No, You're Not Drunk! It's Just Greg Pike and His Amazing Pets!

When I first saw Greg Pike's cat-on-dog with rats on display in San Francisco, I thought I was hallucinating.

There is a guy who has been walking through the Marina in San Francisco recently with his very own small circus. It’s a fascinating sight that snarls pedestrian traffic and draws a crowd wherever it goes. It’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever witnessed and I can’t help but write about it.

The best way I can describe it is a cat and two rats on top of a dog. I know that it sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss story, but it’s true. The dog is a Rottweiler Lab mix and on his back he is carrying a American Tabby. Draped around the cat’s neck are two pet rats. This menagerie of four creatures is an amazing sight, to say the least.

The man behind the madness is Greg Pike, a 40-something drifter from Telluride, Colorado who has an uncanny ability to make animals do whatever he desires, it seems. When I asked him how his foursome of pets came together, stacked upon each other and apparently okay with it, he said, “I did it because people said it couldn’t be done.”

The stunt has gained Pike national recognition and garnered him more than his requisite 15 minutes of fame. He and his animals have been featured on David Letterman, CNN, and are a favorite on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D85yrIgA4Nk

I spent a couple of hours with Pike the other day and it was fascinating to see how people (mostly tourists visiting San Francisco) reacted to the spectacle. Most were enthralled and eager to ask questions. “Do they ever fight?” “What are their names?” “Can I pet the dog?” “Can I hold one of the rats?” Pike is very cordial and extremely patient, especially with kids. He asks for donations, but isn’t pushy about it.

Some passers by are immediately skeptical. One woman said, “You must have drugged those poor animals!” Pike’s response was, “What would I drug them with?” He pretty much blew her off. Why can’t folks just take something wonderful at face value, rather than look for a conspiracy? I was not as nice to the woman. “We gave her your Xanax!” I replied.

Pike puts it all in perspective. He realizes that he isn’t changing the world with his canine, feline and mouse mountain, but he also believes that if he can slightly alter one person’s attitude about how humans and animals need to live together in peace, natural enemies or not, then it’s a worthwhile endeavor to him.

“People try to call me a ‘pet whisperer’, but I’m just a simple guy who taught a couple of creatures a few tricks,” he said. “Some writer called me a modern day St. Francis and I laughed. It’s gained me a little fame and I’m happy for it. I’m not using it to preach or politicize or anything like that. I just thought people would enjoy seeing it, so I’m out here.”
Copyright © 2008 Ed Attanasio
Ed Attanasio is a writer for BrooWaha San Francisco. For more information, visit the author's website.

A Tough Writing Assignment

When I do these postings sometimes, they ask me to write about things that I know little about. It's difficult to write something and sound knowledgeable when you aren't familiar with the subject. Like this posting, for instance. They asked me to write about bearings. What the heck do I know about bearings? Very little. So, I ask myself--how would the great Ernest Hemingway write about bearings? What would the legendary writer find interesting and intriguing about bearings? Bearings, as far as I know, help things turn--such as wheels and conveyors and many of the moving parts found in automobiles. Would Hemingway be able to capture all this in approximately 60 words? If he could, he's a better man than I!

Let the Sun Shine, Toyota Declares

Toyota, who’s Prius is the most popular car on the hybrid market today, is upping the “clean and green” ante with a new vehicle in development that will run partially on the sun’s rays. They will also start the long-range development of a car that will run solely on solar. Both vehicles will take several years to design and build, but the sun will be around for awhile, so it’s a win-win.

Sales of the Prius are still huge, but not as high as they were last summer when gas prices spiked through the roof. Here in San Francisco where I live, pro-green residents gobbled up Priuses like jelly bellies or iPods. I saw a guy the other day trying to open the door of what he thought was his Prius, until he noticed that his (same color and year) was parked a few spots over.

Consequently, a lot of Prius customization companies are cropping up all over the country -- so that owners can distinguish their Prius from all the others out on the road.
Toyota should be praised for announcing this new endeavor. If only the Big 3 would get on the solar bandwagon – with real projects rather than lip service. And people wonder why Japan is kicking our derrieres when it comes to selling cars!

I saw this yesterday in the Nikkei News:

TOKYO —Toyota Motor Corp. is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car, a top business daily reported today.
The Nikkei newspaper, however, said it will be years before the planned vehicle will be available on the market. Toyota’s offices were closed today and officials were not immediately available for comment.
According to the Nikkei, Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources.
The solar car is part of efforts by Japan’s top automaker to grow during hard times, the Nikkei said.
In December, Toyota stunned the nation by announcing it will slip into its first operating loss in 70 years, as it gets battered by a global slump, especially in the key U.S. market. The surging yen has also hurt the earnings of Japanese automakers.
Still, Toyota is a leader in green technology and executives have stressed they won’t cut back on environmental research despite its troubles.
Toyota, the manufacturer of the Lexus luxury car and Camry sedan, has already begun using solar panels at its Tsutsumi plant in central Japan to produce some of its own electricity.
The solar panels on the roofs add up in size to the equivalent of 60 tennis courts and produce enough electricity to power 500 homes, according to Toyota. That reduces 740 tons a year of carbon dioxide emissions and is equal to using 1,500 barrels of crude oil.
Toyota is also likely to indirectly gain expertise in solar energy when its partner in developing and producing hybrid batteries, Panasonic Corp., takes over Japanese rival Sanyo Electric Co., a leader in solar energy, early next year.

Ring in the New Year With an Engagement!

Hey guys -- If you have a special person in your life and you're thinking of popping the question, why not do it on New Years Eve? It will be one evening you and your fiancee will never forget! Maybe you can't afford the most expensive diamond in the world (pictured), but you can still get beautiful engagement rings on the Internet at http://www.solomonbrothers.com/. They have a huge selection and some of the finest gems and rings you'll ever encounter. So why not make 2009 the best year of your life, fellas. You know who you are. You're gonna get it done because you have to get it done!

Will the Drag-u-la Rise From the Dead?

Growing up as a kid watching the '60s CBS TV show The Munsters, I fell in love with the cars featured in the series. The most famous of these was the Munster family car – the Koach --but I always had an affinity for the Drag-u-la.

The Drag-u-la (driven by Grandpa) was a funkadelic dragster with a laid-back, hippy vibe. The Wayans Brothers are currently producing (but not starring in) a remake of the popular series. Surely, they’ll bring back the famous Koach, but will they also resurrect (or re-design) the Drag-u-la? I vote “yes!” Basically a coffin on wheels, the Drag-u-la appeared in just one Munsters episode (Hot Rod Herman) and in one of the two Munster movies (Munster Go Home) in 1966.

The vehicle had a fiberglass body molded from a real coffin and featured a bubble canopy and a purple velvet interior. The body sat on a dragster-type tube frame, and accessories on the Drag-u-la included organ pipe exhausts, a drag parachute, air scoop and racing slicks. Grandpa (Al Lewis), a vampire, owned the vehicle. Designed by George Barris, who also built the Koach and the Batmobile, the Drag-u-la was classically eerie in appearance, but was also the real thing and packed some horsepower punch, supplied by a 350 hp Ford Mustang Engine.

Will this amazing vehicle make a scary comeback next year? We’ll keep you informed.

To see more of my automotive postings, visit. www.carreview.com.

The Mummy: Fun to Watch, but Not That Scary

I can't stand the new horror films that they're making today. They're gross, bloody and the story lines are terrible. Whatever happened to the classic old monster-driven horror movies, like the Werewolf, Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, Dracula and the Mummy. Well, maybe not the Mummy. That is one old horror film that I look back at now and can see that it was pretty lame. I was watching it the other day in my buddy's home theater, and at today's standards, it looks pretty lame. For one, the Mummy moves at about 1 mile per hour, shuffling along at a snail's pace. But when he approaches his victims, do they run away? No, they just stand there screaming, frozen in place, so that the Mummy can just amble up and strangle them. C'mon..make it a little more plausible than that!

Buzz Building Over New Green Hornet Car

With the new Green Hornet movie in pre-production (release date 2010; screenplay by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg) everyone is starting to talk about the car that will be featured in the film. Rumors are flying around about who will design it, who will build it and what it will look like.
If you’re over 45 years old (like me) you probably remember the Green Hornet TV series, which unfortunately only lasted one season (1966-67) and starred Van Williams as the Green Hornet and the legendary Bruce Lee as his sidekick Kato. The Green Hornet radio show debuted in 1936 and in 1940 the stinging superhero hit the comic book stands for the first time.
The Green Hornet’s vehicle was called the Black Beauty. The Green Hornet (newspaper owner Britt Reid by day) kept the car hidden under his garage floor, suspended upside down with steel clamps. With one push of a button, the floor would flip, positioning the car right side up and ready for action. After he and Kato jumped in, The Green Hornet always said his famous catch phrase, “Let’s Roll, Kato!”
The Black Beauty was a Chrysler Crown Imperial with an amazing arsenal, including rocket launchers; smoke guns; an oil gun in the rear; headlights that change from standard lights to special infrared green lights; a mortar; a flying deployable scanner containing a closed circuit TV monitor; a license plate that flips; a tack sweeper to remove sharp objects before they puncture the tires; and a broom to cover the vehicle’s tracks. The car was built and designed by Dean Jeffries, who also designed the Mantaray, which was featured in the film Bikini Beach Party. Both the Black Beauty and the Manta Ray are currently on display at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
It is anticipated that the 2010 Black Beauty will have many new high-tech, state-of-the-art features. But, right now, no one is talking. I’ve heard rumors that several car companies, including Mitsubishi, are working on possible designs to pitch to the film’s producers. We’ll keep you in the loop and give you all of the new buzz as it comes in.

If They Had Only Had Good Diet Pills Back Then...

If they had the diet pill technology 15 years ago that they have now, a lot of people may not have been quite so fat. That's because nowadays, they make diet pills that work without bad side effects or adverse results. If people like Jabba the Hut and those fat mini bike riding twins (pictured) had only known about these breakthrough new diet pills, maybe they wouldn't have had the weight problems they had back then and would still be alive today. You never know. One thing is for sure -- these new diet pills are safer, better and certainly more effective.

Promo Items are Recession-Proof

When the economy gets rocky like it is right now, you need to come up with new, smart, innovative ways to market your business. That's where promotional items enter the picture. Promo items can pay for themselves quickly, because they get your name out there and act as brand ambassadors for your products or services. Pens, hats, mugs--they've all been done a lot, mainly because they're highly effective and will give you a top return on your investment. But, there are also a lot of other promotional items that are unusual that you can use to promote your company. Take a long look at promo items right now. You'll be happy you did!

The Rat Pack is Back!

I was having a great dream the other night. I was staying at the Sands, an old-school classic Vegas hotel. I was kicking back in the High Rollers Suite when there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Two Italians, one bad comic, a Limey and a one-eyed hoofer," the voice on the other side of the door said. I knew instantly that it was Frank Sinatra. His phrasing was perfect.

Suddenly, the Rat Pack was in the room. They were rough housing and obviously drunk.

"You up for a wild night?" Frank asked.

"Well, uh, what did you fellas have in mind?" I replied.

"Booze, broads and hoprfully breakfast. You know, the usual," Dean offered.

"Yeah, cat--let's groove and let the cards fall where they may," Sammy chimed in.

"Well, how do I know you're real? This is a dream, after all." I was skeptical for obvious reasons.

"Will this help convince you?" Frankie asked as he handed me a Jack Daniels Manhattan, his favorite cocktail when he wasn't downing it straight.

I took a sip from the glass and it tasted good. What the heck, I thought. I've always wondered what it might be like to party with the Rat Pack.

"Let's roll, Daddy-O," Dino pleaded. "I've got a blonde waiting for me down at the craps table."

They exited the room and were gone as quickly as they had appeared. Oh well, I thought--They probably would have out-partied me anyway.