Month: November 2022

From the Montreal Gazette (https://bit.ly/3Gv4FWM), Bambi just learned that Mr. Jean Lapointe left our world at the age of 86. He was a spouse, a father, a grandfather, a great Canadian filled with multiple talent. Yes, he was an actor, a song writer, a singer, a Senator even, and, last but not least, the founder of an amazing non-profit addiction treatment centre, La Maison Jean Lapointe. From its website shown below, we can read the following information about this resource:

“La Maison Jean Lapointe is a non-profit addiction treatment centre located in Montreal, Quebec. La Maison is primarily focuses on assisting men and women with drug and alcohol addictions, problem gambling, and family therapy. Their treatment program is typically 3-4 weeks, including detox. They also offer a 12-week aftercare program to prevent relapse. La Maison Jean Lapointe recently received $1.5 million of funding from the Quebenc government to put towards a free youth drug abuse program”.

It is not a secret to anyone that Mr. Lapointe suffered from alcoholism, which was the drive that motivated him to help others overcome their addictions. Indeed, in 1982, he created the great centre shown below (https://bit.ly/3Gv4F).

La Maison Jean Lapointe

Among his achievements, Mr. Lapointe was named an Officer of the Order of Canada (1984). He was also named to the Senate by Mr. Jean Chrétien (2001). Bravo!

Merci/Thank you Mr. Jean Lapointe for your artistic talent and for helping generations of your fellow citizens in coping with addictions. May your memory be eternal. May God comfort your grieving family, colleagues, staff, fans, and loved ones.

To conclude this post, how about the own, unique, voice and beautiful lyrics of Mr. Jean Lapointe himself? Yes, “why don’t we sing together words that look like us while uniting us? Why don’t we sing for life? Why don’t we sing only for love?“

Bambi would like to thank Mr. Jonathan Kay for informing us of the following:

It is getting late on the East Coast now. Bambi is about to go to sleep. This post will be very brief: (1). It will feature and older post on this topic by Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté; and (2) once again, it will end with a song honouring the French language in North America. If what we are doing to the latter is not a form of modern “colonization“, to use the word of a relative, what is it then? And what will be the end result of all this linguistic non-sense? Bambi refuses to use this “Newspeak“, whether she lives in France, Lebanon, Québec, New Brunswick, or BC. She prefers to stick to the beautiful French language she started learning at age 3. Yes, she will do so, even if the entire planet, including her birth country, starts writing and speaking French like this.

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Dr. Mathieu Bock Côté: “Inclusive writing attacks the French language” [“L’écriture inclusive agresse la langue française”]

All parents can be so cute with their care for their children, including their adult ones.

Lebanese or Lebanese-Canadian parents, and by extension Canadian parents of Arab descent, are notoriously known to be generous when it comes to food.

If you do not see what Bambi means, here is a funny brief video for you by Mr. Mark Hachem and his spouse/girlfriend. They made Bambi’s day with their sense of humour. OK, they also made her hungry too! “Sahteen” [or Bon Appétit] to them 🙂 !

Bambi adores Mr. Kendji Girac, often featured on her blog. The last time, it was to share his moving French song to his daughter, Emma, as shown further below.

This post is about a new, spiritually oriented song in Spanish. It is called Para Mi Dios. This beautiful Christian chant means “For my God“.

If she may, Bambi would like to dedicate this song-prayer to her childhood friend Bernard. He knows why… She will just remind him of how much she loves him (and his family) ❤️. May “his” God knows how to comfort his heart, she prays from the bottom of her heart.

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You are right Jacinthe, Mr. Kendji Girac’s version of Aznavour’s “La Bohème” is so beautiful!

Ms. Kendji Girac: Is there anything more pure than his love for his baby daughter Eva?

Long live Corsica: Thank you Mr. Kendji Girac and L’Avvinta for having joined your musical forces in “Catena”!

Mr. Kendji Girac & Mr. Claudio Capeo: “Que Dieu me pardonne” [May God forgive me]. Have you heard their beautiful song?

Happy Mothers’ Day to Bambi’s mom and to Lebanon’s mothers!

Good-bye Nawal: With a heavy heart, Bambi stands with your family and friends from the Moncton Lebanese Association

Re-visiting two uplifting songs, one filled with hope in Egyptian Arabic and the other spiritual in French

To all the migrants of the world: The older, recent, and future ones. To their birth places and to their welcoming adoptive countries!

In addition to the birthday of a beloved cousin, today happens to be called “I love to write day“, an initiative of Delaware-based author John Riddle in 2002 (https://bit.ly/3O7Vayk). Thankfully, some love to write and are great at it. So, we can enjoy diving in, travelling through, and learning from all the great books of the world!

However, make no mistake. This day is not about any specific writing like a novel, school assignment, a dissertation, a sermon, and/or a speech. It is meant to be writing for the love of writing, for people of all ages. Writing an email, a greeting card, a love letter, a song, a poem, maybe a grocery list, or anything really. Just writing for the pleasure of writing. This means that down the road, there would be someone reading or listening to the above. Didn’t Molière sarcastically yet elegantly say:

“L’écriture ressemble à la prostitution. D’abord on écrit pour l’amour de la chose, puis pour quelques amis, et à la fin, pour de l’argent” [“Writing resembles prostitution. First one writes for the love of it, then for some friends, and finally for money”].

Of course, there are incredibly smart people in life who do not write or read. Yet, they made a successful living in being skilled at something and with a mindset of an entrepreneur. There are also people who do not enjoy reading in life or find it hard to communicate with others.

Sadly, for all sorts of reasons and contexts, there will always be a few people who would write to harm others without any principle or compassion in their hearts. Yet, there are many more others who make the whole difference by writing with their moral compass in mind; their hearts and souls are not too far behind. Perhaps most importantly, some write in ways to elevate the debate and educate.

Last but not least, some people read or write in one language only, mastering it well. Others write in more than one. They may at times have the impression that they lack words to express themselves. Their brains may even confuse languages when tired, sleepy, jet lagged, or just being silly; a deer may be speaking for herself now :).

Without much philosophy about writing, Bambi will stop here and end this post on a musical note with songs about writing. You may know some of them. Bambi hopes you will enjoy them!

A family of deer visited Brittany!

Bravo, dear Brittany, for capturing the magical moments. Many thanks for your generosity in sharing your video with the readers of Bambi’s blog ❤️ .

This being said, since it is already midnight in Beirut, Bambi will use this post as a platform to wish her cousin “Coco” (OK, she means Christiane) a Happy Birthday! MUCH LOVE to you across the miles ❤️ !

Today, November 13, is known as the World Kindness Day where we are encouraged to reflect on the meaning of kindness in our lives, as a universal human quality or gesture. Self-kindness to begin with, kindness in caring about others. All others. Anyone. Random kindness. Kindness for the sake of kindness. Gratitude for the kindness of others.

Of note, sadly even on a day called “World Kindness”, we keep hearing horrific news of violence like wars and explosions in charming cities of the world. Bambi’s heart goes to all the innocent people caught in the middle of violence, including Ukraine and today on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul, Turkey.

This being said, Bambi refuses to get ready for sleep now without highlighting this day, even at its end, in two ways: (1) Re-visiting an older post on the theme of kindness; thanks to Roula Azar-Douglas for the substance of the post and to Jane for her “kind” comment; and (2) Sharing a beautiful French song that seems appropriate for this annual event. Bravo and thanks to Grégoire, a highly talented French artist, for his song “trace of love… for the too good, too stupid” [“Une trace d’amour. Chanson pour les trop bons, trop cons“].

Related to this song, one may wonder about the following: to what extent do we appreciate those who make others’ lives better? And how much do we value kindness as a potentially rewarding choice or way of living? Alternatively, do we consider kindness as a sign of weakness or of mere stupidity?

To conclude this post, Bambi thanks you for “kindly” reading thus far. She hopes you will enjoy this song, especially if you can understand either its language or spirit: “to all the too good, too stupid, those who never yell, those who are pushed around and who say sorry, who we believe are stupid because they are nice, those whom history forgets… those who only have the heart, not the speeches, those who leave traces of love”.

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What is kindness?

Just before going to sleep, Bambi discovered a new song, entitled “Ana Beirut“, which means “I am Beirut“. If she may, she would like to dedicate it to all those affected by the surrealistic Beirut port explosion. Of note, the latter remains unaccountable, even after 27 months.

The lyrics of this song were written by Mr. Jad Shwery and Mr. Rami Chalhoub. The music was composed and arranged by Mr. Jamal Yassine. Thanks to these artists for their song and for the nice video. May their Beirut become prosperous again. May it remain “the love that never dies” ?.

This being said, before sharing the “Ana Beirut” song below, with the assistance of her faithful friend Mr. Google Translate, Bambi translated the lyrics for you.

I am Beirut

“From the first sight you adore me, it is not easy for you to leave me

My magic steals your heart, without understanding me, you believe me

Hey welcome, I give from my heart and I don’t count

Even if you tour the world, your remain in my family’s eyes the dearest and most beautiful

I am Beirut, I am the people, and I am the houses

I’m tomorrow, I’m the love that never dies

I am Beirut, I am the people, and I am the houses

I’m tomorrow, I’m the love that never dies

I am the people and I am the street, a civilization in a modest neighbourhood

I am a thinker, I am an artist, I am a church, I am a mosque

I am a dream and I am the reality. I am a revolution for those who do not hear

I am the freedom and tenderness, I am the emigrant and the returnee

I am Beirut, I am the people and I am the houses

I’m tomorrow, I’m the love that never dies

I am Beirut, I am the people and I am the houses

I am a tomorrow, I am the love that never dies.”

Bambi adores Mr. Gad El Malheh’s humour. She has older posts featuring the talent of this Casablanca, Jewish-born, French artist shown further below.

Today, she would like to thank Louis for sharing an article from an Israeli media about Lebanon’s unfolding political drama. At the very bottom of this informative article, another one grabbed her attention (https://bit.ly/3Gb1W4t). It is entitled “”Jewish comedian who was a source of pride for French Jews converts to Catholicism“. She immediately guessed it must be on the talented Mr. Gad El Maleh. Indeed, it was. She read the entire article, out loud, to Louis who had a single word coming out of his mouth over and over: “Wow“.

Indeed, “wow” for this very surprising news, to say the least. As per the Times of Israel article cited above (https://bit.ly/3Gb1W), Mr. Gad El Maleh seems to have been deeply moved by the Virgin Mary (Jesus’ mom) for whom he prayed before each of his shows. Bambi immediately had a thought for his parents while reading. She learned from the article the following: After their initial own “wow moment” , they decided to support their son in his spiritual journey. Bambi salutes their courage and especially their love for their son.

These were the words of Mr. Gad El Maleh, taken from the same article ( https://bit.ly/3Gb1W): “She told me: ‘You’re changing a God so may as well change parents,’” he recalled from a conversation that made its way also into the screenplay and the film. Those words “were very violent, they hit me very hard,” Elmaleh said. “But here’s the thing, which I also explained to her: I’m not changing Gods. I still believe in the same God.”

Anyhow, regardless of your heart’s change of faith Mr. El Maleh, ALL your shows will forever remain full of talent. Indeed, Bambi still knows, almost by heart, your very first one, before you became a worldwide star (in English as well as in French). Yes, she is thinking of “Le cousin” in which you refer to your Canadian cousin who comes to get you out of the Mirabel airport, which is “all yellow“. It is through this same “yellow” Montréal-Mirabel International Airport that Bambi’s family arrived to Québec, upon their migration to Canada, on a certain June 17, 1990 (as per an older post shown below). This airport (https://bit.ly/3Aa5sIs) operated before the switch to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport located on the west island area of Montreal. As per one of Mr. El Maleh’s jokes about Canada, the latter is “all beautiful, all yellow” [“il est tout beau le Canada, il est tout jaune“] :)!

To conclude this post, Bambi would like to wish Mr. El Maleh all the best for his new autobiographic film “Reste un peu” (“Stay a While”). Whether Jesus and Mary are in his heart or not, may he be merry in his personal life. May he keep both entertaining and inspiring us in his public life!

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Do you know Mr. Gad el Maleh? He is too funny in both French & English!

Some dates are unforgettable, June 17, is one of them!

Today is the anniversary of the Armistice agreement of 1918 that ended Word War I (or the Great War). Yes, this yearly memorial is about the end of hostilities.

Stated differently, this anniversary is about the welcoming of peace, sadly after the horror of a conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 in which millions died and millions more were injured, widowed, and orphaned (https://bit.ly/3fUjlnc).

On this day of November 11, at 11 AM, Bambi will pause with her fellow Canadian citizens to remember those who died in military service and pay tribute to those who served in wartime. To all of them, she will say: Thank you. Oui, merci.

May the world’s leaders, including those of our country and its friends, remember the tough historic lessons of wars. It is never too late to embrace peace as well as love. May they and may we all remember how to solve conflicts with good will, reason, and diplomacy (as much as realistically possible).