Giving ‘Paws’ to toon fans
FORGET Republicans-Democrats-progressives-immigrants-undecideds-foreigners-CNNers-Russians-Chinese-Taiwanese-North Koreans-Israelis-Palestinians-cowboys and Indians, New Yorkers and Floridians, East and West, Yankees and Red Sox, the semi Supremes, DA bigg dragg nagg Bragg and forget our fighting like cats and dogs. Comes now “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank.”
The cast is Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, George Takei, Mel Brooks.
Mel: “Takes place in a town run by cats. A dog crashes in to save the day. Animation is all your voice. Just make noise and the editor decides. So you do it five ways and usually one’s right. I play shticky Shogun. He’s like me. A Brooklyn tough aggressive Marlon Brando type who could kill people yet loves kittens.”
Jackson: “I play experienced old Samurai Jimbo — fastest sword in the world. It’s wacky, wild and fun visually. Cat lovers will go gaga. The cats mirror our world and how we reject or accept things in it to become better people.”
Takei: “It’s a lesson about animals working together successfully instead of fighting each other. Voice work is done over a long period of time. Can take years. And my voice changed over that period. At the beginning it was different. Now it’s raspier and more gravelly.”
These paws that refresh claw their way into theaters Friday.
Odds & endings
THE Manhattan Republican party is colorful. Lou Puliafito ran for Assembly in the 76th AD. He came close to winning. He’s a doorman. And Rob Astorino’s grandma was Jewish. Maiden name, Platt . . . DANIEL Silva, called “the finest writer of international spy stories”, has done it again. The newie — $21 on Amazon — is “Portrait of an Unknown Woman.” His writing’s so exciting that — and I don’t care about your love life — but I’m going to bed with him tonight.
A new rock star
A newly discovered gemstone is zultanite. Scant availability kept it a collector’s item until a mining permit was issued in the ’70s. One mine only — a remote location in Turkey’s Anatolian mountains — produces it. The host rock lies at an altitude exceeding 1,000 meters. Zultanite, named for the Ottoman sultans, remains a rare gem. Earth’s only source is that lone deposit.
Rare, 100% natural, its properties are stunning. By itself it changes color. Depending on weather, climate, positioning or just on your finger or outfit, it varies from green to gold to raspberry to pink. The stone, despite size, cut or where it’s worn, turns from low color at candlelight — like kiwi green to lime green — or in sunshine to peach, cinnamon and cherry pink.
Sudden temperature changes are best avoided when wearing it. Over 3 carats the stone is considered rare.
Owners are told to polish it using only soapy water and a soft brush — not jewelry cleaners.
PR rep Geoffrey Weill, whose international properties include a hotel in Turkey, brought back a 10-carat zultanite brooch. I have just seen it myself.
MANHATTAN bachelor: “I have decided I need a wife.” Friend: “Why is that?” Bachelor: “Because there are suddenly so many things happening which you can’t blame on the government.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.