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Archives for December 2007

Hillary or Barack?

The primaries start on 3 January, that is, next Thursday. Voters are still undecided, whereas polls show very random trends. In a nutshell, suspense is at its highest with the Democrats. It will be between Hillary et Barack, who, even if they are on the same side, present very different candidacies. Let's compare.

Hillary's ups:

  • An undeniable experience in politics and on the international scene
  • Loads of courage: bidding for the White House although the entire world your husband has been unfaithful to you, it's something, especially in the USA
  • The rather positive economic ans social legacy of her husband's administration
  • An ambitious program that she really worked out (universal health care, energy independence, restoration of the United States' image in the world...)

Barack's ups:

  • His vote against the war on Iraq (it seems to me he's the only candidate who voted against)
  • The fact that he's new on the national scene and that he can represent change
  • Some kind of human warmth when he makes a speech or answers interviews

Hillary's downs:

  • Hillary has been here for long and some think she can't make the change needed in american politics happen
  • Her vote for the war on Iraq
  • A demagogue side that prevents her from taking position or answering some questions

Barack's downs:

  • A nearly non-existing experience
  • A rather good program but not as ambitious as Hillary's (he won't do universal health care, preferring to lower health costs)
  • A campaign that tends to be summed up by "I voted against the war on Iraq"

I already showed here that I have a favorite. Some already see Clinton and Obama both on the ticket as President and Vice-President. If I have been opposed to this idea for long, today, it seems credible. The Americans will choose.

10 pounds

  • 29 December 2007 at 10:35
  • Diary

The good news from these french holidays is that everybody said I lost weight. However, I don't have this feeling at all. I thought maybe it's the haircut that gives this feeling. And then I went on the balance scale and, wow, I now weigh 10.8 stones! Which represents a loss of about 10 pounds! I don't understand how and where I lost them. I still have my bumpy belly.

But it's a shame that I probably got all these pounds back now, with Christmas. Here is evidence:

Charlotte's cake that looks like a huge piece of shit

This is not a piece of shit. This is the hyper-super-über chocolatey and hyper-super-über fat cake that Charlotte made for Dara's party. And it's über good.

The martyrdom

That's the kind of news you expect but that strikes you still.

This morning, I arrive at Galliéni, in the Eurolines station and I see Benazir Bhutto's face everywhere. Le Figaro is offered by the travel company and today, it reads: "The martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto".

Le Figaro - Benazir Bhutto's martyr

Image credits: Le Figaro

Hillary's endorsements

Hillary Clinton received the support of many people during her campaign and lately, she has been endorsed by Madonna herself.

But the support that I enjoyed the most, is my mother's: "Between her and Bill, she was the thinking one."

Some excerpts from the presidential candidates' ads were showed on France 2 TV channel and when we saw Mike Huckabee say: "What is important for Christmas, it's Jesus Christ's birth", my mother did one of her legendary "Oh bah non!".

Like what, she may be pro-Sarko, but we still share some values.

Tombé pour l'Europe:
Quote of the day

In response to why not many Britons support being in Europe - it has more to do with the nasty national trait of xenophobia and the tabloids playing off this than any actual analysis of benefits. We call the French arrogant, but we think we're too superior for a community and want to be isolated in the distant memory of a long-gone empire.

You can still be patriotic and support the EU. The EU treaty is not about signing our freedoms away - and what would be the point of holding a referendum that will only prove how gullible tabloid readers really are? We already know this.

Simon Foster, a Metro reader, Birmingham

Je suis Napoléon!

  • 20 December 2007 at 00:22
  • Diary

It's funny because in France, the Emperor is considered as one of the greatest characters of our history whereas in Great Britain, he's regarded as one the biggest threats they had to face. It's good enough a reason to wear that shirt, right?

Me with a t-shirt where the Emperor is represented

Alright, I was slightly drunk.

You may not see it very well, it's Napoleon in front of a blue, white and pink flag eating strawberry ice cream with "Pimp" written besides.

I know, it's really dumb to talk about your clothes on your blog, but given how much you liked the one about my boxers! I mean, quite a few people actually land here by typing "boxers" on Google!

Mother Christmas

Ah Hillary...

It appears you do not have the necessary software to view this item. You can download for free the Adobe Flash plug-in here.

The credits of that video must be on the website hosting it.

You have to know that when Sego introduced her program, she has been accused of giving presents to everyone and of thinking she was Mother Christmas without worrying about the debt.

And most of all, you're a very bad actress.

Not a morning person

  • 19 December 2007 at 19:23
  • Diary

I had an appointment with the personal trainer at the gym today at... 8.20 AM. Yes, I thought that, given that I have a social life now, it would be good to exercise in the morning.

This is the most stupid idea I have ever had.

Knowing that I partied yesterday for Joanne's departure and that I went to be at 1.30am, getting up at 7am this morning was sooooooo painful. I started swearing about the personal trainer and considering her as:

  1. responsible for all of my problems
  2. arch-enemy
  3. woman to kill

I managed to get up and I got onto the bus but, shock horror, I didn't have any money left on my transport card. At that moment, Transport for London became my arch-enemy (again). And as I didn't have any cash, I couldn't take a ticket. So I had to get off and walk to the bank to withdraw some cash and top up my card at the newsagent, and then me geler les couilles (french expression meaning: "freezing my balls" when the weather is very cold) waiting for the bus, then take the Tube to arrive at the gym 30 minutes late to meet the personal trainer who explained to me it was too late for the session. Like what, she's not that evil!

I decided to exercise a bit despite everything, and I lifted some weights, did some of that machine when you row and some of that machine that hurts my (very) little pectorals, for half an hour. Given that I'm not a morning person, it was painful to do anything and I was getting tired very quickly. I took a shower, thinking it would relax me. I was so wrong! My arms still hurt and my hands are trembling while I'm writing this message.

You see how far I go to bring this blog to you, people?!

Transition

Now that I have started designing the new interface of my blog, I am less enthusiastic about this one. I can only see its defects now. Yellow links on white background, texts on top of each other, page loading time...

Sunrise over East London

I am so excited about the idea of launching that new version! It's far from over but I'm going rather fast. The idea is, of course, to fix the current problems, to give more space to the content (images will be bigger as you can see), to have a more simple and more "comfortable" graphic design, to have new gadgets (I love my new picture gallery!), and, it's important, to be more rigourous about accessibility.

THREESOME!

Picture of Nicolas Sarkozy, Laura Bush and George W. Bush

Image credits: Elysée

It's the first thing I thought when I saw that.

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