February 11, 2004

Best in Show! Behold this year's winner at the the Westminster Kennel Club, a Newfoundland named Josh. Lord Byron had a Newfoundland named Boatswain, which he memorialized in poetry (judging by the painting, I'd guess Boatswain must have been a Landseer.)
posted by homunculus 20 years ago
  • As my visual arts prof used to say in his Scottish burr, "These days it's practically impossible to say 'Landseer' without an involuntary curl of the lip".
  • Hell, I fucked that up. I thought you meant a Landseer, although I'm not sure how that would make any sense at all. Sorry, and also sorry to any Newfies who might be reading.
  • A list of ridiculous names for dogs (aka the previous winners of best in show). Not sure which my favourite is, though Chidley Willum (1994), Dhandy Favorite Woodchuck (1981) and Flornell Spicy Bit of Halleston (1934) would seem to be front-runners.
  • oh! i'm so very glad you posted this! i LOVE westminster!! my sister knows the folks who own Bunny, the sexy lil' thang who won the hound category. she's named Bunny because the white spot on her back is shaped like the Playboy logo. the announcer may have mentioned that, we were too busy hooting and hollering. yes, it was westminster party night at my place, as is tradition. we eat corndogs and celebrate! as a group, we decided: >it's the only sport in which middle-aged overweight women dominate. christ, did you see some of those handlers?! bad outfits and bad shoes, too. >we want to see what that pomeranian looks like shaved. and what kind of name is Les? >that puli dog is odd looking. or as one of us put it, "oh, that is fucked up." >we would be frightened to wake up in bed next to a dog with such a long, pointy nose as, say, an afghan. yikes! a good time was had by all. huzzah for westminster! a true harbinger of spring. and here's to dogs, some of the bestest critters ever.
  • I heartily recommend Best in Show by Christopher Guest and his Spinal Tap cohorts. They have the whole dog show industry spot on. When I was a kid a friend of my mother's showed Saint Bernards and Old English Sheepdogs. I used to get to ride them around, until one of them sat on me by mistake. Those shows are so damn boring to watch!
  • yup tra it sure would make for a more interesting westminster if suddenly the announcer said, "and now, let the dogs be dogs!" and all the pooches bounded up into the stands and licked everyone. heh.
  • Courtenay Fleetfoot of Pennyworth is totally gonna be my daughter's name. Totally.
  • God loves a terrier.
  • If we don't give the blue ribbon to Pansy McFlurtle the Pekinese, the terriers have already won.
  • Josh is going to be on Charlie Rose tonight.
  • I was saddened to learn that Josh is a shill for the military industrial complex.