New York City Herman Yung New York City Herman Yung

Morgan Spurlock turns Robert Sullivan's book, Rats, into documentary

Something about this irks me a bit. Morgan Spurlock, who you may remember as the guy who ate nothing but McDonald's for a very long time, has turned the amazing Robert Sullivan book, Rats, into a horrifying documentary.

The problem I have with this documentary is that it plays into the whole rats-are-gross sentimentality that Sullivan tries so hard to dispel in his book. In Rats (the book), the rodent is seen as a curious accident, boarding ships and bringing disease to North America and also helping to shape the very nature of New York City. It doesn't vilify the rodent but rather aims to make us view the rat as an agent of change for the city. Sure, it's still gross, but that's not really what the book was about. It seems though, that that's the point of view that the documentary takes.

I'm still interested in watching this documentary, but I just hope it's more than just rats are gross and rats are badYou can buy the movie on Amazon right now.

Read More
New York City Herman Yung New York City Herman Yung

Watch this video of a group of rat-hunting dogs in NYC

A group of dogs (and their owners) known as R.A.T.S. are taking it upon themselves to hunt down and kill rats in NYC. The group unleashes their trained dogs on these rodents on NYC streets and the dogs then capture and kill the rats as some sort of urban sport.

It's a little odd I guess but it gets the job done. A part of me does worry about diseases being transferred from the rats to the dogs (aren't rats known to be carriers of some of the deadliest diseases in human history?). Anyway, as nasty as this is, I think I'd love to watch a night of this. Looks interesting...

Read More