was that you or the dog?

did you know that people use lasers to cut cheese?
http://optics.org/articles/news/9/12/1/1

ah, but can they remove the rind from my fleur de maquis?

i can't take credit for that find - i happed upon this man's blog and find it quite funny:
http://baraktutterrow.blogspot.com/

le rock français

In an attempt to stave off my dinner appetite at 4pm, I'm melting frozen blueberries in my mouth. And now I've just eaten half a cowgirl spicy hot chocolate bar.

Do you wonder what french people listen to on their iPods? (ee-puhds?) Since Christie Blatchford didn't trade hers for, say, Le Pen's in her Globe spot a while back, here's my guess:

• Anaïs
  
• Pauline Croze
• M (Mathieu Chedid)
• Arthur H (sings duet with Feist, CB!)

In the golden days you had Trenet, Montand, Aznavour, Salvador...les grands chonsonniers who rattled off stories with vaudevillian flare. "The raving fruitcake Maurice Chevalier" is still a phrase I use from time to time. That and "he donned his lemon carpet slippers" (quite possibly from P.G. Wodehouse, that last one. Or Lolita. Apologies for any copyright infringement). For a lesson in play-by-play emotions made visible, watch a Jacques Brel concert - one where it's just him on a stool in a spotlight. It's theatre!

I'll be in France in 2 weeks, stocking up on tea and baroque sheet music, getting fat (they stay thin by WALKING. I've watched them eat...) and wondering if the new Amélie Nothomb book is a grand jeté from Le petit prince. Not home, indeed.

The Singer and the Song

I've been populating my playlist with tunes of yore:

- Love is a Stranger
- Baracuda
- I Can't Go for That
- Heartbreaker
- Who's Crying Now

They sound like a good story in that order. We could write a REAL rock opera!

Name the artists of these songs and win a delicious new Mill Street (Joyce de?) Wittbier. Sorry out-of-towners...gotta get you here somehow...Hint: none of them involve Bonnie Tyler.

My latest fascination is Yma Sumac
Please give her a listen, if not a mere glimpse. The synergy of photo-voice is astounding! She looks how she sounds, no?

I had a conversation recently about "pop singers with good strong voices", and how attractive they are (aurally) despite the manifold cheesy songs they write. The listed singers above likely qualify, but I happen to like the songs, too. Give me some more names of good singers with bad songs. Foreigner (Lou Gramm)? Chicago (Peter Cetera)?
Loverboy Mike Reno??







All mentionings of Whitesnake and Skid Row disqualify you from further opinion. Sheriff gets an honourable mention for stumping me with that unforgettable ending of "When I'm With You" but should otherwise be left for pie filling.