Quickies: Temple of the dog and cat

• While I’m not as big of a fan of them as I am of puppies, kittens are pretty boffo too. But sometimes they can be used for evil. Or at least to reinforce gender stereotyping, or something. Readers are angry at Step Inside Design’s December/January issue, which had a kitten-filled cover to represent the “Women of Design.” The response: “But we honestly believe you can change connotations by re-appropriating them (especially with humor). That’s why it’s OK for Spike Lee to make a movie about minstrel shows but it would not be OK if Woody Allen did. Mel Brooks can get away for Springtime for Hitler, but Prussian Blue can’t … context is everything.” This is what as known as the “re-appropriating stereotypes cop out.” [Folio Magazine]

• In honor of the Chinese New Year — the year of the dog — here’s a list of the top 100 pop culture dogs ever. Krypto, Superman’s dog, lands at #19. I’m feverishly working on a Top 100 Puppies Ever list. [Retrocrush]

• Somebody at the BBC totally effed up and somehow the BBC spent some time filming in Bristol, Bucks County, as opposed to the version of that town across the pond. (Okay, they’re actually following around Iraq War vet and Democrat Patrick Murphy — who’s also running for Congress — which means give the liberal bloggers five minutes to start going nutso over this television appearance.) [Bucks County Courier Times]

• I want to live in this guy’s world, because I bet the mind-altering drugs are fantastic: “[The Washington Post has] decided to use their pages to mount a political campaign against progressive bloggers, who they’ve apparently decided are their sworn enemy. It’s absolutely paranoid and ridiculous.” [MyDD]

• Yes, if you’ve stepped outside today, Philadelphia is channeling 1849 London with all this fog. [Philadelphia Weather]