[Hanging 20 joke here]

CHAKA BRA!

Imperial Beach was once again home to the Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competition, where pups surfed to wild applause... Some photos from the past couple of years competishe:

 

Ruff Riders, originally uploaded by Broompl (Pete).

 

Ruff Riders, originally uploaded by Broompl (Pete).

Tubular, Flavia...

THIS JUST IN: Iowa pet rescutes

Man, Iowa is having a TOUGH time. The people, pets, everything. It is rough.

Thankfully, the Humane Society is on the scene, heroically saving pets from precarious situations, providing safety, shelter and reuniting folks with their ani-pals...

[Dog is all 'Baroo!?!']

[Kitties are all Pfffffffft!-pffffft!]

Get an emergency plan together for your pets! Donate here to Humane Society Flood Fund!

Whut up, Self Peeps!

Thanks for the mayn-shons, Self magazine. I agree, C.O, is all about de-stressing. And paws. And muzzlepowshes. And chomping on kitten ears while no one is looking.

Josée L., thank you for the SCAN-tabulous submishe!!!

"That's so cute I could puke a rainbow"

Have you ever said that? I thought so.

Here is a nice series of images you can point to, the next time you're overwhelmed with Teh QTE.

It happens, right, Valerie M.?

Purdue U wants to know what you think...

Have you ever lost a pet? Have you experienced the grief of losing a pet? This survey is for you...

The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement wants you to take a moment to help other pet owners deal with the loss of a pet. This research will be used to help counselors and other professionals better understand the issues that patients who have lost pets.

Ribble ribble

Frog-saver and stellar mortgage broker Barry writes:

"My wife and I were at a Chinese market when we spotted these bull frogs being sold for the Chinese New Year to be eaten. We decided to save one from a sad death and took it home. They sealed it in a bag with a sticker price tag just like I had bought a piece of meat. When we arrived home, our dog Puka fell in love with the frog. She thinks its her baby. She mothers it and follows it everywhere. If he tries to hop away she will nudge it back with her paw. When its in the tank she never leaves its side. She loves her Phineous frog!"

[will you please check out the eyeball action on this frog]

Ehn! [pushes with nose]

This is CuteNessNetwork...

...[James Earl Jones voice]

Thanks to CNN London employee Kasia K., who suggested the title "Cute Overload" for a CNN story on baby tigers. Below, see anchor Charles Hodson began reading the story with "Cute Overload... in a Hamburg zoo" and then continue with the story of five little lion cubs on their first public outing.

Rokkin'! [Air guitar]

Ahh—Cute Overload and Nobel Peace prizes—two great tastes that taste great together... [See news ticker below title]

Thanks, Kasia... ;)

A very alert reader finds more curled up paws

Alert reader Sheri has pointed out an InterWeb site called CuteOtters.com. It's full of deliciously slimey tiny-eared Dewds. Below are a couple of faves.

And check out this McSchlumphersons. He's all: "Harummph, my bruthuhs." [Followed by heavy eyelid blink]

Sherimabob, I'd crack open a shellfish on my chest for you if I could.

BEYOND nerdy

John B., Biggest Noid on the Planet™ sent this one in asking "the age-old question: Can Calculus be cute?" UH, John, nevermind that—put AWAY your +15 mace and GO OUTSIDE FER CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

Oh, and it's "EHN!", Baby. "ehn." ;) <3

Once again, proving that kissing our 'tocks and mentioning the Big 'C' gets you published

"Dear Cute Overload Web Master,

I am positive that you get many, many compliments on your website.  I stumbled across it somehoe in my surfing several months ago and I am so glad I did.  I very much look forward to my inbox Cute Overload e-email every day.

I am currently battling cancer and it is very hard to smile some days.  There have ben many times that Cute Overload has lightened up my morning considerably and made me LOL at first nad continue to chuckle all day.

Basically, I am having an on-line affiar with Cute Overload and I needed to come clean.  My husband found out about it!  He's okay with it though!

I LOVE AND AM IN LOVE CUTE OVERLOAD!   

Thank you for such an awesome, joyful concept!  There is so much ugliness in this world we live in - Cute Overload is a huge ray of sunshine in my life!

Peace and blessings to you,
Kerri M."

////Kerri M.—Enormous snorgs to you, Girl. Kittens make things allllll better.////

Possible new rule of cuteness?!

Meg: Settle down, People, there is a guest cuteologist here for a lecture, and he has some excellent observations to share with the class. Dr. Mike-in-Denver, please, go ahead. [open gesture to crowd]

Mike in Denver: [Clears throat] Um, yes, thank you, Dr. Frost. Let me start by saying that while perusing The Cute I have noticed a phenomenon that I think is worth suggesting for a possible canonization.

[students at edges of seats, hummingbirds buzzing overhead carrying notes]

Namely, sleepy eyes: the droopy lids, the unfocused expression, but mainly the overemphasized lower eyelid region. When prominent, this seems always to = cute (unless it's on, say, Brian Dennehy). I have attached a mashup of some good examples for your class to review.

While this may be a subset of 'eye capsules' (as the two are often interlinked), it seems to function independently. It also seems that kittens, puppies, and other young'uns are best at this, but then, they're best at everything, I suppose.

Anyway, I thought I should go ahead and submit this to the CuteLab for analysis.

[students nod enthusiastically]

Meg: Thank you very much, Dr. Mike-in-Denver. Students, GET ANALYZIN'!

Sthunday Night Post

"Hello Meg,

I thought I'd tell you about something that happened to me a few weeks ago that you and the community might find amusing. I ended up in the hospital for severe depression and had to stay in the psych ward for about five days. It was quite an interesting experience to say the least, but I found the environment very positive and healing. It can get quite boring after a while just walking around with nothing much to do. On the first day in the eating area I noticed a writing board on the wall with a marker on top. I had missed my daily dose of Cuteoverload.com so I thought, "Why not advertise it in the psych ward? I must spread the joy of the Cute(tm)." Luckily there was nobody around so I quickly wrote out: "Visit the best web site ever! Cuteoverload.com. Get your cute on!" I wondered how long it would stay there before someone erased it. To my surprise, it lasted four days. One of the psych nurses walked in and suddenly stopped in front of the board, looking a bit confused as she read the message. I explained the web site to her and she thought it sounded really good and she said she'd check it out. I asked if she wanted me to erase it but she was really kind and said to keep it up. One other patients made fun of though. A friend I made humorlessly asked if it was "one of those fetish web sites". I explained to them the nature of the web site, but the guy who made fun of it seemed a bit perplexed. (He probably thought I was crazy. But I was in a psych ward for goodness sake, so who cares?) I told them them that I consider visiting the web site Cute Therapy.  I visit it about two or three times a day and the rush of cuteness that flows through my body is a powerful sedative for my depression and anxieties. Unfortunately, around the fifth day, a new nurse came onto the ward and told me that patients are not supposed to use the board. The next morning I woke up to find it erased and the marker taken away.

Thank you for providing such an uplifting web site. I'd be interested in hearing other spreading the Word of the Cute stories. It might be difficult to beat mine. Have you considered selling stickers advertising the site? They'd be a great way to quickly stick on objects.

Please keep my name, e-mail address and location anonymous. I don't want to get sent back to the psych ward for obsessive compulsive Cuteoverload.com disorder (OCCOD).

Feeling better,
Anonymous

PS: Feel free to edit the message for grammatical errors, etc.

Sthunday Night Wrap-up

"...once upon a time the pwnee known as Tony James was adopted by a teenie-tiny pwner known as Siouxsie Boots (on account of being marmalade with 4 white boots). The pwnee thought he was being really smart by getting one of those catflaps with a solenoid latch that could only be activated by a small magnet attached to the collar of aforementioned pwner. Pwner arrives, and is fitted with the magnet. Some nights later, the pwnee is awakened by anguished pwner yelling from the kitchen. Descended, expected the worst. Found pwner attached to the fridge by means of said magnet. She didn't see the funny side."

Posted by: Tony James | May 30, 2006 at 04:37 PM 

Sunday Wrapup: Comment of the Week

The post "Cat box" prompted Michelle to write this kick-ass poem:

"Padriac's Parents had recycle paper -
A stack that resembled a smallish skyscraper.
The recycle truck was soon to arrive,
So they wrangled the stack to the end of the drive.

Padriac's Pop hollered "Bend at the knees!",
As the mountain of boxes swayed in the breeze.
Once they got started they couldn't well stop,
And the boxes on top were now starting to drop!

It's a good thing Padraic had trained all the cats
From very small kittens to quickly react,
In case of a breeze-triggered paper stack sway
To prevent the dropped boxes from blowing away!

Hooray!"

Posted by: Michelle | May 25, 2006 at 10:34 PM

One reader writes: "Dear Casey,"

OK, People, give this one a chance. The photo is not the best photo you've ever seen, but I McChuckled at the caption, 'cause you can just imagine this redonkulousness happening.

"Rudy got a big floppy dog for X-mas and he requested it be placed in front of the part of the wall that breathes hot air. He spent the day there, but it wasn't long before Kitty had to get in on that action."

Ha ha, Steve C.!

Let's cure cancer, People!

Below is an excerpt from an article in NOW Magazine on cute images—and how they make you feeeeel.

Confessions of a Cute Junkie
Turns out my addiction to pix of furries and fuzzies is medicinal
by Elizabeth Bromstein

"...Anyway, I'm going to entertain the idea that pleasant pix are good for my health even if I can't find a whole lot of research to back this up. It's obvious there's something here, though, when you look at advertising. Has anyone ever wonderred what bunnies have to do with cellphones?" Read more

___________
Thank you for sending this in, Dr. Nick and Sparky ;)

Holy Recreation!

Remember this little cookie-stealing bunny? I *just* got this email from "JKrew" who had a _little_ extry time on his hands today. You must see the image link he sent. OMG!

The JKrew online journal

Good things happen when you go thru the Mailbox

Look at these sweet chat icons that "Anno Superstar" created out of Cute O imagery. I mean, what could be better than prosh imagery and the Cooper Black typeface?* Way to GO!

;) Click here for large versions of the icons ;)

*OK, *maybe* Hobo Bold, but Cooper Black rulez. Thanks, Anno ;)

From the desk of: The CI Security Department

Cute Industries (CI) has a 27-step verification process to ensure you get not only the most adorable, but most scientifically valid Cuteness™ on the Internet. Yet despite the hundreds of highly trained Cuteologists, massive verification process, and ISO-9001 certification, sometimes we make mistakes. Today, just such a mistake occurred. A person by the name of "Kelly Harrod-Lui" submitted a picture of a mouse ostensibly caught in a toner cartridge claiming the photos came from her office. During step 13, one of our patented Cuteness Fraud alarms was tripped. Special Agent Ivana Tinkle, a member of the CI Investigative Department, contacted the submitter and determined the submission was indeed valid and the submission proceeded through the process. The NSA identity verification during step 27 passed and the post was released January 12, 2005 at 19:11:03 PM PST.

It was a fraud.

Fortunately, our ever vigilant Cute Overload Army quickly caught the deception and notified us. The CI Emergency Response Team was immediately activated and the offending information was sanitized. Coincidentally, Special Agent Tinkle was found dead late tonight, having accidentally choked to death on 2,500 Marshmallow Peeps. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ivana and her family.

Cute Industries would like to offer our sincere apologies to Campagna, McGroarty, kelly, Uriel, Chell, liquidnight, kat, suzy, benjamin, Vale and any other members of the Cute Overload Army who might have been traumatized by this incident. And whereever that Cliff-Claven-voiced mouse is, may he rest in peace.

We salute you,
The Cute Overload Security Department

Let's check the mailbag!

SUBJECT: Damn you to hell!

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

I spent years, possibly decades, honing my post-modern ironic cynicism to a fine point. I went to grad school. I wrote a thesis. I smoked, I drank straight whiskey, I guzzled coffee like there was no tomorrow. Confronted with "cute", I would raise one eyebrow, sneer ever so slightly, and nod with a palpable sense of ennui. "Riiiiiight," I would comment, "cute."

Gone, now. All gone. All that work, ruined with a single "awwwwwwwwwww." I want my money back.

Distraught,
JD Henry

Spotlight: Reader comments

this kind of thing RUINS....nay.... UTTERLY DESTROYS the institution of marriage. most religions clearly dictate that couplings on 70s style floral print bedsheets are to be between a married man and woman. this is why hurricanes are nastier, tsunamis more frequent, and americans still allow their chocolate bars to have wax in it. i, for one, am sorry to see this kind of wanton animal nookie-uality being condoned. sigh.

Posted by: IHatetoast | Dec 19, 2005 at 12:38 PM

One reader writes; "Dear Casey" [say in Kasey Kasem voice]

Dear Ms Cutey McBloggerperson:

I am a guy. A straight guy. And I have to admit, this cute stuff is fantastic. It has to stop. You should be ashamed of yourself. Collecting all the cuteness on the interweb into one place is dangerously reckless and negligent. Sure you make it easy for us, but did you ever stop to think? What would happen if the internets broke? Prolly I think all the cuteness would build up on your server until it essplodes! Think of the children!

In conclusion I think there are a number of ways to address this Serious Issue:

Distributed Processing: I'm not sure what it is, but I think They used it to find aliens. I don't know if they were cute aliens.
Puppies: They actually go on any list I make, it's just luck they're appropriate here.
Synergy: Management Catchphrase. Focus on Success!
Variety: Keep 'em on their toes, challenge 'em. Throw up a pic of a big block chevy, an airbus, or even a lava monster.
Congressional Committee: Not very cute. Let's hope they don't catch wind of this.

Sincerely,
ZZToby.