Why Dogs Mark Their Territory

Dogsitting for the past week, I was once again faced with the mystery of "marking one's territory."

Walking the dog, he made sure to fully inspect and "leave his mark" on every fire hydrant, pole, bush, fence post, etc. At one point we came across a small tree branch that had been blown into the middle of the street and he marked that too as I rolled my eyes. He was a small dog too, I don't know where he was storing it all, he may be built like a balloon. 

But if one dog marks his territory and another comes by and marks the same territory only for a third to come by and do the same, what is the point? I thought about it like putting a stake in the ground and claiming ownership - if no one recognizes an owner, nothing can be owned. Most websites reinforce my understanding of the behavior without confronting the paradox. But some also point out that dog's urine communicates important information to other dogs. Marking territory can say "Rover was here," "I'm in the neighborhood," communicate their age, sex, sexual status and relationship status.

It is worth noting, then, that dogs marking their territory is depressingly similar to people on Facebook, Twitter, Dating Apps, basically all social media. With dogs, as with people, if you want to find out what everyone's doing you have to check the posts.

RIP Bob Barker (1923-2023)

 Long time host of "The Price is Right" has died.

What a staple of childhood - the "Price is Right" with Bob Barker on the long Summer days or on days too sick to go to school. I'm not trying to be funny, and I mean no disrespect, but I was surprised by the news because I didn't know he was still alive.

Here's a video of him brutalitizing a man on a soap opera:

You can watch old clips of him on youtube here.

The Story of Windy City Heat

A History of Comedy Podcast tells the story of "Windy City Heat" a real documentary about the making of a fake movie where the star didn't know that it was all an elaborate prank.

The full movie is on youtube:

Popcorn in Bed - Vertigo

 Another classic. Another Hitchcock classic.

If you haven't seen the movie, this will all be spoilers.

One of my favorite observations about "Vertigo" is from a Roger Ebert article that is hard to find and not very well known:

Let's close by returning to "Vertigo." Every time I've gone through any film a shot at a time over several days, someone in the audience has noticed something amazing. When I was at the University of Virginia, we got to the point when Scottie (James Stewart) rescues the unconscious Madeleine/Judy (Kim Novak) from San Francisco Bay and takes her unconscious back to his apartment. He gently undresses her and puts her into bed.

"His action is incredible," I said. "He's changing an unconscious stranger."

"She's not unconscious," said a voice in the dark.

"What?"

"She's pretending. That wasn't Madeleine attempting suicide, but Judy playing Madeleine. She's pretending to be unconscious."

And Scotty saved her, did not ravish her, treated her gently, and tucked her in. That may help explain why the next time we see her, coming into the living room and joining Scottie, she has a glow in her eyes. Madeleine went into the bedroom, and Judy came out. It's then she starts to love and pity him. Oh, this is an even deeper film than it seems.    

And here is Roger Ebert's analysis of the color palette of "Vertigo" and what each means: link.

Read Roger Ebert's full review: here.

And here's a video "How Hitchcock Blocks a Scene" where the scene, of course, is from "Vertigo:"

Lingonberry

"What's the flavor of Swedish Fish?"

A question I had never thought of until a friend sent me this article:

More intriguing still is the classic red candy's tart berry taste (at once familiar and foreign), which has stumped millions of fans for years. But one needs only to look to the candy's country of origin — yes, Sweden — to discover what this red swimmer is meant to taste like.  It's the Scandinavian berry of choice, the lingonberry. 

I knew at once that I needed to try this out and find some lingonberries. I failed. The next best thing I could find (the only thing I could find) is lingonberry jam. 

What does lingonberry jam taste like? I tried to figure it out but failed at that too. It's very non-descript. It's like take strawberry and mix in some cranberry, maybe. Maybe there's some raspberry there but it's so vague. My tests were: I tried it with bread, I mixed it with yogurt, I was so stumped that I tried it naked. Very indistinct.

The main question I wanted to answer was: "Does it taste like Swedish Fish?" Hard to say, another failure. If I had to answer, I'd say "No" but it's very tough. We all know that cherry flavored candy doesn't taste like cherry and orange flavored candy doesn't taste like orange and on and on, so the fact that I can't even get a grip on the taste of the jam, there's no way to make that giant step of abstraction. Failure.

A Supercut of Reactions to "Rich Men North Of Richmond"

 It's an edit of videos reacting to a viral music video. Sounds like a train wreck but trust me, it works...