Friday's French music break - Étienne Daho, "En surface"

Friday's French music break this week is from a singer who first broke on to the music scene back in 1981.

It's "En surface", the most recent single from Étienne Daho and taken from his 2013 album "Les Chansons de l'innocence retrouvée"

Étienne Daho (screenshot from official video of "En surface".

As you can tell, Daho has been around a while and has built up a firm and loyal fan base and has become (in the words of the promotional blurb) "one of the most influential personalities to have emerged on the French scene in the last 30 years"

Part of the problem (for those not quite so enamoured of his music) is that Daho seems to have been "singing"  (inverted commas entirely intentional as he has a "voice" that surely only the French could "love") variations of the same song since the 1980s.

And in fact, he appears to be well and truly stuck in that era, offering up little that is sparklingly different, not to mention tuneful and instead relying on a tried and tested recipe of electro-pop "synth-driven and rock-surf influenced" (his English language Wikipedia entry, so you know it must be right). music which has, admittedly, served him well over the decades.

Very well in fact with every album turning gold or platinum and a slew of successful singles.

Granted "the familiarity factor" could probably be said to be true for many artists who've proven their longevity, but in the process, Daho just sounds too moody and bored when he sings. Don't you think?

"En surface" is one of those songs that you hear and wish would be over quickly because the melody and the "low whispery voice" have a combined soporific effect (for some) which will simply send you off to the Land of Nod.

All right. That's not exactly fair - just an opinion.

There are plenty around who have enjoyed, and continue to do so, Daho's music. And the album from which this track was taken, received some pretty good reviews when it was released.

Writing in Le Journal du dimanche, critic Éric Mandel described "Les Chansons de l'innocence retrouvée" as an "ambitious and elegant album" and one that was "sumptuous with songs that stood out for their emotional power."

Oh well.

And then there are the diehard fans, some of whose comments on the "En surface" video on YouTube are equally gushing

"Magnifique chanson , magnifique clip, magnifique chanteur, magnifique voix !" for example. Really, you shouldn't need to run that throught Google translate.

Or

"Une très belle chanson."

And

"Ma chanson préférée de l'album.....octobre est encore loin  pour revivre la magie de ses concerts."

Ah October...and the "Diskönoir" tour which will, over the next few months, see Daho take the show on the road around France (with three dates at Olympia in Paris) Belgium and Luxembourg, plus a date in London on October 23.

Ready? Judge for yourselves.

Actually it's not so bad after a dozen or so hearings....

Health insurance company's mixed message?

Television advertisements can be a wonderful, don't you think?

Imaginative, creative, inspiring, amusing - take your pick.

And for the less enthusiastic, well they provide the chance to channel hop or pop to the loo when the commercial break interrupts TV viewing.

Currently showing on French telly is a spot for the health insurance company, Malakoff Médéric.

It's a 30 second salutary reminder of the importance of health insurance and showing us how we can be inspired by the younger generation.

screenshot from Musique de Pub's YouTube channel

It features a young cyclist who, first of all, rides past a woman trying to hail a taxi.

The cyclist reaches over and rings the bell of a rental bike, one of many in a rack close to where the woman is standing. A less-than-subtle message that it would be a healthier option - as the woman heads over to them.

Next up, some workmen, with the cyclist tapping on their helmets, which have been left on a table. As he rides off, the workmen are seen putting them on.

Another subtle message.

Finally, a woman whose glasses have broken. The cyclist stops and gestures towards an opticians. She's last seen entering.

Throughout the commercial, which incidentally uses "Temps à nouveau", the first single from the excellent Jean-Louis Aubert's 1993 album "H" as its soundtrack, there a voiceover telling us (just in case we hadn't got the message) that the young generation fully understands the importance of health insurance and that Malakoff Médéric gives both employees and companies the means to look after our health needs better.

The message is reinforced by the wording on the cyclist's tee-shirt changing throughout the commercial to coincide with each brief encounter: "What do we do to look after our health?" to "less stress", "protection" and "make savings".

All well and good.

Except there's one glaring oversight surely.

The cyclist - so concerned about the health and safety of others - isn't wearing a helmet.

Oh well, never mind. There's no legal requirement to wear one in France and besides some would argue that statistics show they offer little or no protection.

So that's all right then.

Here's the commercial on Musique de Pub's YouTube channel.

"Balancing goats" video goes viral

You know how the Net is awash with videos showing cats (and less often perhaps dogs) doing the cutest, craziest things?

That "aaaah" factor guaranteed to make you smile.

Well the latest animal video to go "viral" is French and features creatures not commonly recognised for being endearing.

Goats


"Max Muro" (that's the name of the user on YouTube) uploaded the antics of his goats as they discovered the joys of a flexible sheet of steel on February 17.

And already it has been viewed more than seven million times.

Balancing goats (screenshot from YouTube video)

"Sunday, around lunch time, " he writes. "The 'family' discovered a new game: I filmed my goats (whose name will remain secret out of respect for their privacy) quite literally swinging"

He apparently only wanted to send the video to a friend but others quickly picked up on it and even (in the second version) set the one minute clip to music.

A great way to begin the week.

Now how do you do those annoying smiley symbols?




VIDÉO - Des chèvres jouent les équilibristes par rtl-fr

Friday's French music break - Jabberwocky featuring Élodie Wildstars, "Photomaton"

Friday's French music break this week is another one of those electro-pop jobs, sung in English.

It's "Photomaton" by the group Jabberwocky featuring the vocals of Élodie Wildstars.

It might well be familiar to some of you as the song has also been used recently in a commercial for the Peugeot 208.

Peugeot 208 Pinocchio commercial (screenshot)

Peugeot's "Pinocchio" is a harmless enough video, unlike the official one, which is both sexually explicit and contains scenes of a man being strangled (how delightful) and has been "age restricted" based on YouTube's "community guidelines".

Still, sex and violence seem to sell with the video having been watched over two million times.

Jabberwocky, also known as JBBRWCK because vowels are clearly superflous when being trendy, are a three piece electro-pop group of...wait for it...medical students from Poitier.

Camille Camara, Emmanuel Bretou et Simon Louis Pasquer met around four years ago, each having already dabbled with music.

Camara and Bretou had apparently played in a school rock band together while Pasquer was into sampling in a hip hop group and did a little mixing too.

(screenshot from official video)

Photomaton is the group's first release and its commercial success (it peaked at number two in France) follows a familiar pattern for acts trying to break through to a wider public...YouTube.

Once they had written the lyrics and the melody and found  Élodie Wildstars to sing lead, it was just a matter of recording, mixing and posting on YouTube (the "official video" came several months later) with a national radio station picking it for its playlist and a Paris record label (Pain Surprise) contacting the group to sign and manage them.

The lyrics, according to Pasquer who wrote them, "tell the rather hazy story of the anger of a girl 'on the edge'."

"They (the lyrics) contrast with the melody which is kind of sweet," he says.

"It's the sort of music you can listen to when you're happy or sad."

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

How about, it's just a pretty good example of electro-pop music and basta?

Anyway, here's an amateur video of the group performing live in Poitiers in October 2013.



For that "age restricted" official video, you can click here.

And of course, there's also the Peugeot commercial for those who cannot get enough of the song.

Friday's French music break - Indila, "Dernière Danse"

Friday's French music break this week is a worm.

Not, not the slithery thing you'll find in the garden, but in the musical sense of "a song that gets stuck in your head and just won't go away".

It's "Dernière Danse", the debut solo single from Indila.

Indila (screenshot from "Dernière Danse" official video)

At first the song doesn't sound up to much.

It's almost as though the melody seems to be undecided as to what exactly it is and where it's going.

The production (by Indila's husband, DJ Skalp) "wanders" at times with the melody not quite knowing what it's supposed to be. But that's probably down to the oriental meets French chanson "fusion". It's a mix which lends the song a certain hypnotic feel.

Because there's a definite oriental flavour to "Dernière Danse" which make it more than the run-of-the-mill sort of French song you might well be used to hearing.

In addition, the 24-year-old (although at the moment she refuses to disclose personal details and her exact age is "whatever the person interviewing her" wishes to give her), who has already sung on releases from the likes of Youssoupha, Rohff and Soprano, also has a pretty "interesting" voice. And that's not being dismissive

What comes across initially (to some ears perhaps) as a somewhat whiny pitch (oh dear, this really isn't "selling" the song or the singer is it?) in fact develops into something very distinctive and well-suited to the unusual melody.

Indila most definitely has a sound which sets her aside from many other female artist you're likely to hear on mainstream radio stations in France.

Perhaps though the comparison to (Edith) Piaf, which she finds flattering, is a little far fetched.

Finally there are the intelligent lyrics which, as Indila says, "recount the history of a young person of foreign origin (in France) facing everyday racism and how that makes her feel."

Anyway, "Dernière Danse" has - with reason - been getting plenty of airplay and is currently at number two in the French charts, only being kept off the top by Pharrell William's "Happy".


And Indila is apparently preparing an album, also produced by her husband.

In the meantime though, here's the official clip of "Dernière Danse" which has already been viewed more than four million times on YouTube.

Give it a listen - and maybe then another.

Bon week-end.

Friday's French music break - Grégoire, "Si tu me voyais"

You know how sometimes you hear a song that you initially start out disliking but gradually discover has grown on you?

Well sadly that's not the case with this week's Friday's French music break.

It's "Si tu me voyais" from Grégoire (Boissenot, to give him his full name) and frankly, it makes the task of convincing sceptics that the French music scene actually has something worth listening to harder than it is at the best of times.

Grégoire (screenshot from the official video for "Si tu me voyais"

The single is the first to be released from Grégoire's latest album  "Les roses de mon silence" and is a strange choice because it's far from being pleasant on the ear.

Ah fans - and there are plenty of them around as Grégoire was the first act to achieve his breakthrough thanks to My Major Company, the label which gives subscribers the possibility to become music producers by investing in up-and-coming artists - will be up in arms no doubt.

But take a listen to some of the other songs on the album, and you'll perhaps wonder why "Si tu me voyais" was chosen as the first single... or even a single at all.

There's the title track for example -  much more in the tradition of a French ballad, complete with piano, voice and accordion.

Or "L'enfance", which is full of emotion and musicality (and a violin)

Still, someone at the record label must know what they're up to and "Si tu me voyais" it is.

All of the comments on Grégoire"s Facebook page are suitable adoring - as you would expect. But there's the odd voice of dissent over at YouTube .

Without doubt the song will please those same fans who first discovered Grégoire with his debut hit  "Toi + Moi" in 2008, but it might leave those who float in an out of his music wondering what the heck and why?

Talent, the 34-year-old has - in abundance - and a voice that distinguishes him (in a positive way) from many other French singers around at the moment.

But this song is simply not his best - far from it.

It begins inoffensively enough; gently upbeat, leading you to believe that it's going to be just another one of those French songs that's pleasant enough to listen to and nothing more.

And then halfway through Grégoire squawks into action, his voice belting out the lyrics in what becomes an assault on the ears (it can't be good for his vocal cords either).

Still, take a listen for yourself - and maybe turn the volume down at a touch at 1 minute and 52 seconds.

Friday's French music break - Cauet, "La fin du Monde"

Friday's French music break this week is from someone who isn't exactly known for his singing prowess.

"Ah," you might be saying. "When did that ever stop anyone?"

Quite.

It comes from French radio and TV presenter and entertainer Sébastien Cauet who ingeniously goes under the name "Cauet".

Cauet (screenshot from official clip)

Taking what was undoubtedly all of five minutes out of his busy daily schedule, Cauet has come up with a timely number that's supposed to raise a smile or two but is actually hard to sit through.

"La fin du monde" ("The end of the world" just in case you really needed the translation) sees the 40-year-old jumping on the Mayan prediction for the "cataclysmic or transformative events" which are supposed to occur on 21 December 2012 - aka the end of the world as we know it.

Cauet struts, raps, croons and hip hops his way through a mess of verbal images and moves which bear a remarkable resemblence to another - more internationally successful clip relying heavily on ridicule, Psy's "Gangnam style".

And it would appear that the over-produced studio "style" is working almost as well for Cauet as it has done for the South Korean singer and entertainer Park Jae-sang (or Psy).

Almost 1,5 million (and counting) have viewed Cauet's "La fin du monde" since it was published on YouTube on November 19 - although there are no stats available to say whether everyone who logged on actually made it to the end...of the clip, that is.

It's truly awful, very "unfunny" and far from having any musical merit.

Or, as many of the comments seem to suggest it's hilarious and worth a mighty LOL!

Oh well. "Enjoy".

Friday's French music break, Camille - "Que je t'aime"

Friday's French music break this week is a song you might well recognise.

"QUE JE T'AIME" - block caps obligatory in the original recording by Johnny Hallyday in 1969 - is one of the French rocker's many signature tunes.

But a new version released on YouTube last month and available now on download transports the song to a different...er..."universe" (in the sense that the music industry seems to use when describing an artist's "style").

It's by singer-songwriter Camille and while the obvious sultriness of the lyrics remains, her interpretation comes across as far more poetic, tender and altogether much more sensual than Hallyday's earhole- blasting rendition.

Camille (screenshot from Taratata interview, October 2011)

Camille's voice is one which she has used almost as an additional instrument on each of her four studio albums - including the latest, "Ilo Veyou", released in October 2011 - and in live performances (see this one of her singing "Ta douleur" on France 2's music programme Taratata for example).

The remake might be a somewhat unpredictable choice for the 34-year-old but at the same time it's entirely in keeping with her ability to deliver something unexpected.

Her music and style has always defied categorisation, making her probably one of France's most gifted - and dare it be said - musically intelligent popular artists.

"Que je t'aime"  is more than delightful, it's an acoustic jewel - revisited.

If you like what she has done to it, then you'll be able to catch her at one of the many summer festivals or in concert during her national tour which runs until March next year including two dates at Olympia in Paris in October (details can be found on her official website).

For now though, here's the teaser available of her interpretation of "Que je t'aime". Sadly there's no official video yet and the visuals are non-existant.

It doesn't really matter too much though.

If you want to compare and contrast to the original by Johnny Hallyday, click on this link.

Happy listening - and have a great weekend.

Wedding party procession brings to Paris ring road to a standstill

A word of warning if you're ever invited to a wedding in Paris.

Make sure you don't get too carried away in the festivities by infuriating other drivers in the capital or worse still the police by joining in the potential havoc of the procession of vehicles making its way from the official ceremony to the reception.

Le Boulevard Périphérique, Porte Maillot (screenshot YouTube video)

You could end up facing a prison sentence, a fine and the suspension of your licence.

That's a lesson two guests learned the hard way after they attended a wedding at the end of April.

After tying the knot, the newlyweds and their cortège made their way on to the four-lane ring road le boulevard périphérique, creating a two-kilometre tailback.

It's a practice which according to police has become "more and more frequent in Paris" and one which "frustrates other motorists caught up in the congestion."

As the accompanying video posted on YouTube last year of a similar marriage cortège on le boulevard périphérique attests, the wedding party might be having fun, but is sure doesn't help the flow of traffic - far from it.



April's celebrations all proved too much for one motorist who put in a call to the police to put an end to the festivities after being caught up in the jam,

When they arrived, the police arrested two guests who had been "weaving from lane to lane without warning"  apparently "unaware that their behaviour constituted a criminal offence."

They now face a court date at the end of May, a possible two-year prison sentence and a €4,500 fine as well as the withdrawal of their licences.

A wedding some certainly won't forget in a hurry.

A French fox with "boules" - 38 of them

A somewhat silly story to see you into the weekend.

It's the discovery by amateur pétanque enthusiast, Patrick Cazes, of who - or rather what - was stealing his boules.

A fox!

(screenshot from YouTube video)

The tale started back at the end of February when Cazes, from the village of Belmont in the southwestern French département of Gers, noticed that some of the boules he left outside at night had started "disappearing".

It didn't stop there though and over the course of the next couple of months, a grand total of 38 boules were taken.

Children in the village messing around and hiding them somewhere else?

That's what Casez thought and, in an effort to catch the culprits he decided to install an infra-red camera on his bowling pitch.

And the video he took and posted on YouTube revealed that the felon was anything other than human but rather fox.

It was a discovery which surprised Casez because as he says there was apparently more interesting fare just a few metres from his private boulodrome.

"There's a henhouse and also some ducks right next to it," he says.

"From the look of things, the fox is a young female," he continued still nonplussed by its behaviour.

"A male would have a sturdier build."

Denis-Richard Blackbourne, an expert in animal behaviour based in Paris was also surprised by the fox's penchant for boules although he admits he has heard of them stealing golf balls.

"What's amazing is that the fox has done this several times," he says.

"Especially as the fox has had the time to realise they cannot be eaten."

As for Casez's hopes of finding the missing 38 boules, Blackbourne is sceptical.

"It'll be difficult as foxes tend to bury what they 'steal'," he says.

"And in addition they don't hide everything in one place."

One things for sure - female or male, this is one fox with balls!

German skit of Merkozy "Rescue summit or Euros for No One"

Now it definitely helps if you speak German for a video that has become something of a hit on YouTube ever since it was first posted on December 28.

Merkozy (screenshot from YouTube clip)

It's a parody of a comedy skit broadcast twice every New Year's Eve on German television.

The original is "Dinner for One", a 1963 sketch featuring British comedian Freddie Frinton as James the butler and May Warren as Miss Sophie, who has sadly outlived all her friends but insists on celebrating her 90th birthday party in style...with places set for each of her guests.

Frinton serves each absent guest a drink with every course and raises a toast to the birthday girl on behalf of those invited.

The result is predictable. Frinton becomes ever tipsier until the final scene in which he is about to escort Warren upstairs with the "hilarious" lines,

"Same procedure as last year Miss Sophie?" asks Frinton.

"The same procedure as every year James," replies Warren.

"Well, I'll do my very best," responds Frinton with a saucy wink and a "Good night."

Perhaps it's a German thing, but it has most definitely become an annual institution.

Some bright spark at ARD, one of Germany's two national public broadcasters, though decided to update the whole thing and make it more...well relevant to a modern-day audience.

Satirist Udo Eling of the channel's Morgenmagazin decided to superimpose the heads of French president Nicolas Sarkozy on James the Butler and...well you've probably guessed the other "character" - Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel as Miss Sophie.

The dialogue is different of course focussing on the relationship of the two who're often collectively called "Merkozy" in the media.

And "absent friends" include the former prime ministers Greece and Spain, Giorgios Papandreou and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as well as UK prime minister David Cameron. Italy's Silvio Berlusconi wasn't invited.

The last line of the parody which has Sarkozy fawning to Merkel, described earlier in the sketch as the "only real statesman Europe has to offer" has the French president asking as they mount the staircase, "Madame Merkel, this time without Eurobonds?"

"Yes of course," she replies.

"As always without Eurobonds."

To which Sarkozy responds, "I'll give you my Triple A Madame Merkel."

Well, maybe it sounds funnier in German.

Enjoy?



And the original "Dinner for One" just in case you're up for it.

Friday's French music break - Zaza Fournier, "Vodka fraise"

Friday's French music break this week is Zaza Fournier's "Vodka fraise".

Zaza Fournier (screenshot from "Vodka Fraise" official video)

It's actually a recommendation from one of France Today's most faithful readers, Debbie from Dordogne.

In a recent email Debbie said of Fournier, "She's the best thing to have happened to French music since Lilicub." For those not in the know, they're a group formed in the early 90s and whose biggest hit to date has been "Voyage en Italie".

Well, who could ignore such unbridled enthusiasm? So a quick search on YouTube for Zaza Fournier produced her latest single, "Vodka fraise."

Actually there's not much else available, as the least that can be said about Fournier is that she is far from being prolific.

Since 2008, the 26-year-old has produced precisely two albums and the same number of singles.

"Vodka fraise" was released in March and is the first (and if the trend continues, potentially the only) single from her album "Regarde moi" which appeared in May.

In a 2009 interview with the magazine Ici Londres, for those French living and working in the British capital, Fournier spoke about her beginnings busking in Paris and how she had almost "fallen into music" before realising the importance it had become in her life.

"I started playing in the streets in Paris and at the time I had no ambition. I simply found it more interesting trying to sell sandwiches to pay for my studies," she said.

"The more I sang, the more I understood I needed to continue doing it and gradually I was invited to play in bars and small venues for about 18 months."

There then followed the self-titled first album, described by the French weekly news magazine L'Express as that of a young woman who "combined rock and multimedia" and whose songs had a "fluorescent retro taste."

Huh?

It gets better for the second because she apparently manages to "alternate smooth, swaying sounds with those of a twisting dashing pop music."

So much for music critics who sometimes sound as though they're writing from where the sun don't shine.

That's a sentiment with which Fournier might perhaps agree as, again in that 2009 interview, she responded to parallels that one French magazine had made between her and Edith Piaf.

Presumably the journalist had been trying to linger on that "singing in the street" start.

"Piaf is part of my musical memories and I've listened to her music time and time again," said Fournier.

"I'm fascinated by her voice, her body, her stage presence and force but nobody can be compared to Piaf, and although I find it flattering it's also absurd."

You tell 'em girl.

The truth of the matter is that Fournier is an artist who clearly doesn't fit neatly into any particular mould and it would be useless to try.

Her character is one she has created but which is also apparently "spontaneous and instinctive", but there's also no getting away from the fact that her persona and her music are highly stylised.

As far as her influences go, well they're as wide ranging as you would expect them to be from someone who is so singularly distinctive from anyone else around on the French music scene and include - as she says herself, Barbara, Jacques Brel, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Rockabilly, Brigitte Fontaine, Christophe...there are a lot."

Check out her Myspace site for a couple of other tracks from 2008 "La vie à deux" and "Mademoiselle" (sic) and her Facebook page for all her latest news


But before you do that, listen to "Vodka Fraise" and if you like it, try to see her at Olympia in Paris in October.

Happy listening.



If there's any French song or artist you would like to have reviewed, please get in touch at france.today@yahoo.fr

"Sexy fingers" video for the rapid finger prick HIV test

It was only released a couple of weeks ago, but already a new HIV prevention video in France is creating the anticipated stir on the Net.

Sexy fingers (screenshot from video)

While YouTube has slapped a "potentially inappropriate content for some users" warning for those thinking about watching the video and requiring them to verify that they're adult enough by signing in first, the French-based video sharing website Dailymotion seems to have no such qualms.

As Laetitia Reboulleau writes in the French edition of the monthly women's magazine Marie Claire reactions to "Sexy fingers" video have been mixed.

"There are those who find it 'shocking'," she writes, "while other simply fail to see the link between its content and the rapid finger prick HIV test."

Sexy fingers (screenshot from video)

Launched by AIDES, a French association involved in the fight against HIV and viral hepatitis, and created by the JWT advertising agency, the "Sexy fingers" video is part of a new campaign in France to promote the use of the rapid finger prick HIV test.

The monthly gay magazine Têtu describes the video as "simple, original and rather sexy, using animation throughout to show the various sexual activities that can be achieved with just one finger."

And that's the link to the rapid test according to Floriane Cutler, AIDES director of communications.

"We want to create a buzz to make people realise how easy it is to be tested," she says.

"It's a video for everyone and while it's making the point that the test is a simple one, it's only meant to be show a 'tendency' (as in a pregnancy test) and not a definitive result," she adds.

"Of course it should be followed up by a proper HIV test."

Sexy fingers (screenshot from video)

Alongside the video there's also a website with an Android application allowing users to play a game, all clearly aimed at a younger generation.

And it's being backed up by an AIDES campaign this summer to offer finger prick testing by specially-trained volunteers in nightclubs and bars, initially in the French capital and then later across the country.

As far as the association is concerned it's meant to make getting the test almost as familiar as talking about sex in the first place.

But, as Reboulleau points out in Marie Claire, there are those who question how people will react to being given the news that they've tested positive in front of their friends.

Sexy fingers (screenshot from video)

Back to that video though, and whatever you think of it - whether it works or misses the point entirely - it's good to see the folk at YouTube taking a stand on the moral well-being of those who it deems potentially inappropriate viewers.

Since when has a campaign encouraging people to get themselves tested warranted a warning - no matter how suggestive it might (or might not) be?


Sexy Fingers (2011) par AIDES-association

The dog and the rock

When well brought up "man's best friend" is faithful, loving, trusting and, as any dog owner will tell you, often as daft as the proverbial brush.

Bottoms up (screenshot from YouTube video)

You need proof?

Check out the latest in a long line of canine capers that seem to dominate YouTube.

This mutt looks to be of the many breeds that would require a muzzle and/or special certification of ownership here in France as per the "dangerous dogs act" of 2008.

Among other things, the law obliges anyone owning a dog from groups 1 or 2 to undergo training with a qualified instructor (seven hours in total) in "canine behaviour and accident prevention."

Anyway, the dog with the rock, is clearly not from France, as can be heard from the voice of his owner with the infectious laugh.

But its behaviour in the video is proof positive surely that with the right upbringing, any pooch - regardless of breed - has the capacity to be...er...endearing.

Woof!

The far right pottiness of Marine Le Pen - it's all in the name

Heaven's above. The leader of France's far right Front National, Marine La Pen, really knows how to milk the media.

Marine Le Pen (Wikipedia, author Marie-Lan Nguyen)

Her latest declaration is that children born in France or those born outside of the country but who have obtained French nationality should carry a "proper" French name.

It has worked in the past and it would help those of foreign origin to integrate better according to Le Pen.

She was talking to future journalists from one of the country's top journalism schools the Centre de formation des journalistes (CFJ) in Paris on YouTube's Election 2012 channel.

It's an initiative launched jointly by the CFJ, Agence France Presse and Twitter to allow candidates in next year's French presidential election to give their vision of the world and answer questions on a range of subjects.

Ah yes, La Pen and the rest of her dangerously loony friends on the far right of French politics have well and truly been given credibility by all elements of the mass media and the French are going to have to learn to live with it during campaigning for next year's elections.

Anyway, La Pen's vision of the world à la française quite unsurprisingly includes all children in this country having proper French names and none of those nonsense foreign ones.



Admittedly the question, supplied from Hélène from Paris (thank you Hélène) and which elicited Le Pen's typical "France for the French" response, was a bit of a leading one.

But there again Le Pen doesn't really need much encouragement (if any) to take the bait.

"Are you in favour of parents choosing 'French' names for their children born in France from among those appearing on the calendar (the so-called nameday custom in which every day of the year is associated with a given name)." she was asked.

"Yes, I'm in favour," she replied.

"It was one of the elements that worked extremely well throughout the history of France and allowed foreign communities to assimilate very quickly. It was the case for the Italians, the Portuguese, the Spanish and the Polish," she said.



"It's a very effective way of assimilating which isn't the case today whereby children are given foreign-sounding names under the pretext of trying to maintain a link with the country or culture of origin," she continued.

"It think it makes life more complicated for them and it doesn't help them fit in."

Oh well, that's that said. So it must be true.

Expect more of the same and worse over the next 10 months.

René la Taupe tops the French charts

René la Taupe (or René the mole) first hit the top of the French singles charts in September.

And now, five weeks later, the "virtual singing character" is still there, keeping off the likes of international stars (and real human beings) such as Shakira and Katy Perry.

Ah yes, from the country that has brought the world singers that include Edith Piaf to Charles Aznavour, or Serge Gainsbourg to Vanessa Paradis and not forgetting Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (Italian by birth, French by marriage) along the way, comes a little fellow that is...well "annoying" might be an appropriate world.

"Mignon mignon" is the critter's second hit single and, according to the entry on Wikipedia, took lyricist Séverine Thomazo all of seven minutes to write.

And the result of all that hard work has brought France and the world the following (first verse)

"Ce qui me plait chez toi
C’est ton petit bidon
Tes petites poignées d’amour
Je trouve ça trop mignon
Même si les autres dans la rue
Te trouvent un peu trop gras
Pour moi c’est confortable
Quand tu me prends dans tes bras"

Translated as:

"What I like about you
Is your little tummy,
I find your little love handles
Just too cute
Even if others in the street
Find you a little tubby
For me it's really snug
When you take me in your arms"

Ahem. All right.

Perhaps not Grammy award-winning material, but a commercial success nevertheless.

You want more?

Well there's the accompanying video of course available on YouTube and Dailymotion.

Wander over to Facebook and you'll find thousands of "friends" on both the pro and anti René la Taupe pages

And naturally there's a blog which tells you how to download the remixed ringtone.

That's right - ringtone.

Move over Myspace, the mobile 'phone is now clearly THE place to launch a perhaps short-lived but all-the-same lucrative singing career.

Because France's top-selling song is from an "artist" created to help promote and market a mobile 'phone content provider.

A Christmas song is rumoured to be in the works.

Hooray!

René la Taupe - Mignon Mignon (Version longue) Vidéo ambrase13 sélectionnée dans Humour

French TV channel slaps daytime ban on singer's video

Clearly one of France's national television channels, M6, is taking its responsibility to look after the moral welfare of this country's youth seriously.

It has decided that the video accompanying singer-songwriter Raphaël's latest single is "too violent to be shown during daytime hours" and has banished it to late at night or the wee hours of the morning when young children and teenagers are safely tucked up in bed.

screenshot of French singer Raphaël from his latest video

The problem, it would appear to be, is the sight of a "frail young woman being kidnapped by two hooded men" in the clip of "Bar De L'hôtel".

Yes the broadcaster, whose sister channel W9 recently offer viewers of all ages the chance to watch the delights and saucy goings-on of "Dilemma"; reality TV that left little to the imagination (albeit shown at a respectable past-the watershed hour) has decided that Raphaël's video oversteps the mark.

As the website Le Post points out, it might be less graphic and certainly far from being as violent as other clips that M6 regularly broadcasts during the day, but as far as the channel is concerned the agreement it has with the television watchdog Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel, CSA, means that it has an obligation to protect the sensibilities of younger viewers.

Fans and the simply curious though need have no fear of not being able to see the video.

It is of course out there on the Net for everyone to see, on the singer's official website, YouTube, Dailymotion and and elsewhere, and perhaps thanks to M6 is happily picking up a steady flow of hits.

Take a look and judge for yourselves.