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France’s gift to mankind is her sense of aesthetics. That’s why France sent Philippe S+arck far, far away to the U.S. I really can’t stand his stuff. In any case, IN GENERAL, I feel that that is a notable strength of France, and if power were given to a country with a great eye, France would be King.
Take these garden tools, for example. Functional yet so very cute especially the sécateurs (pruning shears). ‘nuf said.
Click on photo to enlarge.
[related: Design Within Reach?]
Imagine driving along the highway in France, and you can’t help yourself, you have to speed just a little, thinking every little bit helps to get to your destination quicker. Yes! you think, 30 seconds ahead of schedule? That strangely sounds like good thing while you’re driving. No, no, no – not speeding like a crazy maniac. Just putting some perk into the ride; nothing pedal-to-the-metal dangerous. There are hardly any other cars on the highway and traffic is moving divinely until…you see a highway marquee sign with a message.
You read it, and it says, “585971, you’re driving too fast. Slow down!” You think, “HaHA 585971 you got busted!” Then, you begin to wonder why that number sounds hauntingly familiar.
A few minutes later as you’re singing loudly with your car tunes, the realization finally hits you: that message was for you. That was your license plate number. Yes it was for you and YOU alone. “Nah!” you think, “that wasn’t for me” In the distance you see another traffic message sign. As you approach it, you read it to verify that it wasn’t for you. It says:
“See! Just a generic message saying to drive gently, economize (on gas) and pollute less.”
Denial will get you nowhere. That was, indeed, your French Grand Frère warning you to slow down. Wasn’t he nice, though, that he didn’t give you a speeding ticket?
From BibliOdyssey:
Frenchman Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (1827–1895) was primarily a portrait artist when he arrived in Massachusetts in 1852. During the following 30 years that he remained in America his amateur passion for science would ensure a legacy that straddles both fame and infamy.
Trouvelot had a particular love for silkworms and he had a 4 acre plot behind his house where he cultivated a native variety. To increase production he hoped to crossbreed the regular type with a species from Europe. He brought back Gypsy Moth eggs from a trip home and so introduced a virulent pest that ravages forests in America to this day. To his (slight) credit, he realized the enormity of the problem straight away when some of the introduced moths escaped. He made it publically known, but unfortunately local entomologists did nothing at the time to eradicate them… [Read the full post]
[Thanks for the cool tip, angry b!]
COLDS. I’m not kidding. This is good stuff.
[Click on the photo to zoom out.]
My mummy-in-law brought me a tiny dead plant in a pot last year and asked me where I’d like it planted.
Me: “Are you giving me a dead plant?”
Her: “I know it looks dead but it will recover. Believe me.”
Me: “It looks really, really dead.”
Her: (ignoring me) “Where do you want me to plant it?”
She planted it along a border where I have other herbs growing. She was right, though. It did recover and grow and grow and then it decided to spread like wild fire. I’m glad because it is the BEST for curing colds. Plus, it’s delicious in roasts and other dishes. I can’t have enough of thyme.
If you’re experiencing the onset of a nasty cold, i.e., runny nose, watery eyes, fatigue, plugged ears, congestion, misery – this is what will cure you. (I hope, anyway. It cures me, in any case.) This was recommended to me by my s.o. so I figure it’s a French home remedy passed down from many generations.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Boil water and pour it into a pot filled with as much fresh thyme as possible. Put a towel around your head and position it above the pot to capture the vapor and breath deeply. You’ll need to inhale the steam from the thyme steeped in the boiling water for as long as you can. Remove the water and add new boiling water and thyme if you can handle another session of steam. And remember to drink lots of fluids and rest.
When I’ve done this, I’ve felt fine the next day. When I haven’t done this, I’ve felt miserable for the duration of at least a week.
When I fly, I MUST have an aisle seat. Call me weird, claustrophobic or whatever; you’d be right but I absolutely have to sit in the aisle seat. Or else!! If I don’t, which is rare, I will walk around, stand in the back reading a book or listen to music standing up in the back. If there’s turbulence and I’m asked to sit down in my non-aisle seat..well, I’ll get a panic attack. And that is really, really ugly.
I honestly don’t get people that want to sit in the middle seat or next to the window, but it’s probably because they aren’t neurotic like me. It makes me feel burning envy!! Anyway. The New York Times posted an article with tips to help you increase your odds of getting the seat you want.
Lulu is pretending to be an olive today and luckily this ancient Moulin à Olives (olive press or mill – for olive oil) isn’t functional. No Lulu oil?! We went to a tiny mill museum hoping that some of the old presses were working, but they were just for display. Besides, they don’t press olives in June (when we were there) and they NEVER press olive black dogs.
There are some very old olive mills in Provence and in the south of France. Some are open to the public and I’ll have to do some research about them and write a longer post with more information. For now, I don’t know much about them at all. (I know, I’m not very helpful. Sorry.)
Note: If you would like to see an olive mill/press in action in France, they do this around October/November, which is when I’ll try to get back down south to find some working mills. I’d really like to find some of the old ones, so if anyone knows of any, would you please send me an email or post a comment here? Thank you!
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Lulu Lundi* features our Boston Terrier, Lulu somewhere in France every Monday.
Despite the popularity of the head butt song and the lingering head butt madness, Zidane will nevertheless remain a hero in most fans’ eyes – as he should. (To others, I’m afraid, he’ll simply be indelibly marked as the French head butt footballer.)
For the many that followed Zidane’s career, the red card finale during the World Cup was probably not a shocking event, as they were well familiar with his previous reactions to provocation. Fortunately, they know that is not the whole of Zidane; he’s capable of being a soft spoken reasonable and intelligent man, they know he’s from a banlieue in Marseille, a common background millions of French people can relate to; they know he has overcome many obstacles in France particularly as a French born to immigrant parents, but mostly, they know him as the brilliant athlete that he is.
This most recent film about Zidane, Zidane, Un Portrait Du 21ème Siècle (Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait) by Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon (and Darius Khondji as Director of Photography, the Iranian-born Frenchman who shot Delicatessen and Se7en) is a portrait of one of the greatest footballers of all time, Zidane. Inspired by the film depicting the Brazilian legend, Garrincha, the filmmakers re-invented the study and struggles of a talented but oppressed underclass black player from Brazil, and went to work on a similar yet unique documentary of Zidane.
Using 17 cameras, both HD and super35mm, the footage is shot over the course of a single match between Real Madrid and Villareal. The documentary is said to be an ode to the loneliness of an athlete, an immersion into the psyche of a sports legend that also illustrates the physical grace and resilience of the human body.
Zidane, Un Portrait Du 21ème Siècle, a 90-minute documentary, premiered in Cannes just a couple of months ago, and will be making its British premier on August 19 & 22 for the Edinburgh International Film Festival (and hits the public screens a week later in England).
The documentary is already screening in France at the following theaters (08/02/2006 to 08/08/2006):
Studio Galande - 42 Rue Galande – 75005 – Paris – Tél: 08.92.68.06.24 – 08/02/2006 to 08/08/2006
Mk2 Hautefeuille – 7 Rue Hautefeuille – 75006 – Paris – Tél: 08.92.68.68.12 – 08/02/2006 to 08/08/2006
L’Entrepot – 7 Et 9 Rue Francis De Pressense – 75014 – Paris – Tél: 08.92.68.05.87
Majestic – 12 Place Chevert – 55100 – Verdun – Tél: 08.92.68.00.71
A very short trailer is here.
[via comme au cinema and antville]
One of my favorite libraries, located in my hometown of L.A. has an exhibit in their online virtual gallery called, “Far and Wide: The Golden Age of Travel Posters,” one worth taking a peek at.
The wonderful collection of vintage posters show vacation destinations of the 1920s and 1930s, and it beautifully captures the era of steam ship travel and the very beginning of air travel. There are surprisingly a lot of posters of France.
Far and Wide: The Golden Age of Travel Posters at the Los Angeles Public Library
For this very reason, Chirac has an operative tailing French Foreign Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy to record his frequent blunders. Here’s what he said recently,
“In the region there is of course a country such as Iran – a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region.”
