7 Reasons

Tag: Horatio Pyewackett Caractacus Fearns

  • Guest Post: 7 Reasons I am Better Than You

    Guest Post: 7 Reasons I am Better Than You

    Hi there, it’s Saturday, so here’s a guest post.  Curling up on the 7 Reasons sofa today is Horatio Pyewackett Caractacus Fearns who – when he wakes up – wants to explain why he’s better than you.  And us, probably.

    My cat in the garden.  He's better than your cat.

    1.  Fur.  Ever tried to wear fur?  No, of course you haven’t you timorous numpty, you timid wretch, you cowardy, cowardy custard.  Because you’re fearful.  You’re afraid of PETA.  You think that if you don a fur coat you’ll be attacked by a mob of militant lefties who object to your sartorial decisions.  But I’m not scared, PETA aren’t going to object to me wearing fur, because I’m better than you; wearing fur is my birthright, and I wear it as if to the manor born, without fear of reproachment.  Because I’m awesome! Because I’m a cat!

    2.  Benevolence.  I’m kind to my minions.  Very kind.  And I’m uber-agile, in fact, I can bend over backwards and lick my own bottom.  But you can’t.  You have to scrape bits from trees and roll them up into a ball in order to clean your own fetid arses.  This is because you’re pathetic and incapable of washing yourself properly.  But I’m not, I’m wondrous and supple and can cleanse my own ring with my tongue.  Which, let’s face it, saves you a job, so I’m benevolent too.

    3.  Competition.  So who’s the most awesome human that there is?  That’s right, Superman.  He can leap twenty times his own height; he can hear things that are going on miles away and he can’t be snuck up on while he’s sleeping.  Well, me too.  Superman, however, can be defeated by kryptonite.  But I can’t, I can do all of those things with no fear of kryptonite or of looking like a dweeb at the fortress of solitude.  Because I’m magnificent, and because I’m still rocking my fur coat while Superman’s attired in a thin, shiny number with his pants outside outside his lycra leggings.  He looks like the world’s worst-dressed cyclist ever, and I just look amazing.  Look at ME!

    4.  Night.  You blundering dunderheads can’t even see in the dark.  Want to know how many times I’ve fallen over a human when the lights are off?  None.  When oversized, underbalanced simpletons like you wander around without burning electricity, however, you’re endlessly falling over me (especially the tall one with the ginger beard).   Because I’m abso-fucking-beauteously wonderful, and because I like to hang around in the hallway.  To mock you.  Because I can.

    5.  Temperature.  You mewling, simpering feckless nonentities can’t even regulate your own body temperatures, but I can; I’m the master of my own temperature.   The nearest you feeble people come to accomplishing that is the human inhabitants of the North-East of England:  Geordies.  But they lack my sonorous voice and natural grace.  Also, despite their bravura, many of them die of hypothermia on their way home in the winter.  But I haven’t.  Ever.  It would be a waste of one of my nine lives (eight better than you) if I were to do so, and I’m not prepared to do it.

    6.  Size Is Important.  Just look at the size of yourself, you lumbering bioped.  Look at the amount of space that your unwieldy, bloated, overstuffed body takes up.  Where human designers prattle on about space efficiency as some sort of ideal, I live it.  I am space efficiency.  Because I take up less space than you.  I can curl up into a tiny-weeny ball.  Can you?  No.  Not at all.  But I can.  I’m fantastic.

    7.  Nature. I’m just naturally better than you.  I am.  When you poo, does anyone scurry around to scoop it up?  No, of course not.  You have to dispose of it yourself.  But when I shit, one of my underlings comes and disposes of it for me.  Every time.  Because I’m a cat, and they’re not.  In fact, everything revolves around me, abso-fucking-lutely-everything.  Dinner is served at the regular hour at which I require it.  Tradesmen come to repair the home in which I dwell and the humans who live here to serve me pay for it themselves.  And, when they’re not feeding me or opening doors for me, they even let me use them as chairs.  Would they do that for you?  No, of course not.  But they do it for me, because I’m better than you.

  • 7 Reasons That Size is Important

    7 Reasons That Size is Important

    Whether you’re a cricketer, a despot, a politician or a git; size matters.  Here are 7 reasons why.

    Geoffrey Boycott at the crease batting with a giant cricket bat for England against India1. Geoffrey Boycott.  If Geoff Boycott had used a bat this size, no bowler would ever have taken his wicket. Carrying the large bat would also have caused him to move more slowly, meaning that there would have been fewer instances of him running team-mates out. The obdurate Boycott would have been so effective with the larger bat that, having started this match in 1979, he would probably still be batting now. With a score of about thirty runs.

    A miniature David Cameron and Barack Obama walking on the White House Lawn. UK/USA summit.2.  David Cameron.  I have shrunk David Cameron and his relative size in this picture is a more accurate representation of the UKs importance in the world order. It serves him right for belittling war heroes on his recent trip to the USA: He caused me to agree with the Daily Mail! This is his punishment.

    Horatio Pyewackett Caractacus Fearns menaces the previously peaceful city of York, dwarfing York Minster3.  My Cat.  If my cat were this size then he would terrorize the city of York, wreaking untold havoc, death and destruction on the population by falling asleep on them about once every ten minutes. He is quite useless. And fortunately quite small.

    Piers Morgan seated and wearing a suit with a giant head4.  Piers Morgan.  If Piers Morgan’s head were…oh…Piers Morgan’s head is this size. Pretend you haven’t seen it. I know I will.

    A black and white picture of an attractive young woman sheltering from the rain under a tiny umbrella5.  Umbrellas.  If umbrellas were this small then they would be ineffective, and people would soon realise that having wet hair isn’t the end of the world. Golf umbrellas would no longer block entire streets and incidences of tall people being poked in the eye by the damned things would plummet, causing me to shout less at short people, making the world a more peaceful and harmonious place.

    Hitler reviewing a parade of troops and saluting them from his Mercedes.  Heinrich Himmler is also pictured.6.  Hitler’s Hand.  If Hitler’s hand had been this size, the strain brought about by all of the saluting would have caused him to bring about a rapid demilitarisation of Nazi Germany, which would have given him the time to set more peaceful goals and to consider important questions, such as: Why do the British think that one of my testicles is in the Albert Hall? What does my moustache really say about me? Why does Himmler’s hat have a triangle embedded in it?

    Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Movie Poster featuring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones with a Large Hat

    7.  Indiana Jones’s Hat. If Indiana Jones had worn a hat this size then Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would never have been made, as he would barely have made it past the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark and, even if he had, would never have escaped the large boulder thing in the middle of the film.  If I had worn a hat this size to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, my viewing experience would have been immeasurably improved, as would that of the couple behind me.

    *I got all the way to the end without saying penis.  Yay!

  • 7 Reasons Marc Fearns Should Be Celebrated

    7 Reasons Marc Fearns Should Be Celebrated

    Keeping with the fine tradition of 7 Reasons founders celebrating their birthdays in June, today it is Marc’s turn. Now, I wouldn’t be the great man that I am if I didn’t dedicate this post to my fellow reasoner. So Marc, this is for you. And actually everyone else. Because you need to celebrate the great man. This is why.

    1.  June 18th. It might be a day in June, but apart from that, there is very little going for it. Sure, Delia Smith was born on this day, but so was Jason McAteer.* It’s about time we made this day special. A celebration of Marc Fearns is the way to go. And, if we celebrate June 18th, the day will probably go quicker.

    2.  Mystery. There is certainly an air of mystery about Marc Fearns. No one is quite sure how tall he is. No one is quite sure how old he is. No one is quite sure why he named his cat Horatio Pyewackett Caractacus Fearns. No one is quite sure how his brain works. But that’s good. It makes him intriguing. The last thing we want is to celebrate someone who is 5’8, 30 years-old, has a cat called Tibbles and whose brain works like clockwork. That’s been done.

    3.  Intrepid Experimentalist. You can say what you like about Richard Bacon – and many people do – what you can’t accuse him of though, is having a bad taste in experimentalists. There is little doubt that when it comes to cats, foil and the ability to walk, Marc Fearns is on the tip of Richard Bacon’s tongue. All because of this.

    4.  Rumour-Mill. What with spending most of your days making your cat walk over tin foil, it leaves a lot of time to muck around. Generally at the expense of others. Including me. The whole thing about me fancying myself? Marc started that. (No, seriously, he did). You may think me recommending you celebrate Marc – because he makes me look narcissistic – is an odd thing to do? Well, it’s not. In fact it’s quite logical. Sometimes, you are told something so much, that eventually you begin to believe it. Marc is the reason I am who I am. He could do the same for you.

    5.  Emotional Blackmail. How could you not feel sorry celebrate someone who looks like this?

    6.  Library Builder. Getting the builders in, is one of those things that fills people with dread. If it’s not how much mud they are going to traipse across the carpet, it’s how many tea-bags are they going to get through. Which is where Marc comes in. He can build a library in 90 seconds. And he doesn’t drink tea. If you want him to come and build a library for you, send him an email: [email protected]

    7.  7 Reasons. The 7 Reasons concept wouldn’t exist without Marc Fearns. I know there are two of us who supposedly founded it, but I have been pressing for it to become 1 Reason for a long time now. Marc is the one who keeps it ticking over. Who keeps driving it forward. So if you like the concept, then it is he who you should celebrate. If you would prefer to read 1 Reason on a daily basis, celebrate me again. Just like you did last week. You remember, that day you really enjoyed.

    *I have just discovered today is also the birthday of Fabio Capello and Sir Paul McCartney. It’s okay though. We can celebrate them all. Especially if England win.

  • 7 Reasons That This Pen is Stupid

    7 Reasons That This Pen is Stupid

    Picture of a blue highlighter pen on a lined A4 pad saying "7 Reasons that this pen is stupid"

    1.  Shape.  When the lid is on, the pen is oval-shaped and it puts me in mind of a rugby ball.  That should be a good thing as the Six Nations is on at the moment, but look at the colour.  It’s blue.  And it’s not even the dark blue of France, it’s light-blue, the colour of the Italian team.  Italy are the worst team in the competition – worse even than England.  This pen exudes the acrid stench of failure.  And I don’t want to smell failure when I’m writing.  I want to smell coffee.  Or soup.

    2.  Emasculation.  The pen is two inches long.  Two inches!  To men, having a two-inch-long pen is bad.  Having a two-inch-long pen is unmanly.  To women, a two-inch-long pen is unsatisfactory too.  A big pen is much more desirable to both sexes.  Big pen is good.  Small pen is bad.

    3.  Gift.  The pen is a gift.  The worst kind of gift – it’s a gift from someone who lives in the same house as me.  This means that I can’t just put it away in a drawer or re-gift it.  I have to keep it here on the desk where I can see it.  I can see it right now.  It’ll be months before I can move it to the box in the loft where I hide all of the unwanted gifts.  Months.

    The palm of a hand with a small blue highlighter pen in it

    4.  Writing.  Look at this picture of my hand.  Do you see that blue speck in the centre of my palm? (you may need to fetch your glasses for this one)  No?  I’ll tell you then.  It’s the pen.  How, you may ask, does a hand that size write with a pen that size?  The answer is badly.  Very badly.  In fact, if I had to use the pen to write this 7 Reasons post, it would be four words long and those words would be “bloody”, “fucking”, ”stupid” and “pen”.  And they would be illegible.

    5.  Blue.  It’s a Highlighter pen.  In blue.  I – like a lot of people – write in blue ink.  This means that the pen is completely useless as a highlighter.  It has the opposite effect.  It’s an obscurer.  If I want to make my words appear fuzzy and indistinct, it’s the pen to use.  Otherwise, it’s useless.

    6.  The Horatio Pyewackett Caractacus Fearns test of Pen-Stupidity.  I own a cat that attacks pens.  If he sees one, he pounces – whether I’m using it or not.  When hoovering under the sofa (infrequently), I always find several pens that he’s stolen and then lost under there.  Can I get him to attack this pen?  No I bloody can’t.  And I’ve rubbed catnip on it.  Even my cat knows that this pen is stupid.

    7.  Suppository.  I’ve just realised what else the pen reminds me of.  It looks like a suppository.  Appropriate really, given what I’d do if with the pen if I ever encountered the feckless cretin that designed it.  Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid bum-pen!  Grrrr!  I hate this pen!