a little redundant, don't you think?

I loved the forum, as Hala seems to have evolved quite well as a moderator. Some of the earliest forums she had moderated have been lacking, but this time she seemed to be in her element, at ease, confident and all kinds of awesome.

And I do believe that was Schams in the audience. Beside a rather striking woman (shall we say, of a certain age?) who, upon first sighting, my mind immediately went to: "Hala's Mom?" Not sure, and unless someone confirms it, I'll settle for the Schams sighting. (screencap can be found on the dotorg.)

And if I got the opportunity to do a forum in such an excellent location, I might have tried harder in my debate classes.



But I do have one beef with the whole thing, and I think this would annoy anyone: It's a forum on France. Yes. We get it. They have French names, they're at the French Senate, the forum is part of a feature called Eye on France. So why, oh dear CNN producers, did you have to put in, ad nauseam, the panelists' profession to be "French (blank)"? Why not just cite, "director", "tennis player", etc? WHY must it be "French director"? Seriously, why? If the pronunciation of their very French names (well, except for Marie Drucker) didn't tip viewers off, surely the accent would have. I mean, really. This would be understandable if you were airing this randomly, but we all knew what we were watching, and Hala didn't mind reminding us: the forum caps off the week, a week featuring France. And, gosh, didn't every other question posed (if not all of them) have the word "France" or "French" in it?

We get it.

Oh, and another thing? Why did Hala keep on calling some panelists (Amelie Mauresmo the most obvious) by their whole names? But this is minor beef, unlike the Kobe beef just mentioned.


Although, you know I couldn't turn away, because, well, Hala speaking in her French accent. What can I say?

au revoir, Eye On France.

photo courtesy of Thot from CNNfan.org

Why, Miss Gorani, I do believe you were flirting with that young man (Raphael). The body language, certainly, implied some subtle flirting.

Also? Hot damn, Miss Gorani, that's quite some leg you're showing off there.

I've mentioned before, and I don't hesitate to mention again, that I love Hala when she speaks French. And this week has been bliss in that respect. It was also nice to have Hala seem so relaxed, so at ease with the on-location reporting, and she seemed to generally get along with the people she interviewed.

photo courtesy of Thot from CNNfan.org

And, really, how (stereotypical) Parisian can that black top be?

You can go to the .org and browse the forum to find links and check out the different interviews Hala has been doing in France, and enjoy the Hala-speaking-French of it all. It's really a lot of fun, even if you can barely understand the language. Does anyone else on CNNI get this much media exposure?

A fun fact I didn't know and surprised myself by actually appreciating? Hala is well aware that Becky speaks French. A throwaway comment Hala shared, saying that new music acts are so in tune with their French roots, that they only choose to sing in the language, which Becky knows(!). And the easy banter was also surprising, because while I never caught the ice that some forum peeps mention, I don't recall them being this friendly. And did I mention Becky also speaks French (although the idea of her speaking French doesn't bring me to a warm fuzzy place the way Hala speaking French does... but I digress).

Last stop: France on the Move debate, which Ms. Gorani will be moderating. (air times: june 8 - 2000h, june 9 - 1200, 2100 CET... schedule which you probably already knew. heh.)



...
But, going back to the first picture, can somebody please tell Hala that, yes, we all love and adore her, but can she please button up and lower the hemline a bit? It's becoming rather alarming, and while we all love her (and her fab figure), she's still a news anchor, and the amount of skin is showing is really quite disturbing distracting. Feel free to wear it on your different appearances, just not while on the air interviewing, ok?



And, OMG, you can play Six Degrees from Stephen Colbert to Shihab Rattansi. It's disturbing, it's weird, and I can't believe I care. Oh well.