The Chatty Catty

No!
This is nothing to do with alleged rock bands, nor their albums, nor singles titles of dubious provenance from the Sixties.  It isn't even about cats, either, and I only came up with that title because it rhymed.  I suppose there are films with talking cats, although the only one I can think of is the execrable "Cats and Dogs" and I'm not going to go there.
Art?

Use your imagination

     What I would like to mention is your us human's propensity for liking films that feature talking animals.  No, not parrots!  Nor killer whales.  Animals that cannot mimic human speech, such as - chipmunks.  I don't care how clever they are, no chipmunk in the real world can talk.  
     This does not stop millions and millions of fools cinemagoers from trotting along to the pictures and enriching the studios that monetised Alvin and his talking chipmunks.  Art?

The real thing.  Good in a soup.

     Here are some figures from an old blog post:


Title                                               Cost                               Box Office

Alvin and the Chipmunks                  $60 million                      $360 million
Alvin 2                                             $75 million                      $443 million
Alvin 3                                             $75 million                      $342 million
Alvin 4                                             $90 million                      $234 million

     Thus these wretched things have made $1,379 billion in total, at the box office alone, without taking merchandising, DVD release or television rights.  They've probably hit one and a half billion by now.  Given that the last one was in 2015, we're probably due another one soon, because nothing succeeds like a great return at the box office.  Then there's Jason Lee, who has - I hope! - made a great deal of money from these films.

A money-making monster.  And Jason Lee.

     He hasn't done much lately, so he's probably independently wealthy now off the back of these films.
     Okay!  Having got that blend of incredulity and bitter frothing hatred off my chest, it's time to put the motley in a lead-lined trunk and drop it over the ship's side!*

"Francis The Talking Mule"
I wonder - was this an influence on those bonkers prog-metal rascals The Mars Volta?  Because they do have an album that is called "Francis the Mute" which is a weird inversion of this post's title, when you stop to think about it.  Art?

CAUTION!  Do not try this at home!

     Anyway, I did mention yesterday that there was a film called "Francis", made in 1950, which featured the eponymous mule, who was sardonic and clever, and his human handler, who was an idiot.  
     It cost $150,000 to make, and I don't know what the box office returns were, but they must have been substantial, because they followed up 'Francis' with another six films.   Art?

Hmmm.  No, I don't think so.

     To achieve the 'speaking' effect, they attached a thread to the mule's mouth and pulled it when required, creating an hilarious spectacle, as long as you weren't the mule.  They'd probably get sued today; I'm sure there's some speculative lawyers who'd represent the mule.**
     I'm sure you see the problems here, both for mule and chipmunks.  In order to carry out a conversation that consists of cogent thought, your animal needs to have an intellectual capacity close to that of a human's.*** You might be able to get away with that for a mule, given the size of it's brain-pan, but a rodent with a brain the size of a walnut?

Brainssss! Oh - no, sorry, walnuts.  I meant to say walnuts.

     Of course, I could be overthinking this ...

Finally -
What's in a name?  An awful lot, it seems.  A significant percentage of the Greek population are out protesting about the (entirely different and independent) republic of Macedonia, which is formally known as the Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia.  The name, they assert, implies a territorial claim.  Art?

I think they mean "Greek"

     If that is true, then Canada had better beware, for is not one of it's provinces called - wait for it, wait for it - "British Columbia"?

And now I have to take your leave to go get some change for tomorrow's bus pass.  Later!

*  Don't worry, the ship is moored and we're dropping it onto the quay.  Though the motley doesn't know that.
**  Hang on, am I now presuming it can speak?  Nurse!  My medicine!
***  All except for Russell Brand.