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Due to technological difficulties at home, I am today blogging from the boyfriend’s place, where my hosts include two cats who are easily the most fabulous felines in the Chicagoland area (and, possibly, the world). I’ve never been able to have cats of my own because I’m allergic to them but I recently discovered the miracle of over-the-counter allergy drugs, and all hail to that! I’m a lifelong animal lover and at long last I am able to enjoy cats, who totally captivate and fascinate me.
In honor of the aforementioned kitties, I wanted to make note of this article in Sunday’s New York Times, about the first annual International Cat Video Festival. It took place on Thursday at Minneapolis’ prestigious Walker Art Center and attracted an astonishing 10,000 people! Well, maybe I shouldn’t be so astonished, given the ubiquitous popularity of cats on the internet. Did you know that Keyboard Cat has an agent? I didn’t, until reading this article.
Anyway, the festival inaugurated a Golden Kitty award, voted on by visitors to its website, and the video below, Henri 2, Paw de Deux, is the one that won. Fyi Henri, the eponyomous kitty in the video, has a book of philosophical musings due to be published by Random House in the fall. Ponder that, and also the question of why cats have taken off like crazy as an internet meme, but dogs, not so much? I’ve come to adore cats but I’m still a dog person at heart and I’m puzzled at what seem to be the wild disparities in YouTube etc. representation of the two types of critters.
Without further ado, here’s Henri — feline superstar!
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RepubAnon on September 01, 2012 1:22 PM:
My guess as to the popularity of cats for bloggers is that dogs typically want their humans to step away from the keyboard and throw the ball.
Cats tend to crawl into the blogger's lap - or help with typing.
PattyP on September 01, 2012 1:33 PM:
Wow. I wasn't expecting that video to be so depressing. :-/
Hedda Peraz on September 01, 2012 1:41 PM:
So. A book "by" a cat- Random House, no less. I bet it was ghost written.
It will sell well to the myriads who think "Peanuts" is funny.
when does craptcha go away?
JR on September 01, 2012 1:46 PM:
Okay, call me biased, but Oona Lovebug is the sweetest kitty in the world (not just Chicagoland), only partly because this is what greets me when I come home, whether I've been gone 5 minutes or a week. (No, that's no exaggeration. Actually, I'm convinced she was a dog in a past life.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otgd_ZeuEk8&feature=channel&list=UL
thebewilderness on September 01, 2012 1:49 PM:
Happy Caturday!
Greg on September 01, 2012 2:06 PM:
funny how this came right after I read a story in Wired about cats and Japan.
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2012/10/features/im-in-ur-internets-kontrolin-ur-mindz?page=all
matt on September 01, 2012 2:28 PM:
LOL
arkie on September 01, 2012 2:51 PM:
Strange. That video created an urge to put on a beret and smoke a cigarette.
Hannah on September 01, 2012 3:15 PM:
The Henri video is hilarious parody. I've seen it before but will watch it again, thanks for posting.
On a more serious note, my precious kitty got me through some tough times. I'm forever indebted to her.
Rugosa on September 01, 2012 7:51 PM:
I love both dogs and cats, currently live with a cat. Cats have a cool that lends itself to post-modern hipster ironic detachment. Dogs are so sincere.
d on September 01, 2012 9:54 PM:
ennui, thy name is kitty-cat.
zandru on September 02, 2012 10:18 AM:
Why are cats so popular on the Internet?
One strong possibility is that, as a general rule, nobody ever gets to see YOUR cool kitty doing those amusing, amazing, inscrutable cat things. Cats just behave differently when strangers are present.
Enter the cheap, ubiquitous video camera, and YouTube. Now your cat's performance around YOU, its trusted caretaker, can be captured and uploaded for the world's appreciation. And, given the number of folks with cats, there's a wide audience.
Carol on September 02, 2012 1:49 PM:
How about a mention that you're shadowing Kevin Drum's long-time feature "Friday Catblogging"?
lgoak on September 02, 2012 2:57 PM:
Hilarious parody of French existentialism. Loved it! Beautiful cats, too!
beckya57 on September 02, 2012 4:03 PM:
I don't think the greater popularity of cats on the Internet is a mystery (though don't forget Tbogg's Bassets or John Cole's 2 dogs!). People who are into the Internet tend to be career-oriented, and often have few or no children (I don't have any stats to back this up, but I'm pretty sure this is the case). Dogs are family pets: they need to belong to a pack, and need to have humans home during the day. A lonely dog is miserable and will often have behavior problems. Cats are much more functional on their own, which makes them a much better choice for us busy career types. We recently switched from being a dog-and-cat household to an all-cat household for this very reason.
Justin Wolf on September 02, 2012 11:57 PM:
Have you seen http://dog-shaming.com ? Not YouTube or videos but it is dogs and funny.