Zinédine Zidane signs up for a new role in the limelight

The French are in for a treat -- Zinédine Zidane has agreed to become a "consultant de luxe" for Canal+. The past-captain of the French Football team signed a contract yesterday with the satellite channel for an undisclosed fee - but one can assume it would be quite generous. Zidane will be appearing for all the special events, such as the League of Champions.

"Commentator?", he said. "It is not something I am quite at ease with yet - even if it does make me smile! But we shall see -- I am there to learn and", he assures the viewers - and his new employers, "I definitely promise to try to be a little less shy and reserved and a little more talkative than I have been known to be in the past!

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The phenomenon of Star Ac : Star Academy France

Star Academy, the French reality television show, is the fouvourite-viewing for all -- young and old, bored and enthusiastic. It is the kind of show that appeals -- like Pop Idol, because it is a contest of young singers -- and the singers could be your best friend, your neighbour next door, your butcher's daughter, your hairdresser's son -- it could be you. It is broadcast daily on TF1, giving a run-down of the training they undergo, the dramas in the chateau (a decorator's worst possible nightmare of gaudy colours and bad taste) where they live for the duration of the show, the personal little angst and dreams and ambitions and fears and joys... And every Friday night there is a spectacular glitzy and glamorous show watched by millions, when they all perform - alone, and in duos with the greatest and the best professional performers, and out of the three previously nominated candidates, one is bumped off the show. Viewers from across the francophone world call in to vote for their favourites, but every week there is one less in the group that returns to the chateau. And, at the end of each season, selected contestants go on tour around France and Morroco, Switzerland, Belgium and other French-speaking countries.

The show is hosted by Nikos Aliagas and to date, it has featured guest stars such as Phil Collins, Patrick Bruel, Lionel Ritchie, Johnny Halliday, Madonna, Tina Arena, Kylie Minogue, Mariah Carey, Céline Dion, Lara Fabian, Beyonce and Shania Twain. The first season of Star Ac -- we are now in Season 6 -- was won by Jenifer Bartoli from Nice, who has since become one of France's best-loved new female singers. Season 2 of Star Academy is generally regarded as the best of all five seasons, primarily because it launched some successful solo careers - not just winner Nolwenn but also Emma, who reinvented herself as France's answer to Avril Lavigne; talented singer, songwriter and producer Jeremy Chatelain who married Alizee; singer-songwriter Georges-Alain Jones; Aurelie Konate who successfully appeared in the comedie-musicale Belles Belles Belles based on the music of Claude Francois.
Series 2 had a winning combination of talents and personalities. Season 4 winner Gregory Lemarchal overcame a respiratory illness, to become the first male winner of Star Academy in France. He released his debut single "Ecris L'Histoire" and debut album "Je Deviens Moi" in France in 2005. In Season 5 the most notable fact about the winner, Magalie, was that she attracted much attention in France because, unlike previous Star Academy participants, she was overweight. The current season, Season 6 began with 18 contestants. Nikos Aliagas continues to present the daily updates and weekly "Prime" on Fridays. Much is expected of Star Academy 6 and the focus is expected to shift from traditional chanson to "nouvelle chanson francaise" made popular by singers like Benabar, Benjamin Biolay and former Star Ac 1 contestant Olivia Ruiz. The success of rival contest Nouvelle Star -- the Pop Idol of France, has caused a rethink and the "Prime" stage at Plaine Saint-Denis is said to be bigger and better for this new series.

Whatever your views on reality tv, or on the idea of taking young wannabe singers off the street and turning them into pop idols, you have to admit that it is endearing to see young raw talent evolve and turn into something resembling a polished and accomplished performance. We all love a nothing-to-something story -- we all love playing at Pygmalion -- we all love seeing someone realise their dreams.

(NOT!)



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The Big Debate! The Socialist Party tries to decide who will be their candidate

Three candidates vying for the French Socialist Party's nomination in next year's presidential election have gone on TV to debate their policies. Former Environment Minister Segolene Royal, the front-runner, faced ex-Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn and ex-PM Laurent Fabius.
Last night's televised debate was the first of three between the contenders. The Socialists' candidate who will be chosen in November, is then likely to face current Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the leader of the conservative UMP party.

--In a BBC report, Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says there were few sparks in last night's two-hour debate.
The rules were extremely rigid and laid down well in advance. Weeks were spent agreeing a format for the debates, with Mr Strauss-Kahn and Mr Fabius arguing for lengthy confrontations on TV, and Ms Royal pushing for the encounters to be less aggressive and more low-key. Filmed in a cable TV studio without an audience, there was no opportunity for the rivals to interrupt each other as they answered questions on the economy sent in by Socialist party members. Ms Royal, who is enjoying a 39% lead over her Socialist opponents, spoke largely about the need for France to rejuvenate its economy and to invest in new technology and research -- but sadly she did not commit herself to any definite policy or plan. ASs for one of the most contentious issues, the 35 hour week, she hedged around the question and did not give us her views. Mr Strauss-Kahn called for new talks between business and unions and for a reduction of France's debt, and Mr Fabius attacked France's "inequality and injustice" and "global financial hyper-capitalism". Critics accuse Ms Royal of being a political lightweight who is rich on style but poor on ideas, our correspondent says, but she proved she could hold her own against the Socialist old guard.
Ms Royal had warned that too many debates could damage the party by making it appear divided in the eyes of the electorate.



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The pots of chrysanths are starting to appear again.................

Last year I confessed to the first major faux pas I committed in my new life in France. I was so elated to see the masses and masses of pots of chrysanthemums – at such reasonable prices and without any delay filled the chateau with colour --- huge pots of Chrysanths in each room, on the terrace, around the pool. It was a riot of colour. It was a picture fit for a glossy home decorating magazine!

And then the rude awakening….. when I was told that one NEVER, but NEVER put the chrysanths in ones home – they are solely and uniquely to decorate cemeteries and tombstones………
Oops….
Yes – Le Toussaint, or All Saints Day is celebrated on the first of November in France, and this is the day that we remember all the poor saints for whom there wasn’t a place on the saints’ calendar – in other words, all the saints who do not have a specific day named after them.The origin of the day probably goes right back to Celtic times when the year was divided in two: summer and winter, and the first of November being the celebration of the first of the year; the Feast of Samain, or Samhuin (the meaning in Irish being weakening, or the end of summer, and in Celtic meaning the beginning of new things and in mythology the time when great cosmic events took place – a time of festivities and games.
At the same time, the Feast of Samain was also the feast of the dead – when communication between the living and the dead took place. The tombs were opened on this night and the inhabitants of the Under World could come above ground and the living could share in the word of the gods and the heroes.
In the Anglo Saxon world this feast later developed in the Holy Night or Hallowe’en when the hollowed out pumpkin with the candle inside represented the dead come back to life.

This custom started when, during the 19th century, le Toussaint was proclaimed the Day of the Dead, and the custom was started of children going round with flower pots filled with glowing embers on which incense was burnt (probably to ease the smell of all those opened tombs!) and asked passers-by on çan po lès pauvès-âmes! – a coin for the poor souls! The pots were later replaced with hollowed out pumpkins, cut out to look like a person. In France the Day of the Dead is celebrated on the 2nd of November.

When the Emperor Louis the Pious proclaimed the 1st of November as le Toussaint, he probably did so in council with Pope Gregoire IV in order to wipe out the ancient pagan rituals whilst putting some colour and excitement into the Christian rituals. Instead of communing with the dead, Christians were now encouraged to honour the saints. The plan did not work too well though, as it was the church that relented when they realized that it was not that easy to wipe out rituals that had been practiced for aeons, and allowed a Day for the Dead on the Christian calendar as well – it was the Abbot of Cluny in the 10th century who proclaimed the 2nd of November as the day of all the dead that lie in the heart of Christianity.
Thus, on the first le Toussaint is celebrated with feasting and joy, whilst the 2nd of November is the time when flowers (those pots and pots of Chrystanths!) and candles are put on the graves and tombs of the dead.


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It is the Birthday of the Chateau Lalinde Blog!

A year ago I discovered the joys of blogging and posted my first entry!
And what a pleasure it has been to look for interesting titbits about the world I live in to share with my readers! Always fascinating too to track who those readers are. I am able to see every day who has been reading the blog, which blog entries they preferred and how much time they spent here.

I have lost count of the number of countries where my readers find themselves, but there have been readers from just about every part of the world, including Kazakhstan, South Korea, Iraq, Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Iceland, Malawi, Ethiopia, Marocco, Russian Federation, Cote d’Ivoire, Ireland, China, Lebanon, Mozambique, India, the Netherlands……..the list goes on and on. The most frequent visitors are in Iceland, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Japan and Australia – and in that order.
The third highest number of page views per week happened in November 2005, the second highest in May and June, and the record is held by September this year of 1800 page views. September also holds the record for the most visits to the blog --- if you came to read here, you shared your reading with a whopping 750 other readers!

So, what then are the entries that attract all these readers?

Many of you seem to love reading about the river Dordogne and have been following the ups and downs of the river, its moods and its flow.
The Druids of Belingard and the excellent wine tasting there also seems to be a very popular site.
The celebration of Easter at Chateau Lalinde, the giant cepe mushrooms, the Camino, or pilgrimage to Compostela, and then all the recipes --- in particular the no-recipe-for-Cherry Jam, Melanie’s wonderful tomato and parmesan tart, my fail proof Onion Chutney and, believe it! the amazing recipe for Rose Jam are firm favourites with the readers as well.
People that featured on the blog also attracted much interest: there was of course the recent entry about Segolene Royal which seems to have been a great hit with you – who does not enjoy reading about such a lovely person who is in the news! and then the all time favourite, Zizou, or Zinedine Zidane, the flawed genius of world football. There were many other entries that attracted readers from all over the world -- too many to mention, but the blog archives are full of interesting bits that catch your eye --and I keep track to make sure that will continue,

I say Happy Birthday to the Chateau Lalinde Blog and thank you to all my readers! You are always welcome to post a comment or write an email and tell me what you think or what you would like to see more of – and I shall continue into a new year of blogging for your and my pleasure!

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The view at sunrise from my window today

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Fume, fume, fume cette cigarette : The French are quitting, but no cold turkey

La dinde froide.....
Even cold turkey sounds different in French -- not quite as cold, not quite as definite....

This week the conversations in the smokey bars and bistros and restaurants of France have all but gone up in smoke when the law was proclaimed which will ban all smoking in public places. But only in 2008. After all -- there is a general election in France next year which has to be won. And every politician worth his tobacco knows that no election can be won without a bit of cigarette ash on the ballot paper.

Ironic that this year also sees the anniversary of Jean-Paul Sartre, and for the Sartre retrospective which was on in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, a poster was designed -- simple, effective and eminently recognizable : a black and white photograph of the master in a typical pose, peering through the fug around him from his ever present cigarette, his hand in a typical smoker's pose --- only...what is that? No cigarette! Magically, the cigarette has disappeared from between his fingers! Would the law against showing any cigarettes in advertisements, the Loi Evin, have been possible without the invention of photoshop? Surely a question that could not possibly be discussed without lighting up first........




The same thing happened with another writer -- and Minister of Culture -- that is "French" culture, mind you! -- who was a chain smoker all his adult life and never ever seen without a cigarette between his fingers or dangling from his lips.In 1996 a book cover with his photograph was changed to show him holding a .....nothing!..between his fingers andin 2001, when a postage stamp of Malraux was printed, using the famous photograph of Gisèle Freund, taken way back in 1935, the image of André Malraux was strangely altered -- (posthumously, mind you, because no way was he going to adhere to any silly law that stopped the French from smoking!)
Where will it end? Will they continue to photoshop history and pretend that no one has ever smoked in the past? Imagine Humphrey Bogart without his cigarette. And Serge Gainsbourg..... The mind boggles -- and that is without any nicotine to addle the brain! In France, as someone recently commented, smoking is part of the intellectual initiation rite of the youth. At the age of sixteen you get your first scooter, you join the Communist Party and you roll your first cigarette. The cafe and cigarette culture here isn't just about being sociable, it has an intellectual aspect too. The more brainy you are, the more you smoke, she so rightly said. Probably why all the artistic people smoke like the proverbial chimney -- and as my young friend, Pierre, commented: "It looks well cool!" It is not that the French aren't aware of the fact that up to 65,000 of them a year die of smoking-related diseases, it's just that to the French, smoking simply doesn't equate with lung cancer and bad breath. To them it translates as chic, romantic - an intrinsic part of Gallic culture......

I mean -- just LOOK at Serge -- would he look anything as chic, as romantic, as intellectual as he does without that cigarette dangling, and that smoke around him?........
Arrrggghhh! Forget I ever asked!

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Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your every event

Renting a chateau in France need not only be a dream!
Visit the website and scroll down in this blog --- and see how easy and accessible it can be for you and your family or friends or colleagues to come spend a week in the Perigord on the banks of the Dordogne River with all your home comforts, but with that little je ne sais quoi added as well, enjoying good food and excellent wines, history, sports, arts -- or simply the tranquility of country life!

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The joy of Autumn in the Dordogne

Just a few things around me on a typical autumn afternoon in the Dordogne........









.....what sheer pleasure to be living here......





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Seen at the Chateau Lalinde recently

There has been an inundation of visitors over the past two months, and what a joy it is to have the sounds of friends enjoying themselves fill the rooms of the chateau! Some came for the first time -- and I hope not the last time!; Kevin, Maryon and Loraine jetted in on their private plane and then criss-crossed the countryside, not missing a single sight to be seen; Joan celebrated her birthday with us and Moon discovered pastries even I did know the boulangerie had!; Michael and Lulu came back - by popular demand -- to give yet another talk on Michael's delightful books and philosophies and it was wonderful to welcome them back to the chateau. They came laden with luxurious gifts from Paris -- and what a pleasure it was, in return, to be able to provide them with their hearts' desire -- freshly collected cepes from the oak forests of the region! Pierre persevered and finally caught three huge fish in the river below the terrace - only to release them again! Albert and Suzanna compared notes on French and Maroccan farm produce and Douglas entertained with opera areas, sharp wit, unihibited flamenco and riveting tales of adventures past, and Anne and Ellen provided a whole new chapter for my book with their detailed and humorous observations of all those they come across!

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Barthez, c'est bel et bien fini : Another legend hangs up his boots

Fabien Barthez -- the world champion goal keeper of Les Bleus, the French Football team, has decided to retire at the age of 35 years.
Now that his announcement is official, Barthez says that he intends to enjoy himself in football like he did when he was fifteen years old.... -- This makes one wonder about the lives of footballers -- is it all that glamorous and wonderful to be rich and famous and always in the limelight? Many people deplore the kind of money that professional sportsmen receive, but at the end of the day the stress and superficiality of the lives that they lead must be murderous.
Many believe that France won the 1998 World Cup because Laurent Blanc planted a kiss on Fabien Barthez's bald head before each game -- but then of course, the bald head and great goalkeeping aside, he also more than justified the old saying that all goalkeepers are slightly off the wall!
Barthez will be remembered for the impassioned game that he always played. -- even the popular French hand puppet show, Les Guignols, now have a latex copy of this great footballer and he is thus assured a permanent place in the hearts and minds of all French children! - and for many connoisseurs of the game he will always remain the greatest goal keeper of all time.



Also see
related articles on Zidane leaving Les Bleus.



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Autumn is starting to show its colours.......

And the sun is showing its beautiful face a little later in the morning............



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Photo Credit Autumn Leaves: edbook.livejournal.com/tag/autumn. -- and well worth a look at this

amazing photographer's work

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A massive wind storm over the Aquitaine -- and the Dordogne

Yesterday, between 06h45 and 08h45 a sudden gale force wind of 185 km per hour swept over the Aquitaine, leaving damage and destruction in its wake.
I was driving along a little country road when suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, the wind came up -- like a hurricane, blowing massive trees over the road, tearing branches off others, making sheets of corrugated iron fly through the air as if they were paper. When I crossed the Dordogne river I could not believe my eyes -- big waves of at least one meter were being blown upstream -- it looked like a section of the sea on the Wild Coast of Southern Africa! A frightening sight to behold!
The firemen in the region were working overtime attending to calls of people hurt, motorbikes swept off the road, trees having fallen on homes -- in a matter of two hours more than 1300 urgent calls were attended to, and many more less urgent ones.
The electricity in most of the province was cut for the rest of the day due to tree branches fallen on wires. So far, we know of only one person that was killed -- an aged woman who had gone back to sleep after lighting a candle and when her candle was blown over it set the room alight. She died of smoke inhalation.
In Bordeaux the trams were unable to move as trees were blown across the tracks, and in the harbours along the coast, hundreds of boats were blown right out of the water and left, completely wrecked, on dry land.
Apparently the wind storm was caused by an unexpected low pressure front that hit the coast further south at about 06h00. Within minutes the alarm was called and thanks to the quick reaction and readiness of the emergency services, much more damage and loss of life was avoided. Bravo to the Pompiers and Emergency Services!

I came back home as fast as the wind allowed me to, only to find that my beautiful gazebo by the pool was crumpled into a magled mess of steel and canvas - and the discovery even more saddening was that, as it had not been bolted into the tiles, it was not covered by insurance! Isn't that just the way of things!.......

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