"The flash mob" by Thibaud

In this day of Christmas holidays, I will speak to you about a song and an event, which remind us of the summer holidays (synonymous with sun and party).

On September 8th, the Black Eyed Peas group occurred in Chicago (Michigan Avenue) with their famous title “I Gotta Feeling”, and gathered 21,000 fans who dance all together. This concert was organized in honor of Oprah Winfrey, a famous presenter TV in the USA, who launched the 24^th season of his talk show (The Oprah Show’s).

For the production, the project was simple: to gather together a large number of fans at the same place and at the same time to organize an immense flash mob. The flash mob is a gathering of people in a public place to execute together operations (agreed in advance by Internet).

The organizers had infiltrated the main social networks (Facebook, Twitter) to inform the participants on the operation: places of appointment, choreography to be learned and finally the precise hour and place.

This flash mob was exceptional, because there were nearly 20,000 people who get together to sing and dance on “I Gotta Feeling”: it is the largest flash mob of the History. Before Black Eyed Peas it was Mickael Jackson who held the record of people for a flash mob : nearly 14,000 people had danced together on “Thriller” in Mexico.

Source : http://i27.tinypic.com/23sh9s.jpg

The director Michael Gracey says the interaction between the Black Eyed Peas and the crowd is what made the flash mob so extraordinary. "There's something really special when you take an audience and instead of just being passive and watching, you invite them to participate," he says: "That's why it was so magical for both parties. Two groups of people came together to create something that neither of them could have done alone."Oprah Winfrey was not only shocked, she was thrilled! The Black Eyed Peas reacted: “This is the best performance I have ever had of my life !”.

For those which are interested, here the link of the video :

- long version :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZuY9on9fLc&hd=1

- short version :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aSbKvm_mKA

Song “I Gotta Feeling” is resulting from the album The E.N.D (short for The Energy Never Dies). It was sold with 200,000+ (2x Platinum) specimens in France. I like this album…

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2010 !

. . . . .

Thibaud

The "Cantal" by Julien

The “Cantal” departement is a wonderful region for the reasons following: the culture, the lifestyle, the way of thinking and naturally the food. I think that if we arise of this region, it is easier for understand the behavior of local people. It is a shape of sharing.

Then the way of thinking, it is a rural and rustic way of thinking, but it is not pejorative. It is a characteristic.

Then the “Cantal” has its own culture. The first thing is the dialect which is a local language. The second thing is its dance which is “la bourrée”.

Then the “Cantal” has its gastronomy, with different cheeses, with different specialities.

The different cheeses are “le cantal, le salers, le bleu d’auvergne, le pavé d’Aurillac, la fourme d’Ambert and le saint-nectaire”, which have different parfums and flavours.
The different specialities are “l’aligot, la truffade and le pounti“.

Then the “cantal” has its alcohols: “la salers, l’avèze”.

This region is such a region with magnificient landscapes and numerous wild spaces, as the mountains.