Frogsmoke

Another Worth1000 contest, another another homage to French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Photoshoppers were invited to to create a ghostly image in a classical work of art. Among the entries were at least half a dozen Bouguereau rip-offs. The one above is my personal favorite. The inset shows a fragment of Bouguereau’s original work. View all [...]

Friday is video day on Frogsmoke. In this edition: a tribute to a guitarist, ignorance and prejudice, French phrases, powerful signatures, edelweiss in Occitan, a foreign minister in English, a pigeon with remorse, and a sheep with a mission. Enjoy! Updated: I've added the Ingrid Betancourt video: Ingrid Betancourt — First Sign of Life French-Columbian [...]

Yobocrats or Thugocrats? Wonderful, the French language. Today, referring to the recent violence in Paris suburbs, Nicolas Sarkozy invented a new word, "voyoucratie". How do you translate that in English? So far, the media have come up with two English equivalents. France24 translates it as "yobocracy", while Reuters prefers "thugocracy". I think Reuters will win. [...]

Catherine Ringer and Fred Chichin of Les Rita Mutsouko. Fred died yesterday aged 53. You may never have heard of French band Les Rita Mutsouko, but France is pretty upset about the death of it's co-founder Fred Chichin. Fred Chichin, the guitarist who founded the popular French pop group duo Rita Mitsouko, died yesterday aged [...]

Haha, I have my master plan ready! An association named Rassemblement pour la démocratie à la télévision (RDT) has called for 30 November to be a Day Without Sarkozy. They believe that The Boss appears too often in the media. Many journalists and publishers like the idea in private, but they won't be able to [...]

Sainte-Anne prison in Avignon — yours for four million euros For sale in former city of popes: one medieval insane asylum and prison. Exceptional location next to papal palace. River views. Cell space for 700. Hoteliers only need apply. As part of its program to sell off unused state property, France's finance ministry has put [...]

The French are ripped off — and accept it without protest French price comparison site pricerunner.fr looked at the prices of 26 consumer goods in 29 towns across the world (22 in Europe) and came up with interesting figures. For example, a can of Coca Cola costs 1.04€ in France, and the James Bond Casino [...]

My kid or someone else's? Find out within three days. It's illegal in France, so suspicious French fathers get their paternity tests in Spain. DNA has become big business in Spain, where private companies are cashing in on legal restrictions across the border and offering paternity tests to suspicious French fathers. Some companies do 80 [...]

Some new pictures have emerged of the collision between an Airbus A340 and a concrete wall during final testing at an airport in Toulouse, two weeks ago. Spectacular! Try to imagine the fright of the people in the cockpit… More photos

Enlarge map The Boss is back from China, so it's time for an update of Sarko's Travel Map, courtesy of French newspaper 20Minutes. Use the arrows and zoom controls, or click 'Enlarge map' to view the details of his journeys.

In case of emergency the girl on the left can at least wear her helmet. The trend is unstoppable: female fire fighters undress for a good cause. The girls of an emergency unit in Carpentras (French Provence) have joined forces to create a calendar in aid of 7-year old Christie (photo), suffering from multiple handicaps. [...]

Countries marked in dark green have the highest HDI. The French love to moan about their lives, but they're better off than most. According to the latest Human Development Index, France comes in at 10th place, in a list of 175 countries. In Europe, only six countries score better, with Iceland leading the pack. The [...]

The woman behind Areva of France: Anne Lauvergeon Areva, the French nuclear power giant, signed the largest deal in the industry’s history Monday, with China’s leading nuclear power company. The agreement will bring both technology and much-needed energy to China, which has the world’s fastest-growing appetite for energy. But the deal could prove an even [...]

The total smoking ban, which becomes effective next January, causes headaches for casinos in France. Several casinos are hoping to counter their customers' stress by giving them free lollipops. But first impressions are not good. One gambler says: "I'm one million percent sure I won't come to casinos after January. Smoking and gambling go together. [...]

The worlds most famous boulevard isn't what it used to be: Chic to sleaze, as Champs-Elysees suffers crime wave The area around the Champs-Elysees is seeing an alarming increase in violent crime. France's National Crime Observatory reports that the number of personal assaults in the arrondissement which includes the Champs-Elysees increased by 32 percent in [...]