You're Immune to Everything Except the Butterfly

[vovat]

So, here's a story of animal abandonment to set the mood for Monday. Some people were renting the house next door to bethje's mom and uncle, and they had a pet pig, some chickens, and a duck. When they were evicted because they couldn't pay the rent, they left the animals behind in a rather shoddily constructed pen. Why would anyone just leave their animals like that? So Beth's family has been feeding the animals, and I saw them this past weekend. The pig, whose name is Nancy, really is very nice. She'll run up to the side of the pen and try to look over if a person comes, so she can see if they brought her anything. The chickens and duck are in the next pen over, and I have to wonder if their wings are clipped, because they never try to escape.

I'm glad Comedy Central reruns new Futurama episodes several times during the week, because the hotel where we were staying on Wednesday night didn't get the channel at all. I actually watched the newest one, "The Butterjunk Effect," at 2:40 this morning. It was basically a throwaway episode, although it did develop Leela's relationship with Fry a little bit, as well as how she gets along with Amy. The idea of the butterfly derby was creative, but not really enough to carry the entire plot. A subplot might have been nice, or at least a little more with what happened to Fry, instead of just having the cop-out "he's back to normal for no reason" ending. It was nice to see Kif's planet and parents again, and I wasn't at all surprised to see the Grand Midwife show up again as well.

One thing I've been thinking of regarding the Colorado shooting is how it apparently affected box office sales for The Dark Knight Rises. I guess I understand this on one level, as it's a bad association, but I really don't think it's too likely there will be another shooting at the same movie. As far as I can tell, this was a lone wacko, not a terrorist organization targeting movie theaters. I actually heard some guy on the radio last night saying that he wasn't going to see the movie, but now he wants to in order to make a stand. Okay, but I don't think the shooter's goal was to stop people from seeing that particular film. I guess it could have been, but I doubt it. The same radio dude compared it to how he immediately wanted to fly after September 11th, but again, I don't think the goal was to stop people from getting on airplanes. Contrary to popular belief, it also wasn't for people not to shop or eat at restaurants. What I've heard gives the impression that what Al Qaeda wanted was to keep the United States from interfering in the Middle East. My advice would be to do what you were going to do anyway, and if that involves seeing the Batman movie, go for it. I'm still not sure whether I'll see it at the theater. Beth wants to, but she wants to watch The Dark Knight first, since we never did before.

Comments

[jenhime.livejournal.com]

Their wings could be clipped or they could just be "trained" to stay. I don't know about ducks, but chickens won't stray if they know they're safe and being fed. The only time we clip flight feathers is when we get a new adult hen, and by the time the feathers grow back in the birds have always learned not to escape the yard.

It's sad that someone would leave their animals behind like that. (Although I know it's pretty common.) It must be especially hard on the pig; they tend to bond pretty well with people.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

That is sad about the pets! When the people next door to us moved out, I think they had to leave very quickly and to somewhere (maybe temporary) where they couldn't have pets, because they left their 3 dogs behind. They came over once a day to let them out to go to the bathroom, and we spied through the windows to make sure they had food and water. Still, we were "this" close to calling Animal Control or whatever, when the people finally did come and get them, either to take them to a shelter or because they managed to get a place that allowed pets. I felt so bad for those dogs. They also totally destroyed the house, which was a foreclosure situation. The people who bought it (for super cheap) redid all the floors and flipped it.

I saw The Dark Knight Rises last night, and I noticed there were staff members from the movie theater hanging out before and during the movie. I wonder if it was a paranoia thing, because yeah it was crowded, but I've seen other movies opening weekend and there's never staff people in the theater. I guess maybe they worry about copycat crimes. It also could have made people not want to see it just because it felt wrong somehow. I put on my Batman t-shirt today without thinking about it, and then felt kind of dirty about it and changed it.