I really don't understand dog shows. They seem to depend on some sort of standards for a given breed. The closer a dog is to its breed's standard the 'better' it is. This part is fine--the premise a bit retarded, sure--but still logical. My problem is that the dogs in the same breed would almost always have the same rank (or very similar) according to this idea of closer to the standard. Lets say there is a collie show twice a year. Assuming the same dogs show up to these two shows shouldn't the results be almost exactly the same. These dogs didn't really change. They didn't get close to or further away from the standard. The standard most certainly didn't change. So my question is where the actual competition? Where's the anxiety, the anticipation, the angst (oh I love the angst)??

The problems with dog shows really abound from there. For instance, doesn't the best in show competition suffer from the same problems as the inter-breed competitions that were described earlier? Aren't these dogs somewhat immutable (at least for their show years)? So shouldn't most, if not every, dog stay at the same quality, or distance from the standard? I'm sure the judging has a lot to do with interpretations of the dogs and the standards. But is that actually entertaining to people? Would you care what some old white guy who has no other hobbies thinks about dogs? The whimsy of that kills it for me? My dad described the central principle of dog shows as the 'two face' principle. He mentioned that sometimes you see a girl and she looks beautiful, other times--not so much. He says this idea extrapolated out is the what's behind dog shows. According to him dog shows are a presentation contest. Which dog is trimmed the best, stand the best, shit like that. I'm sure this is a part of dog shows, but I refuse to believe that it is the essential idea behind dog shows. That's just too weak for me, too lame. That's not competition, not excity, doesn't create any of those a-words described above, does it??? So I struggle for answers.

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There is a documentary on the latest tsumani and a little history and physics behind tsunamis on Discovery Channel. I strongly suggest you try and watch it. 155,000 people dead right now, and I just wrote a mile of words about dog shows. 155,000 is almost 55 September 11s. I don't have the words. No one has words for it I guess.