Fanks Easther Bunny, Bawk Bawk!

I don't quite recall the religious significance of Easter, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Jesus bringing his son's pet rabbit back from the dead. Of course, free thinkers question whether Jesus actually resurrected said rabbit or whether he just managed to find an almost identical one at the local pet store. Even so, pretty much everyone agrees that the rabbit was named "Mary Magdalene."

At any rate, here are some Easter-related titbits.

First, a photo that cracks me up every time:

Is it wrong to root for the bunny?

Second, for all of you Goth readers of Fosco Lives!, here's a rabbit funeral dance, choreographed by the morbid and talented Wade Robson. Oz and Fosco have loved this dance ever since they saw it last summer, particularly the leg hops that start around 2:21.



Yes, Virginia, bunnies can be terrifying!

Finally, because no day is a holiday without Fosco's adored Patti Smith, here is her song "Easter" (with one of those strange homemade videos that happen on YouTube):



On Easter, Fosco is always reminded of one of Patti's best lines: "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine." Word, Patti.

Things To Do With Your Otter In Chicago

When it's "Music Monday," Fosco encourages you to caress your favorite animal.

You may recall how Fosco feels about otters (particularly sea otters). Well, based on Fosco's otter affection, music hipster JennyT recently recommended the band Otter Petter. Although JennyT admitted that she

couldn't form an impression after just one song, other than that you might enjoy the name,

you can believe that Fosco was intrigued enough to pick up the whole CD. After all, a band that names itself after one of life's most rewarding activities must be worth listening to, right? Just like you would have to listen to music by any band named "Donut Licker" or "Tom Brady Fellator." But I digress...

Anyway, Otter Petter is a Chicago band that, by their own admission, blends Matthew Sweet with Death Cab For Cutie. Or, maybe we could just call them "indie pop." At any rate, it's sweet, it's sincere, and it's poppy. Falsetto is involved. And Fosco loves it.

You can listen to three of the (better) songs from their full-length debut album, Fireflies and Lamp Lights, here. I am particularly fond of "The Rest of the World."

Or, if you are a YouTube person (and don't mind sketchy sound quality), you can listen to "The Rest of the World" below, accompanied by occasional semi-relevant still pictures (you know the style...):



Otter Petter! How can you go wrong with a band named Otter Petter!

And please, if "otter petting" is some teen euphemism for something sexual, don't tell me.

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Local Wildlife Roundup

Watch out, animal-lovers! Here come some charismatic megafauna:

• Let's start with the good news (well, at least semi-good news). Last week, there were sightings of two different killer whale pods off the Bay Area coast. You can watch the news report here. Did you know that different Orca pods can choose to eat different types of food? As Wikipedia notes:
  

  specific populations show a high degree of specialization on particular prey species.

  One of the pods seen off the coast is a pod of salmon eaters; the other pod was seen killing harbor seals. This is good news because Fosco loves Orcas (he has a stuffed Orca named "Baby Shampu"). Sadly, however, this is bad news, because at least one of these pods is typically known to feed in the waters off Puget Sound and their appearance this far south suggests that food supplies are getting scarce.
  
• And now the bad news. According to this piece in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, "an assortment of factors suggests California's sea otter population is in decline." As you may have noticed, Fosco also adores sea otters. Sometimes I wish I could offer Oz's bathtub as an otter habitat.
  
• But one form of local wildlife is in full swing: roller girls. As in roller derby. This week, the Sentinel featured this slide show of a match(?) between the Santa Cruz Rollergirls and "the L.A. Derby Dolls Sirens." Although they are all interesting, Fosco's favorite picture is probably this one:
  
  I think this photo pretty much captures everything that Fosco wants to believe about roller derby.

A Big Cuddly Hecatomb

From yesterday's Huffington Post, this headline:

Actually, I'm not sure whether this is a headline or a threat--you know: "Give me the briefcase or cute animals will have to die."

Apparently, the linked article is all about how most of the pro-environment behaviors that make the bourgeoisie feel less guilty will be entirely insufficient to prevent bad, bad things from happening (and, in fact, some of those behaviors are actually surprisingly counterproductive). It's the kind of article that someone like The BeeMaster would love, but Fosco is actually more interested in speculating about the deaths of cute animals. Like, for instance, do we get to choose which cute animals die?

I already know that Mere would willingly sacrifice pandas for an ice cream cone. But let's up the stakes a little: which cute animal(s) would be willing to sacrifice in order to stop global warming? Of course, in some sense, there might not be much of a choice: extreme global warming might kill all the cute animals anyway. But, think about it this way: which cute animals won't you miss?

Personally, I think I am willing to give up zebras, lions, raccoons, wolves, and kangaroos. I would be sad about moose and mountain goats, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. I would really miss black bears and the pretty-colored songbirds. And sea otters are entirely non-negotiable.

Oh megafauna, why must you be so charismatic?

Another Day in Paradise

Sure, the weather is nice here in California; but there are occasional drawbacks, as this frontpage of today's online Santa Cruz Sentinel makes clear:

Sigh. Even so, it's still better here than in Elkhart.

Luckily, anyone looking for some good news on a day like this can take comfort in this article about a rescued sea otter. Even though "Olive" the Otter was found covered in oil (probably from a "natural" source[!]), she is recovering well and will be released back into the Monterey Bay in another couple of weeks. While in the care of the Dept. of Fish and Game in Santa Cruz, Olive has been receiving a veritable spa treatment:

The young female, estimated to be about a year old, was treated with an olive oil bath and then washed intensively for two hours.
[...]
"She is eating primarily prawns and clams right now because they have the highest caloric content and she likes them," Jessup said. "She will be staying for at least another week, maybe two, before we send her back."

I'm a little jealous, actually. Not to mention that the whole thing sounds absolutely adorable. Aren't charismatic megafauna great?

From the Annals of Strange and Terrifying

The Grand JennyT sent this along. It's the kind of toy that would change your life--if it really existed.

B'Owl!!!

And it's a perfect gift for Pep-Pep and Nanna!

Cuter Than Errol Morris

Last week, Fosco pointed your attention toward the photograph of an otter with a camcorder. After thinking about it, it occurs to Fosco that this otter could have been in the process of shooting a documentary film--maybe something about tourists on boats. Which leads Fosco to rank the best otter-made documentaries:

1. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Swimmy Reefenstahl
   
2. Inside Kelp
   
3. The Banality of Evil: The Lives of Killer Whales
   
4. On Our Backs: Eating Habits Explained
   
5. Hands on a Hard Scallop
   
6. Otto: An Inspiring Story of a Developmentally-Disabled Otter
   
7. Finding Nemo: The True Story of a Delicious Meal
   
8. Whiskers of Fury
   
9. Otterville Follies
   
10. The Little Mermaid: Inside the Undersea Porn Industry
    

Am I forgetting any?

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You, You, You Otter Know.

One of the best things about living on the Monterey Bay is the occasional appearance of charistmatic megafauna. Like sea otters, the world's cutest fish! Here's an absolutely adorable story from the San Jose Mercury News about a sea otter cum cinematographer. That's right: it's a sea otter pointing a video camera! You can thank me later.

Pictures of 2008: Cats!

Fosco recently realized that, by only blogging for three months last year, he never got to share tons of pictures with you from the rest of the year. So, for the next week or so, Fosco will offer a series of brief posts with some of his favorite pictures from his adventures in 2008. Check out the whole series here.

It's the final installment in Fosco's "Pictures of 2008" series, which will end on a feline note. Here's a photo of Oz trying to make Isis care about a stuffed Chococat:

And here are the KITTENS that Fosco and Oz found living under the front steps of a townhouse in Oz's complex last summer:

KITTENS!

Sing it with me, folks: "Oh! Well I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mr. Mistoffelees!"

Like the shark, the panda has millions of teeth.

Sometimes the world just makes you smile:

Gu Gu the panda has struck again, mauling someone who jumped a barrier to retrieve a child's toy, in his third attack on a visitor at the Beijing zoo.

[...]

The 240-pound (110-kilogram) Gu Gu bit the intruder's legs and refused to let go until zookeepers pried his jaws open with tools.

[...]

The Beijing News said the latest victim suffered damage to major ligaments and is recovering from surgery.

It's so hard to choose the best part of this story. Is it that the panda clamped his jaws on the victim and wouldn't let go? Is it that the victim has major ligament damage? Is it that this is the panda's third attack on a visitor? Or is it that the vicious panda's name is Gu Gu?

Fosco has been saying for years that pandas are nature's perfect killing machines, but no one has been listening (to be honest, Fosco has mostly been saying this to his stuffed panda, Baby Bamboo). But, in any case, this story is a good opportunity for everyone to learn a bit more about pandas.

Which brings me to the long-canceled MTV show "Sifl and Olly." This was that show with the sock puppets that sometimes showed videos and did comedy skits. In Fosco's opinion, it was one of the funniest shows ever on television, mainly because of its pure random silliness. One of its best recurring jokes was the strange panda-masked man. Fosco hadn't seen these skits in probably ten years, but here they are (just as funny as ever). If you've never seen "Sifl and Olly," do yourself a favor and watch these clips.

The Panda Interview:


The panda has a very lot of mysterious qualities!

The Panda Song:


Chorus:
The pandas are coming.
So hide under your bed.
The pandas are coming.
They'll rip your ass to shreds!

I don't know about you, but I'm drunk on panda mystery.

Self-Indulgent Pet Story

Fosco already did his Christmas loot post, but he left an important question unanswered: what did Fosco and Oz's kitty Isis get for Kitty Christmas?

Which raises a second important question: when did Fosco become so dippy as to use the phrase "Kitty Christmas"? Readers: promise me that if Fosco ever posts a Christmas story about cats (especially if there is a disabled boy involved), you will stage an online intervention. Sigh.

Well, anyway... Isis got a new rubber brush, which she mostly doesn't like. (She prefers her hair to be tangled and skanky. Not unlike a certain British soul singer?)

She got a new IKEA Bästis toy to replace Condoleeza Mice. This is a fish named Tina Tuna. Even though Tina is filled with catnip (just like Condoleeza), Isis seems mostly uninterested. Which is kinda disappointing, because I wanted to see Isis go all Ike Tuna on that thing.

Isis's big gift, however, wasn't even intended for her. You may remember Oz's new Poäng chair from IKEA. Well, it turns out that Isis has claimed it for herself.

Oz has tried to keep her off the chair by covering it with his jacket (seriously?) and then by placing a plastic bag (Isis's nemesis) on the seat. You can see how that worked:

Isis only deigns to open one eye to survey Fosco's camera idiocy...

Seriously, Isis loves this chair so much she doesn't even sleep on the bed anymore. Once or twice a night, she hops from the chair to the bed to get some quick petting from Fosco and then heads back to the chair--like getting petted is a job or something that she has to commute to... We're thinking of trading her in for an Ultimate Wall-E.

Fosco's New Friend Pandapple!

(As seen with Fosco's boyfriend Oz, who bought Pandapple for Fosco!)