Andy Warhol said we all get 15 minutes of fame and I just used up about five of mine. If being on an 11-minute show about blogging on the French equivalent of C-SPAN counts as fame, that is.
Caroline Deschamps, the elfin, yet sophisticated MC of Parlons blogs ! on Public Sénat contacted me through frogblog because she was doing a show on the US election and wanted to interview an American expat blogger in Paris. When she found out I was part of a blogging couple, she decided to do a dual interview.
Actually, there is a lot of interesting political programming on Public Sénat in addition to the government-in-action stuff, and among the programs is a show about blogging. It’s not necessarily a topic that translates well to the TV screen, but you’d be amazed at what Caroline does with it.
Caroline showed up a few days later with her friendly and efficient (qualities an American appreciates) crew: Valérie (sound), and Olivier and Michel (cameramen). They proceeded to invade our bedroom with spotlights and cameras and Caroline did her thing.
She stole my comfy chair, but I forgive her because she was truly lovely and she did put me on TV, after all.
I was less nervous than I thought I would be (because I convinced myself in advance that only three people would be watching the show), but my French was still pretty abysmal. The editing is great, though, and Caroline picked my best one-liners (as Vincent pointed out) and allowed Vincent to fill in with his eloquent insights (see my previous post).
Of course, as soon as they left, I thought of a million things I would have liked to have said, but that’s what this blog is for, isn’t it? And I still have 10 minutes of fame left, right? I’ll have to use them wisely.
One of my comments that made it into the show was something I’d written on one of my posts; that if Obama is elected, the US will have a more refined president than France does for the first time. (I’ll probably be deported for that.)
Best of all, Vincent’s Geeks in Love got plenty of screen time. And they were naturals. Very telegenic. They should have their own show if you ask me.
Here, for your viewing pleasure are my five minutes of fame, which start at about the six-minute mark.
Merci encore une fois, Caroline, Valérie, Michel et Olivier !
[...] should have the full story up on frogblog any time [...]
You truly impressed me Pam.
Although Public Sénat is not exactly TF1, you were there, making your point, telling a French audience (that watches US series dubbed in French, quelle horreur) how Americans perceive the media.
As I’m Belgian, I could pick up some San Diego left-over sounds, but you were truly convincing, looked and sounded slightly BCBG with a touch of honest ‘naturele’ that really appreciated.
I must check out your blog more often ;-)
All the best from Antwerp, Belgique
Waou Pamela, c’est excellent, bravo a tous et a toi d’abord. Good job!
Hi Peter.
TF1 is Sarko TV anyway, so that’s OK with me!
Thank you for your positive feedback. It’s the first time I ever had to talk on TV! Pretty scary. The “naturel” is real, I promise. I’m glad that came across.
Merci Tilly !
OMG!!! I am SO proud of you woman! Look at you! * wipes tears of joy from her cheeks * All grown up…you two looked adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you, so smart, so…so knowledgeable. You rock.
Wow, that was really cool. It would be nice to know what you guys were laughing at, so you need a transcript in english for your poor, misguided, unilingual relatives. And never forget……Le singe est sur la branche.
Thanks Claudia! I’ve never known anyone who writes such energetic and…bouncy (yes, that’s the word I’m looking for) comments!!!!! You make me smile every time.
Bill, no transcript. Too busy. I basically said all Americans care about is whether someone’s wearing panties or not.
Bonjour Pamela
Mille mercis pour ce billet très chaleureux!
Olivier, Michel et Valérie sont ravis
Concernant le démarrage immédiat de la vidéo, j’ai alerté le webmaster qui me dit que le problème est maintenant résolu, pourrais-tu me le confirmer?
A très vite
Caroline
PS: tu as vu après tout ça, je suis passée au tutoiement
Pamela,
Of all the American ex-pats living in Paris who are critical of the ad hominem superficiality of American politics, you were chosen to be the spokesperson on French TV. How cool is that! You go, girl! And, if you have ten minutes left, then I must have 14 minutes and 58 seconds.
LMAO! I blame it on the caffeine. Or the chocolate. Or lately, the gym. Talk about endorphins! WOOT! Oh, and btw, for the record, most of us DO wear panties here in America. Unless I did not do laundry. But that is different. And I stay off the swings THAT day.
Bonjour Caroline.
Merci d’avoir fait “réparé” la vidéo et pour tout. C’était une belle expérience.
Pour le tutoiement : étant de Californie du sud où on n’est pas du tout cérémonial, je ne comprendrai jamais le moment où on peut commencer à utiliser le “tu,” donc je suis très contente que tu l’as fait !
Pamela
Hi Dennis! I just got lucky. I take no credit. But it was a blast. And I’m so glad your picture was flashed in front of all three of those French spectators too!
Claudia, you’re cracking me up again! What a great visual! You have a real gift.
[...] the scoop: Remember that TV show on blogs that Vincent and I were on not too long ago? Well, they’ve asked us back (!) for a live, three-hour show that will cover [...]
[...] Caroline, the host of Parlons blogs ! told us we’d be popping in every hour on the hour for a few minutes. She asked us to touch on the role of the Internet in the election and to give our take on what was happening across the pond. Vincent had the special assignment of doing some live Geeks In Love drawings during the course of the show. [...]