Rue Estelle

Je me suis acheté un appareil photo aujourd'hui, alors je me suis promené pour prendre mes premiers clichés. En passant dans la rue Estelle ces jeunes m'ont demandé de leur prendre en photo. Je trouve la palette des couleurs parfait, je n'aurais pas pu faire mieux si j'avais fais exprès.

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I bought a new camera today, so I went for a walk to take my first pictures. As I went through the rue Estelle these youngsters asked me to take their picture. I think the colour scheme is perfect. I couldn’t have done better if I had done it on purpose.

Dada

La beauté folle : Le chaos était leur antidote au monde devenu fou
- article sur le Dadaïsme par Leslie Camhi publié dans le Village Voice
lien

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Crazy beautiful: Mayhem was their antidote to a world gone mad
- article on Dadaism by Leslie Camhi published in the Village Voice
link

Le sens de l'histoire / The meaning of History

I think we’re terrible animals and I think our planet’s immune system is trying to get rid of us and it should.
- Author, Kurt Vonnegut, from his appearance on the Daily Show

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Je pense que nous sommes de piètres animaux et je pense que le système immunitaire de notre planète cherche, avec raison, à se débarrasser de nous.
- Auteur, Kurt Vonnegut, extrait de son passage au Daily Show

Modern Democracy

Why don’t people vote anymore? They seem to think that their vote doesn’t really count. More and more feel that with the "two party system" nothing really important ever changes!
Maybe we ought to redefine democracy. It seems to mean so many different things to so many different people today it gets a bit confusing.
The term was originally coined in ancient Athens, meaning literally "power to the people", and described a system in which citizens directly voted the laws of the city of Athens in an open assembly. This seemed fair and the idea maintains to this day an image of inherent goodness that is rarely questioned.
But modern "democracies" are inspired by the roman republic in which the "people" are replaced by "elected"representatives. By this system, the roman aristocracy was institutionalised. In fact the right to vote was only given to aristocrats; most of the people were slaves. Remember, this is the system that gave the world the Roman Empire with Cesar, Nero and Caligula. Everyone idealises "democracy" but I don’t think that the ancient Rome inspires much else but a sort of historical bad example of what happens when a society becomes powerful and corrupt.
Why use a republican system and then say it’s a democracy when it’s not? Democracy, has a better image, it sounds better. Is that enough to tranquilize the people and stifle revolution? Of course, since people are led to believe that they had the choice so they begrudgingly yet democratically accept the will of the majority.
What does democracy mean today? Here is a proposed modern definition:
The two big political parties with identical policies on the important issues, both being financed by the same corporate pressure groups, using modern marketing techniques to influence voters attitudes towards the candidates, seek to obtain for their side, the appearance of a majority of votes using whatever means are locally at their disposal such as control of the validation of ballots or controlling the means of counting them.
In the words of Joseph Stalin, a forerunner of modern democracy, "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."
A process like this needs money both to produce an advertising campaign, and to corrupt the public officers needed to falsify the election results. This big money of course comes from big corporations who can afford big donations. But nothing is for free!
Thus in modern democracies, those making the decisions that rule our lives are neither the people nor even the falsely elected public representatives, but hired corporate executives answering to shareholders’ "representatives" on their board of executives?
Do stockholders really expect corporate management to pressure coerce and buy the politicians who govern, or do they simply not give a damn about the means used as long as dividends keep rolling in? How far will corporate management go to keep its gigantic salaries? Answer that and you’ll understand the guiding values in public policy today.
Why invoke such evidences? Everybody knows that, don’t they?

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Pourquoi les gens ne votent plus ? On dirait qu’ils croient que leur voix ne compte pas. De plus en plus de gens pense que malgré l’alternance politique, rien ne change de toute façon.
Il faudrait peut-être redéfinir la démocratie. Ce mot semble vouloir dire tant de choses différentes pour tant de gens différentes qu’on ne voit plus très claire.
A l’origine, le terme vient d’Athènes antique et signifié littéralement "le pouvoir au peuple", et décrivait un système où les citoyens votaient directement les lois de la ville d’Athènes dans une assemblée ouverte. Ceci semblait juste et l’idée maintient encore aujourd’hui une image de quelque chose de bon qui est rarement remis en cause.
Par contre, les "démocraties" modernes sont inspirées par la république Romain dans laquelle le "peuple" est remplacé par des représentants "élus". Par ce système, l’aristocratie romaine a été institutionnalisée. En fait, seul les aristocrates avaient le droit de vote, la majorité des gens étant des esclaves. Souvenez vous que c’est ce système qui a produit l’empire romain avec César, Néron et Caligula. La démocratie est idéalisée dans l’esprit de tous, par contre Rome antique inspire plutôt l’image d’un mauvais exemple historique de ce qui se passe quand une société devient puissant est corrompue.
Pourquoi utiliser un système républicain et dire que c’est de la démocratie quand c’est faux ? La démocratie a une meilleure image, ça sonne mieux. Est-ce suffisant pour tranquilliser le peuple et étouffer la révolte ? Bien sûr, puisque les gens croient avoir eu le choix alors ils acceptent, a contrecoeur mais démocratiquement, la volonté de la majorité.
Que signifie la démocratie aujourd’hui ? Voici une proposition de définition moderne :
Les deux grandes parties politiques, ayant des politiques identiques sur les questions importantes, toutes deux étant financées par les mêmes groupes de pression industriels, tentent d’influencer l’attitude des électeurs envers les candidates à l’aide des techniques modernes de marketing, et d’obtenir l’apparence d’une majorité des votes par tous les moyens à leur disposition localement, notamment le contrôle de la validité des bulletins ou le contrôle des moyens pour compter les voix.
Comme disait un avant-gardiste de la démocratie moderne, Joseph Staline, "Ceux qui votent ne décident rien. Ceux qui comptent les voix décident tout."
Un processus comme celui-ci a besoin d’énormes budgets pour payer les campagnes de publicité et pour corrompre les fonctionnaires nécessaires pour la falsification des résultats des élections. Ces budgets énormes proviennent bien sûr d’énormes sociétés qui peuvent se permettre d’énormes donations. Mais, rien n’est gratuit !
Ainsi, dans les démocraties modernes, ceux qui prennent les décisions qui régissent nos vies sont ni le peuple, ni même les représentants faussement élues, mais les PDG salariés des grandes sociétés qui répondent aux représentants des actionnaires sur leurs Conseils d’Administration.
Les actionnaires attendent-ils vraiment que la direction exerce de la pression et qu’elle achète les hommes politiques qui gouvernent, ou bien ça leur est égale les moyens employés pourvu que les dividendes continuent à être versées. Les dirigeants des sociétés sont prêts à allez jusqu’où pour sauvegarder leurs salaires gigantesques ? Répondez à cette question et vous saurez quelles sont les valeurs qui guident l’action publique aujourd’hui.
Mais pourquoi évoquer de telles évidences ? Tout le monde sait ça, non?

More tits & ass

A drawing made with computer graphics software by a friend. I love that suggestive look in her eyes!

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Un dessin fait avec un logiciel d'infographie par un ami. J'adore le regard cochon qu'elle a!

Ignorance

The more I learn, the farther I see into the vastness of my ignorance, the more I respect and crave other’s knowledge. I therefore assume that those who see no need to learn from others know nothing.

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Plus j’apprends, plus je vois l’étendu de mon ignorance, plus je respect et désire la connaissance des autres. J’en déduis que ceux qui ne voient pas l’intérêt d’apprendre des autres ne savent rien.

Le satire, un sacerdose

Je me suis dit qu’un jour je ferai des dessins satiriques sur l’actualité. Alors, je me suis abonné à plusieurs flux RSS comme Le Monde, Reuters, Associated Press, etc.
J’ai découvert que plus je lis l’actualité dans le but d’en faire quelque chose de drôle, plus j’ai de l’admiration pour ceux qui réussissent à le faire. Il me suffit de lire quelques titres des infos pour que tout envie de rire ou de faire rire disparaisse subitement et cède la place à l'envie de tout foutre en l'aire!
Comme disait Frank Zappa « Ca devient plus difficile quand on en sait plus. Parce que plus on en découvre, tout paraît de plus en plus laid. ». Coluche était un saint !

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I once thought I would draw satirical political cartoons. So I subscribed to a number of RSS feeds like Le Monde, Reuters, Associated Press, etc.
I discovered that the more I read the news with the purpose of doing something funny, the more I admire those who succeed at doing so! I need only read a few headlines before all desire to laugh or to make others laugh suddenly disappears giving place to an great urge to destroy mankind!

As Frank Zappa once said "It gets harder the more you know. Because the more you find out, the uglier everything seems." Coluche was a saint!

Site Web BIZARRE

Voici le site du musicien – designer allemand Hans Reichel. lien
Même si le site est bilingue anglais – allemand, on est très peu guidé par les mots dans la navigation mais plutôt par un graphisme et un bande son étrange et ludique. Je ne sais pas si ce gars gagne des clients avec ce site, mais c’est impressionnant de bizarrerie. –et immense ! ça représente beaucoup de travail.

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Have a look at german musicien and designer Hans Reiche's web site. link
The site is more or less bilingual german - english, but that doesn't really matter since the visitor is actually guided by the site's bizarre and fun graphics and it's sound content. I don't know if this guy wins many clients with his site, but it sure is impressive in it's weirdness! - and it's huge! it really represents a LOT of work!

Miaaammmm!!

On ne va tout de même pas rester philosopher toute la journée! Un peu de cul, bon sang! Ca détende.

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We're not going to waste all day philosophising are we? Let's have some tits and ass by God! That's better.

McDonald's conquest of France

I guess the way things look and what they mean really depends upon your viewpoint. From an American viewpoint, the conquest of the French fast-food market by McDonald’s could be a source of pride.
It’s normal to think that one’s frame of reference is the right one or the best one. We even tend to confuse it with our idea of self. “Ethnocentric” as anthropologists would say. As an American immigrant living in France, transcending in some ways cultural references and their political usefulness, I find it kind of sad to see not the best, and perhaps the worst, of American culture, conquer France.
When I arrived in France in the mid seventies, one of the things I found charming was that a meal here was a valued moment of communion with family and friends. Even the food preparation was a collective ritual that enhanced the shared pleasure of the event.
The table was the center of a lifestyle based on quality ingredients, the skills and know-how of farmers, winemakers, and all sorts of local craftsmen, all of whom were celebrated in a daily way. The lunch break lasted between 2 to 3 hours, and a Sunday family meal could last nearly all afternoon.
Even before the socialist government, with a 40-hour workweek, the restaurants were open from 12 to 3pm and from 7 to 11pm and most stores open on Saturday were closed on Monday. It was a question of cultural rhythm in which family life was still a priority.
French eating habits were well structured, and the between meal snack just wasn’t a problem, as it is in the US. The number of obese persons and heart disease was dramatically fewer in France, in spite of the importance of the dinner table.
McDonald’s had already successfully invaded and conquered the fast-food market in numerous European countries, but was relatively absent in France. At the time, the principal advantage of fast-food restaurants, the rapidity of service, was not pertinent to the French way of life.
What’s rarely mentioned is the years of effort begun in the early eighties by McDonald’s to win the French child clientele, by offering quality toys with a Happy meal (that the kids never ate, yuk) and an enormous ad campaign. Years later those same kids are teenagers and young adults, still going to McDonald’s, even though they don’t get toys anymore, I guess by habit?
Today, in spite of the 35-hour workweek, the pace of urban living in France has accelerated to a point where eating has become, as in America, more of a disturbing obligation, distracting the population from it’s economic activity, rather than a time for exchange. In more and more couples, both members work in order to maintain social and economic standing, spending less and less time raising their children or even talking to each other.
In this context, taking the children to McDonald’s for a Happy meal and a “free” toy has perhaps become a guilty substitute for meaningful family relations.
For many Frenchmen, José Bové represents a needed effort to defend their cultural identity and the historic quality of a lifestyle that’s being relentlessly eroded as a simple obstacle in the marketing strategy of a junk food merchant.
When I see the American way of life advance in France, I sometimes wonder, who decides what is good enough in America to export? I fear the only ones who think about it are those whose business interests are concerned.
When I think about how the average American city is structured, with it’s “heart” left to rot in poverty and crime, where children have to join a gang and own a gun in order to protect themselves and survive, and where quality health care is a merchandise only the rich can afford, I have a hard time rejoicing over McDonald’s success, and the perspective of those values prevailing elsewhere in the world.

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Désolé j'ai la flème à traduire un truc aussi longue. A l'origine c'était ma réponse à un membre de ma famille aux USA qui gloussé en m'envoyant un article de la presse américaine sur le succès de McDo en France.

To Zézette la Couette

You are like the moon in distance
A great sphere of it from me like water
Sucked to the center of a funnel and down
If where you are in a place which is not there
You also see its serene light
Then you’ll also be here as me

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Tu es comme la lune en distance
Une grande sphère de lui à moi comme de l’eau
Attiré au centre d’un entonnoir vers le bas
Si de là où tu es, dans un autre endroit
Tu vois aussi sa lumière sereine
Alors tu seras ici comme moi

- SAIGYO (1118-1190)