Election Update

So just to give you a little general information about the elections lately, here's a quick overview of the candidates and the parties that exist in France  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_presidential_election,_2012

Now, I'm sure most of you know about our dear friend, Nicolas Sarkozy.  There are so many things that I want to say about him, but I think the best is that he's been spending the past month or so "totally not campaigning."  We'll forget that his government has been taking swipes at his Socialist challenger left and right.  Recently, in fact before his announcement of candidacy this evening, he has already named Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet his campaign head.  She's currently the Minister of Ecology, Durable Development, Transport and Housing.  Here she is on the 10th of February on Bourdin 2012 http://www.bfmtv.com/bourdin-2012-nathalie-kosciusko-morizet-actu23187.html

The most recent discussion has been Sarkozy's article in Le Figaro stating that he will not support Marriage Equality in France because it will lead to opening adoption to gay couples.  We'll forget that there are already gay couples raising children, just like in the US, but we'll digress.  Here's the English translation of the article.  http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/french-president-says-no-to-homosexual-marriage-and-adoption-euthanasia

 Most people see this as him pandering to the extreme right, especially on Marriage Equality here.  Recently there was an article in Libération Mag where it was suggested that Sarkozy may be adding Marriage Equality to his election platform.  Valérie Pécresse, Minister of Higher Education and Research was quick to deny this.  In truth, Sarkozy is doing everything he can to pull as much of the weight away from the far right, Front National, because it will be much more difficult for him to win without more far right support.  Hence he's been pushing on social issues to tie up his loose ends.  He will announce his candidacy tonight.

Most recently Christine Boutin (candidate of the Christian Democratic Union) announced that not only will she suspend her candidacy but furthermore will throw all of her support behind him, making the announcement last night on TF1.  In a nutshell, she believes that gays and lesbians have no right to marry and should never be allowed within 100 yards of children even though she has so many gay friends as she famously said in an interview a while ago.  She's France's answer to Rick Santorum. Here's an interview she did recently after the announcement.   http://www.bfmtv.com/christine-boutin-renonce-a-la-course-a-la-actu23343.html

François Hollande continues his candidacy today saying that Sarkozy's declaration changes nothing.  In essence he says that Sarkozy is a "président de la virevolte."  It's a hard phrase for me to translate, and I'm sure those with more French experience might have a better idea of how.  Literally it's a president of spin, as in literally spinning.  Hollande says that Sarkozy wanted to appear as a dynamic candidate full of change and promise.  During his term, Hollande says he showed himself to be more of the same.  He further states that Sarkozy can create as many new personas as he would like, but his record will be his albatross.

Since I really haven't done much to disguise my slant, I'll also include this article here about recent comments made by a UMP Member in the Nord (North) Region, Christian Vanneste.  Apparently he had an interview with a website where he said quite a few offensive things about gays.  It should also be noted he was the first French Politician to be fined for his comments against homosexuality.  (The charges were later dropped as protected speech, however offensive they may have been.)  http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/02/15/french-mp-gays-must-be-narcissists/

Members of his own party are already calling on him to be kicked out.  As he says in the beginning of the video, the most recent polls show that 63% of French citizens support marriage equality.  One can only hope that the UMP realizes that this divisive language will not help them win elections in the future.

UPDATE: Apparently it's official.  Christian Vanneste will be removed from his post.  http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/02/15/french-ump-expelling-vanneste-over-gay-comments/

Il a tout compris!

I am blaming it on my fascination with language, but I have a huge problem with finding phrases I like, and then not letting them go.  This scene from Seinfeld is a wonderful example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmOlb-Xb2sY&t=1m40s

A more recent one would be this episode of Lie to Me, Fold Equity, where Gillian tells Cal, "She's the female equivalent of roulette, and you like the view. "Of course, there's the more bizarre case of the Honda ads that caused me to associate "zoom zoom" with the concept of judicial review.  Thank you very much Mrs. Brown for that one.  I think I have issues with this in English though, so I guess it's really no surprise that I would have the same reaction in France.

I think it's more likely to happen with music though.  In France, I really like the line from that song Femme Liberée, and now whenever says "c'est pas (si) facile"

  I have to resist the urge to break into song.

I also cannot hear anyone say "Qu'est que c'est?" without thinking of The Talking Heads.

One of the things I love is that there are sometimes where French people have certain advertisements built into their vocabulary.  The first one I ever heard was Partner's father.  It was part of the old jingle in France for Mr. Clean (who is simply known as Mr. Propre over here.)  The more recent example would be with free.fr, an internet service provider in France.


Rodolphe : Il a Free, il a tout compris par ultimteam

I love that this is something we do internationally.  I know it's part of the miracle of advertising, and ear worms. I just love how we all get things caught in our head.

Cute guys on TV

I'm not sure how familiar you may or may not be with gay media in France, and talking about Pink TV made me think about print media.  France is a lot more traditional when it comes to print media.  As far as I know,
the best known gay print media sources are still doing quite well.  For that, there's nothing better known than Têtu.  It's best translated into English as meaning headstrong or stubborn.  I have the feeling the magazine was named as it was for two reasons.  First, it implies that  the LGBT community is not going away.  We're stubborn like that.  So you have no option but to accept us.  Also, it implies that as a community, we will not be quiet.

So every year, Têtu puts out a list of the Hottest guys on TV.  Number one for this year was Julien Tellouck, the host of the JT (journal-televisé) on Game One.  Game One is the gaming station in France.  I can definitely see why they would choose him, I mean, look at him.

Oh Julien, comme tu est beau!

Now there are quite a few guys on this list that I really don't understand.  I'm sorry, but I just don't find Cyril Féraud all that attractive.  He's also kind of a con on Slam.  But well, maybe that's just my taste.  Though Olivier Minne is another story altogether.

Seriously.  Olivier Minne.  Hot damn.

I like François-Xavier Menage but there are far more complicated reasons for that.  Don't judge me too harshly, he's Breton.  There are quite a few other guys that are on this list, Julien Mielcarek for example, who I think look like they're fifteen.  Then again, this is definitely a difference of taste.  

However; even Têtu was even a bit surprised by the fact that Ali Baddou didn't make the list.  Yes, I know that he's more of a serious news person, but technically all these people are trying to be professionals.  And quite simply, if you're on French TV, you're going to be judged based on how you look.  Technically, he's only on Canal+, and I would say that was the requirement if it weren't for the fact that lots of these people are on Canalsat.  A lot of these guys are on TNT, what we would call Network television in the US.  

Ali Baddou can do no wrong!

I'll leave you to check out the list.  Of the guys you have on the list, who would you pick for your top 3?  Are there guys I'm missing?  How about if you were to make your list of American Newscasters and Television Presenters?  Thoughts?

Post Modern Theory and Naked Boys

The other night, Partner and I were on the couch, and as usual there was nothing on TV.  I don't know if this is a just a French thing, but after a while, French television....just sucks.  We were looking around the stations, and we hit the northern reaches of our viewing, Mangas and they were showing of nothing of interest.  So I was about to give up when I though, why not try Pink TV.

Pink TV is the gay station here.  Now, before you get all excited and think that you're going to get to see RuPaul's Drag Race or Beautiful People.  The channel is only on for two hours.  It comes on at 10 pm, and usually it runs this English series, Metrosexuality.  There's a lot of it I don't understand and it generally scares the crap out of me.  Oh, and also, it switches over to gay porn at midnight, an then it's 12 euros for access.  They show you all the previews of what's coming on, and then make you pay to actually watch it.  So I wasn't expecting much.

I was pleasantly surprised though.  As it turns out, they were showing Contracorriente.  It was a movie I had heard about a while ago, and it was absolutely beautiful.  I really enjoyed it, but assumed that I'd need to record it.  Normally Partner is not one for the gay movies.  I asked him though if he wanted to keep watching, and surprisingly, he said yes.  We kept watching.



I actually really enjoyed it, but I'm a soft sell.  You put two gay guys in a film and nine times out of ten I'll watch.  Promise me skin, and I'll most likely recommend it to all my friends.  I was a big time fan of Latter Days and I absolutely loved Brokeback Mountain.  Like I said though, I'm a soft sell.  It hit midnight, and the TV cut out.  At that point, we pulled ourselves off the couch and went outside to clear our heads a bit.  As we were waking up a bit, I asked him what he thought of it.  He said that he liked it.

After recovering from my initial shock, I asked him what he liked about it.  He liked the story because everything wasn't wrapped up neatly.  Most gay movies always progress in the same way.  Two guys meet, usually at a bar.  There's one character who is more out than the other, usually because of his family, but sometimes because of his own insecurities or religious obligations.  They build a relationship over the course of the movie and the less out/or closeted guy has to make a choice: be honest with himself and the world and come out or stay closeted and miserable.  Inevitably, the closet case comes out and they live happily ever after.

There are two movies that we have both seen that we can agree are great gay movies.  I already mentioned Contracorriente and we both watched A Beautiful Thing separately, but both loved it so much that we had to have it on DVD.   I think it was great because it all kind of came together, but there was still enough to leave to your imagination.  They both have one character more conflicted than the other, but I think what makes them better is that it's not just a simple straightforward path like in other movies.  It shows you things might be very sad and difficult, but when it comes down to it, it's love that will lead you through it.



The first type of gay movies I always think of as the AIDS crisis movie.  It usually stars a self centered, egocentric lead.  Usually it starts by showing his promiscuity and his group of friends who are all slowly coupling up and not so subtly spewing the moral of the film: "Enjoy life now (because you, someone you know, or everyone you know will die of AIDS as that's the price of admission for being gay.) The two best examples I can think of are "Jeffrey" and "The Broken Hearts Club".  These movies also tend to feature straight guys playing gay; Michael T. Weiss (Jared from The Pretender) and Dean Cain (Superman from Lois and Clark,) especially hunky guys that gay men are pretty much programmed to find attractive.





*None of this is to criticize these movies but just to make a point.  AIDS and HIV are serious illnesses and this is not to make light of the topic whatsoever.  Furthermore, these movies tend to show a period of time that was scary and horrific for a lot of people.  I couldn't even imagine what people went through watching friends die.  I don't know how people made it through.*

The next is my personal favorite: Gay Best Friend as Father.  The first two movies I can think of that fall into this category are The Object of my Affection with Paul Rudd (who we've been told is totally cute and we need to lust after) and Jennifer Aniston (who either would be or was already dating Brad Pitt when we were supposed to believe that she was your average woman unlucky in love) and The Next Best Thing  starring Rupert Everett (who I think was out of the closet at the time and woo hoo for a gay leading man!) and Madonna (yeah, who was this targeted for?).  *Just as a side note, I actually went with my girlfriend at the time to see this.*  These movies follow the same path.  The female lead is having a troublesome relationship or is tired of the line of assholes she's dated.  Her cure for this moment of sadness:  hang out with her gay best friend.  Of course, she realizes that he'd be perfect if he just liked girls!  They get drunk one night and (don't understand how you can be gay and this happens) they have sex.  The woman ends up pregnant and in creeps that moral: children need a mother and a father and having a child out of wedlock is just a mistake. *They kindly gloss over all the gay couples and single parent households out there, not to mention the huge variety of families there are the world over.*  All the moralizing comes to a head, the father takes his responsibility and the normal order is restored, all parties satisfied.





Now the largest category that exists: Gay Rebellious Love story.  It's a very simple formula.  Take two guys, usually one closeted, and the other not or at least not as much, they fall in love and much like the aids crisis movie, the closet case has to choose.  The first examples that come to mind are Brokeback Mountain (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, I mean come on!) and Latter Days (Wes Ramsey/Owen from Days of our Lives or Sam from Guiding Light and Steve Sandvoss).  I used to really enjoy these movies when I first came out because it always meant cute young guys.  (Although to be perfectly honest, I've never seen a mainstream gay movie that didn't mean cute guys.)





Where we really were interested, and I still am, is whether or not there are more mainstream romantic comedies like what straight people have.  I feel like one could try and classify Adam and Steve (that movie that they run on Logo all the time with Malcolm Gets and Craig Chester) but that really couldn't be too mainstream.  Is it just impossible to tell the story?  Has mainstream media lied to me about this being a post-sexual society?  Are there examples of which I am just unaware?



Also, if there are movies you believe break the stereotypes, I'd love to hear about them.  I take any and all recommendations seriously!

soit-disant

The other day I got an email from a friend and he asked me; what do you call the person you're with?  I could call him husband, but then there's legal issues.  We never got married anywhere because why should we have had to leave the state I was born, raised and educated in moreover the state where we met, fell in love, and lived for 5 years together for a piece of paper that the government won't recognize anyway.  Though that's a court case for a few years down the road, non?

I figured it was pretty obvious that he's know as Partner.  Partially because I think it's kind of a cute nickname for the site, and if we had a civil union, it would be the correct term. Technically, I don't really call him my partner when I speak with other people.  Of course I call him by name or by one of the countless nicknames I have for him.  Personally, I do find partner completely impersonal.  It sounds like we work in a law firm together.

I got into the habit of calling him boyfriend for so long when we were first dating.  It was just the safest term.  Life partner makes me think of Susan and Carol from Friends and life mate just seems ridiculous.  Also, it makes me think of that story arc on X-Men with the Phalanx, so no thanks on that one.  In college, it's acceptable, but I just can't see calling him a boyfriend after 2 years.  Hell, some straight people get married five times over in that period.  I hate to use boyfriend now, considering that it will be 8 years this August.  So, boyfriend seems inadequate.

The final option is something that even every time I say it i feel like a dork.  I remember reading this article on Kenneth in the 212 about how he really liked it when people would call who they were with their lover.  I don't know why but that just can't bring myself to say it.  It just bothers me.  I know it shouldn't.  We are in love, but it just seems so weird and like I should have a mustache when I say it.

Now, here is where French comes in handy.  Since France is surprisingly liberal with how relationships work, the best term I can use is "conjoint."  Looking around a bit on a few of the dictionary sites I use, they translate it as spouse, but that doesn't work quite right.  When you call someone a conjoint, you are basically calling them a spouse, but there is not anything legal behind it.  You may have kids, which in fact a lot of French conjoints do but never married; however there is not legal contract behind you.  You basically live together, and that's really it.  Even for the purpose of taxes, you really don't even have to announce yourself as a couple.

What complicates the French situation is that straight couples can get civil unions, which should tell you right there that it's different and not equal at all to a marriage.  A PACS (Pacte Civile de Solidarité) the French civil union is open to any two people who want some of the responsibilities of marriage, but without the full intertwining that happens.  Unfortunately, that also means that you have no right to immigration if you're not a legal citizen.  They are really easy to knock down and it's something that you have to explain.

I don't think there's any great term for what Partner and I are for each other.  Even in French, conjoint is a legal term used to describe the situation.  I could use amoureux, but it's really a term used by little kids so once again we run into that level of seriousness problem just in another language.  Can anyone think of a better term?  I know I could really just use whatever I want, and really there shouldn't be a difference, but for now, there is.

Ok, this is getting complicated and I have a glass of Breizh Cola that's almost flat.  Conversely, that is a problem I can solve.

It's all Political

As the 2012 elections are just around the corner here, I'm sure we'll be seeing many of the candidates on television, particularly La Grande Journal on Canal +, so I thought I'd do something slightly different than normal.  Personally, it shouldn't be very simple for Sarkozy to get reelected.  Then again, Jacques Chirac served two terms, and look where he is now.  He doesn't actually have to declare his candidacy as incumbent until March.  He might have some damage control on his hands though after the Bettancourt Affair, the Karachi Affair, and now his wife's own issues with the Born AIDS Free Affair.  But I could talk about the Sarkozy's all day. 

Now let's get to the actual meat of this article.  Technically this is a ripoff of something I saw over at Maybe it's Just Me.  If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it!  He put in his Top Five Odd Crushes.  I thought I'd just put a few of the cute French Politicians.

Jean Sarkozy

As one might expect, Jean Sarkozy is the son of Nicolas Sarkozy and his first wife, Marie-Dominique Culioli.  (For those of you counting along at home, Monsieur Le President is currently on wife number 3 and he still ran as a family values candidate in 2000 while still married to wife number 2 whom he divorced shortly after the election.)  The only thing he's known for, much like the rest of the Sarkozy family, is scandal.  He's hot though.  Unfortunately, he's also straight, and married.  So, it's unfortunate.

Benoît Hamon

Benoît Hamon is the spokesman for the Socialist Party, who is just wonderful.  I just don't know what else to say about him other than damn.  He's just so pretty.  He's one of the few French politicians I know of who isn't involved in a scandal of some sort.  

Boris Boillon

So what a surprise, given the picture, that this guy is a source of scandal too.  Apparently, he's too sexy for Tunisia, where he was recently appointed by Sarkozy as the Ambassador.  He's also had a few problems with being too abrupt with the press and there are Tunisians calling for his resignation.

We'll just add this to the list....

Now this question may be answered very quickly, and I've never been able to really look up too much info on it online, so who better to ask then all of the amazing people I know online.  I don't know how many of you have been to France or traveled internationally, but one of the things I always look at but never really understand are these little plastic things.  

The only functionality I can see it for is how it's used in tobacco shops.  When you come in, you ask for the product, and they set the pack inside the dish.  I think it's supposed to be kind of a neutral space.  I've never seen anyone do it, but I think that you're supposed to put your money there.  The dish might function as some kind of neutral transaction space, like how a handshake is supposed to show good faith.  This way you can see exactly what you're buying, and the seller can see that the money's all there.  My theory runs into a hitch, in that most people just hand the money directly to the seller.

Is it just a remnant of a bygone era that people don't use anymore, or is it supposed to still be a neutral space but just for the buyer?  Maybe it's more about French hypochondria.  We won't mention to the Francophones that the second you touch the money the transfer of germs is complete, and there could be something equally nasty in the dish, furthermore not counting the fact that French people also believe that you can get a cold by going around without a coat (seriously people, it's 2012.  This might be our last year on Earth, but you cannot get a virus unless you come into contact with it.)

My question to you, chers amis internationaux, is this something that exists all over Europe, or is this just a Franquisim?  I've never seen this in the US, and I did hear that actually in Japan you're expected to present the money for it before you receive the item.  I just really have no idea.  

New Years went well, and it's so far been pretty calm.  Of course, we're also only three days into it.  So well, who knows.  In any case, best wishes for the New Year!