As the suspect in the ambush execution of four police officers remains on the run, questions are swirling as to how and why Maurice Clemmons — an ex-con who at one time faced more than 100 years behind bars — was allowed to live free.

Clemmons, 37, of Tacoma, Wash., has an extensive, violent criminal history marked by volatile and unstable behavior, according to court records and news reports.

His criminal history includes at least five felony convictions in Arkansas and at least eight felony charges in Washington, according to The Seattle Times. He had a lengthy prison sentence commuted in 2000 by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who cited Clemmons’ youth.

Rhonda Sharp, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Parole Board, said then-Gov. Huckabee commuted Clemmons’ 108-year prison term to a sentence of 47 years, five months and 19 days.

Owen, Noah, Aaron, Rylen, Bruce, Holden, Parker, Matthew, Spencer, Dawson, Brandon, Trey, Tucker, Nathan, Kain, Jacob, Alexander, Collin, Benjamin, Nicholas, Austin, Joshua, Evan, Jack, Neco, Cooper, Elijah, Kyle, Oscar, Keegan, Malcolm, Mason, Bregan, Madden, Myles, Caeden, Brenden, Pryor, Maurice, Nicky.

Gabriella, Jillian, Lillian, Audrey, Ruby May, Erin, Bianca, Jade, Rylee, Aili, Trynity, Meghan, Olivia, Elise, Quinn, Ariana, Charlotte, Beatrix, Abigail, Layla, Kenley, Caoimhe, Cailyn, Ava, Carolina, Mia, Ailey, Alena.

For the past couple days, Maurice has been awol. I haven’t been worried though – he sometimes likes to go on a jaunt to another plant, spend the day hanging out (literally) and then return home to his borage shrub, refreshed by his adventures and the change in scenery.

Anyway, I had these cute little guys to distract me:

So I wasn’t prepared for the worst, when Big Spoon called to me from the herb garden this afternoon. In his hand lay Maurice.

It was clear he had been dead for some time. His vibrant, fresh green complexion was olivey yellow, and he looked like a crumpled leaf. There was something so sad and pathetic about his pose, with his arms thrown up as though to protect himself.

Given Maurice’s predilections for living dangerously, Big Spoon thought that he probably got stung by a bee. I wasn’t convinced that a bee could puncture Maurice’s carapace, which resembles green overlapping armour. I’d always thought his biggest threat would be a hungry bird, but of course a hungry bird wouldn’t leave the body behind.

I went online, and discovered two more likely possibilities: slugs, which produce an enzyme that is toxic for praying mantises, and old age. Most praying mantises live only for one year in the wild, and die after mating (the males!) or laying eggs (the females). So maybe Maurice got slugged, or maybe he just got old.

We buried him next to the raspberries, not far from the borage plant he called home. We felt quite subdued by his death, although it’s just business as usual for nature. When I next looked, his home wasn’t even empty any more; a tiny interloper had already taken over Maurice’s turf.

I will miss him on my daily inspection round the garden.

Maurice, Guardian of the Herb Garden

Hey,

ce soir je suis allé voir au cinéma le deuxième volet du bien nommé Twilight (crépuscule en français), dont je me demande toujours pourquoi il porte ce nom… Et j’ai ici une confession à faire. J’avais aimé le “1″. Oui, mon petit coeur d’adolescente est bien caché quelque part et il est toujours sensible à ces histoires romantiques. Je le confesse. Là où le “1″ m’avait pris par surprise, j’ai été plutôt très déçu par le “2″. Non pas que je n’aime pas les histoires de vampires et tout, mais là c’est un petit peu trop. Après la période de “fascination”, cette fois c’était prétendument la “tentation”. Tu parles. La belle Bella qui aime d’amour le romantique vampire Edward, le préfère au loup-garou Jacob, tout ça avec un arrière-goût prononcé de Roméo et Juliette, c’est trop pour moi. Trop de clichés, trop de roses (enfin d’eau de rose), trop de love. Les jeunes filles y trouveront sûrement leur compte. Et je ne vous raconte ni le milieu ni la fin…

Et puis en rentrant chez moi, qu’apprends-je ? Un (nouveau) scandale, du côté de nos amis britanniques, cette fois. Je suis chaque semaine les épisodes de X Factor (beaucoup plus intéressant que chez nous). Cette fois, dans le bottom two, se retrouve l’un des favoris, le favori même selon les books anglais : Olly Murs. Face aux trublions éternels que sont les jumeaux John & Edward. Pas si éternels que ça puisqu’ils ont quitté le show ce dimanche. Un résultat peut-être fortement influencé par une histoire croustillante comme nos amis anglais les aiment tant. Une photo volée d’Olly est ressortie cette semaine. Elles ressortent toujours au bon moment ces photos impudiques. Il s’agit d’une photo du jeune homme prise lors de vacances de son ancienne vie, comprenez sa vie d’avant X Factor. Il est un peu dénudé mais rien de bien méchant. Du coup ça a dû échauder les bonnes consciences anglaises, qui pourtant savent se montrer peu farouches… La photo du scandale est là.

Ils ne sont plus que cinq si mes calculs sont bons. La fin est proche. Olly reste mon favori, avec Joe et Stacey.

Dans le show X Factor, à noter aussi la performance de Susan Boyle, de retour de Paris vraisemblablement (elle avait chanté au grand journal hier). Insipide ? Elle a été relookée déjà.

Susan Boyle avant

Susan Boyle après relooking (notez la braguette)

Mais la chanson est, comment dire… d’un autre temps, hein (ça s’appelle Wild Horses / Chevaux sauvages…). Voilà la vidéo :

Rien à voir, une de nos icônes sur les hippodromes : Maurice. Turfiste bien connu. Il pousse les chevaux avec son programme. En général c’est même directement le long de la balustrade. Il n’y a que lui qui sait quel cheval il pousse, mais il pousse Maurice, il pousse. ALLEZ !

C’est tout, pour le moment.

Tiens en parlant de lutte, ça me fait penser que David Douillet est un gros concon réactionnaire;

Ce qu’il dit des femmes est un morceau d’anthologie de la bêtise misogyne. Il parle aussi des “tapettes”. Avis aux amateurs d’ordinaire bien de chez nous.

A consommer avec le Beaujolais nouveau .Mais pas dans ma chambre:

Oui, cette fois ci on commence par le lit.

D’où je sors après avoir dormi et regardé en pointillé Malcom X. Eternuements, kleenex etc. On connait la chanson.

Je devais appeler le CND pour prendre RV, aller chez B. pour bosser sur le spectacle d’I. .. Ce matin ai accompagné E. pour l’achat de son ordi.

Puis Louvre. tenter de retrouver mon trousseau de clés perdu hier à Paris-Photo. Et retrouvé chez Maria, qui s’occupe de l’immeuble.

Au Louvre, l’agent de sécurité à demandé à son collègue de chez Valeo;

-Eh , Valeo, pas trouvé de clés.

Valeo n’avait rien trouvé mais ils se sont décarcassés.

Je repense hier à mon arrivée dans le hall. j’ai entendu hurler “LN” et c’était Benoit M.; égal à lui même. Je l’aime bien, mais on ne se dit QUE des âneries. J’aimerais mieux le voir tranquillement un de ces jours plutôt que de dire des kilos de bêtises ( drôles ceci étant dit, comme lorsque il a commencé hyper fort en faisant semblant de tomber, le discours de Malraux sur Jean Moulin. C’était dans une ambiance de centenaires . Monstrueux. J’étais seule à glousser. Bref.

Irving pen

Maurice Tillet et Dorian Leigh

J’ai vu quelques belles photos hier dont une qui ne coutait que 48000 euros de Irving penn. Petite photo avec Dorian Leigh et Maurice Tillet. 1946, 3 photos avec des enfants masqués de 1942 . QUI ?; Et quelques fameuses prises de vues des flocons de neige de mon cheri Benchley+ un triptique du japonais ?… Et aussi une femme nue avec un collier en chauve-souris.

Donc je me suis arrêtée net devant ce tirage de Penn. Le Monsieur de la Galerie est venu très courtoisement m’en parler.

J’ai trouvé que le public d’hier à Paris-photo était plus discret , plus classe que celui des Arts “Marbriques” ( je décide de nommer ainsi les fatigués Arts plastiques. Moi ce serait plutôt “Art cartonnique’.) ou art Contemporain bling bling Bref

Un masque enchanté ? – En 1980, Patrick Kelly dispose d’un jeu d’échec électronique, placé sur son bureau, non loin du masque mortuaire de son ami. Or un jour, l’ordinateur ne suit pas le programme habituel, et se met à jouer avec un style inattendu : par exemple, il ouvre la partie à la manière du XVIIIème siècle, comme Tillet le faisait.Le phénomène se reproduit souvent, toujours lorsque le jeu d’échec est à proximité du masque. Rationaliste, Kelly fait analyser aux rayons X et l’ordinateur et le masque : rien d’anormal n’est constaté.Mais bien évidemment, il ne s’agit là que d’une légende.

Mal à la gorge. Creuvée

I’ve spent days watching Maurice the Mantis. Watch me. A mantis that big has got to be eating, but with me watching him Maurice wouldn’t deign to so much as nibble on an aphid (and trust me, there are plenty on the borage plant he calls home).  It was only today that I realised Maurice’s ego and appetite goes waaay beyond aphids.

Big Spoon called me into the garden to see Maurice’s catch, which he was chowing down on with obvious enjoyment. While the poor bee was still alive, and wriggling up a storm. Ouch. Maurice started at the head and worked his way down. He was finding my frenzied photography distracting, so I left him for a while to enjoy his treat in private. Half an hour later, when I checked back with him, there was no evidence left, aside from two bee back legs and a pair of wings. Maurice was enjoying a leisurely post-prandial foreleg lick, so replete that he even gave me a wave.

And even though I’d brought him here to eat the bad pests, not useful ones like honeybees, I didn’t begrudge him his meal. It’s hard to begrudge such a magnificent creature, especially one who perpetually looks like he’s grinning.

This weeks picks I managed to go 12 and 3,  (expect anything else), and called the Cincinnati game as an upset that nobody thought was possible.

Top performers in week 10, have to with Chris Johnson for his performance against the Bills. Johnson had 132 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground and also getting another even 100 receiving.

Peyton Manning also getting a game ball for his performance this week.  Leading the Colts’ passed the Patriots test and led the Colts to 21 fourth quarter points, including the game winning touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne with 13 seconds remaining in the game.

Charles Woodson, an unbelievable game on the defensive side of the ball.  Woodson created three turnovers in the game versus Dallas, two forced fumbles and an interception on the goal line, as the Packers nearly shut out the Cowboys.  Oh, and don’t forget he also had a sack.

Maurice Jones-Drew and Head Coach Jack Del Rio get a special tip of the cap for their heads up play late in the game against the Jets.  Trailing in the final minute of the game, Jones-Drew runs up the middle and was looking like he was going to get me and millions of other fantasy football owners six more points, but instead takes a knee at the one yard line.  That knee was the best and most intelligent play he could have made.  It allowed the Jags to run the clock all the way down and kick, essentially an extra point for the game winner.

Can’t wait for next week as some of the big games include:

San Diego at Denver, Atlanta at New York Giants, Washington at Dallas, Indianapolis at Baltimore

Quand les riches veulent se donner bonne conscience (image volée à Pov)

Ce matin, en discutant sur la présence du Premier ministre à une fonction de la Voice of Hindu pendant la conférence de rédaction, nous débattions sur la définition d’un groupe sectaire. Un collègue s’est alors exprimé en disant qu’un groupe sectaire est une association qui œuvre/milite dans l’intérêt d’un groupe uniquement. Par opposition à d’autres associations dont les activités s’inscrivent dans une logique d’intérêt national. Comme des clubs de service : Rotary Club, Lions Club et autres. Cette comparaison m’a agacé. Je n’ai jamais caché mes sentiments à l’égard de ces clubs de service. Pour moi, ces clubs ne font pas de l’activisme, mais du « slacktivism »*.

Pourtant, les causes et doctrines ne manquent pas de nos jours. De la protection de l’habitat endémique de l’île aux Aigrettes, le débat autour l’incinérateur Gamma-Covanta, la protection de nos plages face à l’érosion et à la montée des eaux, aux combats plus réels des associations œuvrant dans la réintégration sociale d’anciens détenus, toxicomanes ou prostituées, une personne frappée d’une volonté authentique de donner un sens à sa vie en s’impliquant et s’engageant dans une action sociale aurait l’embarras du choix. Pourtant, ces causes n’intéressent pas ces messieurs et mesdames des clubs de service.

Une petite visite dans leurs embrassades soutient ce que j’avance : le rêve d’un jour d’un gamin dont on ignore tout depuis, un repas et un sourire éphémère d’un autre. C’est déjà ça, me direz-vous. Etant un puriste, j’aime les choses bien faites. Et en faisant un petit peu chacun, on finit par ne faire… qu’un petit peu chacun. Les activistes authentiques croient fermement qu’un changement et possible dans leur domaine. Ils font tout pour que cela se réalise. Ces véritables activistes placent le combat au-dessus des hommes et non l’inverse.

J’ai plusieurs amis dans les clubs de service à Maurice et j’ai toujours refusé leur proposition d’intégrer ces groupes. En refusant je me suis toujours demandé : qu’est-ce qui motiverait une personne de mon âge à intégrer le Rotaract Club par exemple ? Outre le fait de participer à des activités de « jeunes professionnels » qui impliquent boissons et autres catalystes de « socialisation ». Outre le fait de se créer des contacts qui tombent à pic lorsqu’on démarre dans la vie professionnelle.

La définition de « slacktivism » m’apporte une grille de nouvelles réponses: pour se donner bonne conscience, pour rajouter des dimensions par rapport à sa définition de soi, pour se donner l’illusion de participer à un quelconque changement dans son environnement. Et en ce faisant, la personne n’est point différente d’une autre qui signe des pétitions sur Internet, qui porte des bracelets avec des messages politiques, qui rejoint un groupe Facebook d’une fille décédée dans un accident de voiture, qui modifie son avatar personnel sur des réseaux sociaux.

Au lieu de vraiment prendre position, ces simples actions du confort de chez soi se veulent l’équivalent d’un engagement. En d’autre mots, un activisme qui ne participe à aucun changement au final, qui ne sert à rien. D’où ma conclusion: les clubs de service n’oeuvrent pas dans l’intérêt du pays ou de la communauté. Ce n’est qu’un vulgaire pâle copie d’activisme, idéal pour une génération docile et paresseuse.

* “Slacktivism” is an apt term to describe feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact. It gives those who participate in “slacktivist” campaigns an illusion of having a meaningful impact on the world without demanding anything more than joining a Facebook group. Remember that online petition that you signed and forwarded to your entire contacts list? That was probably an act of slacktivism.

The brave new world of slacktivism – Evgeny Morozov

Gertrude Wentworth (Lisa Eichhorn) in landscape with gazebo, 1979 Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala Europeans

Daisy (Cybill Shepherd) and Winterbourne (Barry Brown) watch a Punch and Judy show, 1974 Bogdanovich Daisy Miller

Dear Friends,

I’ve been thinking about a specific period of costume drama that is not done sufficient justice to, partly because it’s not recognized as a period or type within the history of costume drama movies. I’ve seen it mentioned as an entity only by Andrew Higson in his English Heritage, English Cinema. Higson suggests (as do other writers about early 20th century costume drama, e.g., Pam Cook, Fashioning the Nation and Gainsborough Films, and Sue Harper, Picturing the Past) that from the 1920s through 50s costume drama was a pop art: little attention was paid to historically accurate detail; it was in fact shunned lest it intimidate audiences. Higson talks as so many do (Claire Monk) of the explosion of costume drama in the 1990s, how these apparently erudite and elite high quality movies made themselves popular by addressing relevant issues today, using stars (especially sexy male controlled macho ones), and how since then there’s been partly a return to popular art so the latest costume dramas (post-2004) are mix historical accuracy, subtlety of psychology, literal faithfulness to a source with broader action-adventure, dance, sexualization, adventure (e.g., the Elizabeth movies with Cate Blanchett).

To sum up, previous to the later 1960s, or 1920-50, you have this pop costume drama/film adaptation where no attempt at historical accuracy is really made and ruthless changes in the original text: Two epitomizing examples of the 1930s through 50s pop types are the 1940 MGM P&P and 1945 Kitty. Afterwards, the 1990s, there’s a turn to opulence, faithfulness which still uses the stories and characters to address contemporary issues and an increase in naturalism/realism, plus computer techniques coming in. An epitomizing example is the 1995 Pride and Prejudice; this type is still being done only with less lavish budgets.

Well, what about this period from the 1960s through 80s? I’d say it’s characterized by boldness about art itself, not afraid to stylize strongly (which I’m especially drawn to), going for long shots (so Ang Lee was doing nothing new in the 1995 S&S by Emma Thompson), language close to or literally lifted from its textual source (really faithful transpositions or very carefully considered commentaries). I’ve written about two of these recently: the 1965 Tony Richardon’s Tom Jones and the 1974 Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.

Daisy and Mr Giovanelli admiring the art work in a cathedral in Rome

Felix (Tim Woodward) and Gertrude dancing in his studio in a flood of sunlight

Tonight I’d like to single out two I’ve watched lately — as well as read the texts: Henry James’s Daisy Miller adapted by Peter Bogdanovich-Frederick Raphael-Frank Marshall and his The Europeans adapted by Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala. What fascinates me is they are both from subtly nostalgic texts which criticize radically how we deal with sexual experience against a backdrop of a historically understood era’s social and even religious mores. Now one finds this in the other art costume dramas of the era: think Brideshead Revisited (adpated from Evelyn Waugh) and Love for Lydia (adapted from H.E. Bates).

These Henry James novellas don’t compromise with popularity, are about sexuality and central familial-class issues, and also (by chance) about an opposition of values made picturesque by a contrast between an imagined innocent US and corrupt Europe. I could as well have discussed the 1970s through 80s Austen movies, the long mini-series (Pallisers, Poldark), Brideshead Revisited. All have a delicacy and complication of approach (different moods and phases in the mini-series), which I’ve just now observed for the first time in a long time in Sandy Welch’s remarkably humanly complex 2009 BBC Emma (she substitutes simplicity for stylization — so this could really be a party at an inn, neither too small nor too opulent and brimming with people as in the 1990s through recent TV mini-series).

I will cover James’s Daisy Miller and Bogdanovich’s movie more at length; I’ll be brief on James’s Europeans and concise on Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala movie. Basically I go over the second movie to show the same sorts of things we see in the first movie.

**************
First up, Daisy Miller: book and film. Here is a summary of the novella’s outline and basic information about Bogdanovich’s film adaptation

In the novel, our third-person consciousnes and point of view, Winterbourne, a 27 year old expatriate bachelor American who wants young (and to him) wild Daisy Miller to follow conventions for her own sake. Daisy Miller wants to live out and go beyond the options available to women. The odyssey of experience which Daisy, “the child of nature and of freedom” ["Preface," Daisy Miller, 1909], undergoes reveals society’s desire to confine women within a narrow and rigidly defined sphere. While those women who accept their circumscribed existence pay varying prices of neurotic illness, ineffectuality, and hypocrisy, the woman who ignores social prescription is punished by ostracism and death.

Although the women characters uphold the system which restricts them, the chief arbiter of society for Daisy is a man, the aptly-named Winterbourne. As a definer and enforcer of the bourne or boundary of social propriety, whose verdict has the life-denying implications of winter, Winterbourne represents the artificial world which has ultimate control over the lives of women. Daisy is identified with natural world.

Winterbourne is strongly attached to Geneva, a city identified with Calvinism and its social reflection, a decorum which is both narrowly conventional and hypocritically relaxed. The innocent and natural association of young people is strictly controlled and even discouraged: “In Geneva, as he had been perfectly aware, a young man was not at liberty to speak to a young unmarried lady except under certain rarely occurring conditions.” Such a view is sustained in Rome by Mrs. Walker, a lady who “had spent several winters at Geneva” and is thus linked to Winterbourne’s position both seasonally and geographically

With Winterbourne as observer and mediator, Daisy Miller develops as a series of confrontations (sometimes at second hand) between Daisy and those women who live under the sign of Geneva. She is pretty and he is attracted; by end of story he realizes he has lost out. Randolph, obstreperous brother, a parallel for Daisy only it’s girls who are controlled not boys. Mrs Miller, a hopeless hapless helpless sort of woman. Like Mrs. Costello’s headaches,

Mrs. Miller’s dyspepsia is both a response to the paucity of meaningful activity in her life and a substitute for it. She becomes animated only when discussing her illness, an affliction which at least makes her important to one person–her doctor:

Chloris Leachman as Mrs Miller to the side

A poignant significant utterance by Daisy or Annie Miller: “I should not think you would let them be so unkind!” she cries to Winterbourne. She never realizes the consternation she causes in Rome. “I don’t believe it,” she says to Winterbourne. “They are only pretending to be shocked.” Her blindness to the nature of the American colony is equalled by her blindness to Winterbourne and Giovanelli as individuals. While Winterbourne fails to “read” her “riddle” rightly, she fails to “read” his. She feels his disapproval in Rome, but she is not aware of his affection for her. Neither does she reveal any adequate perception of her impact on Giovanelli. To Daisy, going about with Mr. Giovanelli is very good fun. Giovanelli’s feelings, we learn at the end, have been much more seriously involved.

Basically, she is lonely, and she has never know much “society,” except that of gentlemen. There’s a curious mischievous resonance in her words which has the function of alerting us to how much she may be misunderstood here. It’s not a game as she thinks. She offers affection and Winterbourne doesn’t understand; she refuses to abide by conventions and knows she is refusing. She’s a sweet smart Lydia Bennet

As to the other characters: Mr Giovanelli who goes about with Daisy and is content to be her constant friend, is a (to the colony of upper class English and American types) a socially unaceptable Italian — he is also a kind man. There’s Mr Winterbourne’s hypocritical aunt, Mrs Costelloa cold narrow and shallow snob, cold; Mrs Walker, a seething kind of woman, incident in Pincian gardens caught beautifully in the movie. She sees Daisy as breaking some pact all women keep together: by phonily pretending not to be sexualized, they can (she thinks) better manipulate men. Eugenio, the courrier, an escort, he knows what they should or should not be doing.

What the movie and story share: Chapter 1 Winterbourne and Daisy meet in Vevey, Switzerland; Chapter 2 they go to the Castle of Chillon together (where prisoners were thrown to die); Chapter 3, they meet again in Rome where she is being escorted around by Mr Giovanelli; Chapter 4 she is snubbed and made a pariah and has only Mr Giovanelli to be with; she insists on going to the Coliseum where she catches malaria and dies.

This outline may be said to omit everything important and particularly the characters of Mrs Costello, Mr Winterbourne’s censorious elderly aunt, censorious not of bad behavior or sin (he lives with a woman in Geneva), but of allowing anyone in public to suspect you of flouting proprieties, much less doing anything unconventional (he pretends to be taking courses), Mrs Costello’s presence important in Chapter 2 (Daisy not a hypocrite; comes out with truths: “she doesn’t want to know me”; she does in the book have interesting reflections; in the film she is made something of a philistine, a little dense); and of Mrs Walker in Chapter 3 (enraged at Daisy’s snubbing her, failure to recognize Mrs Walker’s right to control).

(From the later 18th century through to the early 20th, among the middling classes, when a couple was engaged, it was understood they were really going to get married and it was okay to indulge in a certain amount of sex. When Daisy tells Winterbourne she is engaged, she is spiteful or enticing or asking for trouble — she is saying she may be having sex with Mr Giovannelli. When she assures him by message she was not engaged, she is saying they didn’t.)

To turn to the movie, where James uses contrasts of place in story; the movie contrasts social occasions — and puts before us contrasts of beautiful and haunted places. Geneva, capital of calvinism where people are suspicious and repressed; Vevey, lovely, summer, freedom; near is Chateau de Chillon, where the imagery of dungeons, columns, death and torture from religious fanaticisms remains are felt everywhere (and yet the feel is a gentle melancholy); Rome, dangerous settled society, with coliseum in background, beautiful melancholy imagery of death and dying In the story, p 62

Now I’ll look at the story as pictorial phases. The first phase is Vevey: Winterbourne meets Randolph, then Daisy;
we see his evening meeting with Aunt in Bath’s; later Mrs Miller and then Eugenio on terrace, then they visit Chillon, and we have one more brief scene with Mrs Costello. The movie uses all these.

The second phase includes the visit to Mrs Costello by Winterbourne; Mrs Walker’s at home, the walk in the Pincian gardens, where Mrs Walker’s carriage is refused; the evening party where Mrs Walker snubs Daisy; Winterbourne and Mrs Costello visit St Peter where they see Daisy and Giovanelli wandering; Winterbourne comes upon pair in palace of Caesars; then sees or hears Daisy and Giovanelli in Colosseum (wasteland) at night; Daisy’s illness and death presented through opera, corridor, Winterbourne’s two visits to hotel, and then funeral

Some differences: the movie opens with Randolph; book opens with Winterbourne; Punch and Judy show added; Winterbourne’s friend, Charles; also Mr Giovanelli’s singing. The movie dramatizes the scene at the grave fully and poignantly.

I suggest this film doesn’t present things differently but rather different things. We lose the subjective narration. Cybill Shepherd excellent as Daisy; so too Barry Brown (Winterbourne) who was a melancholy man; Chloris Leachman as Mrs Miller, James MacMurtry, Randolph, Mildred Natwick Mrs Costello, Eileen Brennan Mrs Walker, Duilio del Prete (Giovanelli) Screenplay Frederick Raphael. Directed and produced by Bogdanovich who was having an affair with Shepherd at the time.

I loved this evocative visit: as Prisoner of Chillon, Bonnivard, the Genevan freedom fighter, confined there solitarily for 6 years. The dialogue throughout in the film refers to the haunted nature of the place. The allusion is not really a parallel (Daisy is not that much a prisons), but it is suggestive. This and colossseum as place where great cruelty once happened is in the film. We see them at play in the dungeon, but its connection to death and the destruction of people by their society is felt; as they ride away they look contemplative.

The visit foreshadows the later visits of Daisy with Mr Giovannelli to the Colosseum. Now these are seen by them — as Mr Winterbourne overhears their laughter — as fun apparently. But we see them at a distance in this place and it could be they are having sex; at any rate, she sickens and dies. And the disjunction between the playful atmosphere of the first and realities of the place and melancholy close anticipates what we are to surmize about the colosseum visits.

Dress counts in the movie and is partly what makes people come: Cybill Shepherd is given just gorgeous outfits (so much flounce and furbelow); as Daisy she is in beautiful innocent light colors (white, pale pink, light blue, she seems to radiate light); Mrs Walkman is in dark green and red seems to draw light into herself; Mrs Costello in very severe clothes. Mrs Miller is very fussy and seen from a distance a shadowy widow figure fleeing attention, very nervous. Eugenio is very sombre and formal as he smokes away; Winterbourne is impeccably correct in dress; and Giovanelli is given many informal florid touches.

As Winterbourne attracted to Daisy, we are to feel she's attracted to him far more than we do in the book. By her sheer physical presence, she's more sexual. Cybil Shepherd was a beautiful woman. She speaks the lines rapidly and ephemerally conveying a sense of a brief heedless kind of life. Chattering, she is imperious, sit over there, do this and do that. Hurry up, Mr Winterbourne. She offers easy affection and he can't understand this.

Few long shots dwelling on the landscape – though what is there is effective. The film tends to give us long shots at end of an episode. to establish where we are, as filler, to end an episode.

Daisy and Mr Giovanelli sing “Pop goes the weasel.”

Bogdanovich relies on close ups to get across strong drama. Comedy is the medium shot. As against non-story music of Bach, Haydn, and Mozart (the opera is Verdi), we have two light American songs: Pop goes the weasel an d”When you and I were young, Maggie. Funny and innocent; nostalgic and sweet. Haunting thematic significance when it’s played over grave of a girl who will now never have been anything but young. Here is Daisy in one of the last shots of her at the Colosseum, showing the grimness of her inner life towards the end.

The movie was a commercial failure. Bogdanovich is not liked it’s said and it was not promoted by the studio. But it was moer than that. First, it failed to address itself clearly enough to contemporary topics; it means to, but it doesn't manage it. You might say it's problem is it's too faithful. In its 19th century era, this story was attacked in its time as shocking — it was understood James getting at these norms. It was seen as attack on American girl — exposing them as frivolous. It's a contrast of old world European and new "innocent" world American Most people don't care in the least about this any more; only those well-versed in 19th century American literature probably know about it.

What could Bogdanovich have done — anticipating the 1990s? he could have shown Winterbourne's life in Geneva. In the film Colosseum signifies cruelty (gladiators died there) just as Castle of Chillon does. You could have shown Geneva to be a hypocritical uptight sinful place.

Second, Barry Brown as Winterbourne is central and not given enough lines or things to do. The movie wants us to see that Winterbourne's complacency has been shattered or at least disrupted and the novella wants us to feel Winterbourne has not been deeply affected. The novel damns Winterbourne much more. But it is true Barry Brown comes across as stiff. He is given many of the point of view shots. We see a lot of the movie from his eyes, just about all of it. There are objective shots, but not many.

**************
I began to watch The Europeans for the sake of Robin Ellis. I had been watching him as Edward Ferrars in the 1971 S&S, and then read his effective lucidly written account, Making Poldark. His career and fortune were made by that mini-series. I had noticed he played the demur supposedly repressed young hero in other films; in Bel Ami, he played a character whose sexuality was ambiguous. In The Europeans he is Robert Acton who decides not to marry the demi-monde Countess Munster, once Eugenia Young (Lee Remnick).

Note the strained faces looking forward

We have comic renditions of the same discomfort:

For Henry James’s story, here is a thorough account.

What holds your attention in the movie and at the same time makes you yawn is the persistent holding to minutiae of detail. We have exquisitely photographed landscapes (as the one above) and carefully held shots of people repressed.

Felix watching fish

This has become a convention: the shot of the character at the window with bars

There are shots with the characters poised in parallel postures:

Gertrude and Charlotte

In both Daisy Miller and The Europeans close attention has been paid to dress, corsets, how people walked, the line of the silhouette that runs from the top of the actor’s head to the tips of his or her toes.

Again the music is carefully chosen: apt is Clara Schumann’s Trio, Opus 17 — very slow, played by Eugenia when she is at home waiting for Robert Action to call. Against these we once again have the American ballads done straight, comically and nostalgically: “Shall we gather at the river” is in the background too.

The themes here include the self-deception of self-conscious virtue. Felix and Eugenia, ex-Americans who have become a Bohemian artist and woman separated from her German aristocratic husband. They come to the US seeking shelter. The relatives are Brahmin unitarians; only Gertrude shows herself restless at having to go to church to listen to Mr Brand. Mr Brand is paired off with Charlotte, the pious sister, Felix and Gertrude make an escape into one another’s arms. But the Countess seems to overplay her hand and loses Robert — much to their ambiguous relief and regret.

This was not a big box office success, but it pulled in respectable-sized audiences and has not been forgotten — partly because it’s Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala productions and since Merchant’s death, Ivory and Robert Emmet Long have been producing books about their films, and on the DVDs, there are features which promote the films as important, explaining them and providing intriguing accounts of how they were made.

To return to the movie itself, much that is pleasurable in it would be precluded today. The very nature of the looser medium precludes the intense introspective kind of art in Europeans (as well as Daisy Miller). They have either complicated psychological scenes (as in the typical BBC mini-series of the era) or these mysterious carefully poised stills.

What would have been done in the later 1980s through 90s? The ambiguous sexuality of Robert Acton would have been brought out. He’s one of James’s many closet homosexual males. The Countess’s demi-monde world would have been shown somehow. The film-makers would have made some attempt to address the question of money, class, religion more directly and for our own era. More stars would have been hired, and in the 1990s just about all of them be conventionally beautiful types. Lavish budget, naturally.

In 2000 we’d see a retreat to minimalism, much less historical accuracy and change of costume to be more like the 21st century. Much less money, and more addressing of contemporary issues and more daring interpretations of the original book. We see this in the latest Austen Persuasion, 2007: our protagonists are abject, possessed by grief and despair, revenants.

But not until the later 1960s or after the later 1980s, do we get for its own sake just this kind of pictorial extravaganza in the sun (Daisy Miller) just for itself:

Cyril Shepherd as Daisy looking up to where Mr Giovanelli is pointing

As well as this kind of extravaganza of fall leaves, golden, yellow with Lee Remnick as the isolated demi-monde who keeps herself out of the spotlight, to the side:

**************
This was an extraordinary moment in art costume drama, and it’s been brought back in Sandy Welch’s 2009 BBC/WBGH Emma where I hope by next week over on my Reveries under the Sign of Jane Austen to show simplicity has been made to substitute for too overt or heavy stylization, but a lot of the other techniques of this era have once more been brought into effective play.

Garai as an assertive Emma, her upper arm sexy like that — in a quiet way.

The camera swings round to show his intense grave face

Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller as Emma and Mr Knightly. For most of the dance at the Crown Inn, it’s matter of the rousing non-sexualized square-dance boisterous movement and gaiety; but for a few moments there is a dance in the traditional row style with the arms of the male and female intertwined, very dream like and erotic and yet grave. But today still contemporary issues are being addressed at the same time as more traditional interpretations of the original book brought back.

**************
After I wrote the above, I watch the Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala film adaptation of E. M. Forster’s Maurice which is among the first of the opulent, relevant later 1980s to 2000 or so type; I had seen the 1991 BBC Clarissa as a landmark of this type (said to be so in several books too), but this Maurice does what the Clarissa film does. I was so moved; I love this later era too. I had thought we were in a different one now: minimal, retreat from contemporary issues, abject women (films from 2001-8), but this new Emma and Heidi Thomas’s BBC commentary adaptation of Gaskell’s Cranford of last year signal a new phase once again. I wonder if this new phase has anything to do with the reality that so many more women are writing mini-series; both these are by women writers and have women producers. Hmmm.

Ellen

unser Preis: 392 Euro

(ev. alte Preise bzw verkaufter Artikel)

Gold-Schmuck:
Gelbgold-Kette Typ Maurice

Gold:

14 Karat / 585,  Gelbgold
Gewicht:  22,54 Gramm massiv
Länge:  50,7 cm
Breite der Kettenglieder:  3,5 mm  (ohne Verschluss gemessen)
Erhaltung:  neu
Verarbeitung:  sehr hochwertig verarbeitet
    seltenes Design Typ Maurice

Echtheit und Wert:

Neues Echtheits-Zertifikat / Wert-Gutachten ist vorhanden
    und wird mitgeliefert (als ausführlicher Laborbericht,
    gerichtsverwertbar und von Versicherungen anerkannt).

Wiederbeschaffungswert  laut Gutachten:

1.100 Euro

unser Preis: 392 Euro

(ev. alte Preise bzw verkaufter Artikel)

hier klicken zur Original-Seite :
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Merci à Hamdi qui a attiré mon attention sur une troublante coïncidence entre le logo choisi pour promouvoir Maurice à l’international et le logo que l’on peut voir sur le site www.summitglobal.com.

Une inspiration à Rs 31 millions…

Et si le communalisme était un outil pour comprendre le multi-culturalisme?

L‘origine du communalisme est floue: tous refusent sa paternité. Mais chacun y va de sa version. D’après ce que j’ai pu apprendre de mon entourage, le communalisme est né à l’époque des élections qui allaient décider si Maurice deviendrait indépendante ou pas. Le Parti Travailliste avait alors conclu un accord avec son allié, le Comité d’Action Musulman, laissant à ce dernier l’exclusivité de présenter des candidats musulmans. Cet épisode allait marquer la polarisation sectaire de la politique à Maurice. La suite des évènements, on l’impute à un certain Paul Bérenger du Mouvement Militant Mauricien. Selon certains, il aurait poussé l’expérience plus loin, en pratiquant le « communalisme scientifique » qui perdure jusqu’à nos jours.

Oublions pendant un instant la responsabilité de chacun. Oublions aussi l’aspect de division qu’amène cette réflexion préconisant la conception des communautés ethniques comme des groupes d’appartenance homogènes. De toute façon, Maurice pratique une politique de multi-culturalisme, ou la reconnaissance de ces groupes ethniques en entités constitutionnelles. Et si le communalisme n’était finalement qu’un outil sociologique, au même titre que d’autres paradigmes, pour comprendre les mécanisme la société mauricienne? Politiquement incorrect? Peut-être. Mais je vais m’y aventurer.

Je vais prendre un exemple endémique à ce blog. Au hasard, un commentaire qui a atterri ici hier matin. D’un certain « Affliction ».

Je vous trouve bien magnanime, mon petit, trop, en vérité, pour être honnête. Je conseillerais à Monsieur 1132nd… d’écrire également en anglais, voire en swahili ou en quechua. Il serait assurément plus crédible. Son français est tout bonnement affligeant (fautes de ponctuation, fautes d’orthographe, fautes de grammaire, fautes de syntaxe, fautes de style…) Je serais curieux de savoir dans quel canard il sévit.

Vous étiez nombreux à m’avoir demandé « Ki so problem? ». Essayons la logique psychosociologique pour le « juger scientifiquement ». Si je pars de l’école positiviste/structuro-fonctionnaliste, je dirai que cet individu est, authentiquement, un puriste de la langue française. Du domaine de l’enseignement peut-être. Ou de la presse. Ce fan de l’académie française voit, peut-être, d’un mauvais oeil mon utilisation baroque de l’agencement des mots pour m’expliquer. Si c’est le cas, c’est lui l’expert, c’est son droit.

L’école marxiste permet une toute autre explication à ce commentaire. Partant de la logique « capitaliste v/s prolétariat », ma récente sortie contre les pseudo-intellectuels ne m’a pas valu que des amis. Il se peut qu’un proche de ceux-là, « capitaliste » lui-même, voit d’un mauvais œil le semblant d’indépendance à laquelle aspire un « prolétaire » – c’est-à-dire moi – à travers ce blog. Un employé ne devient pas autonome du jour au lendemain. Un peu tordu, certes, mais c’est aussi son droit de penser ainsi.

Place maintenant à la lecture communale, aussi dangereuse qu’elle soit. Les conseils de délaisser le français pour l’anglais – ou une autre langue exotique – dans le contexte communale, renvoient immédiatement à un cliché datant de la période pré-indépendance: la langue et la culture française est une chasse gardée de la communauté euro-créole, les hindous n’ont qu’à se contenter de l’anglais.

Vouloir me chasser de la langue française implique immédiatement que M. Affliction est d’origine euro-créole et, poursuivant cette logique, me place dans la case « hindou ». Cette lecture s’avère être d’autant plus dangereuse, car elle implique que M. Affliction serait animé par une certaine frustration anachronique: celle qui vu la plus grande vague d’émigration de Mauriciens vers d’autres cieux juste après les élections de 1967.

Trois écoles de pensée, trois explications différentes. Je ne sais pas si M. Affliction me fera l’honneur de dire laquelle de ces explications est la bonne, mais j’espère sincèrement m’être trompé dans mon analyse en utilisant le communalisme ainsi. Autrement, cela voudrait dire que certains sont toujours animés de ces frustrations anachroniques 40 ans après. Cela voudrait aussi dire que je donnerai raison aux politiques qui nous parlent sans cesse de « réalités du pays ».

Utiliser ainsi le communalisme peut parfois apporter de nouveaux éléments de réponses. Faut-il encore qu’on soit préparé à accepter ces réponses. J’ai voulu oser. Quitte à ce qu’on me lance « c’est celui qui le dit qui l’est ».

Edit: Cet article a été tronqué. Certaines personnes m’ont dit que trop de justifications théoriques le rendait indigeste.

Depuis le temps qu’on en parlait, holigolf va devenir une réalité. Notre projet d’ouvrir à un public européen nos stages de golf à l’île Maurice va être possible grâces aux agences de voyages et tour opérateur partenaires.

Eric DESPINOY, professeur de golf à l’île de la Réunion, organise depuis 10 ans des stages sur les plus beaux parcours de l’île Maurice, mêlant le sport, la fête, et cette formidable hospitalité que nous offrent les plus grands hôtels de l’Ile Maurice.

Notre choix s’est porté depuis plusieurs années sur l’hôtel HÉRITAGE, car outre son Golf du Château, ses chambres pieds dans l’eau, son immense spa, la délicieuse cuisine, ses multiples activités permettent aux golfeurs et non golfeurs d’y passer des vacances… de rêve.

Dans l’attente de l’ouverture de notre site, nous restons à votre disposition sur holigolf@orange.fr, et vous invitons à prendre quelques minutes pour répondre à notre SONDAGE EXPRESS

Merci de votre visite et à bientôt.

le golf du chateau et son club house

proibido orar em casa, em países muçulmanos

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Ele foi mantido na prisão por dois dias antes de ser libertado “por motivos humanitários”. O cristão Maurice Salama Sharkawy, 37 anos, tinha convidado o pastor Elia Shafik para conduzir o sacramento de “Unção do Doente” para seu pai que havia sofrido um enfarte. A polícia invadiu sua casa enquanto que as orações para que Deus protegesse a vida do pai de Maurice estavam sendo feitas, algemou Maurice e o levou para a delegacia de polícia para ser interrogado.

As autoridades o acusaram de promover “ritos religiosos sem autoraização prévia” e “causar sectarismo” por que ele havia chamado o padre. Alguns de seus primos que vivem na mesma casa e que estavam presentes às orações para salvar a vida do pai de Maurice também foram presos. A polícia deixou Maurice sob a guarda de três policiais.

Numa entrevista com o sr. Wafih Yacoub da Associação Cristã do Oriente Médio (MECA), o sr. Maurice Salama Sharkawy disse que a Polícia de Segurança do Estado lhe disse que ele devia primeiro pedir uma autorização antes de promover ritos religiosos. Ele também foi prevenido pela polícia de que existem 12 casas de muçulmanos na vila e que os ritos cristãos poderiam causar violência da parte dos muçulmanos.

O filho do prefeito da vila registrou uma queixa contra Maurice, acusando-o de converter sua casa num lugar de culto cristão sem antes obter uma licença do governo. O boletim de ocorrência da polícia declara que o acusado Maurice havia convocado essa reunião para orações pelo seu pai doente, o que causou a raiva de alguns vizinhos muçulmanos que reclamaram ao prefeito da vila. A vila de Deir Samalout não tem igreja, a mais próxima fica na vila de Tayeba a mais de sete quilômetros de distância.

Mohammed Khalaf Allah, prefeito da vila, disse ao jornal “al-Sherouk” que Maurice costumava convidar cristãos para sua casa e que ele havia pedido mais de uma vez para que Maurice fosse orar na igreja da vila mais próxima. “Mas ele alegou que não podia ir à igreja por que seu pai tinha sofrido um enfarte e que os padres vinham visitá-lo para assuntos normais, o que é comum entre os cristãos”. O prefeito também disse: “Os moradores vizinhos me confirmaram mais de uma vez que escutaram o som de orações vindo da casa de Maurice e que ele se recusava a ir na igreja e havia decidido orar na sua própria casa, junto com alguns outros cristãos da vila”.

Comentando sobre este último incidente, o reverendo Moses Raphael da diocese cristã copta de Samalout, disse que a prisão de cristãos na vila por motivo de orações em casa é muito frequente. “Isso não é surpresa para mim, se tornou muito comum na região de Minya que os cristãos sejam presos para evitar que orem para Deus”.

Dada a onda de repressão das autoridades do governo egípcio contra as orações fora das igrejas permitidas, o sr. Youssef Sidhom, editor-chefe do jornal cristão copta “Watani”, culpa o governo porque não quer criar um alei unificada para todas as religiões estabelecendo regras para construção de locais de oração. Isso poria fim a essas agressões contra os cristãos. “As autoridades fingem que não veem que a polícia está prendendo cristãos contra a Constituição do Egito, que dá o direito de igualdade e liberdade de religião”, disse ele. “A polícia aterroriza os crentes que ousam orar fora de uma igreja autorizada. Trata-os como criminosos. Mesmo sabendo que a raiz do problema está na relutância das autoridades em dar permissão para a construção de novas igrejas ou mesmo reformar as igrejas antigas.”

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Pour décrire le concert de Blackmen Bluz hier (vendredi 6.11.09) au God Father à Grand – Baie. “Zot la mizik finne fer nous gain bon ek bliye bann moman kon” et je suis certain de ne pas avoir été le seul à le penser vu l’enthousiasme et la générosité du public présent à ce concert.

Le début du concert était bien mais un peu en dent de scie, les artistes étaient visiblement par quelque soucis techniques et de larsen notamment avec des micros qui ne cessaient de siffler entre les morceaux et des haut-parleurs qui grésillaient. Mais au fur et à mesure du concert Richar Hein (à la technique) est parvenu à gérer et régler ces quelques soucis et les Blackmen soutenus par leur public ont surpassé leur timidité et le God Father s’est transformé en véritable salle de concert.

Les Blackmen avaient visiblement beaucoup travaillé sur leur live, offrant au public des version inédites de certaines chansons de leur premier album, des transitions non-stop entre des chansons, des reprises et surtout d’excellentes nouvelles compositions. Je retiendrais de celles ci une chanson qui dit “bouz to carapace” avec un arrangement musical des plus original et rythmés. Il faut faire ressortir que des groupes de la nouvelles scènes mauriciennes, Blackmen Bluz bénéficie du meilleur public; du début à la fin toutes les chansons du premier album sont repris en coeur.

Tout ceci à fait monter l’ambiance de plusieurs crans et la fin du concert était des plus rythmés, les premiers rangs ne cesser de “jumper” tout comme les artistes sur scène, les percussions de “moussaillon” ont même fini par terre dans l’euphorie. A plusieurs reprises Lionel (guitare et voix) a tenté de mettre fin au concert, mais impossible le public était trop trop cho, certains scander “Blackmen Bluz” et d’autres “Gabriella” et bien ils ont eut droit à encore quelques chansons des Blackmen et de Gabriella.

Pour terminer une petite anecdote, tous les fans de Blackmen savent que ce groupe est né à Blue Bay dans le Sud de l’île et hier après le concert, une de mes bonnes amies, à qui je racontais devoir aller à l’aéroport aujourd’hui, me dit “bein dormi la même” avec tout son sérieux. Elle était persuadé que nous étions à Blue Bay, c’est vous dire la magie de ce moment qu’a été le concert des Blackmen Bluz à Bl…., oups à Grand Baie.

Animal Farm – 1954

Directors – Joy Bachelor, and John Halas

Starring – Gordon Heath, and Maurice Denham

Based on the novel by George Orwell, Animal Farm, is a not so thinly veiled allegory for Russia’s Communist Revolution.  The major players in history (Stalin, Trotsky, Czar Nicholas II, etc.), are each represented by a different character here.  The difference is that each of the main characters is an animal.  A farm animal in fact.  The animals, mistreated by the drunkard, self-absorbed farmer, rebel and drive the humans out re-naming the farm Animal Farm.  The animals set up a series of rules, or commandments that must never be broken, but to the leadership and power structure, these soon become obstacles that inevitably are trampled.

If you’ve had even a brief introduction to the history of the last 50 or so years, you probably have a decent idea where this is all going.  The problem for the movie, in my humble opinion, comes with the fact that the movie is animated.  It removes some of the credibility and some of the impact of the characters and their motivations.  In place of a fiery, tyrant with dictatorial ambitions, we get a smirking, cartoon villain with no more dimensionality than the description implies.  Each character seemed a little over-simplified, a feeling that is enhanced by the animation, and the abbreviated nature of the film as opposed to say…the book.

I suppose that I’ve railed on the style of the film a bit more than it deserves.  One very obvious benefit, was the fact that the film was able to be made because of it.  In 1954, there was no computer generated anything, no animatronic puppetry, and no realistic, cost-effective way of using real animals.  The only alternative left was to use hand drawn, painted, cell animation.  This style of animation, while perhaps not conducive to the story that is being told, has it’s own artistry and beauty.  The animated movies of today are all 3D, computer-generated, and all very similar to one another.  And while a lot of these films are fine films in their own rights, ground-breaking, creative, and well told, we’ve lost something with the passing of the age of 2D animated movies.  If only for that reason, I can forgive Animal Farm it’s short comings.

Through my research, after watching the film, I found that there was a newer straight-to-video version of Orwell’s classic, one made with CG enhanced, live action animals.  I haven’t seen it, but I have to admit, I’m a bit skeptical.  The more I think about it, the more I believe that Animal Farm (the 1954 version), is a sort of document of history.  The IQ of animated films of today rarely reaches the heights of something like Animal Farm, so the very fact that something like it got made at all, at any point, is a good thing.

Deux pseudo-intellectuels* se sont donné une mission : éveiller la conscience mauricienne à travers un journal. Mais le paysage médiatique mauricien est saturé. On compte en ce moment 47 journaux reconnus officiellement par l’Etat. Dans ce marché, dominé principalement par « la grande presse », une croyance populaire dans la profession veut que toute nouvelle publication, si elle n’a pas l’appui financier de Le Matinal ou si elle n’est pas assimilée par un groupe de presse, a une durée de vie de 2 ans et demie. Passé ce délai, elle meurt.

Evitant de mentionner cette logique économique implacable, « l’épicurien » Nicolas et le « nietzschéen » Sabir, aux allures de jeunes Francs-Maçons fraîchement initiés avec leurs costumes et cravate noir, défendent leur idéal d’un journal différent, qui offrirait aux mauriciens ce qu’ils demandent. Un discours naïf de jeunes entrepreneurs qui tentent toujours de se convaincre que leur dessein vaut le coup. On aurait toutefois pu pardonner cette naïveté, si le produit était comestible.

Mais voilà, « le vrai journal » est en fait une collection d’articles d’opinion, soit l’actualité commentée par nos deux pseudo-intellectuels avec un regard, amèrement, d’outre-mer. Nous livrant toute une bibliographie de références de travaux universitaires, les deux auteurs nous servent une masse dense de réflexions personnelles dans un article, qui finalement n’est que la bande-annonce d’une rubrique.

Ensuite, la maquette du site, de même que les choix des illustrations – de vulgaires dessins et photos qui circulent sur les spam forwarded mail en masse – ne font rien pour relever les arguments mis de l’avant par Nicolas et Sabir. Pire encore, les pseudo-débats filmés comme une conversation renvoient directement à des images d’Omar et Fred ou Eric et Ramzy. Ces images ne font toutefois pas rire, elles affligent. Je n’ai malheureusement pas tenu plus de 20 secondes sur le débat sur la langue créole – en français en passant. Je vous souhaite bonne chance si vous voulez tenter l’expérience.

Au final, Nicolas et Sabir semblent n’avoir convaincu que les annonceurs et quelques citoyens malléables qui s’agrippent à l’opinion des autres. Toutefois, le fait que j’y consacre un article sur ce blog démontre qu’ils ont attiré l’attention. C’est maintenant que se fera le véritable test pour nos Omar et Fred version locale. Il s’agira de nous prouver qu’ils n’ont pas épuisé toute la somme de leur connaissance et de citations d’illustres auteurs et que leur lecture de l’actualité vaut le détour.

Le test qui vaut l’inévitable mort à tout nouveau arrivé sur le marché. Et d’après ce que j’ai vu jusqu’à présent, levraijournal.mu est mort dans l’oeuf.

* J’utilise le terme « pseudo-intellectuels », car depuis la lettre d’Emile Zola, l’intellectuel se définit comme quelqu’un qui réfléchit, qui prend position et qui fait avancer un débat sur la place publique. Jusqu’à présent, nos deux « Mauriciens-venus-d’ailleurs » – de par l’accent – ne sont qu’à la moitié de ce mandat.

I’m going to see Beyoncé in Egypt Tomorrow,

leaving today to Port Ghalib – Marsa Alam – Egypt

its like a dream, my favorite part of the whole trip is being

around my loved ones to share laughs, music & joy.

Can’t wait to come back and tell you all about it.

Beyoncé - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (Maurice Joshua Club Edit)

Read my first review from almost three years ago.

Maurice looked at him with tenderness. He was studying him, as in the earliest days of their acquaintance. Only then it was to find out what he was like, now what had gone wrong with him. Something was wrong.” [114]

Written in 1914, E.M. Forster was ahead of his time when it comes to social acceptance toward homosexuality. In Maurice Christopher Hall, one finds an unfairly generous share of virtues: privileged for success, Cambridge education, handsomeness, and business success. But deep in his heart is a misery because the only sex that attracts him is his own: he loves men and always had loved them. He renounces his faith, frees from claws of religion, and rebels against being his father’s double, refuses to uphold the tradition of upper-class propriety. He’s completely sold out for Clive Durham, who believes in platonic restraint and induces Maurice to acquiesce, for Maurice is humble and inexperienced at that stage.

I have become normal—like other men, I don’t know how, any more than I know how I was born. It is outside reason, it is against my wish. [126]

Maurice and Clive are both outlaws. Whereas Maurice does not cease to love, Clive chooses to assimilate to the social norms, and that is, heterosexuality. After what seems to be (Forster makes it seem to be) some kind of “hellenic” temperament that flings him into Maurice’s affectionate arms, Clive quickly turns to women and sends Maurice back to the prison of loneliness. Even though their actions demonstrate a difference in courage, what Forster wants to emphasize is one’s will to suffer. It touches me immensely that Maurice pours into his love dignity as well as the richness of his being—he never stops loving even when his heart is broken. Clive, on the other hand, has avoided suffering by adopting the easy way. Although it’s indisputable that he intends no evil toward Maurice, Clive slowly deteriorates through his political pretensions and self-deceit.

Not to crush it down, not vainly to wish that it was something else, but to cultivate it in such ways as will not vex either God or Man. [70]

The love of women would rise as certainly as the sun, scorching up immaturity and ushering the full human day . . . some goddess of the new universe that had opened to him in London, someone utterly unlike Maurice Hall. [130]

So Maurice’s fall actually acclerates his descent to the pit bottom, but suffering has only prepared him and toughened him for what is in store, true love. I’m not sure if the relationship woe makes Maurice more courageous, it certainly makes him stronger. Unlike Clive, Maurice is more inclined to accept human nature as his suffering and pain have shown him a niche behind the world’s judgment. When he relapses with Clive’s gamekeeper at the house, he has taken a risk and they have loved. The exchange between Maurice and Alec are suggestive but affirmative. That they have both taken a risk to love has put them in a test of which the outcome bodes auspice. In Maurice, E.M. Forster has deftly delved, ahead of his time, in the issues of homosexual love, openness, class, and self-deceit. It’s a poignant and yet redeeming story of one’s journey to find love, through suffering, doubt, and conviction.

Did you ever dream you’d a friend, Alec? . . . Someone to last your whole life and you his. I suppose such a thing can’t really happen outside sleep. [197]

255 pp. [Read/Skim/Toss]

"Circulez!" Maurice ne veut pas de Tibétains

La diplomatie est la science des relations internationales. Dans un autre registre, un cocktail mondain par exemple, la diplomatie c’est chercher à s’agripper à ceux qui peuvent potentiellement favoriser ses ambitions personnelles ou professionnelles et ignorer ceux qui veulent s’agripper à soi pour les mêmes raisons. De ces deux exemples, difficile de dire la différence: dans les deux cas, c’est un acte purement hypocrite, voué à un agenda égoïste.

Depuis un certain temps, les autres nations mondiales retiennent principalement une chose de la diplomatie mauricienne : la demande persistante de souveraineté sur l’archipel des Chagos. Ce territoire perdu au milieu de l’Océan Indien a été excisé de l’île mère, Maurice, par les autorités Britanniques, avant d’être alloué à bail au gouvernement Américain. Les causes de cette excision en 1965, récupérées à de basses fins politiques locales, ne sont pas pertinentes à cet article et ne seront pas débattues.

Néanmoins, depuis, le tigre de l’Océan Indien – en version miniaturisée bien-sûr – tente d’affronter l’axe Angleterre-USA. Comme dans un cocktail à l’échelle mondiale, ce tigre aux allures de chaton tente de s’agripper à d’autres nations plus dominantes et impressionnantes afin de faire valoir sa requête. Et comme dans un cocktail toujours, ce chaton ignore ceux, plus faibles, qui demandent un minimum d’attention pour avancer leur agenda à eux. Ou à défaut, étendre un peu leur survie.

Les exemples sont légions : plusieurs demandes d’asile politiques refusées (là et là), démontrant l’attitude de Maurice par rapport à d’autres pays, jugés inférieurs. Par opposition, Maurice multiplient les avances envers les géants que deviennent l’Inde et la Chine, l’occident ayant d’autres préoccupations égo-financières et ne démontrant aucun intérêt pour ce caillou perdu au milieu de nulle part dans cette conjoncture.

Et c’est là que s’amène un moine tibétain, Bagdro de son nom. Il voulait transiter à travers Maurice pour rejoindre la Réunion, où il était invité pour une conférence. Mais voilà, les Tibétains ne sont pas en bons termes avec les Chinois… Ces même Chinois que Maurice espère la portera sur les épaules lors des cocktails mondiaux. La décision est vite prise, la présence du moine n’est pas souhaitée à Maurice. La raison évoquée : Maurice ne reconnaît pas la souveraineté tibétaine, et par conséquent, le passeport non plus.

Maurice embarrasse le Tibet. Comme elle a embarrassé le Gabon, l’Ethiopie, le Bangladesh et tant d’autres avant. Aider ces pays ne servira pas l’agenda mauricien sur le plan diplomatique. Par contre, faire plaisir à la Chine et démontrer une fois de plus la constance de « One-China Policy » répétée maintes fois dans les discours en présence d’officiels chinois, ça peut aider. Surtout que ça a marché jusqu’à présent : la Chine nous a offert Jin Fei.

Entre le combat de Maurice par rapport aux Chagos et le combat du Tibet, il n’y a pratiquement aucune différence: ils réclament tous deux leur souveraineté. Mais la diplomatie a ses propres règles. Et Maurice n’a pas hésité à marcher sur les autres pour avancer son propre agenda et réaliser ses ambitions. Quitte à s’attirer la honte d’autres nations en cautionnant au passage des massacres perpétuelles.

CRC 79 is a real treat for me.  After years of being the drunk heckler at Maurice shows calling for JP to lay down my fave old Maurice cut, “High School Sweetheart;” JP agreed to come on Capital Rock City and perform it live for me (and I guess you too).  Also this week, Liz Beattie and Kelowna’s We Are The City.  Thank you for taking the time to check out Victoria rock and roll. You need to talk to me?  jeremy@thezone.fm

Download: Capital Rock City #79

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DJ Notes

01) Maurice – “Kerosene”
02) JP Maurice – “High School Sweetheart (live/acoustic)”
03) Liz Beattie – “Killing Time”
04) We Are The City – “Time, Wasted”

Jean-Paul and I chit about so many wonderful things like… what the heck does Indelible mean?  In Medias Res was a pretty rad band, his high school sweetheart lives in Berlin, JP moved to Vancouver. Maurice’s record ‘Young People With Faces’ will get released in January b/c of business man… business. The Racoons won’t let JP hang out with him till he gets at least a Gold record. Maurice is playing on Wednesday November 4th at Logan’s Pub.

JP then picked a fave off Liz Beattie’s solo record ‘Under The Ivy.”

JP and Mark also turned me on to this group from Kelowna called We Are The City.  Wow.  We Are The City is a featured band from The Zone’s friend station Vancouver, The Peak 100.5 and they are playing with Maurice on Wednesday at Logans.  Their music video of the song “Time, Wasted” is stunning.

And that’ll do it for this week’s Capital Rock City.  Thank you for finding it!  If you like the show please consider sharing the link with a friend (or friends on your social network).

I want to say hello to Kris rocking the podcast in Holland!  Thank you for the picture.  And he sent these kind words;

I’m really not trying to kiss your ass but I think your show is really important and I hope the music community appreciates your hard work.  I think all music communities across the country would benefit greatly from a local radio show.  It shows how much amazing music is in our communities
and our country as a whole.

Have a great weekend.

Kris

Thank you Kris, that was very nice.  Coming soon, Capital Rock City LIVE from Black Stilt Coffee Shop, Monday November 16th.  I need a band!  Could it be you?  jeremy@thezone.fm

Go with yourself.