The Art of Finding Lost Things

October 22, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. If having a bobcat named Bebe roaming about the neighborhood isn’t bad enough, my novelist has misplaced her glasses. They are not her only pair, but they are her favorite pair. When she loses something, anything at all, she hunts and hunts until she finds the missing object. To be fair, she is very good at finding things but remains trapped in tunnel vision until she recovers her little lost lamb. I make valiant attempts to get her to sit down and not focus on finding whatever it is she has lost. I tell her that taking a break from searching may help her find her missing object sooner. But my attempts are often in vain. And so, I sigh, sprawl on my pillow and watch her roam around the home in a frantic trance trying to locate her missing treasure.

Her distraction did come in handy this week, however, as it allowed me to sneak to the computer and set up a meeting on Nextdoor for all the pets, bunnies, and squirrels to decide what to do about our dealings with Bebe. We resolved to meet at Ruffles house as we could all sneak into the van and have a covert tete-e-tete. Edison the Manx was the first to speak.

“I don’t see what more we can do,” he said. “We have given her a reasonable portion of our cat food as payola.”

“I am aware of that,” I told him. “However, I believe it is something other than food she wants.”

“But clearly it must be food,” Madeline the British Shorthair said. “She wants to dine on our neighborhood bunnies and squirrels. That’s her goal.”

“I know that’s what she’s implying, but I believe it is not the heart of the matter.”

Charlotte the Chow tilted her head. “What do you believe to be the heart of the matter?”

“To be honest, I have not figured it out yet. But she is leveraging us for something.”

“The bunnies and squirrels, the bunnies and squirrels,” the dachshund twins said chasing each other’s tails.

“I do not want her to eat our squirrels,” Ruffles the bulldog said. “I do not want her to eat our bunnies. I do not want that at all.”

“Nobody does. But we do need to protect Bernard, Belle, Sergio and the rest of the wildlife around our neighborhood. So, we need to figure out what she wants so she will stop trying to attack our friends.”

Artemus the Persian scoffed. “Exactly how do you propose we do that?”

Her sister Demeter scoffed as well. “Yes, Gigi. Exactly how do you propose we do that?”

“It is easy for you to scoff,” Sergio the squirrel said suddenly indignant. “You have owners who protect you, a roof over your heads, and a steady diet. We bunnies and squirrels are left out in the elements to defend ourselves.”

“That is your choice.”

“You must know that neither Sergio nor Belle nor I can be domesticated,” Bernard D. Bunny said. “Some bunnies can be domesticated, we can’t.”

“And yet you want our help.”

“Order, order,” I said banging my walnut gavel on the walnut sound block. “The point is we must work together and find a way to call another meeting in the park with Bebe. If we are all in agreement with that plan, I will contact Crispin the Coyote to set it up.

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: THIEF (1981)-AMAZON PRIME, ROKU, TUBI**

Continuing my pics of hidden gems is this film from 1981. What makes this week’s movie so good is James Caan’s superb performance, the research that went into the actual procedures the thieves use and its excellent third act. In many ways, this is a deconstructionist piece with its own structural build up and tear down and its fantastic character study of a criminal who is fighting to acquire the goal of living a normal life. The film was directed by Michael Mann in his debut outing. Mann also wrote the gritty script based on the memoir The Home Invaders: Confessions of a Cat Burglar by Frank Hohimer. It is noted, however, that Michael Mann did not actually use any of the content from the book. Tangerine Dream composed the original score which is outstanding and helps drive the tension of the story.

Frank (James Caan) is a highly competent professional thief. He owns a car dealership for which he launders thousands of dollars he and his partner Barry (Jim Belushi) make stealing diamonds. Frank has recently been released from the Joliet Correctional Center where he served time and was tough enough to survive the brutal experience.

Frank has very specific goals. One of them includes a cashier named Jesse (Tuesday Weld) who works at a restaurant he frequents. Frank has become smitten and plans to lead a normal life by marrying her and raising children.

After completing a jewelry theft with Barry, he gives the diamonds to his fence Joe (Hal Frank). Unfortunately, Joe owes money to the mob who kill him by tossing him out of a window. The mob boss Leo (Robert Prosky) outwardly a friendly fatherly figure and inwardly a cold-blooded killer, offers Frank a deal to work for him. At first Frank is apprehensive. He and Barry work alone. But after some persuasion, Frank agrees to take the position only to find out it may be the worst decision of his life.

Rounding out the cast are Willie Nelson as Frank’s longtime friend David “Okla” Bertinneau, Tom Signorelli as Attaglia, and Dennis Farina as Carl who, having been a real-life police detective, also worked as a technical adviser on the film. Look for William Peterson as a bartender.

Cappuccino with a Squirrel

October 15, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. I spent most of the week devastated by my missing Oryctolagus cuniculus friends Bernard D. Bunny and his little sister Belle. It did not help that I pulled a muscle during the week as well. My novelist has had to lift me up onto the bed, chair and couch and I feel utterly helpless. The good thing is I do not have to go on any walks this week. I stroll to keep my svelte figure, but hikes are an utter pain in my nether regions. I am instead roaming a little outside and it has been sunny and the temperatures have been rather pleasant.

One good thing that happened this week was I got to chat with Sergio the Squirrel. He said he nearly had a run in with the big furry beast. He had just settled in for the night when he heard something scratching at the bottom of his tree. He peeked down from his knothole and saw the oversized cat sharpening her claws on the bark. He jumped back and hid inside his drey and waited there until dawn. At that time, he bravely peered out again and the gigantic feline was gone.

He said he had not seen the Bunny siblings but would keep an eye out for them for me. I thanked him and invited him to tea. He said he was more of a coffee drinker. I gladly accommodated my guest by brewing him a hot cappuccino. I must say I am a talented amateur barista. He thanked me profusely and ravished the French cookies my novelist picked up on sale at Costco this week. He told me it was his busiest time of year gathering up sustenance for the winter. He said he was grateful to live in our neighborhood because he did not have to run through busy streets when he hoarded. Our world is his grocery store. He thanked me for the afternoon refreshments and the next day I found an assortment of Pacific Northwest conifers in front of my door.

Then, early Wednesday morning after the sun rose, I went outside and saw my dear Bernard hop through the nearby fence. I ran to him and licked his face profusely, which I immediately regretted as he tasted of dirt. He told me he and Belle had hidden in their tunnels again thanks to Belle’s keen sense of smell. I told him about Bebe’s refusal to agree not to harm the wildlife and would only acknowledge the contract was between her and the domestic pets. He found this most disturbing. I told him of my injury, and he agreed to discuss the matter with the other bunnies and squirrels. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BROADCHURCH (2013) Netflix, Roku, Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock**

This week I thought I would take a short break from hidden gem movies to talk about a British television show written for grownups that is leaving Netflix at the end of October. It is also streaming on Roku, Tubi, Pluto and Peacock. If you have never seen it, you really, really should. This is one of the best television shows in recent memory. An absolutely engrossing, brilliantly conceived piece of filmmaking that will keep you riveted from beginning to end. Twenty-three of the twenty-four episodes were written by Chris Chibnall. Only one was written by Louise Fox. I think that far too many shows have way too many writers and it is phenomenal when one person writes all or just about all the episodes. You are bound to get more consistency and a truer vision that way. I would say any given show should have no more than three writers. Too many writers spoil the scripts. Not to mention many writers are arrogant, emotional jerks, and in writing, dictatorship is good.

The show is set in a fictional sleepy little coastal town in Great Britan called Broadchurch. One morning the body of an eleven-year-old boy named Danny (Oskar McNamara) is found on the beach. Danny is the son of Beth Latimer (Jodie Whittaker) and Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) and brother of Chloe (Charlotte Beaumont). The head detective in the town is D.S. Ellie Miller (brilliantly played by Olivia Coleman). But reserved out-of-town detective D.I. Alec Hardy (also brilliantly played by David Tennant) takes the lead on the case.

Hardy is determined to solve this murder because his last case was left unresolved. As Hardy and Miller start to investigate, they discover whoever murdered Danny likely knew him and is a local sending the two detectives on a journey to uncover the secrets of the town’s residents which include the Reverand of the town (Arthur Darvill), Mark’s work partner Nige (Joe Sims), caravan dweller Susan Wright (Pauline Quirke), Danny’s best friend and Miller’s son Tom (Adam Wilson), shop owner Jack Marshal (David Bradley), and hotel owner Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay). Due to the Latimer family wanting more exposure on the case they enlist Miller’s nephew Olly Stevens (Jonathan Bailey) one of the local news reporters to stir up more attention much to the irritation of his boss Maggie Radcliffe (Carolyn Pickles). Olly contacts Karen White (Vicky McClure) a reporter from a larger newspaper who’s been lurking around the community looking for a story to help move things into action.

Rare and Ruthless

October 8, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. Before I go forward with our story, I must tell you some details I may have left out. Bebe is no ordinary bobcat. You see, here in the Pacific Northwest we can get a rarer form of bobcat. You were picturing a wild cat with tawny fur with spots and thin tufts on the top of the ears I imagine. But that is not what Bebe looks like. Bebe is a rare melanistic variant of the Lynx rufus. More specifically, a Melanistic Bobcat. This means she has long black silky fur and all you can see of her face are her intense amber eyes. She is utterly menacing and looks like a big round furry beachball. And she never, and I mean never, runs. She saunters. Slowly. She moves without fear and is utterly terrifying.

I woke up early one morning this week, about five-thirty a.m. to be exact. My novelist begrudgingly arose from bed and was about to take me out when she scanned the natural world outside after turning on the lights. That’s when she spotted Bebe. Or at least the back of Bebe strolling away. She turned to me and said there was no way either of us were going outside until daylight. Can you believe it? That ominous beast has taken over my walking grounds and I am most displeased. Most displeased indeed.

Ever since that night I have not seen or heard from Bernard D. Bunny or his little sister Belle. I am deeply concerned. There were no messages, no meetings for afternoon tea and I am having difficulty waiting it out. Every tick of the clock makes me anxious. I know they are brave and careful creatures. But Bebe is behemoth in comparison. My novelist has become protective of me and stays close by. I have not been able to gather up the neighborhood pets for another meeting, and I am going to have to arrange a Zoom call instead. This is not as simple as it sounds as some neighborhood pets are technology challenged…such as the dachshund twins.

That said, I just wanted to make sure you were caught up on that bit of information. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981)-AMAZON PRIME, ROKU, TUBI, YOUTUBE**

In my continuing hunt for cinematic gems, I came across this terrific, overlooked psychological thriller from director Walter Hill. Co-written by Hill, Michael Kane, and David Giler, the story is about a group of National Guardsman who are out for a routine exercise down in the Louisiana bayou. The squad of nine soldiers is led by Staff Sergeant Poole (Peter Coyote), a Vietnam Veteran. To boost morale, one of the squad members, PFC Spencer (Keith Caradine) has arranged for a group of prostitutes to be the entertainment after the maneuvers are complete. This goes well with the other members of the group which include Simms (Franklyn Seales), Cribbs (T.K. Carter), Stucky (Lewis Smith), and hot head Reece (Fred Ward). But it does not sit right with married newcomer Hardin (well-acted by Powers Booth), a chemical engineer recently transferred from the Texas Army National Guard. Hardin is leery about the cavalier attitude of the members of the squad and does his best to keep his distance and not to volunteer for any positions.

The squad starts heading out on their exercise expecting it to be a mundane routine. They realize after studying their map, their walk is going to be a long and rough one. While heading along their way, they happen to come across three boats owned by local Cajun hunter-trappers. Pool hesitates to borrow the vessel, but most of the squad urges him to take the boats anyway. Reluctantly, he agrees and they head out into the water. After getting a little way from the bank, they happen to see a group of local Cajuns standing on the shore watching them. Loose-cannon Stucky decides to fire blanks in their direction. His actions do not go over well with the Cajuns who fire back with real bullets hitting and killing Pool putting by-the-book Sgt. Casper (Les Lannom) in charge. The squad quickly drag the boats ashore to protect themselves and rethink their strategy, which causes a mentally unstable private, a high school football coach named Bowden (Alan Autry) to seek revenge for Pools death when the group continues on and comes across the abode of one of the Cajun trappers (Brion James).

Summit with Crispin

September 24, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember, last week I considered holding a summit involving a bobcat sighting in our neighborhood. I had posted the warning on Nextdoor and all the cats and dogs in the neighborhood stayed inside and waited for the danger to pass. This week, considering the terrifying incident Belle and Bernard D. Bunny experienced, I decided to call a neighborhood summit to discuss the matter. I even invited Crispin Z. Coyote to the meeting. I thought he might be able to bring some insight into the matter.

“Oh,” he said. “You mean Bebe.”

“Bebe,” Edison the Manx said. “This thing has a name?”

“You have a name. I have a name. So, of course this bobcat has a name. Bebe.”

I cocked my head. “Have you had a run in with Bebe?”

“I would not call it a run in. I would call it a civil discussion.”

“You had a civil discussion with a bobcat,” Charlotte the Chow said.

“Yes. More than once.”

“How is that possible?”

“Bobcats and Coyotes coexist. We don’t necessarily go after the same prey, and we don’t necessarily hunt at the same time in the same place. But, yes, we have had some heated but civil conversations.”

Edison the Manx stopped licking his paw. “About what?”

“Hunting for one. We Canis latrans like to hunt in the open where Bebe and the other Lynx rufus like to hunt in the woods. I kept telling her hunting in the open is so much better. No roots to trip over, no thorns getting into your paws. But can I convince her of this? Not a chance.”

“The point at hand,” I said, “is why did she wander into our neighborhood?”

“I believe she often wanders into neighborhoods. Especially if there are a lot of rabbits around. No offence, Bernard.”

“None taken,” Bernard said stiffly.

“They like to hunt in neighborhoods like yours.”

“That is most unsettling,” Madeline the British Shorthair said.

Crispin shrugged. “It is the way of the carnivore.”

“You really should try grass,” Belle Bunny said.

“Yuck.”

“Well, I like it.”

“To each his own, little bunny.”

“The point,” I said, “is for you to instruct us on how to avoid being the prey of Bebe.”

“Well, Bebe hunts in neighborhoods when the wildlife is scarce. My guess is that is why she showed up.”

“You live around here. Is the wildlife scarce?”

“I wouldn’t know. You and your friends have provided my friends with dog food in an agreement that I won’t hunt the neighborhood pets or your bunnies and squirrels.”

“Here, here,” Sergio the squirrel said.

“Are you saying we should make a similar deal with Bebe?”

“I think she might be up for a cat food alliance,” Crispin said.

“And how would we arrange a meeting with her?”

“I could give her a call.”

“And how would we know we would be safe?” Ruffles the Bulldog said.

“I would have your meeting in a non-wooded area.”

“We could meet her at the playground at the park, I suppose.”

“Excellent. I’ll let her know about the matter and give her a ring. Or a text. Maybe an email.”

Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI du COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (1975)-HBO MAX

For the past week or two I have been searching for films that would be considered cinema as opposed to motion pictures designed to merely entertain. Movies that stand out and what I would call literary films. This one was named the greatest film of all time by the Sight and Sound poll. The members of the Sight and Sound poll are a mix of esteemed film critics, industry professionals, and filmmakers held every ten years to re-evaluate the very best of the artform. Each member submits a list of their top ten films of all time to determine the top position. I personally would not call it the movie the greatest film of all time. But I would call it one of the greatest films of all time. Cinematic masterpieces that have held the title in the past are Citizen Kane, Bicycle Thieves, 2001 A Space Odessey, Tokyo Story and Vertigo. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles marks the first time a female director has taken the title. Her name is Chantal Akerman, and she was only twenty-five years old when she wrote and directed the film. She also made sure that her crew was 80% female, something that was unheard of at the time.

A note here: Jeanne Dielman will likely play better to a female audience than a male one, much like I think The Godfather plays better to a male audience than a female one. The reason for this is for a female audience, the story hits at a visceral level. A level that drives one to be both mesmerized and filled with fury. Women will find the film highly relatable today even though it takes place in the last quarter of last century because of the oppression it represents and the way women are, even to this day to some degree, considered second class citizens.

The story represents the grueling reality of what it has meant to be a woman for millennia. The boring, day-to-day nightmare of doing mundane yet necessary tasks the world takes for granted. And doing them mostly for indifferent thankless men. At times Jeanne is seen as a joke, in others an annoyance, yet others sexually objectified and worst of all being dismissed as irrelevant, unappreciated, and a mere shadow on the wall, out of sight. What Akerman does here is put the mundane on the screen like a horror story and quietly force the audience not to watch but to become immersed for no less than three hours and twenty-two minutes in Jeanne’s domestic prison like a ticking time bomb on the verge of explosion.

There is very little dialogue in the film. Mostly what we see is Jeanne doing her daily chores. The scenes in the apartment have a tight, claustrophobic effect. Usually there is some small item in the frame that is red like a thermos or a small glass bowl in the hutch, foreshadowing perhaps. We watch Jeanne (brilliantly played by Delphine Seyrig) get up out of bed, fix coffee and breakfast for her self-absorbed teenage son (not a daughter), Sylvain (Jan Decorte) polish his shoes, help him with his coat, and get him off to school. She then does housework, babysits a baby boy (not a baby girl) for a neighbor (voiced by Chantal Akerman herself) for free. She then goes shopping, not for herself per say but for food or a button her son needs for a sweater she’s knitting him. I might add she always wears a silk scarf when she leaves the apartment and it is also red, albeit a softer shade. When Jeanne goes out, she is always doing business with women who are shopkeepers, salesclerks, and waitresses. Except for one place: the bank. That worker is a young man. It is a man who stands between her and money. She deposits cash she keeps in a decorative ceramic pot on the dining room table.

Then she comes home and spends time preparing dinner. Right after she starts to cook the food, the doorbell rings. A man enters. She takes his coat and hat; they greet each other politely and then they go down the hall to Jeanne and her late husband’s bedroom and proceed to have sex. The hall changes from daylight to evening light quickly and the two emerge from the bedroom. Jeanne helps the man with his coat and hat, and he politely pays her and says he’ll see her next week. Every day brings a different steady client. Her oblivious son comes home from school where she serves him dinner and helps him with his schoolwork. During the rare moments when they do have a conversation, he often dismisses her or criticizes her offhandedly, like telling her there is a button undone on her housecoat. After dinner they go out for a walk, then they return home, pull out the couch bed, he goes to sleep, she goes to her bedroom and she goes to sleep. They get up the next day and do it all over again. And that drudgery is Jeanne’s hell. We follow her for three days through her unsatisfying life, moment to moment until …

Epidog

August 27, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. Much has gone back to normal since last week’s apex. Artemis is delighted to be reunited with her sister Demeter. The two Persian cats have celebrated their reunion by cozying up on their climbing apparatus, each on their own tier. The twin Dachshunds Titus and Tyler have been chasing each other around in their front lawn, Charlotte has settled into reading the complete works of Shakespeare, Madeline and Edison meet at each other’s houses for a rousing game of checkers, Ruffles is working on getting his official driver’s license, and Bernard, Belle and I have gone back to having tea in the afternoons.

I had no idea how exhausted I was after all that kafuffle. But I am delighted to have everything back to normal before the summer is over. We are planning an Afternoon Tea celebration and in addition to our usual motley crew we are also inviting Sergio the Squirrel for his brave exploits in getting us the blueprints for the evil man’s house. And of course, our villain turned hero Crispin the Coyote and his coyote friends. They have promised to only eat cucumber sandwiches, scones and cakes and not the guests.

Unfortunately, my novelist took me in for a grooming and although I once again look spectacular the experience was torturous. But the result is stunning and I will look amazing at the soiree. I may even wear ribbons on my ears and my rhinestone collar around my neck. Not the diamond one I dream of, mind you, but a sparkly piece just the same. I was also delighted that yesterday was International Dog Day. The cats were sweet enough to gift me with a brand-new SPOT Skinneeez Dog Toy. These are of course my favorites. They said it was the least they could do since I spearheaded their rescues.

My novelist is glad to have me back to my usual self. She was quite concerned about my comings and goings during the whole ordeal. She wants me to return my focus to writing stories. I tried to tell her my adventure was indeed a story, but she dismissed the whole matter. She is, however, being gracious enough to take me to the Coyote vs Acme movie next week. And I do adore popcorn.

I think we have all learned to be a bit more vigilant in the neighborhood because of the kidnappings and have all promised to go out in pairs from now on. Apparently, one can never be too cautious. We have all had our owners (and novelists) purchase us whistles to take with us should we ever find ourselves in the company of nefarious creatures be they human or animal.

I do believe that wraps up the whole saga. But you never know when another rousing adventure might take place. I thank you all for being patient with me during this tense and tumultuous time. And thus, until next time, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

BEST OF THE EMMY NOMINATIONS

PLURIBUS (2026)-APPLE TV+

Of all the shows nominated for the Emmy this year, this one is the crème de la crème. And this best of breed sci-fi drama comes from none other than the best guy working in the television industry today, Vince Gilligan. When I saw the first episode, I was a bit iffy. My thought was, yet another end of the world story. But on further watch, Pluribus is anything but ordinary and easily the most original show on television right now.

Oddly, the most fascinating part of Pluribus is how some audience members cannot tell who the villain is until the last episode of the season…if they can even do it by then. To me, the identity of the villain was quite clear from the beginning but to others apparently it was not so cut and dry. Maybe this is a sly societal statement from our resident INFP about the present state of our world. Or perhaps it is merely an observation about the way people have always been.

The show is like a Milgram Obedience Experiment and a Stanford Prison Experiment rolled into one. I’m not certain if it is personality type, generational placement or exactly what it is that causes confusion around what is sinister and what is not in the show’s world. But it’s concerning to me that this confusion exists. Regardless, I am not going to give away any clues so that if you have never watched this mini masterpiece before, you can decide for yourself.

Pluribus received a whopping eighteen Emmy nominations including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (One Hour), Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Music Supervision, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Carol Sturka (Rhea Seahorn in a brilliant Emmy nominated best of the year performance) is a highly successful misanthropic, alcoholic romance fantasy writer. Helen (Emmy nominee Miriam Shor) is her beloved spouse and manager. Carol dreams of writing the great American novel one day and give up her day job for good. After flying home from Houston to Albuquerque, the two women head out that evening to Silver Jack’s Saloon. Because of Carol’s drinking their SUV has a breathalyzer that must be blown into to start the car. As Helen doesn’t drink, she drives them to the bar and has a Coke while Carol sips on a Manhattan. After Carol finishes her drink, they go outside to smoke and look at the responses of the fans to Carol’s new book. While outside, Carol gazes up to see a group of planes

The Coyote Makes a Phone Call

August 20, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the Parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. Crispin and his cohorts had pounced upon the original catnapper who had kidnapped our beloved Demeter, and later Madeline and Edison. The woman in the silk camo dress and the woman in the olive trench coat stood stunned and terrified as two of the coyotes turned towards them and advanced.

“Gigi,” Bernard D. Bunny said hopping up to me, “I think the man in the Hummer might be getting out.”

“That evil dung beetle,” I cursed. “We must stop him.”

“I think he might have a baseball bat as well.”

“But of course he does. Ruffles, back up the van.”

“Back up the van,” Ruffles said. “Back up the van.”

Ruffles began backing up the van as the man with tattoos stepped out of his monstrosity and began tromping towards the coyotes. The man was stunned to see the van backing up towards him and he jumped back.

One of the coyotes pounced on the woman in the silk dress and another pounced on the woman in the olive trench coat knocking them both to the ground.

“Get off me, cur,” the woman in the olive trench coat yelled

The woman in the silk camo dress screamed and appeared most displeased to have a coyote standing on her chest. At that exact moment I realized I had forgotten to lock the passenger’s side door, because the man with the tattoos flung it open and grabbed me.

“Gigi!” I heard everyone in the van scream as the brutal beast began hauling me over to the Hummer.

“Gigi, Gigi!” I heard the twin dachshunds howling in unison.

Terror coursed through my arteries as the villain’s wretched breath heaved down upon my beautiful curls. My heart palpitated as it never has before. I despise being held and to be held by such a dreadful ghoul as this was enough to make me bite…which I did.

The tattooed man was most displeased by my behavior. He pulled his wounded hand away, stunned. It would have been a great moment of glory for me, had he not swatted me on the nose. I did not take kindly to this. I snarled and went to bite him again, when he pulled out a squirt gun and sprayed me in the face. I was shocked, wet, and upset. I tried to bite him again and water went up my nose. I snorted and wheezed. Suddenly, I was being shoved into a dreaded dog carrier. Or in this case a cat carrier. I flung my paws out and pressed them against the sides of the entrance to stop myself from being pushed inside. I barked a shrill ear-piercing bark, but it was to no avail. The man plucked my paws off the sides of the carrier, pushed me into the cavernous trap, and locked the door.

In the distance, I heard police sirens going off. I could tell they were getting nearer. Tattoo man climbed into his vehicle and started the engine. I barked wildly and chewed on the plastic bars of my cage. The man backed up the Hummer. I could still hear the desperate mews and barks of my beloved friends crying out for me. The man whipped the Hummer backwards, threw the vehicle into drive when all at once he was blocked in by police cars in front of him and in back.

Officers disembarked their prowlers, pointed guns at him and shouted, “Get out of the car with your hands up!”

Tattoo man turned off the engine and shook his head. He climbed out of the Hummer, dropped to his knees and held his hands up. Within moments, the police had zip ties around his wrists. Crispin’s fellow coyotes stepped off the two women, and they too had zip ties swiftly applied to their wrists. Crispin stepped off the original catnapper, trotted past the officers and over to the Hummer where I was still incarcerated in the cat carrier.

“See,” he said as he peered into the wretched cage at me with a smug grin, “I was right. I called the police.”

Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

BEST OF THE EMMY NOMINATIONS

SPIDER-NOIR (2026)-AMAZON PRIME

For the second week of the best of the Emmy Nominations, I’ve selected this fantastic entertaining spin on Spiderman. The show has received a total of eleven nominations for Outstanding Production Design, Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (One Hour), Outstanding Title Design, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode, Outstanding Stunt Coordination for Comedy Programming, and Outstanding Stunt Performance. One unique element of the show is it can be watched either in color or black and white. I chose black and white, which looks fantastic.

The show is based on the Spider-Man Noir comic book series which was originally released in February 2009. The story, set in the 1930’s in Manhattan, follows a middle-aged WWI veteran, now private detective, named Ben Reilly (Nicholas Cage who should have received an Outstanding Actor in a Drama Emmy nod). Ben has a drinking problem intensified by the fact that he believes himself responsible for the death of his beloved fiancée Ruby Williams (Amanda Schull) five years prior. He used to be The Spider, the city’s hero but after Ruby’s death he put his mask away. He now works with his long-time secretary Janet Ruiz (Karen Rodriguez who also deserved a Supporting Actress nomination) and occasionally relies on the assistance of his buddy Joseph “Robbie” Robertson (Lamorne Morris) a hard-working freelance journalist.

One day, Ben is hired by a man named Carmedy to investigate his wife, a nightclub singer named Cat Hardy (well-acted by Li Jun Li) for infidelity. But upon digging deeper, Ben finds Cat is not married to Carmedy, and she has some strange involvement with the mayor of Manhattan. He takes pictures of her and the mayor and decides to go to her with the negatives.

In addition, he’s been hired by a man named Winston (Lucas Haas) to hunt down a man named Addison (Jack Mikesell) whom Winston believes burned down the house of his employer, the highly powerful crime boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson who also deserved an Emmy nomination). Ben finds out Winston also hired another private eye named Donegal (Cameron Britton) to locate Addison.

One night both Ben and Donegal trail Addison to the Standard Oil Company. Donegal gets there first and Ben hangs back in the shadows. When Donegal tries to approach Addison, Addison shows he can self-ignite himself into flames. He tries to burn up Donegal, but Donegal shoots and kills him causing the highly flammable Standard Oil location to catch fire. Donegal and Ben both get out on time. Ben later goes to the nightclub where Cat performs in hopes of blackmailing her for the negatives only to find out there may be more men like Addison and him self with special powers.

Rounding out the cast are Cary Christopher as Frankie, a wisecracking orphan and Joe Massigal, Scott MacArthur and Jack Huston as Silvermane’s henchmen.

Open the Pod Bay Doors

August 7, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the Parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. Bernard D. Bunny pulled the van up to Chrispin’s abode, which was essentially the wooded area by the curb of the cul de sac where the van was parked before.

He calmly strolled up to the passenger’s side of the van where I was sitting. As he approached, I cautiously rolled down the window. He sat on his haunches and asked, “Where are the catnappers?”

“In the van”, I barked.

“You going to open the door?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Perhaps.” I turned to Bernard and said, “Crispin wants us to open the door.”

“Not a chance,” Bernard said. “He’s a bloodthirsty predator.”

“Which is why we drove the catnappers here to be delt with.”

“How are we going to get the catnappers out of the van if we don’t open the door?”

“A fair question.”

Bernard pointed his paw forward. “We could tell Crispin to stand way over there at the edge of the cul de sac and then we could have Charlotte and Ruffles slide open the side door, push the catnappers out and then slam the door back shut.”

“Good idea. Let me tell Charlotte and Ruffles the plan.” I hurried back to Charlotte and whispered the idea to her.

“I will be ready when you are,” she said.

Then I hopped over to Ruffles and told him the plan as well. “I can do that,” he said. “I can do that.”

“Fantastic,” I said and then hurried back to Bernard. “Let’s tell Crispin to move back to the edge of the cul de sac and we’ll open the door and roll them out and shut the door.”

“What are you doing?” the woman in the olive raincoat said.

“We’ve taken you back to where you started,” I said.

“This isn’t the parking lot.”

I ignored her and ran back to the passenger seat. “Crispin?”

“Yes,” Crispin said.

“I need you to go over to the opposite side of the cul de sac and we’ll open the door and roll them out.”

“Why should I do that?”

“You’re a blood thirsty predator.”

“I take offence to that.”

“I apologize but you need to see it from our point of view.”

He shrugged, lifted his paw and studied his claws. “Where’s my toy?”

“Don’t worry, I have your toy. My novelist got me a new one and I will bring it to you. And just remember, we don’t want you to attack we just want you to terrify.”

“Terrifying is my thing.”

“Great.”

“Which stuffed toy is it?”

“What?”

“Which stuffed toy is it?”

“A leopard.”

“Awesome.”

Crispin rose and began walking over to the other side of the cul de sac when a pair of headlights pulled in behind the van. Bernard looked in the rearview mirror and motioned for me to come back to the front. “It’s the man with the shaved head and tattoos,” he told me.

I looked up in the rearview mirror. The man turned off his headlights and started to dismount the garish orange Hummer. “Our plan remains the same. Let’s do it.”

“What about Crispin? He can’t take on all three of them.”

“I thought you said he was a blood thirsty predator.”

“He is but he’s still on our side.”

“You have a point. Let’s stick with the plan but not leave. If Crispin needs help, we still have the van.”

“Can’t the man just hop back in the Hummer and mow us over?”

“Belle, I have a job for you.”

“Okay,” Belle said meekly.

“I want you to hop up here on the dash and watch the man with the shaved head and tattoos. If he heads back to the Hummer, I need you to jump on the horn.”

“I can do that.”

“Good. Now we have an alarm system. Bernard, get ready.”

“Okay,” Bernard said.

“Charlotte, Ruffles, open the Pod Bay doors!”

Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966)-AMAZON PRIME, PLUTO, ROKU, TUBI

It’s hard to believe that one of the greatest westerns ever made was not nominated for a single Oscar. To be fair, it was a tough year with In the Heat of the Night, Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Cool Hand Luke and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner all nominated in the same year. Yet, there was still plenty of room for this incredible never a dull moment classic to take its place at the table.

If you ask your parents, or maybe grandparents, they will tell you before video, DVD, Tivo, and the Internet, every May for five days straight was Clint Eastwood Week. This meant every night, Monday thru Friday at 8:00 pm sharp you needed to be in your chair in front of the television ready to watch one of five great films starring a thirtysomething man who would become a movie star, composer, and four-time Oscar winner twice for director and twice for producer. And the zenith of all the cinema for that short run was this timeless western classic about three anti-heroes in search of buried gold.

The film was directed by the incredibly talented Sergio Leoni who is the mind behind the first two films about the Man with No Name. The story takes place during the Civil War where two outlaw drifters run a scam to collect bounty money. Tuco (Eli Wallach who should have been nominated for an Oscar for his landmark performance) is wanted…for a lot of crimes: murder, armed robbery, theft of sacred objects, kidnapping, rape, statutory rape, counterfeiting and passing counterfeit money, bigamy, desertion, inciting prostitution, receiving and selling stolen goods, using marked cards and loaded dice, highway robbery, cattle rustling, derailing a train to rob passengers, hiring himself out as a wagon train guide and deserting, misrepresenting himself as a Mexican general, intention to sell fugitive slaves, illegal postal pickup, assaulting a Justice of the Peace, and vandalism and arson in places of high authority.

Tuco (the ugly) is captured by the Man with No Name (the good) which Tuco refers to as Blondie (Clint Eastwood in his iconic role) and drug into the nearest town. The town then pays Blondie the bounty, and Tuco is put on a horse with his hands tied behind his back and a noose around his neck. When they are about to set the horse free, Blondie, an excellent marksman, shoots the rope sending the horse running with Tuco free on its back. These two have been pulling this con for a while.

In the meantime, a man dressed all in black (the bad) named Sentenza aka Angel Eyes (played with gleeful villainy by Lee Van Cleef), a gun for hire, hunts down a man family man named Stevens (Antonio Casas). Stevens, a former Confederate soldier knows the whereabouts of a man named Bill Carson (Antonio Casale) who knows where $200,000 is hidden. As Angel Eyes hunts for Bill Carson, Tuco and Blondie find themselves at odds with each other and in a moment of sheer luck stumble into knowledge about where the $200,000 might be.

Places, Everyone! Places!

July 23, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s…alright, places everyone! Places!

“I can’t remember where I was last time. I can’t remember where I was.”

Calm down, Ruffles. You had just knocked the woman in the silk camo dress to the floor and commenced to stand on top of her as the cats surrounded her and growled.

“Oh, yes. That’s right. Yes, that’s right.”

“I have no intention of being knocked to the floor again. I’ll just lie down on the van floor.”

That works just fine, woman in the camo dress. Alright, Charlotte. Are you ready?

“Just a second. I need to get into character.”

“You’ve had two weeks to get back into character.”

“Oh, do shut up would you, Bruiser.”

“Just because you studied method acting, Charlotte, it doesn’t give you the right to judge the rest of us.”

“Can we just get this over with, little dog? I came out of retirement to play this part.”

“Tell me, woman in the olive trench coat, were you a method actor?”

“What’s your name again, little dog?”

“Bruiser.”

“Well, Bruiser, I’ve studied several types of acting methods: the Stanislavsky System, the Meisner Technique, the Adler Technique, the Chekhov Technique, and practical techniques from David Mammet and William H. Macy.”

“I suppose you think that makes you special.”

“Yes, actually, I do.”

“Gigi, what do you mean by “the cats surrounded her and growled”? I find that vague. I feel like I need better motivation here.”

It means exactly what it says, Demeter. You, your sister Artemis, Madeline, and Edison surround the woman in the olive trench coat who is trying to buy cats on the black market. Together you want to show her you are mad, and you mean business.

“There are many ways a cat can convey that they mean business. We can flatten our ears, we can puff our tails, we can flick or thump our tails on the ground. I feel we need a bit more direction here.”

“I agree with my sister, Demeter. We have other options here.”

Alright, Artemis. Fine. You can growl, hiss, and do all those things. Whatever feels natural to you.

“I want to say for the record I was already flattening my ears when I growled.”

Thank you for your fortitude, Madeline. If you’re growling as well as flattening your ears or any other cat gestures, I am fine with it.

“What if I decide I want to reach out and scratch the woman in the olive trench coat?”

That is not an acceptable motivation, Edison. You might end up scratching Charlotte instead.

“I refuse to get scratched. If you scratch me…”

No one is going to scratch you, Charlotte. That’s why we’ve done all the blocking.

“Gigi, why don’t I have any lines?”

I’m sorry, Belle. I will look over the script and see if I can write a couple of lines for you.

“Thank you, Gigi. I appreciate you looking out for my little sister.”

You’re welcome, Bernard. Are we all ready now?

“Yes!”

Fantastic, we’ll take it from here next week. And to you, dear reader, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BLOW OUT (1981)-TUBI & ROKU CHANNEL**

This week’s feature is a fantastic neo-noir mystery thriller film from Brian DePalma who wrote the script with Bill Mesce Jr. The movie is based on the 1966 French film classic Blow Up directed and co-written by Michelangelo Antonioni which was based on the short story “Las babas del diablo” by Julio Florencio Cortázar. The title essentially means “the devil’s drool”. The short story is about an amateur photographer who believes he has taken a photo of a sinister act between a middle-aged female prostitute and a teenaged boy. Blow Out was praised for DePalma’s imaginative direction, Vilmos Zsigmond’s fantastic cinematography and John Travolta and Nancy Allen’s excellent performances.

Jack Terry (John Travolta) is a sound technician for low budget slasher films. His most recent outing is called Co-Ed Frenzy in which a knife wielding psychopath is stalking a house of college girls. When he reaches the naked girl in the shower, the actress’s scream is less than convincing. Jack’s longtime business partner, producer Sam (Peter Boyden) asks Jack to find an actress who can scream convincingly and to go out and record better sounds of ominous wind.

Jack packs up his equipment and heads out to a nearby park at night. He stands on a bridge and begins filming the wind. He also hears a couple on a second bridge below, a frog croaking, and an owl hooting. As he is recording a car comes barreling down the road below. Suddenly, Jack hears a bang and then the car drives off the road and into the lake. He sets down his equipment and hurries down to the lake as a man under the bridge named Manny Karp (Denni Franz) runs away. Jack dives into the lake where he finds the car. The driver, a man in a suit is dead, but in the driver’s seat a young woman named Sally Bedina (Nancy Allen) is still alive. Jack rescues Sally and takes her to the emergency room. He is surprised when the dead man in the car turns out to be presidential hopeful, Governor George McRyan.

As the press storms the hospital, Jack is first interviewed by Detective Mackey (John Aquino). Jack says he heard a bang before the car went off the bridge as opposed to a blow out of a car tire. Jack is then approached by Lawrence Henry (John McMartin), an associate of McRyan. Henry explains that Sally was an escort for the deceased governor and the governor was a family man. He tells Jack to get himself and Sally out of the hospital to avoid the deceased governor’s family public embarrassment. Suspecting foul play, Jack returns to his studio and studies the audio tapes he made of that night, slowly realizing that the situation is more sinister than he imagined.

In the meantime, the city finds itself in another crisis involving a serial killer named the Liberty Bell Strangler (John Lithgow) who has been murdering young women around town.

Why Is There No Story?

July 9, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog.

“What is going on?”

What do you mean, what is going on, Ruffles?

“What I mean is we are supposed to be continuing our story. I am supposed to be pinning down the woman in the silk camo dress in the van, but there is no story. Why is there no story?”

Allow me to explain—

“And I am supposed to be pinning down the woman in the olive trench coat. Now suddenly there is no set. There is no van.”

Yes, Charlotte, I know you are supposed to be pinning down the woman in the olive trench coat. And thank you for your bravery. But the situation is—

“I’m perplexed. I was kidnapped by these horrible catnappers, finally reunited with my sister Artemis, and now…poof! Nothing. No story, no van. No humans.”

I understand your concern, Demeter. And might I add it is lovely to have you in the story now. I cannot begin to imagine the terror you have been through, however—

“Demeter is right. Suddenly, everything is wonky. Everything is off. She and I are finally reunited and now there is no story. I am utterly perplexed.”

I am sympathetic to your situation, Artemus. You have been through quite an ordeal with your dear sister having been missing for so long. It’s just—

“Who’s running the show here? We were on a mission. We were in a quest. Now we’re all just standing around. I’m a cat. I’m a Manx. I was not born to just stand around.”

No one is asking you to stand around, Edison. I am merely trying to explain the circumstances. Now, the situation is—

“I agree with Edison. We are all Felis catus and Canis lupis familiaris standing around without a story.”

Yes, Madeline, I know we are without a story, but I need you, and everyone else, to understand what is going on here.

“What is going on here? What is going on here!”

“Will someone put a muzzle on those twin dachshunds?”

Enough! I have had enough! Everyone needs to zip their traps! Bernard, will you please help me explain what is going on here?

“Certainly. What Gigi has been trying to explain is that the Nordstrom Anniversary catalogue dropped this week.”

“What? That’s this week?”

“Yes, Bruiser. The Nordstrom Anniversary catalogue just dropped this week, and Gigi’s novelist did not help Gigi write a chapter for this week.

“The nerve of that so called writer!”

“Yes, Charlotte, I know. I understand how you feel. But we must all be patient until Gigi’s novelist has finalized all her favorite sale items in her wish list and then she will help Gigi write another chapter of our story.”

“It’s maddening, I tell you. Absolutely maddening.”

“Not to mention highly unprofessional.”

I know you are disappointed, Edison. I know you are all disappointed. But I can assure you my novelist and I will have a new chapter up soon. The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Fever simply must break and all will be well again. Thank you, Bernard, for helping to explain that. And thank you, Belle, for the visuals.

“I simply do not know what I would have done without the PowerPoint presentation to go along with this.”

Yes, Bruiser, I know. And as for you dear readers, a new chapter is on the horizon. Until next time, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957)-TUBI**

Every so often I like to search through the selections on Tubi which has a wonderful collection of classic movies. So, for the next couple of weeks I am going to pick a few from here. This week’s film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Actor for Charles Laughton, Best Supporting Actress for Elsa Lanchester and Best Director for Billy Wilder. It is a genuinely brilliant courtroom drama with an unusual surprise. The screenplay is based on the play of the same name by Agatha Christie and was written by Billy Wilder and Harry Kurnitz.

Sir Wilfrid (Charles Laughton) has just been released from the hospital after a heart attack. He has been assigned a private nurse, Miss Plimsoll (Elsa Lanchester) who desperately tries to keep him away from alcohol and cigars. Wilfrid, a highly touted senior barrister, is supposed to rest and not take any legal cases. But when his friend and solicitor Mr. Mayhew (Henry Daniell) asks him to defend a young man named Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) for murder, Wilfrid cannot resist and agrees to take the case along with the help of his junior counsel, Mr. Brogan-Moore (John Williams). Vole had befriended a wealthy childless middle-aged woman named Emily French (Norma Varden) who developed a crush on him despite the concerns of her deaf housekeeper Janet McKenzie (Una O’Connor). French was found struck on the back of the head by a blunt object in her home during the night.

Further complicating the case, French had named Leonard her beneficiary shortly before her death. Vole swears he was nowhere near the scene of the crime that fateful night, and his wife, a former German actress and singer named Christine (Marlene Dietrich) can vouch for his whereabouts. Sir Wilfrid interviews Christine and finds her to be cold and self-assured. He tells her courts often frown on the testimony of spouses and is surprised when he finds out that Christine is set to be called a witness for the prosecution.

As a side note, I thought it interesting that Vivian Leigh was up for the part of Christine. She was also up for the part of the second Mrs. de Winter in Rebecca (1940).

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