Fat Tuesday is here again. Today is the day to forget your New Year’s resolutions and, for just one day, indulge in everything you’ve been denying yourself since the coma-inducing overeating of the holiday season.

Fat Tuesday takes root in the Catholic calendar as the last day before Lent, the 40-day period of self-sacrifice, in which something, often a favorite food, is given up until Easter. But Fat Tuesday, and its French translation Mardi Gras, have also become synonymous with the period of Carnival in cities like Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans.

Fat Tuesday is the last official day of the Carnival season. After approximately six weeks of parades and masquerade balls, the season culminates with a daylong series of parades, parties, booze and gluttonous amounts of food.

Today, as many Americans were making their morning commute, revelers in New Orleans were already well into their Fat Tuesday celebrations. There the parties halt normal activity and turn the French Quarter into an array of colorful costumes, marching bands and meticulously decorated floats.

You don’t have to be in New Orleans to enjoy yourself on Fat Tuesday. Celebrations occur all day long throughout the United States, and in other parts of the world, in many forms. Some cities have huge, organized Carnival-style parades, while in other cities individual businesses, primarily bars and restaurants, host events.

No matter where you are this Fat Tuesday, enjoy the carbo-loading, sugar and fats that you solemnly swore you’d give up in 2012. Tomorrow you can hit the gym and resume the calorie counting, but only once a year do we get to celebrate a day that embraces fat and over indulgence.
 

Article source: http://www.collegenews.com/article/fat_tuesday_is_here

Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know is looking like this year’s Pumped Up Kicks, a haunting song that creeps up on its audience and then, suddenly, appears everywhere.

That’s Gaw-tee-ay: Gotye — aka Belgian-Australian musician Wally De Backer — knows that such a massive international hit could overshadow anything else he does. “Maybe it’s going to have some aspect of a one-hit wonder to a lot of people — cursory music listeners or people who have never heard what I’ve done in the last seven or eight years. And probably rightly so,” says De Backer, 31, whose nom de plume is pronounced “Gaw-tee-ay,” a phonetic variant of the French translation of his given name, Walter.

After topping the charts in Australia and several other countries, Somebody That I Used to Know is now hitting U.S. radio. It’s No. 2 on USA TODAY’s adult-alternative airplay chart and No. 3 on alternative radio while making inroads in top 40, hot adult contemporary and rock formats.

Mirror images:Making Mirrors is Gotye’s third album but serves as his U.S. debut. It sold 41,000 digital copies before its “official” CD release Jan. 31. Listeners who venture further into the music than Somebody That I Used to Know‘s conspicuous melodic hooks will be amply rewarded. While track I Feel Better recalls vintage Motown, much of Making Mirrors takes a more experimental, though still accessible, tack. “There are moments that use very conventional pop structures, that very consciously play out like studies or homages to genres from decades ago,” says De Backer. “But I think hiding amongst that are some more peculiar twists.”

Super sonics:State of the Art features drastically altered vocals, as well as a Lowrey Cotillion, an early-1980s spinet organ that boasted the ability to add multi-part harmonies to single-finger melodies. Eyes Wide Open uses samples from De Backer’s field recordings of a musical-fence installation in Queensland, which features large wires that can be used to make sounds. “There are all these things to hit and play with and pluck,” De Backer says. “I had a little recorder with me, and I was very excited to record as many samples of that fence and the different metallic sounds around as possible.”

A boy and his recorder: De Backer’s interest in found sound came early. His parents limited his early television access to educational children’s programs such as Sesame Street and Australian show Play School. “There’s some pretty hilarious (childhood) photos of me with my little portable cassette recorder up in front of the speaker and using the internal microphone to record sketches from Sesame Street to listen to later,” De Backer says. “So maybe that was a sort of sampling curating.” Later, he developed an interest in anarchic British duo The KLF and synth-pop bands including Depeche Mode.

A return to The Basics? Gotye released his first album, Boardface, in 2003 and followed it with 2006′s Like Drawing Blood, which yielded a minor Australian hit called Heart’s a Mess. At the same time, he also played drums in a three-piece rock band called The Basics. “The band is on hold,” De Backer says. “I will definitely be busy, just with the live performance and touring side of Gotye, until at least the start of 2013.” A U.S. tour kicks off in March, culminating with performances at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. New Zealand singer Kimbra, who sings the female part on Somebody That I Used to Know, will open for him on tour.

Walk Off home run: The popularity of Somebody That I Used to Know has gotten a boost from an unexpected source: a YouTube video gone viral of Canadian band Walk Off the Earth featuring all five members performing the song on a single guitar. It’s the sort of approach that’s right up De Backer’s alley. “It’s very clever, and I think the guys are great,” he says. Gotye’s original video has been watched 74 million times on YouTube since being posted last July. Walk Off the Earth’s cover, posted Jan. 5, already has 55 million views, and that group recently performed the song on TheEllen DeGeneres Show. Says De Backer: “The viral heat around their video is just intense.”

Article source: http://newyork.metromix.com/music/article/meet-gotye-somebody-you/3004120/content

Editor’s note: This is one in a series on the Book of Mormon translations and translators.

The first French edition of the Book of Mormon, published in 1852, had on its title page: “Traduit de l’Anglais par John Taylor et Curtis E. Bolton.” A more accurate statement would have credited Taylor as supervisor of the translation, which was carried out by Bolton, Louis A. Bertrand, a Mr. Wilhelm and Lazare Auge.

In June 1850, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened the French Mission in Paris with then-Elder John Taylor, of the Quorum of the Twelve, (who later was the third president of the church) as president and Bolton and John Pack as counselors.

Bolton, the only one who spoke French, was appointed by President Taylor to begin translating the Book of Mormon. Within the next few months, Bolton and President Taylor met Bertrand, an editor of the Icarian newsletter “Le Populaire.”

Bertrand and Wilhelm joined the church on Dec. 1, 1850. Bertrand began helping with church publication efforts. Wilhelm was assigned to help translate the Book of Mormon, but quit work in late February and left the church soon after.

On March 22, 1851, Auge, a nonmember friend of Bertrand’s in need of a job, replaced Wilhelm in the translation work, though he knew no English.

Bertrand was fired from “Le Populaire” on Nov. 18, 1851, and this allowed him to take over for Auge and speed up the translating of the Book of Mormon, and it helped distance him from the volatile political scene.

The translation was almost complete when, in the midst of political upheaval, President Taylor was ordered to leave France. He reorganized the mission presidency, making Bolton president and Bertrand counselor and departed.

Printer Marc Ducloux began setting type on Jan. 13, 1852, and the first run of 1,000 copies was completed by Jan. 22.

Since its publication, the French translation of the Book of Mormon has received revisions and changes, including chapter divisions, new versing and footnotes, through the efforts of James Barker and Joseph Evans in 1907 and Roger Dock in 1952 and 1962.

By the time of the 1989 printing, the church had stopped crediting translations.

Of the initial translators, McClellan wrote, “In light of the political, cultural, and even social impediments in France at the time, it is no small wonder that this team of five men, each with different ideals and interests, was able to produce a translation that has endured for so many years… Sometimes God uses small and simple things to further his work; this time everything was small but not very simple.”

Source: The information in this article is from “Traduit de L’Anglais: The First French Book of Mormon” by Richard D. McClellan, published in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Volume 11, Issue 1, p. 29-34. Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 2002, and available online at maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=11num=1id=290.

Email: rbrutsch@desnews.com

Article source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865550385/Book-of-Mormon-translation-French.html

Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know is looking like this year’s Pumped Up Kicks, a haunting song that creeps up on its audience and then, suddenly, appears everywhere.

That’sGaw-tee-ay: Gotye — aka Belgian-Australian musician Wally De Backer — knows that such a massive international hit could overshadow anything else he does. “Maybe it’s going to have some aspect of a one-hit wonder to a lot of people — cursory music listeners or people who have never heard what I’ve done in the last seven or eight years. And probably rightly so,” says De Backer, 31, whose nom de plume is pronounced “Gaw-tee-ay,” a phonetic variant of the French translation of his given name, Walter.

After topping the charts in Australia and several other countries, Somebody That I Used to Know is now hitting U.S. radio. It’s No. 2 on USA TODAY’s adult-alternative airplay chart and No. 3 on alternative radio while making inroads in top 40, hot adult contemporary and rock formats.

Mirror images:Making Mirrors is Gotye’s third album but serves as his U.S. debut. It sold 41,000 digital copies before its “official” CD release Jan. 31. Listeners who venture further into the music than Somebody That I Used to Know‘s conspicuous melodic hooks will be amply rewarded. While track I Feel Better recalls vintage Motown, much of Making Mirrors takes a more experimental, though still accessible, tack. “There are moments that use very conventional pop structures, that very consciously play out like studies or homages to genres from decades ago,” says De Backer. “But I think hiding amongst that are some more peculiar twists.”

Super sonics:State of the Art features drastically altered vocals, as well as a Lowrey Cotillion, an early-1980s spinet organ that boasted the ability to add multi-part harmonies to single-finger melodies. Eyes Wide Open uses samples from De Backer’s field recordings of a musical-fence installation in Queensland, which features large wires that can be used to make sounds. “There are all these things to hit and play with and pluck,” De Backer says. “I had a little recorder with me, and I was very excited to record as many samples of that fence and the different metallic sounds around as possible.”

A boy and his recorder: De Backer’s interest in found sound came early. His parents limited his early television access to educational children’s programs such as Sesame Street and Australian show Play School. “There’s some pretty hilarious (childhood) photos of me with my little portable cassette recorder up in front of the speaker and using the internal microphone to record sketches from Sesame Street to listen to later,” De Backer says. “So maybe that was a sort of sampling curating.” Later, he developed an interest in anarchic British duo The KLF and synth-pop bands including Depeche Mode.

A return to The Basics? Gotye released his first album, Boardface, in 2003 and followed it with 2006′s Like Drawing Blood, which yielded a minor Australian hit called Heart’s a Mess. At the same time, he also played drums in a three-piece rock band called The Basics. “The band is on hold,” De Backer says. “I will definitely be busy, just with the live performance and touring side of Gotye, until at least the start of 2013.” A U.S. tour kicks off in March, culminating with performances at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. New Zealand singer Kimbra, who sings the female part on Somebody That I Used to Know, will open for him on tour.

Walk Off home run: The popularity of Somebody That I Used to Know has gotten a boost from an unexpected source: a YouTube video gone viral of Canadian band Walk Off the Earth featuring all five members performing the song on a single guitar. It’s the sort of approach that’s right up De Backer’s alley. “It’s very clever, and I think the guys are great,” he says. Gotye’s original video has been watched 74 million times on YouTube since being posted last July. Walk Off the Earth’s cover, posted Jan. 5, already has 55 million views, and that group recently performed the song on TheEllen DeGeneres Show. Says De Backer: “The viral heat around their video is just intense.”

Copyright © 2010 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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Article source: http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2012/02/19/meet-gotye-somebody-you-should-know/

MONTREAL – Quietly, almost stealthily, the woman Concordia University paid more than $700,000 to leave … has returned to the campus.

Former Concordia president Judith Woodsworth, who left her position in December 2010 amid a maelstrom of controversy that plunged the university into chaos, returned this month to begin teaching French translation classes.

Her return was marked by absolutely no publicity or announcements – a sharp contrast with her very noisy departure just over a year ago.

“There was no announcement because she’s just a faculty member,� said Cléa Desjardins, a communications official for Concordia.

And while the awkwardness of having a deposed president back as an educator hasn’t raised any real opposition, it has raised at least a few eyebrows.

After all, Woodsworth abruptly left about two and a half years into her contract with a substantial $703,500 severance package, and right on the heels of the equally mysterious departure of her predecessor, Claude Lajeunesse, who walked away with about $1 million.

“It’s surprising that she would come back and that there’s been no publicity,� said Danièle Berthiaume, president of the Concordia University Support Staff Union. “Nothing was clarified, the mystery is still there and now it seems she was given tenure along with the position of president.�

Desjardins confirmed that Woodsworth did get tenure upon her appointment.

Erik Chevrier, a board of governors representative for the Graduate Students Assocation, found it strange she was back after allegedly being fired.

“She’s not capable of being president, but they invite her back?� he said. But Lex Gill, president of the Concordia Student Union, noted that “being a university president and a teacher are two very different things.�

Maria Peluso, president of the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association, said it’s not that weird in the world of academia, where administrators quite frequently also teach.

Desjardins said several administrators have returned to teaching duties at the university and that Woodsworth “was entitled to return to her academic position.�

But Woodsworth’s departure, as well as her return, has to be coloured by the controversy she sparked, the necessity for the temporary appointment of former president Dr. Fred Lowy as president once again and the subsequent launch of major internal and external studies into governance at the university.

Given everything that happened, said Berthiaume, “I’m surprised she would even want to come back.�

kseidman@montrealgazette.com

Article source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Former+Concordia+president+Judith+Woodsworth+returns+university+teacher/6074185/story.html