The Bored Gods Storm the Bastille

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" Do you want a Tastykake? If you live in the Philadelphia area, I know the answer to that. You would literally grab one from the sky if you needed to.

Every year on the weekend closest to Bastille Day, the good folks at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary host a re-enactment of the Storming of the Bastille.

Of course, there was nothing funny about the French Revolution. The peasants were driven, by starvation and poverty, to attack the very, very wealthy, including Queen Marie Antoinette. She lived in such splendor, and so far removed from her subjects, that she was taken completely by surprise when the Revolution began. It was a gory affair, overworked guillotines and heads mounted on pikes, and journalists murdered in their bathtubs, and a prince who went missing and was never found. And of course the queen lost her head.

Let us not overlook the fact that this revolution was principally caused by the disparity between the rich and the poor. And fueled by the success of the American Revolution. Have we learned any lessons about leveling the playing field, so that everyone has enough to eat and for their children too?

Ahem, ooo la la! Who cares? Life is nasty, brutal, and short ... let the best man win!

It's a "Gods Are Bored" philosophy that the most gruesome historical events make for the best dark humor. Heck, we're not alone in that. Anyone out there see "The Producers?"

Philly's Bastille Day re-enactment satisfies every bone in my body. I got to boo Marie Antoinette and Darth Vader simultaneously (nice pairing, btw). Spare nabbed four Tastykakes.

This is an annual event, but its lively cast writes a new script every year, with all new zingers, a vast majority of them left-wing-friendly. Sadly, the video below only captures the climax of the storm ... not the entire witty repartee. Nonetheless, it's a good little tutorial on how we have fun in Philadelphia. We boo with the best of them, we are completely tasteless (except for our Tastykakes), and on any given summer day the weather can be lovely.

Citoyens, have a look at Bastille Day 2011! Vive la Camp!

Of Tyrants and Tastykakes

Today it's raining, but this unfortunate weather will not halt the patriotic march of self, Heir, Spare, and even Mr. Johnson as we attend the annual re-enactment of Bastille Day as only Philadelphia can stage it. Some festivals are so campy that they defy description, so it's easier to watch the video below of a previous year (Spare and I are in the crowd somewhere). The projectiles being hurled upon the crowd are packages of our local junk food pastries, Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets.

If you're stuck inside by the weather, and you want to read something astonishing, Google the lyrics of the French national anthem. "The Star Spangled Banner" will suddenly look much better to you.

Allons!