All My Friends Hate AI But I Think It's Fun
All my friends hate AI, but I enjoy it. It allows me to live alternate lives. Like this one, where I’m a cat painter.
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Filtering by Tag: ANIMALS
Books I Read in 2024: Sigrid Rides
I’m a longtime fan of Travis and Sigrid, a man and a cat who cycle together. So I was delighted to read Sigrid Rides, a memoir about their story. Travis shares his personal history and how his travels with Sigrid have changed his life. The story is sweet, moving, and reminds us all that hope lies around the next turn.
Books I Read in 2024: Victory Parade, I Hate Men, My Friend Dahmer, The Crying of Lot 49, Machines in the Head, Big Magic, The Valley, End of Active Service, An Honest Woman, The Money Shot, Atomic Habits, Finding Your Own North Star, Crazy Cock, Sigrid Rides, Your Money Or Your Life, The Big Sleep, Eventually Everything Connects
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I Get Email (You Will Die Soon Bitch)
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Mr. Tentacle Porn
In my latest Reverse Cowgirl newsletter, I interview “The King of Tentacle Porn.” I had a lot of fun doing this one. As someone who has seen pretty much every type of weird porn out there, I have to say this is some strange stuff. I didn’t link directly to his sites in the interview because they’re XXX, but you can find them if you know how to use Google. And don’t forget to hit the subscribe button at the bottom of my newsletter.
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Thank you, Travis and Sigrid
I’m a longtime fan of Travis and Sigrid, who, if you don’t know already, are a famous duo in London. Travis is a cyclist, Sigrid is an all-white, blue-eyed, deaf Norwegian Forest cat, and together they ride around the city, bringing joy and excitement to all they encounter, including quite a few celebrities over the years. Recently, Travis wrote a nice post about my memoir, Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment, on his Instagram feed, which was really kind. Make sure to follow Travis and Sigrid on Instagram and order their book, which I highly recommend: Sigrid Rides: The Story of an Extraordinary Friendship and An Adventure on Two Wheels.
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Life in L.A. (Monsters)
Monsters. Mannequins. Merry-go-rounds. Follow me on Instagram for more of my life in L.A. photographs.
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Life in LA
Rabbits, Malibu Canyon, and a dress made of books. Follow me on Instagram for more of my photographs.
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Sunset Boulevard at Night
Walking down Sunset Boulevard at night. Follow me on Instagram for more photos from my life in L.A.
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#mood
Spirit Animal
I have two of these, one white and one grey. They both have red eyes. One sits on my desk, and the other sits near my phone. Sometimes their tails catch my eye. For some, rats conjure up the idea of pestilence. To me, they’re a sort of familiar.
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The Horse
As seen in Burbank. A shot from my Instagram. Taken with my iPhone 11 Pro Max.
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Photojournalist Barbie
Did you know Mattel makes a photojournalist Barbie? You can buy her on Amazon for $12.
She comes with a lion cub, a camera, and a National Geographic. She’s dressed for the “field wearing brown pants, tan boots and a top detailed with a vest, insignia and pocket for a realistic touch.”
She has over 300 reviews and five stars. But there’s one catch. From the reviews: “Only thing that kept it from a 5-star review was that I expected the legs to bend but they do not. Straight arms straight legs.”
Must be hard to take those shots without bending your arms and legs, Barbie.
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10 Things
My latest Valleywood newsletter is hot off the presses, featuring “10 Things.” Those things include a handbag made out of a blowup doll, a cock that had a spiritual experience, and the adult industry’s hot mess approach to the coronavirus pandemic. Oh, and there’s a writing tip, too, from someone who’s been doing it long enough to know (me). Subscribe!
An excerpt:
4. This morning, I saw the famous wild parrots of Burbank. In total, I spotted maybe a dozen in two different areas. They are brilliant green and noisy as hell. They made me feel like anything was possible if I could figure out how to fly.
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5 Years Ago
Five years ago, I attended a storytelling conference at Yale University; visited the “China: Through the Looking Glass” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and stayed at The Algonquin Hotel, where I met Matlida, the cat who worked the front desk. I miss those adventures. Hopefully there’ll be more someday soon.
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#mood
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Be Your Puppy
0 Likes, 0 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "Be your puppy 🐶"
Had a great time walking around West Hollywood today and visiting a very cool store that I’ll be writing about soon. This dog training hood retails for $425. Perfect for the canine-minded fetishist in your life.
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Sexing a Pigeon
Awhile back, I wrote that I’d be sharing the latest developments that I have regarding my investigation into the sexing of a war hero pigeon named Cher Ami who may be a hen or a cock. This issue is important for several reasons, including that the bird is identified as a cock at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where the bird is stuffed and on display. If the plaque that identifies the bird as a male is incorrect, it matters, given how many people visit there every year: 4.3M visitors in 2018, apparently. In any case, here’s an email I got from a reader and fellow Person Interested in Cher Ami—I hereby christen us: PICAs—who came across my posts: Dr. Marianne M. Gilchrist. Also, I’m excited to report I’ve gotten a very interesting lead from the National Archives. So, more to come. Thank you, Dr. Gilchrist! You can find the full thread of my Cher Ami posts here.
___
Email subject header: Cher Ami the Pigeon
Date: November 17, 2018
Hi, Susannah!
Having recently discovered Cher Ami's story, and your blog thread on her, and being very fond of pigeons, I just thought I'd add an observation on gender:
While it's difficult to be sure, given that the bird is stuffed, and taxidermists can change an animal's shape, my suspicion is she's a hen. Cock pigeons are chunkier and tend to have a thicker neck, with thicker feathers that they can puff out as a ruff in courtship dances. Cher Ami's neck is more slender. Cocks also have bigger ceres (the white 'nose') above their beaks.
I found these images online that demonstrate sex dimorphism in pigeons. Cher Ami looks to me more like a girl pidgie.
best wishes,
Marianne
___
[My reply on January 17, 2019]
Thanks, Marianne, and apologies for the delayed response. Would you mind if I posted your email on my blog? I could use your name or not.
___
[Dr. Gilchrist’s reply on January 18, 2019]
Hi!
Yes! I've also read that she was discovered to be a hen when she was stuffed.
I wonder if the stresses of war had stopped her laying eggs? She was an adult bird.
best,
Marianne
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Pigeon Shutdown
Image via Adriana Sassoon
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be posting some updates to my investigation into the gender of a famous war hero pigeon named Cher Ami who’s stuffed and on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. In the meantime, I’ll share this automatic response I got when I replied at an email sent awhile back from an archives specialist at the National Archives at College Park who saw my tweets about Cher Ami on Twitter. In my email to him, I asked if I could share the research he’d sent me, but I got this in response instead:
“The National Archives and Records Administration is closed to normal operations due to a lack of appropriations. I will be out of the office until I am authorized to return and will respond to your inquiry at that time. Thank you.”
Basically, the only thing standing between you and learning more about Cher Ami is Donald Trump.
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About That Pigeon
Some time back, I got interested in trying to figure out if a war hero pigeon that’s stuffed at the Smithsonian is a cock or a hen. In the interim, I’ve gotten various emails from various people, from a bird expert to a pigeon fancier to a fan, and I’ll be updating this blog with that information in the coming days and weeks.
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Buy "The Tumor" — my short story that’s been called "a masterpiece of short fiction."