Wednesday, May 21, 2008

R.I.P. NANCY MICHAUD

Aucune autre accusation n'est déposée contre Francis Proulx
RIVIERE-DU-LOUP, QC, CANADA _ "Aucune autre accusation n'a été déposée, mardi, contre Francis Proulx, l'homme accusé du meurtre prémédité de l'attachée politique du ministre Béchard, Nancy Michaud, découverte sans vie dans une résidence abandonnée de Rivière-Ouelle, dans le Bas-Saint-Laurent, dimanche le 18 Mai 2008."

Because she lived in a mostly rural area, where the rules and conventions, standards and practices of life in a bristling urban environment seemingly did not apply, Mme. Nancy Michaud had taken the habit of NOT locking her doors during daylight hours. She felt safe in the belief that, to her knowledge anyhow, she "had no enemies" and no one among her neighbours either "looked dangerous" nor would, logically, want to harm her in any way, fashion, shape or form.
She was wrong, on all accounts.

The sensationalistic aura that this tragedy -heinous crime, really- was embued with thanks to the newsmedia quickly dissipated when it became clear that it wasn't because she worked for the government that she had been murdered. It wasn't some badly covered-up internal purging, hence - the rather inane Quebec government is not, after all, the Mafia or the Yakuza. It wasn't the usual suspect who had done this, either; the husband is apparently truly in the clear (although I still think that coming home from work at 2:30AM is a bit excessive - long commute or not!)

No, Mme. Nancy Michaud was indeed assassinated because she TRUSTED too much in her NEIGHBOURS. One of them, at least, was unworthy of all that trust and he proved to be envious enough and without scruples enough, also, to cowardly take the life of this elegant, charming woman - for just a few miserable dollars, perhaps.
And he went about his planned crime so ineptly too... Truly nothing but a waste, no matter what angle you look at all this sorry mess from; too bad the wasteful life of a thug of an individual had to cost an admirable lady's life as well.

Quel gâchis.

Claude Béchard dévasté (21/05/08)
"En plus des premiers commentaires du ministre Claude Béchard, le parlement observera une minute de silence à la mémoire de Nancy Michaud."

They held a minute of silence today, as things resumed on Parliament hill, three days after the gruesome discovery of Mme. Michaud's lifeless body.
Her former employer said a few words of circumstance then... Right: mourners packed the church for the funeral of slain political aide Nancy Michaud, May 24th, 2008...
Anything he might have said will sound very hollow to those who have lost this wonderful woman - and I do think mostly here of her two children, and parents, if they still lived.
Maybe if Mr. Béchard had paid Mme. Michaud a little better for her work, she could have been living in the elite neighborhood "un richard" like Béchard can afford to live in - as long as they're in public office anyway.
Only in such a neighborhood could she have safely left her doors unlocked.

+++

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Death of an Angel - or the Birth of one?

The most unforgettable vision of 1968's BARBARELLA

was not, contrary to widespread belief,

the sight of a scantily-clad Jane Fonda

or any of her female co-stars...

It was the vision

of an angel;

Actor John Phillip Law dies

Friday May 16 Associated Press/AP Online

LOS ANGELES - John Phillip Law, the strikingly handsome 1960s movie actor who portrayed an angel in the futuristic "Barbarella" and a lovesick Russian seaman in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," has died. He was 70.

Law died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home, said his daughter Dawn Law. The cause of death was not announced.

With his vivid eyes, blond hair and imposing physique, Law was much in demand by filmmakers in the late 1960s and early '70s.

He gained wide notice in 1966 with Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner and Theo Bikel in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," Norman Jewison's Cold War comedy in which a Soviet submarine runs aground off a peaceful New England island town.

He played the sweet Russian youth who falls in love with a local American girl in the film, which was nominated for four Oscars including best picture, actor (Arkin) and director.

French director Roger Vadim put Law's looks to good use in his 1968 science fiction film, "Barbarella," which starred Vadim's wife at the time, Jane Fonda, as a sexy space traveler in the faraway future. Law wore wings to portray Pygar, a blind angel.

"I've had more kicks out of playing far-out things," Law told the Los Angeles Times in 1966. "It's like putting on a funny face and going out in front of people and going, 'yaaaaaa.'"

Messages left Thursday for Fonda's New York publicist were not returned.

Law was World War I ace Baron Manfred von Richtofen in the 1971 "The Red Baron" and Charlton Heston's son in "The Hawaiians," a 1970 sequel to "Hawaii," based on James Michener's sprawling novel.

In Otto Preminger's 1967 film, "Hurry Sundown," he was a war veteran struggling to preserve his farm against a land speculator played by Michael Caine. Fonda played Caine's wife.

He continued his career in a variety of U.S. and foreign films and television over the past 30 years, including appearances in "The Young and the Restless" and "Murder, She Wrote."

Law was a California native, born in 1937 to actress Phyllis Sallee, and her husband, a police officer. He told the Los Angeles Times he did some extra work in films as a child. He said he put acting ambitions aside in his teens, but his interest was renewed in a college drama class.

He worked in the theater in New York for a while before breaking into the movies, spending some time in the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, whose directors included the great Elia Kazan.

© 2008 Cineplex Entertainment LP

Labels: RIP John Philip Law

Sunday, May 04, 2008

May Mourning

‘Psycho’ Bear Tears Apart An Eco-Idyll

Animals (tags: brown bears,
reintroduction wild,
wildlife, france, old bear,
endangered )

Simone

- 279 days ago -
timesonline.co.uk

A FRENCH government plan to reintroduce bears to the wild appeared to have backfired spectacularly last week after one of the creatures was accused of being “psychotic”. The ecology minister was forced to admit France had been misled about Franska,

add a comment | visit site | problem?

COMMENTS:

Monday May 5, 2008, 1:50 pm
Now that's MY kind of teddy bear - sick and tired of the abusive and
pollutive ways of us human folks and not taking any of that sh!t
anymore!

Luciano P. (304)

Some music with that?
I suggest you click here
in order to listen to
a song that says it all:

Thanks to "knuckleheady2" for uploading it
and to Jean Ferrat for singing it!

Perhaps some extra reading material
and/or search findings
will be appreciated as well?
You will find some here.

But truly, to be fair,
this is all-around better:

As you'll surely notice,
all of the above material is in FRENCH...
It is because...
Looking for this came to mind
as I heard a song on an evangelical broadcast
that went like this:
"Le bonheur est dans la mort
(quand on est en Lui
qui est la Vie)"

When I find that one
either on MP3 or on the web
I'll post it here as well!
(The very moment it's in the clear
and permission has been duly granted -
of course.)

Labels: Burma Cyclone, Culled Cormorants, Earthquake Victims, Fourteen Elephants, Hundreds of Ducks, Irena Sendler, Mildred Loving, Penny Banner, Three Seals, Tornadoes Victims, W.E. Lynd, Yemen Bomb