And Woof to That

March 13, 2025March 20, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to deliver my weekly blog. This week I have learned a new saying: “I don’t care what you think”. Although it is harder to say than one might realize, I find it to be liberating to not care what human beings think. Or dogs or cats or squirrels or bunnies for that matter. This means I say “I don’t care what you think” to other’s opinions about me. It also means I do not tell small lies or do things I do not wish to do to make others like me. I am fully aware that I am unlikeable and unlovable in the eyes of others. I am after all a 6.4-pound poodle typing a blog. How socially acceptable is that? In addition to this practice, I am trying to think differently about questioning my intuition. I am an intuitive thinking personality type. This is easier said than done because intuitive thinking poodles, from what I have learned recently, will negate their intuition before questioning someone else’s, even if most of the time said intuitive poodle’s intuition is more likely to be right. Thus, I have decided I must trust my intuition and all its glory. “I don’t care what you think” is not something I need to say out loud most of the time. It is something I say to myself when encountering various situations. However, there are times when it might come in handy to say the words aloud and let someone or some bunny know that the discussion is finished. And woof to that.

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: BLACK BOX DIARIES (2024)-PARAMOUNT +**

This week’s pick is a powerful documentary that was rightly nominated for an Oscar this past year for Best Feature Documentary. It is written and directed by its subject Shiori Itô who was brutally raped by a real sweetheart of a guy, a journalist named Noriyuki Yamaguchi who is 23 years her senior. I might add here journalists are #6 on the list of jobs psychopaths have or aspire to according to Dr. Kevin Dutton who penned the marvelous book The Wisdom of Psychopaths. The list also ran in Fortune Magazine. If you listen to Yamaguchi being interviewed in the film, you will start to detect a lot of disfluencies and doubled words in his speech which is one of the red flags in determining psychopaths. Yes, Shiori Itô is a journalist as well, but clearly not a psychopath. Also, bear in mind that the percentage of male psychopaths worldwide is 1 in 150. In females it is 1 in 1050. Clearly, testosterone plays a part in psychopathy. And since lying is common amongst psychopaths and plays a part in this film, be aware that according to studies men lie more than women. Here is an example.

Like many documentaries, this movie is not for the faint of heart. The attack happened on April 4, 2015, when Itô went to interview Yamaguchi over dinner. At some point during the interview, she began to feel severely intoxicated. That’s just a polite way of saying Yamaguchi slipped her a date rape drug and it had started to take effect. Surveillance footage at a hotel caught him pulling her out of a cab and dragging her into the establishment. The footage shows she was clearly drugged, falling over and staggering. What followed the rape was a labyrinth of horror.

Shiori Itô filed a police report in July 2016, that was dropped by prosecutors because they told her she didn’t have sufficient DNA evidence. The policeman who was assigned to her case believed her, but he was taken off. Not long after that, the case was dropped. The problem with Noriyuki Yamaguchi was he wielded power. At the time he was the Washington, D.C. bureau chief of TBS, a major broadcaster in Japan. He also had connections to the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Being a wise reporter, Shiori Itô continued pursuing her case and as she did, she chronicled her journey by filming it, even in desperate moments. When the criminal case fell through, she sought a civil case which put her in contention with the government of Japan, its attitudes and its handling of sexual assault cases. Even at the risk of being sued, Itô published a successful memoir called Black Box which chronicled her experience of being raped and dismissed. To publish it she was able to get the policeman who worked on her case to sign off on it as well as the doorman who was present when Noriyuki Yamaguchi dragged her out of the cab and into the hotel.

Documenting

March 6, 2025March 6, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. Gigi the parti poodle here to welcome you to another installment of my blog. As you know, I am continuing to take a break from my little stories I tell here while I continue to practice my writing and assist my novelist in penning her newest novel. This week, as is tradition, my novelist and I sat down and watched The Oscars. We have seen many of this year’s nominated films but not all and we are continuing to review them. This week we watched a couple of nominated documentaries together. I have come to find out that these are not comedies. I find myself rather disturbed after viewing them. Last night, for instance, I could not settle down to sleep. I had to shove and push my blanky in many directions. Nothing was comfortable. I also tried walking on my novelist. This did not help. She did not like it. I was finally able to settle down and listen to gentle music while I attempted to meditate and try and forget that the world is for lack of a better word, terrible. Which reminds me, I had a bath this week. I detest baths and yet I keep getting them. Perhaps I will film a documentary on that horror. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: FLOW (2024) HBO MAX**

Hands down the best Oscar award of the night this past Sunday went to this absolute must see masterpiece. This was a tremendous year for animation with three powerhouse films, The Wild Robot, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Flow all competing for the prize. Honestly, all of them deserved the Oscar and if I had it my way it would have been a three-way tie with each of them taking home a statue. But if we were splitting hairs, Flow would have been my choice for the win. This visually stunning brilliantly told story became the first Oscar for the country of Latvia and a huge congratulations to them. If you see no other film this year, see this one.

Telling its tale with absolutely no dialogue at all, we find out that humans are gone. Empty houses, empty broken boats. Nothing. Animals, however, have survived. And one of them is a little charcoal cat with big bright gold eyes. The cat is suddenly startled by animals all running away in herds and it realizes something terrifying is coming. The cat runs into a friendly golden retriever who takes a shine to it, but the cat wants nothing to do with the dog. Especially since the dog appears to have other canine friends. The cat heads to its home, a beautiful place with cat statues all over the yard and a just finished sketch of it lies on a desk upstairs with no artist in sight. As the cat looks out the window, it finds the water is rising. Fast. It finds it must leave the house and climb up to the top of a gigantic stone cat structure much like climbing to the top of a large building. And yet the water continues to rise.

Much to the cat’s luck, a sailboat appears on the horizon. The cat struggles to swim to it and when it gets on board, it finds out it is inhabited…by a capybara. Turns out the capybara is kind as well as bright and resourceful. As they sail for awhile the golden retriever catches up to them as well as a meerkat obsessed with shiny things. The four begin to work together as they take a harrowing aquatic journey in search of food and dry land.

Happy Oscar Weekend!

February 27, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

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

**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.

Tripping

February 20, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle and today I have been whisked off to the great beyond. My novelist has decided to take me off on an adventure. I am terrified, of course, as I am terrible at traveling inside automobiles. However, it is better than being left with a babysitter. My novelist told me she was going to leave me with my usual guardian, but the guardian said they could not fit me into their schedule today. So, here I am, the fearless traveler on route to…somewhere. Perhaps to the mountains or the ocean. Maybe we shall hop on a train and have lunch as we watch the landscapes pass by. We could go shopping. I love to go shopping. I can always use a new chew toy…or a diamond studded collar. Maybe we’ll take in a movie or a museum. The world is my oyster today. I don’t think Bernard D. Bunny is happy about it though. He gave me that look when I was climbing into the car. I barked to him that I would try and bring him back a souvenir. I don’t even think that appeased him. When I get back, I’ll tell you how it went. Until next week, I wish you happy travels.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: A DIFFERENT MAN (2024)-HBO MAX**

This smart unique little film received well-deserved Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar nominations for Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Junado. It also won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy for Sebastian Stan’s fabulous performance. Sebastian Stan is having a much-deserved banner year and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for the movie The Apprentice. It is a shame that A Different Man didn’t receive an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay as it is a terrific story from top to tail written by Aaron Schimberg who also directs this engaging cautionary tale.

Edward (Sebastion Stan) is a man who suffers from Neurofibromatosis which causes him a disfiguring facial condition. He works as an actor, getting jobs in corporate films for sensitivity workplace training. His new neighbor Ingrid Vold (Renate Reinsve), an aspiring playwright, befriends him and he starts to fall in love with her. One day he goes in to see his doctor who tells him about another doctor who is doing a study involving experimental medical treatment for Edward’s condition. Edward, who has always dreamed of being physically attractive, decides to take the risk. He is skeptical but holds out hope it might work, and Ingrid might develop feelings for him.

As he begins the treatment, strange things begin to happen to his body, and he becomes frightened wondering if it is working or not. But nothing prepares him for the nightmarish events which follow, including meeting his own doppelganger, a man named Oswald (Adam Pearson).

Roadblocks

February 13, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here and I am delighted to announce most of our snow has melted and I am again going for walks. My novelist has been feverishly working on her novel which concerns me. As many of you writers out there know it is difficult to firstly choose a subject to write about and secondly after you’ve chosen one how to handle the many roadblocks which will inevitably arise. My novelist detests roadblocks. They keep her up at night, often trying to figure out every misstep she might have made. I try to convince her that all writers make mistakes and to “carry on” as our wise neighbors across the pond would say. And she does, but still, she remains concerned. She is a writer who embraces research as well. Even if it is research which may be a bit futuristic where you must follow the logical chain of science beyond what has already been discovered to where the trajectory of that discovery leads. Before she began writing her present novel, she had written a science fiction book which required her to do so and was debating on writing another one and the one she chose. She has confided in me it may have been easier to write the science fiction book. Pragmatism and logic come to her more readily than, dare I say, feelings. She is more comfortable writing a hero’s journey than a heroine’s. Solitude is her weapon as it were, not her enemy. But I have faith she will find her way to the end of the story. She has with all but one of the others. I, in the meantime, shall scribble away at my short stories and see what I can concoct. Until next week, I bid you a happy adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: CONCLAVE (2024)-PEACOCK**

Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for its writer Peter Straughan and nominated for eight Academy Awards, this taut thriller based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris takes a unique twist on the mystery/thriller genre. Set in the Vatican where the Pope (Bruno Novelli) has just passed away from a heart attack, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (brilliantly played by Oscar Nominee Ralph Fiennes) finds himself tasked with the daunting job of leading a conclave to elect a new pope.

Lawrence is conflicted about the job as he is struggling with his faith, mostly with praying. And it doesn’t help as he tries to figure out which candidates are worthy of the position, and which are not. Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) from the United States is a favorite liberal candidate who believes if Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) a favorite conservative candidate from Italy is elected he could put the Church back decades. Cardinal Joshua Adeyemi of Nigeria (Lucian Msamati), a social conservative candidate is also a favorite. Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), a moderate from Canada, another popular candidate, was the last person to speak to the Pope before he died. According to Janusz Woźniak (Jacek Koman) the prefecture of the papal household claims that on the night the Pope died of a heart attack, the Pope demanded Tremblay’s resignation all which Cardinal Tremblay denies. And then there is the mysterious last-minute arrival of Archbishop Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz) of Kabul, who after some investigation turns out to be a cardinal in pectore a position the deceased Pope secretly bestowed upon him one year prior.

Up to my Underbelly in Snow

February 6, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle and I am up to my underbelly in snow. It seems I have woken up most mornings this week to a blanket of white which melts away in the afternoon. I am not sure about today, however. It is the deepest it has gotten this winter. My novelist has a firm rule about not going for walks in the snow. I do romp in it a little. But I prefer to stay out of it as much as possible. Bernard D. Bunny sent me a text this morning. He said that he and his sister Belle are in their burrow right now keeping out of the weather and binge watching The Cuphead Show on Netflix. This is a visual experience I have never engaged in. Nor do I wish to. Although, as my novelist often tells me, you can’t judge a show you have not screened. Still, I must say I prefer more cerebral fare, such as Citizen Kane, The Seventh Seal, and Zombieland. But there it is. I partook of a few classic episodes of Fraiser yesterday during the afternoon and they perked me right up. I do not know how long I will stay housebound until I become stir-crazy. I will try to resort to my writing and perhaps read a chapter or two of Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BAD MONKEY (2024) -APPLE TV+**

If you like wise cracking black comedy detective stories, this one is for you. It is based on the 2013 book by Carl Hiaasan of the same name. Starting in the Florida Keys we meet Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), a Hawaiian shirt wearing Laissez-faire detective who lives on the beach. Yancy despises his real estate developer neighbor Evan Shook (Alex Moffat) who has built a garish mansion next to his humble house. And it doesn’t help that Yancy has just been demoted to the position of restaurant inspector after an incident involving dumping an elderly man out of his wheelchair into the water to help his free spirit on again, off again girlfriend Bonnie Witt (Michelle Lynn Monaghan).

One day Yancy gets a tip about a tourist finding a severed arm and decides to, against his better judgement, begin investigating. He discovers the missing arm belonged to a man named Nick Stripling (Rob Delaney). Yancy tracks down Christopher’s wife Eve Stripling (Meredith Hagner) whom he suspects had a hand in her husband’s death. Especially after he talks to Christopher’s daughter Caitlin (Charlotte Lawrence) who can’t stand her. Or the fact that Eve is getting to cash out a large insurance policy. Yancy soon meets Dr. Rosa Campasino (Natalie Martinez) who examines the arm and believes it was not bitten off by a shark but by a professional.

Meanwhile in the Bahamas, local’s land is getting bought up by developers which upsets a young fisherman named Neville Stafford (Ronald Peet) who has a pet capuchin monkey named Driggs (Crystal the Monkey). To stop the developers taking over the island he enlists the help of the Dragon Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) to put a spell on the project much to the concern of the Dragon Queen’s grandmother Ya-Ya (L. Scott Caldwell).

Never Leave a Poodle With a Babysitter

January 31, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. I am Gigi the parti poodle and I am upset. Yesterday, without warning my novelist took off and left me home alone. I couldn’t believe it. I was entirely by myself. I detest being left by myself. I heard all sorts of strange noises outside that horrified me. I had to bark at Alexa to play soothing music for dogs.

I was all alone from 9:45AM until 2:20PM. That’s when the Dogsitter arrived. I was taken outside and then returned indoors. The Dogsitter then prepared my lunch. I of course refused to eat. My novelist was not home, and I was not about to dine until she was. This young person, this Dogsitter, was not going to make me dine either. And I went on a proper food strike. The Dogsitter soon grew tired of me and left me to my own devices. I spent most of my time lying on the couch thinking about a nice slice of roasted chicken. I would occasionally wander over to the front door and whine wishing for my novelist to return. I penned my sorrows in my notebook. I could think of nothing creative to say except how heartbroken I was over this unspeakable act of abandonment.

It was not until almost seven thirty in the evening that I saw my beloved novelist again. I ran to the door and jumped up and down and up and down catching magnificent air. Joy had returned to me once again. But not before I reprimanded her for abandoning me. How could she do such a horrific thing? She said, “But I had the Dogsitter come and make sure you were well.” How does that account for you leaving me on my own for over four hours and then not returning home until after seven in the evening? Outrageous! She told me she needed to go visit a relative. After this heated discussion she prepared my dinner, and I ate it voraciously. Next time she had better take me with her. Until next week, don’t let your novelist run amuck.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: A REAL PAIN (2024)-HULU**

This week’s pick is an excellent, sometimes humorous, sometimes sobering buddy road picture nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin and Best Original Screenplay for Jesse Eisenberg who in addition to writing the script also stars in and directed the film. The story opens in a New York Airport where laid-back Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) calmly waits for his high-strung cousin David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) to arrive. David calls Benji on his cell phone multiple times asking if Benji is on his way to the airport, tells him about the traffic, all the while suspecting that Benji may be running late. David is surprised to see Benji is already there. The two of them are about to embark on a trip to Poland courtesy of their late grandmother who has given the money for them to travel there as part of her will. Her hope, it seems, is to both reunite the estranged cousins and have them take a Holocaust tour to see the Majdanek concentration camp where she was held captive and miraculously survived.

The two board the plane and fly to Poland where they meet the rest of the members of their tour which include James, the tour guide from England (Will Sharpe), Marcia (Jennifer Grey), Diane (Liza Sadovy), her husband Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Rwanda genocide survivor Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan). As the tour commences Benji charms the members of the group while David, who suffers from OCD, largely remains on the outside. But here and there Benji acts irrationally both with David and around the other members of the tour as the two cousins face some of the darker aspects of their present and past relationship.

Happy Oscar Nomination Day!

January 23, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the Parti Poodle once again. My novelist is better recovered from her RSV this week and continues to steadily work on her novel. We of course took some time this morning to watch the Oscar nominations. We were heartbroken not to see Pamela Anderson receive a nomination for her work in The Last Showgirl. We are, however, intrigued by some of the other nominations for the films we have had a chance to see and others we have not. Amongst the most fascinating films we have not seen are The Substance, Anora, Conclave, I’m Still Here, The Brutalist and Flow. Amongst our favorite movies to get nominations we have seen are The Wild Robot, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and A Complete Unknown. This, of course, gives us an excuse to attend some more films. I relish this as I am a popcorn fanatic. That is the best part of going to the theatre. I love to sit in the dark and partake of the crunchy snack. I adore sitting in the plush seat with the extendable footrest where I lie down on my blanket next to my novelist and lean over and eat popcorn out of the bag as the movie runs. Ah, the life of a parti poodle. And with that, here is my novelist’s stream of the week.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE ILLUSIONIST (2006)-AMAZON PRIME**

To celebrate Edward Norton’s well-deserved Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination for A Complete Unknown, here’s a smart fun stylish film of his from 2006 directed by Neil Burger and written by Neil Burger and Steven Millhauser who penned the short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” the movie is based on. Gigi and I happened to rewatch this gem last week and are delighted to have a chance to feature it as our Stream of the Week.

In 1900’s Vienna, a young illusionist named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) astounds audiences wherever he goes with his wildly popular, fantastic and complicated illusion shows. One night he asks for a volunteer from the audience and a beautiful young aristocratic woman named Sophie (Jessica Biel) steps up on stage. Eisenheim recognizes her immediately as his childhood sweetheart, but he keeps their secret and brilliantly performs his trick. Unfortunately, Sophie is engaged to Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Leopold is a ruthless man with a reputation of killing women at his whim. He is a frighteningly powerful and possessive man and has his employed Inspector Uhl (the fantastic Paul Giamatti) and his policemen follow her around for her “protection” and of course to spy on her.

Inspector Uhl soon finds himself not only following Sophie but also investigating Eisenheim which ends up getting him pulled in deeper and deeper to the intrigue surrounding these three people until he finds himself on a collision course with his own conscience and an unexpected crime.

A fun fact about the film is instead of using CGI to create the illusions in the film Edward Norton trained under British Magician James Freedman and American Magician Ricky Jay. You can see one of the interviews about it here.

RSV

January 16, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you this has been a most distressing week. My beloved novelist has fallen gravely ill. She has what I am told is an RSV or respiratory virus. I have been awoken in the early hours of the morning with her horrifying coughing. It started last Friday and has been haunting our happy home ever since. Luckily, I remained immune and can care for her hand and foot. I bring her my love and my toys and my companionship. What more could she need? But I am worried. Most of these illnesses seem to have a trajectory where the human starts with some symptom which turns to something else which turns to something else and then the human gets better.

But it doesn’t seem to be the situation here. She just keeps experiencing times when the coughs get worse, or the coughs get better. But nothing seems to have changed. Nothing appears to let up. It is dreadful to watch, and I have gone off on my own when the distress has completely undone me and sob. I am a terrible wreck. In the afternoons she watches television. Not something she often does. So, I have been going outside and chatting with Bernard. He says keep the faith. My novelist will pull through this. But she has asthma, I wail. Bernard tells me to make sure she doesn’t get a fever, especially a high grade one, and she should be okay. Make sure she drinks lots of fluids, he says. Make sure she gets plenty of rest. Still, I worry. I do not know how long this dreadful nastiness will last but I will be a better poodle when it is over.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: JUROR #2 (2024) HBO MAX**

Clint Eastwood returns to the director’s chair for this taunt, intriguing take on the classic courtroom drama.

Recovering alcoholic journalist Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is soon to be a parent for the first time with his wife, schoolteacher Ally Crewson (Zoey Deutch). They have struggled to carry a pregnancy full term. About a year ago when they lost a baby, Justin left during the night and headed into a bar. He purchased a shot, didn’t drink it and headed home.

A short while before Ally is due to give birth, Justin is called for jury duty. He finds out it is a high-profile murder case. Assistant District Attorney Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette) and Public Defender Eric Resnick (Chris Messina) pick their jury and despite Justin’s argument that he’s about to become a father he is chosen to be one of the twelve. Faith wants this case to go well because she is running for District Attorney, and the future of her career is at stake.

Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood) and her boyfriend James Sythe (Gabriel Basso) had a reputation for fighting with each other in public. On the night of Kendall’s death, the fight started in a bar and ended with Kendall storming outside and walking home and James following her with his truck. The next day Kendall was found dead under a bridge she was crossing. Witnesses at the bar saw James and Kendall fighting, and confirmed James had been drunk and disorderly before following her with his truck. The coroner confirms that Kendall had injuries that would be consistent with being struck by a blunt object that would have occurred before she fell over the bridge. And an eyewitness claims to have seen Sythe at the location where Kendall’s body was found.

As the trial starts, Justin begins to realize the bar he went to when he and his wife lost the baby was the same bar Kendall and James were at that fateful night, and he realizes he is not only a witness to their fight but that he may have important information that could seriously affect the case. However, his AA Sponsor Lawyer Larry Lasker (Kiefer Sutherland) warns of the dangers bringing forth such information could cause.

Rounding out the cast are J.K. Simmons as Justin’s fellow juror Harold Chicowski, a former homicide detective who questions James’s guilt.

Animation Rules Supreme

January 9, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

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

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

MY BOOKS

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

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

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

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

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

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