IL NE FAUT PAS SE FIER AUX APPARENCES : LE CACANADIEN EST DIRIGÉ PAR DES UNILINGUES ANGLOPHONES.

Est-ce que les Mountriawl Canadians, l'équipe de l'establishment anglophone de la métropauvre, craignent le retour des Nordiques de Québec ? À voir tous les changements apportés cet été à l'organigramme de l'administration des CHieux, on peut le croire. On a engagé énormément de Québécois francophones pour renouveler le personnel d'entraîneurs et faire le ménage dans une organisation qui a lamentablement échoué et qui a perdu presque tout son lustre au cours des dernières années. Depuis près de deux décennies, comme la ridicule et incompétente administration municipale de Mourial, le Cacad'CHien a été couvert de honte et s'est attiré les railleries des anti-habs à cause de multiples scandales (joueurs impliqués dans des histoires de viols, d'agressions sexuelles, de détournements de mineures, d'escortes et de beuveries), de son mauvais management, et de son acoquinement avec des individus malhonnêtes (notamment des fraudeurs à la direction de la boutique des souvenirs, et du Temple de la Renommée du Centre PouBell, etc).

Sous les apparences du nouveau visage francophone du club des Molson se cache une autre réalité. Avec leur hypocrisie habituelle et l'habileté qu'ils ont dans l'art de tromper les gens, les propriétaires des CHaudrons n'ont rien fait pour augmenter la présence francophone au sein de leur formation, lorsqu'elle retournera sur la patinoire, on ne sait trop quand. Les Américains, et dans une moindre mesure les Européens, sont en surnombre dans l'alignement CHicolore. Et avec les jeunes que la CHiasse a repêché ces dernières années, il en sera encore ainsi pour longtemps. Et aux postes de commande, les anglophones unilingues détiennent le vrai pouvoir, reléguant les Québécois à des rôles de subalternes, de laquais ou de seconds violons. Quand, après avoir retourné toutes les pierres du chemin et fait l'inventaire de tous les candidats disponibles, le vieux sénateur Serge Savard a fait croire en la trouvaille du siècle en présentant à la presse Marc "Symphorien" Bergevin, le nouveau directeur-général du club, tout le monde s'est interrogé sur le bien-fondé de cette décision douteuse. À croire que personne ne voulait de cette tâche titanesque de redonner de la décence à cette organisation décrépite et en fond de cale. Savard et le torCHon misaient donc sur un "no name" sans expérience pour rebâtir leur département hockey, redevenu la risée de toute la Ligue Nationale.

En fait, Bergevin ne savait tellement pas comment s'y prendre pour commencer à remplir sa mission impossible, qu'il a lancé un S.O.S. désespéré à son ancien "boss" (avec les Blackhawks) et ami Rick Dudley (à gauche sur la photo sous le titre), qui était encore sous contrat avec les Maple Leafs de Toronto. Même si Brian Burke, le DG des Leafs, ne voulait pas le laisser partir, Dudley a fini par se retrouver à MortYial, à condition de ne pas révéler les secrets qu'il détenait en prévision du repêchage qui se tenait dans les jours qui allaient suivre. Bergevin était revenu plusieurs fois à la charge afin d'obtenir la libération de son mentor. Et ce n'était pas pour rien. Le pauvre Symphorien était paniqué à l'idée de conduire le bateau du CanaCHien sans avoir de gouvernail à sa disposition. Selon ce qu'on a appris entre les branches, il ne faut pas se leurrer : le vrai gérant général de la CHiure est bel et bien Dudley. Bergevin n'est que son porte-parole et son porte-valises. Il paraît que Savard est resté estomaqué. Selon certaines sources d'information, il n'a pas apprécié le choix de Bergevin.

En nommant Scott Mellanby, (2e photo à partir du haut) un autre de ses chums, à la tête du département du développement des joueurs, Marc Bergevin s'est aussi assuré que son homme de confiance veillerait à ce que des sous-fifres comme Patrice Brisebois et Martin Lapointe -- dont les postes n'existaient pas avant leur nomination -- ne nuisent pas plus qu'ils vont l'aider dans le redressement de la situation pitoyable dans laquelle l'incompétent Trevor Timmins (photo ci-dessus) a laissé cet important domaine, si crucial dans les succès de tout club de hockey. Si Timmins a été un des rares anciens cadres de l'organisation à conserver son emploi, il ne faut pas sauter aux conclusions et penser qu'on l'a retenu à cause de ses excellents états de service. En fait, le recruteur en chef n'est plus qu'un simple exécutant puisque la nouvelle direction l'a dépouillé d'à peu près toutes ses responsabilités. En effet, il ne s'occupe plus du développement des jeunes qu'il a repêchés et, puisque la spécialité de Rick Dudley est de savoir repérer et recruter de bons joueurs juniors, c'est sûrement lui qui va avoir le dernier mot quand Timmins lui fera des suggestions lors des encans amateurs. Pour être honnête, la direction des Canassons devrait dire que Timmins en est presque réduit à un rôle de simple dépisteur...

Bref, pendant que Symphorien Bergevin, le clown "conteur de jokes de mon oncle", s'occupera de relations publiques en amusant les journaliche-culs à l'occasion de rencontres impromptues ou de conférences de presse arrangées avec le gars des vues; pendant que la foule des Québécois de service, nouvellement embauchés aux échelons inférieurs, fera semblant de sauver la "face francophone" de l'organisation en portant les valises de leurs patrons anglais; ces derniers, Rick Dudley et Scott Mellanby, seront aux commandes de l'appareil qui survolera la populace des fefans. Ça ne garantit en rien que cette machine volera bien haut, mais ça signifiera encore que les proprios du torCHon agissent sous de fausses représentations "francophones" afin d'éviter des manifestations -- pas bonnes pour l'image -- comme celle du printemps dernier, quand des nationaleux ont protesté publiquement contre la nomination du pauvre bouche-trou Randy Cunneyworth (un bloke) comme "head coach" des Mountriawl Americans.

Amnesty International: A criminal organisation in the service of Western Imperialism

Last year the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation launched a brutal war of aggression on Libya killing thousands of civilians and replacing an independent, responsible government with gangs of hooligans, Wahabite terrorists and outright criminals. What was once Africa's richest and most successful state was bombed into oblivion, its impressive infrastructure destroyed, its thousands of people's committees and people's assemblies closed.

Universities, schools, and hospitals were bombed by French, British and American jets. Thousands of Libyans were blown to bits. Libya's revolutionary leader, Muammar Al Gaffafi, was presented to the ignorant readers of the Western press as a brutal dictator, in spite of the fact that he had held no official position in Libya since the mid 1970s.

Every crime committed by the NATO "rebels" was falsely attributed to Muammar Al Gaddafi and the legitimate Libyan government; a government that had previously been praised by the UN Human Rights Council for its humane treatment and rehabilitation of Islamist terrorists was now being systematically  demonised by the Western corporate press with the Qatari monarchy's mouthpiece Al Jazeera playing a leading role in the disinformation war.


 NATO's murderous 7 month Blitzkrieg on Libya was presented to the world as a "humanitarian intervention" which, they claimed, was intended to save civilians from a brutal crackdown by "Gaddafi's African mercenaries". In reality, the Libyan government had been attacked by gangs of armed mercenaries in the service of NATO.

 No evidence of any crimes attributed to Gaddafi and the Libyan government were ever proven. Most, if not all, of the crimes committed in NATO's "humanitarian war'' were, in fact, committed by NATO's proxy terrorists. The "humanitarian war" on Libya would never have been possible were it not for the overwhelming sophistication and callous fanaticism of pseudo humanitarian organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, inter alia. Last year, as the humanitarian bombs rained down on Tripoli and other Libyan cities blowing innocent men, women and children to bits, I called Amnesty International the public relations whores of fascism. One year on, my assessment of Amnesty International has not changed.


 Since the destruction of the Libyan state, Amnesty International have been at the forefront of the war on the people of Syria spearheaded by NATO's corporate media agencies. Amnesty International have only published reports and claims made by so-called Syrian oppositionists and human rights activists, many of whom have been shown over and over again to be consummate liars.

 In spite of the lack of evidence to support the accusations of the so-called Syrian opposition against the Assad regime, Amnesty has published their claims as though they were the incontrovertible truth. This has helped create a consensus in the West which has resulted in the white-washing of Syrian rebel crimes and the demonisation of the Syrian government in a concerted effort to drum up support for a war of aggression on a sovereign state with a view to replacing the anti-imperialist regime of that state with a weak government under the control of Washington, London and Paris.

Without the active role of Amnesty International such an ambitious operation would not be possible. In a panel discussion in Weseley College in 2012 Amnesty International director scolded former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright for hesitating to bomb Syria.

 ""Now as the head of Amnesty International-USA, one point of great frustration and consternation for human rights organizations and civil society organizations over the last eight or nine months has been the failure of the UN Security Council to address, in any way, the deaths of now five thousand civilians in Syria at the hands of President Assad and his military.


 Last spring the Security Council managed to forge a majority for forceful action in Libya and it was initially very controversial, [causing] many misgivings among key Security Council members. But Gaddafi fell, there's been a transition there and I think one would have thought those misgivings would have died down. And yet we've seen just a continued impasse over Syria and a real, almost return to cold war days and paralysis in the Security Council. How do you explain that and what do you think is the missing ingredient to break that logjam and get the Security Council to live up to its responsibilities on Syria?"


 Muammar Gaddafi was sodomised with a knife before being murdered by armed gangs backed by NATO. This was a crime against humanity, according to international human rights law. Here is the head of Amnesty International PRAISING such action. Such are the fascist thugs running Amnesty International. But the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Principals and many other human rights laws still exist. The day will come when war criminals such as Suzanne Nossel will be arraigned before an international criminal court and prosecuted for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity. It behoves the thirty governments-representing half the population of the earth, who gathered in Teheran a couple of weeks ago, in an attempt to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis- it behooves these nations to bring criminals such as Suzanne Nossel and her ilk before an accountable international criminal court so that the world may be spared the unspeakable horrors of the fascism of our time, this insidiously evil policy called "humanitarian intervention".

The Lady in Gold: Adele Bloch-Bauer

One of the wonderful things about living in New York are the museums, big and small.  The Neue Galerie on 5th Avenue is one of my favorites, particularly because of this painting.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

Neue Galerie, NY

This lovely lady in gold is Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted in 1907, by this gentleman, Gustav Klimt, one of the foremost painters of fin-de-siecle Vienna.

The painting was bought by Ronald Lauder for $135 million dollars in 2006 after the painting was finally released by the Austrian government to the relatives of  Adele Bloch-Bauer who fought for over 8 years to have the painting and 4 others returned to the family.  From the moment that I saw the painting in the museum, I've been curious about this beautiful woman with the rather sad eyes who was painted by one of my favorite painters.  It turns out that I'm not the only one who has long been fascinated by the subject of the painting. Lauder stated that as a young teenager of 14, he too had become fixated on the painting.

According to Anne-Marie O'Connor in her new book entitled Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, it took Klimt 3 years to paint Adele's portrait.  At the time, Adele was a 21 one year old married socialite from a well to do Jewish family. Her father was the head of one of hte largest banks in the Hapsburg Empire, as well as head of the Oriental Railway, whose Orient Express ran from Berlin to Constaninople. At the age of 17, she'd married Ferdinand Bauer, a sugar-beet baron who was 17 years older than she was.  Adele's sister Therese had married Ferdinand's brother Gustav.  After their marriages, the couples hyphenated their last names to Bloch-Bauer.

Adele was apparently not only very intelligent but also a bit bohemian compared to her more staid hubby.  She was also considered a bit of a rebel, she had wanted to attend university, or to have some sort of intellectual job.  Instead, she bowed to convention and married. Although her husband adored her, commissioning not one but two portraits of Adele from Klimt, Adele was frustrated with her life.  Unfortunately Adele and her husband were unable to have children which meant that she had failed in her primary duty.  Instead, Adele threw herself into the world of art patronage, nobbing with some of the most influential mind in Viennese society, including Schnitzler, and Freud.  One of her closest friends was Alma Mahler who came very close to having an affair with Klimt as a teenager. Adele's niece Maria describes in her in the book as being somewhat cold and impatient with children.  Adele smoked which was tres risque for the time, especially in public.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912, 

 private collection

 



There is speculation that Klimt and Adele were lovers were a brief time.  Adele was the only woman that he painted twice. No one knows for sure since Klimt left very little in the way of private letters or a diary.  He was known to be a bit of a scoundrel, Wikipedia writes that he had 16 illegitimate children.  Unlike Adele, Klimt grew up dirt poor, so poor that he didn't go to school for a year because his parents were embarassed by his shabby clothes. Initially Klimit just hoped to become an art teacher, he had no vision that he would one day be considered one of the greatest Austrian artists. Of course that happened after his death.  While he was alive, Klimt was considered a rebel, an artistic heretic.  He refused to paint pretty pictures of landscapes, or society portraits like Winterhalter or Markt.  Klimt was influenced more by the work of the Impressionists in Paris and then later by the works of Matisse & Picasso.  Shunned by the Viennese aristocracy, Klimt looked to the rich Jewish industralists as art patrons.

Klimt didn't look like a painter, he looked more like a sculptor or a wrestler.  He was tall, and built like an ox.  Typically he wore large smocks and sandals to paint, designed by his companion Emilie Floge, with nothing on underneath.  People talk about his charisma, almost an animal magnetism.  Looking at his photographs, I can definitely see how he seduced so many women.  Klimt seemed to have not only loved women, but respected them as human beings.  He understood that they had sexual desires like a man, there are several drawings in the Neue Galerie that Klimt did of women in the throes of ecstasy or pleasuring themselves.  For most of his life, he lived with his mother and his sisters.

Both Klimt and Adele died young, in their 50's.  Klimt died in 1918 just as World War I was ending, Adele died several years later of meningitis.  Their secrets died with them. 

The Lady in Gold is a fantastic read, a vivid portrait of a world that was lost with the advent of World War I, it's also the story of a family and what they endured, as well as a brief history of the Jews in Vienna.  It's a pretty quick read, and well worth it.  There is happiness and sadness, particularly the rift that developed in the family over the fight for the family's Klimt paitings.  Although the family made a great deal of money from the sale of the 5 paintings, I think it's a shame that the two portraits of Adele are seperated.  I don't know why Lauder didn't buy the 2nd painting.  It would have been wonderful if the paintings could all have gone to a museum.  Perhaps one day.

In the meantime, if you get a chance, please do visit Adele at the Neue Galerie and then head downstairs to Cafe Sabarsky for a piece of sachertorte and a cup of strong Viennese coffee with whipped cream.

NOMINATION DE THERRIEN AU POSTE D'ENTRAÎNEUR : LES FANS ANGLOPHONES DU CANADIEN SONT CHOQUÉS ET DÉCOURAGÉS...

Je n'ai pas fait de recherche à ce sujet, mais, même si les Cannes à CHiens de MortYial se sont transformés en un club de CHaudrons au cours des dernières décennies, ils demeurent encore fort populaires dans le reste du Canada. Tellement et si follement aimés d'ailleurs, que, au total, ces CHieux doivent compter plus de partisans anglophones que de fefans francophones. Et, comme dans tous les autres domaines, ces deux catégories de supporteurs de la Sainte Guenille ne se comprennent pas. Au hockey comme pour tout le reste, anglos et francos représentent deux solitudes. C'est ainsi que la nomination de Michel "Éphrem" Therrien comme entraîneur-chef du Cacanadien a été accueilli assez différemment dans les deux communautés. Du côté des fefans, la nouvelle du retour de Therrien, pour un second séjour derrière le banc du bleu blanc merde, n'a pas nécessairement soulevé beaucoup d'enthousiasme, mais les "frogs" mordus de la CHiure se sont dits généralement d'accord pour qu'on lui donne une deuxième chance à la barre de l'équipe des Molson.

Chez les têtes carrées du Canada entier, l'annonce de l'embauche de Therrien a été reçue avec incompréhension, incrédulité et découragement. Pourquoi ramener cet idiot qui a été un des seuls instructeurs du CH à avoir eu le déshonneur de compiler une fiche perdante dans la longue histoire du club ? On a vite rappelé les vieux souvenirs qui sont à l'origine de la réputation ridicule du gros plein de soupe de Therrien. D'abord, on s'est souvenu de sa façon de s'habiller comme un clown, avec son fameux veston jaune (photo ci-dessus) et ses cravates mal assorties. Et puis on s'est rappelé la célèbre séquence où on le voyait faire le geste du "coupe-gorge" durant un match, alors qu'il dirigeait les Penguins de Pittsburgh. Enfin, on a revisionné sa crise de malade (c'est sur YouTube) au cours de laquelle il avait descendu ses joueurs publiquement, en point de presse, après une défaite de ses Pingouins. Peu de temps après, on le mettait à la porte. Avant d'être réengagé par le CHiendent après trois ans de purgatoire, Therrien n'était même pas venu près ou loin d'être pris en considération pour un poste d'entraîneur dans la LNH. Guy Carbonneau connaît présentement le même sort. Aucune organisation ne veut l'embaucher parce qu'il a eu lui aussi le tort de critiquer ses joueurs publiquement quand il dirigeait les jambons de Mourial.

Therrien affirme maintenant qu'il a eu sa leçon et qu'il a appris de ses erreurs. Il se présente comme un nouvel homme, un homme changé, plus sage, amélioré. Les anglos sont sceptiques. Ils croient que l'ancien Therrien, celui qui perd facilement la tête et le contrôle, quand ça va mal, reviendra rapidement sur le devant de la scène. Mais, d'autre part, il est assez stupéfiant de les entendre se demander pourquoi l'entraîneur-chef du Caca doit savoir s'exprimer dans la langue de Molière. Les canadiens anglais ne comprennent pas pourquoi le CHicolore se prive ainsi des meilleurs candidats au poste de coach. Faut-il rappeler que l'hiver passé, la nomination de l'unilingue anglophone Randy Cunneyworth, à la barre du club, a failli causé une émeute aux alentours du Centre PouBell ? Quand on parle des deux solitudes... Il est vrai que la longue association du torCHon avec les Molson en fait, dans les faits, le club de l'establishment anglais de Mountreal. D'où l'incompréhension des "red necks" de la métropauvre à l'endroit du fait français. Ils ont la certitude que le CHicolore leur appartient.

Chez les CHieux, plus ça change, plus c'est pareil. On se souvient qu'il y a deux ans, quand ils ont choisi Jacques "Dumbo" Martin pour mener les destinées de leur bande d'enfoirés, ils comptaient sur lui pour rétablir l'ordre et instaurer un régime disciplinaire, après la zizanie qui a marqué la fin du bref passage de Carbonneau derrière le banc. Un peu tout le monde disait que Martin était un entraîneur de transition, en attendant qu'un homme plus capable, comme Guy Boucher, prenne le club en charge. On a laissé filer ce dernier à Tampa Bay... Maintenant on dit la même chose de Therrien : il est là temporairement, en attendant d'être remplacé par Patrick Roy. Selon certaines sources d'information, Bob Hartley était l'homme que Symphorien Bergevin voulait comme pilote de sa formation. Mais Hartley a plutôt opté pour l'offre des Flames de Calgary. C'est ainsi que le gérant général des CHaudrons a dû se rabattre sur Therrien pour boucher le trou derrière le banc des joueurs et... oui, devinez quoi ? Pour rétablir la discipline autant sur la patinoire que dans le vestiaire.

À défaut d'améliorer leur groupe de vauriens par la voie des agents libres ou par celle du repêchage, les dirigeants des Canailliens ont donné le mandat à leur nouvel entraîneur de tirer le maximum du peu de talent qui est à sa disposition. Pour l'appuyer dans son rôle de "père fouettard" et de "presse-citrons", Therrien a choisi Gérard Gallant (ci-dessous, au milieu) comme entraîneur-adjoint. À eux deux, ils vont former le plus beau duo d'enragés et de "faces à claques" de la Ligue Nationale... Incidemment, le surnom de Gallant est "turkey" (dinde). Pas de farce, c'est vrai ! Dinde ! Quel beau surnom pour quelqu'un qui va entraîner un club de dindes !!! Ha ! Ha ! Ha !

Pour les analystes les mieux avisés, le style "tortionnaire" ou "coups-de-pied-au-cul" de Therrien et de Gallant est dépassé, dans la NHL d'aujourd'hui. Crier après les joueurs ou les humilier, c'est du "stuff de juniors" ou du fin fond des plus miteuses ligues mineures. En fait, les paris sont déjà ouverts en ce qui concerne la date à laquelle Therrien va être "remercié" une deuxième fois de ses services par la CHarogne. Certains gagent même qu'il ne durera même pas un an. Juste le temps de capoter et de perdre son vestiaire. Rappelons que les CHieux ont fait passer dix entraîneurs à l'abattoir au cours des dix-neuf dernières années. Pour les experts c'est clair : la nomination de Therrien signifie que les dirigeants du Cacanadien ont baissé les bras pour au moins deux autres saisons, en espérant qu'après la fin des gros contrats des joueurs engagés par le duo Gainey/Gauthier, les jeunes repêchés ces dernières années pourront prendre adéquatement la relève de cette bande de "losers".

Ce que les observateurs ont hâte de voir, c'est comment réagiront les joueurs quand on ressortira les vieux enregistrements des critiques de Therrien faites contre eux à l'émission l'Antichambre. Comment le nouveau pilote de la CHiasse pourra-t-il dire du bien de certains de ses poulains, après les avoir descendus publiquement sur les ondes du réseau Bull shit (RBS) ? Il va passer pour un hypocrite. Pour éviter cet écueil, on a vu Therrien préparer le terrain de la conciliation, en se faisant tout doux et tout miel à l'égard de ses anciens confrères journalistes, le jour de l'annonce de sa nomination. Il veut manifestement mettre les scribes de son côté en les flattant dans le sens du poil et en blaguant familièrement avec eux. On dit que Therrien déteste les joueurs qui sont paresseux ou/et qui ont la tête enflée. Beaux conflits à prévoir avec ceux qui ont ce profil parmi sa gang de deux de pique: Subban et Price en tête de liste ! On n'a pas fini de se marrer, chers amis anti-habs !

LES FEFANS DU CH DEVRONT PAYER ENCORE PLUS CHER POUR VOIR PERDRE LEUR CLUB POCHE AU CENTRE BELL...

Plus souvent pour les huer que pour les acclamer, les fefans des CHaudrons de Moronréal devront débourser encore plus d'argent pour se payer des billets afin d'aller voir perdre le Bleu Blanc Merde au Centre PouBell au cours de la saison 2012-13. Si saison il y a, bien entendu, puisque le renouvellement de la convention collective, à temps pour octobre, est loin d'être une chose acquise présentement... Mais, d'un autre côté, (positif celui-là !) si saison il y a, les fefans pourraient bénéficier de billets gratuits, comme en fin de campagne le printemps passé. On se rappellera en effet qu'avec la fiche honteuse du torCHon en 2011-12, pas mal de détenteurs de billets ne se donnaient même plus la peine d'assister aux défaites des CHieux au repère de voleurs des Molson. Et même en offrant gratuitement leurs laissez-passer à des gens de leur famille ou à des amis, ils ne trouvaient pas preneurs. On appelle ça la misère ou...la déchéance totale ! Ne reculant devant aucun scrupule, la direction du Caca a donc décrété une hausse de 2,5 % du prix des billets pour la prochaine année de débandade de son club de dernière place, un club pourri bien installé dans la cave du classement des équipes de l'Est.

Évidemment, si les Molson avaient été obligés d'ajuster le prix des billets en fonction du rendement récent de leur équipe de poires, ils auraient dû manger leurs bas en 2012-13. Car l'an passé le torCHon a dégringolé à tous points de vue : une baisse de 19 % au chapitre des points au classement; une débarque de 30 % au niveau des victoires; un affaissement encore plus catastrophique de 33 % du côté des victoires à domicile; 2 % de moins en ce qui a trait à la production de buts, de la part d'une offensive qui était déjà anémique (avec un jeu de puissance parmi les plus faibles de la LNH); 8 % de plus de buts alloués (gracieuseté de Scary Price, le nouvel homme de 39 millions de dollars de la CHiure). La plus belle "crosse" dans cette augmentation des droits d'entrée aux matchs de la CHnoutte, c'est peut-être le fait troublant que rien n'est prévu, aucun remboursement, en cas de grève ou de lock-out dans la NHL, cet automne.

Il faut comprendre que les Molson et leurs associés ont besoin de revenus accrus après avoir dépensé sans compter au cours de la saison morte. Des contrats aux montants faramineux ont été consentis à des joueurs poches ou de second ordre. On a aussi engagé un méchant paquet d'entraîneurs et d'adjoints aux compétences plus ou moins douteuses. Sans oublier qu'il faut payer encore pendant un an ceux que l'on a congédiés et qui sont toujours sous contrat : Gauthier, Martin, Cunneyworth, Ladouceur, Pearn. Considérant leur clientèle comme une clientèle "captive", les Molson ne craignent pas de la perdre même en la "saignant" toujours davantage à chaque année. Nous ne sommes probablement pas loin du petit verre de bière Molson vendu $ 12 l'unité aux fefans. Le principal projet des propriétaires du CH, un club payé beaucoup trop cher il y a une couple d'années, n'est pas d'améliorer le produit sur la patinoire mais de bâtir au plus vite la tour de 48 étages de condos luxueux (534 unités entre 250 000 et 800 000 $ l'unité) sur la Place (ou, plutôt, à la place) du Centenaire, juste à côté du Centre PouBell. Les pauvres fefans qui avaient acheté les fameuses briques de cet espace public agrémenté de quatre statues de grands joueurs du passé (Béliveau, Lafleur, Richard et Morenz, si je ne me trompe pas) devront essayer de les retrouver dans l'immensité de cette tour enlaidie du logo du Caca à son sommet. Un logo que l'on devrait recolorer en vert, la couleur de l'argent, le vrai symbole des entreprises des Molson.

En attendant, pour la prochaine saison, le défi des CHaudrons sera de devenir possiblement la première équipe à défoncer le plafond salarial de 70 millions de dollars tout en finissant dans la cave du classement. Qu'est-ce que ce serait tordant ! Mais les Molson ne craignent nullement ce scénario puisque les idiots de fefans seront toujours là pour payer pour les pots cassés !

The Glamorous Gunning Sisters: Lady Anne Davenport

This week we have the final installment in author Deborah Hale's series on The Glamorous Gunning Sisters: The Next Generation.

Lady Betty Hamilton’s cousin, Lady Anne Coventry, did not move in such exalted circles, but she did manage to create every bit as great a scandal. Lady Anne was born in 1757, the third of Maria Gunning’s children by the Earl of Coventry. Like her cousin, she experienced early loss with the death of her mother when she was only three. The earl took an interest in his heir, but little in his daughters, Maria and Anne. Shuttled between the family estate, Croome, and Brighthelmstone, they were left mostly in the care of their French governess and their uncle by marriage, Gilly Williams.

One person who did take an interest in the child was famed wit and eccentric George Selwyn, a friend of Williams who had also been admirer of Anne’s mother. Selwyn’s interest in “Nanny,” as he called her, was described by contemporaries as singular (an 18^th century euphemism for obsessive and rather creepy). In a biography of the Duchess Argyll, Horace Bleakly recounts, “in the subsequent correspondence will be found many pleasing proofs of the anxiety with which he (Selwyn) watched over the welfare of the offspring of his deceased friend and of the parental and almost romantic affection with which he regarded the interesting child.”

Selwyn expected updates on her health and spirits in every letter he received from Williams. He sent Anne and her sister gifts for which she wrote him a thank-you note in French, asking him to visit. In a letter to Selwyn in 1765 when Anne was eight-years-old and her brother ten, their father sounds disturbed by Selwyn’s interest in his children: “I have refused so many applications to let the little boy leave Marybone, that I must beg of you not to ask it. There is no one but Duchess Hamilton has liberty to send for him, and it would be very inconvenient to extend that privilege any farther.” In a post-script, he added, “I shall not trust you in a post-chaise with Nanny a year or two hence.”

Was Selwyn as much a pedophile as his correspondence and actions make him sound, and did he ever act upon his obsession? Were Anne’s subsequent actions those of a child alternately neglected and spoiled, as contemporaries suggest, or might they have been the self-destructive behaviour of a sexual abuse victim?

When Anne was seven, her father remarried Barbara St. John who was an affectionate stepmother. Williams wrote to Selwyn, “I wish her indulgence may not, in the end, prove worse than a little wholesome reserve and moderate restraint.” Not long afterward, he complained to Selwyn of the child’s behaviour: “I told Nanny what you have brought for her, though by the by she does not deserve it, for, from the want of all restraint and contradiction, she grows so intolerably passionate, that I wish one time or other she does not hurt her sister.” In another letter, he wrote, “There is seldom a night she does not fight us all round. The very last night of all, she hit me a box of the ear, and told her good-natured stepmother not to be so impertinent as to trouble her head about her.” He concluded by predicting, “I fear she will be outdone before she knows she is to blame.”

After this, Williams’ letters to Selwyn grew less frequent. His last mention of Anne was in 1766, when he wrote, “Nanny is well and in beauty.” His last letter in 1770 contained no mention of the girl, who would have been thirteen. By that time Selwyn seemed to have taken a special interest in the young daughter of Lord and Lady Carlisle. Eight years later, Lady Anne was mentioned again in the Selwyn correspondence by his niece, Mary Townshend: "I am told of another intended marriage not upon so solid a foundation; Mr. E, Foley to Lady Anne Coventry. Except Lord Deerhurst (her brother) takes them on his establishment, I do not see how they are to subsist.” Miss Townshend’s brother Thomas also mentioned Lady Anne’s marriage with distinct disapproval: “You have heard, I suppose of Ned Foley's match with Lady Anne Coventry. The trustees settled the jointure; who settled the match, God knows.”

It was a far less brilliant match than Lady Betty Hamilton had made, and no more happy. Edward Foley, was the second son of a newly created baron. Though his family had a large fortune, Ned and his equally profligate brother seemed determined to spend and gamble it all away. Nine months after the wedding, The Annual Register for 1779 announced, “Rt Hon. Lady Anne Foley of a son.” The child must have died very young for sources indicate the couple had no family. “Within a few months of the wedding,” wrote Horace Bleakley, “the conduct of the lady had provided the scandalous chronicles with new material.” So numerous were Lady Anne’s lovers that it was rumored she sent the following note to General Fitzpatrick, "Dear Richard, I give you joy. I have just made you the father of a beautiful boy...P.S. This is not a circular.”
For several years Ned Foley seemed content to let his wife take as many lovers as she wished, until she began an affair with the Earl of Peterborough. By this time Foley may have run through Lady Anne’s jointure and possibly saw the wealthy peer as a chance to profit from his unsatisfactory marriage. Or perhaps he was looking to settle down and have children he could be tolerably certain he had sired. Foley brought charges of “criminal conversation” (the legal term for adulterous sex) against Lord Peterborough and won £2500 in damages – equal to over half a million US dollars in today’s money.

When Foley sought to divorce her, Lady Anne fought back. Her lawyer argued that “Lady Anne Foley had been guilty of infidelity with many persons before; that Mr. Foley knew it in some instances, and was cautioned against Lord Peterborough, yet that he kept him in his house when his lordship wished to go, and told him not to be vain of Lady Anne's favors, for that she shared them to all men alike; that he left him in the house alone with her for days.” Unfortunately, the court decided against her. Not only did Foley drag Anne through the humiliation of a divorce, where her infidelity was discussed in detail in both Houses of Parliament, he made further money by publishing all the salacious details in a pamphlet that is still in circulation!

Perhaps miffed at the amount of money the dalliance had cost him, Lord Peterborough had no intention of making an honest woman of Lady Anne once she was free. Besides, an earl did not need an infertile wife with a notorious reputation. The lady did not languish, however. Within two years she married Samuel Wright, a captain in the 15th Hussars, who was the son of a prosperous banker. The couple retired to his home in Nottinghamshire to live out the rest of their days in the peace that had long eluded her.

August Book of the Month - Marilyn: The Passion and The Paradox

Marilyn Monroe in The Prince and The Showgirl

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Marilyn Monroe. I hope that Marilyn is looking down to see just how much of an impact her life and career has had on the world.  From the iconic Warhol portrait to Sir Elton John's song "Candle in the Wind" it feels as if Marilyn is somehow still alive. She's inspired everyone from Madonna to Mariah Carey to Lady Gaga. In fact, one could say that Madonna owes her entire career to Marilyn Monroe.  Mariah Carey owns Marilyn's white piano and Lindsay Lohan recreated her last photo shoot for New York Magazine.  In the past year alone we've had Michelle William's Oscar nominated performance in My Week with Marilyn (an accolade that eluded Marilyn throughout her career) and Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty duking it out to play Marilyn on the TV series SMASH.

Conspiracy theories abound about Marilyn's death, particularly after the revelations of her relationships with both JFK and RFK.  Was Marilyn murdered because she threatened to tell the world about her affairs with the two brothers? Was it just an accidental overdose? Or had Marilyn's life so spiraled down that she no longer wanted to live? Those are questions that the world will probably never have answers too.

There are many people who just don't 'get' Marilyn. I know that I was one of those people.  Watching old movies as a child, I was drawn more to actresses like Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Haviland.  I didn't understand that Marilyn was much more than a wiggle, a breathy voice and large breasts.  It wasn't until I started stufying acting in high school that I really began to appreciate her performances in movies like Some Like it Hot and The Misfits. Even in small roles like Miss Caswell in All About Eve, there is a feeling of sadness and vulnerability about her performance.  I started reading biographies about her, the two best being the memoir written by Susan Strasberg (the original Anne Frank on Broadway) and Barbara Leaming's biography.

Now Bloomsbury has published a major new biography on Marilyn by Lois Banner just in time for the 50th anniversary of her death. There's been a lot of hype about this book in Vanity Fair and Elle magazines, great reviews from Booklist and Publisher's Weekly. Any reader expecting a juicy, gossipy book to read on the beach will be thoroughly disappointed.  This is not the book for you.  Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox is a much more nuanced and authoritative look at the life of the screen siren.  The biography is not only a pyschological portrait but also a cultural history of the first 60 years of the 20th century.

A great deal has been written on line concerning the 'revelations' in the book that Marilyn may have had affairs with women.  Banner doesn't really give any concrete evidence but it shouldn't really be surprising.  Marilyn believed in free love, she was also incredibly emotionally needy, and a people pleaser. She also was constantly searching for both a father/protector as well as a mother figure to replace her own mother who basically abandoned her from birth due to mental illness and lack of money into a series of foster homes. Marilyn would see her mother on weekends until Gladys was admitted to a mental hospital.  Her mother's best friend Grace also shuttled Marilyn into different foster homes and once into an orphanage.  Granted it wasn't a Dickensian orphanage, but Marilyn's abandonment issues ran deep.  Marilyn as bisexual is not that big of a shock.

The first section of the book which details Marilyn's childhood and early teenage years tends to drag a bit. I was fascinated to learn that Marilyn as a child suffered from a stutter, it's the first time that I've ever read that in a biography. Banner also deduces that Marilyn may have suffered from dyslexia.  One of things that I've always found interesting about Marilyn is how her insecurities deepened and grew, the more famous that she became. She never felt that she was good enough.  Banner makes a credible case for Marilyn's lateness and insistence on several takes as being part of her need to be perfect, no doubt another legacy from being shuttled around from one home to another.

Banner astutely points out something that I think tends to be forgotten with Marilyn, how hard she had to work for her stardom.  Studio executives, amazingly enough, had no faith in Marilyn as either as an actress or a star.  Zanuck only took notice when the audience did. Banner suggests that Marilyn's past as a party girl, attending studio parties that were mostly men, may have hurt her in the eyes of the studio.  Too them she was just a piece of ass that got passed around. They treated her like a joke.  I was also impressed by how seriously Marilyn took her craft, studios normally paid for actors to take singing and dancing lessons but not for her.  She paid for all of that herself out of her salary and her modeling jobs. It was Marilyn's determination and skill that made her a star.  She manufactured the persona of Marilyn Monroe, not the studio.

Banner also pointed out that Marilyn was very open about that fact that she had been sexually abused as a foster child which was not openly discussed in the 1950's.  Marilyn was a pioneer in a way that she talked about sex and sexuality in interviews, in a notoriously puritanical decade.  She was pre-sexual revolution.

Banner is an excellent writer and she definitely has a deep love and understanding of Marilyn that I've seen from only a few other biographers. The book is at it's best when Banner is discussing some of Marilyn's earlier films, the ones that sort of get lost in the shuffle, in order to concentrate on her later films after she became a star. My one complaint about the book is that it tends to be a bit repetitative.  It's not necessary to repeat a bit of information that you've told the reader two pages before yet again.  Our attention span is not yet that bad! Despite that one flaw, Marilyn couldn't have asked for a better biographer to interpret her life story for the 21st century. Marilyn comes across as a deeply complex woman. Hopefully readers of the biography will be motivated to seek out some of Marilyn's earlier films like Niagara or Don't Bother to Knock.