January 12, 2005

• this is awesome. are any monkeys in he area that can go see?
• The story is from October, 2002.
• But this photo, it is crudely photoshopped, no? Can we really trust all the monkeys we see on the internet? Or what is going on here?
• *smacks forehead* well, here's a notice for a performance from october 2004. this video has some footage of his act as well.
• flashboy, I think the photo's not so much photoshopped as it is overly sharpened. I get that problem myself when I try to salvage blurred shots. Sharpening parts of the image too much makes that portion look as if it were pasted into the original image. If you look at the bottom of the capuchin's legs, you'll see the blurred bit quite naturally blending with the dog's back. I think.
• here's a nice interview that gives a little more background on the man behind the monkey on a collie.
• What cottoned me on to the sharpening possibility are the "glow" that surrounds the top part of the capuchin, as well as the sharp white line at the bottom. Whoever sharpened the picture probably used the magic wand to select that bit and filtered it. The "glow" always gives me a headache when I sharpen bits of pictures, since it makes the whole thing look damned fake.
• I must see the dog-riding monkeys before I die.
• This made me giggle and clap my hands. Out loud. At work. ...it was worth it...
• "This old man said, 'Where you going son?' and I told him I was going to a rodeo. And this old man got to talking and he said, 'You know, I was at a rodeo when I was probably about your age and a guy come up there and he had a monkey and it was sitting on a dog. I didn't believe it was a monkey, but that dog sat down right there in front of me and it sure enough was a monkey. I laughed so hard it hurt my side, and you know what, today I'm 76 years old and it still hurts when I think about it.' I love that paragraph. The image of the old man, 50 years later, suddenly bursting out laughing... NURSING HOME ROOMMATE: whats so funny, Hank? HANK: Oh, just remebering the time in 1938 when I saw a monkey ridin' a dog...
• Well, I for one welcome our collie-dog-riding monkey overlords.
• Although I'd rather have the cheerleaders. Obviously.
• Have owned many collies, border collies, and the rough-cooted Lassie-types, and they are handy animals to have on a farm or herding critters. However, much as I respect and admire 'em, I am not at all sure these poor monkeys are having a good time. The monkey is not in charge of the dog, who follows the trainer's instructions. The monkey is just along for the ride -- and I suspect is leashed to the saddle, though I could be wrong about this -- hard to tell from these pictures.
• Mama don't let your monkeys grow up to be cowboys Don't let them pick guitars and drive in old trucks Make 'em be doctors and lawyers and such Mamas don't let your monkeys grow up to be cowboys They'll never stay home and they're always alone Even with someone they love