Adriana Karembeu remarriage hoax - hilarious...not

If you blog, it doesn't really pay to be too precious about what you write.

If perchance I should see my own words staring back from the screen at me but in a piece (apparently) written by someone else (and yes, it has happened) then I shrug and smile.

All right, so some credit, mention or link back to the original piece might be nice.

But what the heck?

(Mis)Information on the Net is widely available to everyone and although it might not exactly be ethical (what's that then?) or good practice, the copy and paste brigade enjoy taking shortcuts.

So be it.

What about from the consumer's end though? As a regular Net user - whether simply reading or maybe researching - it's probably wise to pull up more than one source on a story just so that you can get a complete a picture as possible.

After all that's a practice all journalists are taught...although some might forget it.

And if the site you find is new, then maybe do a little digging to find out who's behind what's written and any agenda there might be.

In other words, check your source before you go ahead and quote something as "gospel".

There was apparently a rumour last week that former top model Adriana Karembeu was about to remarry.

"Apparently" - just how unsubstantiated can you get - because there didn't actually seem to be more than one source.

It appeared briefly on Yahoo news and then disappeared.

Adriana Karembeu (screenshot from Omega TV interview February 2013)

Even after typing "Adriana Karembeu" (after all that's the name by which she's probably still best known) "marriage" and "remariage" (French spelling) and "se serait mariée" just for good measure into everybody's favourite (???) search engine, the only recent page to be "reporting" the story was from what appeared to be a celebrity gossip website Mediamass.

Sure there were the usual culprits such as Public or Jean-Marc Morandini suggesting the 41-year-old was about to tie the knot in Marrakesh.

But that story dated back to September 2011, just six months after the model famous for legs that seemed to extend to her ears and beyond had split with her husband of almost 13 years, former French international Christian Karembeu.
with

So Mediamass - a relatively new player in online celebrity gossip and available in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Chinese.

It insisted that Karembeu had remarried last weekend, citing a leading daily Slovakian newspaper without providing any link.

Alarm bells!

Suspicions were further aroused by the most peculiar of copyright claimers at the end of the Karembeu piece...and every other "story" on the site as it turned out.

"Tous droits réservés. Reproduction interdite (même avec autorisation)" or "All rights reserved. Do not reproduce (even with permission)".

What was that supposed to mean?

And then the proverbial penny dropped especially when a link was added the following day; one that claimed the "story seemed to be false".

It was all one huge wind-up.

The site's raison d'être is to "use satire to expose with humour, exaggeration and ridicule the contemporary mass production and mass consumption," its authors observe.

And what better place to start with than the world of celebrity gossip?

Ha, ha, ha. Sides splitting.

The only problem, as more than one person pointed out in the comments section, is that it takes a certain amount of talent to satirise something or someone and to make it appear witty and clever.

All this particular Karembeu piece (and a similar one reporting her "death hoax") and other pieces on the site seemed to do was present an already dubious story in the most lame manner possible and for whom or for what?

"Not to change the world," apparently, but "at least to have a laugh while trying".

Oh well. It takes all sorts perhaps.

Nadine Morano's multicultural culinary recipe for not being branded a racist

She's at it again.

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your radio or telly, up pops former minister Nadine Morano with the latest "proof" that she's anything but a racist.

Last week, you might remember, she managed to put both feet decidedly in her mouth at the same time by claiming that she couldn't possibly be accused of being racist because, "Some of her closest friends were Arabs."

And if anyone needed proof of just how open and accepting she was they only had to look at the fact that her best friend, "Was originally from Chad and so even blacker than an Arab."

Never one to know quite when its time to stop, Morano this week has gone all culinary to prove her multicultural credentials.

Nadine Morano (screenshot from Jean-Marc Morandini show on Europe 1)

She was the guest on Jean-Marc Morandini's show on Europe 1 radio on Wednesday morning and of course one of the questions she was asked was about the brouhaha caused by her comments the previous week.

Morano defended herself (to the best of her ability) giving the context in which her...er..."clumsy" references had been made and then, just for good measure throwing in suitable ingredients (of the edible sort) just to drive home how badly her comments had been misinterpreted.

"Actually I don't need to justify myself because I'm not a racist although I'm more of a fan of the classic pizza rather than the 'oriental' one mentioned in a supposedly humorous sketch which had preceded my comments," she explained before happily clodhopping her way on.

"On the other hand, I absolutely adore couscous and the traditional (North African) egg brik."

Groan.

Nobody in the studio seemed to find what was later reported as Morano's attempt to raise a laugh, in the least bit amusing.

The big question perhaps is not when this woman will stop.

It seems to be a foregone conclusion that although she no longer a parliamentarian, let alone a member of the government, she cannot keep out of the limelight and is similarly incapable of not dropping a clanger.

No, the real issue must be that of when will journalists and radio or television hosts stop inviting her on to their programmes and giving her a platform from which to lumber from one idiotic statement to the next?

The answer -  it seems - is not any time soon.

So with that thought it mind, dear reader, here's a solemn promise.

This is the very last time you'll read a piece on Nadine Morano here...until the next time that is.

Fanny Ardant's (almost) radio silence

Asking open-ended questions is surely a golden rule of broadcast journalism.

In fact it's pretty much a guaranteed way of getting anyone to open up and talk no matter what the situation might be.

Fanny Ardant (screenshot from "Nos retrouvailles")

Open-ended questions will (essentially) give the person - in the case which follows, the one being interviewed - the chance to answer with more than just a simple "yes" or "no".

Sadly in France, all too often, a radio or television journalist will pose a mammoth question which, you just know, is going to elicit a response that'll probably end up being shorter.

It's a style which seems to be the accepted norm rather than the exception.

Maybe it's journalists wanting to show just how much they understand the subject under discussion.

Or perhaps they have inflated egos and are all-too-engrossed in themselves and their "take" on the matter, to the detriment of the person they're supposed to be interviewing.

Of course, it's a generalisation. Some can simply pose a pertinent question and the wait for the answer.

There are some very good interviewers with years of experience and capable of teasing a response - even from the most recalcitrant guest.

One such example is Jean-Marc Morandini, who hosts (among other things) a daily one-hour show on Europe 1 radio and a similar programme on one of the country's TNT channels, Direct 8, in the evenings.

All right, they're not exactly mind-stretching or highbrow. Morandini specialises in celebrity gossip and the media, and has a blog (which he's constantly promoting) that's not for anyone wanting a scholarly approach to news.

But even with his years of experience, Morandini sometimes finds himself up against a tough nut to crack, as was the case on Wednesday morning during an interview with one of France's finest actresses, Fanny Ardant.



She had been invited on to the show to talk about her role in the made-for-television film "Nos retrouvailles" scheduled to be screened on France 2 television in the evening and for which she had received some glowing critics (even if the film itself was less lauded).

But as you can hear from the interview, Ardant was being less than co-operative - and a ropey telephone line probably didn't help much.

You can clearly hear Morandini struggling to keep the flow going, although somehow he made it with a laugh of relief to the end of two-and-a-half minutes which includes pauses that were not so much pregnant as they were laboured (ouch).

It's all in French of course.

It raises a smile, but equally the listener is as grateful as the presenter when it's wrapped up.

l'incroyable interview de Fanny Ardant sur Europe 1 Vidéo jeanmarcmorandini sélectionnée dans Replay TV

Samy Messaoud's (not so) "shocking" naked video - "Je suis gay"

French singer Samy Messaoud has reinvented the wheel, musically speaking.

Samy Messaoud (screenshot from "Je suis gay" video)

The 25-year-old from the western city of Nantes, who refers to himself as "Samylechanteur" on his blog, has come up with the brainstormingly original idea that "sex might help sell" when it comes to promoting his latest single "Je suis gay" (there's probably no need for a translation).

He appears completely naked in certain scenes of the song's video, flashing his private parts, and accompanied by an equally unclad man and woman.

"I decided to break down the taboo of nudity and without a doubt the clip has gone a bit far," admits Messaoud.

"It's a beautiful video, very elegant, but one in which I dance naked on several occasions with a girl and a boy who are also naked," he continues.

"I have no complex about showing myself naked and it's just too bad for those who are embarrassed - they simply don't have to watch."

No truer word has e'er been said.

If you want to see his wobbly bits wiggling to some trashy music, then just take a look at the video below.

Caution is advised though.

It's probably appropriate to follow the example set by journalist Jean-Marc Morandini whose site carries the warning that certain images contained within the video "might shock" especially those of tender years.

While there's no denying their clearly sexual nature: French kissing, simulated oral sex and tongues just about everywhere, there have certainly been equally "shocking" videos circulating on the Net and broadcast on MTV.

Perhaps the most disturbing or distressing element is that Messaoud actually believes the clip makes the mindless music any more palatable.

You have been warned.

Here goes.

It's awful.



The lyrics - if you're interested - were written by Ton Andries and are...er...how to put this politely...dumb.

They recount (ooh there's a rather overambitious word to describe them) a young boy dressing up in his mother's clothes and dreaming of taking to the catwalk one day.

About the song and its title Messaoud says, "I'm gay and I assume it 100 percent. I just wanted to prove that one can sing and be gay because today so many artists still hide it (their sexuality)."

Really? Obviously he knows something the rest of us don't.

But then, his creativity and words of wisdom clearly know no bounds.

French woman receives six-month suspended sentence for smacking her child

Screenshot from Council of Europe video "Raise your hand against smacking"

"Yes I was smacked and it never did me any harm. In fact I deserved it," said one caller to Jean-Marc Morandini's 'phone-in programme on Europe 1 radio on Thursday.

"Smacking is not the same as child abuse, don't try to exaggerate," said another.

Both were responding to comments by Morandini's invited guest, paediatrician Edwige Antier, who was on the show to talk about spanking and the need for a law in France to ban it.

Antier was defending a ruling earlier this week in which a court in northern France gave a woman a six-month suspended sentence and ordered her to receive psychological counselling, after finding her guilty of wilful violence towards a minor for having slapped her nine-year-old daughter.

The incident that led to the woman being found guilty dates back to last December.

As reported in the French media, the woman, who had apparently been drinking, slapped her daughter during an argument at home.

The girl ran out of the house and into the street where she was intercepted by a passerby who happened to be a social worker.

Seeing the state the girl was in, the social worker took her to the nearest police station.

Her mother was then brought in for questioning and charged.

"The punishment is totally out of proportion," said the woman's lawyer, Alice Cohen-Sabban, after the suspended sentence was handed down.

"She has never needed social services to intervene for anything, she has never been convicted and although she had been drinking when the incident happened she is not an alcoholic," Cohen-Sabban told Agence France Presse.

But that's not quite how Antier sees it - or any other case of smacking come to that.

And when Morandini asked her whether she found the ruling "normal" the 68-year-old, who is also a member of parliament for the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) and tabled a bill in 2009 to make domestic corporal punishment unlawful in France, was quite clear about where she stands.

"Imagine you were faced with someone you knew who was much larger than you and had been drinking, and they turned round and hit you," she retorted.

"Would you find that normal?

"The law as it stands at the moment gives a mother the right to hit a child, and even a babysitter, if the motive is 'an educational one'," she continued.

"But the mother should be a 'protector' and what's needed in France is a law, as exists in 18 other European countries, abolishing the right parents have to hit a child."

Not many of the callers to the programme seemed to agree with her.

Nor did a lot of the comments left on French websites such as that of Le Point or Radio France Internationale in reaction to the suspended sentence handed down to the woman and the issue of smacking in general.

Ranging from " it doesn't do any harm," through "limits need to be set and children have to be disciplined" to "the sentencing in this case will just do more harm than good to the family and especially the girl involved," it certainly seems as though Antier's views put her in the minority.

And that's perhaps not surprising as a poll conducted among health professionals in France just last year showed that 88 per cent of them were against the introduction of a law banning smacking.

Domestic corporal punishment, of which smacking is one form, is against the law in many European countries, but not in France.

In 2008 the Council of Europe launched its "Raise your hand against smacking campaign" and called on all member states to pass laws prohibiting all forms of corporal punishment of children, including smacking.

Red Bull cartoon commercial is too sexy for French TV

Well who would have thought it?

The French being "prudish" about nudity and sex on TV - at least when it comes to commercials.

The latest offering from the makers of the energy drink Red Bull is not being allowed to air on French telly even though there has been self-censorship to cover the appendages that might cause offence to those of a sensitive disposition.

The commercial, with the theme "Plage Nudiste" (or nudist beach) features two cartoon characters in the altogether.

Plage nudiste, (screenshot from Red Bull commercial)

A young man politely asks a woman lounging in a deck chair if he may spread his towel next to her, and she gives him the go-ahead, lowering her sunglasses to get a better look.

As she offers him a Red Bull, which she says, "stimulates the spirit and the body," the man becomes...well sexually excited...before rushing off embarrassed.

And she's left laughing, remarking that "unfortunately Red Bull also gives you wings", the slogan used in all publicity for the energy drink.

Harmless stuff you might have thought especially in a country where real-life floppy bits and dangly pieces haven't exactly been hidden from viewers - young and old - during the past 10 years of tasteful reality TV.

While the television watchdog Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel, CSA might find the commercial unsuitable for the small screen, comments to the site of radio host Jean-Marc Morandini seem, by and large, to find it "amusing'" and "far from shocking".

What do you think?



Red Bull only became available in France three years ago.

The country slapped a ban on the sale of the drink back in 1996 because of concerns about the one of its key ingredients, taurine, which it feared could cause a health risk.

It wasn't until 2008 after pressure from the European Commission that France lifted the ban and allowed Red Bull to appear in shops for the first time - in its original recipe.

Plage Nudiste won't be aired on television but it will reportedly be shown in cinemas from February 9.

Go figure!

Cathy Sarraï - the death of the French Super Nanny

Tributes have been rolling in thick and fast after the death was announced on Wednesday of Cathy Sarraï.

Don't worry if you've never heard of her. The name - until this week - probably wasn't familiar to most French.

But her face was known to millions as she was the woman who shot to fame as the country's Super Nanny in the television programme of the same name.

Just hours after the announcement of her death, tributes sprung up all over the Net from those she had helped and others who had simply been moved by the programme in which she had appeared.

A rap group posted a hommage on YouTube and M6, the channel which broadcast the show in which Sarraï appeared, said it would be airing a special programme this coming weekend dedicated to her.



A reality TV programme based on the British equivalent and successfully exported around the world, the French version of Super Nanny began in 2005 and featured "Cathy" as she was better knwn helping parents cope with children who were "out of control".

With her trademark heavy-rimmed rectangular glasses, tailored black uniform and hair severely tied back in a bun, Sarraï could have seemed almost a caricature of the role she filled in first observing and then helping parents put in place a set or rules that would help them handle otherwise seemingly unmanageable children.

But read through many of the comments left on sites after the announcement of her death was made public, and it becomes clear that a lot of viewers, families she had helped and headline writers saw much more in the role she personified than a simple disciplinarian.

"A national icon" is how the weekly news magazine, L'Express, led its story. "Sadness on Twitter," reported the weekly celebrity magazine, Voici and radio broadcaster Jean-Marc Morandini devoted a portion of his morning show taking calls from listeners who wanted to pay tribute to her.

Born Kalthoum Sarraï in Tunis on September 25, 1962, Sarraï was one of seven children.

She was engaged at the age of 14, married at 16 and after arriving in France in 1979 gave birth to three children.

Sarraï did a number of odd jobs before qualifying as a professional child carer and obtaining a diploma and a nursery nurse assistant, which allowed her to become a nanny.

"Mine was something of an unusual path," she wrote in her autobiography, published in 2006.

"While in Tunis I lived in the heart of the family sheltered from everything and then I came to Paris and leapt into the unknown," she continued.

"In France I had to learn everything: the language, customs, my job."

Her big break came in 2005 when she was introduced to millions of television viewers as "Cathy" the nation's Super Nanny, a role she made her own over the next four years.

Cathy Sarraï died on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday aged 47 after a long battle against lung cancer.