Does this shock you?

This is the new anti-smoking campaign launched by L'Association Droits des Non- Fumeurs (The association for the rights of non-smokers).

It's says "Fumer, c'est être esclave du tabac" (To smoke is to be a slave to tabacco). And obviously they are comparing it to a whole nother kind of slavery. The DNF stated they wanted an image that was shocking to get young people's attention.

Not sure which of the two is better for teenagers to be thinking about...

What do you think? Effective? Shocking? Tasteless?

M Hulot has lost his pipe...

One of the interesting things about being an American, married to an Englishman, and living in France is the exposure I've had to each country's sense of humor. From the Saturday Night Live, Bill Cosby, and Eddie Murphy comedy of my youth, to the Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and Lee Evans comedy of Britain, I now find myself in a country where comedy exists, but not in a shape or form that I easily recognize.

There is one French comedian, however, that I was introduced to early on who in my opinion tops the list of comedic geniuses, and that man was Jacques Tati. His comedy to me is the best kind- intelligent, and thought-provoking, sure, but also the kind where when the sketch or film is over, your body aches from laughing and there is a slight possibility that you may have wet yourself at some point along the way.

If you haven't seen Mon Oncle, Jour de Fête, or M Hulot's Holiday yet, you have deprived yourself of some seriously brillant ridiculousness.

Unfortunately, Jacques Tati has made the news again recently for quite a different kind of ridiculous absurdity. A new exhibition is running in Paris at the Cinémathèque Francaise called Tati, deux temps, trois mouvements, which celebrates the 102nd birthday of the comedian, with screenings of his films, exhibits of some of the props, costumes and screenplays used in the films, walking tours of some Tati-related architectural landmarks, and a screening of a new 6-part documentary of Tati's life.

The reason this is getting so much press is that the posters they've created to promote the exhibit shows the instantly recognizable M Hulot on his bike, with his hat, but instead of the usual pipe sticking out of his mouth, they've replaced it with a little yellow pinwheel. Apparently, the pipe would have contravened the law against smoking in advertisements.

I guess I can understand why there are laws against the Marlboro Man, or the woman reclining on a yacht smoking a Virginia Slim, but honestly, do they really think children are going to rush out to smoke a pipe after they've seen this advertisement? Just when I thought I was recovering from the shock of France actually obeying the smoking ban, I'm now witnessing a form of zealotry that I thought I'd left behind me in the States. I'm sure he is breaking some law by not wearing a bike helmet; I'm surprised they didn't slap one of those on him as well...

I guess we better start getting used to seeing images of Groucho without his cigar, Holly Golightly without her cigarette holder, and Jean-Paul Sartre without his Gauloise stub. And it's probably best if we just forget about George Burns altogether.

It seems that long after his death, and as he did with all of his films, Jacques Tati is still providing us with a surreal version of modern day France. It's just a shame he isn't still here to give some comedic levity to some of these modern French absurdities.

Guns.....

There seem to be two things we can count on to be in the news headlines these days, bombings in Iraq and young Americans shooting their peers on school campuses.

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.....

Several years back, my old high school made the news when my old Geometry teacher's class was held hostage by a kid with a gun. Apparently the shooting yesterday at Northern Illinois University was the fourth campus shooting in a WEEK. Columbine, Virginia Tech, these are places remembered not for being sanctuaries for young American students, but for being backdrops of some of the worst massacres to have taken place on American soil in the 21st Century.

I feel sick. I feel sick when I see young kids in pushchairs weilding their toy guns. I feel sick when I read that this latest gunman had 3 firearms on him. Where the hell does a college kid get a gun, let alone 3?

How is it possible that in a country where you can't smoke anywhere because you may endanger someone else's life, young people are able to acquire guns?

I don't even know where to begin to organize my thoughts on this one. There seems to be a malaise spreading across the States at the moment. What's the cause? What's the solution? Why is it that Americans feel confident enough to 'sort out' the world's problems, but can't stop young Americans from going on shooting sprees in our own country?

How much money does the government actually make off gun sales? I mean, come on, this has to be the only reason why it is still so easy for people to get guns in the first place......

no point starting at the beginning.....

Recipe for the day: deep breaths, fresh air, crap television, large quantity of hiding from the children......

We are currently in the process of major renovations, so you'll have to excuse the frequent updates on the amount of wallpaper I've managed to scrap off the walls each week. Currently on layer 3, in the girls' room I started about 4 weeks ago.

Feeling a bit of the winter blahs at the moment, even though it's 70° and sunny. Lots of birthdays this month, and I'm feeling slightly nervous about throwing my first mixed French/English toddlers birthday party. Surely the level of sugar intake is the same no matter what country they are in? I'm hoping it goes well and isn't too awkward for the French mothers.

Saw 'Thank you for Smoking' the other night and quite liked it. Can almost imagine some zealot is trying to airbrush out all cigarettes from classic Hollywood movies.

It is probably painfully obvious that I'm new to this blogging thing, so please bear with me. I hope you may find something vaguely interesting along the way......