The Usual Monomania Temporarily Suspended

"Something Entertaining Accidentally Happened On German TV Last Night"

Really?

Goosestepping with Panache

The Ministry of Silly Walks has it's own armed force.

You've Gotta Look Busy

If I could rename all those “International” Geneva-based institutions anything, I would call them the “Fake-Crisis Emergency Management Center”

A Nation of Sitzpinklers

Canada becomes Sweden.

Even more surprising, though, was the sign above the toilet, showing a stick man tinkling into a toilet with a line through it. Yes, Edible Canada has banned men from peeing standing up.

It’s a true advancement for social justice

Violent Unbeardings Terrorizing the Good Burghers of Ohio

Oh my:

In Holmes County, a group of Amish men allegedly burst into a home and cut the hair off men and women inside and cut the beards off the men.

And they were acting on orders of a rather unfortunately named chap.

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said there was an incident in Trumbull County about three weeks ago in which a group of Amish men and women from Bergholz went to a home in that county and cut the hair off men and women inside. Abdalla said hair from the victims was brought back to Jefferson County to prove to Sam Mullet, the bishop of the Bergholz group, that Mullet's orders concerning the hair cutting was followed.

Eins, Zwei, Drei

“Is everybody in this world corrupt?”

“I don’t know everybody.”

Our silver screen meltdown marches ever forward in something familiar to European political observers, that is to say in goose steps. We present Billy Wilder’s 1961 madcap tale of Commie Berlinalia called One, Two, Three, which also happened to star Jimmy Cagney who brilliantly shows his comic timing and skill, even as Wilder turned the pace of the film up to 11.

Oddly enough, one of the many things that points out the humorlessness of “progressive” activist to this day is the fact that some of them still campaign cheerlessly and sadly unaware of irony against “Coca-Cola Imperialism”, as if their own not drinking the stuff wasn’t enough. I wonder if they realize that the concept was just one of Wilder’s jokes.



I strongly recommend renting or downloading this film! Not only will you not know where the time went, and possibly regret it, but you’ll find strange hidden gems in it, like a Messerschmitt micro-car that keeps appearing in the background, and momentary references to Carney’s “Little Caesar” character by an untitled supporting actor playing to Cagney, and another play on it with him asking for “Rico”. Along the way, look for a Khruchevesque banging of the shoe on a table, and a chillingly accurate portrait of the shambolic ruin that was East Berlin long AFTER this film was shot.

Layering it even more is the appearance of wonderful players like Leon Askin, (born Leo Aschkenasky) who sent up the temperament of a Soviet apparachik in this film, much as he later sent up the comically greedy Nazi General Burkhalter in the television comedy series, Hogan’s Heroes. Those mere moments in his long and rich career which included politically provocative cabaret as only the Viennese could do. Immigrating to America in 1940, he enlisted in the US Army, was stationed in Britain, and upon return to New York having been unable to find his parents who were sent to a Concentration Camp, he started a theater group made up entirely of Army veterans. Like Mel Brooks who served as a combat engineer and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, he seems to have understood that the most humiliating defeat an enemy can face is mockery.

What they share with Wilder, a Berliner transplanted to America himself, wasn’t just comic ability, creativity, but a keen sense of observation, matched to a functioning moral compass.

Save the Bears!

It only Hurts When I Laugh

A wild and crazy guy from Bratislava finally got back at Steve Martin:

German police believe that American actor, comedian and collector Steve Martin played a minor role as a victim in what may be Germany's biggest-ever art forgery scandal.

Henpecking in the Near Distant Ago

Mom's Bad Breath

This bizarre ad dates to 1940. Graphically innovative concidering modern graphic novels that use photos, retouched photos, and comic strip speech bubbles and formats.

Halitosis! Consumption be done about it?!?

How You Know when Civilization has Reached a Dead End

No, Seriously. You First.

News Digest from the Fake-Crisis Management Center, no. 2011\03F

Tsunamis and reactor failures be damned!

Bee crisis could define 21st century.

An international panel of scientists found that more than a dozen factors, ranging from insecticides that damage a bee's memory to climate change...

In other words, the suspects with the highest propensity of getting the study's author either a) props or 2) moolah. Cabbage. Jack. Bling-bling.

Elsewhere, in the excuse and catalyst vehilce department:

Globe and Mail

If certain agricultural practices and public policies are changed, says Marie-Pierre Chauzat, one of the report’s lead researchers, a full-scale bee crisis can be averted.

Else-elsewhere...

Middle class fad for bee keeping sees doubling in number of hives

It's right up ther with the middle-class habit of getting passionate about 'crices' one only understands how to ritually imbibe in by reading the right papers.

Elephant! The Light Musical Comedy!

Compare and Contrast:

David Lynch’s The Elephant Man and implausible Basque terrorists They can't be serious, because they aren't, even though they're basically vanquished.



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