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I like it when architects create buildings that stand out through their simplicity. This Seeko’o Hotel in Bordeaux, created by Atelier King Kong is a good example.

Find many more photos (inside and outside) here. [Via NotCot]

Click for bigger
Sam van Olffen is an artist in Montpellier, who calls himself a “humanoid of thirty-three who loves ducks, the H-bomb, and cathedrals“. He also makes great steampunk art, of which you find many examples on his blog.

Click to reveal the full ad, themed “We are Animals“. It’s part of a series of seven. Here’s the full campaign: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Via Ads of the World

Due out in UK cinemas tomorrow (August 8) The Fox and the Child (Le Renard et l’Enfant in French) comes from director Luc Jacquet, the man behind March of the Penguins. The English version is narrated by Kate Winslet.
The film tells the story of a young girl who befriends a fox and the trust that […]

It may look a bit out of place after the spate of stabbings in Britain and a gruesome decapitation in Canada, but the French are celebrating the knife this weekend.
Two views from the UK:
Knives are no crime (Bruno Waterfield of the Telegraph)
“London and other British cities will pulse to a different beat, the drum of […]

Secma, French maker of leasure vehicles, will introduce this funky roadster on the Mondial de Paris later this year.

The Secma F-16 not a prototype, but an approved road-worthy two-seater, which will cost less than 17,000 euros. (I know at least one person who’s going to want one!)
Source (in French)

Great ad for SHS Teen Clothes, created by Callegari Berville Grey, Paris. Click for bigger. There is also one for the boys.
Via Ads of the World

Welcome to the International Online Toaster Museum. From the man behind it:
The revelation that somebody collects toasters often leads to the same reaction: awkward pause, nervous laugh, then: “…Toasters?” The problem is not, to collect toasters. The problem is, to have hundreds of them. The result: They simply call you crazy. Well, and sometimes I […]

A clip named Petit Cours de Gym dans la Classe from the 1984 movie Vive les Femmes. No wonder those kids love to go to school!

The clip features French actress Catherine Leprince. In the same movie (but without the kids in sight) she shows quite a bit more flesh (NSFW):

HT Filles Souries
See also French Actresses […]

Some ancient French riddles to keep you busy if you have nothing better to do:

In the picture on the left you have to find a dog (a Great Dane), in the one on the right a hunting guard. Can you find them?
More of the same on Agence Eureka

I found this French picture (ca 1937) on VintagePhoto (click for bigger):

Is this a boy dressed as an adult, or a real (but vertically challenged) cameraman?

What’s more fun than watching French cars getting wrecked? The first video is only 15 seconds, but is one of the most popular ones of the moment (guess why?). (HT Videosift)

The following one is just a fun fragment (2:15) from the 1982 movie Le Gendarme et les Gendarmettes. With some divine help and a prayer, […]

Jacques-Henri Lartigue [wiki] is generally hailed as one of the founders of modern photography. For reasons I can’t fathom he liked to take pictures of leaping people:

“All the jumping and flying in Lartigue’s photographs, it looks like the whole world at the turn of the century is on springs or something. There’s a kind of […]

I’m probably prejudiced, but I’m not sure I would fancy this:

French makers of gourmet ice cream Philippe Faur have added a new dimension to their high-quality line up of products. Latest in the range are foie gras ice cream, consisting of 50% foie gras de canard, and caviar ice cream, made with 60% white sturgeon […]

Everybody knows the pictures of people pretending to hold the leaning tower of Pisa. This is an original vintage variation, shot in a different place (click for bigger):

I have no idea how old this photo is and who made it. Anybody?