mercredi 9 avril 2008
Last night I was watching a porgram on TV, something like a talk show but called Magazine in French. There are many of these on French TV every night, but they offer no resemblance to American talk shows. On a typical French talk show, there is one host who talks to several guests about current events in the world, anything from politics to book releases and entertainment. Some of these include "On n'a pas tout dit" (We haven't said it all), "Ce soir (ou jamais ! )" (Tonight or never), and "C'est à dire ? " (That is to say?). Yes, much more intellectual than Oprah giving away gifts or Ellen dancing on stage.
I was surfing through the channels and came across a blond woman speaking perfect French; ten seconds later, I realized it was Jodie Foster. I had no idea she speaks perfect French, with just a very little accent (to my ears at least). I knew that she graduated from Yale, and a classmate just old me that she had majored in French literature. Ok, I'm ignorant. She was in France promoting her new movie "L'île de Nim," starring also Gerard Butler and Abigail Breslin. One of these three stars is cute. Guess which one I'm referring to.
This morning in class we talked about food in different cultures (again, I know - but you do know that the French love talking about politics, food, and sex, right?) Someone brought up cow tongues (it wasn't me). Not surprisingly, most people made a face when it came up, even more of a reaction than to grasshoppers and wasps. It's just a muscle, people!
Tonight a Chinese friend took me to a Chinese restaurant specializing in "la mien" (pulled noodles). The noodles were good, but the most surprising moment of the evening was hearing a song that seemed very familiar but surely a version I hadn't encountered. It took me 15 seconds to realize it was Jackie Cheung's (not to be confused with Jacky Chan who can't sing) "wen bien" (kiss goodbye), but sung in English by an unfamiliar voice. My friend told me the song was redone in English by a singer whose name he couldn't remember. So there I was, eating noodles from northern China, listening to a song in English, originally sung by a guy from Hong Kong (no, don't even start with the "HK is China" thing), in Paris. Super, hein !?
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