The French Journal

TFJ Round-up: Forbidden video, Messiaen, and angst

Odds, ends:

• The video I can't show you. The attempt at a provocative header is extremely misleading on my part. The material isn't lascivious; I can't show it because there's no embedding info. From The Times (London), it's called "Secret Champagne," and it tours the region while explaining, more or less, that you're better off drinking the stuff in France than in the U.K. The deadpan narrator amuses me.
• A year of Messiaen around. The 100th anniversary of French composer Olivier Messiaen's birth will be celebrated this year, and the NY Times has appreciation. Le mari likes him; me, the philistine, am less enamored. Too much cacophony. Here's a short profile:

• Blogger angst. Not French, but lately I've been looking into an abyss, partly because of an article in yesterday's NYT about the hazards of blogging: long hours, low pay, and unhealthy results (particularly for writers of a certain age). More on my spiritual crisis coming up someday.

Who is Guignol?

A familiar scene from movies about France: children gathered in front of a puppet show, usually in the Luxembourg Gardens. This week's Boston Globe tells all about Guignol, the puppet clown, who is the star of these productions, and who is celebrating his 200th birthday. Guignol is the creation of a silk-worker in Lyon, Laurent Mourguet, who used to extract teeth and used the shows to distract his clients. His legacy creation lives on, anarchic and irreverent; along the way, he may even lead his audience to sing a song or two.

The Globe feature is part of a bigger sequence about Paris and kids; while obviously of interest to travelers, there's more about native Parisian children than is usual for this type of story. Also, the satiric puppet show, The Guignols, owes some of its heritage to Guignol, but take care to note the differences. At the head of this post is a three minute documentary about one of Guignol theaters in the Buttes Chaumont (not directly related to The Globe article) which allows you to sample (and to smile).

Rerun: An absolutely fabulous wine truc

As the week sinks slowly into the west, let's share a (blurry) wine tasting in France with Pats and Eddy...

Santé!

A tag, a moment of Zen, and a request for a volunteers

I've been tagged by mon amie Blue Vicar for the following blog game: Pick up a book on the top of your book stack, turn to page 123, read the first five sentences, then post the next three sentences. (Tagging is a thing bloggers do for fun and traffic.)

So, being a good sport, here's my contribution, in French, of course, from Le Resquilleur du Louvre/The Squatter in the Louvre, one of the books from Linguality. (I believe the narrator is looking at a shop window.)

"Ce torse imposant, à coup sûr. Mais ces longues jambes de femme semblaient n'avoir aucune chance de remplir un pantalon kaki à larges poches latérales. Quant à cet angelot, il devrait attendre Pâques ou la Mi-carême pour connaître la gloire d'une vitrine."

Rough translation:

"An imposing torso, for sure. But these long, female legs seem unlikely to fill out khaki pants with large side pockets. As for the little angel, he ought to wait for Easter or mid-Lent to experience the glory of being in a window display."

Contemplate that, why doncha?

By the rules of the process, I should "tag" someone else (or even a few people) to continue. Since I'm shy, let me know if you have a blog and want to play along. I'll tag the first three who respond.

Trucs, Part I: Politics, food, culture, web stuff

Francophilia galore:

• Politique reborn. Boz, the blogger whose site Politique closed down earlier this year, is back with Sarkozy the American, a similar mix of observations on the French political scene. A welcome return!
• Meringues, as a matter of style. A writer from The New York Times remembers fondly a French friend who could throw together a dinner party menu in about six seconds. One secret: a dessert made with meringues. Here's the formula.
• Just when you thought the "Death of French Culture" was dead. The Cultural Services of the French Embassy has made available "A Letter to Our American Friends," a translation of the "official" French response to the much-discussed Time magazine article.
• Do you iGoogle? If so, Samantha of The French Corner has put together a theme/wallpaper that might add a little French flair to your homepage.
• Gay, Ex-pat, living in Toulouse, Part II: I erred last week in suggesting that CyberFrance: Lost in France had this territory all to himself. Here's another: France Tales, a melange of photos, videos, and observations. There may be more...
• What's new for the French traveler? The Independent (U.K.) offers a list of some of this year's new options for exploration: The Wellington Quarries in Arras, Lourdes's 150th, the Toulouse version of Vélib’, tours for the family, etc.

I know I'm forgetting something. Will add as the day passes.

There will be nombrilisme*

Patching together a post out of odds and ends. Look for thematic connections only at your peril.

• Sarko's work ethic. After rallying the troops during his election campaign with declarations that France needs to devote itself to hard work, it does seem as if the omnipresident has lost his way, doesn't it? I suppose if you want to become a jet setter, the French presidency is as good a platform as any.
• French soap. So I said to myself this morning, what haven't you written about? And I responded, "Soap." Easier said than done. To be continued...
• Reading the dictionary. My favorite on-line French-English dictionary is WordReference.com. Beyond its functionality,the word forums are a fun spot to linger and get help if you need help with translating.
• Montpelier. A brief visitors' guide, courtesy of The Telegraph. I couldn't get too excited about the article, but someone out there may find it useful.
• Gay, American, living in Toulouse? That would be CyberFrance.
• By the way. Anyone know anything about French soap? Other than L'Occitane?
• "I got carried away." That's my favorite (alleged) quote (as reported by The Daily Record) from Jérôme Kerviel, the Soc Gen trader whose deals at one point may have exceeded the entire worth of the bank. You know how these things are.
• You can take the boy out of Utah. Mitt Romney couldn't leave the presidential race without one last swipe at the French. (HT Miquelon.)
• Well, Mitt Romney isn't doing anything these days. A British poet, a candidate for membership in the prestigious l'Académie française, failed to get the required number of votes. But so did everyone else who was up for election. (BBC & Le Figaro.)
• Ending on a positive note: 100,000. The French Journal had its 100,000th hit last night, probably around 8:00 PM. I had intended to celebrate but missed the event. Whoever you were, I love you.

* = Navel gazing.

Tecktonik

Over at The Christian Science Monitor, of all places, there's a story about Tecktonik, the dance style that started in the streets of Paris and is now sweeping across Europe (to use a hackneyed phrase). "At first glance it looks tribal or even charismatic – arms flail, legs juke." All to the beat of electronic music. To be honest, I am reminded of some of my old disco moves, although I couldn't attempt them now without putting my doctor on alert. What makes this all seem different is that you can view the best practitioners on YouTube in videos like the one that heads this post. For lots more, including music playlists, go over to Teck-Addict.

Updates, marginalia, blog entries, technical notes, etc.

Lots of small stuff:

• Bruni/Sarkozy, wedding (and child?): That's today's rumor. Let's hope it's true, so we can get it over with and all move on. I read about the pregnancy somewhere.
• French president of Facebook (not): The French press gave "massive publicity" to a young Frenchman who was elected "President of Facebook." (The Times U.K.) The problem? It's a honorary title, with no connection to the company, and essentially meaningless.
• Bremner steal, #1 - Patrick Poivre D'Arvor: Charles Bremner has an entertaining post about Patrick Poivre D'Arvor, the most popular newsman in France. A gaggle of PPDA's staffers have written a "tell-all" book which portrays him as a major league asshole jerk.
• Bremner steal, #2 - The death of "The Death of French Culture" (with in-breeding) -- Bremner also reports that PPDA's brother, Olivier, or "OPDA," has written the official French response to Time magazine's "Death of French Culture" article of a few months back. He disagrees with the notion. (Surprise!) On the other hand, after several tries on different computers, I've yet to get the Cultures France site to load properly so I can read the response; maybe French culture isn't dead, but Cultures France ain't in good health.

(There are so many connections to ponder in this point -- Bremner to Bremner to OPDA to PPDA to Time and so on -- that it's easier to give up. Plus I'm not done cribbing from The Times (U.K.). More to come tomorrow.)

• Lumière winners - "The French Golden Globes" gave its major movie prizes to Le Scaphandre et le Papillon/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for best French picture of 2007 and best actor (Mathieu Amalric), to Abdellatif Kechiche as best director for La Graine et le mulet/The Secret of the Grain, and Marion Cotillard as best actress for La Môme/La Vie en Rose.
• Technical note #1: The Tocqueville Connection seems to be back in business, after its URL disappeared last week.
• Technical note #2: For those of you who send me notes, I have a new e-mail address: lateboston@gmail.com.

Truc: France was a jungle

I love science articles that trumpet events which happened gazillion years ago as hot news, and here’s one of the latest: France was a jungle. A study in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, as reported on MSNBC, revealed that a substance called “quesnoin,” usually found in the Amazon, has been discovered near the Oise River, leading to speculation that our beloved hexagon was once covered by a dense forest-like thicket. From what I’ve been reading on science blogs, since this circumstance was in effect 55-million years ago, there is no immediate connection to greenhouse gasses and global warming of the recent kind, although it is tempting to blame George Bush anyway for the destruction of this environment.

I’ve tried to get to the original material on the JOOC website, but if it’s there, it’s written in a language that consists mostly of chemical diagrams and titles like “Polar Hetero-Diels-Alder Reactions of 4-Alkenylthiazoles with 1,2,4-Triazoline-3,5-diones: An Experimental and Computational Study.” Fascinating stuff...

In any event, feel free to provide your own punchline. “55 million years ago? Have you been to the Place du Tertre lately? Those artists are animals…”

Bonne année à tous!