Te Garder Pres De Moi

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According to a dictionary, it means "keeping you close to me" and alliage means "alloy (mixture)" in French.

	And, also according to Wiki, the band was at the height of their success when they recorded this song with Boyzone. They were only active for 4 years, as the girls didn't believe this song ( Not on the wiki.Just joking ) . Well, it's only natural to assume they've grown into men in 4 years, am I right?
	The performance on French TV show. Well, I do enjoy this music,just like these gentlemen.

I've chosen Edgar Degas' art piece for the background image of Boyzone's Working my Way Back to You" page. I thought it is a good counterpart for the video's illustration of boys' hard work ( to stardom ) .

And then I suddenly remembered the so-called dark story behind his profound ballet paintings I've read not so long time ago. Thought about withdrawing it but stopped because, apparently, the world has not been cleared of the misery yet.


The story goes; little dancers have mostly joined the academy to help their families, and they were bought by "patrons" who had the access to the backstage of the opera which had another face of brothel at that time. Their mothers often acted as an agent in today's music world by arranging their "dates"  to be successful.
Degas was one of the subscribers, so that is the reason he was able to sketch dancers at rehearsals, practices, etc. He wasn't really there for the love of ballet, but as a realist painter who was merely attracted to the movements and clothes of the dancers as a subject of his paintings.
He also depicted the scenes that imply the aforementioned power politics that preyed on the girls, but he did so not out of his sense of justice but just as a realist with not much emotional commitment in his works. In fact, he had little sympathy towards the girls' plight. 

Let him speak of his realist approach to life by himself;  "Women can never forgive me; they hate me, they feel that I am disarming them. I show them without their coquetry."


So, I've learned two new words / concepts : misogynist  ( a more sophisticated way of saying woman haters ) and "Madonna–whore complex" ( A theory of Freud's, whose way of looking at things I don't really agree with )  which they say perfectly fit Degas' personality by doing an extra searching on the net.
...wait.  I think I've already reached the limit of aggressive word usage allowed on this site by mentioning these two strong words.
Thus, I'll stop here and  won't go any further trying to examine what in the world was wrong with him ( and his surroundings, etc. )



What I would like to add in order to conclude though, is that he was said to have been fond of his mother, who passed away when he was in his early teen, and was a friend and a mentor of the passionate American feminist painter Mary Cassatt, who is well known for her mother and child artworks.

Not to mention his idea of and attitude towards women were not unique at that time.


Today's entertainment industry is plagued with scandalous rumors of sexual abuse and the clouds over it seem to be looming ever larger, as the media itself is often the owner of this business who is  keen to suppress negative news which may damage their glorious and glamorous images.


It's easy to say, "Well, it's showbiz what do you expect? There's price to pay."
But then again, some of these victims were / are clearly undeage, who need protection by grown-ups before they are mature enough to be responsible for their own behaviors based on their own judgments.
The damage has been done, and it is certainly not so easy to recover.



All I can say now, is that those of you, who enjoy relationship to be nurtured, who are able to develop your own idea of healthy, beautiful relationship with the opposite sex, is really fortunate, and the love you are able to share with the opposite gender based on mutual respect ( not necessarily romantic one ) is something that should not be taken for granted. I repeat. Never.



It is indeed a gift from heaven, something I believe every one of us deserves to receive.