#Otis the grizzly bear

[rjzimmerman]

480 Otis, a beloved brown bear made popular by the Explore.org bear cams of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, hunts for salmon at a popular bear fishing spot known as “the jacuzzi” on July 20, 2014. Ed MacKerrow / In Light of Nature.

Since 2012, millions of viewers have tuned in to Explore.org’s bear cams of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, and many of them can tell you that bear 480 Otis is a legend.

Otis has become the face of Fat Bear Week, an annual online bracket-style competition that celebrates the heft of the brown bears at Katmai’s Brooks Falls. At that waterfall, bears gorge on salmon to pack on the pounds in order to prepare for hibernation. This year will mark the tenth anniversary of the competition, which launched October 2. But the four-time Fat Bear Week champion, who is more beloved for his personality than his size, is missing.

Known as the “Zen master,” Otis practices patience and avoids conflict. As larger and younger bears battle it out for salmon in the “jacuzzi,” a competitive plunge pool directly beneath Brooks Falls, Otis sits in a shallow pool set apart from the action, waiting for the salmon to swim directly to him. In the remote southwestern Alaska wilderness, where human visitors hardly register as a significant factor of the landscape, Otis embodies the spirit of the park’s peacefulness, says novelist and ghostwriter Angel Canann.

“He’s kind of the grandfather of the place, really,” says Canann, who became involved with the bear cam community after a trip to the park in 2021. “All of the different factors about Katmai that make it the special, extraordinary, unusual and singularly amazing place that it is—he encompasses that in himself, and that’s one of the reasons everybody loves him so much.”

Otis has been reliably showing up to the falls since 2001, when he was first identified as a 4-to-6-year-old sub-adult. Each year around July, bear cam viewers anxiously anticipate his return, knowing the beloved elder bear is approaching the limit of his 20- to 30-year lifespan. Fans always breathe a big sigh of relief when Otis shows up to his preferred spot in the pool, which viewers have dubbed his “office,” says Stacey Schmeidel, a college public relations professional who has volunteered both in-person as a visitor interpreter at Katmai National Park and Preserve and online operating Explore.org’s nature cameras.

But Otis didn’t show up to the falls this summer, and rangers can’t account for his whereabouts. Bears in Katmai aren’t tracked by any method other than observation, and the nature cameras at Brooks Falls cover only about a mile and a half of the vast, 4.2-million-acre park, says Sarah Bruce, Katmai National Park and Preserve’s visual information specialist. As Fat Bear Week gets underway, fans are wondering what may have happened to the beloved bear.

Since Otis is an older bear and his absence is unusual, he may be deceased, says Mike Fitz, the resident naturalist for Explore.org and a former Katmai National Park and Preserve ranger who launched Fat Bear Week. Or Otis may have adapted to a different fishing spot elsewhere in the park. Fitz has seen bears that take a break from the falls for a season and return in following years. But they were all younger than Otis, he says. While cautioning he doesn’t know where Otis is, he says his instinct tells him Otis likely isn’t elsewhere in the park.

This year’s Fat Bear Week will likely be the first without Otis as a contender since its inauguration as “Fat Bear Tuesday” on Katmai National Park and Preserve’s Facebook page in 2014—which Otis won. Adult males usually weigh between 600 and 900 pounds in mid-summer, but they can chunk up to more than 1,000 pounds by fall. In the initial contest, the bear with the most likes and positive reactions on Facebook won.

The tournament celebrates fat as a sign of success for the bears, which must consume a year’s worth of food in six months in order to survive the loss of about a third of their bodyweight during hibernation. The week is a testament to the richness of the park’s ecosystem, which allows the bears to thrive. Katmai is home to a massive sockeye salmon run, and Brooks Falls provides a natural barrier to the fish migrating up Brooks River. The resulting salmon scramble amounts to a veritable bear buffet.

UPDATE:

Fat Bear Week was delayed by a few days because two other bears are missing. According to NPR: "Fat Bear Week, a celebration of brown bears’ survival instincts, brought a grisly reminder of the animals’ predatory nature on Monday, when a male bear, 469, killed a female, 402, at Katmai National Park & Preserve in Alaska." If you go to 9:45 on this video, you can see the start of the bear fight. She's clearly dead about a minute and a half later. Sad, but nature doing another nature thing we can't understand.

[saltwife]

The king, 480 Otis, four-time Fat Bear Week Champion, napping in between salmon binges. Love this beautiful old bear. (Image description and reference behind the cut.

Like what I do? Please consider supporting me! Prints and other merch is available on redbubble, or you can sponsor me on patreon! 

Description: A digital illustration of a large brown bear with a floppy right ear, napping with his head resting on his crossed front paws. A crown floats above his head, because he is the King.

Description: Webcamera screen capture of a large brown bear with a floppy right ear, napping with his head resting on his crossed front paws, lying on the bank of the Brooks River.

[shadowlorddemon]

Miraculous Ladybug Animalverse AU

Where Everyone is an Anthropomorphic, including insects and fishes.

(Almost Like Zootopia & Beastars crossover that takes in MLB setting)

(If you have any questions about the AU, ask me and I would try to answer to my best)

The Cast & their animal species

Marinette = Asian Lady Beetle

Adrien = European Shorthair Cat

Alya = Red Fox

Nino = Red-eared Slider Turtle

Alix = European Hare

Rose = European Shorthair Cat

Juleka = Giant Otter

Mylene = Chinchillas

Ivan = Grizzly Bear

Nathaniel = Red Giant Flying Squirrel

Kim = Yellow-cheeked Gibbon

Max = Leopard Gecko

Chloe = Yellow Jacket

Zoe = Yellow Jacket

Sabrina = Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Dog

Lila = Swift Fox

Marc = Green Iguana

Aurore = European Badger

Mireille = Black-footed Ferret

Ondine = Sea Otter

Kagami = Komodo Dragon

Luka = Giant Otter

Caline Bustier = Capybara

Ms. Mendeleiev = Raccoon

Mr. Damocles = Northern White-Faced Owl

Sabine Cheng = Asian Lady Beetle

Tom Dupain = Spotted Lady Beetle

Andre = Yellow Jacket

Audrey = Yellow Jacket

Gabriel = European Shorthair Cat

Emilie = European Shorthair Cat

Amelie = European Shorthair Cat

Felix = European Shorthair Cat

Nathalie = Blue-tailed Skink

Otis Césaire = Red Fox

Marlena Césaire = Red Fox

Nora Césaire = Red Fox

Ella Césaire = Red Fox

Etta Césaire = Red Fox

Armand D’Argencourt = Friesian Horse

Alec Cataldi = European Mink

Bob Roth = Snaggletooth Shark

XY Roth = Snaggletooth Shark

Jagged Stone = Giant Otter

Penny Rolling = Saltwater Crocodile

Ali = Asiatic Lion

Clara Nightingale = Common Nightingale

Wang Fu = Chinese Pond Turtle

Nadia Chamack = Prairie dog

Manon Chamack = Prairie dog

Placide (Gorilla) = Mountain Gorilla

Socqueline Wang = Orange Ladybird

Su-Han = East Asian Bullfrog

Marianne Lenoir = Leopard Gecko

[grizzly-bear-official]

Do you have a favorite bear?

do you mean a specific individual bear or a bear species/subspecies?

my favorite bears are kodiak and grizzly bears. my favorite individual bear is probably the king himself, Otis

[jungle-angel]

A Rancher's Best Helper (Miles Miller x Reader)

Summary: A farmer's best friend has always been his canine companion

Tagging: @floydsmuse Meggy I think it's safe to say this is gonna be our thing (lol).

Miles, Otis and the other hands herded the last of the cattle into the pen at the back of the barn. Miles held onto the horse's reins with one hand and protectively held two year old Benny with the other, the little one all bundled up in his little tan Carhartt jacket, knit hat and mittens. It was barely three in the afternoon and the snow had already started, but amidst the sea of loudly mooing cattle, Miles saw a blob of grey, black and white darting in and out and behind them.....Shaggy.

Miles, Otis and the hands whistled and commanded the cattle towards the pen while Shaggy did his part and herded them in. As soon as the bolt had been thrown across the fence, the most arduous part of their workday was done.

"That's it Shaggy," Miles called to the dog. "You're all done."

Shaggy barked and stood on his hind legs, eagerly accepting the homemade bacon treat that Miles had pulled out of his jacket pocket.

Miles dismounted first, adjusting his black cowboy hat on his head before lifting Benny off the saddle and onto his hip. One of the hands took the horse and brought her back to the stables before Miles sauntered off with Shaggy beside him to go and finish the rest of the chores before sunset.

"We gonna go get eggies again daddy?" Benny chirped.

"Yep," Miles told him. "We've gotta go get eggies for the morning."

Miles lifted the latchkey on the door to the chicken coop, taking the black wire basket that hung on a nearby hook. Inside was full of the hens clucking to each other, some huddling together in the nesting boxes to keep warm and their chicks nestled beside or underneath them. The rooster had been feeling particularly broody the last few days, often allowing a few chicks to sleep in his end of the hut while the head hen had been feeling the same. Sure enough, in the nesting box were seven unfertilized eggs which Kathy would no doubt, be using to make the egg casserole for Christmas morning.

A few of the hens that remained outside were quickly herded in by Shaggy, loudly clucking and flapping their wings from having been suddenly startled. "Good boy," Miles said, giving him another one of the bacon treats.

Once the work in the coop was done, Miles let Shaggy run for a good long while, before going to close up the rabbit hutch for the night. The hutch had been built from an abandoned shed on the property, now repurposed to house the rabbits whose shedded hair could be used to make soft wool and fabric.

"Uh oh, uh oh," Benny suddenly chirped. "Daddy! Daddy where's Peter?!"

"Aw shit," Miles swore. He counted again to see how many bunnies were in the hutch and had counted only thirteen, the fourteenth nowhere to be found.

Shaggy came running back with something in his mouth a moment later, a tan and cream colored little bunny with long ears, holding him gently by the scruff of his neck.

"There you are you little shit," Miles chuckled. "You know Peter? This shit's gotta stop sooner than later. There's coyotes, bears and a bunch of other creepy stuff in the woods."

He wasn't lying, not at all. Montana wasn't particularly known for its friendly variety of wildlife. Miles had learned quickly that if you were a rancher in the field, it was always best to carry a rifle, feeling much less antsy about doing so ever since a grizzly bear had tried to sneak into the pasture the previous winter. The bears had been the reason he hated when it got dark early. That first encounter had scared him so shitless that he and Otis had agreed it best to have the critters in before dark.

Peter was promptly put with his brothers and sisters for the night and the rabbit hutch firmly and doubly locked up for the night, the fresh sawdust bedding having been laid down the night before after Otis had cleaned up the woodshop.

The goats, the sheep and the pigs were the last ones to go in for the night. Unusually enough, the poor little runty piglet had been left behind, trying to keep up with his brothers and sisters, but luckily Shaggy had caught him the same way he had Peter.

"Alright buddy," Miles said, scooping the piglet up and tucking him into his jacket. "Let's go in."

Miles brought him into the section of the barn where Bertha and Hamlet tended to their own brood of piglets. The big boar came right up to Miles as he stooped to his level and let him sniff the little piglet before the runty little thing dove from Miles's hands and right to his sire. He tried to push his way in to nurse with Bertha shoving aside some of the more well fed ones so that the runt could have his share.

With everything done at last, Miles brought Benny back to the cottage and Shaggy with him. It felt so good to at last, get out of the freezing winter evening and into a warm house. Christmas Eve would be the very next day with family and friends coming from all over the states to spend the holiday with you and Miles.

"Well good evening o' husband of mine," you chuckled.

"Hi sweetpea," Miles said, kissing your lips and then Baby Jesse's little head before stripping off his jacket.

You very gently handed two week old Jesse off to Miles, having just fed him a half hour ago, his soft coos filling Miles's ears as Miles rocked him gently.

"Sweet, sweet boy," Miles softly cooed. "You and your brother are so loved......yes you are."

Miles could have swore he saw a little smile on Jesse's sleepy face as he went and seated himself on the soft green sofa in the living room. Shaggy jumped up beside him and began sniffing Baby Jesse before Miles snapped his fingers. "Down," he commanded. "Lay down."

Shaggy laid right down, his paws stretched out in front of him as he yawned, sniffing Jesse a little gentler than before. You snuggled in beside Miles as the fire crackled away and Benny joined you. You were so happy and so grateful for the family that you had, especially a furry companion who had made a huge amount of difference for you both.

[asktaskforce141]

okayyyyyyy :( um um um bored and don’t wanna do work stuff so i’m gonna ask a question again…..do any of you have stuffed animals? i have 12, including a unicorn, a chip bag, a smoothie, an octopus, and egg, an avocado, a red panda, a frog, a cow, a pterodactyl, a peach, and a cat 🥰

-🗝️

You didnae hear this from me, but I've seen the LT's one that he's got on one of his shelves. It's one I think he's had since his childhood, though he'll murder me if he ever knew I told you about it, so best keep it a secret, aye? 😉 As for myself, I have one of those little military bears, dressed in his own wee little kilt and everything.

- your friendly neighborhood Scotsman 🧼

I have a mini plush of Cerberus, if that counts? Currently occupies the empty space on my bed.

- Keegan "The P is Silent" Russ 😎

Ooh! I have quite a few! A mini plush of Baphomet, one little German Shepherd, a pink cat named Strawbebby Cat, a little hand-crocheted fox named Bean, a cat named Binx, another black cat with a stitched up eye named Lucipurr, a little tiny cheetah plush named Cheetoh, an odd-shaped tiger squishmallow named Tigger, and an old bear fr my childhood with red eyes and a puppy dog nose, named Brownie. 😇🩵 Strawbebby Cat is my fave though, as is Riley Jr, the German Shep.

- Admin 🥀

Ja, I have a little black stuffed grizzly bear with his own tiny sniper's hood too, and little black boots and pants of his own. His name is Otis, and I have had him since I was a little boy during my childhood. 🫶🏻

- König 🇦🇹

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Back to the 50's, Volume III 1988 R&B / Doo Wop / Rock & Roll

🚨ALERT!🚨 🚨ALERT!🚨 🚨ALERT!🚨

Folks! In what can only be described as a miracle, we have from this series that was originally launched back in 1986 by prolific compilation label K-tel and then spun off at some point to its Dominion branch, a release with not just *ONE* quality re-recording, but *TWO*! 😳 And they happen to be of two of my all-time favorite 50s hits! I mean, to even come across one good re-recording is already an incredibly rare feat in and of itself, so to find two on the same CD is legitimately unfathomable! Yet, here we are!

So the first of these pleasant surprises comes courtesy of Johnny Otis, the 'Godfather of Rhythm & Blues' himself, who, despite not actually being black, decided to identify as a black man all throughout his life anyway❗ And while that's something that obviously would have no chance of flying in this day and age, the fact still remains that, in addition to being a gifted musician, Johnny also had a knack for spotting real talent before anyone else too. So it seriously stands to reason that we may have never heard of people like Etta James, Jackie Wilson, or Big Mama Thornton had it not been for this guy! 🤯

And in 1958, Otis released his signature hit, "Willie and the Hand Jive," a terrific jam that employed rock & roll pioneer Bo Diddley's own sharp and shuffling 'Bo Diddley beat.' For a time, this song would be the most famous tune to implement that beat, but in the mid-60s it would be surpassed by a proto-punky piece of garage rock bubblegum called "I Want Candy," performed by The Strangeloves, and then also famously covered in the early 80s by new wavers Bow Wow Wow too.

And I think this re-recording of "Willie and the Hand Jive" here really shows just how timelessly groovy the Bo Diddley beat is, because despite the production value being lower and Otis clearly sounding older, this shit still manages to sound so fresh and good to me. I dunno when it was made, but while most re-recordings leave you feeling despair, this one simply won't. It's not superior to the original, but it's still very much welcomed 👍.

And similarly falling into that same bucket is Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee." Lloyd's slowed it down here a bit, and his backing horns do sound a bit janky too, but this lower tempo for the song, along with some very catchy and more constant "ba-da-ba-da-ba-da"s from his backing vocalists, make this one a different version of an infectious bop that's to be enjoyed rather than pitied. Price is not as spry as he once was, but he still sings with a soulful passion and grizzliness that feels charming, and that's not something you can say about most people who return to the studio to re-record their biggest hits decades later.

Now, overall, this is still a pretty terrible album. Whoever came up with the concept of doing re-recordings in order to get around having to pay higher licensing fees is, and will forever be, my mortal enemy. But be that as it may, sometimes an atrocious idea can still bear a little fruit, and this album, unbelievably, seems to have a couple sweet pieces on it. So even though I wouldn't ever recommend that anyone listen to this, it's still remarkably the greatest re-recordings comp that I've ever heard in my life.

Highlights:

Johnny Otis - "Willie and the Hand Jive" Lloyd Price - "Stagger Lee"

[bisquicklite]

Time to inflict y'all with some Inktobers! :3

Day 1: Dream

This one has a bit of an explanation. First off this is a portrait of Otis, 4 time winner of Fat Bear Week. Here we see him having a nap in a river where he is oft found, dreaming of fish because he is a bear and salmon is delicious.

The quote is from me. One night I was sleeping soundly when I awoke my wife with a fart (I may be lactose intolerant but that will not stop me). So I startled my wife awake, which startled me awake, we have a good laugh, and go back to bed.

Apparently my wife took a bit longer to fall asleep than I did, because I piped up quite clearly "You just gotta fart your way through grizzly season."

[leutjaneausten]

Just before 6 p.m. eastern on July 26 — the very same day 480 Otis emerged from hibernation in 2021 — fans spotted the park’s beloved brown bear on a live camera at Brooks Falls in Alaska.

This year, the grizzly bear seen holding a fresh salmon and trudging through the water was late to his usual hunting spot at Katmai National Park. It’s not that Otis hit snooze on his alarm — you can blame climate change.

“The last time he showed up this late, salmon were also late, and the salmon were late this year as well,” said Candice Rusch, a spokesperson with Explore.org, the site that runs the 24/7 live cameras at Katmai National Park. “What we’ve been seeing in Alaska is that the salmon run has been trending later into July, which means for bears like Otis waiting longer to eat that salmon.”

Wild bears like Otis are supposed to return to the salmon run in late June, not July, but rising temperatures and overfishing are in part delaying the arrival of the salmon, Rusch said. This puts the bears in a time crunch, having to eat food in less than the usual six months they’d have to take bulk up before winter time.

“Things like rising ocean temperatures, overfishing, all of these things that are going to affect our marine life, are going to affect bears like Otis and all of the bears at Katmai National Park pretty directly,” Rusch said.

What makes the situation more critical is that Alaska’s Bristol Bay is the world’s last sockeye salmon run for bears like Otis, Rusch said, which she said makes it crucial to take action to conserve it. As ocean waters warm, less and less salmon are returning to open sea, which means there are fewer available to feed animals and humans. Those that do return to high sea are dying as marine heat waves driven by climate change continue to alter their ecosystem.

Bears, which also eat sedges and clams, migrate to open meadows in spring and early summer to feed and dig for food on the nearby mud flats. They eat salmon from streams during the last part of the summer and through fall, according to the National Park Service.

480 Otis is particularly famous thanks to the increasingly popular Fat Bear Week competition. Created in 2014, Fat Bear Week is March Madness meets Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest, but for bears. At the end of the summer, Katmai National Park staff and Explore.org pit 12 park bears against each other online in a single-elimination bracket tournament.

Gates of the Arctic National Park: Alaska's wilderness.

The internet is presented with before and after photos of the contenders, showing bears right after they’ve emerged from hibernation, often very lean, then again in the final weeks before they hibernate again, by then much fatter. Fans then vote on which bear has the more impressive weight gain until one bear takes the title of Fattest Bear on Fat Bear Tuesday. Otis is a regular fan favorite of the competition, and has won the crown four times, including in 2021. At roughly 27-years-old, he’s also one of the oldest bears at the park.

“A bear that’s around 30 years of age is approaching what would be the equivalent of a 100-year-old person,” said Mike Fitz, Fat Bear Week creator and Explore.org resident naturalist. “Most bears don’t have the fortune of living that long.”

Since the park’s so called live “bear cams” were turned on June 16, fans had been waiting for Otis to make an appearance. As weeks passed and more prominent fixtures were spotted, like last year’s semifinalist 435 Holly, fans were starting to worry that Otis may not return.

On the afternoon of July 26, just a few hours before he was spotted, Rachel Wanamaker noted Otis’s absence in the Fat Bear Week Bracket Tournament Facebook group, the most prominent online gathering place for fans of the park’s bears.

There were reasonable explanations, Wanamaker said, like the lower than normal salmon count, or the fact that he could be elsewhere in the park. But the live camera chats were starting to fill up with worries, prayers and tributes to the bear.

How to celebrate Fat Bear Week, according to huge fans.

“What he was doing in the meantime, I don’t know,” Fitz said. “It looks pretty obvious to me that he wasn’t fishing somewhere else because he’s pretty thin.”

Then, as if on cue, the former champ appeared. Pure elation followed, with dozens of posts and hundreds of comments. “I was prepared mentally for him to not show up but the sheer joy in the first few sighting posts were overwhelming,” one group member wrote. “Long live Otis, King of Brooks Falls.”

“For a lot of people, it was quite joyous for them to see him return,” Fitz said.

While fans may have been unsure, Fitz wasn’t surprised to see the bear’s return. Also true to form, Otis reemerged emaciated with vertebra sticking out of his back and hip bones protruding. Fitz said it’s likely that Otis emerged from his den and spent time in another part of the park before heading to Brooks Falls.

Bears start leaving their hibernation dens as early as March and as late as June, Fitz said.

“He showed up this year extraordinarily skinny,” Rusch also noted.

Within thirty minutes of his return to the river, Otis was catching fish. Fitz said that’s part of what fans love about him. “We’ve seen in the past that he is adaptable and he’s a survivor,” Fitz said. “People can really relate to his work ethic and his ability to make a living despite the challenges that he continues to face.”

If we want to continue watching Otis and other bears return to Katmai National Park every year, it’s critical to protect the environment and its marine life, Rusch said.

“Climate is one ecosystem, not just Alaska,” Rusch said. “It’s the whole world that it’s tied together in this problem.”

Andrea Salcedo is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2020 as an overnight reporter on the Morning Mix team. Previously, she covered breaking news and features for the New York Times metro desk. Twitter

Natalie Compton is a staff writer for By The Way, The Post's travel destination. Twitter

[fridaybear]

Otis says hello. You can see more of him here. Happy Friday, friends.

[seraphdreams]

The shining - vince staples

Calligraphy - saba

Skin tight - ravyn lenae & Steve lacy (this came out recently and I've been obsessed)

What more can I say - Anderson .paak (highly highly HIGHLY recommended listening to this album)

Love you bad - Terrace martin

Recent times - snoh aalegra

Que te pedí// - kali uchis

Young love - cleo sol

We got the biscuits - smino

Apple - kirby

Stranger - faye webster

That's how strong my love is - otis redding

The night me and your mama met - childish gambino

Neighbours - grizzly bear

Radio silence - James blake

Lost without you - Partick Watson

Bless me - moses sumney (this album is so beautiful)

I could seriously go on and on but I'll spare you lmao

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! i actually love que te pedi and kali’s whole album OMFG and steve lacy??? I SHOULD KISS YOU!!

[safaridays]

me 🤝 otis 480, the 24 year old grizzly bear

sitting in a lake for 2 hours completely unmoving

[everydisneymovie]

Review #56: Nikki Wild Dog Of The North

Post #61

9/8/2020

Next up is 1961′s Nikki Wild Dog Of The North

Content Warning: Animal Death, Animal Abuse, Dogfighting

Enjoyment : [2]

This movie is very hard to enjoy. The biggest issue is that it is live action, and not animated. A lost puppy and a lost bear cub having to work together to survive in the wilderness is cute on paper, but horrifying to watch in live action. The Animals are clearly in great distress on screen, and put into actual danger at several points. For about 75% movie I was just cringing in my seat, praying that it would end quickly so the animals could stop getting abused. It does pick up a bit towards the end, but it is not enough to save it. I found myself deeply uncomfortable during this movie and I don’t think it should have been made. Maybe it could have worked in animation with the same script, but we will never know.

Quality : [2]

This movie is very poorly made, with the sound, editing and especially the lighting worse than most student films. There is a ton of ‘Day for Night’ where they just film during the day and then crank up the blue values. In a baffling decision, They film the dog actually on screen with bears, wolves and foxes, but not on screen with the humans? There are several points in this movie where The humans are supposed to be interacting directly with Nikki, and Nikki is only shown in cut aways that are clearly not shot in a different location at a different time of day. Why did they take the time to throw this dog to live grizzly bears, but not take the time to film a human dude petting him? It reeks of misplaced priorities, and almost makes it feel like they went out of the way to endanger the dog. The script is also really flimsy for a majority of the movie, with a narrator just sorta speaking over B-roll like this was another attempt at Perri.

Hold up : [2]

Yeah they killed several dogs and several bears during this movie. Really early on, there is a shot of a bear cub falling off a cliff and I don’t think it was a dummy, I think someone actually shoved a bear cub off a cliff to get that shot. Which is again, totally baffling since later in the movie ANOTHER bear falls off a cliff but they filmed it in such a way that it was staged and the bear was never in harm. What is with this movie going out of it’s way to make SURE that these animals suffer? This movie also has a character who abuses animals and is racist towards Native Americans. He is the clear villain and is unsympathetic but it is still worth noting.

Risk : [3]

This movie is really oddly structured and it goes out of it’s way to not take risks. You’d assume that Nikki and Neewa, the dog and the bear would be the emotional core of the movie but Neewa just vanishes halfway through (understandably, since he is a bear, and needs to hibernate) The core fo the movie becomes the relationship between Nikki and his former owner Andre, who has not been in the movie since the opening. It hobbles it’s emotional punch when it builds up one relationship and then jumps to building another. It would have been better to show Andre looking for Nikki or have Neewa come rescue Nikki in the end. Also while he still falls into the ‘ignorant savage’ trope a bit, Makoki is a Native American character who is sympathetic and gets a character arc. I guess that’s something.

Extra Credit : [1]

This movie almost becomes a movie at the very end, with some actual tension and characters clashing with one another in interesting ways. However, it was a little too late.

Final thoughts:

This movie is a big mess. The same way I can never rewatch a movie like Milo & Otis once you know how many animals died to get the shots they needed, I can’t really stomach this movie. This is easily the worst movie I have seen since A Light in The Forest. The story really could have been something special if they just animated it. Seeing unlikely friendships between animals is always cute, but in real life those don’t happen if you force it. Even though I am certain they trained the bears and the dogs beforehand, it is clear this wasn’t a bloodless filming experience. The moment where Andre captures Neewa is kinda gut-wrenching since the actor is ACTUALLY wrestling the bear to the ground and it is really violent. Also I don’t know where else to mention this, but they used stock sound effects for the bear cub, and those sound effects are the same ones later used for LUMPY of the beloved Star Wars Christmas Special fame.

Pictured: “My Son, Lumpawaroo, before everything went wrong...”

-We could have saved him... and yet we did nothing.-

Total Score: 10/50

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[closedfists]

ty @apostura for tagging me to do the url playlist :)

cheerleader - grizzly bear

left handed kisses - andrew bird, fiona apple

oh heart - tank and the bangas

spring day - bts

epilogue - the antlers

dark side of the gym - the national

first love/late spring - mitski

ideas for strings - gem club

speak easy - mansionair

these arms of mine - otis redding

strange encounter - father john misty

[interviewwithinterestingpeople]

Interview with Otis Gray of Sleepy

((I’d like to thank Otis Gray for this interview, for his time, and even getting back to me. If you don’t know who he is, Otis has a podcast called Sleepy where he reads us listeners to sleep reading old books. Please give the podcast a listen on Spotify or iTunes))

Fox: How did you decide a podcast was the best medium for your idea?

Otis: For Sleepy, podcasting seemed like the best medium because people

just love being read to. Eyes closed, lights off, ears open.

Podcasting is perfect for that. Not to be weird, but it gives me a way

to be present in a place where people are dozing off into a deep

slumber. It's that feeling of being read to by your parents when you

were a kid, or that primal response we have to sound that goes back to

being read to in the womb, hearing mom's vibrations through the belly.

That might sound weird, but sound triggers deep, comforting feelings

in all of us. Podcasting is the perfect vehicle for those sounds.

F: Has the feedback been a motivator to keep doing this?

O: The feedback has absolutely been a motivator. I had no idea this

podcast would do what it has done for people. I get daily messages

from folks who have insomnia, PTSD, night terrors, maybe a bad

breakup, insane work schedule, stress from schoolwork, and everything

in between. They all say the show has helped them operate better in

daily life, and they now rely on it. I never could have predicted

that, and now I feel a responsibility to keep it going. A responsibility I am so happy to see through. It's nice to know someone is on the other end of this microphone listening.

F: What’s your favorite part about Sleepy?

O: My favorite part about Sleepy is hearing from young people who

listen to the show. Sleepy is starting to have an audience of kids

even 3 or 4 years old who love listening to the fairy tales and

adventure stories. When parents reach out to me and tell me their kids

would love to hear a certain book or maybe just their name mentioned

on the show, nothing gives me more joy than doing that for them. The

fact that I have the ability to make a kid feel special by saying

their name on Sleepy is truly humbling and fulfilling.

F: Do you know if anyone in your life uses the podcast?

O: Funny you should ask, I have a lot of friends and acquaintances

that use Sleepy. I think it is so weird, since they all know me, and

for some friends it is way too weird to have my voice in their head

while they fall asleep. But yes, I know a lot of people who listen to

the show – and I suspect there are friends who probably do listen and

don't want to tell me because it's weird.

F: What goes into making an episode of sleepy?

O: For each show I try to find a good book in the public domain that

fits with the time of year, or how I am feeling in my own life. So say

for springtime, I'd like to read The Secret Garden. I go to the local

library (always paper, never reading online), and I take out the book.

I wait till it's nighttime, and then I relax and read the book for

usually an hour or more. I edit out the mistakes, post it online, and

that's it!

F: What book has been your favorite to read so far?

O: I think my favorite book to read was Sherlock Holmes. I love the

writing, and they are amazing stories. I was worried that it wouldn't

be relaxing to listen to, since I loved reading it so much. Thought I

would sound too into it! Peter Pan is a truly great read as well.

F: And your least favorite?

O: I would have to say my least favorite to read was Walden and Cape

Cod. I feel bad saying this, but I find Thoreau so unbelievably

boring! Still, that actually makes it perfect for this podcast, since

his writing is such a snoozefest. But actually reading it aloud was

tough and pretty mind-numbing. Bless his heart.

F: How many requests do you get?

O: I get a lot of requests. I would say probably 2-3 a day on

different platforms. Most of the upcoming episodes for this Spring

2019 are requests!

F: Do you get many from children?

O: I have just started to get more requests from children, and I am so

happy to receive them. Usually the parents reach out to request books

for them, and then I'll dedicate the episodes to them in the intro.

Makes me very happy. Also, kids have the best taste in books to fall

asleep to.

F: Are most of the books you read digital or paper?

O: All the books I read are paper. Always. There is nothing that can

replace the feeling of a real book. Also, listeners absolutely love

hearing the pages turning. It really feels like someone is there

reading to you from an old book.

F: If you could take 5 things onto an isolated island, what would you take?

O: 5 things. . . I would bring a good knife, a warm blanket, a guitar

(even though I don't play), The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and a fire

starting flint.

F: What’s your ideal pizza?

O: It's tough to have an ideal pizza, but I'd have to say soppressata

with mozzarella and spicy oil.

F: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go first?

O: If I could travel anywhere, I would go to Patagonia.

F: Would you rather travel space or the deep ocean?

O: Deep space and deep ocean are actually my two biggest fears in the

entire world. But I would have to say space.

F: What type of animal would you want to be?

O: I would love to be a wolf. Ever since I read Jack London, being a

wolf sounds pretty amazing. Either that or a grizzly bear.

[fatboyschl1mm]

got tagged by @futuredaysbycan to put my music on shuffle and post the first 20 songs! thank you 💖💖💖💖💖

Aphex Twin - Nanou2

Modeselektor - 2000007

Air - Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping

Rocket Juice & The Moon - Posion

Black Sabbath - St. Vitus Dance

Lebanon Hanover - Gallowdance

Beach House - Heart and Lungs

The Horrors - A Train Roars

Caribou - Back Home

Kendrick Lamar - How Much a Dollar

Beach House - Gila

Grizzly Bear - Sun In Your Eyes

Beck - The New Pollution

Swans - Sex, God, Sex

Tocotronic - Hi Freaks

Circuit Des Yeux - Guitar Knife

SZA - Normal Girl

UNKLE - Restless

The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea

James Blake - Digital Lion

I tag @robdelnaja @withmyheadfullofstars, @otis--driftwood and whoever wants to do this :)