Cat Playing Piano

There is a cat playing piano on the internet. This is another one of those cat-story-video-picture-freaky-type-thing that appeals at the moment. Cats provide us with a lot of entertainment but a lot of the time I am not sure that what is happening is entirely respectful of the cat. In fact, we can go back in history a long way to discover another but different example of cat disrespect, worse than that, it was cat pain or a form of cat torture and it concerned cats and pianos too: The Cat Piano (see below).

First though a cat playing piano. Here is the video:

To be honest it is a cat that is playing around with the keys of a piano. The video maker has probably propped his cat up on the stool and plonked the cat’s paws on the keys and filmed several short sequences with an enormous amount of patience because I am sure that there were a load of aborted attempts. You can see how short sequences are spliced together in this video.

I suppose the question some people ask is whether this cat, Nora, is actually making music. I say, no. But she is enjoying playing around on the keys for a while and she quite possibly enjoys the sound they make. But composition of music, no. Now that is going to spark off some comments, I expect!

I know that I am a bit of a  grumpy old man but this video, that has been seen more than a staggering 16m times (at Jan 2010) is interesting, yes, but a bit pathetic and it shows the publics’ desire for gratification in any way possible. Just entertain me – any way, we don’t care. And if it’s a cat so much the better. It is a modern version of the Scarlatti story that I refer to below and what follows:

Cat Piano

Put several cats with different meows or voices into a row of confining boxes or containers and place their tails to the rear. Above the tails place piano keys that when depressed hit the cats’ tails causing the cats to squeal, meow or make a sharp noise of displeasure. And, voila, the people of the time (1500s until as late as 1773 in Prague) were heartily entertained once again at the expense of the cat.

On one occasion a bear was trained to play a cat piano to entertain the then King of Spain in 1549. And on another occasion spikes were stuck into the tails of cats when the keys were depressed – charming. It is all slightly distasteful to me, I am afraid to say.

So based on the examples discussed, the history of the cat and music went from cats making the piano to actually playing it.

Cat Composing on a Piano

Cats playing piano doesn’t stop there. It is said (and I am not sure how true this is) that the well known composer, Scarlatti (Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757) an Italian composer, was inspired to compose the piece, “The Cat’s Fugue” after his cat walked over the keyboard of his piano. He copied down the notes. That is similar the cat playing piano story above.

The Film “The Cat Piano”

Once again, it doesn’t quite stop there. A new animated short film, The Cat Piano, has been recently released (2009, I believe – it has received several awards including the Australian Film Institute Awards, Best Short Animation, 2009). A city of singing cats is preyed upon by a shadowy figure intent on performing a twisted feline symphony. It is narrated by Nick Cave. He talks briefly about his role in the making of the film in the video below:

…and here is another video (pictures speak louder that words) previewing the film:

From Cat Playing Piano to PoC Forum

Lets Discuss Things in Video Responses

I don't know if it will work or catch on but I would like people to add video responses to the short video I made below. The idea is that we all say something in a short video response. The topic of conversation is the one I propose in my video:



The YouTube page for this video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n84mvHayIJQ

I like this idea because it means we can present our individual thoughts on a range of cat topics in short videos, which I can then edit into one master version.

The master video would be a fairly accurate representation of peoples' thoughts on a topic regarding cats. The video I would have thought would be fairly interesting and useful for that reason.

The first topic chosen by me is your favorite cat breed. This opens the door to a wide range of issues such as is the moggie the best "breed" or non-breed and why.

The only obstacles that I can see (and this may be an insurmountable obstacle) is that:

• not enough people with opinions about cat breeds don't have the means to make videos
• people aren't able to formulate good ideas on this topic
• people are too busy or simply don't want to present themselves on YouTube.

Well I hope I am proved wrong.



From Lets Discuss Things in Video Responses to Home Page

Are Leopard Cats Extinct

People ask, are leopard cats extinct. The simple answer is NO. This is in part because they have a wide range and are an exception to the rule that wildcats do not adapt well to human activity.

In Malaysia where the leopard cat's habitat, the forest, is being destroyed and replaced with plantations of palm trees, the leopard cat has adapted to the new environment and hunts almost exclusively palm rats rather than its usual diet of small mammals, birds and reptiles found in the forest.

So the wild Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) population is doing well in certain parts of the world. For the wild cat to survive in a human world it must adapt to the human way and the ALC does this admirably.

It is rated least concern (LC) by the IUCN Red List and its population is said to stable. I personally doubt this. Population size is unknown.



From to Home Page

Cats are Nice or Horrible

The domestic cat polarizes people. Some people say cats are nice and some say they are horrible. Some people love cats and some people hate them. The truth is that the cat is always the same.

The domestic cat is a very predictable animal. They have their instincts and their routines and by and large these are always the same from breed to breed and wild cat species to wild cat species. They do have distinct characters, yes, but these are distinct not in terms of being good or bad but in terms of preferences.

What varies is us and our attitude and behavior towards cats. I love animals and cats. This will always mean that cats come to me and are nice to me. Cats are nice in my world. Sure, they have their own innate characteristics that must be respected but if we respect the cat and behave warmly towards the cat the domestic cat will be nice.

Conversely when people say cats are horrible it is because people are horrible towards the cat. The cat's behavior is a reflection of ours within the framework of their natural behavior.

So the polarization of views about cats is actually the polarization of human behavior. We know that a lot of people behave badly and a similar number behave very well. So the next time a person says he hates cats and explains how horrible they are have a good look in his eye and know that he is no damn good!

Cats are Nice or Horrible to Home Page main site.

Tiger Skins For Sale

Tiger skins for sale are almost the norm in China. It seems to entirely accepted and the ban on trade of tiger parts is largely unenforced. The profits are so large that they create high levels of motivation for the traders. And the profits are getting larger as the tiger becomes scarcer. It is all about supply and demand of course. It the demand side is maintained or rises and the supply side diminishes than prices rise, obviously. As prices rise the the trade becomes more profitable encouraging more traders so the trade becomes harder to stop.

And so as the tiger edges towards extinction in the wild the process of extinction speeds up. It is almost too late unless a massive effort is put in place and that effort must come from the Chinese authorities. Demand must dry up because it is all but impossible to protect the tiger in the wild.

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The video below was taken in Linxia, China, where an employee of the Environmental Investigation Agency, a UK based charity went undercover to act as a buyer

One thing that jumps of the page is that videos about this trade are hardly watched. People are not interested, really; it is true and it is this background apathy that allows the trade to continue. The burden to stop falls on a relatively small number of people. There really needs to be a ground swell of dissent at the loss of the tiger in the wild and tiger skins of sale is just one part of the problem.

The whole of the tiger is used as a product. Tiger bone is more valuable than its skin and particularly the forelimbs. It is sick.

Apparently one route for this obnoxious trade is that poached tigers in India where protection is lax are transported via Nepal to China (and other countries in Asia) where they like to eat the tiger for medicinal purposes.

A big push to preserve the tiger has been instigated by Russia, surprisingly. Something big needs to happen to save the tiger.