OMG! Movie-star kittehs in Somerville

Cats have long dominated the Interwebz. From LOLcats to Nyan Cat, Keyboard Cat to Party Cat, felines are far and away the hottest house pet online. We could watch "Henri, Paw de Deux" be existential and angsty on YouTube all day. (Though not, uh, on our work computers or anything.) So it seemed only natural that someone should collect the best of such videos and make a festival out of them, which is exactly what happened at Minneapolis's first-ever Internet Cat Video Film Festival last year. Sundance? Whatever - we'd rather watch a kitten break-dance. So when we heard that the Somerville Arts Council was putting on a cat-vid festival of its own, inspired by the one in Minneapolis and thusly called the Copy Cat Festival, we were all oh em eff gee and immediately marked our Google calendars with the time, the date, and 12 exclamation points. Because, um, a festival. Of cat videos.

We have a feeling that this thing is going to launch more than a few careers as fame-hungry cats take off for New York Kitty to get agents. So check out our picks for three of the breakout stars of the Copy Cat Festival, which is set to include not only videos but stories, costumes, and a slideshow of some of this town's most photogenic cats.

JACOBY. You might know him better as "Stroller Cat." No stranger to the paparazzi or controversy, Jake got his first taste of fame when he was photographed riding the Red Line this past October in his stroller, angering some human commuters. "I mean, what?" said Jake, flipping his tail. "They expect me to take the bus?"

SNOOKY. Not to be confused with the Jersey meatball ("ever," hissed Snooky), this star's claim to on-screen fame is that she is scared shitless of metronomes. Nobody plays the scaredy cat like this feline, who stars in the short "Snooky & the Metronome."

VALEN. This Brookline-bred kitty isn't actually a screen actor, but a model with a slammin' portfolio. He even has his own website (signs.cust.nearlyfreespeech.net/Kids.html), where you can browse photos of him dressed up like Björk or recreating iconic album covers and movie posters. A bit of a diva, Valen has the celebrity thing down. Says owner Ken Dumas, "It's never a dull moment living with a celebrity. Being his manager and publicist, my wife and I try to oversee his career as best we can. Whenever Valen stops by the vet for an overnight stay, he trashes his room."

Check out these soon-to-be famous felines and more at the Copy Cat Festival (emceed by local cat enthusiast Jef Czekaj) at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville :: February 17 from noon to 3 pm :: $5 :: somervilleartscouncil.org/artsunion/2013/copycat