Tout le Monde

The buzz in France: did President Nicolas Sarkozy secretly marry singer Carla Bruni (Tedeschi)? Is she now France's "First Lady?" Regardless of their marital status, the relationship is a major coup for Ms. Bruni. Imagine Marilyn Monroe openly dating JFK immediately after a divorce from Jackie O . . . instead of them both dying horrible deaths.. . It's the convergence of hard politics and pop culture that makes these relationships so absorbing. More happily than Marilyn Monroe in the early 1960s, Carla Bruni now has three albums out, the latest to arrive in the USA later this year. . .


Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz, Sarkozy's last wife, has also generated a lot of interest. Her 2005 memoir, co-written with French writer Valerie Domain, was destroyed by the publisher at Sarkozy's "request." But -- Domain ressurected it the next year as a "novel" -- Enter le couer et la raison / Between the Heart and Reason, with a heroine named Célia rather than Cécilia. . . I suppose calling fact-based characters fictional is better than passing off made-up stories as "memoirs" . . .


Domain's latest novel appears to be a sendup of celebrities/pipoles: Une soirée chez les pipoles (2007). As with the Sarkozy-Bruni courtship, I suppose more will be revealed about this and other matters. . .

Today, I had the distinct pleasure of casting my first vote for a woman presidential candidate -- though it's not like we've ever had that option before now with any viable political party. Still, glad my maternal grandmother -- who was born before women could even vote, let alone run for political office -- is alive to see it happen.

Today's Rune: Defense.