Word: petting
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...decides to outwit fate by manipulating events to fulfill the hopes and desires of others. Populating that plot is an array of stock characters from classic French cinema, updated with comically magnified conditions, obsessions and idiosyncrasies. Amélie's jilted concierge tipples port in the presence of a pet dog preserved by taxidermy. The wise, grandfatherly neighbor from whom Amélie seeks guidance is a misanthropic crank. Even Amélie's beloved goldfish is suicidal...
...homo sapiens are easily flattered. We like dolphins because they seem to like us. They smile--or rather, their mouths curve upward in an illusion of cheeriness--and we feel the urge to touch, to pet, to be nearer. It hardly registers that dolphins smile even when they have nothing to be happy about...
...universal remote cannot control a pet rock, much less a satellite dish. First you have to take it around and introduce it to each gadget in turn, punching in the proper code for each make and model, so that the remote knows what signals to send to which device. With some remotes, this phase is sheer torture. The extremely fancy Philips Pronto ($399), for example, forced me to watch 20 minutes of Chains of Love before I could figure out how to change the channel on my TV. No one should have to go through that...
...When I asked if he'd done much exploring yet, he gave me a look like a domestic pet suddenly thrust into the middle of a jungle. Not yet, he said. What would I recommend? I mentioned what was then the hottest title for the Sega Dreamcast, Crazy Taxi. "Dream, Cast and Crazy Taxi, eh?" said Regis. "Well, I'll have to check them...
...home, they also found a real German shepherd frozen in a solid block in a large freezer next to a bouquet of roses and some dog food. Obara would later say he had preserved it with the hope that, one day, science would enable him to "reanimate my loving pet into a clone dog." Strange as it was, the dog fits a pattern Obara had of hoarding personal detritus. There were stacks of old car batteries, trashed TV sets, receipts, journals and personal tape recordings dating back to the 1970s. The biggest haul comprised more than 200 videotapes showing dozens...