The Memes Before Christmas

 You know a GIF is 3/4ths of a gift, right?

Sting and Lady Gaga--King of Pain

You all probably realized I love the hell out of Lady Gaga, but I also love Sting, like I can not adequately express. Coming across these two on Youtube  made my evening, people. Made it.

Knowing that Robert Downey Jr. who in roles like Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes and Chaplin pretty much comes off as totally brilliant, himself, and not just playing brilliant people, is also a really good singer, is a nice lagniappe to a fun Youtube indulgence. Also, for some crazy reason I dig hearing Tom Hiddleston rap.

Harold Ramis, RIP

I think you probably know Egon Spengler was my favorite Ghostbuster. Basically, if I was to reference any of the really awesome comedic films that impacted my formative years and sense of humor today, well, Harold Ramis was a part of them or influenced the people that made them. That is an awesome legacy.  Ramis was an awesome talent who wasn't just funny himself, he made other people funny and made some careers. And damn funny movies. His influence was felt in subversive sarcasm and tables turning on middling bourgois status quo to suggest the status was more FUBAR. And his humor was nasty sometimes but never mean. If that makes sense. He was one of a kind.

Notorious B.I.G. calms crying baby.

Smart baby--her face is like, "What are these delightful beats?" My parents had to drive me around with the car radio on when I was a fussy wee one so I don't doubt they tried a lot to figure out what she liked!

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.

I understand D.H. Lawrence better when watching this turtle--

(The blog-title is only funny to other lit majors, probably. The video is probably funny and poignant to most people, though.)