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Archive for October, 2006

French say Non to 'Alloween - too American

According to the BBC, Halloween is dying in France after a short-lived bonanza. The French shun the festival, because it is perceived as "too American". Supermarkets have lost interest in the festival this year.
Benoit Pousset, head of costume company Cesar, attributed the festival's demise to "a cultural reaction linked to the rise of anti-Americanism".
Opposition to […]

Posted: Tue 31-Oct-06 under Art & Heritage

Creased toasters, cat transporters, corner seats, and other oddities

Olivier Gregoire could become one of France's most prominent product designers. At the age of just 26 he has already established international fame with his furniture, lighting, tableware, fashion items and architecture.
Shown above is his toaster inspired by the creased metal sculpture created by Frank Gehry.
Here are some more creations:

Tapisofa. Furniture for a new space: […]

Posted: Tue 31-Oct-06 under People, Created in France

Baghdad-sur-Seine: suburban gangs “out to kill cops”

The BBC paints a dire picture of law enforcement in France's tense immigrant-majority housing estates.
Policemen liken their job to a military mission. Operations are planned by senior commanders, with underlings making emergency calls and the foot soldiers carrying out the assaults. "What we have is urban warfare", says one of them. And it's highly dangerous. […]

Posted: Tue 31-Oct-06 under Society

Hard up: French students turn to sex work to fund their studies

An estimated 40,000 French university students, the great majority of them female, have turned to prostitution to help defray the costs of their education, the daily Le Figaro reported on Monday.
Citing numbers provided by the SUD-Etudiant student union, the daily said that this represented about one of every 57 students, and that they used the […]

Posted: Tue 31-Oct-06 under Society

France running out of gourmet garlic

Even the French are embarrassed: there's no violet garlic left
Unlikely and utterly preposterous: the French have run out of violet garlic. Grown only in one small part of France, violet garlic has a more delicate flavour and odour than white garlic and can be eaten alone.
The Brits are feeling the culinary pain. The sole British […]

Posted: Tue 31-Oct-06 under Food, Drink & Smoke, Economy & Biz, Created in France

Buy a town for the price of a house

This sounds too good to be true: Whole village for sale - just 233,200 €
From the agency's blurb:
This small Provencal village was built on the ruins of a Roman settlement. There are 5 buildings in total, each one having its own pet name - "La Cantinette", Le Pavillon "Nid d'Amour", "Le Rocher", "La Grotte" and […]

Posted: Tue 31-Oct-06 under General

How to stay anonymous, but not really

Q: What would you do if your father is a worldfamous French politician, but you want to avoid accusations of using his name to boost your career as a top fashion model?
A: You live under an uncommon pseudonym like Marie Steiss in a far-away city like New York.
Q: And what do you do to make […]

Posted: Mon 30-Oct-06 under People

French overtake Americans in arms race

The French are finally beating the Americans: Russia and France overtake US as top arms sellers
The USA has lost its role as the world's top arms supplier. Last year, US arms deals fell from 9.4 billion dollars to about 6.2 billion.
Russia made seven billion dollars selling weaponry, an increase from 5.4 billion the year before.
France […]

Posted: Mon 30-Oct-06 under Economy & Biz, Created in France

French bellybutton crowned Europe's best

Navel-staring in Kiev: Miss Ukraine misses out, Miss France takes the 100,000 euro prize home

Things are going well on the French beauty front: Miss France wins Miss Europe Contest
In case you didn't know (or didn't care to remember): last December's Miss France elections made the headlines for their most daring innovation ever: for the first […]

Posted: Mon 30-Oct-06 under General

Design the car of the future; have it made by Peugeot

Last year's winner, the Moovie, by André Costa, 23 years, from Portugal
Each year, French car maker Peugeot invites designers to create a car that matches certain criteria. The winner will see his or her creation built as a life-size version at next year's Frankfurt Motor Show.
This year's theme is based on the (somewhat silly) acronym […]

Posted: Mon 30-Oct-06 under Created in France

Japanese tourists in Paris hit by strange disease

It's official: visiting Paris can be hazardous to your mental health
Paris syndrome hits Japanese
Japanese tourists feel so let down by Paris shop assistants that they need treatment for a type of depression known as "Paris Syndrome".
"There are around 20 cases a year of the syndrome and it has been happening for several years," says Miyupi […]

Posted: Mon 30-Oct-06 under Economy & Biz, Country & Travel, Society

Brits jealous: French Concorde may fly again

Sierra Delta, the Concorde at Le Bourget museum in Paris, set a record in 1995 for the fastest flight around the world by a civilian aircraft: 31hrs, 27min, 49sec, including six refuelling stops.
When British Airways decommissioned their seven Concordes they made sure the planes would never fly again. The French didn't committ such an "act […]

Posted: Thu 19-Oct-06 under History, Created in France

The sandwich that got lost in translation

It's not always easy to understand French food. American blogger J-Walk is confused:

This is in French, so I'm not sure what it is: Croque-madame aux oeufs de caille. Un oeuf par bouchée, vous imaginez ça ?.
The Babel Fish Translation didn't help:
Do Crunch-Madam with ruail eggs an egg by mouthful, you imagine that?
Quail eggs?
Via | The […]

Posted: Wed 18-Oct-06 under Food, Drink & Smoke, Language

French Junkfoodies finally have their own website

My Burger is the French website for lovers of "malbouffe".
The site is managed by six guys in their twenties, who share their craving for junkfood. Their ambition is to give a complete overview of all burgers, pizzas and associated junk available in France, both from the big chains and independent eateries.
Each burger gets a full […]

Posted: Wed 18-Oct-06 under Food, Drink & Smoke

"Red-Hot and Filthy Library Smut"

American blogger JMorrison calls himself a nonist, and his site illustrates what nonism is all about. Here's an example:
Red-Hot and Filthy Library Smut
"Yesterday I came across a truly gorgeous book of photographs by Candida Höfer titled, Libraries, a title which pretty much says it all, because that is just exactly what it is, one rich, […]

Posted: Wed 18-Oct-06 under Art & Heritage, Web

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