At least that's how they did it a century and a half ago: Le coucher de la Parisienne

This photo was shot in 1853 by Félix Jacques-Antoine Moulin. In 1849, Moulin had opened a photographer's shop at 31 bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre and started producing daguerreotypes of young girls aged 14 to 16. In 1851, Moulin's work was confiscated, and he was sentenced to one month of imprisonment for the "obscene" character of his works, "so obscene that even to pronounce the titles (…) would be to commit an indecency" according to the court archives. After his release, Moulin continued his activities more discreetly. He taught photography, sold equipment, and had a backdoor made to his shop to dodge further legal problems. His works gained esteem from critics.

In 1856, Moulin made a photographic trip to Algeria, with over one tonne of equipment, and backed by the government which gave him access to the facilities of the colonial authorities. He came back in 1858 with hundreds of photographs of landscapes, cities, archeological surveys and portraits of inhabitants, and published 300 of them as L'Algérie photographiée. These documents became official brochures of the colonial rule of Napoléon III, to whom the work was dedicated.

Disturbing pictures from Life Magazine: Nazis Meet the Firing Squad

On August 25, 1944, Allied forces and French Resistance fighters liberated Paris after four desperate years of German control and a week of intense street battles. French citizens celebrated like never before … but they also doggedly hunted down those who had collaborated with the Nazis.

On September 2, 1944, legendary LIFE photographer Carl Mydans and John Obsborne, a war correspondent for LIFE and Time, were in Grenoble, at the foot of the French Alps, when they witnessed a grim, bloody proceeding: A group of Resistance fighters (known as Maquis) gathered to execute a half-dozen Nazi collaborators who had worked for the despised, feared Milice — the Vichy police. Mydans' unflinching photos and Osborne's haunting description of the event ran in the October 2, 1944 issue of LIFE.

Click here to view the photos. WARNING: they are graphic and disturbing.

Your Thursday clicks:

French debate: First it was burqas, now burgers (BostonHerald.com)
Halal burgers huge success in France (RFI)
French burger chain causes outrage by banning pork (Telegraph)
Friendly fire in Afghanistan injured French soldiers, says inquiry (France24)
French railway faces criticism in US for WWII role (Yahoo! News)

In France, a Comic Who Specializes in Short Jokes Gets Cut Down to Size (WSJ.com)
The Côte d'Azur's Michelin stars (Telegraph)
French police raid home of L'Oreal heiress (CNN.com)
Cannes winner Uncle Boonmee panned by French film critics (guardian.co.uk)
Racism in French job market reflected in film (Video, BBC)

Huge fires have been raging not far from where I live — a bit scary if your house is in the middle of a forest, like mine!

More pics

The travel agency of French national railway operator SNCF spent a lot of money on a new campaign, but the result is superb: an arrival or departure from the Paris Gare de l'Est which five customers won't forget soon.

More of the same here. [Thanks Max]

Your Wednesday clicks:

Cycling: Tour de France hero Fignon dies (The Independent)
French Champagne Makers Try for a Greener Bottle (NYTimes.com)
French teacher 'suspended for too much Holocaust' (Expatica France)

Iranian newspaper says French first lady deserves to die (CNN.com)
Lending works of art to France is a risky business, warns curator (Telegraph)
Experimental French exhibition saturates senses with art for a new age (Guardian)
Frenchman convicted of shining laser into cockpits (Expatica France)
France defends Roma expulsions (The Guardian)
French court blocks deportation of Roma (Boston.com)
French Riviera Hijacked By Russian Mafia (newscastmedia)

A rare aluminium-silver print by Verdeau in Paris, ca. 1860: L'Homme-chien

The people in this picture are probably Adrian Jefficheff and his son. They came from the Caucasus, and performed in circus shows, together with other freaks, known as hair-people, wolf-people, lion-people and poodle-people.

In the 20th century they came back as Wookiees in the Star Wars movies.

I had never heard of this French band but they're magic: Caravan Palace

Read more about them here

Your Tuesday clicks:

Ortolans: to eat or not to eat?

Activists ready to sabotage French bird-hunters (The Independent)
Alain Corneau, Eclectic French Film Director, Dies at 67 (Obituary, NYTimes.com)
France to tackle student housing crisis with… shipping containers (France24)
Parenting study: Italians strict, French moderate, Canadians lenient (Eurekalert)

Romagate:
Minister cites crime statistics to justify Roma deportations (France24)
Sarkozy loyalists refuse to soften on France's controversial Roma crackdown (Guardian)
France Vows To Boost Deportation Of Foreign Beggars, Thieves (AHN)
French government faces internal 'malaise' over policy of expelling Gypsies (Canadian Press)

Watergate, Romagate… Time will tell who the greatest crook was.

(Photoshop montage found on Choppix)

Your Monday clicks:

Jean Reno in Léon
Actor Jean Reno speaks out on his compatriots’ attitude towards American cinema (Independent)
Sarkozy's Security Policy Brings `Shame' on France, Socialist Aubry Says (Bloomberg)
Socialist leader makes early pitch to replace Sarkozy (The Independent)
Does the French Government Really Believe its own Economic Forecasts? (WSJ.com)

Sarkozy’s security crackdown roils France, but Jews more circumspect (JTA)
New probe launched into minister's role in L'Oreal heiress tax affair, land deal (France24)
Man charged with French Gypsy murder (Expatica France)
Frenchwoman charged with kidnapping to appeal 60-year sentence (France24)
French railways to open Nazi deportation files to US (Asia One)
Japan pop artist's Versailles show sparks protests (Yahoo! News)

Bonus: French 'Spiderman' Held After Scaling Skyscraper

The French may suck at soccer but they're undisputed champions in another field: Air Guitar.

Last Friday, Frenchman Sylvain "Gunther Love" Quimene was crowned World Air Guitar Champion for the second time (see yesterday's post) and his compatriot Eva Gina Runner became second best. Eva Gina is not only a very attractive hair stylist (really!) but according to herself she is also awesome. Here she is on the day she became French champion:

Warning: contains scenes of smoking!

You'll be surprised…

Click pic for the answer

Life reads like a novel — here are your Sunday clicks:

Photographer cut out of L'Oreal heiress's will (Yahoo! News)
Grandfather at the centre of Roma debate dividing France (Telegraph)
Hard-Line Iran Daily Calls French First Lady A Prostitute (Radio Free Europe)

French cities rally in support of Iranian sentenced to stoning (France24)
Has French fallen off the adademic menu? (Telegraph)
As nationalism rises, will the European Union fall? (Washington Post)
French socialists gather amid new sense of optimism (France24)
Suspicion of 'racist' thinking on Roma expulsions (AFP)

Bonus:

Frenchman crowned air guitar champion once again (Expatica France)

In the sixties there were dozens of groups in France who tried to emulate the British pop scene. At the same time there were a few singers who all wanted to be the French Elvis Presley, such as Johnny Hallyday (who later became God), Eddy Mitchell (now an actor), and Dick Rivers. Of that trio, the latter was closest to the Anglophone scene. He personally knew Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent, and also the two boys who introduce him in this '65 clip:

Dick Rivers never became as rich and famous as Hallyday and Mitchell, so he is still obliged to perform across France. And, according to these pictures, he is also still a Frogsmoker.

Left: Johnny Hallyday, Dick Rivers and Eddy Mitchell in the sixties. Right: Dick today.

Dick Rivers Wiki | Official site