Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Russian Food Fights

In the second decade of the 20th Century hungry Bolsheviks wrestled control of Mother Russia away from Czarist rule and created The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a communist state where every citizen followed the golden Socialist rule "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

In the last decade of the 20th Century hungry Communists wrestled control of The USSR away from fat-cat Soviet bureaucrats and created The Russian Federation, a new Mother Russia based on the free-enterprise system.

Twice during the 20th Century Russian citizens proved to the world that any national movement worth its salt is invariably spearheaded by hungry people with no pots to piss in.

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Keeping Up With the Joneses in the U.K.

"Keeping Up Appearances" was a 1990's British sitcom starring Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket (which she insisted on pronouncing "Bouquet"), a lunatic housewife from hell and social climber who commandeered her husband, family, neighbors and friends into unwilling participation in her ultimate quest for middle-class snobbery.

Set in Southwest London, this weekly half-hour comedy might have been a laugh a minute for English viewers but her frenetic search for a trivial and meaningless social pedestal made America's Lucy Ricardo of 1950's fame look like a Girl Scout in comparison.

At least "Keeping Up Appearances" held more entertainment value for many Americans than the British sitcom "Are You Being Served?". In that farcical sitcom, store clerks and management of a London clothing store served absolutely no one because they were too busy putting on preposterously stupid theatrical shows and skits. Now that's more like "I Love Lucy".