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Archive for August, 2007

Understanding French Songs

If you're knowledge of French isn't perfect you may have difficulty understanding the lyrics of French songs.
ParolesLyrics.net tries to solve that problem by providing human translations of popular French song lyrics. It's a wiki-style site to which everybody can contribute.
The collection is still fairly limited at this point, but hopefully it will expand […]

Posted: Fri 31-Aug-07 under Language, Video & Audio

How To Become French In Seconds

Nice to meet you, Landers Labrosse!
The Fake Name Generator creates entire fake identities including name, address, email, phone number, birthday, mother's maiden name, credit card, etc. You can even customize your character's sex and name origin (nationality). The Fake Name Generator can be useful in a plethora of situations described in the FNG FAQ:
* Quality […]

Posted: Thu 30-Aug-07 under General

Canopus Nightmare Pictures

French army photo of the Canopus nuclear test. This blast yielded 2600 kt.
On 24th August 1968, France conducted a nuclear test codenamed Canopus in the Fangataufa Atoll. The French army took pictures of the event, which were readily available at the time in Tahiti and Moruroa.
A Flickr photoset shows scanned and restored copies of […]

Posted: Wed 29-Aug-07 under History

Scariest Peugeot Drive Ever

This award winning short film (5:14) documents Ari Vatanen's record-breaking run at the 1988 annual Pike's Peak Hill Climb Event in Colorado.
The film was created by Jean Louis Mourey and captures Vatanen climbing Pike's Peak in a four wheel drive, four wheel steer Peugeot 405 T16.
Watch the world famous rally legend rip through hairpins […]

Posted: Tue 28-Aug-07 under Created in France

François-Marie Banier Photography

Some of Baniers anonymous "crossers"
François-Marie Banier is fascinated by the anonymous individuals he encounters in the open-air studio of the street. Over the years these passers-by, these “crossers” as he calls them, have come to form an alphabet of solitude. Living sculptures shaped by the everyday, heroes of a life that we imagine from their […]

Posted: Mon 27-Aug-07 under Art & Heritage, Created in France

Rungis, The World's Biggest Food Market

Food blogger François-Xavier (FX) managed to visit the Mecca of French food:
Rungis, just outside Paris, is a cult place for gourmets. It is so huge you need a car to go from one hall to the next. That is where Parisian chefs buy what they cook.
Rungis is the world's largest wholesale market for fresh produce. […]

Posted: Sun 26-Aug-07 under Food, Drink & Smoke, Country & Travel

Renault Buyers Enjoy Smoking, Group Sex

Cigarette smoking and orgies: two things that American automakers would prefer not to be associated with. But Renault says bring it on. After all, there’s room for seven in the Grand Scénic, and probably a cigarette lighter, too.
Source

Posted: Sat 25-Aug-07 under Created in France, Oops

One year déjà…

I started Frogsmoke at the end of August last year.
On average, this blog gets viewed nearly 1,500 times a day. Hardly a world record, but satisfactory enough.
Now, 0.3 million visits, 1,328 posts and 15,000 (intercepted) spam comments later, I'm taking a little break (in Greece if you must know).
But don't worry. […]

Posted: Fri 24-Aug-07 under History, Web

Miss France takes her pixels off

Watch in full screen.
This is a rather well-done (but NSFW in certain cultures) promotion for the French Naturist club (0"30').
If you're wondering why the beach is so empty, it may be because the makers of the spot spent their full casting budget on one person, and couldn't afford more extras.
The woman who takes […]

Posted: Thu 23-Aug-07 under People, Society, Created in France

Where have all the dolphins gone?

Alarming news from the Bay of Biscay: in one year, sightings of dolphins have dropped by 80 percent
The alarming drop in numbers of the Bay's three most common species of dolphin can be attributed to one or both of two causes, Clive Martin, senior wildlife officer for the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme, told AFP.
"We know […]

Posted: Thu 23-Aug-07 under Environment & Health

The world's first serial killer was French

The List Universe has compiled a list of the ten most notorious serial killers in history.
Gilles de Rais (a French nobleman, born in 1404) is considered to be the precursor to the modern serial killer. Before he began his killing spree, he rode as a military captain in the army lead by St Joan […]

Posted: Thu 23-Aug-07 under People

World Stats - France vs USA

Statistiques mondiales is a new French website, which gives statistical information about every country in the world.
Country stats are usually most interesting when you compare data from different countries. Here are some interesting figures that show the differences between France and the USA:
Population over-64 year olds: France 16%, USA 12%
Average age: France 39.1 yrs, […]

Posted: Thu 23-Aug-07 under Web, Statistics

Meet The Caveman

Sébastien Chabal today. Insets: how he became the Caveman.
I don't understand anything about rugby, but I'm impressed with the incredible metamorphosis of French player Sébastien Chabal. His fans call him "l'Homme des Cavernes" - the Caveman. Wonder why…
Sébastien Chabal (wiki)

Posted: Thu 23-Aug-07 under People

Frog Du Jour

French businessman forgets his wheel-clamped Maserati
A Frenchman, making big money in London, had completely forgotten that his Maserati was wheel-clamped three months ago. "I was too busy, and didn't have time to pick up the car and pay the fine", he claims.
He can call himself lucky. In most cases cars are destroyed if they […]

Posted: Thu 23-Aug-07 under Oops

Sarko loses love handles with digital surgery

Sarko's protuberances. Now you see them, now you don't…
Several news sites in France are having a field day: Paris Match photoshops Sarkozy's love handles away.
French weekly Paris Match is owned by one of Nicolas Sarkozy's best friends, so the two are used to doing each other favours. This time it's the magazine's turn.
In a […]

Posted: Wed 22-Aug-07 under Oops, Sarkozy & Co

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