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Saturday, July 14, 2012

Caturday, or No Matter How Cute You Are There's Always a Cuter Cat In the Wings
Posted by Jill | 11:21 AM
I don't know why everything on the internet always sooner or later comes down to cats. Maybe it's because dog owners are out at the dog park, talking to real people while their dogs play while cat owners are sitting at their keyboards while their cats try to lie down on those very same keyboards. But aside from the Ultimate Dog Tease (which is done by the same guy who did many, many Jupiter the Talking Cat videos, it's hard to think of a dog that's gotten the same kind of Warholian fifteen minutes as, say, Maru, or Sparta, or Jupiter, or Henri, or Keyboard Cat, or Surprised Kitten, or...well, you get the idea.

But no matter how cute Maru may be, leaping into boxes, or how long "The Mean Kitty Song" has etched itself into your brain, or how funny Jupiter's snark is, or Henri's ennui, the rule of internet cat fame seems to follow a corollary to the Hollywood law of No Matter How Young and Pretty You Are, There's Always Someone Younger and Prettier.

So move over, Sparta, Jupiter, and Henri, for there's a new face in town, and her name is Lil Bub:



Sure, Lil Bub is an odd kitty. She's a dwarf polydactyl, with a long body, legs too short to walk the way a cat does, and born with no teeth and a shortened jaw, which means her tongue hangs out much of the time. She has the bug eyes of Marty Feldman, and she's lucky enough to be owned by a master marketer, who's given Bub her own Facebook page Q&A blog, and storefront, so you too can proclaim your Bub fandom everywhere you go. Bub is probably the most addictive internet kitty ever.

I can't figure out what makes Lil Bub so compelling, but she is. Sure, she's adorable in that Gremlins sort of way, and the voice her owner has given her is hilarious. It could be the same kind of fascination that people have with car accidents and freak shows, but it's something more than just that she's deformed. I think part of it is that she's NOT called "Mogwai" or "Gizmo", but that her name is "Lil Bub" -- the kind of nickname you'd give your son if you lived in a place with cars up on blocks in the front yard. But mostly it's the supremely self-confident voice that her owner has given her. In this persona, Lil Bub doesn't feel any less worthy because she's deformed; she not only thinks she's awesome, she KNOWS she's awesome. It's easy for most cats to project that kind of confidence, but for this strange little creature to do so is something special. Somehow I think Lil Bub's fame is going to last longer than most, especially as a tool for teaching kids who are different from other kids that yes, it's possible for them to be awesome too.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...
I don't care if Lil Bub is deformed. Bub is still one cute kitty, fully worthy of lots of love.

I had to revise my thinking about cats. Me and extended family were moving to a new location. As houses sold, we all ended up in mine. My son and daughter-in-law have dogs. One day, I could hear one of the dogs whining. I called out to ask, what was the matter with the dog? My daugter-in-law said, the cat was in the path and wouldn't let the dog by. I'm thinking, really? My cat is just a little mouser, she wasn't capable of offending the dogs. She was accused of, standing in the door way, and not letting the dogs in the house. She was accused of stealing the dog's beds. She was accused of chasing the big dog around the kitchen. I'm still thinking, she is just a cat. How could she plan those things on purpose?

THEN ONE DAY. My daughter-in-laws mother was in the laundry room, where the basement stairs are. My son was getting the dogs food bowls ready. The cat went into the laundry room, and positioned herself around the corner of the stairs. As each dog came racing up from the basement for their food. The cat swatted each dog as they ran by, scaring them to death. One dog even skittered on the floor and fell.

I am afraid, my innocent little cat, was terrorizing the dogs and loving it. She did rule the dogs, with an iron paw. I then caught her many times, doing everything she could think of, to upset the dogs.
7/14/12, 7:47 PM  
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