Category: Fourre-tout

A little bit of everything

Flaky French Flicks

The unbearable lightness of being… a French movie watcher.

My main reason for subscribing to TV5 (a French TV channel) is that it is totally devoid of commercials.
On TV5 you can watch news, documentaries or movies without being pelted every few minutes with a slew of ads.
That is good, that is very good.

citygirl1What is not so good though is the quality of the movies shown there.
It seems that many French film directors have embraced the peculiar notion that movie endings should be left to the viewers’ imagination.
Absolute non-sense!

After leading you on for 90 minutes, the director don’t think it necessary to conclude, to tie up the loose ends, to let you know who killed the widow.
To me, it feels like Coitus Interruptus. Or like being suddenly dropped in the middle of the New Mexico wilderness.

Talking about New Mexico, one of the most satisfying endings I have seen lately is the final episode of “Breaking bad”. All the villains (including fallen angel Heisenberg) die in a hail of bullets.
No ambiguous wishy-washy ending here. Just a good old-fashion bloody American resolution!

I sometimes wonder if the French scriptwriters ran out of ideas or if the producers ran out of money. In France, with Socialism in full bloom, money and ideas are in very short supply.
Either way, it is extremely annoying.

The most irritating part of it all is that a TV viewer has no immediate way of expressing his disapproval. He just endures.
That’s why I prefer the theater.
A live performance provides immediate feedback.
Judging by the public’s reactions, the author, the director, the actors, everybody immediately knows if spectators are enjoying the show.

The future of television lies with Interactive TV. In time to come, with the click of a button, viewers will be able to give immediate feedback to producers.
Producers will instantly know what’s pleasing or annoying and this might discourage them from churning out more schlocky, pretentious, open-ended movies.

No more “we leave it to you” artsy endings.
When watching a movie, all I want is a neatly wrapped conclusion with a bow on it.

Est-ce trop demander? (Is that too much to ask?)

I think not.

Alain

We want you

Kitchener-Poster-Recruitment-Poster-Featuring-Kitchener-You-are-the-Man-I-WantMost everybody in the Bay Area is aware that La Boule d’Or, the San Francisco pétanque club is in big trouble.
After years of glory, the second oldest club in the United States is on the verge of collapse.
It barely manages to attract a handful of players and its tournaments are sparsely attended.
It is obvious that the club needs help to stave off disaster.

But La Boule d’Or’s predicament is not unique.

Many pétanque clubs are steadily losing members and something needs to be done to counter this trend.

The problem in San Francisco and in Marin County is that these clubs were originally founded by native Frenchmen and attracted mainly French players.
Many of these old-timers passed away and practically none of their children (eager to conform with their American peers) took up that sport.

IMG_2944I said practically none because fortunately there are exceptions.
And the exceptions are Agnes and Gilbert Sonet.
Early on, this nice French couple instilled in their son Noah the love of pétanque. He started playing at 3 ½  and now at 11 he is already a remarkable player.
I predict that this boy will undoubtedly improve with age and soon be somebody to reckon with.
We need more people like Agnes and Gilbert… I think that we should look for ways to clone Noah.

But seriously… The only pétanque clubs thriving in America are clubs headed by younger Americans. And rightly so.
They have the savvy and the energy that many older French people don’t have anymore.

So what can we do to promote pétanque?

It seems to me that we need some incentive. We need to dangle some kind of carrot in front of youthful individuals to incite them to set foot on our fields.

What kind of carrot?  I don’t know.
I leave it to you readers to provide answers. Let me know if you have a killer idea susceptible to snare potential recruits.

If you do, I am pretty sure that our club could find a nice way to reward the person with  the best workable suggestion.

Get your brain in gear… On your mark, get set, go!

Alain

Self love

Technology has made it too easy for selfies (self-portraits taken at arm’s length or with a mirror) to grow and multiply.
It wouldn’t be that bad if the impulsive young adults (?) doing so could pause for a minute and resist the urge of immediately posting their artwork on the Internet.

When you post something on the Internet, you make a Faustian bargain. You exchange you soul for very few worldly gains.
Immediately after set free, the selfie takes a life of its own and spreads like wild fire.
Like a wicked boomerang it can fly and come back at the speed of sound and smack you when you least expect it. It might go around the world a few times, but like a homing pigeon it will never get lost.
It knows where you live and will find you.

Even after burning, a Phoenix-like selfie will rises from its ashes and come back to haunt you.
Taking a picture of your private parts and sending it (in confidence of course) to a “friend” is always risky business.
Some politicians learned this at their own expenses.

Photo on 3-24-14 at 3.21 PMA “safe” selfie, is no selfie at all.
But if you absolutely cannot resist the urge of going public, post a camouflaged selfie.
Or a picture showing only the face. Boobs, bums and zizis are verboten. Unless you are Kim Kardashian (who thrives on commercializing her assets), anything below the neck can be and will be used against you.

Very few things today can remain private.
If you “google” yourself on the Internet, you will be surprised to discover how much of your private life has become public knowledge.

Before posting a selfie on the web, sleep on it.
In the morning, send it to yourself and try to figure out the effect it will have on “friends”, relatives and frenemies.
You might even show it to your dog. If he yawns it might safe to proceed. If he wags his tail, watch out.

Alain

PS: Even after sleeping on it, I couldn’t resist the urge of posting a selfie. I am pretty confident that nobody will recognize me.

Sonoma 4 balls singles. To look at some  photos of this event and listen to accompanying background music, turn the sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page.