.” She turned to tattoo man. “Open the door.”

Tattoo man hesitated for a moment, likely considering the safety of his partner in crime. Then he opened the door. We all sat still as the woman in the camo dress climbed inside. The woman in the olive trench coat picked up the cat carrier and boarded the van.

“Artemis!”

“Demeter!”

“Shut the door,” I yelled.

Charlotte the Chow slammed the driver’s side door shut and Ruffles hit the gas. Until next week I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

STREAM OF THE WEEK: TEEN MOVIES

As school is now out, I thought I would do something different this week and offer up a list of some of the best teen movies available on streaming and where to view them. To be fair, some of these are more about teens than for young teens so viewer discretion is advised. Here is the list:

AMAZON: Napoleon Dynamite, Bring it On, Tuff Turf, River’s Edge, The Cutting Edge, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Empire Records

DISNEY & HULU: 10 Things I Hate About You, Holes, Cruel Intentions, The Edge of Seventeen, Flower, Adventures in Babysitting, Donnie Darko

PARAMOUNT +: Grease, Mean Girls (original 2004), Speak, Clueless, Election

TUBI: Disturbia, Ferris Bueler’s Day Off, Precious, Fear

PLUTO: Boyz n the Hood, Footloose, Big, Better Off Dead, Some Kind of Wonderful, Adventureland, Bully (2001)

NETFLIX: The Karate Kid, The Breakfast Club, 13 Going on 30, La Bamba

The Bunny Has a Point

June 18, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember, Ruffles hit the gas and we all went barreling towards the orange Hummer and the black Cadillac Escalade.

As we drew closer, we could see the look of shock and awe in the three people’s posture. And when we drew closer still, we could see the look of shock and awe in their faces from the realization that a bulldog was driving the van. The van lurched to a stop, and we all fell back into our seats. The woman in the olive trench coat scuttled over to take a close look at us. She narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Ruffles.

She turned and looked at the black marketers. “Is this a stunt?”

The woman in the silk camo dress looked at the man littered with tattoos. “A demonstration, actually,” she said. “We thought you might be interested in looking at some more of our inventory.”

The woman in the olive trench coat narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps,” she said with caution.

“Go open the van,” the woman in the silk camo dress told the man littered with tattoos.

The man gave her a quizzical look as if to say, “I don’t have the keys” before slogging over to the driver’s side of our van.

“He’s trying to open my door,” Ruffles said. “He’s trying to open my door.”

Bruiser the Jack Russel Terrier hopped into Ruffle’s lap stood up and started barking at the tattooed man. He was quickly joined by Titus and Tyler, the dachshund twins who pressed their big wide paws against the side window and barked in unison. The woman in the olive trench coat said, “I’m looking for cats, not dogs.”

This tart little comment raised my ire. “Unlock the door, Ruffles.”

“Unlock the door?” Madeline the British Shorthair said. “We can’t unlock the door.”

“Yes, we can. Ruffles, unlock the door.”

Ruffles looked at the rest of our group with warry eyes. “I don’t know, Gigi…”

“This woman has insulted me, and I must give her a stern talking to.”

“If Ruffles unlocks the doors we must attack,” Charlotte the Chow said.

The twins barked, “Attack, attack!”

“I am not ready for this,” Edison the Manx said. “I haven’t had my midnight popcorn snack and I feel puckish.”

“Gigi, I do not think this is wise,” Bernard D. Bunny said.

I looked over at his little sister Belle who seemed terrified. “The bunny has a point,” I said. “I have, in my usual ENTJ fashion, jumped into action when I should have trusted my strategy. We will stand our ground. Ruffles, do not let them in. Instead, make them come to us. I have a plan. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: QUEEN OF CHESS (2026)-NETFLIX**

Back in the 1980’s and before, there was a belief that only men could play chess at the highest level. Especially aggressive chess strategies such as Evans Gambit, Danish Gambit, Smith-Morra Gambit, Albin Counter-Gambit, Marshall Attack, and Sicilian Defense. At the time the greatest chess player in the game was Garry Kasparov who liked to play a version of the Sicilian Defense called Sicilian Najdorf Defense. Bobby Fisher said in interview that women were simply not intelligent enough to be great at the game.

But a man named László Polgár, became obsessed with the idea that genius is not born but rather made. He read piles of books and concluded if you could rigorously teach children abilities when they were young, they could then become brilliant at them. And so, after they were born, he used his three daughters as his experiment: Susan, Sophia, and his youngest Judit. He had them train at a very early age with him for long hours every day, homeschooling them with his wife and employing professional chess players to come into the home to train them as well. By the time the girls were tweeners, they had risen to the top of women’s chess. Judit, at age 12 became the youngest player to break into the FIDE top 100 rating list ranking at position 55. In 1991, at the age of 15 months and 4 years she became the youngest player to be named grandmaster. Both Susan and Sophia became grandmasters as well.

All her life, Judit had one dream: to beat Kasparov. This thrilling well-paced documentary directed by Rory Kennedy and written by Mark Bailey and Keven McAlester is the story of her determined attempt to rise to the occasion. She and her family had to overcome a ridged Polish government, sexism and psychological roadblocks to fight not only for their position as chess players but to set a precedent for female chess players to come.

The Woman in the Olive Trench Coat

June 11, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember when we last left off, the nefarious catnappers had investigated Ruffles owner’s van and found us inside. The tattoo littered man had told the woman in the silk Camo dress that some of us might do well on the black market. Suddenly, their attention was turned towards a Cadillac Escalade that had just pulled into the parking lot of my favorite summer restaurant and parked nose to nose with their garish orange Hummer. The catnappers headed back to the Hummer on the other side of the parking lot. Our little crew sat watching out the side window of the van as the driver’s side of the Cadillac Escalade opened and from out of the behemoth emerged a slender woman wearing an olive trench coat and a matching trilby hat.

“She is a bad woman,” Artemis the Persian said. “A terrible awful woman. We must attack.”

“No,” I said. “We must wait and see if they have Demeter. Then Ruffles must move closer.”

“Move closer, move closer,” the twin Dachshunds chanted.

“Quiet! We must concentrate.”

“What if we can’t tell if it’s Demeter,” Madeline the British Shorthair said.

“It’s still some poor cat,” Charlotte the Chow said. “If its some poor cat we don’t know, we must rescue it just as if it were Demeter.”

“It’s got to be Demeter,” Artemis caterwauled. “It’s got to be.”

“There, there,” Bruiser the Jack Russel said. “There, there.”

“The big tattoo guy is getting something out of the Hummer,” Ruffles said. “He’s getting something out of the Hummer.”

We all turned our attention back to the Hummer and saw the tattoo guy open the back hatch and take out a pet carrier.

“My goodness,” Edison the Manx said. “He’s a fiend! What kind of monster puts a cat in a cage?”

“Shh,” I said. “Watch.”

The woman in the olive trench coat studied the contents of the cage as if she were a scientist examining her experiment. I looked through my opera glasses and could see words were being spoken. Words between her and the woman in the silk camo dress. The tattooed man set the carrier down and opened it.

“It’s my sister,” Artemis exclaimed as soon as she saw him take the white Persian out of the box. “It’s Demeter! Drive, Ruffles, drive!”

“Wait,” I said. “If Ruffles turns on the engine, they’ll notice us.”

“They’ll notice us, they’ll notice us,” the twins said in unison.

“Hush up!” Artemis said with a hiss.

“The moment we see the woman in the trench coat take the cage and begin walking towards her car,” Charlotte said, “that’s when Ruffles will drive.”

“That’s when I’ll drive,” Ruffles said. “That’s when I’ll drive.”

We watched the woman in the trench coat pick up poor Demeter and examine her from all angles. It was most gauche. Demeter tried to struggle but the woman held her firmly. Then the woman nodded and put Demeter back in the cage, took an envelope out of her deep coat pocket and started to hand it to the woman in the silk camo dress.

“We’ve got to go now,” Artemis said. “Now, Ruffles, now!”

“Wait…!” But my words came too late. Ruffles turned on the engine and hit the gas. Until next week I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: TOOTSIE (1982)-NETFLIX**

Right in the middle of one of the golden eras of soap operas came this film, a gender bending comedy with a serious statement about the sexism women faced in the workplace and in everyday life. The film received ten Oscar nominations including a win for Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Lang. Lang also won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Dustin Hoffman won the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy. The film has endured over the years and is considered one of AFI’s 100 Best Movies of All Time. It was brilliantly directed by Sydney Pollak and written by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal. However, there were other writers involved in penning the script, primarily Elaine May who strengthened the female character’s roles, but also Barry Levinson, Robert Kaufman and Robert Garland all who went uncredited.

The story is about a passionate, talented but difficult actor named Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman in one of his phenomenal performances) who waits tables and teaches acting while he desperately searches for work in New York City. One of his proteges, Sandy Lester (Teri Garr in a well-deserved Oscar nominated performance) is up for the part of Emily Kimberly, a hospital administrator for the soap opera Southwest General. Michael helps her prepare for the part and goes with her to the audition. But as soon as she arrives, they tell her she is wrong for the part and dismiss her without allowing her to read. Michael asks to see his fellow actor Terry Bishop, who stars on the show. But the receptionist tells him Bishop has taken time off to rehearse for The Iceman Cometh, a role Michael thought he was up for.

Michael tells Sandy to wait at the audition as he rushes over to the office of his enduring agent, George Fields (Sydney Pollak). George tells Michael nobody wants to work with him. Not in New York, not in Los Angeles nor anywhere else on the planet. Because despite being a great actor, Michael is intolerable. Michael tells him he is going to raise $8000 to produce and star in his roommate Jeff Slater’s (drolly played by Bill Murray) play.

Michael sets out to prove George and everyone else in show business wrong. He buys a wig, carefully applies makeup and dons a dress. He heads back to the auditions and meets chauvinist director Ron Carlisle (played with delightful sleaze by Dabney Coleman). When Ron tells “Dorthy”, Michael’s now alter ego he isn’t right for the part, Dorthy stands up to him with charm and aggression leading Dorthy to win the role. But complications arise when Ron’s girlfriend, actress Julie Nicols (Jessica Lang) befriends her new co-star.

The movie also features Charles Durning, George Gaynes, Doris Belak and then-newcomer Gina Davis.

The Cadallac Cometh

June 5, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good evening. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember we were trying to recover Demeter, Artemis the Persian’s sister . Ruffles the bulldog had just pulled his owner’s van into one of the stalls in the large empty parking lot behind my favorite summer restaurant. We had all scrambled to the tinted driver’s side window to see what would happen next. The black marketers had pulled their garish orange Hummer into a space on the far side of the lot and shut off the engine.

“What’s the plan, Gigi?” Charlotte the Chow asked me.

“Find out who they’re meeting and if who they’re meeting is planning to buy Demeter,” I replied.

“What kind of humans do you think they’re selling them to?”

“If I were to wage a guess, I would assume one of two types: a cat breeder or a cat exhibitor.”

“What is a cat exhibitor?” Bruiser the Jack Russell asked.

“Someone who owns show cats,” Edison the Manx said.

“Someone like my owner,” Madeline the British Shorthair said.

“You’re a show cat?” Ruffles said stunned.

Madeline licked her paw and preened her fur. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

“We both are,” Artemis said, licking her paw and preening her fur as well.

Just then the passenger side door of the Hummer opened and the woman in the silky camo dress emerged from the inside. She started making a beeline for us with a determined gait. The menacing tattoo man climbed out of the Hummer, locked the vehicle which made a loud chirping sound and followed her, his fists curled and ready for action.

Bruiser began jumping up and down nervously. “They’re coming for us!”

“They’re coming for us, they’re coming for us,” Titus and Tyler, the twin dachshunds exclaimed.

“Act like you are animals,” I said. “Act like you do around the humans you own!”

All of us got down from the window and landed on four paws. The cats began to meow and we Canis lupis familiaris began to lower our standards by whining. The two black marketers marched up to the van and peered in the window. I heard tattoo man gasp.

“This is the motherload,” he said.

“We can’t be sure all of them are worth selling,” camo woman said skeptically.

“That British Shorthair and that Persian look like purebred show cat grade to me.”

“Maybe.”

“Must belong to some pet hoarder or something.”

“Perhaps.”

“I think we should snag them.”

“Imaginably.”

“We need to do it fast, or their pet hoarder might come back.”

“We have a deal to handle first.”

“Don’t let the customers know about the van.”

“They’re going to see the van, Cedric.”

“But Cutie pie, someone is going to get to this windfall before we do.”

I jumped up on the window and barked at them just in time to see a Cadillac Escalade pull into the parking lot and park nose to nose with the Hummer.

“Our customer is here,” Cutie pie said. “We’ll deal with this merchandise later.”

Cedric and Cutie pie turned and headed back towards the orange Hummer. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BLACKBERRY (2023)-NETFLIX**

Winner of 14 Canadian Screen Awards (the Canadian Academy Award), the most in history, this brilliant biographical film is one of the best biopics to come out in years. Shamefully, it was nominated for zero Oscars which went to somewhat less impressive fare such as Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, Past Lives and Poor Things. This proves once again how rabidly vapid Hollywood continues to be and how it keeps missing its mark in judging excellence.

The film is directed by Matt Johnson who won Achievement in Direction for his outing here. Johnson wrote the script with Matthew Miller, and both won Adapted Screenplay which they adapted from the book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. Johnson was also nominated for Performance in a Supporting Role, Comedy.

Set in the aptly named Waterloo, Ontario, the story is about Mike Lazaridis (brilliantly played by Jay Baruchel who took home the award for Performance in a Leading Role, Comedy), an electrical engineer who co-founded the company Research in Motion with his best friend and fellow computer-whiz engineer Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson). The two have been working on a device they call PocketLink which is essentially the first smart phone. The young men are waiting to have a meeting with Jim Balsillie (a knock-out performance by Glenn Howerton who took home the award for Performance in a Supporting Role, Comedy), an Ivy League Business School graduate. Balsillie, who is a huge hockey fan and an all-around reptile, at first dismisses the guys’ proposal.

But after being fired for presenting his company with an intricate way in which they can avoid paying taxes, Balsillie heads to the bank, mortgages his house, and hunts down Research in Motion. He offers nearly all his money for 50% of the company and a position as CEO. Lazaridis agrees to the deal provided they are Co-CEOs. Balsillie staunchly makes it his mission in life to drive the business to ultimate success. He bullies Lazaridis and Fregin to round up the crew and throw together a prototype of the PocketLink to pitch to Bell Atlantic who will eventually become Verizon. Instead of PocketLink, Balsillie changes the name to BlackBerry. But Balsillie’s ambition knows no bounds and Lazaridis struggles to keep up with the imminent future as the company soars to prominence.

Rounding out the cast are Saul Rubinek as John Woodman, Rich Sommer as Paul Stannos SungWon Cho as Ritchie Cheung, and Cary Elwes as Palm Inc. CEO Carl Yankowski.

Parking Lot

May 29, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good evening. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here and as you may remember last week, we were in hot pursuit of the garish orange Hummer. We had just headed down the curvy dark hill and had reached the bottom. Ruffles the bulldog attempted to remain inconspicuous as we waited behind the rotten black-market brutes as they pulled into the left-hand turning lane as the light turned green. We followed the van down the long road towards the next town.

“Where do you think they are going?” Edison the Manx asked Ruffles.

“Left,” Ruffles replied.

“Yes, I know they went left. But left to where?”

“All that matters is they didn’t get on the freeway. I do not like the freeway.”

“What matters is that my sister is in that monstrosity,” Artemis said pointing her paw forwards at the Hummer. “Do not lose them.”

“I will not lose them,” Ruffles said. “I will not lose them.”

“I’ll bet they are going to that parking lot on the other side of the bridge,” I said.

“What parking lot?”

“My novelist takes me out for scrumptious lunches there in the summer when they have outdoor seating. The city shut down the street in front of the restaurant to allow for safer foot traffic. But they have a large parking lot around the back. At this time of night, it would be empty. They could easily meet someone there to take Demeter.”

“I think the poodle might be right,” Edison said. “An empty parking lot at night seems like a likely place for questionably legal commerce.”

“Personally, I would meet at the Bakery,” Madeline the British Shorthair said.

“The Bakery?” Charlotte the Chow said. “Why would you meet someone in the middle of the night at The Bakery?”

“Sometimes they throw the day olds into the dumpster.”

“I tend to think Gigi might be onto something,” Charlotte said. “I think the back parking lot of the café makes a lot of sense.”

“Café, café,” the dachshund twins called out.

“Oh, do shut up, will you,” Artemis said with an edge in her voice.

“They are driving up the bridge,” Ruffles said. “There they go up the bridge.”

We all watched out the windshield to see where the orange Hummer was heading.

“If it’s going to the parking lot, it will veer left,” I said.

“You mean it will suddenly turn evil?” Bruiser the Jack Russell said, fear in his eyes.

“No, veer left. I think you are referring to bend sinister.”

“Bend sinister, bend sinister!” Titus and Tyler barked.

“Not bend sinister, veer left!, I barked back. “Stop acting like nitwits!”

“They’re veering left” Ruffles said and started turning the steering wheel.

“If we park in the parking lot at the same time, they’ll see us,” Charlotte said.

“But there’s no where else to park around there,” I said.

“What if they take off and I never see my sister again?” Artemis said, panicking.

“We have to follow them or we’ll lose them too,” I said.

Ruffles drove the van into the parking lot right behind the orange Hummer.

“Park the van and shut off the engine,” I said.

“But what if they drive out of the parking lot and we lose them?” Ruffles said.

“We can’t lose them; we can’t lose them!” Artemis said.

“Park the car and shut off the engine!” I yelled.

Ruffles swiftly pulled into one of the stalls and shut off the engine. We all scrambled to the tinted side window and looked out. The Hummer had stopped at the far side of the lot and shut off the engine.

“Now what?” Ruffles said.

Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE PAPER TIGERS (2020)-NETFLIX**

This week’s pick is a sleeper of story that is part Kung Fu, mystery, and comedy cleverly written and directed by Bao Tran. Back in the 1980’s a Kung Fu master and chef, Sifu Cheung takes on only three young students: Danny (Kieran Tamondong), Hing (Junior Kinder), and Jim (Malakai James). They practice in Sifu’s garage and slowly become martial arts experts. When they become teens, Danny (Yoshi Sudarso), Hing (Peter Adrian Sudarso) and Jim (Gui DaSilva-Greene) take to the streets and fight anyone willing to take them against Sifu’s orders. Even their nemesis Carter (Mark Poletti) who trains under a different Kung Fu master. Danny is sent an invitation to fight in Japan and Jim is to go with him. But something happens along the way.

A few decades later Danny (Alain Uy) finds himself disillusioned and divorced from his wife Caryn (Jae Suh Park). The former couple share a young son named Ed (Joziah Lagonoy) whom Danny refuses to teach Kung Fu to. Danny tries to help raise the boy but finds his insurance job often gets in the way.

Danny runs into Hing (Ron Yuan), whom Sifu taught ancient Chinese medicine. Hing also did construction and seriously hurt his knee and now collects disability. Hing also tells Danny that Sifu recently died. Hing says the coroner claimed the cause of death was a heart attack, but the two old friends suspect something more sinister is at play. They attend the funeral and run into their former rival Carter (Matthew Page) there who provides some possible information on what may have happened. Danny and Hing track down Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) who has become a Jiu Jitsu trainer and is in the best shape of the three. Despite their age and a couple of physical setbacks, the old friends set off on an odyssey to find out who killed their beloved Sifu and bring the villain to justice.

Don’t Head For the Freeway

May 21, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember from last time, I came face to face with the dreaded Crispin Z. Coyote. I was, most fortunately, in Ruffles the bulldog’s owner’s van at the time which kept me safe from his sarcastic and sadistic jaws. He’s a genuinely vicious brute. He was attempting to devour my dear friend Bernard D. Bunny and his little sister Belle. They bounded onto the hood of the van and were begging us to let them inside. I defied my Canis Lupis Familiaris friends who wanted to drive off and allowed the bunnies into the van. I accomplished this just in time to give Crispin a stern talking to, before stealthily following the black-market buyers who have our dear Demeter locked in a crate inside their tasteless garish gas guzzling automobile.

“Faster,” Artemis the Persian told Ruffles. “They’re getting away!”

“I can’t go too fast or they’ll know we’re following them,” he said.

“We cannot lose them either. I cannot lose my dear sister.”

“Lost sister, lost sister,” the twin dachshunds barked in unison.

“Oh, do be quiet!” Artemis scolded.

“We must come up with a plan, so we know what to do when we catch them,” I said.

“Gigi is right,” Charlotte the Chow said. “Exactly what are we going to do when they stop?”

“I say we attack,” Edison the Manx said. “Nothing gets the point across better than a firm swipe of claws across the face.”

“A little barbaric, mind you,” Madeline the British Shorthair said. “But I do believe the Manx has a point. Sometimes the claws must come out.”

“I do not disagree,” Bruiser the Jack Russell Terrier said. “But they are humans and far bigger than we are.”

“True, but as a pack, we might be able to overrun them.”

The van headed down the hill to the street where we first found the melted Slurpee.

“Don’t head for the freeway,” Ruffles said panicked. “Don’t head for the freeway.”

We all looked out the windshield to see if the orange Hummer was going to turn right.

“I can’t drive on the freeway,” Ruffles said. “I can’t drive on the freeway.”

The Hummer turned right and headed in the direction of the freeway.

“They’re heading for the freeway! What if they go on the freeway?”

“You must follow them or we will never get Demeter back,” Artemis said.

Ruffles started to pant and whimper.

“Stay calm, Ruffles,” Charlotte said. “You can do this…”

We came to the light, and the orange Hummer got into the left turn lane. Ruffles breathed a huge sigh of relief before pulling into the lane behind them.

“Oh, goodie, goodie, goodie,” he said. “We are not getting on the freeway.”

“Where do you think they might be going?” Bernard D. Bunny asked me.

I looked out the window to the left. “I don’t know,” I said.

The van continued down the long suburban road. Large, elegant houses stood along the sides. We passed a church to our right and continued down the hill which was windy.

“This is scary,” Ruffles said. “I am scared.”

“Keep your eyes on the road,” Edison said. “We’ll go tumbling over the side if you don’t.”

“I am. I am keeping my eyes on the road.”

“They are turning left at the light down there,” Charlotte said pointing a paw.

Ruffles pulled into the lane behind the orange Hummer and the light turned green. We followed the van down the long road towards the next town.

Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: MARTY SUPREME (2025)-HBO MAX**

Nominated for nine Academy Awards, this week’s pick is a well-paced, well-written, seamlessly directed film with a spot on ending that has finally made it to streaming. Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie and directed by Safdie, loosely based on the life of ping pong extraordinaire Marty Reiseman. It is the story of a little weasel named Marty Mauser (brilliantly acted by Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet who won both the Golden Globe and the Critic’s Choice Award) who has one dream and one dream only: to be the greatest ping pong player in the world. And he will do anything to see his dreams become reality.

Marty works in a shoe store owned by his Uncle Murray (Larry Sloman) when he isn’t competing in table tennis professionally. He wants to win the British Open to make table tennis an American household name. Everyone in his family is a hustler in one form or another including his mother Rebecca Mauser (Fran Drescher) who has a habit of calling him at tournaments feigning illness to get him to come home. Marty also has a married girlfriend named Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’zion), his childhood friend who is almost as good a grifter as he is. The two of them carry on a tryst in the back room of the store where the shoeboxes are stored. Uncle Murray promised to give Marty seven hundred dollars to fund his trip to the British Open but reneges. Desperate and determined, Marty robs the store’s safe and takes off with the money.

After reaching London, Marty plays magnificently. He cons the tournament heads to get him a room at the Ritz Hotel where the best players are staying. There he spies a beautiful older woman who turns out to be Kay Stone (Gweneth Paltrow) an aging movie star who is unhappily married to a wealthy businessman named Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary). The couple had a son who died fighting in WWII. Marty hustles both Milton for money and Kay for sex and urges them to watch him play in the tournament. Marty continues to play well beating defending champion Bela Kletzki (Géza Röhrig). But he loses in the final round to deaf Japanese player Koto Endo (real life deaf Japanese player Koto Kawaguchi). Marty loses his temper and pandemonium ensues. Marty returns to New York to even larger conflicts which escalate with each attempt he makes to return to Europe to get another chance to triumph over Endo.

Tyler Okonma also stars as taxi driver and close friend of Marty’s, Wally and Abel Ferrara plays career criminal as Ezra Mishkin who asks Marty to look after his dog. Look for Penn Jillette as a gun toting territorial farmer named Hoff.

Save the Bunnies

May 15, 2026May 15, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good evening. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember from last time all of us in the van were stunned by Bernard D. Bunny landing on the hood of the car with a distressed look upon his adorable furry face. His whiskers twitched wildly as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. He tapped aggressively on the windshield with his paw. “Let us in! Let us in!”

It was then that I saw his little sister Belle peek over his shoulder, her eyes wide and frightened as she clung to his back.

“Open the door, Ruffles,” I told Ruffles the bulldog. “They are in danger!”

“But the kidnappers are getting ready to leave,” he said.

“Open the door!”

“We’ll never find my sister if you let them in,” Artemis said.

“Open the passenger side door,” I said. “They won’t see us.”

“We need to leave the bunnies behind,” Charlotte the Chow said.

How utterly unreasonable. I leaped into the front seat and pressed the button on the door. The window lowered and our dearest two bunnies hopped inside. As soon as Belle’s cotton tail had cleared the glass, a snarling blur of angry jaws and claws lurched at the window, its long vicious snout poked inside. But what was most disturbing was the creature’s loud piercing howl.

As soon as it began to wail, the woman in the camo and the tattooed man whipped their heads around in our direction. This was one of the only times in my life I felt smart and stylish to be riding in a van with tinted mirrored windows. Through my opera glasses I could see them both mouth the word “coyote”. And by the look of the size of the monster, I could tell it was the dreaded Crispin.

“My word,” Madeline the British Shorthair said. “It’s a werewolf!”

“There are no such things as werewolves,” Edison the Manx assured her. “But that thing is horrifying!”

For the first time I have ever known them the dachshund twins were frozen in place. Their eyes wide with terror.

“They’re starting up the engine!” Artemis said pointing her paw towards the van. “We need to go!”

“She’s right,” Ruffles said. “We need to go!”

Suddenly, Crispin jumped on the hood of the van, his breath blasting steam on the window.

“They’re looking our way,” Ruffles said.

“Don’t move till they move,” Charlotte the Chow said. “Pretend we aren’t even here.”

“Give me those rabbits!” Crispin demanded, his bark was harsh and sharp.

“Certainly not,” I barked back. “You have no right to eat our friends.”

“I’ll eat you too,” he barked with menace.

“Don’t be absurd. That would be cannibalism.”

“A sarcastic poodle. Why am I not surprised?”

“We’re busy here. Try and remember you’re an omnivore and go eat some fruit, you uncouth twit.”

“They’re leaving,” Ruffles said.

“Drive!” Artemis yelled.

“We’re not done, poodle,” Crispin said sliding his paws off the door.

“We are for now,” I said as Ruffles hit the gas. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: GOOD BOY (2025)-HULU**

After featuring a handful of television shows on the blog, I am going to turn the spotlight onto some recent films which have finally come to streaming. This first one is a sleeper of an Indi-movie with a new twist on the old monster in the house story. And unlike a lot of horror stories out there, this one has an unusual sweetness and depth you don’t often find in these types of films.

In his break-out performance Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Indy who plays, well, Indy is the beloved and loyal companion of Todd (Shane Jensen). The story is seen entirely through Indy’s perspective. Todd is not doing well. When we first meet him, he is lying on his couch unconscious, blood leaking out of his mouth. His sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) finds him along with Indy who refuses to leave his side. Vera quickly gets him ushered to the hospital but not long after, Todd is released. He heads home with Indy and packs a couple of suitcases, throws them in the back of his car and he and Indy head out to a house in the woods that belonged to he and Vera’s grandfather.

Vera calls Todd and says she wants to come over and check on her brother, but Todd tells his sister he dreads every time the phone rings and it is her. The two discuss how the house is thought to be haunted and there is some indication their grandpa (Larry Fessenden) did not die under the best of circumstances. In addition, in their conversation they briefly discuss how sensitive dogs are and how much more alert to things humans often miss. Indy immediately starts to pick up signals something is wrong such as Bandit (Max) grandpa’s dog showing up and leading Indy to eerie parts of the house.

A View from the Van

May 8, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may know from last week, Artemis, Madeline, Edison, Bruiser, Ruffles, Charlotte, Titus and Tyler, the twin dachshunds and I were all camped out in Ruffle’s owner’s van across from the kidnapper’s yellow house. We were waiting to see who was coming to purchase our dear Demeter from this monster or worse yet, who was coming to sell her on the black market. We were sitting with bated breath when a huge orange Hummer pulled up into the cul-de-sac. We all pressed our noses to the window to get a better look. Ruffles had a pair of binoculars and gave us the play by play. I also brought along a pair of opera glasses which seemed to work rather well.

We witnessed a woman in a silky camo print dress and a big orange fluffy faux fur coat, and a man with so many tattoos he had no more places to ink… at least none that were visible, disembark and head up to the house. When the kidnapper came to the door we noted he was carrying a can of cat food in his hand which implied Demeter must still be inside. We knew this because Edison and Madeline had overheard, he was selling “the Persian” on the black market when they were trapped inside. Which brings us to tonight.

“Do you think they’ll bring Demeter to the door?” Artemis asked nervously. “Do you think we’ll see her? What if we see her? What should we do?

“Calm down,” Edison told her. “You need to relax and not panic.”

“I can’t help it. It’s been so long since I’ve seen my sister.”

“Don’t fall apart on us now, Artemis. You and Gigi were brave enough to come rescue Madeline and I.”

“Yes, we were,” I said. “Keep calm and kick this kidnapper in the kisser.”

“Kick him in the kisser, kick him in the kisser,” the twins barked causing Bruiser to start jumping up and down again.”

“Kick him in the kisser!” he shouted nearly hitting his head on the ceiling. “Kick him in the kisser!”

“Will you calm down,” Charlotte said. “Or they’re going to notice us.”

“I think the kidnapper is heading back inside,” Ruffles said peering through his binoculars.

I looked out my opera glasses and sure enough the kidnapper, the woman with the camo dress and the tattoo man were all heading into the house. “Alright, everyone, remain quiet,” I said. The van became so quiet you could hear a loose rabies tag drop.

Several minutes passed and Titus and Tyler started getting restless. Charlotte and I gave them a stern growl. Suddenly, we saw the door to the yellow house open, and the tattooed man came outside. He swung open the rear hatch of the Hummer blocking our view. The woman in the silky camo dress sashayed out of the house carrying what could be a crate when I peered through my opera glasses.

“Does it look like a crate to you, Ruffles?” I asked.

“I am not sure. The rear door is in the way.”

“Drat.”

The man closed the back door of the Hummer and marched towards the driver’s side.

“Hold my binoculars,” he told Charlotte. “Let’s get ready to roll.” We all waited, our eyes on the Hummer.

Suddenly, something landed on the hood of the van. We all jumped and turned our heads to find a visibly shaken and distressed Bernard D. Bunny! Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: SHERLOCK (2010)-HULU**

This week’s pick is a modern take on the beloved classic stories of Sherlock Holmes. Now, because I am a fan of personality types, I should note that in the original book series, Sherlock Holmes is considered an ISTP, likely because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was himself an ESTP. Thus, it wasn’t a huge stretch for him to create an ISTP character which is often a personality type that would naturally go into police work of various types. This explains the books’ centuries long popularity and why Sherlock has been likeable to a large audience. Because approximately 40% of the general population is SP and 40% of the general population is SJ and these personality types are complimentary to each other. That’s why television has always been sickeningly slathered with cop shows, doctor shows and game shows. SPs and SJs eat this stuff up.

However, in the modern version Sherlock is likely an INTJ and the phenomenal actor who plays Sherlock happens to be an INFJ. Why is this important to note? Because INTJs and INFJs have Introverted Intuition or in other words, “a perceiving cognitive function that allows individuals to process information internally, seeking patterns, trends, and hidden meanings rather than focusing on immediate sensory input.” And INTJs and INFJs take up a whopping 2% of the population…combined. I am an INTJ. And yes, INTJs and INFJs to varying degrees can do these things. So, when fans of the show say it is not believable that Sherlock can pick up on as many clues as he can…they are wrong. Especially since Sherlock in addition to having introverted intuition also has HPI or “high potential” which would indeed make him capable of picking up on a variety of clues others would not.

The show also points out he is not well liked by many of the people who work with him. This is accurate. People who really know what they are doing are often disliked. Especially if they are introverted and even more so if they are intuitive. Why? Because intuitive personality types take up only 20% of the world population. And only about 4% of the world is made up of introverted intuitive personality types. So those of us who are introverted intuitive personality types live in a world where the odds are always stacked against us. We constantly find ourselves engulfed in a sea of garish colors, bright lights, loud troglodyte-appealing noises and vapid television shows and movies.

A great example of this conflict is tension featured in the classic film The Flight of the Phoenix. The characters must realize they are going to die unless they trust the knowledge of the one guy they don’t like. And I believe that despised character is an INTJ. We INTJs and I imagine INFJs can’t always explain how we come to correct conclusions, but we do. And everyone hates us. Maybe because of this ability. But you’re not getting that broken plane off the ground without our help.

The modern incarnation of Sherlock was created by Mark Gatis and Steven Moffit. And although the show falters in its final season for breaking the carnal rule that television show that don’t end well always do which is they refuse to Give the Audience What They Want, it is an exciting, energetic, thrilling ride throughout and well worth the watch.

The show stars the excellent Martin Freeman, known for playing Tim on the original BBC The Office , as Dr. John Watson and the highly talented Bennedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. The chemistry they have is superb. Characters from the book also are in the show such as landlady Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs), Lestrade (Rupert Graves), Mary Morstan (Amanda Abbington) and of course Professor James (Jim) Moriarty (Andrew Scott). Some characters which aren’t in the book have been added to the cast such as Mycroft, Sherlock Holmes’s brother, well played by Mark Gattis and Molly Hooper, a forensic pathologist who has a crush on Sherlock played by Louise Brealey.