Your February Reader's Digest.

It's February. Everyone is really miserable about the financial crisis.

These two things are bad enough without posting polemic topics.
Je vous propose, alors, quelque chose de soft.

YOUR FEEL-GOOD FEBRUARY BREAKDOWN:
1. Paris is experiencing a somehow-charming little windstorm, a very sexy tempête.
In its honor, a favorite childhood memory...Scandified:




2. Earlier in the winter, looking at a completely frozen Versailles, my first thought was "I would like to walk 30 minutes into this." In tow were Cesi and James, who have yet to forgive me. In truth, I was trying to find Marie Antoinette's little village, but we did find this:





The sight of Swans landing on ice is something pretty gorgeous. Also, ducks look even cuter when confused and walking on ice.

3. For no particular reason other than that making fun of our dear Cedric is an international sport:

[Open call for a good caption]

4. My new love, a small 50 something Ukelele player I have yet to speak to:

This video, as is their myspace page, does not do them justice, but they are an incredible live experience; many thanks to F for introducing them to me.
(Having issues uploading the video, but check them out on: www.myspace.com/jicbenjjouentgainsbourg )

5. Finally, in response to my last post, I was searching for anything on Larry David and racism (of which there is a bounty of Davidian hilarity), and found this:



See, doesn't Larry David make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

Someone get Nas on the phone.

I'm not sure what we were discussing, but I said to a friend the other day, "Wow, just when you thought France couldn't get any more racist" to which he replied, "No, I never doubted France could get more racist."

He was right:

So, I was on hold with the French secretariat of Overseas Territories the other day.

A quick global history recap: France still has its tentacles in a number of relatively sexy islands scattered across the Caribbean, Indian and Pacific Oceans, and has its linguistic imprint on half of Africa. Roughly.

So, the hold music is a pleasant classical symphony, and after 30 seconds, a voice tells me:

"You're listening to the Violin Concerto in G major of Chevalier de St. Georges... otherwise known as, "The Enlightened N----"*

I almost dropped the phone. Surely, I must have misunderstood. I mean, in a country with as many very obvious racial problems as France, they wouldn't consciously use this word on the hold service FOR THEIR (former) COLONIES. But, they did.

"So here's how it's gonna work: We'll keep you as a territory, give you the euro, and improve your economic conditions, but we get to use the name we did 300 years ago when we first enslaved and colonized you. Sorry!'

It gets better.
A trip to Wikipedia reveals that Joseph de Bologne, Chevalier de St. Georges, 1745-1799, was a hottie:


..And, "the first European composer of African origin." So, the son of a white plantation owner and a slave was freed and came to Europe and dominated in fencing and composing in the court at Versailles. Pretty sweet. But wait, you say, did he sign his works, "the Enlightened N----" ?

Nope. Quelle surprise!

The hold service simply needed to specify that he was otherwise known as "The Enlightened N----", for no determinable reason. There's a biography coming out with this title; a bunch of biographers seem to think it's appropriate. That's it.

I'm just saying I'm willing to guess he didn't go around calling himself that.


*the word, technically speaking, better translates to "Negro" and not the N word, but I think the point remains the same.