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I'm offline for a few days, enjoying a short spring break.
This blog will become live again around Saturday May 10th.
In the meantime: enjoy the daily posts I've prepared for you!
New Riot Gear For French Police
If you want to fight this guy, you have to come up with something better than a gun or a molotov cocktail.
French riot police (all 13,000 of them) will now be equipped with a battle dress that protects them against high-caliber bullets, and can’t catch fire. To fight back they’re equipped with the latest-spec Taser guns, and rifles that fire rubber bullets at high accuracy across forty meters.
The new gear was developed after 82 officers got injured (many with bullet wounds) in just 24 hours during the urban fights in Paris last November. Similar riots in 2005 sent 200 policemen to hospital. That’s still a far cry from the student revolt in 1968, which injured 1900 officers in just one month.
They’re feeling the squeeze: 51% of the French intend to reduce their summer holiday budget this year, and only 16% are going to spend more.
Since this is France, the poll also looks at the political side of the situation: 57% of leftists will reduce their budget, 39% of right-wingers will do so, and 44% of centrist are tightening the belt.
Finally, the age divide: 30% of people under 30 years go against the flow, and will spend more.
Will it make any difference? Don’t think so. The roads will be mayhem, the beaches will be hell. Stay at home if you can!
After toy giant Mattel had launched a Spanish Barbie doll, and the Iranian government had banned Barbie, claming that “the long-legged big-breasted Western blond doll is destructive for Iranian culture“, Photoshoppers were asked to create their own version of the famous doll. Shown above is a Barbie version of Josephine Baker (or Joséphine Bakèr as they say in France).
Benjamin Deroche is a young cynical photographer from the West of France. These pictures are part of a series named Tribute to Araki, and are an attempt to reproduce with a dead chicken the pictures of bondage of the Japanese master. But Araki is not one of his favorite photographers. Actually Benjamin Deroche really wanted to play with the corpse of the beast.
You have to give the French credit for inventing innovative products: YESforLOV
YESforLOV is a range of cosmetics that “invites you to love”. From love vitamins to post-pleasure relief, from intimate honey gel to sensitive derriere beauty cream.
But the prize for the most original products goes to Sexy Body Messages (”Tattoo each other with secret messages, surprise him: draw arrows pointing the way. Then rub it all off in the shower together“) and Intimate Hide-And-Seek Kit (”Take a brush with invisible ink and a black light under the sheets… and let him break the code that is written on your skin.“)
If you fancy this stuff, it’s currently only available via the Sephora shops (who also do mail orders).
Mont Saint-Michel is, after Paris, France’s most popular tourist destination. In the next two seasons it’s likely to be even busier. Starting this May (and for a period of 18 months), the rocky tidal island in Normandy is celebrating its 1300th anniversary.
After centuries of silting, the rock is hardly recognizable as an island these days. That’s about to change. The government has kicked off a 150 million euro plan to make it an island once again, by 2012. The large parking area you can see on the Google Map above will be eliminated, and a bridge will link the island with the mainland.
Chrisophe Huet is a professional photo retoucher best known for his freaky, exaggerated depictions of superhuman, surreal images. The former photo lab technician realized that he preferred drawing to shooting and developing photographs, and that’s how he got into the retouching business. Now he’s one of the best at his trade in the whole world. Find more here.
Discover the latest addition to the Bouguereau Remastered blog: this magnificent photoshopped Le Ravissement de Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Sensation” is an extremely unsubtle new French Schweppes ad.
The blogger at Shape+Colour explains and illustrates the subliminal sexual details that you may (or may not) have missed while watching this commercial.
I don’t know much about this photo. It was taken by one of the Seeberger brothers, who were famous fashion photographers in Paris a century ago. This one is titled Madame et ses Porteurs. It was shot in the Rue de Solférino, Paris, circa 1910.
According to Wikipedia, the French town of Harfleur changed hands between the English and the French repeatedly between 1415 and 1562, including being pillaged by the Huguenots.
It’s not sure which particular incident this Brickshelfer is illustrating with this Castle creation, but things don’t look good for the residents of Harfleur.
This map shows territories sized in proportion to the absolute number of people who died from bipolar depressive disorder in one year. The big bordeaux blob in the center represents France.
Bipolar affective disorder (manic-depression) is an illness with periods of unnaturally high mood and other periods of unnaturally low mood (episodes of mania and episodes of depression). Mania is a state of excessively elevated mood and excessive activity, sometimes accompanied with unjustified ideas of self-importance (grandiose delusions). Depression is an episode of very low mood with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and worthlessness. Manic-depression affects men as much as women.
YESforLOV is a range of cosmetics that “invites you to love”. From love vitamins to post-pleasure relief, from intimate honey gel to sensitive derriere beauty cream. 
