Can someone please explain to me why the cat reacts in that way?
It looks like the cat is getting scritches on their back close to the base of the tail. That’s a hard to groom spot for cats, so having somebody else groom it feels pretty great. Outdoor cats especially can get itchy there, and the biting motion is a response to the scritches feeling really good. It’s kinda like a dog kicking their leg like they’re scratching when you give them a good belly rub. So no worries, this cat is not stressed!
At the 1998 Grammy Awards, Pavarotti was too ill to sing Nessun Dorma. Aretha Franklin filled in on 20 minutes notice. This is the result.
Not only was the performance done on 20 minutes notice, she had no rehearsal and simply heard Pavarotti’s rehearsal once on a goddamn tape player and just listened, nodded and said she could do it. the most famous opera song in the world, on one of the biggest nights for music in the world, no rehearsal, and she just went out and did it.
that’s talent
WHERE IS THE REST I NEED IT.
More backstory: she’d performed Nessun Dorma at another event two days before, but got asked to take Pavarotti’s slot and basically instantly accepted— WHICH HAPPENED AFTER THE SHOW HAD ALREADY STARTED. (The producer didn’t hear he wasn’t coming until about 1:50 before he was supposed to be onstage.) She got a recording of Pavarotti practicing, and got to sit with his conductor and rehearse until it was time for her performance (the originally scheduled one) and for a bit of time afterwards. She didn’t know that there was a 30-strong backing choir or 50-piece orchestra till she saw it on her way down. What a queen.
I grew up never seeing myself on-screen, and it’s really important to me to give people who look like me a chance to see themselves. I want to see myself as the hero of any story. I want to see myself save the world from the bomb.
You may have heard of what happened in Lebanon today and if not, basically, there was a big explosion in Beirut that affected many cities, destroyed shops, homes, cars, caused many injuries and deaths. The cause is uncertain.
As a fellow lebanese myself (that also lives there), today was absolutely terrifying, probably the scariest moments of my life. We heard a deafening sound as the floors were shaking. Some of us thought it was an attack, others thought it was an earthquake. As soon as it ended many expected a second one, which luckily never happened.
Here’s a video of what happened that was sent to me, there are also many others that you can find online.
Windows were broken, doors wrecked, cars flipped over, buildings collapsed, people hit by flying or falling objects, and unfortunately, many didn’t make it out alive.
We were one of the lucky ones, our families and friends were all safe and our homes were fine.
Some people couldn’t even get out of the crumbling builings, so we saw corpses being pulled out, although some people survived the crash. But wherever we looked, there was blood, poeple were half covered in it, their shirts, pants, hair, everything. And that sight was traumatizing.
We watched the news with elders severely injured, children with blood-spattered shirts and people in pain that couldn’t get in the hospitals because they were full.
Some people are missing. Just try to imagine the pain and fear their families and friends are feeling.
Articles about what happened, there are a lot more
Not only are we in the middle of a pandemic, but Lebanon is also going through a very serious economical crisis. To give you an example, before, $1 equaled 1 500 lebanese pounds. Nowadays, $1 equals more than 7 000 lebanese pounds. Not to mention that we obviously don’t have any dollars at disposition, so yeah we’re fucked.
People are hungry, homeless, unemployed. And even if they are getting paid, it’ll be useless since the prices of everything went up because they were affected by the economical fiasco.
Important additional information
Today, I heard my 7 year old cousins scream in fear that they were going to die. I saw my aunt shaking, worried that her children won’t survive. I saw my dad freak out while trying to reassure us when we both knew that we were uncertain about the next minutes of our lives. I heard the panic in the trembling voices of my family and friends as they couldn’t believe what had just happened. I thought my loved ones and I were going to die in the next seconds.
I’m never forgetting those moments and feelings.
I don’t think signing petitions will help, i don’t even know if the following links will help either, I just know Lebanon and it’s people are desperate for anything because the future of this country is extremely uncertain.
I think donating to the red cross would be the most helpful, so if you are considering it, it’d be great.
There are so many great threads on twitter about what you can do to help, just search help lebanon or something to find them. Also if you can, please donate, and as I said, the lebanese pound is pretty much worthless currently so USD is way more useful to us.
Imagine being this fucking remora. You’re minding your own business and some asshole lifts you out of the water and sticks you to a boat. You’re dangling there like “what the fuck, is this how I die?!” then he pulls you off with an ungodly sucking sound–which you’ve never heard before because sounds like that don’t happen underwater–and then he just tosses you back. What the fuck are you supposed to do after that?!
go on the talk show circuit
If you think about it, fish experience alien abductions all the time.
