Month: October 2022

In this post, Bambi is assisted by her friend, Mr. Google Translate, in translating a thoughtful (and funny!) article by Mr. Richard Martineau published today in the “Journal de Montréal” [https://bit.ly/3F9WChj].

Of note, if you do not have a leftover of a sense of humour, taken away by much political correctness, maybe you should think twice before either reading this article or celebrating Halloween… at least in the province of Québec :).

This being said, here is Mr. Martineau’s article:

“The Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) [the governing body for Registered Nurses in this province] has launched a campaign against sexy nurse costumes.

We got there, friends.

The healthcare system is cracking everywhere, 18-month-old babies are sleeping on stretchers in the corridors of Sainte-Justine Hospital, nurses are on the verge of depression from working overtime, healthcare workers have to be brought in from abroad to compensate for the labour shortage in our hospitals… And meanwhile, the OIIQ is launching a campaign against sexy nurse costumes…

As if that was the big problem of the Québec’s healthcare system!

Girls wearing fishnet stockings to their Halloween party instead of beige compression stockings with big rubber boots!

After that, we wonder why so many Québecers are on antidepressants…

THE PRIESTS’ FESTIVAL

It’s Halloween, damn it.

We dress up, we eat candy, we scare each other and we have fun.

Can we have fun one day a year, just one day a year, without a group, an organization, an association, a federation, a union or an NPO lecturing us?

What’s next?

The Ministry of the Family will get involved? The government will set up a committee to oversee Halloween?

I never thought I would say that, let alone write it, but I miss priests. The real priests, with a cassock and a Roman collar. At least, if we didn’t want to hear them, we just didn’t have to go to mass, we had peace.

Whereas today, priests are everywhere.

Have you noticed ? We have never had so many priests since there are no more priests!

And they are interested in every aspect of our life.

What we eat. What we drink. How we move. What we are looking at. What we read. What we listen to. What makes us laugh. What excites us.

What name do we give to our children? What colours are their pajamas. How many centimetres there are between our thighs when we sit in the subway. What pronoun do we use when talking to our neighbour?

And how we should dress up on Halloween.

No sombreros! No feathers! No kimonos! No djellaba! No sugar! No crisps! No gendered clothes! No sexy costumes! No blood!

The list of prohibitions grows every day.

LONG LIVE EQUALITY

I am for equality between men and women. At 110%.

What’s good for Kitty should be good for Puppy.

We fight sexy nurse costumes on the pretext that they are… sexist? Perfect!

But let’s also fight the costumes of sexy firefighters, sexy policemen, sexy soldiers and sexy cowboys [oh no :)].

Let’s ban the group Village People!

Hey, let’s all carry potato bags on Halloween!

That’s right, potatoes! And that would be ecological…“

Happy news out of Lebanon have been rare over the past three years, except when it comes to the talent of its people across all fields (e..g., arts/music, science, sports, etc.).

Well, here is a post meant to share happy news with you about the international success of Mr. Marc Reiady Baz in Turkey – thanks to 961 for keeping us informed (https://bit.ly/3stcST3)!

If you are interested, you may listen to Mr. Reiady Baz singing “Rise Like a Phoenix“!

To conclude this brief musical post, and if she may, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Marc Reiady Baz the famous “Mabrouk” song of Mr. Rami Ayach. Please keep singing while being an Ambassador of talent and hope to your country!

Yes, Mr. Pierre Larousse was born on October 23 in 1817 (https://bit.ly/3z6rFqt). For those of you who do not know him (you do not know what you are missing!), he is the founder of “Éditions Larousse” (yes, with its “Petit Larousse“!), a historic and prestigious French publishing company specialized in reference work, including dictionaries.

May Mr. Larousse’s memory be eternal. To thank Mr. Larousse for his incredible legacy, Bambi will allow herself to offer him, and through him all the Francophones and Francophiles of our planet, a unique song, which is made of 5 words only! As you can see in the video, these terms were randomly chosen, from the Larousse dictionary, by the talented Mr. de MIRO BELZIL. Mind you, the first word is quite interesting [Louis, are you reading :)]?

Bambi just discovered a deep and very beautiful Arabic song on her Lebanese-American internet radio station from LA. Bravo to Mr. Azeem for his talent!

From his YouTube page, Bambi learned that Azeem is a songwriter, singer, lyricist, music composer and producer. He also plays the drums, the piano, and the guitar. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon.

Mr. Azeem, Bambi fell in love with your song entitled “Zrouf” [“Circumstances“]. This is why she took the time to translate its lyrics to the readers of her blog who do not understand your mother tongue (and hers).

First, before singing, Mr. Azeem starts with those words of wisdom: “Who among us did not go through circumstances? Some circumstances are beautiful and others ugly. Some circumstances make us laugh a lot and others cry. In the end, we cannot escape circumstances”.

“Circumstances pass by us

Making us fall in love with someone who does not belong to us

Circumstances pass by us

Forcing us to live in stories that do not look like us

Sometimes, out of much sadness, we get attached to any hope

And when our heart is being questioned, it replies: I have circumstances

Sometimes our tears betray us and make us talk

Making the story complex and governed by circumstances  

Circumstances take us out of warmth

To a place full of ice

At other times, circumstances promise us a more beautiful tomorrow

Along with a new hope”.

(With repetition of some paragraphs)

Bambi first read Mr. Andrew Lawton’s True North article that informed her about the federal court’s decision on air travel vaccine mandate lawsuits (https://bit.ly/3F6e726). From this article, she learned the following: “On Thursday, Associate Chief Justice Jocelyne Gagné granted the federal government’s application to dismiss the case, 10 days before it was scheduled to be argued before the Federal Court. The court was going to hear challenges filed by several applicants, including former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford, People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, and private citizens who were unable to travel by rail or air when the federal vaccine mandate was in effect”… “The Trudeau government imposed the mandate by order-in-council in October 2021. It suspended the mandate June 20, but made clear it could be reinstated if the Covid situation in Canada changed“. Canada’s attorney general filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that it was moot given the vaccine mandate was no longer in effect”.

Following the article above, Bambi came across a CBC article in which Mr. Trudeau seems to scare, or maybe even threaten, us with health measures if we do not “get Covid, flu shots” (https://bit.ly/3Dm2Qt6); at least, the latter is what seems to be implied by this article’s title, even if Mr. Trudeau did not mean it that way.

Anyhow, after reading the articles reported above, Bambi decided that she had enough of news for the day. Music is much more fun, she told herself. Thus, if she may, flu or Covid-19 vaccines, with or without health measures, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Trudeau a song. Today’s melody won’t be “Paroles, Paroles” by Dalida with Mr. Alain Delon :). It will rather be Ms. Chantal Bitar’s love song in confinement. For your convenience, an English translation of the Arabic lyrics follows Ms. Bitar’s charming song (taken from Bambi’s older post shown at the end of this one).

“How are you in your confinement? You are crossing my mind in confinement?

I think of writing to you and then I delete.

How are you to begin with? How are you spending your time? How is the prevention and how is the cleaning? (twice)

How many novels have you read? How many phone calls have you made?

Are you taking good care of yourself? Are you eating healthy?

You are crossing my mind in confinement.

Despite the physical distance, my mind is confined with you.

In these times of science fiction and in this wasted era. Even if the world will fall apart, you will remain here in my heart.

I know you are bored by yourself. For me, please make a sacrifice.

You are crossing my mind in confinement. I think of writing to you and then I delete.

Let me hear your words. Turn off the news. I promise, all this will end. One day will come (twice)

A day where we will dance, hand in hand, and you will carry me far… and your hand on my face will charm me and will awaken my eyes

You are crossing my mind in confinement. I think of writing to you and then I delete.

How are you to begin with. How are you spending your time?

How is the prevention and how is the cleaning? (twice)

How many novels have you read? How many phone calls have you made?

Are you taking good care? Are you eating healthy?

You are crossing my mind in confinement.”

—

Coronavirus in Lebanon: Thank you Ms. Chantal Bitar for your beautiful singing voice!

Bambi just discovered these two young artists, thanks to L‘Orient Le Jour (https://bit.ly/3CTlkzQ). The Turkish lyrics and music are by Mr. Ragıb Narin. The Arabic lyrics by Ms. Rima Yussef. Their love song is called Yok Yok, which seems to mean “No, No” in Turkish, if Bambi is not mistaken. Enjoy :)!

Just before going to sleep, Bambi cheered herself up with a musical discovery. Bravo and thank you, Mr. Nicola Ciccone for the lyrics and music of your new song. What a beautiful Christmas gift ahead of time!

Mr. Ciccone’s song is entitled: “Je voudrais que ce soit Noël toute l’année” [“I wish it was Christmas all year round“]. If you are interested, at the end of the Youtube video below, you can read the original French lyrics, which are followed by a quick English translation, thanks to Mr. Google Translate.

She does not know about you, but Bambi’s preferred part of the text is the following (English follows the original French):

In French: “Je voudrais que ce soit Noël toute l’année. Qu’on choisisse tous la joie et l’amitié. Qu’on laisse tomber la haine, qu’on oublie tous le temps. Et que chaque journée soit remplie de présents“.

In English: “I wish it was Christmas all year round. May we all choose joy and friendship. That we drop the hate, that we all forget the time. And may every day be filled with gifts.”

The original Lyrics in French

“Je voudrais que ce soit Noël toute l’année

Des jours d’automne jusqu’aux jours d’été

Des Noëls en soleil, des Noëls en bourgeons

Des Noëls sous les feuilles et plusieurs Noëls blancs

Je voudrais que ce soit Noël toute l’année

Qu’on choisisse tous la joie et l’amitié

Qu’on laisse tomber la haine, qu’on oublie tous le temps

Et que chaque journée soit remplie de présents

Je te prendrais dans mes bras à chaque veillée

Et dans toute la maison je te ferais danser

On déferait jamais notre grand sapin

On chanterait des chansons, puis on jouerait du violon

Ça serait toujours la fête sur des airs rigodons

Je voudrais que ce soit Noël toute l’année

Pour garder toutes nos maisons décorées

Ainsi que les petites lumières et les bonhommes d’hiver

On préparerait une fête à chaque nouvelle soirée

Je voudrais que ce soit Noël toute l’année

Pour qu’on puisse plus souvent se rassembler

Se pardonner nos fautes, redevenir enfant

Les amis, la famille, c’est ce qu’il y a de plus grand

Dans un vieux traîneau je t’emmènerais

Sous le ciel du pôle nord on irait danser

Je te ramènerais chez toi avant le coup de minuit

On chanterait des chansons, puis on jouerait du violon

Ça serait toujours la fête sur des airs rigodons

Je voudrais que ce soit Noël toute l’année

Des jours d’automne jusqu’aux jours d’été

Des Noëls en soleil, des Noëls en bourgeons

Des Noëls sous les feuilles et plusieurs Noëls blancs

Je te prendrais dans mes bras à chaque veillée

Et dans toute la maison je te ferais danser

On déferait jamais notre grand sapin

On chanterait des chansons, puis on jouerait du violon

Ça serait toujours la fête sur des airs rigodons».

An English translation of the lyrics above

“I wish it was Christmas all year round

From autumn days to summer days

Christmass in sunshine, Christmass in buds

Christmases under the leaves and several white Christmases

I wish it was Christmas all year round

May we all choose joy and friendship

That we drop the hate, that we all forget the time

And may every day be filled with gifts

I’ll take you in my arms at every vigil

And all over the house I’ll make you dance

We would never undo our big Christmas tree

We’d sing songs, then we’d play the violin

It would always be a party on funny tunes

I wish it was Christmas all year round

To keep all our houses decorated

As well as the little lights and the winter snowmen

We would prepare a party for each new evening

I wish it was Christmas all year round

So that we can get together more often

To forgive our faults, to become children again

Friends, family is the greatest

In an old sleigh I would take you

Under the sky of the North Pole we would go dancing

I’ll take you home before the stroke of midnight

We’d sing songs, then we’d play the violin

It would always be a party on funny tunes

I wish it was Christmas all year round

From autumn days to summer days

Christmass in sunshine, Christmass in buds

Christmases under the leaves and several white Christmases

I’ll take you in my arms every wake

And all over the house I’ll make you dance

We would never undo our big Christmas tree

We’d sing songs, then we’d play the violinIt would always be a party on funny tunes”.

Anti-semitism is known as a type of hostile prejudice targeting Jewish people. Zionism refers to the movement that created a Jewish state in the Middle East, which supports the modern state of Israel. In that sense, anti-zionism is the opposition to the latter movement. It is not meant to be anti-semitic in theory, but in practice it may be perceived in a different way.

Bearing the above in mind, how sad when the Lebanese State Minister of Culture confuses the latter with politics in the most limited sense of the term. Not any Minister. We are talking about an experienced former judge (https://bit.ly/3TByBUf). By the way, since we are at it, why would a former judge become a politician? Bambi thought that the judiciary and the government were supposed to be two separate worlds of power.

Anyhow, when it comes to the world of culture, writers make us dream. They inspire us while making us escape our own realities to imagine a more appealing world. In that sense, why is the Lebanese Minister of Culture preventing his people from access to such magic stemming from the beautiful French literature? The latter is featured in the francophone and international event, shown below AND initially supported by the Official Lebanon:

Why is Bambi writing the above about this Minister? Well, she learned from La Presse and confirmed it with L’Orient Le Jour as well as both French (https://bit.ly/3TyPZJm; https://bit.ly/3DbgC1w; https://bit.ly/3Tzglec) and international English-media (https://bit.ly/3EYI5oG) the following story:

About a hundred Francophone writers from all over the world, including of course the host Lebanon, began meeting in Beirut yesterday (at the “Beyrouth Livres“), an innovative cultural hub event in which the four finalists of the prestigious Goncourt 2022 Award will be announced. Sadly, it turned out that four members of the latter, namely Mr. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Mr. Tahar Ben Jelloun, Mr. Pascal Bruckner, and Mr. Pierre Assouline, decided not to come to Beirut anymore. Why? Because, on October 8, the Minister of Culture of this country accused some writers participating at this event, without naming them, of supporting zionism. He then removed his message from social media. His words were something like the following: “He would not allow Zionists to come among us and spread the venom of Zionism in Lebanon“.

It seems that a Lebanese media called Al Akhbar, as per TV5 Monde (https://bit.ly/3gpqWdf) applauded the above words with the following terms: “Beirut is standing up to the Zionists”. However, thankfully, there are still courageous free spirits in Lebanon who refused attacks on the freedom of expression and who defended culture with a petition (https://bit.ly/3yWbdJj)!

As per TV5 Monde, this story reminds us of what happened to Mr. Amine Maalouf in 2006. As a reminder he is the winner of the Goncourt prize. What an honour to his birth country! Well, shortly after he had been the target of a vicious boycott campaign in Lebanon for giving an interview to an Israeli media.

The official Lebanon, through its Minister of Culture and at least one of its media, has forgotten that the Lebanese government (with the apparent blessing of Hezbollah) just settled an Israeli–Lebanese maritime border dispute. It means that they officially, both domestically and internationally, recognized the existence and even sustainability of Israel. They did so for economic (or may God forbid potential for corruption) reasons. However, when it comes to “Culture”, in their mind, their country must remain prisoner of cancel culture or boycott. Is there anything more hypocritical than this in life?

Bravo, and thank you, to the great Lebanese and Romanian artists featured in this post for their BEAUTIFUL performance!

All the names of these artists, which appear below, were taken from the description of the Youtube video of the “Ya Rayt” song. The latter is followed by the lyrics, first in Arabic and then in English.

For those who do not understand the lyrics in the beautiful Arabic language, from the Youtube post below, we learn the following: “This is a love song lamenting the events that occurred on a fateful day between two lovers, changing the course of their relationship. They wish that day to be undone, clinging to the idea that with love there is always hope and salvation”.

“Vocals: Mike Massy

Lyrics by: Ghida El Yaman

Music Composed by: Malek El Yaman

Orchestration and Piano by: Lucas Sakr

Performed by: Bucharest Studio Orchestra

Conductor: Alexandru Moraru

Strings Recording by: Andrei Barbu

Vocal Recording, Mixing and Mastering by: Ralph Sleiman

Director of Photography: Catalin Fatu

Camera Operators: Catalin Fatu, George Ionascu, Florin Hatmanu

Editing by: Sary Asmar

Produced by: Malek El Yaman

Lyrics in Arabic (English follows):

يا ريت فينا ننسى شو قلنا وشو اللي صار

بيناتنا يا عمري ونمحي من العمر نهار..

زعلنا وبكينا تفارقنا وقسينا

والقسا بير كبير معذّبتو الأسرار

بسّ قالو إنّو الحبّ أقوى من الدّني

وقادر إنّو يرجّعنا لعمر الولدني

يا ريت فينا ننسى شو قلنا وشو اللي صار

بيناتنا يا عمري تا نكمّل المشوار

***

يا ريت فينا ننسى شو قلنا وشو اللي صار

بيناتنا يا عمري ونمحي من العمر نهار..

من كلمة تجافينا وضاقت فينا الدّني

ومن كتر ما توجّعنا صار العمر ختيار

بتعرف إنّي بلاك ما بشبه أنا حالي

ومن دونك يا أنا عم ينطفي خيالي

بدّي تبقى حبيبي ورفيقي شو ما صار

خلّينا يا حبيبي نخبّي الحزن تذكار…

يا ريت فينا ننسى شو قلنا وشو اللي صار

بيناتنا يا عمري ونمحي من العمر نهار..

Lyrics in English:

If only we could forget

What we said and what happened

Between us, my love,

And erase a day from our lives

We fought,

We cried

We drifted apart,

Our souls hardened like stone

And separation is a deep, deep well

Tortured by all its secrets

But they say that love is stronger than the world

That it can bring us back to our young selves

…If only we could forget

What we said and what happened

Between us, my love,

So we can keep on going

If only we could forget

What we said and what happened

Between us, my love,

And erase a day from our lives

A single word tore us apart

And the world became so small

And with all that pain,

We suddenly grew old

You know, without you,

I don’t resemble myself

And without you, my love,

My shadow is dying

I want you to be my sweetheart, my friend,

No matter what

Let’s just hide sorrow,

Like a memory, a souvenir

If only we could forget

What we said and what happened

Between us, my love,

And erase a day from our lives”.

When Bambi read about what our federal government is suggesting to do to our BEAUTIFUL French language, she almost had the Marie Antoinette syndrome. Yes, her hair almost suddenly turned ALL white (mind you, she is eager to get to that stage, but a bit more gradually).

Today, she was VERY happy to read Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté’s refreshing and sharp article , published in the Journal de Montréal, about this topic (https://bit.ly/3S6oKVm).

One thing is clear in her own mind: She does not know about you (you are free), but as far as she is concerned, she refuses to to take part in such a masquerade of the French language.

The above being said, below is a very quick translation of Dr. Bock-Côté’s article (thanks to Mr. Google Translate), with a few comments by Bambi inserted here and there. This post will end with Mr. Yves Duteil’s superb song on the French language (i.e., how it is still being spoken in North America). Why can’t we keep respecting it?

Bambi will stop here. Below you can find Dr. Bock-Côté’s thoughtful text. Thanks to him.

—

“Radio-Canada [the French CBC] recently informed us that Ottawa has produced a guide to promote and oversee what some call “inclusive writing”.

The latter is based on a paranoid and false thesis: the French language is patriarchal, sexist, transphobic and discriminatory, and it should therefore be reformed by imposing new rules on it, supposed to make visible women, trans people and non-binary people (those who do not identify as either masculine or feminine).

Paranoia

Thus, we will change our way of writing.

It will no longer be necessary to write the students, or even “les étudiants et les étudiantes”, but the studen.t.s. [étudiant.e.s. in French]. This rule can be applied to many words. It has the fault of making the language unreadable by hatching it.

We will also invent words. Rather than “celles” [female of those] et “ceux” [male of those], we invent “celleux” [what an ugly and absurd word]. And rather than he and she, we are pushed to write “iel” [grammatical nonsense].

We will also ban some words. We should no longer speak of deputies, but of parliamentarians, since this word applies to men, women and non-binary people. And so on.

Let it be said: this writing is part of the takeover of the French language by an ideological minority [how sad to make our beautiful French language that ugly, for generations to come, in order to satisfy an ideological minority, which will eventually get tired of being that ideological].

Worse, this way of writing is no longer exclusive to the most radical neo-feminists.

As I said, Ottawa promotes it, and non-binary activists want to generalize it. They even dream of making it compulsory at school in the name of inclusion.

This way of writing is becoming more and more essential in our media and in companies.

Worse: people who hate this way of writing now practice this Newspeak [“Novlangue”, thank you Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté for this term].

Submission

Why? Because they will get noticed if they don’t. Today, writing in “inclusive” is a way of publicly adhering to political correctness, of showing that one is “progressive”.

But whoever refuses to do so will pass for an ugly conservative. Most dread this bad reputation. So they submit”.