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

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!

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.