Bambi's Thoughts
Thankfully, there is music and talent in life.
Thank Goodness, Mr. Joe Dassin’s musical legacy is eternal…
As for you Garou, Bambi thanks you once again for your beautiful interpretations of Mr. Dassin’s unforgettable songs!
She does not know about you, but Bambi loves both Ms. Ginette Reno and Christmas carols. So imagine, our Canadian diva singing Christmas songs. Wow, is there anything more warming than her voice and happier than those carols?
For some, these carols may represent a re-connection with their childhood (if they were part of it). For others, theses songs are just beautiful melodies to re-discover or a way of learning the beautiful French language. Yet for others, these songs may mean the world from a spiritual point of view. Regardless, one thing is sure, Ms. Reno is FULL of talent. Thanks to her for this new Christmas medley!
Mr. Omar Khayyam, a Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer died in Neyshābūr on December 4, 1131. It was like this day, but 891 years ago.
You may be familiar with the English writer Edward FitzGerald’s translation of his Robāʿīyāt [or “Quatrains”] in a now classical book, which is entitled the “Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám” (1859).
The book cited above has been translated into several languages. Bambi is lucky to have a German translation of it, thanks to a precious gift from an aunt. To honour the memory and work of Mr. Oma Khayyam, she found an English song based on Khayyam’s “Rubaiyat“.
Words cannot die, especially if we honour them. Long live words. Long live poetry.
Bambi has no clue why, but her Youtube kept showing her videos about ducks today.
A man taking his duck to the subway of New York.
Another person taking his duck to Ikea… Well, not really another individual; indeed, Bambi could not resist to the temptation of watching the second video. When she did it, she discovered it was the same man in the video above. This means the same cute duck!
Now, why would anyone think of taking a duck to a crowded human-made place like a subway? She wondered. Of course, this man is free and his duck does not seem to be miserable at all. On the country, it appeared to be relaxed and happy even. Surely, not afraid of people who took picture of it or even touched it.
Anyhow, Bambi will spare you the third video seen on her Youtube screen about ducks exploring a house. She just want to end this post with a friendly thought for this cute duck, for a charming pelican bird in Beirut she has older posts on (as you can see further below), and for a couple of ducks, which visit her backyard, almost every spring. She loves these two dearly. If she may, she will offer them ALL two songs, one in French and the other in English, hoping you will enjoy them too :)!
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Some songs make our hearts melt. “Petit papa Noël” [Little Santa] is one of them for Bambi; maybe because it reminds her of her happy childhood. Yes, all the magical Christmas times (despite the ongoing crazy civil war). Indeed, for a very long time in her early and not-too-early years of life, this melody was her preferred song. Is it still the case in her middle-age, at least during the month of December of each year? If you wish, you can take a guess :).
Bambi refuses to go to bed without sharing what her friend Mona kindly sent her today. Yes, you can hear and see the grandaughter of the late Mr. Charles Aznavour singing “La Bohème“.
How beautiful… How moving. Bravo for her talent, obviously running in the family!
Thank you Mona for this discovery. Bambi loves you and misses you so much ❤️.
Grandaughter:
Grandfather with English sub-titles… May his memory be eternal:
Bambi learned from a tweet by journalist Roula Azar-Douglas who works with L’Orient Le Jour that the latter won the prestigious Francophonie Award of the Académie Française. Bravo! “Mabrouk”!
Below is the evidence in a tweet, a picture, and a video… of course all in French :).
Following this, Bambi will congratulate L’Orient Le Jour, with its more recent twin English-speaking sister L’Orient Today, with two songs: (1) The first is about the beauty of the French language, obviously in French, by Mr. Yves Duteil; and (2) the other is about heartfelt congrats with the Lebanese-Arabic song “Mabrouk” [ or Congrats] of Mr. Ramy Ayash.
Thank you l’Orient Le Jour for keeping us informed about Lebanon, the Middle East, and about the world, including sometimes fast and accurate news related to us here in New Brunswick and Canada!
Bambi just learned from a Le Devoir article thar Radio-Canada [the French CBC] has suggested to its hosts and journalists offer their apologies live in the event of an unexpected mention of the n-word. Not only that; it has also announced that reruns of its programs will henceforth be purged of all offensive language that has no “editorial rationale“.
Here is Le Devoir article, by Mr. Boris Proulx, with French content: https://bit.ly/3AYImow
Here is a video by Le Devoir with French content: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/kXfibmga
And here is are the guidelines of the French CBC: https://bit.ly/3OOHTLD
Please pause for a few seconds and think of the following, with Bambi:
Does this mean that our great Canadian author and pride, Mr. Danny Lafferière, cannot mention the name of his OWN book, “Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre?” without apologies followed by censorship?! As a reminder, or for those who do not know it, Mr. Laferrière is of Haitian origins (no, this is not a self-identification of a so-called “blackness“. For those not familiar with the French language, the term used above is different from the English connotation.
Does this also mean that a host who happens to be a historian, for instance, can no longer mention the title of Vallières’ book, “Nègres blancs d’Amérique” chosen on purpose to score the whole historic point of his book about French-Canadians (https://bit.ly/3VKQEIz)?
Does this mean that an expert, whether academic or from the general public, educating an audience about the harm of mockery, insult, and racism cannot use an example of a bad word in French anymore? What if it is someone sharing a personal experience?
Since when the French language and culture is as vulnerable to this modern form of neo-colonialism of an exported and extremely authoritarian wokeism, like in the rest of Canada?
Why is the French CBC increasingly diving into the business of censorship and cancellation now?
When will we take a break from our collectively insane times to reflect on such guidelines and their impact on our society? Do we want to live in fear-based society where we are all walking on egg shells? Is this socially healthy and wise? And what’s next?
Are we resorting to such guidelines out of conviction? Or out of fear of extremists of the left (similar to fear of the right or of religious extremists of all kinds)? Or are some of our decision-makers or elites of our society extreme themselves to that extent?
It is one thing to have private media taking such decisions. We understand and they are free. It is another thing to have our public media engaging in such authoritarian practices that the majority of tax-payers do not endorse; whether they talk about it publicly like Mr. Proux, Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté in le Journal de Montréal (ttps://bit.ly/3FggdvY) or all the non-expert citizens and deer like Bambi.
Think of it, even the organizers of the Stanford Academic Freedom Conference (November 4-5, 2022), that resulted in MANY signatures of courageous scholars openly supporting academic freedom-freedom of expression, got scared of an aggressive mob. Dr. Frances Widdowson, one of the speakers, was precisely defending the right of journalist Wendy Mesley to reference Vallière’s book cited above at the time. What did the conference organizers do? They censored “this part for fear that it would be used to delegitimize the conference“. These were the words of Dr. Widdowson herself in an update about her legal case. Bambi is proud to have supported the latter and is eager to read her writing about what she perceives to be the problems of all this in the January issue of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship Newsletter.
Bambi enjoyed this musical moment, and the lyrics of this Lebanese-Arabic song. If she may, she would like to share it with you in this post.
The translated lyrics are taken from the YouTube video below:
“Tell me, my daughter,
A bedtime story
Tell me, even if,
You haven’t yet learned your words
Speak to me, without speaking..
A smile on your lips would do it
I would hide it in my heart,
Maybe then, I’d forget about my sorrows
Your broken letters: I guess at them, and laugh
Your awkward words: they’re so sweet,
I understand them the way I want to!
I use them to make up a story,
And I tell it,
And every night I wait for it,
And I fall asleep,
before I get to its ending
I miss all the tales
Of princes and of fairies
Of treasures and of mermaids
On forgotten pages
Bring me all those coloured books
So I can travel back to the age of innocence
And tell me how beautiful this world is
So I can see its beauty
And if, tonight, you don’t feel like talking
At least sing me a lullaby,
with that sweet voice of yours
And let my eyes rest,
To a world of peace.“
Lebanon is just 10,452 square kilometres, or 4,036 square miles, in which about 6 million people live. Tiny country, isn’t it? Yet, it has BIG complications when it comes to electing its President.
Thanks to Orient Today (https://bit.ly/3Vq5N2A) for explaining to Bambi, in just five minutes, how this process usually takes place.
If you are interested, you may wish to watch the following brief French-speaking video, sub-titled in English, which addresses the following issue: “For the fourth time in Lebanon’s history, the country is facing a presidential vacancy. Since the end of Michel Aoun’s mandate on Oct. 31, Lebanese MPs have held six parliamentary sessions to elect his successor, but without success. How does the presidential election work and why is it stalled today? Can Lebanon remain without a head of state for several years, as in 2016? We take a look at the situation, in video“.
