I can’t exactly decide on the title for this post. I’m torn between the “Agony and the Ecstasy” ,”The Sacred and the Profane”, “Mary to merry” or maybe even from “‘kits’ to ‘kitch”, but to paraphrase Donald, you go to press with the title you have, not the title you wish you had. Let’s start with the lovely upcoming beaver festival in Utah which recently added this to their webpage.

Can you read that? The part where it says they got the idea from a GRAND DAY in MARTINEZ and the good people at WORTH A DAM??? Isn’t that a warm, cozy, accomplished feeling? Well, actually when I first saw it on Monday it produced more of a cold, prickly, stiffening feeling since it said the good people at GIVE a dam. (Horrors!) After the convulsing stopped and I could feel my fingers enough again to dial I called Mary right away and begged her to please, please change it. I decided not to mention that it was actually August and not July: priorities. Everything is much, much nicer now, and I’m so happy our influence is memorialized.

This morning I was greeted with the most-adamant-ever tail slap. It was delivered with such drama that it even had springback action over the head! Here’s the inadequate video with slow motion  so you can see for yourself how much s/he wasn’t kidding.

Now onto the more jaw-dropping  part of the morning. Imagine my surprise when I read this:

Animated beavers busy educating children

BEIJING – While “Tom and Jerry” and Mickey Mouse still reign supreme in kids’ entertainment in China, a band of highbrow beavers have arrived on the scene to help fill a void in early-childhood education.

As Chinese children’s new online friends, the beavers from Beva.com sing, tell stories and encourage kids build good habits. As a hit among young parents and their children, the site has over 3 million registered members since its launch in 2010.

Its popular children’s songs and original Flash cartoons have an average of 10 million online views every month.

That’s right. Hello Kitty-like beavers are busy teaching Chinese toddlers to brush their teeth, respect authority and play fair. Apparently since 2009 it has steadily grown to be the ‘can’t miss’ cartoon for millions of children. It was designed by one of the youngest CEO’s in the country, who quit his IT career to start launch this idea instead.

“Children need a partner to understand society and obtain knowledge and skills. The beavers meet their emotional needs, and that’s why they’re so popular among children,” said Yang Wei, co-founder and CEO of Beva.com.

In just two years, Yang has expanded his business beyond the Internet and into the development of mobile applications, books and educational toys for children and parents.  “As the kids love the beaver, they take his ‘advice’ very seriously,” Yang Wei said.

Castor Kinder-Care! To be fair, the animation is no worse than ‘My little pony’, the songs no more insipid than Barney and the whimsy no more plastic than ‘Teletubbies’ – but even I don’t believe I will be watching Beva any time soon. Still I would be remiss not to assure all young fans and their parents that they are of course welcome to join us for the Beva – festiva August 4th.

And because this site is perhaps the only one with the word Beva in it that will escape a particularly scouring kind of  attention…