Leslie Neilsen, R.I.P. (1926-2010)

He left us so many hilarious on-screen memories. He will be missed.



I think his unique comedic gift was always that he had serious acting chops, and went about comedy in a serious way--the absurd happened around Lt. Drebben, and he took it in stride. His silliest lines were delivered dead-pan.

I kind of want to Netflix all the "Naked Gun" pictures, right now.

Anderson Cooper wears Bunny Suit for Bonobos.

This is a little funny when Cooper, who is such a serious interviewer, puts on the bunny suit to interact with the bonobos, but this piece actually is really fascinating for showing how our fellow primate near-relation does have some cognitive capacity for understanding language. This sort of thing always fascinates me because to my mind, when we think of homo forms of primate as tool-users, the thing that probably sets us the furthest apart from any other variant seems to be language.

It's impossible to know how far back this useful knack was acquired. We only vaguely know from artifacts like cave paintings when we developed an ability to express ourselves symbolically, but our vocal ability must have anteceded that by hundreds of thousands of years. Which makes me wonder if some earlier form of primate, other than homo sapiens, was the first talker.

I know for sure our less-near relation, dogs, definitely develop an impressive voabulary for spoken commands and read situations in context with surprising precision. Also, I have found that dogs and cats in homes where they are regularly spoken to, will not only sort of look like they are listening, but understand more basic things like pointing and being told to sit or go away even if they aren't inclined to do either, as if they can also "read" what is going on.

Sometimes it seems like a dog can understand "walk after dinner"--even in situations when that isn't the habitual, Pavlovian order. Do they have a sense of time? I've known dogs that have hidden treats "for later". It seems like they can strategize. My parents' current dog, Buster, seems to agonize over the decision to eat a treat or hide it under his cushion. Wheels really do seem to be turning.

For pure "squeee!"--the video has an adorable baby bonobo.

Random Meat--what is the punchline with this, anyway?

People are made of meat. We, too, are flesh. We could totally be eaten by bears. Think about that. Or sharks. You know what? Piranhas. Totally. Could be eaten by piranhas= us. That's poignant, okay?

Could we be that pig? Is that pig, us? Is it? It that pig even any Swino-Americans you've ever met?


That's just wrong. A pig, slicing itself, defies all conventions of discourse. No pig does this. We, the humans, like ham, and we kill pigs to eat it, because we are like wolves and bears and sharks: predatory mammals. Pigs don't accomodate us by self-slicing. This is just wrong and weird. It also defies physics.