| Volcano quiet for 400 years erupts in Indonesia By 2010-08-29T15:04:36ZJAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- A volcano in western Indonesia spewed hot lava and sand high into the sky early Sunday in its first eruption in 400 years.... hosted.ap.org |
Letters: And Now, Mockingcat (1 Letter) Letters from our reader. feeds.nytimes.com |
Personal Health: A Downside to Tai Chi? None That I See The proper question to ask yourself may not be why you should practice tai chi, but why not. feeds.nytimes.com |
PM in Newcastle for energy announcement The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and Climate Change Minister Greg Combet will be in Newcastle today to make a further announcement regarding the city's Smart City/Smart Grid energy efficiency project. abc.net.au |
The X Factor and the ex-factor: what's our band called this week, please, Simon? | Mind your language Bel Ami became Belle Amie, just as FYE had to change to FYD. (Bun N Cheese, so far as we know, remain Bun N Cheese)How did they think we wouldn't notice? Somewhere between week one and week two of the X Factor live auditions, the girl group Bel Ami morphed magically into Belle Amie, without so much as a mention.There are several possible explanations for the surreptitious name change. Perhaps someone told Simon Cowell that, since the four are girls, their name ought to be the feminine rather than masculine form of the French words, which literally mean "fine friend". Alternatively, perhaps somebody knew that Bel Ami is also the name of a film starring Twilight's Robert Pattinson and Uma Thurman, due to be released next year. Maybe they even realised that Bel Ami is the name of the world's most successful gay porn company.Unlikely though it seems, let's imagine the answer lies with the first of these three possibilities. Changing the group's name to Belle Amie makes a sort of sense but, as any subeditor knows, too much tinkering with foreign words can lead to untold trouble. Were the girl group to go all the way, their success could open the floodgates to all sorts of variations, right and wrong, on les belles amies or des belles amies, not to mention assorted other French words.The second and third explanations are linked, since Declan Donnellan's film is based on Guy de Maupassant's 1885 book about Georges Duroy – a young French stud who rose to the top by manipulating powerful (and mainly older) mistresses in 19th-century Paris – and Bel Ami most commonly refers to a younger lover. The Slovak filmmaker Georges Duroy took his pseudonym from the Maupassant character and borrowed the book's title for his porn movie company.In any case, for Cowell to call his young girl band Bel Ami seems like a big faux pas. He might have realised he needs something more wholesome for his winsome foursome. (Speaking of wholesome, can't he do something about the name of One Direction, which you don't want to say too quickly?)But Belle Amie and One Direction are Cowell's own creations. The other X Factor contestants have studied the popstars' rulebook and know the score: you can have any name you want, however ridiculous, meaningless or inappropriate. So, if Storm from Edinburgh wants to be Storm, so be it. Treyc can spell her ordinary name as weirdly as she likes. If Aiden from Blackpool is sticking with Grimshaw, that's fine too. Quite a few people probably thought WTF when they first heard FYD, but it's not a problem (FYI: they wanted to be FYE, but someone else got there first). After all, a fine example was set by guest judge Will-i-am from the Black Eyed Peas.I am all for striving for grammatical correctness, but in the case of popstars, it's perhaps best not to interfere. Imagine if that other girl group Bun N Cheese had got through to the live auditions - they could have ended up as Cheese Roll.LanguageThe X FactorSimon Cowellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |