French for a While

I READILY ADMIT that I’m a media junkie.

I love ratings and rumors. I love knowing who’s in and who’s out on local radio. I love reading about newspaper circulation numbers, television show ad revenues, and network news wars. I love finding out NBC's prime time Fall schedule in the Spring -- the day it's released to the public. I guess you'd say I'm not so much interested in the Access Hollywood part of media as I am the Howard Kurtz and Tom Shales part of media.

Here in France there is an organization called Mediametrie that reports on all things related to French media (sort of like Nielsen ratings). I love this site! Just for fun, here are the top 10 most-watched shows in France for the week May 19-25. You might recognize some of them:

1. CIS: Miami (TF1)
2. Without a Trace (France 2)
3. House (TF1)
4. Soccer – Manchester vs. Chelsea (TF1)
5. Soccer – Lyon vs. Paris (France 2)
6. 7 ans de marriage (TF1)
7. Code de la route : Repassez-le-en-direct (TF1)
8. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (TF1)
9. Plus belle la vie (France 3)
10. Reportages (TF1)

Compare that to the most-watched shows in the United States during the same week.

1. American Idol – Wed (Fox)
2. American Idol – Tues. (Fox)
3. Dancing with the Stars – Results (ABC)
4. Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
5. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
6. CSI: Miami (CBS)
7. NCIS (CBS)
8. House (Fox)
9. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
10. Criminal Minds (CBS)

I don’t know which is worse, the fact that Who Wants To Be a Millionaire is a Top 10 show in France, or the fact that Two and a Half Men is a Top 10 show in the US. And where is NBC these days?

[obsucre reference guide: Howard Kurtz is the Media Critic for the Washington Post; Tom Shales is the chief television critic for the Washington Post]
CJS

PATRICK AND JULIA were doing homework over the weekend and they happened to be studying homophones. Now, we have these in English (red v. read; straight v. strait, hoe v. ho!), but the French language takes homophones to the next level -- they are everywhere! Take this for example: in French the following words are all pronounced vair [like the English ‘fair’, but with a nice throaty ‘r’]

• vert (green)
• vers (towards)
• une verre (glass)
• une ver (worm)
• une vers (verse)

That’s FIVE words that are pronounced exactly the same. But there are plenty of other examples. How about these words, all pronounced core [but, again, with the fancy ‘r’ sound]

• la cour (courtyard)
• le court (court, like tennis)
• court (short)
• le cours (course/class or grand courtyard)
• courre (a conjugation of 'to run')

Or these -- again, pronounced the same:

• vingt (twenty); le vin (wine); vain (vain); vint (a conjugation of 'to come')
• c'est (it is, or it's); s'est (a reflexive version of it is); sais (1st/2nd person singular of 'to know'); sait (3rd person singular of 'to know'); ses (a possesive pronoun); ces (these/those), and, of course, the letter 'c'.

Kerri and I have both been having a hard time understanding the French language recently (think of it this way: we can ask someone a question, we just can’t understand them when they answer). It’s bad enough when you don’t know the idoms and figures of speech (a big part of any language), but it makes it harder when so many words sound the same.

Here's a fun link to even more French homophones (hope you caught the sarcasm there, cause I'm laying it on pretty thick).

[obscure reference guide: layng it on pretty thick]
CJS

THOSE OF YOU who know me know that Monday will be bitter-sweet for me. Sweet because it's Opening Day. Bitter because I won't be able to experience it first hand. You can show me calendars that say otherwise, but for me spring officially begins when Major League Baseball officially opens its season. Opening Day is a symbol of how American (or is it Latin American) baseball is.

I'm not trying to go David Halberstam or Thomas Boswell on you, but I'll be thinking a lot about baseball on Monday. A lot of the time I'll be thinking about how long it's been since the Baltimore Orioles even resembled a competitive team, but thinking about the plight of 'my' Orioles is somehow better than not thinking about them at all. Their Opening Day roster is a bit unfamiliar to me (Luis Hernandaz? Adam Jones? Luke Scott? Randor Beird?) but it doesn't matter, I'll follow along from afar and root for the best.

Meanwhile, in Washington the hometown Nationals are opening their season tonight in a brand new stadium. It looks amazing on video, with sweeping views of the US Capital, the Washington Monument, and the Anacostia River. Can't wait to see it. If someone from home goes to a game -- please send photos!

I don't ever regret moving with my family to France, but there are times when I wish I could jet home real quick for a couple of days. Tomorrow will be one of those days.

Late Update: Ryan Zimmerman hit a home-run in the bottom of the 9th inning to win the Nat's opening game in their new stadium.

[obscure reference guide: David Halberstam, Thomas Boswell] (these won't be obscure to some of you: Kevin, Dan, Jeremy, Dad, any others?)
CJS

I'M USED TO seeing motorcades in my home town of Washington, DC, but it was a bit surprising to see one yesterday in Sophia Antipolis, France. President Sarkozy visited Nice and Sophia yesterdsay and one of his stops happened to be about 2 km from the CIV (where I work). Didn't catch a glimpse of Sarkozy -- but that was OK, it was Carla Bruni I was hoping to see.

[obscure reference guide: Carla Bruni]
CJS

HERE’S A QUICK post to make some of my cycling friends from the US happy. We recently went up the Col de Vence, a mountain pass near our house (we were in a car, by the way). Almost 3000 ft, 9.5 km, average grade of 7%. I took this photo about half way up. The views from the top are spectacular. A friend told me – and I have no way to verify this – that this ride was part of the Tour de France in the early 1980s. I’ll give it a shot in the spring. Hopefully I won't have a Gabriella Anderson-Schiess moment. Right now I’d like to just be able to make it from the main street to our house without feeling like lactic acid is going to burst out of my knee caps.

Obscure reference guide: Gabriella Anderson-Schiess
CJS

FOR THE PAST six or seven weeks, Kerri has been begging me to put up a post about a little workout routine that I've been doing. She wants me to write about it because she thinks it's hilarious. I think it's genius. Maybe you should be the judge.

Now, I am no fitness freak -- that's for sure. But I am interested in doing some physical activity each week and trying to maintain some sort of weight-training regiment. I brought my bike with me from the States and, thanks to the mountains around our house, I'm covered on the aerobic side of things. The problem comes when I want to lift some weights. Since we don't live near a gym I have been forced to find things around our rented house that can serve as free weights. I've tried a lot of things: paint cans (thin handle hurt my hands), pieces of wood (not heavy enough), boxes (too awkward), even my son's bicycle (too ridiculous). After nearly giving up on the idea I finally found something that works and I have been using it ever since.

I work-out with our family tent!

It's perfect. It weighs about 25 lbs; it's packed in a nice storage bag with heavy-duty handles; it's not too big or bulky; and I can add weight if I need to by stuffing something in the handles (a large, full bottle of laundry detergent is perfect -- there an extra 6-7 lbs. right there). Now, I'm not going to get Rafael Nadal arms working out with a 25 lb. tent, but I've developed a little routine that hits my arms, shoulders, and upper chest and that -- along with some good bike rides -- is just about what I need.

I know some of you are reading this and beginning to chuckle at the thought of me lying on the floor (I have a mat!) in my garage working out my tricps with a tent. And as I write this it is beginning to dawn on me that working out with a tent is -- at the very least -- a bit odd. But I'm telling you, I'm on to something. It works, and without worrying about all those free weights lying around the house. All I need now is a promotional DVD and I could have millions of people around the world bulkin' up with their family tents: "Tent Training in 20 Minutes." Watch out Billy Blanks, I'm coming for you.

So you tell me: hilarious or genius? I'll check the comment box after a quick workout.

[obscure reference guide: see Rafael Nadal's arms; Billy Blanks]
CJS