Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to bring you the latest update on our catnapping situation. But first, my novelist wanted me to wish you Happy Oscar Nominations Day. Clearly, she thinks this is more important than what happened to Demeter, Edison and Madeline. Apparently, all the big holidays and events are happening on Thursdays these days. I might add it is also the first day of the Sundance Film Festival, making it a movie day all around. So, there it is, Happy Oscar Nominations Day. You can watch the announcement here. Let’s get to business.
As you know, last week we put a tracking collar on the last remaining feline member of our little motley crew. Edison put up a valiant fight in the park but still our dear Manx was carried off into the night by the evil catnapper. Charlotte the Chow followed the trail to one of the streets that leads to the main arterial with the rest of us in hot pursuit. The only clue we found was spilled Cherry Slurpee, which the twins Titus and Tyler lapped most of. The rest of us focused on the receipt that lay nearby. We now have a concrete clue to the identification of our predator.
We took the receipt back to the van and studied it. We found the villain paid with a debit card. We know there must be footage of this wretch on the camera at the 7-Eleven. But how would we get our hands on such precious information? Then it occurred to me that Wednesday was Squirrel Appreciation Day. Sergio! I told the others a dog could not sneak into a store without being noticed. But someone as small and as dodgy as a squirrel just might. My compadres agreed it was worth a shot and we all scampered home.
The next morning, and it was a cold and frosty morning, I went out and found Sergio up on a fence munching on a nut. I told him about the predicament and our precious Sciurus carolinensis was sympathetic to our plight. He said he would go to the 7-Eleven and view the previous night’s footage. He scampered off and I went back inside to brew a delicious cup of tea and await his return.
It took the better part of the morning but as I was perusing the comics in last Sunday’s newspaper I was delighted to look up and see the familiar furry grey face at the window. I hurried out and he showed me his phone. He had taken a picture of the brute: a burly fellow with mean eyes. Sergio sent the pictures he’d taken of the surveillance footage to all the other dogs, and we are studying the pictures as we speak. 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: TRAIN DREAMS (2025)-NETFLIX
This week’s movie was nominated for two Golden Globe awards and should have made a solid showing at the Oscars as well. It is gorgeously directed by Clint Bentley with cinematography by Oscar Nominee Adolpho Veloso. Though it is a profound and well-told story you’ve been forewarned, this is not for the faint of heart. It is a movie for grown-ups, and it may haunt you for days after seeing it. If you can’t handle that, go sit at the kid’s table and play on your phone.
Brilliantly adapted by Oscar Nominee Greg Kwedar from the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson, it is the story of a logger named Robert Grainier (another homerun performance by Joel Edgerton who clearly should have also received an Oscar nomination for his work here). We know at the beginning of the movie, he will live into his 80’s. The story opens at the turn of the 20th century where Robert starts out building the railroad in the pacific northwest. He headed out that way as a child and worked to survive ever since. After witnessing a shocking event he believes he might have been able to prevent, he turns to logging and floats through life without meaning. That is until he meets the luminous Gladys Olding (beautifully acted by Felicity Jones) at church. Throughout his life, Robert is haunted by dreams of things that are real and things that are not. Determining what is real and what is not real will become a harrowing challenge for him as the story unfolds.
Amazingly, the film was shot in the Pacific Northwest in Washington State in Colville, Spokane, Metaline Falls, Snoqualmie Falls, and Tekoa. This is marvelous and sadly shocking as Washington State has been a royal pain in the ass to film in thanks to its reputation of being too expensive and not lucrative enough. So, filmmakers have had to go to Oregon, Montana and Vancouver BC to get films made and I don’t blame them. It’s starting to get better but despite all it’s good points, Washington, though being the birthplace of companies like Amazon, Costco, Starbucks, and Microsoft is the ass clown of states when it comes to knowing how to make money.
Rounding out the cast is William H. Macy as explosives expert Arn Peeples, Nathaniel Arcand as storekeeper Ignatius Jack, Kerry Condon as forestry services worker Clare Thompson and Will Patton as the Narrator. The film also received an Oscar nod for Best Song for the title track “Train Dreams” by Nick Cave and the film’s composer, Bryce Dessner.
Gigi Catches Air 