As there appears to be some mild disbelief that Lopsided Cat was in yesterday’s picture of all three Scalzi cats, I’ve gone ahead and blown up the portion of the picture he’s in, so you may see more clearly that, indeed, that strange pillowy lump is in fact a cat — a cat with mastery of advanced napping techniques. I hope that this will henceforth remove all doubts.
I don’t know who you think you’re fooling with your fancy TV “enhance” tricks. That’s clearly a fringed scarf, even if it does have grey and brown cat-like colors.
mistook Lopsided Cat for a cushion or rug in the other picture
Wow. Our Little Cat would like to learn at the feet (or other fringey thing) of the master. She can’t quite get the chin to go invisible, but she’s close.
I kept staring at that corner, but kept thinking it was a cushion instead of your cat! With the close-up, the nose is revealed.
Photoshop is an amazing thing. We’ll need to see his long-form birth record as well #catter.
I think that’s a tribble.
Looks like a cat wearing a fur coat. I’ll alert PETA.
I still can’t see it.
Fake
I think the lack of proper Feline Feng Shui in the room is what threw everyone off. You have two cats balanced on either side of the room, but nothing to offset Lopsided Cat. Need another cat, stat!
Merkin.
It took me a good five minutes of staring, but I’ve finally discerned the nose. That is one seriously stealthy cat!
It looks more like just a pelt (i.e., incomplete cat); perhaps left laying about as a warning to the remaining cats.
Okay, from that close-up I would assume that what you had on the table was a folded up pelt of fur. Seriously. That’s a cat? Gnarly lil’ thing.
Stealth level: throw cushion.
Very clever, John, putting your fur hat in an obvious cat-napping location, while hiding your cat as a faux pile of books.
@Marcus: Thus the name Lopsided cat. ;) (On a related note, I have always wondered why the cat was named Lopsided cat but haven’t taken the time to search The Whatever and find out).
THANK you. I figured you would know, but I just couldn’t see that pillow-like blob as a cat.
Hey, I have a completely geeky and unrelated question: are you using a plugin to automagically bold the first X words of a post (I’m thinking maybe not, since the number of words doesn’t appear to be consistent), or do you do that by hand for every post?
@Beej, the story behind Lopsided Cat’s name is http://whatever.scalzi.com/2008/05/07/the-deal-with-lopsided-cat/
Short version: When he adopted the Scalzi family he had a serious ear mite problem that was causing him to hold his head at an angle. The mites have been cleared up, but he still holds his head crooked.
LOL, you should start an “I SPY CAT” book series, I could not find this cat in the previous picture.
Totally ‘shopped. I can see the pixels!
Wow. Lopsided wins this round of hide and seek, but rest assured Waldo wants a rematch.
HUGH57 IS RITE! WE DEMAND TO SEE THE REAL CAT PICSURE, NOT THIS PHOTOSOHPPED FAKE!!11!
Now that we’ve gottten the inevitable all-caps conspiracy-rant joke out of the way… that’s one handsome bit of kitteh there!
But, to be honest, he DID look like an unfolded afghan or sweater in the OP!
I’m convinced. That is pretty much exactly how my cat looks when she sleeps. Well, except when she is stretched out, in order to take up as much room as possible.
I think the fake Chang of the Glahglee fan club is behind the catter movement.
Actually it appeared to be two squarish cushions, which is what threw me off.
Stealth kitty!
He’s not asleep, he’s catatonic.
Man, every time I see a cat sleeping all curled up (as ours do), I just want to…yawn… stretch… curl up myself. Of course, if I did fall asleep in a corner like that, it would take paramedics with crowbars and a hoist to get me back on my feet.
Never occurred to me that it was not a cat. Maybe it’s a cat owner thing.
Dude, there’s a tribble on your windowsill. Time to buy a glommer. I have this friend, Harcourt, who can sell you one cheap.
Huh…well that IS a cat. I took the fuzzy lump as a pile of blanket and assumed the cat had burrowed underneath. That’s where mine would have been in this picture anyway. Well played Lopsided Cat, well played.
I also thought it appeared to be two squarish cushions yesterday. Yesterday I concluded that if there was a cat there that it must be sitting in front of and partially underneath a square cushion of a similar color. I didn’t imagine that the whole thing was a cat. My family used to have a similar cat who used the same napping position. Even so, I find it a darn good disguise, even in the closeup. I applaud Lopsided Cat as a master of disguise.
You’re quite right, I totally thought the lump of cat was a pillow.
How to tell a cat from a meat loaf.
Achievement Unlocked: Camouflage Kitty
What’s the name of that cloak that Frodo used to make himself look like a rock in LOTR? Lopsided Cat has gained that sort of ability!
Thanks for the closeup. I was afraid that if I couldn’t see Lopsided Cat, it meant my eyes really have been shot. Also, another excuse for a cat picture!
BTW, you don’t suppose Lopsided Cat strategically curled himself up there so he can “accidentally” knock over your book pile when he wakes up, do you?
I’m sceptical. Isn’t that the Wig of the Husband of the Bride of Frankenstein?
You can use that to polish the car.
Reminds me of illustrations of Ben Franklin’s motheaten fur hat (no offense, O Mighty Lopsided Cat).
Hello nose! I see now that it is a cat..
I’m with onyxpnina. Thought he was 2 square pillows stacked on top of each other.
Gah! That rug has a nose!
Move over Wally/Waldo, there’s a new cat in town!
Damn, that cat is good. I still had to look closely to be sure that he wasn’t a folded afghan.
Your cat may actually be on to something. Rather than the camouflage approach (though I must say, that cat has a mighty fine ghillie suit), greater stealth may be achieved by assuming an irregular or erratic posture.
I didn’t see him in the original picture either (obviously complete fail on my ‘spot cat’ roll)
I do think the long fluffy coat helps – breaks up the outline.
My two are shorthairs who go the ‘under stuff’ route for concealment purposes – regular visitors to the house pat down any soft furnishings before sitting down!
Come on, people! That is *clearly* not a cushion…..it’s a throw blanket.
Once his location was pointed out in the previous photo, I spotted him easily and could even tell what ridiculous pose he was in. Comes of living with cats for decades. I’d be hopeless at spotting prey on the savannah or in the jungle, but I can find kitties in family houses pretty easily.
Hmmm. Lopsided Cat is….lopsided.
Man, I must have stared at that exact lump for 5 minutes before finally deciding that it was a folded up sweater, not a cat.
I noticed his hind leg in the original picture, but then I have lived with cats my entire life. I do think he is poised to knock over the book stack when he wakes up. At least that is what my cats would do.
Your cats must be pretty mellow. My cat would shred/eat that whole box of tissues. I have to keep all my toilet paper under lock and key.
@Saruby – I think you’re right. As the fellow owner of a cat like a fur hat, I could easily see Lopsided in the original picture. It’s all about expanding your notions of the positions a cat finds comfortable. Squeezed into a tiny basket? Lying like a dragon on a hoard of Christmas wrapping paper in March? Squatting on your computer mouse? Curled up behind a pile of books on a hard surface? Any of these is fine.
I think it’s the fact that most of his head is behind the stack of books that makes him so hard to see (even in the closeup, some people have to look for a while to interpret that as a cat). Heads are important and we expect cats, even lopsided ones, to have them.