truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (cats: napping)
Sarah/Katherine ([personal profile] truepenny) wrote2011-01-21 03:34 pm

5 things, deep-freeze edition

1. [livejournal.com profile] matociquala has started a memorial thread for Ben on the Shadow Unit boards. Ben, as it happens, provided some verisimilitude for me when I was antiquing the script pages of "The Frogs" for one of our early DVD extras. Judge Crater, the British Shorthair of Robert X. Aguilera, the actor who plays Chaz Villette in the alternate reality where Shadow Unit can be found on television (did you follow that?), chewed on Beto's script, as Ben chewed on countless manuscripts of mine, plus magazines, bills, junk mail, newspapers, and paperback books.

I remember, the afternoon I was creating Beto's script, I went out into the dining room, where Ben was hanging out under the table. I offered him the script page. He rubbed his face on it once, twice, and then took that perfect chomp. (Much like the owl in the old Tootsie-Pop commercial.) Here, people, was a cat who hit his marks and knew his lines.

2. Smoothly, I segue: there is going to be a Ben Jonson Memorial Sale. I'll make a post probably later today to tell you when and what, but I'll say right now that all proceeds are going to go to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital's Companion Animal Fund, and I will have an option where you can donate even if you don't want or can't afford to buy anything. I will ask that, if you want to donate, you hold off until the sale: I'd like to present a whopping big donation in Ben's name.

3. Moving on to other animals (and thanks to @victoriajanssen for the link): Zooborns has an entry on Egyptian tortoises, which includes this charming video:


4. One more reason I loathe Wisconsin's new governor. (No, no segue. He doesn't deserve one.)

5. Finally, thank you to everyone who has offered sympathy and condolences. Losing Ben was and is really hard for me and [livejournal.com profile] mirrorthaw, and we appreciate your kindnesses more that I can find the words to say.

[identity profile] michaeldthomas.livejournal.com 2011-01-21 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
*Hugs*

We've been there, and you were there for us.

If you need *anything*, please let us know.

[identity profile] torrilin.livejournal.com 2011-01-21 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Augh. He would of course wait until the construction is already quite underway, so that my biking around town will be discombobulated for the maximal time. And again I must register my horror that they are burning *good* anthracite in that plant.

I suppose he thinks I should be grateful that he hasn't managed to mess up the student union as well.

[identity profile] liminalia.livejournal.com 2011-01-21 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Itty bitty tortoises, eee! Thanks for sharing that.

[identity profile] fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com 2011-01-22 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
When I got the ARC of The Mirador you were kind enough to send me, I was delighted to see that Ben had left his mark therein a time or two.

May he be well-greeted by Pangur Ban, Dr. Johnson's Lily and the oyster-eating Hodge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hodge_Cat.jpg), Kit Smart's Jeoffry, and all the other cats who have offered their support to writers who would surely have done much worse without them.

[identity profile] fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com 2011-01-22 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
Down here in Tennessee, we're just grateful that we ended up with the least crazy of the Republivans who were running for governor. I don't know that that's saying all that much, either.

At least Byron "Low-tax" Looper can't run for office.

[identity profile] ashnistrike.livejournal.com 2011-01-22 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Sarah- I'm behind on LJ, so I got to this before the earlier post. I'm so sorry about your Ben. He sounds as though he was a fine creature.

-Sarah (Nameseeker)