I haven't followed the FONY blog very well because I have a hard time keeping up with Tumblr, so I like that Tews curated his favorite posts and put them in a book where you can ogle high quality renderings of these urban kittehs. It's almost like cats exist outside the internet.
You know I don't usually read books by dudes, but I had to make an exception for this cat-loving dude, whose dedication reads, "This book is dedicated to all the cats in the world. I do your bidding now."
Some favorite entries
![](<img src="http://40.media.tumblr.com/244a8f5e094592c05ecaaa4bb0095166/tumblr_nl5pzpjmKw1ti2yzto1_r1_1280.jpg" /> <img src="http://41.media.tumblr.com/ee93f2dfd8b173cae291a1222ae70cf1/tumblr_nl5pzpjmKw1ti2yzto2_1280.jpg" /> “A man in this building feeds us. He also built a little shelter outside. He doesn’t realize that’s where we’ve been plotting our takeover.“ “Your takeover?” “I’ve said too much.” - (Name Withheld), Astoria)
“A man in this building feeds us. He also built a little shelter outside. He doesn’t realize that’s where we’ve been plotting our takeover.“
“Your takeover?”
“I’ve said too much.”
- (Name Withheld), Astoria
You gotta love an organized feline resistance.
“I decided a long time ago that I don’t want kittens. A lot of other cats judge me for it, but kittens would just get in the way of my career.”
“What career is that?”
“I’m in the walking around and laying on stuff business. It’s insanely competitive.”
- Orange, Park Slope
I sympathize with prioritizing one's career and am jealous I don't have what it takes to make it as a walking & lying around-er.
I guess some of the content is new-to-the-book because my other favorite, Hampton of the Corner Bookstore on the Upper East Side, doesn't seem to be on the blog.
He is quoted as saying, "I'm not much of a reader, but I feel like I've absorbed a lot of the stuff that comes through here. You know, you sit on a book for a while, you're going to soak up what's inside. It's just science."
Fuckin' STEM cats.
There are many brilliant observations, as well as beautiful and daring aspirations from the kitties in these pages. Tews gets his subjects, even if he might be a little precious, considering how much time he seems to spend in Williamsburg. He's a stand-up comedian, and doesn't go for broad or obvious humor in FONY, which I appreciate.
From a routine he did at Katz's, "I work from home. It's great. It's like getting paid to exhibit all the symptoms of clinical depression." I rarely leave my house except to go to work, so I get that.
Regardless, this is a book of photographs of cats, so why are you even reading this review? You know before you pick it up whether you will love it or be indifferent.