Father's Day (Observed)

Thanks for all of positive feedback thus far on the new report features and the blog.  I've made a few updates to the blog and put up a few more old Reports.  In spite of requests/suggestions, these updates do not include an animated .gif logo to clarify that the sun is, indeed, rising.  Nor do they include a banner variant where the O in Report is also a sun.  (Though if we ever have a report about Star Wars/Tatooine, rest assured a double-sun header will be used.)

The internet this weekend was abuzz with Father's Day fun, including a very cute Google doodle.  However, as has always been the case, there is no Report on the weekend, so we're compiling a few of the more Report-worthy Father's Day links today.  So, Fathers of the Report, rejoice, you get a second father's day!  (To my knowledge there are only three fathers among our readership at this time... If there are more that I don't know of, Congratulations!)

Let's start off with music.  The Art of Manliness has compiled a list of their Best Songs About Dads.  Some tear-jerkers in there, including Eric Clapton's "My Father's Eyes," which is particularly poignant when the song's full background is explained, as it is in this list.  (Clapton, of course, holds this Reporter's record for Saddest Song Ever with "Tears In Heaven.")  "Daughter" is a fun number, "Cat's In the Cradle" was a car radio staple in my memory, and "Just the Two of Us" now stands out in my mind as a song that they mercifully chose not to use in the soundtrack for The Pursuit of Happyness.  What do you think, did their list miss any big ones?  Feel free to take a browse around the Art of Manliness site, too.  Lot's of entertaining and interesting stuff there, including a very Teddy Roosevelt heavy list of 100 Must-Read books.  Also featured there is a link over to another excellent (future) Dad's Day piece, Rules for My Unborn Son.  This highly addicting tumblr is full of quips and wisdom, and was one of the first sites I knew of that made the blog-to-book transition.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a holiday at the Report if we didn't draw attention to some animal stories, too.  Fathers of the animal kingdom have always sort of been ignored in collections of cute animal photography, it seems to me.  Certainly there are a lot of deadbeat animal dads that abandon their family... And some dead dads, as well.  But Animal Planet has compiled a nice list of the Top Ten Animal Dads.  The seahorse, famous for its pregnant pa, is an obvious choice for number one.  And I'm sure Morgan Freeman approves of the high ranking placement of the Emperor Penguin.  I wonder if my desire for some rearrangement of this list isn't influenced by Disney, as I really want to bump the lion up a few spots, given Mufasa's self-sacrifice and starry advising.  I'm also sad to see that the clownfish didn't make the list, as I know the extremes a father clownfish would go through to find his son Harpo... Bingo?...  Fabio?...  Chico?

That's all for today.  Hope your Monday deserves two thumbs up... It's Roger Ebert's birthday!