The Light Factor * Illuminé

Our ________ fear is not that we are inadequate.

____deepest_____

Our ________ fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

____deepest_____

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

[Powerful words right there from character Timo Cruz in Coach Carter that I was watching today.]

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Les membres de Lichtfaktor, un groupe d'artistes de Deutschland, s'engagent à nous apporter leur art illuminé : light graffiti / lightwriting peu importe ce qu'on l'appelle, je vous offre un vrai régal pour les yeux... !

Graffiti Illuminé

['current']

Don't be afraid of the light...

['forest']

ButterFlight!

['forest']

Love is in the air...

[for Max Ophüls Preis - Film Festival 2009]

Lights around Big Ben

[starwars vs startrek]

Sounds of the Underground * Musique du Métro

I'm a faithful victim of public transport. Its delightful noises, pleasant smells and energetic rush hour. But thankfully there are a few joys that make journeys on the London underground more than bearable. The random overheard conversation that is so funny I can't help but laugh out loud, when the tube gets stuck for a while and people start loosening up and talking to one another, the antics of a dog (owned by a young lady) that insists on befriending a young man despite her frantic tuggings on the lead... Yes, public transport has its sweet moments!

I thought I'd share some clips relating to the joys of the underground...

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Je suis une victime fidèle du transport en commun avec tout le bruit, les odeurs et la folie des heures de pointe. Heureusement, les voyages en métro sont parfois illuminés par les choix de vêtements des uns, les conversations humoristiques des autres et la musique!

Alors, je partage avec vous quelques clips que j'aime bien concernant les sons du métro...

[British/Nigerian comedienne Little Miss Jocelyn and some young enthusiasts on the Central Line]

FYI Liverpool Street Station was named after the street it's on which was named after Prime Minister Lord Liverpool. Yes I think Wikipedia is a reliable source!

[Groupe US 'Naturally 7' chante In the Air Tonight de Phil Collins. Big tuuuune!]

[Keziah Jones, chanteur Nigérian en concert dans le métro parisien]

[Bluey Robinson partage sa belle voix avec Paris!]

Here he is at Charing Cross Underground Station. You can check out what mi amiga Coco Pine thinks here.

Élocution * Pronunciation

En français la prononciation des mots se passe plutôt bien. On prononce chaque syllabe bien comme il faut. Mais pour l'anglais c'est toute une autre histoire, comme le savent des centaines d'étudiants de la langue qui se voient en train de prononcer un mot qui ne ressemble pas du tout à ce qu'ils voient sur la page.

L'articulation est primordiale en français alors qu'en anglais du point de vue phonétique les voyelles sont souvent relâchées pour devenir très souvent le schwa [ə].

Bien que mon élocution soit assez abominable parfois, il faut dire que certains assassinent les langues!

En anglais, je ne sais où commencer alors je laisse ça de côté.

En francais, est-ce que c'est juste moi qui n'arrête pas d'entendre les gens dire pratiquement tous les mots en verlan?! Mais c'est un truc de ouf! Au moins ouf au lieu de fou ça va. Mais l'emploi de mots en verlan jusqu'au point où on oublie l'original...?

Enfin, si c'est la direction que le français veut prendre, ça m'est égal. Après tout la langue est dynamique ; on se retrouve avec beur au lieu d'arabe, meuf pour femme et rebeu au lieu de beur qui remplace arabe... Intéressant la lnague en tout cas!

Audrey Hepburn joue le rôle d'Eliza Doolitle dans My Fair Lady une jeune femme qui devient le cobaye du linguiste Prof. Higgins [cliquez ici pour en savoir plus]. C'est une comédie musicale classique... à voir!

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I could have danced all night... my fave song from My Fair Lady with the delightful (non-annoying) birdlike sounds of Marni Nixon, and the lip-synching of the lovely Audrey Hepburn.

Control-Freak-Annoying-Professor-Henry-Higgins takes on the arduous task of giving Eliza Doolittle diction exercises to transform her from a commoner to a lady. It says a lot about British society in particular and how speech is so closely intertwined with social class.

I read George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, upon which My Fair Lady is based before I saw this version. They are quite different and I love both! Barring a few negligible things...

Languages are dynamic and don't I know it! In London alone the varieties of English are unbelievable, coming out of the mouths of Londoners and Brits & the various other nationalities that add themselves to this: Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, plus tons of other people who don't have English as their mother tongue. Different generations speak differently and I think it's possible to say there can be language barriers amongst English speakers! And to this confusion, text-speak comes and adds itself to speech.

"How jolly funny!" <> "That's hilarious!" <>"El-em-ay-oh" (i.e. LMAO)

I think it's symptomatic of our general laziness.

The amount of us who have to reacquaint ourselves with pens because we type so much.

Those who don't read and so can't improve their spelling and falsely hold the belief that Word-processor spellcheck will sort out all orthographic needs.

Laziness.

Meanwhile I shall attempt not to be lazy and articulate properly when I speak.

Also, just thought I should point out: the word pronunciation is pronounced pretty much how it's spelt and not pronounciation!

They Call It * Raï'n'B Fever

Je me souviens du premier son que j'ai entendu des Magic System.

Premier Gaou qui a plu à tellement d'oreilles, partant de la Côte d'Ivoire en '99, atteignant les autres pays africains, allant jusqu'aux ondes françaises (2002) et même dans les cercles britanniques (j'ai entendu le son juste hier - ça ne vieillit pas!)...

A'Salfo et les autres gars de Magic System n'ont pas encore fini avec nos oreilles. Après leur son Raï'n'B Fever avec les mecs du 113 (Un Gaou à Oran) les voici avec Khaled - qui m'a enchantée ainsi que tant d'autres avec son tube Aïcha - dans un clip que je ne trouve pas super intéressant mais je kif' l'ambiance relâchée.

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Côte d'Ivoire meets Algeria on this track by Magic System and Khaled: Même Pas Fatigué.

The playfulness of Premier Gaou (love it), Un Gaou à Oran (love it!) and Ki Di Mié (like it) follow the Magic System guys onto this track with Khaled.

It's a disctintly French sound/taste, a place where West Africans come and mingle with North Africans; where they sit and share foods infused with North American flavours which hark back to African dishes. Zouglou meets Raï meets R&B - that's a little Raï'n'B Fever spice for ya!

Strawberries and Cream * Je n'aime pas les cerises

Today at a friend's house we started talking about things most people seem to love that you just can't abide. Here comes my confession...

I don't like strawberries.

Is that a crime?

I just don't like the texture of the skin. Like an overly porous and pimply red face.

And that mini mass of greenery that tops it off...

Thanks but no thanks.

I love strawberry-flavoured drinks/foodstuff though. Does that redeem me at all?

Why do I always hear people banging on about the delights of strawberries and cream?

[Bald Monk has some amazing stuff on flickr with some lively, playful photography,

click and explore if such is your desire!]

Did I mention, I don't like any kind of cream unless it's the kind I can put on my dry elbows or it has the word 'ice' before it.

When I see people joyfully spraying cream into their mouths as they so often do in 'happy' movie scenes I just feel really queasy.

I don't do olives. I've tried. More than once. But they're just not for me.

(I'm not alone on that one in my circle of friends who forsook me on the strawberry stance!)

I don't like mushrooms. I think the texture doesn't do it many favours either.

Nuts. I can eat them. I'm not allergic. But I'd rather not.

And the cherry on top: I don't like cherries.

As my sister pointed out to the group, I love condensed milk and will put it on most anything.

I have some strange food cravings (chalk is great), which leads me to believe that my future pregnancies will leave me eating completely 'normally'!

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Eh non. Je n'aime pas les cerises.

Elles sont assez jolies, c'est vrai.

Fraîches. Elles semblent toujours venir en paires.

Glacées. Elles décorent les gâteaux.

Superbes. À l'œil. Mais ni dents, ni ma langue n'ont envie de (re)découvrir leur goût.

[check out more photography by chotda who makes food come alive (a scary but fabulous thought) - she seems to capture taste on camera... cool hunh?]

Ah, la crème fraîche.

Ah, non merci. Ça ne me dit rien. La crème glacée par contre... volontiers!

Et le chocolat, j'adore! Pour de très bonnes raisons bien sûr.

Voici une petite leçon à retenir:

le chocolat > produit des endorphines

les endorphines > procurent une sensation de bien-être

le chocolat <=> le bien-être

Alors sois bien!