Flit

Reason #34 I'm not too worried about 'Eurabia' just yet

It's a banal observation, perhaps, but it's my thesis that pretty much everything you want to know about the cultural gulf between France and the United States today can be derived by comparing and contrasting lyrical choices, style, etc. between 19-year old Britney Spears' 2000 hit "Oops, I did it again," and its French equivalent, "Moi... Lolita," by pint-sized Corsican singer Alizée, three years her junior, from later that same year.

One might add that in terms of dignified post-jailbait retirement, the French have the Yanks beat. No one's even seen Alizée in the last couple years, a state of affairs that no doubt many have wished had been the case with Britney. The Alizée phenomenon never made it across the pond, unfortunately... another casualty of the "freedom fries" days, perhaps. Other than being the direct inspiration for the "night elf" dance in the online juggernaught game that is World of Warcraft, she was pretty much opaque to North American teen culture, as far as I could determine from 20 years the other side of it.

In other news, I had a dream last night about someone taunting me for still liking .38 Special. Some junior high school traumas never go away, it seems.