Charb's poignantly prophetic last cartoon for Charlie Hebdo

After the events of Wednesday, when armed gunmen shot and killed 12 people at the offices in Paris of the French satirical weekly "Charlie Hebdo", there's little that hasn't been said, written or reported, both within France and abroad.

As a tribute to those who died here are two images.

The first is a screenshot taken for the weekly news magazine "L'Obs". It's the very last cartoon drawn by "Charlie Hebdo's" editor, Stéphane Charbonnier or "Charb", who was one of those killed in the attack.

It's tragically predictive with the headline reading, "Toujours pas d'attentats en France?" "Still no attacks in France?" and an armed Islamist militant saying, "Attendez" or "Wait".
"On a jusqu'à la fin janvier pour présenter ses vœux "We have until the end of January to present our New Year's wishes" - a satire on the French (political and social) tradition of wishing others a happy New Year throughout the whole of the month.

Charb's last cartoon (screenshot from "L'Obs")

And the second powerful image is that of the front cover of Thursday's edition of the national daily Libération.

No translation needed.

Libération front cover tribute to "Charlie Hebdo"

Friday's French music break - Carmen Maria Vega, "Oser les larmes"

Friday's French music break this week is from a musical.

It's "Oser les larmes", sung by Carmen Maria Vega who plays the lead role in the show billed as "the musical spectacle of the new season" in the shape of "Mistinguett, Reine des années folles"

Carmen Maria Vega (screenshot performing "Oser les larmes" RTL le Grand Studio, September, 2014)

Now, don't groan, be misled or become all snooty at the idea of a musical - and a French one at that (yes they exist) because "Mistinguett" distinguishes itself by Vega's performance and voice for starters and the inspiration for the show, Jeanne Bourgeois.

She was a French actress and singer who began her career at cabaret venues in Paris before taking her show to across the Pond to become a Music Hall star in the States.

"Mistinguett" is produced by Albert Cohen, a man who has had a hand in some of the most popular musicals in France in recent years including "Les Dix Commandements", "Le Roi Soleil", "Mozart, l'opéra rock" and most recently "1789: Les Amants de la Bastille" - all of which were huge domestic successes.

So the man knows how to put "bums on seats".

The musical cleverly portrays part of Mistinguett's life - and that of the history of the Casino de Paris - in the "Golden Twenties", complete with singers, musicians, actors and dancers who, "tell the story of the creation of the first vaudeville show and one that Broadway."

The show hasn't left the critics indifferent. Benoît Tourné writing for Musical Avenue.fr questioned who would be the "core target audience" (the elderly who might still remember Mistinguett or the young unfamiliar with her) but admitted the show was "excellently crafted...seductive and not to be missed."

And Sophie Delassein in "l'Obs" said the show was "unlike any other musical" and one whose success lay "in combining new songs with those from the era in which the production is set."

The real star (and "find" if you like - at least to a wider public) though is 30-year-old Guatemalan-born Vega, whose performance is stunning: she really is Mistinguett, and reason enough for seeing the show as well as discovering some of the other work she has already done (visit her official site and check out her tribute album to Boris Vian for example).

"Mistinguett, Reine des années folles" opened at the Casino de Paris in September and will run until January before going on a nationwide tour.

Fleur Pellerin - the French minister of culture who hasn't read a book for two years

Here's a question for you.

What was the last book you read?

Don't worry if you can't remember.

Or if your answer is that you haven't picked up on for a few months or even years.

Because you're not alone.

Fleur Pellerin (screenshot - clip from Le Supplément, Canal +)

Astonishingly enough (perhaps - although nothing should come as a surprise with what some might - unkindly - describe as the motley crew currently governing France)the country's minister of culture, Fleur Pellerin revealed at the weekend that she hasn't read a book for the past couple of years.

The admission came during Sunday's edition of Le Supplément on Canal + as Pellerin was being interviewed by the programme's host, Maïtena Biraben.

While waxing lyrical about a lunch she had shared with this year's winner of the Nobel prize for literature - French author Patrick Modiano - Pellerin was asked which of his books was her favourite.

The minister probably wished the ground would open up before her, as she let out the longest, "Er", smiling (or was that grimacing) with embarrassment before coming clean.

"I have to admit - without any difficulty - that I've not really had the time to read for the past two years," she said.

"I read a lot of notes, a lot of legislative texts, news, AFP stories, but I read very little otherwise."

A visibily gobsmacked Biraben gently pointed out that perhaps it was time to read something by Modiano who was, after all, "The Nobel prize winner this year."

All right, all right, culture isn't just about reading books. There's painting, music, sculpture, dance, theatre...heck a whole panoply of arts.

But from a country which has such a proud and rich literary tradition, and from the minister of culture to boot, such a disclosure comes as something of a shock...and of course opened the door for a deluge of criticism on social media.

That said, there was also support from some quarters for the 41-year-old's honesty.

Writing in L'Obs (Le Nouvel Observateur's new name) Dom Bochel Guégan defended Pellerin, saying that she had been "principled enough to recognise her ignorance and to admit it quite simply" and that maybe (as junior minister for Small and Medium-sized enterprises, innovation and the digital economy and then, since August, switching to the culture minister portfolio)  "she had perhaps been a little too busy over the past two years to find time to read."

True - after all politics is a full time job in itself.

Still...

Quand la Ministre de la Culture explique qu'elle n'a pas lu de livre depuis 2 ans! sur WAT.tv