“As dog ownership increases in China, many view the annual dog-eating festival as cruel and unusual.”

That’s the opening line from an article this past week on “The Week”, an online publication.

No kidding, cruel and unusual. 

How about GROSS!

And people get mad at me because I won’t eat in a Chinese restaurant where I can’t see the kitchen.

The leading nabobs of Jinhau City, China have decided to put down the ginsu knives and end the six  hundred year old tradition of cooking and eating dogs.  The tradition started the Ming dynasty…you know, the one with all the pretty vases…gross and grace all in one ruling dynasty.

Supposedly, a Ming leader was trying to invade Jinhua and killed all the dogs so that their barking wouldn’t alert the city fathers.  To celebrate the invasion, the Mings whipped UP some Mu Shu Mutt and served it around town.  Thus, a tradition was born.

You know, during the War of Northern Aggression, when Vicksburg was under siege, the Vicksburgians ate rats to stay alive, and I for darn sure don’t remember any ads hyping UP the Vicksburg Rat Festival, do you?

But, alas, the tradition stuck in China.  As many as 10,ooo dogs would be slaughtered each year at the festival and served UP in many ways. 

Apparently, as the world becomes more and more PC, and the Chinese realize they aren’t they only people on earth, some of the locals have said “Just say no to Fido” and called for a halt to the festival.

Doggie dining is – thank goodness – not as big in China as it used to be, but the Chinese Astronauts did eat dog while in space!  But dog ownership has increased in China, where it was once banned as a “borgeois habit” during the cultural revolution.  And I’m guessin’ that when little Yang Min and Mong Toy came home from school and Spot was missing from the dog house and that chicken leg looked awfully familiar, the shit hit the fan!

Not every one is happy that the festival is ending.  Some of the locals felt that since it was passed from generation to generation, it should remain as part of the culture.  Quaint it ain’t, if you ask me, and while we’re on that passing things along topic;  senility, imbicility, lunacy, and other ‘ilities’ are passed along too.

Frankly, this festival going away will make people happier than the end of panty-hose!

So, the dogs are resting easy in Jinhua City, but the cat on the corner is watching it’s back!

…As The World Turns is long gone, and All My Children aired it last show this past week.

My sisters are despondent.

I do not watch soaps.

And, we’ll set the record straight by saying that Dallas and Falcon Crest in the 80s were not soaps, they were “prime time dramas”.

I, for one, choose to believe there is a difference!

But, alas, AMC is gone, and Judy, Ann, and Zola are just beside themsleves!

Along with Susan Lucci.  Susan started on the show when she was 15, and stayed there for 41 years.  That’s a pretty good run, and frankly, she’s got nothing to complain about.   I’m sure there’s serious cash in the bank, a “stellar” day-time career, and finally that elusive Emmy.

But, again, the sisters, well, they’re not taking it so well.

I’m sure Judy and Ann have watched AMC since before the onset of the VCR, and Zola and Kim as long as I can remember. 

Over the last 41 years, the soap has launched the careers of many, many UPstarts who went on to become stars.

Josh Duhamel from “Transformers” was one.  A pre-Buffy Sarah Michelle Geller played twins, Christian Slater was there in 1986, and Oscar winner (for The Fighter), Melissa Leo played Linda Warner and got a daytime Emmy nod.  She didn’t win.

Before becoming a Mean Girl, Amanda Seyfried was a Goody Two Shoes on AMC.  Before she Partied with Five, Lacey Chabert was Erica Kane’s daughter.  Others include Lily Montgomery, Levin Rambin, a pre Regis Kelly Ripa and her hubs, Marc Consuelos.  Kim Delaney’s first acting job was on All My Children, Lauren Holley was there too.  Jordana Brewster had a gig there, and she’s moving on to the resurging Dallas, again, a prime time drama later this year.

Maria Santos Grey of CSI: Miami fame was there too.  Lindsey Price, Kelli Giddish, and a host of other starlets stopped by.

Some big stars, who where admittedly out of the closet fans, stopped in as well.  Carol Burnett and Elizabeth Taylor to name two!

So, this past week, to make EVERY ONE happy, they brought back all the characters they could, even some from the dead…well, not the ones who have really gone to the big trailer in the sky, but the “characters” who’ve died on the show…to quote my sister, Zola, “…it was rediculous, I loved it!”

Ok?

I won’t miss it, day time soaps drive me crazy.  But, I know that it’s great entertainment for millions world-wide.  And, alas, I’m sure the sisters will all fare well, afterall, tomorrow is another day…and Luke and Laura are out there somewhere.

President Obama screwed UP a photo this past week…

Either he was waving at mom, or he just doesn’t like Mongolian Beef!

The hidden face is that of the President of Mongolia.

…this is not a cooking post!

Details magazine, which I get monthly, and have no clue why, since I’ve not sent them a dime, has an article that says that buns are the new abs, for men.

My first thought is, “How am I supposed to get my butt on my stomach, and who would want that?”

Then I read the article.  Men are worrying about their backsides as much as their abs these days!

Great!  200 crunches a day, with little result, and now I have to worry about my AZZ!

I know, I know, rock hard abs are a combination of work, diet, and genetics, and that ship sailed a long time ago, so I’ll never look like this.

But, I do work on it.

Now, I have to worry about my behind? 

The article recommended that one do “duck walks”, and that kegely thing pregos have to do as well as some other exercises.

Some would say I’m enough of a tight-ass, and that squeezing my butt while waiting on a customer could just lead to some really bad mojo!

And of course, some trainer got a book deal out of all this.  David Kirsch’s new “tome” The Butt Book, hit the shelves and kindles everywhere recently. 

So, guys, get squeezing, get duck walking, get on that glute machine at the gym, seems the ladies want butts that look like this!