If the deaths of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Patrick Swayze haven't filled you with enough grieving for people you don't actually know, today we mourn the passing of another great.
On September 16, 2009, Filip Nikolic, 35, was found dead in his Parisian apartment.
Of course, you all know Filip from the greatest French contribution to music since Serge Gainsbourg, 2B3.
A friend explained this to me.
"Yes, you know, the group from the 90's..2B3."
[Increasingly well-known blank stare]
"Get it? It's a play on words. "
[crickets chirping]
"2B3.... TWO BE FFFRREE"
After a solid five minutes of hysterical laughter, I regained my composure and started thinking. This is quite possibly the most genius musical move of the past 15 years! A name that makes fun of French people's inability to pronounce the "th" sound? Sold BACK to them?
Their manager must have been English. I would like to shake that man's hand.
Now, I know it isn't fair to make fun of what a country produces out of its boy-band era, but we did manage to produce Justin Timberlake. Who is by all accounts, awesome. Pfff to you, other countries!
So then there's the music.
Behold, a three-man choreographed threat to every French man's masculinity:
I wish France had a "Behind the Music." I can just see it now. "For years, they trolled the streets, trying to sell their musical trio to chest-waxing salons across Europe..."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Blondgeist!
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Dear Sir, Madam,
On a recent Lufthansa flight from JFK to Frankfurt, ýour airline chose to screen the film "Hannah Montana: The Movie" raising a number of troubling questions about your airline´s opinion of its customers, not to mention, on a personal level, my threshold for such cinematic detritus as I watched the entire film.
You can imagine my relief when I saw this e-mail address appear after the film. Your answers to my questions may ease my annoyance at having lost 2 hours of brain function.
My first question would be, What, exacly, made Hannah Montana:The Movie appeal to the screening body responsible for such decisions? Was it the contrast between her stage personas Blondgeist and her "real" down-home Christian self? To this I might answer: if pop culture has taught us anything in the past decade it is that such a contrast cannot be trusted. Time and time we have been let down by such faux blonde purity. I need point you no farther than the Spears family.
Convincing as Ms. Montana may have been for your airline, I, much like my neighbors on this flight, was not impressed. The 7 year-old behind me was not soothed by her screeching pop ballads, and continued to kick my chair with much gusto. My neighbor to the left, a 75 year-old gentleman, was seemingly not entertained either, and continued talking to me throughout the 6 hour flight, mentioning on several occasions that his traveling companion was, in fact, just his sister.
In short, I hope that when I fly with Lufthansa in the future, your airline will show a minimum of discretion, and not aim for the lowest common denominator. We may travel Economy, but our standards are First Class.
As perplexed as I may have been by your choice of the Hannah Montana film, I would like to applaud the choice of two Disney cartoons from the 50´s. Especially deft was the choice of two films which do not rely on WWII or Cold War memes. Mazel Tov, Lufthansa, on a pleasant end to what would have otherwise been an entirely culturally insufferable voyage.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
NB: To date, I haven't received a response. Stay tuned, dear readers.
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