#jacques eloi des mondes

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The Wit and Wisdom of Jacques Eloi des Mondes

Just as a stopped clock is right twice a day, so sometimes the words of a devil like Jacques, chevalier of worlds and ghostly former master of Maljardin, can inspire and motivate those who hear them. Sometimes when victory slips through our fingers and when Mother Nature rains clichés down on our parade like cats and dogs, motivational platitudes and inspirational self-help books won’t satisfy us. What we need instead is some inspiration from an unconventional source.

I have returned from a prolonged hiatus from this blog, which I spent expanding my (non-evil and non-poisonous) vegetable garden and taking notes on the second Desmond Hall arc. As before, I've made it my goal to regularly post detailed episode reviews, along with whatever other Strange Paradise-related content my muse inspires me to create. To begin, I present to you a collection of some of my favorite Jacques quotes, as written by Ian Martin and Harding Lemay. Are these words of wisdom, or just clever quips from the best character on the show? You decide.

From Ian Martin’s episodes:

"It's great to be alive!" (Episode 2)

"Don't question love. Welcome it. Some people never receive love." (Episode 6)

"Take happiness where you find it." (Episode 6)

"It's always better to argue on a full stomach." (Episode 13)

Holly: "You seem to have everything that money can buy. I guess even possessions don't make a man sleep easy, do they?" Jacques: "Do you, my fair child? It all depends whether the man is the possessor or the possessed." (Episode 25)

Elizabeth: "A toast to a happy life." Jacques: "Meaning short and sweet?" Elizabeth: "Our destinies are beyond our control, so I prefer to make the most of every waking moment." Jacques: "Now, that's my philosophy exactly. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?" (Episode 30)

From Harding Lemay’s episodes:

"We do not choose to be what we are, my dear child. We must make the best of what Nature gives us." (Episode 159)

Susan: "If [Jacques] were going to tell us something, I wonder what he would say?” Cort: “To live in the present and not to worry about the past. And to use what Nature gave us as best we can.” (Episode 160)

See you later this month with a review of Episode 45, followed by the Bad Subtitle Special for Week 9. The time has come for flowers of evil to bloom in this Garden once again.

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STRANGE PARADISE, episode 61

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Any "Dark Shadows" fans out there familiar with the Canadian TV Series called "Strange Paradise". Trying to build from the popularity of DS, it was a daily soap opera that ran for 65 weeks in 1969/1970. And is was syndicated in the USA.

I remember coming across it on a grainy UHF channel. Before cable & satellite, UHF was the first expansion to the standard "12" channels available and they were ALWAYS grainy. I first came across "Doctor Who" in the same manner. Like DS, Strange Paradise involved a spooky mansion and a portrait of a long dead ancestor. Is this case the mansion was located on Maljardin, a Caribbean Island. Maljardin is Spanish for Garden of Evil.

When the series started, Jean Paul Desmond (played by Colin Fox) is trying to bring his dead wife Erica back to life. He tries several methods including making a bargain with his ancestor Jacques Eloi des Mondes in the form of his portrait. At various times Jacques is able to escape the portrait by possessing Jean Paul.

The character that probably made the biggest impression on me was Raxl (played by Cosette Lee), Jean Paul's stern but efficient servant. She ran the household with an iron fist and stood up to the ghost of Jacques. She also happened to be a voodoo priestess. She would have been a very interesting addition to Dark Shadows.

There are also another servant named Quito (played by Kurt Schiegl). He was a large hulking man and mute. I always thought he might be an old style zombie (the kind before George Romero).

Paperback Library Gothic publishes 3 novels based on the series.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9AWO3f7PM2Y

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Recherche en cardiologie : va-t-on laisser la France perdre son rang ?

Notre pays a été le berceau de certaines des plus importantes innovations apportées au traitement des maladies cardio-vasculaires: première transplantation cardiaque en Europe, premier stent (ressort) implanté dans une artère coronaire rétrécie, première valve artificielle en matériel biologique, première implantation d’une valve aortique par voie non chirurgicale, premier développement de stimulateurs cardiaques destinés à traiter l’insuffisance cardiaque, première guérison de la fibrillation atriale par cathétérisme du cœur… Multiples sont les exemples qui témoignent de la richesse et de la créativité des équipes travaillant sur les maladies cardiovasculaires, dont la qualité est attestée par une production scientifique reconnue au plan international.

La communauté des chercheurs et des médecins qui consacrent leur activité à la lutte contre les maladies cardio-vasculaires peut donc à juste titre être fière des acquis scientifiques accomplis au cours des trente dernières années : ils ont permis d’améliorer considérablement la prise en charge de ces patients.

Alors que le gouvernement lance une grande réforme du système de santé, il convient cependant de s’interroger sur les perspectives qui s’offrent à la recherche sur des maladies qui demeurent la première cause de mortalité dans le monde, la deuxième en France et dont le profil évolue rapidement au cours du temps. On assiste en effet à une forte diminution de la mortalité liée aux infarctus du myocarde, du fait d’une prise en charge précoce grâce au Samu, aux unités de soins intensifs et à la dissémination de l’angioplastie coronaire 24 heures sur 24 qui permet de déboucher une artère nourricière du cœur occluse par un caillot. À l’inverse, on observe l’émergence à grande échelle de l’insuffisance cardiaque, caractérisée par une fatigabilité anormale du muscle cardiaque, qui est devenue la première cause d’hospitalisation après soixante ans ; ainsi que des troubles du rythme cardiaque, notamment de la fibrillation auriculaire, définie par une contraction anarchique des oreillettes, qui se complique fréquemment d’un accident vasculaire cérébral en l’absence de traitement. Ces pathologies de masse associées à un lourd handicap, notamment des hospitalisations répétées et prolongées, constituent un défi qui nécessite des investissements importants afin de mieux les prévenir et de mieux les traiter

Face à cette situation, force est de constater que les perspectives nationales sont sombres: à la différence d’autres domaines tels que la cancérologie, le sida ou les maladies neurodégénératives, la recherche cardio-vasculaire ne bénéficie pas d’un soutien étatique ou public à la hauteur des enjeux. Il n’existe pas de plan de lutte contre les maladies cardio-vasculaires équivalant au « Plan cancer » ou au « Plan Alzheimer », ni de grande fondation spécialisée comme la British Heart Foundation au Royaume-Uni ou l’American Heart Association aux États-Unis. Au contraire, les fondations subventionnant la recherche cardio-vasculaire sont multiples et de notoriété limitée. En outre, l’investissement de notre pays dans la recherche médicale en général est à la baisse, et cela impacte directement la recherche sur les maladies cardio-vasculaires.

L’inadéquation entre besoins et ressources est donc manifeste et nous conduit à alerter les pouvoirs publics et à nous mobiliser pour sensibiliser nos concitoyens. C’est la raison pour laquelle la Société française de cardiologie, société savante qui réunit l’ensemble des cardiologues français, a créé une fondation reconnue d’utilité publique, la Fondation cœur & recherche, afin de drainer des fonds destinés à subventionner des projets de recherche innovants de grande envergure sur des sujets tels que l’impact de la pollution sur les problèmes cardiaques ou la médecine connectée. Depuis 2010, elle a permis de subventionner 29 projets pour un montant de 3 millions d’euros. Si ce soutien reste cependant très en deçà des besoins nécessaires pour lutter contre les maladies cardio-vasculaires, son utilité n’est plus à démontrer. Il est aujourd’hui nécessaire de nous unir autour de la Fondation cœur & recherche pour lever les fonds utiles à la recherche cardio-vasculaire, si nous voulons que les équipes françaises demeurent compétitives au plan international. C’est au prix d’un effort financier significatif que nous permettrons demain de nouvelles avancées au service des patients.

*Professeur Martine Gilard, Présidente de la Société française de cardiologie. Cardiologue au CHU de Brest. 

Professeur Michel Komajda. Président de la Fondation cœur & recherche. Membre de l’Académie nationale de médecine. 

Docteur Alain Tedgui. Vice-président de la Fondation cœur & recherche. Directeur de recherche à l’Inserm, Grand Prix Inserm 2018. 

Professeur Jean-Claude Daubert. Président du conseil scientifique de la Fondation cœur & recherche. 

Pour la Société française de cardiologie:Pr Jean-Yves Le Heuzey (Paris), Pr Ariel Cohen (Paris), Pr Christophe Leclercq (Rennes), Dr Claire Bouletti (Paris), Pr Hélène Eltchaninnoff (Rouen), Pr Vincent Probst (Nantes), Dr Serge Kownator (Metz), Pr Jean-François Obadia (Lyon), Pr Jean-Marc Davy (Montpellier), Pr Victor Aboyans (Limoges), Pr Walid Amara (Paris), Pr Jean-Claude Deharo (Marseille), Pr Jean Ferrières (Toulouse), Dr Frédéric Fossati (Paris), Pr Patrice Guerin (Nantes), Dr Pascal Guillo (Rennes), Pr Gilbert Habib (Marseille), Dr Olivier Hoffman (Paris), Dr Claude Kouakam (Lille), Pr Philippe Mabo (Rennes), Pr Eloi Marijon (Paris), Pr Emmanuel Messas (Paris), Dr Jean-Jacques Monsuez (Paris), Dr Bruno Pavy (Machecoul), Dr Olivier Piot (Paris), Dr Frédéric Sacher (Bordeaux), Dr Grégoire Vandecasteele (Paris), Dr Stéphane Germain (président GRRC de la SFC) (Paris). 

Pour la Fondation cœur & recherche:Dr Serge Kownator (Metz), Pr Yves Juillère (Nancy), Jacqueline Chabridon, directrice de communication, Elie Cohen, économiste, Pr Christophe Bauters (Lille), Dr Emmanuelle Berthelot (Paris), Pr Richard Isnard (Paris), Pr Jean-Claude Deharo (Marseille), Dr Michel Farnier (Dijon), Pr Jean-Sébastien Hulot (Paris), Pr Richard Isnard (Paris), Pr Michel Ovize (Lyon), Pr François Schiele (Besançon), Pr Christophe Tribouilloy (Amiens)

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Some outtakes from my Episode 30 review of beautiful shots of Jacques reading in his chair (or, rather, Jean Paul’s chair) while looking quite pompous and dressed in some of Jean Paul’s “evil” clothes. You can see some of that “arrogant elegance” referenced on the old Yahoo! group. (You can also see some blue eyeshadow on him in these shots, but fortunately it’s not distracting.) What a gorgeous man!

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Sort of a prelude to my next post, where I will give the first flashback on Strange Paradise the imitation Frock Flicks treatment. Tumblr, for some reason, shrinks images that are uploaded as part of a “text” post (as opposed to a “photo” one), so I am uploading this separately.

(Source for image on the right: Wikimedia Commons)

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A funny bad subtitle from Episode 16 that I completely forgot about when I posted the Bad Subtitle Special for Week 4. Jacques Eloi des Mondes is very amused to read about Erica’s “little death.”

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Earlier this week, I received my first piece of fanmail for this site. @freewillisnotfree enhanced one of the screencaps that I posted in this review and gave me permission to share the results. Thank you, @freewillisnotfree, and I hope the rest of you enjoy it!

(ETA 3/29/20: The creator of this image also has a Tumblr dedicated to Dark Shadows and other Gothic horror classics, @collinsportmaine. You might want to check it out if you’re looking for spooky content to stave off lockdown boredom!)

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I was working on my Episode 17 review today and saw this beautiful shot of Jacques while re-watching. I thought he looked so stunning in this photo that I had to post it by itself.

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I realized after posting my Episode 11 review that I was slacking with the Jacques photos. I didn’t take as many screencaps of Jacques as I should have, so here are some of my favorite shots of him from the scene where he takes Alison’s letter from Holly. I particularly like the fifth one.

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Jumped ahead last night to re-watch a much later episode with Jacques. That naughty smile, those eyes, that classy outfit...he is just the epitome of hot.

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Since so far I’ve mostly written about Colin Fox and his characters, I thought it would be the ideal time to link to this post on Curt Ladnier’s Maljardin blog about the actor who was originally slated to play Jean Paul and Jacques. I‘m not familiar with his work (yet), so I can’t offer much of an opinion on how well I think he would have played either role. I will say, however, that Bayliss had a more ruggedly handsome, “hunky” appearance than Fox, and I suspect that would have made Jean Paul at least “feel” like a completely different character even if his characterization and acting weren’t that different.

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(NSFW warning for nudity and some racy language towards the end)

Since my review of the last episode with a costumed flashback is coming soon and I just read this article on real 17th-century French beauty ideals today, I figured it was the right time to post this.

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This week’s new episode of Dark Paradise features interviews with Penny Dreadful on the subject of Barnabas’ character development on Dark Shadows and Steve Shutt on Strange Paradise’s DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES and his diabolical possession of Jean Paul Desmond.

Highlights from the SP segment include speculation on:

1960s celebrity influences on the characters of Jean Paul and Erica

How and why Jacques was able to contact Jean Paul from the beyond

The theme of Fate in SP

Probable influences of SP on DS

AND

The intriguing possibility that Ian Martin may have intended for the evil Jacques to be “more ambiguous and ambivalent” than Raxl thinks

If you’re a fan of both series (as most if not all SP fans are), then I recommend listening to the whole thing, including the pilot episode of the DS/SP crossover prequel series Cursed Dwellings at the end. Also, thank you very much to the host Rachel Pulliam for promoting this blog!