And the early favorite for Best Picture is ...

This extraordinary short film may just be the best movie of the year. "Pug Pushes Stroller" chronicles a day in the life of a doting pug mother as she takes her children on an outing. As she pushes their stroller through the streets and parks of Portland, Ore., a range of emotions overtakes the viewer. You'll laugh; you'll cry. But mostly, you'll wonder how such a dedicated and loving mother could be denied the right to vote.

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Title: Pug Pushes Stroller

Director: Unknown

Rating: PG (adult situations, canine nudity)

Running time: 2 minutes, 36 seconds

Ayatollah score: 4 paws up

The clock is running out

This is a reminder that time is running out to enter the annual Pug Life Ministries NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket Challenge "Take On the Ayatollah" Contest™. Brackets must be filled out and entered in the Pug Life Ministries group by the tip-off of the first game Thursday morning. Congregants will be competing for cash, prizes and the promise of 72 pristine sticks of rawhide in the afterlife. Do not delay, my flock!

To help get you in the basketball spirit, here is a video of the amazing Tiki, the pug equivalent of Oklahoma star Blake Griffin.

Mugsy appeals for decency

I was very disturbed by this news story. A Dallas pug named Scooter has been dognapped and given to a little girl as a gift by her mother, who sent Scooter's caretakers a note and $20. The woman, possibly from Tulsa, Okla., wrote that she was nearly penniless and an alcoholic but that the dog was being well taken care of. Clearly, this is beside the point. Scooter belongs with his family in Dallas. So on the off chance that this woman or someone who might know her is reading, I want to appeal for decency. The rightful caretakers have even offered to buy the woman's daughter a new pug if they can just have their own dog back. Here is a letter from one of the pug's caretakers.

Please, send Scooter home.

Here comes the rain again

Many of you have no doubt heard about Punxsutawney Phil, the weather-forecasting groundhog. But did you know that there is a pug who predicts rainfall? And not only that, she is far more trustworthy than most TV meteorologists -- and certainly more so than any who wear bow ties. Today's lesson, class, is about Mattie the pug.

Mattie, a 6-year-old, made her annual prognostication at last Saturday's Pacific Northwest Rain Festival in Bellingham, Wash. Publicity chairperson Taimi Dunn Gorman told the Seattle Times that the event is "one of the shortest festivals in the world. An hour, maybe a little more. The pug is felt, then everyone heads off to drink or get something to eat."

And that is the highlight: The annual feeling of the pug (pictured above). As anxious festivalgoers watch with rapt attention, the event's Reigning Queen lifts Mattie from underneath an awning and thrusts her out into the elements. Mattie's fur is then felt for moisture. Wet fur means six more weeks of rain. But last week's event found Mattie with dry fur, and hence the Pacific Northwest can expect another seven weeks of rainfall.

In an affirmation of Mattie's uncanny prognosticating prowess, precipitation soon followed.

For more details on the festival, click here.