I Claudius - Reign Of Terror (Department Of Sounds Familiar)

There is much to be learned from Robert Graves' I Claudius. Who the States deems too stupid and insufficiently polished to pay attention to. What kind of self serving psychopaths it elevates to the highest positions, and most telling is how ambition serves to bring the edifice down as it crumbles under the weight of its own absurdity.

The reign of terror and war on terror cannot exist without each other. But in the end they destroy each other.

John Hurt as Caligula is in a league of his own. So dark and sinister he's mesmerizing. A truly Kali Yuga figure.

Casino Lobbyists & Well Funded Hate

This Real News Network segment discusses how a small number of American Jewish billionaires are promoting a hawkish, aggressively pro-Israel stance which is at odds with the anti-war, anti-neocon views of many Jewish voters. The interviewee, Max Blumenthal, points out that this concerted, well-funded effort to direct American policy risks playing into anti-Semitic stereotypes.

A Question Of Sex?

I always prefer to use gender, but you know how the British are for these things, such as calling the restroom the 'toilet', when all that does for me is conjure up images of obstinate turds floating in the bowl. Yes, our American cousins are more refined than us on more occasions than we really care to examine.

Back to the post, as I've been struggling whether to open up a can of worms on planning and international planning that can never be fully resolved. As with most things in life, it's a case of the dynamic so putting it down in black and white often leads to intellectual obsolescence quite quickly. But a start must be made and I think a warm up post on gender equality might be a good way to begin the proceedings. It's probably just as contentious.

A long time ago I realised that all the most well known chefs are male and I couldn't figure out why something so intuitive and creative could be represented mostly by men rather than women. Is this because of men's inherent superiority or some perverse misrepresentation that when it comes to running a kitchen, women are best and then leave the fellas to the superior execution of Crème brûlée and blow torches in a restaurant?

I was just ordering some food here in Beijing and had a thought because a long time ago I had the good fortune to work in one of the best kitchens in Hollywood, Los Angeles while on vacation from the marketing degree I was doing. That place was stuffed with guys too.

 

So I just noticed at Bread Talk (where they do the awesome Crouching Tiger Hidden Bacon) that all the kitchen staff are guys.

 

And all the service staff are women. I've only just figured this out so maybe I'm just late to the game but it has nothing to do with culinary superiority, it doesn't take that much skill to learn a set list of bread products (good as they are)  but it does take something I observed in a kitchen of macho Mexicans. 

Brute strength is required to cook. I know this because lifting out a tray of chickens from a sizzling oven with boiling hot oil and juice takes not only strength but endurance, doing that and a hundred other demading tasks each and every day. Maybe the reason for men's dominance in the Kitchen and as celebrity chefs is more down to a strength advantage which makes me think that perhaps we're missing out on some tasty talent out there. What do you think? Am I off-on-one or does it make sense.

Or are men simply superior?