Month: March 2022

Silly Joke Friday

Silly Joke #1

A Veterinarian was feeling ill and had some skin rash all over, so she went to see her doctor. The doctor asked her all the usual questions, about symptoms, how long had they been occurring, etc., when she interrupted him, sounding very irritated, “Look, obviously I’m a doctor as well, being a veterinarian and all. I never need to ask my patients these kind of questions and can tell what’s wrong just by my examination.” She smugly added, “So, why can’t you?” The doctor nodded, stood back, looked her up and down, quickly wrote out a prescription, handed it to her and said, “Here you go. Of course, if this doesn’t work for you, we’ll just have to have you put to sleep.”

Silly Joke #2 (3 quick ones)

A co-worker asked me, “Could you be any more annoying?” So the next day I wore tap shoes to work.

A friend asked what parenting toddlers is like. So I hid her keys, head-butted her in the face, and then told her I love her more than the stars.

I decided to go by the house I grew up in the other day. When I got there I asked if I could go in and look around. They said no and slammed the door in my face! Parents can be such jerks sometimes!

Silly Joke #3

The minister and his wife place an ad for a butler. Early the next morning a nicely dressed young man appears at their front door. The minister asks him, “Can you fix breakfast by 7:00 a.m. every day?” “Well … I guess I can.” “And can you make the beds, dust the living room, do the dishes, cut the grass, and polish the silver also?””Gee, Sir, I just came by to see about getting married. But if it’s going to be that much work, you can count me out!”

Bonus Silly Joke

I mowed the lawn today, and after doing so I sat down and had a cold beer. The day was really quite beautiful, and the drink facilitated some deep thinking on various topics. Finally I thought about an age old question: Is giving birth more painful than getting kicked in the nuts? Women always maintain that giving birth is way more painful than a guy getting kicked in the nuts. Well, after another beer, and some heavy deductive thinking, I have come up with the answer to that question. Getting kicked in the nuts is more painful than having a baby; and here is the reason for my conclusion. A year or so after giving birth, a woman will often say, “It might be nice to have another child.” On the other hand, you never hear a guy say, “You know, I think I would like another kick in the nuts.” I rest my case. Time for another beer.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Thought For The Day

Today’s quotes surround yesterday’s article on the animal abuse and cruelty that took place in the recent film, “The Power of the Dog”. I feel very connected to the message of these quotes and pray one day that people will see that animals feel pain just like we do…

“Never believe that animals suffer less than humans. Pain is the same for them that it is for us. Even worse, because they cannot help themselves.” (Louis J. Camuti)

“Animals have hearts that feel, eyes that see, and families to care for, just like you and me.” (Anthony Douglas William)

“Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.” (Arthur Schopenhauer)

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” (Anatole France) 

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

My Frustration With The Film “The Power Of The Dog”…

With it being Oscar season for the film industry, I’m always busy this time of the year catching up on movies the industry says is worthy of Academy Award consideration. One such film that garnered the top number of nominations this year, that being 12, was The Power of The Dog, a movie released on Netflix starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a repressed homosexual and extremely angry cowboy named Phil Burbank. While the film was electrifying in its acting, cinematography, sound, directing, etc., there was something I discovered that took place in the film that actually happened in real life and it disturbed me greatly because it dealt with animal abuse.

During one of its scenes, Cumberbatch was deep in his role as Burbank when he took his character’s anger out on a horse, beating it with his fist. When the horse reacted to the hard contact on its face that came at it multiple times, it ran out of the barn it was in and was jumping around outside in obvious pain and fear. At first, I thought, “Wow, this horse was well-trained!” Yet, something in me felt otherwise, as on some level, I felt like I was feeling this horse’s pain, so I investigated it further only to discover something very troubling. The movie was filmed overseas in New Zealand and never got PETA’s blessing. And in an interview with the press, Cumberbatch admitted he actually did hurt that horse because he wanted it to be as real as possible for his movie’s character. He also admitted that the other two scenes in the film where animal abuse took place happened as well. One is where he castrates a bull, and the other is where he torments a rabbit that ends up getting a broken leg in the process and then has its neck snapped. After learning this was all true, I became angry and came to despise both this movie and the Academy for nominating it.

Why something like this has not gotten more press I don’t know. Maybe it’s because PETA has made such issues with many small things I don’t know. But animals truly were harmed in this film and being an animal owner myself with two cats, as well as having many friends who own plenty of other types of animals as well, I felt this went way too far for the purposes of making a film seem more real.

Cumberbatch was probably near the top of my list as actors I enjoy seeing on the screen. I feel completely different about him now, much to my dismay, because my favorite role he presently continues to carry is his Marvel role of Doctor Strange, something he does extremely well. There is no reason though he needed to hurt an innocent animal who couldn’t defend itself.

Animal abuse bothers me immensely. I once knew an alcoholic who often beat his dog each time he got drunk and it made me so angry every time it happened. I always tried to stop him from doing it, but you can’t really stop an active alcoholic from doing anything. Eventually I had to walk away from this individual because of things like that he did.

Regardless, Cumberbatch wasn’t drunk during the filming of The Power of the Dog, he just was method acting, and chose to hurt something that didn’t deserve to be hurt. I am disappointed and frustrated that most probably don’t know this really happened during the filming and I honestly hope Cumberbatch doesn’t win his Best Actor nomination he received for his role. Because winning only says that the animal abuse he did was ok, and it’s not. As I’m sure it wouldn’t be if it was your animal on the screen he was abusing…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson