Bambi's Thoughts
Four loved ones on Bambi’s mind today!
Family and old friends.
Family like friends.
Friends like family.
None of you live in the same city, or even time zone, of the other. Yet all of you, each in a unique way, together live in Bambi’s heart. This is true today more than ever.
With love, your cousin/friend, like sister, Bambi wishes you a Wonderful Birthday!
Yes, Happy Birthday to each one of you! Have fun ❤️❤️❤️❤️!
Bambi loves April Fool or All Fool’s Day since her childhood!
Of course, there are vivid memories of a little fish on her back and/or on the back of he loved ones. Silly jokes that became more sophisticated with time. Yes, a serious training to become a better “liar” (not Bambi’s specialty in life) from year to year.
After 50 years of yearly training, does it work now? Well, the answer is again with her loved ones :). Some are already awake. Others are still sleeping. More jokes in store for them!
What about you? Do you like to have fun in life? Do you make fun of yourself when you make a mistake? Or do you take yourself too seriously? Do you tease others? Do you take serious matters like your problems with a grain of salt… and humour?
Anyhow, Bambi feels like playing today more than ever. She has a 24-hour-excuse to come up with either clever or completely silly jokes. Watch out! One of them that crossed her mind was to write that she will be taking a 6-month-sabbatical leave from her blog. However, she knows how clever you are. You would have never believed her. Bravo to you :)!
Last but not least, before diving more into this fun day, Bambi wants to pause to send a friendly wink to heaven to her childhood friend Soha ❤️! “Sousou”, it would have been your birthday today; each year Bambi jokes for the two of us. She will always cherish our colourful stories from this day, even during a bloody civil war. May your memory be eternal. May people keep laughing on your birthday. Thank you for being Bambi’s source of inspiration and motivation to keep having fun.
To conclude this light post, Bambi thanks you for being the “dear” readers of this “deer’s blog”. Happy April Fool to each one of you! Bon amusement et… vive le poisson d’avril!
Bambi is much interested by Bill C-11 because it can be used for online censorship by a government that is becoming increasingly authoritarian in a society where cancel culture stories, whether self-imposed or external, are spreading like mushrooms. The recent history of this blog is just one of them.
First, what is Bill C-11? According to the Parliament of Canada website, it is “an Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts” (https://bit.ly/3ZBCDP0).
Of note, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has been warning us about the potential slippery slope of Bill C-11 since May 24, 2022 (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk). According to the latter, “the Online Streaming Act (OSA) is a significant and dangerous first step towards government control of the internet. The stated purpose of the OSA is not particularly controversial“: Indeed who is against bringing the “influential streaming services like Netflix, Disney, and Spotify under the authority of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)”?
According to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk), “the OSA would give the CRTC new powers to regulate virtually any online streaming service, also known as a “platform.” It would also regulate audio or audiovisual content accessible in Canada on such a platform“.
Perhaps the most worrisome part of this bill is that “sections of the OSA create loopholes that would leave space for CRTC to regulate podcasts and videos“. Indeed, Law professor Michael Geist (University of Ottawa) has argued that the CRTC can “regulate everything“, that is “from podcasts to TikTok videos as a “program” (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk).
Bearing the above in mind, Bambi has been keeping an eye on the tweets of Mr. Yves-François Blanchet for a while now to check his reactions to this bill. In her mind, he is a decent politician, whether we see the relevance of his party in Ottawa or not. Indeed, his is a great defender of Québec’s interests at the federal level. Ironically, many provinces/territories can at times benefit from his positions (sometimes not, of course).
As shown at the bottom of this post, and as you can see in Bambi’s quick translation of his public words, Mr. Blanchet does not seem to be impressed by the Conservative Party of Canada‘s criticisms of Bill C-11. Indeed, he is too driven by the cultural interests of Québec (good for the latter!) to the point of accusing the official opposition party of what looks like unfair intentions toward Québec.
Once again, Mr. Trudeau’s minority government has the NDP party to back it, to keep it in power, and to pass potentially controversial acts like Bill C-11. With the latter, the feds seem to have the moral sympathy and support of Mr. Blanchet and his great team, including Mr. Jean-Denis Gagnon (Mirabel, QC) who recently challenged a colleague from the Conservative Party of Canada to name three of the most famous francophone artists of Québec :). Seriously, his idea was to know if they truly know the culture of Québec that they pretend to defend and love.
However, with all due respect to Québec’s most beautiful culture [Bambi has been teased as being “an Ambassador” of her original province. Hello Fred :)], Bambi is convinced that online freedom of expression deserves to be vigorously defended, in our two official languages, ACROSS Canada. This being said, to really know if there would be practical excesses or abuses of Bill C-11, one must live long enough. To be continued…
A heartbreak is a universal theme to which most, if not everyone (including deer), can relate to in one way or in another. Indeed, Bambi had an earlier post on this topic, shown at the end of this one.
Thankfully, our world includes inspiring artists to compose music, write poetry, song lyrics, and plays on themes like breakups. Thank Goodness too, our world is made more beautiful with singers who have fabulous-sounding voices. Through them, music can magically transport us to different times and/or places. It can transform us and even heal us, in addition to entertaining us. Is there anything more powerful than music in life?
Well, according to Bambi, one of of the most powerful French songs about heartbreaks is “Je suis malade” [I am sick]. The latter was written by Mr. Serge Lama (French singer and songwriter), with Ms. Alice Dona, for Dalida. This song was made even more famous later, thanks to Ms. Lara Fabian… and today it is being honoured again by Mr. Alexis Carlier, as you can see below.
First, if you wish, you may listen to Ms. Lara Fabian’s amazing performance with English sub-titles, for your convenience.
Second, Bambi will invite you to take a few moment to listen to the most recent “short” video by Mr. Alexis Carlier who was feautured in an older post shared further below. Isn’t he fantastic?
Last but not least, the cherry on the cake of this musical post will be a performance between the GREAT Mr. Lama himself with the late YET eternal Dalida. Bambi hopes you will enjoy this performance as well.
—
Ms. Céline Dion, you have been on Bambi’s mind since December 9, 2022 (post shown further below).
In about three hours from now, it will be March 30 in Atlantic Canada.
March 30 is your birthday!
Bambi would like to wish you a happy one, hoping you are doing well; as good as possible under the circumstances.
May you have a Beautiful Birthday. May you have a wonderful time with your children and loved ones!
Thank you for having been a source of inspiration with your voice, talent, authenticity, sense of family and people, discipline, drive, perspective in life, and your humble attitude despite your monumental international success.
“Notre chère Céline, c’est à ton tour de te laisser parler d’amour” ❤️!
—
There are SAD and disturbing news from out of Toronto’s TTC (or subway), from American schools (yet again), and from around the world. Violence and senseless losses of innocent lives. However, in the middle of the darkness, there is a light… it seems to be coming from the candles of a birthday cake. YES, it is your own cake, dearest Ray :). Happy Birthday to you from Bambi and her spouse who love you beyond words and across the miles 🙂 ❤️ ❤️!
Bambi is grateful to her friend Kemle ❤️ for sharing a YouTube video of a much talented twenty-year-old artist from Québec, Canada, who happens to be of Lebanese origins. Her name is Ms. Christa Maria Abu Akl!
Ms. Abu Akl made it to the quarter-final of “La Voix” [The Voice in Québec]! She sang in both French and Arabic. She also played the piano. In her performance shared with you below, she merged two beautiful songs, one by Mr. Enrico Macias and the other by Fairouz. Both song are related to a homeland, or birth country, left behind by a migrant.
Of note, the musical arrangements are composed by Ms. Abu Akl herself, as Corneille (her coach) explained to the audience after her performance. This requires an excellent technical mastery, he added. Bravo to her for the latter and for being the first candidate to sing in Arabic in La Voix, as he reported.
Ms. Maria Christa Abu Akl, you have a purely beautiful voice, which naturally bridges the east and west in your music. You are a skilled pianist, a talented singer, and an inspiring performer. In addition to ALL your fans in Québec and beyond, you have touched the heart of a deer in New Brunswick who will be cheering for you, from now on AND, surely, after the life of this TV show. Regardless of the outcome of La Voix, you seem to have the necessary ingredients to go far in your musical career. Indeed, you seem to have the voice, talent, creativity, courage, hard work/diligence, ambition, a nice attitude, and the support of your loved ones. Bravo and best wishes to you!
May Ms Abu Akl have a long, bright musical career ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ !
One song goes with this picture, which is interpreted by a talented singer called Ms. Carole Aoun. The song is about the unity of the Lebanese people. It comes from a famous play by the Rahbani Brothers entitled “Sayf 840″ [“Summer of 840″]. This refers to the year 1840 where Lebanese Lords joined forces in a revolution against the Ottoman Empire in order to fight corruption and unfairness. The lyrics of this song are powerful and they go as follows:
“To my martyred friend
To my homeless people
We will meet again
We will unite again
This is my promise to you, my imprisoned people”.
Bambi called her parents this morning to check on them.
Well, she learned about the latest saga in her country of birth.
Luckily she learned about this public “fight” before reading her sister’s tweet as she would have thought that tiny Lebanon (10, 452 km2) is huge Canada with its numerous time zones :).
First, what is happening in Lebanon’s caretaker government today? The Prime Minister there unilaterally announced a decision “that took many by surprise“, according to l’Orient Today. It was “adopted almost unilaterally, after an almost surreal discussion between caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and House Speaker Nabih Berri” (https://bit.ly/42DuCvN).
As a response, “TV channels, media outlets announce they will not abide by decision to postpone daylight savings shift” (https://bit.ly/42DuCvN).
Furthermore (https://bit.ly/42DuCvN), local network operators have asked their mobile phone customers to adjust their settings, disabling the automatic time function; (to avoid automatic time change today at midnight.
In addition, one may wonder how will this decision affects other business sectors, including those related to travels or those relying on computers (provided they have access to power!)?
Bambi’s sister is a journalist and here is her tweet in French followed by an English translation:
The above means: “A fake country, a real problem. If the four institutions where I currently work adopt different times at midnight, like all the companies of the country, I will have serious conflicting schedules, which will be hard to manage”.
Roula’s tweet makes sense, especially if we recall that the start of daylight savings (in countries where it is observed) can affect people’s sleep, attention, and even memory from hours to up to a few days, that is until their brains’ circadian rhythms re-adjust.
Mmm, it would be interesting to conduct a study on Lebanese people now to see how this variation in daylight saving times will affect their internal circadian clock and, consequently, their circadian rhythms. The latter literally means about 24 hours (roughly about a day or “circa diem” in Latin). It refers to daily cycles of sleep and wakefulness as well as hormonal activity, and other bodily processes like hunger/ digestion, etc. Talking about digestion, hunger and different time changes, what will practically happen in the context of adjustment time to Ramadan in those who happen to be observant Muslims? Which time will they be following in their spirituality and most importantly in their jobs, if they still have one that can afford to pay them?
Anyhow, given the no-unity with regard to time, let’s put the latter aside for a few minutes. Yes, let’s resort to music to find a resemblance of unity in the Lebanese national anthem: “All for the nation” [“Koulouna Lil Watan”] and in a famous song to its capital. Yes, how about ending this post with two masterpieces of the Philokalia Choir, conducted by Ms. S. Marana Saad (who seems to be a nun), with Lebanese Orchestra Byblos?
The first song is the anthem of Lebanon, as mentioned above. The second is the famous song Li Beirut, based on Mr. Nizzar Kabbani’s poem. The latter gives Bambi goosebumps every time she has listened to it since it was released at the height of civil war and, more recently, following the Beirut surrealistic yet unaccountable port explosion.
To conclude this post, after listening to the talent below, reading l’Orient Today‘s article and Ms. Roula Azar-Douglas’ tweet, and beyond the current saga, Bambi could not help not to wonder once again: Why is Lebanon ruled by “idiots” (the same morally, financially, and intellectually corrupt warlords), with all due respect to everyone, which is none? Why is it not led by talented people like most of its creative and highly resilient citizens?
We are lucky to have Corneille among our great Canadian singers-song writers!
He sings in both official languages and his songs are beautiful.
He brings both smiles and peace to our faces despite “coming from far away” like his inspiring song “Parce qu’on vient de loin” (https://bit.ly/3LPjQg4). An English translation of its powerful lyrics follows the Youtube video (taken from: https://bit.ly/3FPa3mo).
May the memory of his assassinated Rwandan family, in front of his OWN eyes, be eternal. May God bless his resilient and peaceful heart, own beautiful family, and great musical talent. Selfishly, Bambi wants more of it!
Happy Birthday to Corneille, born on March 24, 1977 (Freiburg, Germany )❤️!
Because we come from far away
“We are our own fathers
So young yet so old
Makes me think… you know
We are our own mothers
So young and so serious
But it’s going to change
We spend our time
Making up plans for tomorrow
While the weather
Is going by, leaving us empty and doubtful
We lose too much time
Sweating, grazing our hands
What’s the point of it if we’re not sure to see tomorrow ?
– Nothing
(chorus)
So we live every day as if it was the last one
And you’d do the same if only you knew
How many times the end of the world came close to us
So we live every day as if it was the last one
Because we come from far away
But when times are hard
We think, worse than our story can’t exist
And when the winter is long
We merely reflect heat will come back to us
And that’s easy in this way
Day after day
We can see how much everything is short-lived
So even with love
I’ll love every Queen as if she was the last one
The air is too heavy
When you only live with prayers
As for me, I [savour] every moment
Much before
The light goes out
(chorus)
Day after day
We can see how short-lived everything is
So let’s live while we can still do it
Dears“
(chorus x2).
