Nora Fanbase Growing To Barbaroesque Proportions

Currently the top video on CNN.com is, of course, Nora, the piano-playing cat. But it’s not just the same old video, no: CNN’s video clip — from American Morning — is the world broadcast premiere of Nora’s new video! (This is similar to, say, when TNT says it has the world cable premiere of Walking Tall or something.)

I’m not quite sure why this is the top video on CNN — the start of the new video is kinda cute — but I can be sure that when this cat dies, it’ll be just like Barbaro: There will be tribute pages, online vigils and some sort of benefit single (perhaps performed by other musical cats). Please, keep this cat away from the Menu Foods cat food. Then again, there’s always the chance Nora’s other talent is immortality.

Archives: Nora, The Piano-Playing Cat

Local News Blender: Nora The Cat

Tuesday, the Inquirer brought us the tale of Nora, the piano-playing cat who has been wowing idiots, the easily amused and those looking to waste time at work for several weeks now.

And, when one of the dailies does a nice good piece of local soft news, the local television stations pounce. And so, yesterday, Fox 29, 6 ABC and NBC 10 all did pieces on Nora, the piano-playing cat. (Amanda Rittenhouse, who wrote the original Inquirer article, you might be owed some royalties.) CBS 3 might’ve done a piece, but I didn’t catch it.

Now, I’m not one to critique people for taking story ideas from the Inquirer. I mean, how else would I have a job! But at least I cite and link them, eh? And the funny thing is that all the stations address the report by saying what a hit the clip of Nora the cat is on YouTube. This is true, of course, but the local news stations apparently only learned of it because of the Inquirer. (Or maybe Nora the cat sent out a press release. Or we have a big coincidence.)

There’s nothing wrong with this; it’s just kind of amusing. And it’s always kind of amusing to watch how the local news covers the same story. And that brings me to Philadelphia Will Do’s newest occasional feature: Local News Blender. What’s this gonna do? Just what it says: Take a bunch of local news reports, mix ‘em up and put ‘em all together. This first one is about Nora, the piano-playing cat.

If you’re wondering why the clips from Action News are so much longer, it’s because Matt O’Donnell filed a 25-minute report (approx.) about Nora. And, yes, I repeated some of the clips because they were awesome. The part at the end with Kerri-Lee Halkett and Rob Guarino: Also awesome.

Hope you enjoyed!

Tuesday: Piano-Playing Kitty Wows YouTubers, Journalists

Piano-Playing Kitty Wows YouTubers, Journalists

When the Inquirer laid off workers last year, many wondered if the paper would still have the resources to cover the stories that you, Joe Average Reader, need to know about the area.

The answer, of course, is a resounding yes. Today’s Inquirer contains a (freelance) column about Nora, the Philadelphia cat who plays the piano. The kitty has been viewed more than 600,000 times in three weeks, has spawned countless imitators and has “received 21 YouTube honors, including February’s third-most-viewed pets and animals video.”

And, uh, she’s a prodigy or something:

“She really has the personality of a great composer,” Alexander said of Nora. “Maybe she’s Beethoven. She puts her ear towards the piano, doesn’t get along with the other cats, and definitely likes to be in the spotlight.”

Don’t believe the hype? See for yourself.

Fortunately, the local TV stations have smelled soft news and — like a shark going for blood — have moved into the water, as I’ve already seen promos for a story on Nora on at least one local TV station so far.

Yep. Covering the city, indeed.

Piano-playing cat is YouTube star [Inquirer]