Kitty Bonsai?

[Noodle]

[COLOR=DarkRed][FONT=Trebuchet MS][Quote][SIZE=3]Introduction[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]For centuries, people in the West have marveled at the delicate beauty produced by Oriental artists and sculptors. From gardening to tattooing to dance and martial arts, these craftsmen have enthralled us with complex forms and simplistic perfection. One of the most fascinating of the visual techniques to emerge from this highly cultured region is the Oriental art of miniature sculpture. Who has not been stricken with the expressive grace of Japanese Bonsai? Though once the sole province of Bonsai masters within Japan, Bonsai plants have been available to fortunate consumers throughout the world for some time. With this in mind, we are proud to now offer to you the animal complement of this art form; the Bonsai Kitten.[/SIZE]




[SIZE=3]Central Principles[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]A bonsai plant, along with its more widely encountered counterpart the topiary garden, achieves its miniature yet mature form through a long and delicate process of trimming during the formative years of the tree. It is not possible to trim a kitten! However, fortunately the Oriental artists of yore were also expert in the modification of animal forms. Both foot-binding and head-binding were practiced in the Far East, for the purpose of miniaturizing the feet and shaping the head into attractive shapes. This technique is also the principle behind the well-known corset, which is regaining popularity in recent years. By physically constraining the growth of a developing living thing, it can be directed to take the shape of the vessel that constrains it. Just as a topiary gardener produces bushes that take the forms of animals or any other thing, you no longer need be satisfied with a housepet having the same mundane shape as all other members of its species. With Bonsai Kitten, a world of variation awaits you, limited only by your own imagination.[/Quote]

A Japanese man in New York breeds and sells kittens that are called BONSAI CATS. That would sound cute, if it weren't kittens that were put in to little bottles after being given a muscle relaxant and then locked up for The rest of their lives! The cats are fed through a straw and have a small tube for their Faces.The skeleton of the cat will take on the form of the bottle as the kitten grows. The cats never get the opportunity to move. They are used as original and exclusive souvenirs. These are the latest trends in New York, China, Indonesia and New Zealand. If you think you can handle it, view [url]www.bonsaikitten.com[/url] and have a look at the methods being used to put these little kittens into bottles.

So what are your opinions on all of this?[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Stuart]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS][B]Bonsai Kitten (bonsaikitten.com)[/B] is a website created by a graduate student at MIT in 2000, which claims that kittens can be sealed into small containers and kept as elaborate ornaments rather than pets. It is a well-made hoax, an elaborate dead baby joke. The site is in part a parody of the Japanese art of bonsai, but also resembles the mythical practice of comprachicos (in which the subjects are human).

The site appears to have fooled a number of people, who fell for the hoax and believed that the website was both advocating and engaging in animal cruelty. Some went as far as to complain to animal welfare organisations about the site and to set up online petitions to have the site banned. Others, while aware that the site is a hoax, believe that the site will induce children and mentally unbalanced adults to attempt to create a bonsai kitten, and thus should still be banned. Due to activists' protests several web hosting services have refused to host Bonsai Kitten or its mirror sites. Bonsai Kitten is currently hosted by rotten.com [1].

The site was investigated by the F.B.I. in February of 2001, and MIT was served with a subpoena, asking for "any and all subscriber information" of the website. Apparently the F.B.I. has quietly dropped the case, as the site is still alive and running [2].

[URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai_kitten][B][U]- Wikipedia[/U][/B][/URL]

Have you been fooled also? I believe the site to be horrible. [I]"It is a well-made hoax, an elaborate dead baby joke.[/I]" I hate dead baby jokes.[/FONT]

[DeadSeraphim]

[color=indigo][size=1][font=arial]Yeah, like Stuart says, it's an elaborate joke. No need to worry too much about it. lol[/font][/size][/color]

[celestialcharm]

[COLOR=DarkOrchid]Good thing it was a hoax. But, doesn't that still mean that the person had to stuff those cats in bottles, to take a picture of them?[/COLOR]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]No, I don't think so. If it was designed as a hoax, what would be the point in using real animals to stage it? Kinda defeats the object, heh.

You'd be surprised what programs like Photoshop can do. Either that or he had some pretty convincing-looking stuffed animals to shove inside them.[/COLOR]

[Stuart]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine][COLOR=#503F86']You'd be surprised what programs like Photoshop can do. Either that or he had some pretty convincing-looking stuffed animals to shove inside them.[/COLOR][/quote]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS]Yeah, actually, I've seen a tutorial of how it can be done on Photoshop. It's very convincing, and quite easy to accomplish.[/FONT]

[Pumpkin]

[SIZE=1]It's funny because I remember in 2000 when I was like what 12, I fell for this. There was all kinds of petitions and hype about it. Like Solo said, photoshop and other programs can digitally create anything to appear real.

I forgot how they did it, but I think they took pictures of actual cats and graphically edited them. Don't worry about the site, it's been up for several years now. These college students were just bored and got a kick out of getting hatemail. I admit though, the pictures do look real. [/SIZE]

[TheShinje]

[size=1][color=crimson] Of course Bonzai Cats are real! I have one that I had imported from China in 2002, and he's so cute, all bunched up in that bottle ^^.
Makes for an excellent conversation piece. [/size][/color]

[Ellerby]

[color=#333333]Oh, man. Who hasn't fallen for the ever popular bonsai kitten prank?

I remember when I saw the pictures and such.. I felt so bad and heartbroken, that I also brought it to OB.

[url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=26600&highlight=bonsai]The one I posted...[/url]

[url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=21768&highlight=bonsai]Another thread of this manner...[/url]

[url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=18374&highlight=bonsai]Yet another one...[/url]

Boy, that first thread takes me back.

Well, your thread seems to be the only one of the total four that hasn't been closed yet. But we'll see about that... Genkai's had 2 pages before being closed.[/COLOR]

[Noodle]

[COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]That was a hoax? OH THANK GOD!! That had me pretty freaked out for a while! Man do I feel stupid though...Oh well! I'm just glad no one's hurtin' those poor little kittens! :catgirl: [/FONT] [/SIZE] [/COLOR]

[Starwind]

I actually bought into this back in 2000 and my mom is one of many who signed the petition to ban the site. Still the idea of the whole thing is grotesque and I believe it has no business being on the web. I know as long as someone can get a support can put it up, but I don't care about that much. I suppose I don't care about it much since the whole thing is just disgusting and stupid. I hate dead baby jokes and people who get a kick out of this crap need to grow up and us at the "Big peoples" table, okay.

[Box Hoy]

Lol. I found this a long time ago. Fooled the hell out of me, although I was skeptical because there are no pictures of actual kittens that have succesfully been through the process.

It's a mean idea though. When they showed how the poor things are supposed to eat I was about to hurl.

[Hevn]

Being a huge lover of cats, I was fooled by this for 15 seconds. I was about to rant and stuff but glad I read Stuart's post.

Damn hoaxes. :animeangr

[ForgottenRaider]

I love how things like this just slowly make their way around the internet...In fact just off the top of my head I'm sure this is the sixth time this has been raised as a thread in all the time I've been coming to this forum.

What is really interesting is back in 2000 when this started going around I remember it was horridly difficult to pick if it was a Photoshop job or real where as these days it can easily be picked as a chop. Funny how we get used to CGI and being able to pick it from a mile away...

So what's next? Some one going to post about the debug virus in c:\windows\? ([url=http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_99436.htm]clicky![/url])

[DBZgirl88]

[COLOR=#004a6f][quote name='Noodle][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=2][FONT=Trebuchet MS]That was a hoax? OH THANK GOD!! That had me pretty freaked out for a while! Man do I feel stupid though...Oh well! I'm just glad no one's hurtin' those poor little kittens! :catgirl: [/FONT] [/SIZE'] [/COLOR][/quote]I too was fooled by the hoax. It's good to know that it's not real though. I was wondering why the site hasn't been closed down.

I hate photoshop hoaxes. They can be really disturbing when they are so well done. Imagine if someone took your face and pasted it somewhere it shouldn't be (porno maybe), and did a good job of fooling the viewer of the image. *Shudder*[/COLOR]

[Guest KajiMadoushi]

[size=1][color=darkred]....So all those kitty bonzai...its all false?[/size][/color]

[Hevn]

[quote name='KajiMadoushi][size=1][color=darkred]....So all those kitty bonzai...its all false?[/size'][/color][/quote]

=/

Have you been reading the thread?

[IceRose]

If that would have been true I would have gotten with animal rights on the phone the minute I saw the website, luckily it was a hoax. I was terrified kitties would be abused like that.

[Sara]

[font=trebuchet ms][color=0333333]There is no kitten bonsai. It is a joke.

I'm willing to leave the thread open for discussion. [/color][/font]

[Shi no Tenshi]

Lol. I remember when this came out. I assumed it was a joke and thought it was pretty funny actually. It's like that baby cookbook site (it's just recipes where the words chicken and beef have been replaced by the word baby accompanied by Anne Geddes's vegetably mutated baby photos *shudders*)

Kitten in a bottle. I love cats, but that cracks me up. Kinda like a cartoon does.

Edit: Having looked at the website again, I cannot help but marvel at the sensitivity of people. I myself own an obese cat (we love him too much to say no) who loves to cram himself into little boxes and plastic containers and essentially, squish himself up against the edges. I assume this is normal cat behaviour or a cat personality quirk.

Hell, the other day he crammed himself into the space between the wall and my open drawer. He's a strange kitty. Then again, my friend's kitten does the same thing, and likes to hide inside jars!

[sbsp13668]

[COLOR=Pink][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Thank god! I'm a cat lover too and thanks for telling me because I've already signed like 3 of those petitions and was still wondering why the site wasn't shut down! ROFLMAO They got me good! I e-mailed it all to my family too now it just seems funny because we all fell for it! :catgirl: [/FONT] [/COLOR]