Monday, May 26, 2008

Fideos En La Boca


It’s time for a roundup of what’s going on in the hit Spanish telenovela Fideos en la Boca.

The story so far:

Mariano is the president of Popular Party Games (PPG), he’s a decent enough man but nothing ever seems to go quite right for him. Twice he’s been bettered by his great rivals at Zapatero Party Poopers, although Mariano always thinks that next time it will be different. Espe, who is in charge of sales for Madrid, thinks that Mariano is useless and that she would be much better as president. She is supported by Pedro Jota, who writes the daily PPG newsletter, and Federico, who shouts a lot in church. Espe doesn’t like Mariano and Mariano doesn’t like her; but the person who Espe really hates more than anyone else is Alberto. Now Alberto says he likes Mariano and wants him to stay, but everybody really knows that the person Alberto likes is himself and that he wants Mariano’s job. Meanwhile Francisco, from Valencia, and Javier, from Andalucia, think that Mariano should stay; but not for too long. Lots of people are being written out of the series. Eduardo left to work for the phone company, who pay him a lot more than Popular Party Games. So Mariano put Soraya in to do his job, even though she’s only seven years old; she is very keen. Angel also left but we don’t know yet whether he will work for the phone company or not. Last week Maria left too, she said Mariano was useless and that she didn’t want to play any more. Everybody likes Maria and nobody wants her to leave. Don Manuel, the ageing founder of PPG, likes Alberto, he is like a father to him. So don Manuel tells Mariano to give a good job to Alberto, even though that will make Espe very angry. Everyone else thinks that don Manuel should just go and look after his vegetable patch. Rodrigo, who left a long time ago to go and work in a bank, doesn’t talk to Mariano any more. Meanwhile José Maria, who used to run the company, doesn’t say very much because he chose Mariano and saying that Mariano is useless will make him look a bit useless too. So Jose Maria grows his hair long and spends a lot of time on holiday in South America. Ana, Jose Maria’s wife, doesn’t think much of Mariano but wants him to give Alberto a job because then she gets Alberto’s job. Gabriel, who almost no one has ever heard of, thinks it’s time Mariano got out the way. Pedro Jota thinks that Juan, who most people haven’t heard of either, looks more like Zapatero than Espe and might be the man to give PPG a new start. And so on and so on……

Confused? You will be. Keep an eye out for this week’s episode of Fideos en la Boca.


8 comments:

Keef said...

Ah, all becomes clear! Thank you. Love the pic of Mariano.

moscow said...

Yes, sums it up quite well. But me, being the boring pedantic self that I am, I would point out some serious issues here. After all, I guess, it is in no one's interest to have a weak and divided opposition. I'd rather have a strong right-of-centre moderate modern, liberal (in the anglo sense) party capable of bridging divides and governing the country in the name of all. I have a problem with the PP, and that is, that like many Spaniards I have a problem with Spain's conservative right in general. I dislike it's arrogance, the feeling that the right in Spain seems to think it has god's given right to rule forever. I dislike the whiff of 'national-catholicism' that still seems to pervade amongst many of it's members. The truth is, I promised never to return to Spain while Fraga was still in politics. Not long to go then, I presume. I kinda like Zapatero. I generally support his social identitiy politics - even if I might find some of it vacuous, unnecessary, and hardly a priority. But, but, but...his nihilism on economic issues is starting to profoundly irritate me. And I am suspicious of any party that calls itself socialist. I have seen the effects of socialism in Russia, so I have been inured against that for the rest of my life. Thus, at the end of the day, I think it would be good for Spain, if there was a party that could carry out liberal reforms without alienating the middle class, which aim would be Spain's unity but without alienating the regions, a moderate and conservative pro-European party that would sever it's ties with the catholic church once and for all. Those on the extreme right could go on and form their own party - 2 to 3 million votes. What all this boils down to, is that if Rajoy does the job and pulls the party (or the greater part of it) by the straps to the centre, he would be doing a great service to the country - even more so if in the process he would do the Harakiri and retire to Pontevedra (next to Colin Davies). I have no doubt that such party would be able take away from the PSOE the three to four million centre votes that are now on loan to Zapatero.

Graeme said...

I'm not sure what Colin's done to deserve having Mariano living next door to him. He's got enough problems with noisy neighbours already. The problem I see with this Moscow, and you probably see it too, is that the distribution between the moderate/conservative wings inside the PP is not the same as the distribution amongst their voters. The PP membership is further to the right and that means that the PP has to be dragged to the centre against the will of too many of them. I don't Rajoy intends to really try and do that anyway, it's a question of image rather than reality.

"I promised never to return to Spain while Fraga was still in politics. Not long to go then, I presume." I bet you were probably thinking that 10-15 years ago?

Colin Davies said...

I need to know whether Mariano is a gypsy name . . .

Tony has gone to sea for 6 weeks. Paradise. Except for May's endless rain.

I think it's time for Moscow to come home and form the party he wants. I'll join, even if it is too EU-positive for my liking.

Graeme said...

The way things are going there might be several "right of centre" parties to choose from soon. None of them will get my support.

moscow said...

Honestly, I am not going back until Fraga is out of politics, which in his case probably means being a few feet under. Can't wait.

Graeme said...

That should be: a few metres under and in a specially sealed coffin.

Anonymous said...

veletiña de pontevedra