Today we spent most of the day making sure everything is ready for the Thanksgiving weekend.  Our hotel is full and we went through today to make sure everything was in place for all of the dogs checking in.  If you are looking for boarding between now and January 1st make sure to make a reservation ASAP, since we fill up fast.

Are you on our email list?  Did you get the email with our Black Friday deals?  If not, they are on our daycare page.  These deals are good on Friday, only.

In the picture, are Duncan (mastiff) and Mila (Australian Sheppard mix).  They took some time out from playing to rest next to each other.

Have a good night.

Say hello to Duncan who is a is a mastiff puppy and one of the larger dogs that comes to doggie daycare.  Today I was standing in the play area and Duncan was standing under Otis who is a great dane.  It was really the strangest thing I have ever seen, and I really wanted to run grab my camera, but knew that by the time I got back the photo opportunity would be gone.  They stood like this for about 3 minutes.

Trycia was everywhere taking pictures today, make sure you check the November photo gallery for your pooch.

Have a good night.

Keith

Mastiff
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The house now has a single cat and a single dog. I convinced Tom that he would be happier with a cat, and so, Korgoth was adopted. He’s a gorgeous little grey-and-white, fluffy kitten with green eyes.

Initially, I was afraid that they wouldn’t get along. More than a few people told me that since Calidrin was a pitbull/mastiff mix (it made me unbelievably angry when they heard “pitbull” and wrote him off immediately as a bad choice of dog, or as stupid or vicious) he would probably try to kill the kitten. At first, he was definitely over-eager to play, but not once did Tom or I notice a hint of viciousness. Really, we were more worried about the cat being nasty to him. More than a few times Korgoth would hiss and attack Calidrin’s face. After a few weeks, however, Korgoth started to play with Calidrin, and learned that if he was done playing all he had to do was jump up high somewhere until the puppy calmed down. Calidrin, in turn, learned to “pull his punches” and treat the kitten as something smaller than he is. He goes at the kitten with an open mouth, but never bites down, and in fact seems overjoyed when the kitten “boxes” him. He is actually more likely to lick Korgoth to death than trample or bite him.

The other day I started to notice the two of them curling up together to sleep. It’s adorable. Tom calls them “butt buddies”…both a comment on their male-to-male affection for one another, and the penchant they have for licking each other clean. *shudders*

For a little bit, I toyed with the idea of getting a second puppy or kitten. But watching the two of them now, I really don’t think it’s neccessary. They’re all the company they need, apart from Tom and I. Besides which, I just don’t see how we’d have the time, money or energy to take care of a third animal. This was really driven home when I found a puppy in the highway a few days ago.

This puppy was clearly a full pitbull, and was about as small as Calidrin had been when we first brought him home. He had almost no hair, being totally overrun with mange, but what little he still had was a cute mix of white with brown spots. It was so sad, you could see every one of his bones, and he cried when he was picked up. He had gorgeous golden eyes, but they had a thick discharge coming from them. I knew he was way beyond my ability to care for. I did, however, take him home and give him lots of food and water, as well as the back yard (a safe place to sleep). Tom took him to an animal shelter the next day.

Calidrin is getting huge (he’s 5 months, and almost the size of a lab), so he’ll probably be eating a bag of dog food a week soon. Thankfully the kitten consumes much less.

I am considering getting fish in the future, after the floors are levelled and redone, but I don’t really regard those as pets for some reason. More like art that needs to be fed and cleaned. I like the idea of simple, brilliantly colored goldfish in a pale, sandy tank. They’re not high-maintenance, are attractive, and tend to be tolerant of colder conditions, which is great because I prefer it cool in the house.

I don’t know why I enjoy pets so much. I guess I always like to have movement and life in a place where I live. I even enjoy plants, but it’s hard to find a plant that thrives in a cool, artificially lit place that won’t kill your pets when they gnaw on it.

My dad was given one of those home-garden kits, though, with the artificial light that allows you to grow tomatoes and whatnot indoors, so maybe I’ll try growing something simple like peppers or catnip for starters.

On the subject of plants, fall is here, and when the leaves finally get around to falling I’m going to take stock of the back and front yard, and see about removing some clutter. I’ll be much less worried about snakes and spiders, then, and can probably get rid of a lot of dead limbs. When spring comes back around, hopefully I can work up the courage to try and plant some bulbs, and maybe even a crepe myrtle or a pomegranate tree. Crepes are nice for color, but I really enjoy a tree that has both form and function, such as fruit and nut trees. There’s something called a strawberry tree that I wouldn’t mind trying.

Finally, on a completely separate ending note…why does it seem like so many of my friends, past and present, are aspiring writers? Some express it in MUDs, others in poems, some in stories, and even a few in rather heated letters to editors. I can’t think of a single person I’ve ever talked to more than a few times, though, that didn’t have a gift for words.

The slave-catching dog that was infamous in the South for tracking down its victims and savagely mauling them was the Cuban bloodhound.

It was most likely derived from the Spanish war mastiff (a derivative of the Alaunt) with maybe a tough of greyhound or scent hound blood.

Drury has a depiction of this dog:

Note how similar this dog is to the dogs in “The Hunted Slaves” by Richard Ansdell.

These dogs were usually just called bloodhounds in the US, and their infamy spread through the world.

Now, the actual bloodhound of Europe received some of that bad reputation. That breed of bloodhound is a pack hound. It is quite docile and gentle. It has a great nose, and if someone can stand living with a rather large, active dog that is driven more by its nose than a desire to please its people. (These dogs are not “Ol’ Duke” from the Beverly Hillbillies. They do require a lot of exercise.)

So when one reads accounts of bloodhounds savaging people, especially escaped slaves trying to escape the oppression of their captors, one must remember that the bloodhound in question is the tracking mastiff from Cuba.

Last weekend I danced at a big doggie event called Wag ‘n’ Walk, with the rest of my Canine Freestyle / Heelwork to Music doggie dancing team from ChoreDOGraphy Connection.

There were SO many people and doggies there!

Our humans had been worried because the weather forecast had said that it would rain on Saturday- but we were very lucky and although it started drizzling a little bit when we started dancing, it was not very much and it soon got sunny again.

In fact, I was really panting after a bit because it was very hot and the air felt very thick and sticky. Us giant doggies always overheat really easily and then we just don’t feel like doing much except lying down and resting to keep cool…so I have to say, doing my dance moves was a real effort! But I was a good girl and tried my best anyway.

My routine didn’t go too badly this time (not as bad as my slippery dancing disaster last weekend! ) although I did get stuck between Hsin-Yi’s legs at the end – and Hsin-Yi found it really difficult to balance on one leg when we were doing our weaves because the ground was very lumpy and bumpy and there were little holes in the grass everywhere…but anyway, I think we did OK!

(you can click on the collage to enlarge and see all my fancy moves! )

 Afterwards, loads of people and human pups and other doggies came up to say hello to me…

Meeting my fans...

Nice to meet you!

 I also met my friend, George the Bernese Mountain Dog (sorry, I didn’t get a picture!) and my new little puppy friend, Lexi - both of them had done the 3km Fun Walk around Milford earlier in the morning…

(How come Hsin-Yi always catches Lexi with her ears flying?!

 And here I am with my dancing teacher, Jan Corles of ChoreDOGraphy Connection – when I first started dancing, everyone laughed at Hsin-Yi and said she could never teach a Great Dane to dance but Jan always believed in me and helped us lots…thank you, Jan!

I got some great video to show you of my dancing – and also my special treat afterwards (something I never had before!) – you can scroll to the bottom of the post if you want to watch it – but first, I wanted tell you about all the other exciting things I saw at Wag ‘n’ Walk:

After our performance, we had a little walk around to see the many doggie things on display there and meet some of the other canines…

There were so many different types of doggies there, it was almost like a dog show!

Big, glamorous doggies…

Little scruffy doggies…

Cute doggies…

Scary doggies….

Doggies looking for fame…

…and doggies looking for homes!

Some of the doggies really reminded me of my blog friends…such as this lovely smiling Beagle who reminded me of my friends, Cookie & Cinnamon…

…and this lovely lady reminded me of Khyra, the OP Pack,  the Army of Four and Storm Glory…

…and who does this chap remind you of? The Relentlessly Huge, of course! Although I have to say, he was nowhere near as big as Mango – but what a gorgeous face, eh? (Hsin-Yi just LOVES wrinkly-faced dogs!!)

And here’s a Dennis lookalike…

…and this little fellow reminded me of my friends, Jackson & Patrick the Californian Chihuahuas…

…not to mention this handsome guy who reminded me of Chef and Boxen & Bella…

…and of course, there were loads of lovely Golden Retrievers who reminded me of all my Golden Friends…

 It was also a little bit sad to see a beautiful 3yr-old mantle Great Dane who reminded me of my lovely friend, Mr Darcy, who lost his battle after his big operation and went to the Bridge a week ago…

 He had just been in the competition for the Tallest Dog and his owner was very surprised when we met because she had never seen a girl Dane as tall as me – we were almost the same size!

Here I am trying to say hello (see my flirty tail?! ) but he was a bit shy – he didn’t even really want to say hello to my humans. (Sometimes, some of us Danes can be a bit timid – that’s why it’s really important to only breed from those of us with stable temperaments and to socialise us a lot when we are puppies). He was a lovely boy, though, and might have got friendlier if we had a bit more time together!

 There were still lots of competitions going on with people cheering and doggies going on stage…the one that was the most fun to watch was the Best Trick competition:

 Each of the doggies had to go on stage and perform a trick – and then get scores from the judges…

But some of the doggies got stage fright and wouldn’t do their tricks or were naughty and ran off…Hsin-Yi said it made her realise just how good us dancing doggies really are because we have to do so much more complicated tricks and not just one but lots of them – one after the other – all in time to the music and ignore the crowds and other distractions to perform…

See, our humans forget – they start taking what we do for granted and get impatient when we don’t do our routines well- but when you see other doggies struggling to do just 1 simple trick, you realise what a big achievement it is for us dancing doggies! It’s not as easy as it looks and our humans should be very proud of us!

So anyway, here is the video of my exciting day at Wag ‘n’ Walk -

* Hsin-Yi: because it would get too long for YouTube’s 10min allowance, I have only put Honey’s routine in full and only included the highlights of the other dogs’s routines but I have uploaded their full routines separately so you can watch them too if you’re interested:

• Monty the Airedale
• Finnigan the Sheltie
• Brody the Sibe-bord
• Moss the Sibe-bord

Check out my special treat after the show – I have never had one of those before! And then I got my belated breakfast of raw lamb brisket – yummy! What  a packed morning!  

ps. Hsin-Yi’s RSI is much better now so we are going to start catching up on visiting your blogs but there are so many that it may take us a while to get around to you all – so please bear with us!

Sunday was the 3 hour interview with the security officer from the State Department. We found out on Thursday that he would be by around 1:30. Snakes’ initial reaction was excitement, to see the hiring process actually moving along just means we’re one step closer to outta here. This quickly gave way to disappointment over missing the Eagles game.

Despite this scheduling conflict, everything went well. I don’t think Snakes was busted checking for score updates on his blackberry even once during the interview. Coincidentally, they had already met (and bonded) once before in the parking lot of a Home Depot.  The security officer was enchanted by the bull mastiff in the honey seat of Snakes’ F-150. Naturally, a discussion of the majestic breed ensued. What are the chances that this same guy would be the “top secret” security reviewer for the State Department? Apparently he’s had 4 bull mastiffs throughout his life and is hesitant to get another because they don’t live very long. It’s hard to lose a member of the family every 7-8 years. Kindred spirits with their mutual appreciation of the bull mastiff’s charms:  the slippery puddles of drool on the kitchen floor (which appear the second the  fridge is cracked), wayward slobber splashed throughout the house (what’s that on the ceiling??), the  jowls which precipitate  aforementioned drool in impossibly long threads , the dramatic snoring, and the infamous stink-eye obstinance. What’s not to love?

As luck would have it, the interview lasted for about half the time they’d carved out for it. (In part due to my husband’s squeaky clean living!)  An excellent Sunday, the interview- setting our trajectory in such an exciting and new direction, the Eagles game- with another win (33-14) shaping up into a nice season, and the mastiff- four feet in the air, snoring dramatically on the couch.

one of his more reasonable sleeping positions

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Mastiff, a leading publisher of interactive entertainment, today announced Remington Great American Bird Hunt for Wii, the latest in its popular series of outdoor action games.

With arcade-style scoring, an arsenal of authentic Remington shotguns, and more than 50 trophies and power-ups to earn, Remington Great American Bird Hunt is a fast-paced and fun take on the sport of bird hunting. Remington Great American Bird Hunt challenges players to hunt through 60 levels of birds including turkeys, ducks, grouse and pheasants. Each type of bird calls for unique strategies and weapons. Players will find themselves well-equipped with Remington shotguns that look, feel and shoot like the real things. With a little help from Rockford, their trusty retriever, players will be ready to take on whatever flies their way.

Remington Great American Bird Hunt supports up to four players with a robust multiplayer system that includes competitive and cooperative modes for both teams and individuals. Hunting Party Mode, for two to four players, makes Remington Great American Bird Hunt the perfect party game. Remington Great American Bird Hunt is optimized to work with the Wii Remote or the Wii  Zapper accessory.

“With Remington Great American Bird Hunt, our goal was to make a fun hunting game, one you could enjoy equally by yourself or with your friends, something that anyone could pick up and immediately enjoy yet would be true to the sport of bird hunting” said Bill Swartz, Head Woof at Mastiff.

Remington Great American Bird Hunt will be available in November 2009.

A good example of the injustice of BSL. Because this woman’s dog was not killed by a “pit bull” (automatically considered a “vicious dog” in Ohio), she cannot expect the same treatment under the law as if her dog had been killed by a “pit bull.”

The hundreds of comments on this article are also interesting to read. Everyone seems to have missed the point; the discussion has (predictably) devolved into a pit bull-bashing session, despite the fact that this incident did not involve a “pit bull” at all.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/fatal-attack-on-dachshund-puts-focus-on-vicious-dog-laws-333764.html

Fatal attack on dachshund puts focus on vicious dog laws

By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer
Updated 11:27 AM Wednesday, October 7, 2009

BUTLER TWP., Montgomery County — Julie Sheil said she’s not looking for revenge after a large dog killed her miniature dachshund, Sophie, Monday, Oct. 5, while she was walking her on a leash.

But she doesn’t think the Butler Twp. police and the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center did enough after the incident on Turtle Shell Drive — because the owner still has his dog.

Sheil was walking her dog after work Monday when, she said, a large dog came charging down the street, grabbed her 15-pound miniature dachshund in its mouth and wouldn’t let go.

Sheil said she tried to get the larger dog to release Sophie , but she was unsuccessful, and the small dog died.

“I don’t think it’s normal to have a dog like that in what’s supposed to be a safe neighborhood with children and other dogs around,” said Sheil, 35. “A well-adjusted dog does not attack another dog like that so viciously and violently.”

“I screamed, and I beat it, and I kicked it, and it would not heed. I’m sorry, but that’s not normal,” Sheil said. “It was awful.”

The dog’s owner, Douglas Pelsor, told police an exterminator at his home told him the dog had gotten loose, a police report said.

An Animal Resource Center officer cited Pelsor for having a dog at-large, a minor misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $25 to $100 on the first offense. He was summoned to appear in Vandalia Municipal Court on Oct. 19.

“We’ve never had any problems with that particular dog or that house,” Butler Twp. Police Chief Danny Hobbs said Tuesday.

Pelsor retrieved his brindle mastiff-mix that had gotten loose and secured the dog back at his residence, a Butler Twp. police report said. Pelsor could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Sheil, who owns two other dogs, doesn’t think enough has been done.

She’d like to see the mastiff-mix, which she called “a menace to society,” put down so it can’t attack again, she said.

Animal Resource Center Director Mark Kumpf said the case highlights a problem with a state law on vicious dogs.

Kumpf said he feels terrible for Sheil, and called her dog’s death a “tragedy.”

He is frustrated that animal control officers are limited in their ability to take stronger action, because sections of the Ohio Revised Code pertaining to companion animals are “not very effective. It makes it tough. It’s really difficult for us.”

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that a statute requiring the confinement of vicious dogs violates the constitutional right to procedural due process if it fails to provide dog owners a meaningful opportunity to be heard on the issue of whether a dog is vicious.

Kumpf said to be considered vicious, a dog must be part of the pit bull breed or have a history. In this case, the mastiff-mix met neither criteria.

The court decision, Kumpf said, has “tied dog wardens’ hands across the state with enforcement.”

The dachshund’s owner has a better chance pursuing it in a civil manner “than we do in a criminal manner,” he said.

“I understand that doesn’t sit well with folks. It doesn’t sit well with the director of animal control either.”

Kumpf noted that laws pertaining to dogs killing livestock are tougher.

“Had this been her chicken or her goat, I’ve got a whole bunch of different laws I could have applied,” he said.

Today is their birthday. They’re now 1 year old. Between the two of them they eat 12 cups of premium dog food and drink a gallon of water every day.

Princess Buttercup weighs in at 111 lbs:

Mister Moose weighs in at 137 lbs:

Face shot of Mister Moose:

My human was very busy this week and away from home for lots of time, because she was doing some modelling work to put her in the TV box - and it went on all afternoon and night time, for many days. My other human, Paul, also couldn’t come home until late at night because of something called ‘work’ and so nobody could take me for my usual afternoon walk or be at home with me in the evenings.

Hsin-Yi was worried about me being bored – so she took me to spend time with my trainer, Flip, a couple of mornings this week so I could play with other doggies there and get tired – and then she thought I would sleep better when I am alone at home (she doesn’t seem to understand that I sleep very well anyway!  Oh well, humans do lots of things because they get this condition called “guilt”, so you just have to humour them…;) )

Anyway, I got a real surprise when I walked into Flip’s training centre: there was a Mini-Me!

Her name was Raffy and she was a 4 month old Dane puppy who was enrolled on Flip’s ‘Maximum Impact Programme’ (for more information about the MIP, you can read my post here) – not because she had any special problems but just because her humans decided they wanted Flip to train her first, before giving them lessons.

Boy, that Raffy sure was bouncy! Boing! Boing! Boing! I think she must have been born with springs in her paw pads!

 She kept jumping up and climbing over me and wriggling under me and bashing me with her not-so-little-paws…!

Here is a movie to show you what I had to put up with:

What do you think? Wasn’t I a good, patient doggie? Flip said I was being very ‘tolerant’ and told me I was a good girl lots, so I was very proud of myself!

Hsin-Yi said Raffy was JUST like me when I was a puppy and this was me getting my come-uppance for harrassing other doggies like this when I was little. What does she mean? I’m sure I was never like this as a puppy!

But Hsin-Yi says there’s a reason I was called “Monster Puppy from Hell“ - that I was the most bombastic, boisterous, exuberant, ‘life-&-soul-of-the-party’ kinda puppy you ever met, never afraid of anything, always body-slamming other dogs and trying to sit on their heads and bash them with my (already) gigantic paws… Huh! I am sure she is lying. I am sure I was a calm, angelic puppy – nothing like the little pest, Raffy!

Actually, Raffy is my niece – she’s from my breeders, Kim & John Wylie of Yacanto Great Danes and she is from the latest litter of my big brother, Jake. So I guess we do share some family traits! Anyway, Hsin-Yi says she’d rather have a confident, exuberant puppy – even if you need to work a bit harder to teach self-control – than a timid, scaredy puppy…which Great Danes sometimes can be, if we don’t come from mummies & daddies with stable temperaments.

Look, Hsin-Yi got a picture of Raffy in exactly the same pose as one she got of me when I was also 4 months old – isn’t that funny?

Raffy @ 4 months…

…and ME @ 4 months!

We look very similar, don’t we? Except that I have more of a mask and dark ears.

Raffy even has a ridge & swirl of fur on the back of her neck, like me!

She also has huge knuckles and gigantic paws, just like I did as a pup. Look, Raffy’s paws are already almost as big as mine and she is still only 4 months old!

 And you can tell that she is going to be a HUGE girl too. But that’s not really surprising ‘coz all my family are big – everyone says that I am really big and tall for a Dane girl (70kg /150lbs , 34″) – in fact, I’m the size of an average Dane boy! But my brothers are even bigger – they make me look really dainty! A couple of years ago, I met my nephew, Oscar, who also lives in Auckland - he was only 11 months old then and he was already 90kg (200lbs) with a head like a bull!

 See, there are 2 types of Danes: the chunky type, which looks more ‘Mastiff-y’ and the dainty type, which looks more ‘Greyhound-y’. I’m the chunky type. Hsin-Yi likes this type of Dane better – we have chunkier heads with more wrinkles, bigger jowls (& lots more drool!) and a more “pronounced head” which means we have a more cartoon profile when you look at us sideways!  And we have bigger bones and look heavier, with more “substance”. The other type of Dane is much daintier and lighter, with less exaggerated heads and less jowl (so they don’t drool as much!) and they have more slender legs and bodies. 

To show you the difference, here is a picture of my head compared to my friend, Blue, who is the daintier type of Dane: (see my big, droopy jowls? Hee! Hee!)

And here is a picture of me when I was just over 18 months old, with my friend, Delta, who is actually older than me by 4 months but I was already a lot bigger than her!

Of course, there is no one type better than the other – it is just a personal preference! Some people like the lighter, daintier type of Dane and some people like the heavier, bigger-boned Dane with more wrinkles and jowls (and drool…hee! hee! ) Anyway, even the smallest, daintiest Dane is still bigger than most other dogs!

Different breeders favour different types – and it also depends on which country you live in. For example, we have been told that many Danes in Europe are much bigger-boned and more Mastiff-like, whereas many Danes in the US can be taller but lighter in bone. My Daddy came to NZ from the UK when he was just a puppy, so maybe that explains my looks! But anyway, looks are less important than temperament!!

* Edited: Oops! Our friends, Bess & Heffner in the US have disagreed with this – please read their comment # 26 & #28 for more information. They would probably know better since they live in the US and their human is very experienced in dog showing – we are just repeating what many breeders & Dane people have told us!

As we said, we are not implying that the US or European type is ’superior’ – just that there is definitely a difference!  Also, we are not suggesting that the US show standard favours a lighter type or Danes are smaller in the US – as some people seem to find this offensive - just that this lighter type seems more prevalent across the whole country, whether due to BYB or the gene pool or whatever.

I think the observation was just a statement covering Danes across the whole country, not just those seen at shows, which are, of course, the ideal but probably the minority. I am sure that while many “proper” Danes at shows are as big and solid as European ones, this doesn’t change the fact that there are also a lot of non-show Danes out there which are not of this so-called ’ideal’ standard.  And interestingly, there are probably also a lot of BYB and non-show Danes in Europe – and yet there isn’t a prevalence of this lighter type, which suggests a difference in the gene pool between the 2 continents…which was our original point!   

In any case, we don’t think there is anything really wrong with being a ’lighter, daintier, more Greyhound-like’ Dane -  I mean, yes, they don’t conform to an arbitrary standard but there are a lot of such Danes out there whose owners think they are lovely and don’t care what the show world thinks. I also don’t think it is such an awful thing to be compared to a Greyhound – they are beautiful dogs and I think a lot of Greyhound owners would be very insulted to hear of ‘Greyhound-likeness’ being considered a flaw!   But anyway, I have removed the word “Greyhound-y” from my original text as that seemed to be causing the most offence!  

I have to say, it was really nice to have a robust, boisterous puppy to play with – someone who likes to play as rough as me!

 I did, of course, try to teach Raffy the finer points of the only games for civilised canines:  Tennis ball and Tug but the little squirt didn’t really catch on…

Hsin-Yi also started teaching Raffy how to pose for the camera…I have to say, she did pretty well in that!

There was one thing she didn’t need any teaching for, though…like all Dane puppies, she came out of the womb knowing how to shake paws!

 Of course, Raffy also learnt some of the proper training stuff with Flip and I helped too by showing her how to ‘Heel’ and go to her ‘Bed’ and Come when called and do ‘Down Stays’…

 …and some cafe practice too!

 Here is a little movie of all the things Raffy learnt at MIP :

I had a great time with Raffy but I have to say, I’m really glad that I’m an only dog!

Puppies are cute and fun but it’s good to go home to some peace & quiet!

Everybody loves to sit on Dad’s lap.

The host with the most

I invited my family over for dinner tonight. Everyone is shocked and amazed by this–and scared. I don’t cook; ever. On this pilgrimage, I choose to make salmon cakes because of something I watched on the food network.

I’m easily side-tracked. There are kids screaming, people laughing, my dog is humping people (he’s a mastiff so it’s very offputting). I’m frustrated at this point.

Ok, so I’m making salmon cakes now. Again I’m distracted because the house stinks, and someone turned on Jeopardy after I told them not to. I am obsessed with Jeopardy for those who don’t know that about me. Not only with jeopardy but with reading in general. I read everything.

Now I’m consumed with the game, kicking everyones ass, and rubbing it in their faces. Pretty soon I smell something worse than the salmon. I run to the kitchen and I have burned everything. Everyone is mad. To put myself in better graces with my guests, I go get McDonalds. Everyone is relieved.

It’s what I get for being so cocky.

From/De: Nintendo

Nintendo’s Holiday Lineup Has Something for Everyone

Find Great Gifts for Everyone on Your Shopping List

REDMOND, Wash. –(Business Wire)– Sep 15, 2009 As summer draws to a close, the air begins to chill and people begin to turn their thoughts to holiday gift lists. Whether the people on your list have been playing since the 1980s or only since last week, Nintendo has you covered. The Wii^™, Nintendo DS^™ and Nintendo DSi^™ systems have a huge selection of games for everyone on your list, including many that you won’t find anywhere else.

“This extensive lineup will keep players busy throughout the fall and into 2010,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Shoppers know that Nintendo offers fun for everyone in the household.”

Upcoming Nintendo-published games for the Wii console include Wii Fit^™ Plus (Oct. 4) and New Super Mario Bros.^™ Wii (holiday 2009). These games will join the current hot seller, Wii Sports Resort^™, which comes with the new precision-control Wii MotionPlus^™ accessory. Fans of portable games will enjoy Pokémon^™ Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (Oct. 12), Style Savvy^™ (Nov. 2) and The Legend of Zelda^™: Spirit Tracks (Dec. 7) in addition to the just-released Mario & Luigi^™: Bowser’s Inside Story, all playable on both Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi systems.

The changing autumn leaves will be in good company with some new colors for the Nintendo DSi system and the Wii Remote^™ and Nunchuk^™ controllers. New White and Pink Nintendo DSi systems made their debut on Sept. 13, while a Black Wii Remote controller and Wii MotionPlus accessory package will be available this holiday season. A Black version of the Nunchuk controller will be sold separately as well.

Third-party publishers are supporting Nintendo platforms with impressive quality and wide-ranging titles. Wii exclusives like Dead Space^™ Extraction from Electronic Arts and FINAL FANTASY^® CRYSTAL CHRONICLES^®: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS^® from Square Enix will provide thrills that can’t be found elsewhere. At the same time, Nintendo DS owners are anxiously awaiting another powerhouse release: KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 DAYS from Square Enix. And Activision’s Band Hero^™, available on both Wii and Nintendo DS, features compelling interactivity between the two hardware systems through wireless connectivity.

Below is a partial list of upcoming games for Wii, the WiiWare^™ service, Nintendo DS and the Nintendo DSiWare^™ service. Note that game titles and launch dates are subject to change.

Remember that Wii and the Nintendo DS systems feature parental controls that let adults manage some of the content their children can access. For more information about these and other features, visit Wii.com, www.NintendoDS.com and www.NintendoDSi.com.

For more information about Nintendo, visit www.Nintendo.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii^™, Nintendo DS^™ and Nintendo DSi^™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System^™, Nintendo has sold more than 3.1 billion video games and more than 526 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy^™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES^™, Nintendo 64^™ and Nintendo GameCube^™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario^™, Donkey Kong^™, Metroid^™, Zelda^™ and Pokémon^™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.Nintendo.com.

 Talk about people havin too much time on their hands and too much money.

A woman, idenified only by her last name,”Wang” bought a DOG for a mind-blowing $582,000!!!   “Wang” traveled to Qinghai province of northwest China to purchase the 18-month old dog, named “Yangtze River Number Two“,  a Tibetan Mastiff.

Tibetan Mastiffs, a fairly rare breed, typically cost about $2,000 in the West, but are more expensive in China where they are valued for their skills as guard dogs.

Yangtze came home to an A-List entrance at Xi’an airport in China’s Shaanxi province, where he was reportedly greeted by hordes of dog lovers and picked up on Wednesday by a motorcade of 30 black Mercedes-Benz cars.  Ms. Wang has plans to mate Yangtze with another Tibetan Mastiff that she owns, according to Chinese reports.

A family in Florida previously held the record, paying $155,000 for a Labrador named Lancelot Encore, cloned from their dead dog, Lancelot.

When you think of the many people in the world who are homeless and hungry-this seems quite extravgant…

For more absurd wastes of money , go here.

Darlings,

A few months ago, I had my first go at acting.

“What? Why didn’t you say something?” I hear you cry.

Well, I didn’t want to say anything as I wasn’t sure if any of my takes would make it into the final movie. I was fully expecting them all to end up on the cutting room floor (if indeed, in this age of technology, we even have cutting rooms anymore). I have now seen the movie, and I can happily report that I am in nearly every scene!! Obviously all the hours spent learning my lines really paid off!

It was an ‘on location’ shoot. It took me several days drive to get there, but the location was great. Lovely countryside, trees and a beautiful lake. It was almost like being in paradise!

Now let me say something here. If you thought modeling was hard, I can tell you that acting is really, really hard work. You have to remember your lines, make sure you get to your marks on time, keep yourself in camera shot as required, listen to a lot of direction and when you run, make sure you’re doing it at the speed the director wants as well as ensuring you present the right profile to the camera. That’s a lot to remember. I call it “Modeling in Motion”…

Anyway, I think the film looks good. OK, so maybe I overacted a little bit in places but I wanted to make sure the audience understood that when I was ’scared’, ‘lost’, ‘tired’ etc. Besides, hamming it up a bit never hurt Rupert Everett’s career. I doubt I’ll get any academy awards for this performance but it was a lot of fun to make and maybe it will lead to a small role in Harry Potter XVIII or ScareZone 2.

Here’s the movie… please let me know what you think of my performance in “Kashmir Come Home”.

I can maybe see myself doing more acting in the future but I think I need to concentrate on my modeling career for now. There are so many young models looking to move into acting, they seem to just leap at the first movie offer they get and then fizzle out wondering where it all went wrong (Paris who?). Well let me remind everyone, looking good in a photograph is a lot easier than looking convincing up there on the silver screen. I really want to do it right and build my career properly. I think I’ll keep working hard and looking out for the right role. I like to think I’m more of a character actress anyway, not just someone who is sought after for how she looks. Though, if I do say so myself, I think I look pretty good on camera! It loves me!!! It really does!!!

That’s it for now lo-vies…

Kashy-K
“Model, Actress, Whatever”

(POR REDAÇÃO) –  Página Inicial(Matéria completa)

Segundo o jornal britânico Telegraph, um milionário chinês gastou £ 350 mil em um cachorro de dezoito meses da raça Mastiff…

A woman in China pays $600,000 for a rare Tibetan Mastiff, local media have reported…. From BBC News. Full story

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