Mobile internet... a tiny step closer...

In the meantime, we still do not have the iPhone nor the Sidekick...

I change my cellphone recently and I kept the old one as a backup. The beauty of GSM phones (which are also the lot of the iPhone and Sidekick), you just remove the SIM card from one phone, put in the other, and voilà!

The new phone was for the trip in France last January, so it would work there (and it did, and it was a lifesaver at Roissy / Charles-de-Gaulle airport. :) ).

The frustrating part is that nearly all new cellphones... are internet ready. Mine does that. It has some applications (web browser, Yahoo/MSN Messenger, mail, etc) and the phone itself can work as a modem to a laptop.

Sadly, our cellphone providers haven't beefed up their network, so they charge insane amount of money even for light use of the internet. This is why Apple didn't launch their iPhone in Canada, and this is why the Sidekick is being phased out. The use of a "Crackberry" in Canada can be costly. What an irony, considering that RIM, the makers of the Blackberry is... Canadian.

Frustrating.

Today, I was playing with my still quite brand new cell phone, and somehow I accidentally activated its internal web browser. I know too well what would happen next. A warning page that anything I would do past that point will cost me an arm and a leg.

It's the feeling of being at a candy store... empty pocket. :) All the candies you want are there... you have no money to buy just even one candy. :)

Lo and behold, this time the text has changed. I'm invited to sign up for their "unlimited internet" plan. Cost? $7 per month. (If you can read French, click on the photo).

What? No monthly 3-figure amount of money? Unlimited internet that is truly... unlimited? For just $7 a month? There must be a gotcha, somewhere, right? :)

Well, I checked. Indeed unlimited internet for $7 per month... with only the applications that are stored on the cellphone... and as long as the phone doesn't act as a modem for a laptop. For those purposes, the "arm and a leg" plan still apply.

A bummer, but that's a start, so I sign up for their somewhat unlimited.. Mobile dirt road access to the internet. It's still better than nothing. :)

I have issues about human speech, and voice over a cellphone, is my absolute nightmare.

South of the border, when you see the things deaf persons do with their Sidekick, and how handy such devices have become in their day to day life... It is difficult to imagine that these devices are just a dream here in Canada, and have to live... without them.

And for me, dreaming to have a Sidekick. Sigh...

Also as a traveler, whether checking planes, weather, or last minute searches at the place I'm going, I can vouch that internet on the go is very useful.

An iPhone or a Sidekick is a tad... more compact than a laptop, nor they need to be close to a Wi-Fi access point to work. :)

One last digression: When I was in France last January, one of my cousins had a French iPhone.

Their data plan? Unlimited internet for the equivalent of $35 CDN. Restrictions? After the first 500Meg, the service provider (Orange) reserves the right to slow down the access to the internet. Wow.

By the way, they are currently testing high quality video live conversations.. They openly invite deaf people to try their service. Yup, having conversations... in Sign Language.

This is how spiffy cellphone services have become in France...

What a contrast with Canada.

Sigh...

-E

Nini la chance... or a mighty nostalgia trip!

I don't watch television _that_ much. News bulletins, weather, at times some documentaries and that's that.

It seems that for the weekend they unscramble more channels, so I got one of those "nostalgia" channel.

And boy I was yanked... in a past that I didn't suspect it got that far. A delightful hour with singer Annie Cordy, and the songs she sang in the 70s.

It's been already 30 years, almost 40 years ago. Wow. That doesn't make me feel young!!!

And it's amazing that after a few hesitations, all of a sudden it comes back to you.

I had that same feeling, and probably at the most oddest place, singing in duo at 10 000km away from Paris, in front of an English-speaking public. Not bad eh? :)

A street artist by the name of Joshua, a former Frenchman... at the Vancouver's Grandville Island Market, on a warm day of December 2006. He spotted my "Québec" jacket. He invited to join him and to sing along in front of the public. And I dare to say YES!

Singing in French... songs from Yves Montand, Charles Aznavour and Michel Sardou of that same era, in front of a (small) public who obviously never heard anything in French but were curious at us. An impromptu duo. It's one of those crazy things that makes you love travels.

Boy I thank him for "priming" me, so i wouldn't look too silly. Those songs were tucked deep deep in my memory, as I haven't heard them in decades, and then after a few seconds, poof it's all fresh.

Many crazy things also happened during that trip to Vancouver, good and bad, but I digress. Suffice to say that of all my travels, I have highly fond memories. You can read my original blog entry at FC about that crazy trip to Vancouver. End of digression again. :)

So... when you need a video for your blog, say about Annie Cordy, where do you turn to? YouTube, of course.

The snippet I have chosen looks like from the show I saw earlier this evening. "Nini la chance" is the kind of easy going music, with style that were prevailing in the 70s.

Somehow, with all the techno, and all the modern music, which to me it's awful noise... I kind of regret those songs from the 70s.

Also, look at the orchestra. Back then, they had $$$ ! Today's television wouldn't be able to afford so many live musicians. Also the use of *real* instruments back then, and no electronic keyboard around.

Sometimes, when one wonders about culture, well this *is* culture. A snapshot of our world, how we live, and when delivered later, it makes you dreaming all over again.

I was a bit sad that the show lasted just an hour, I'd take an additional hour or two or even three with Annie Cordy. Sigh. For the songs themselves, for the memories that they brought to the surface... and about an era that seems getting incredibly distant.

So, here she goes, Annie Cordy with Nini la Chance.... (Sorry, no close captioning, I couldn't find a clip with it).



Cheers,

-E

Casse toi alors, pauvre con!

Well, I figure it's the kind of news that will reach the English-speaking press.

It's French argot (slang) for: "Get out of my way, dummy!"

Those are the not very diplomatic words French president Sarkozy has uttered today at a French agriculture show.

In the brouhaha, it appears that someone was not exactly a fan of Sarkozy and he stood in his way... and Sarkozy didn't appreciate.

Le Parisien is a well known national newspaper. So I went on their web site, and yes... they got the video of the event.

Oops. :)

There's a non-written rule. A French president should never treat a French citizen as "pauvre con". No kidding. :)

That being said, if the French had heard the many not very diplomatic words from our former prime minister, Jean Chrétien, whoopy!!!

Enjoy,

-E

Chaotic triumph...

<--- Again, do I need to say anything? :) L'Arc de Triomphe. (Also called "Place de l'Etoile", and I was a bit surprised it got renamed again as "Etoile-Charles-de-Gaulle". Huh ?!? It always surprises me, with this crazy traffic whizzing all around L'Arc de Triomphe , and how discipline is a word that exists only in a dictionary, and this is especially true in Paris...

I was there observing for a while, this sheer docile maddness...

Amazing, just amazing...

An amazing nothingness! No accidents! No one injured!

In total chaos, comes order. People do get from point A to point B... apparently safe and sound... seemingly against all odds!!!

Cheers from Paris!

-E