The 33rd Annual American Film Festival starts today (through September 9) in Deauville, a seaside resort in Calvados (in the Normandy region). This year will pay special hommage to Michael Douglas, who will be promoting his film, “The King of California.”

Here’s what’s playing: Cocaine Cowboys, Surf’s Up, Sicko, The Bourne Ultimatum (La vengeance dan la peau), Shoot’em Up, Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?, King of California, Crazy Love, Brando, Planet B-Boy, Wonder Boys, Knocked Up, Outrage, The China Syndrome, The Bigamist, La Vie D’Artiste, Imaginary Heroes, Michael Clayton, The War: A Necessary War, When the Levees Broke, The War: When Things Get Tough, Alien Resurrection, The Hitch-Hiker, Wall Street, Ghostbusters, For Your Consideration, Redacted, Waitress, La Misma Luna, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The War: A Deadly Calling, The Verdict, Hard, Fast and Beautiful, Gorillas in the Mist, Rocket Science, Teeth, In the Valley of Elah, Network, The War: Pride of Our Nation, Sybilla, A Crime for Mothers, Copycat, Factory Girl, Grace is Gone, Stardust, Gone, Baby, Gone, Prince of the City, The War: Fubar, Falling Down, Ice Storm, The Game, Ira and Abby, Never Forever, Fay Grim, The War: The Great Front, 1408, Broken English, Live!, The Offense, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Smiley Face, The War: A World Without War, The Heartbreak Kid, 12 Angry Men, The Dead Girl, Meet the Robinsons, Death at a Funeral, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Nanking, and Bonneville.

Some celebs in attendance: Matt Damon, Monica Bellucci, Tilda Swinton, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Brian de Palma, Ben Affleck.

American Film Fest Deauville

Download the program

Yuck. Well, eating a worm from China in these fake chocolate “Rochers”, PROBABLY won’t kill you, and they’d be a good form of protein, but I’d most likely scream so loudly after seeing it, that I’d be heard in Switzerland.

Following the U.S., France is finding dangerous, contaminated food products coming from China. I can’t seem to find a complete list of items but here is one list that was cited on this newscast. It lists products for France, as well as for other European countries. Most recently, they’ve found toothpaste containing antifreeze (because antifreeze is cheaper than gliserine!) for the following brands (that I never heard of): Terpan, Fresdent, and Gilchrist & Soamez.

[via France2]

Our heroes were just in Paris during their world tour promoting Season 2. But where was Masi!?

Perhaps not the most exciting conferences for some, but definitely an important one regarding environmental city living, “l’écologie à la ville” is the first Université d’été du WWF (French division of the World Wildlife Federation). It’s a 2-day conference held at the Paris HQ of WWF in France. On the program: keynote by Jean-Louis Borloo, Environment Minister; workshops topics include: problems with health in the city, sustainable energy, biodiversity in public and private places, the paradox of organic between growth in demand and imports, innovations in eco-friendly buildings and homes, how to reduce your carbon footprint, consumers and their impact on the environment and more; speakers: Dany Dietman, author of Déchet ménagers : le jardin des impostures, Jean L’heritier, President of Slow Food France, and many more. Also, there will be organic breakfasts and lunches!

Click here to download the full program and a registration application (in French).

Regular Fees: 100 euros for 1 day or 150 euros for 2 days
Reduced Fees for NGOs and students: 50 euros for one day, 75 euros for 2 days

L’Université d’Eté du WWF
l’écologie à la ville – September 13 & 14, 2007
Espace Planète Attitude au siège du WWF-France
1 Carrefour de Longchamp, 75116 Paris (16ème)
Contact et registration:
Email: universite@wwf.fr
Tel: +33 (0)1 55 25 84 25
Website: WWF

France has been the only place I’ve noticed where doctors will prescribe vitamins to sick patients, instead of medication. Wait. I think I was prescribed vitamins in Germany once. So maybe it’s a European thing. It’s sort of the opposite of les etats-unis! Anyway, this is what some vitamins look like here: liquid in small glass vials, about 4 inches long. You break off the ends of the vials to pour it into a cup with juice or water, then drink it. These B complex vitamins were prescribed by a doctor to my sweetie for a number of ailments including fatigue, but I don’t think they changed his fatigue level at all. The doctor also prescribed magnesium, which seems to be a cure-all in France, I swear. It’s everywhere. (Have you seen how magnesium is all over water products and cereals and gobs of other products?) Anyway, the magnesium gave him leg cramps. So for a while we had a bunch of vitamins sitting around.

If you have vitamins that you no longer use, and they haven’t expired, you can give them back to the pharmacy, so they can dispose of them properly (they most likely reuse the unexpired returns, though I’m not sure).

A note: I recently found out that some B vitamins are crap vitamins. They actually call them JUNK vitamins and apparently, these will drain your body of energy. To tell the junk vitamins from the quality (premethylated) vitamins, look at the label.

“Cheap vitamins (non-methylated) will use standardized “USP” vitamins such as “Thiamin USP (thiamin HCL) vitamin B1.” That’s the chemical form of vitamin B1, and it actually requires a donation of cellular energy from your body before you can use it. The form of B12 in cheap vitamins is cyanocobalamin.

Quality vitamins, on the other hand, will use the “coenzyme” forms of the B vitamins. These will often be listed with the word “coenzyme,” and the form of vitamin B12 will appear as either methylcobalamin or hydroxycobalamin. That’s a sure sign of a high-end, quality multivitamin…” [from Newstarget]

^{Masi is our Hiro!}

Heroes, (pronounced EE-rohz in France ) Season 2 is set to air on September 24! But in the U.S., not in France. SOME people just can’t wait for its arrival in France, so oftentimes popular shows like Heroes appear on P2P sites within hours after the program ends in the U.S – to be downloaded by these die-hard Heroes enthusiasts. You almost can’t blame their actions because serious fans love the show and need instant Heroes gratification. The thought of waiting the 6 months or 1 year or longer(!) before it ends up on French TV (to get dubbed) is simply too excruciatingly LONG to bear.

Back to Heroes in France. TF1 recently announced that they will offer VOD episodes of Heroes on tf1vision.fr (and on ADSL boxes) just 24 hours after the first airing of that episode in the U.S. The episodes will be in VO (version originale) with French subtitles. This expeditious move by TF1 is propelled by a strategic attempt to combat the P2P madness (which I’m actually not sure is, in fact, illegal) as well as to get a head start in competing with Apple, which will probably end up selling Heroes episodes later on on iTunes. TF1 is selling single episodes for 2.99 euros ($4.07), but if you purchase more than one at at time, the episodes are 1.99 euros ($2.71) each.

[via macbidouille]

PARIS (Reuters) – A French tax official cheated the government out of 600,000 euros (407,000 pounds) by creating a phantom identity as a university professor and claiming a salary for some 15 years, the government said on Monday. Education Ministry officials uncovered the scam in June and began legal and disciplinary action immediately, Budget Minister Eric Woerth said in a statement.He said he “desired action to be undertaken urgently to prevent a recurrence of an abuse of this kind.”

This tax official paid himself 40,000 euros ($54,568) a year for doing nothing, while unsuspecting innocent tax payers were paying for a professor who didn’t even exist. It sure took a LONG time to catch this 600,000 euro ($818,000) discrepancy. Congrats to Xavier Darcos, Minister of Education for being on the ball. What were the other education ministers DOING during those 15 years?? I WONDER.

Note: Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t hear about this story anywhere on the news here in France.

^{from Electroma}

As they say in France, “yehsssss!” (That YES! with a French accent.)

“Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo — have announced the release of Daft Punk Alive 2007, a two-disc set documenting the electro-house outfit’s first hometown show in ten years, set to drop stateside Nov. 20. The live release, filmed at Paris’ Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy June 14, 2007, will also arrive with a 50-page digi-book showcasing photographs shot while on tour. In addition, the record’s first single, a live version of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” will be supplemented with a music video directed by Olivier Gondry (brother of Michel Gondry) that includes live footage shot by fans.

CD 1 tracklisting:

1. “Robot Rock”
2. “Oh Yeah”
3. “Touch It”
4. “Technologic”
5. “Television Rules the Nation”
6. “Crescendolls”
7. “Too Long”
8. “Steam Machine”
9. “Around the World”
10. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”
11. “Burnin’”
12. “Too Long”
13. “Face to Face”
14. “Short Circuit”
15. “One More Time”
16. “Aerodynamic”
17. “Aerodynamic Beats”
18. “Forget About the World”
19. “Prime Time of Your Life”
20. “Brainwasher”
21. “Rollin’ and Scratchin’”
22. “Alive”
23. “Da Funk”
24. “Daftendirekt”
25. “Superheroes”
26. “Human After All”
27. “Rock’N'Roll”

CD 2 tracklisting:

1. “Human”
2. “Together”
3. “One More Time” (Reprise)
4. “Music Sounds Better With You”
5. “Stardust” (Instrumental)”

[from Spin]

Related: Daft Punk will be in Las Vegas on October 27 for Vegoose Fest! Daft Punk’s movie “Electroma” plays every Saturday at midnight at Le Cinema du Pantheon in Paris. TheirSpace, Official Website

The Rugby World Cup is fast approaching, beginning September 5 in Paris. What better way to commemorate your favorite francophone rugbyman or in this case rugbymen than with a 2008 calendar of your French Rugby players all naked!?? Does it merit the name, “Dieux du Stade Calendrier 2008” (Gods of the Stadium, 2008 Calendar)? I think so.

Who’s on this calendar jam-packed with French rugby players showing off their best assets?

- Christophe Dominici
- David Skrela
- Rémy Martin
- Dimitri Szarzewski
- Clément Poitrenaud
- Vincent Clerc
- Nicolas Jeanjean
- Ignacio Corleto
- Sergio Parisse
- Mirco et Mauro Bergamasco
- Geoffroy Messina
- Julien Arias
- Marcello Bosch
- Loïc Jacquet

This year the calendar photos were shot by Steven Klein, well-known for his provocative images – for example, could the photo of Brad Pitt in a very short Greek skirt (for his film, Troy) be indelibly engraved in your memory? Klein has also shot Madonna for years as well as other stars and athletes.

Order one now (26.60 euros (about $36), free delivery in France)

[via Dieux du stade (in French)]

Interesting take on Sarkozy and the European Leaders as they relate to “handling” the U.S.

“…when people in Paris talk about ambitious kids going to study abroad, they talk about London. (Americans have little idea of the damage done by the ordeal that a routine run through immigration at J.F.K. has become for Europeans, or by the suspicion and hostility that greet the most anodyne foreigners who come to study or teach at our scientific and educational institutions.) When people in Paris talk about manufacturing might, they talk about China; when they talk about tall buildings, they talk about Dubai; when they talk about troubling foreign takeovers, they talk about Gazprom. The Sarkozy-Gordon Brown-Merkel generation is not unsympathetic to America, but America is not so much the primary issue for them, as it was for Blair and Chirac, in the nineties, when America was powerful beyond words. To a new leadership class, it sometimes seems that America is no longer the human bomb you have to defuse but the nut you walk away from…”

[Excerpt from Adam Gopnik at the New Yorker - read the full article]

More about the Citroën 2CV (Deux Chevaux (2 horses)) here

A quick reminder that Rock en Seine in Paris, the big music festival that celebrates the end of the summer, starts today and runs through the weekend. And, surprisingly fortunately, the weather is expected to be good! Whoo! Location: Domaine National de Saint-Cloud. Prices: 42 euros for each day, 98 euros for all three days. Notes: 1) Check the website for updates and changes. 2) There’s a festival campsite if you’d like to camp out, but you have to book your place on the Rock en Seine website.

The Lineup

Friday August 24, 2007
Dizzee Rascal, Mogwai, The Shins, The Hives, Arcade Fire, Rock & Roll, Dinosaur Jr., M.I.A., Emilie Simon, 2 Many DJs, Rodeo Massacre, Hey Hey My My, Biffy Clyro, Noisettes, Unkle

Saturday, August 25, 2007
The Fratellis, Cold War Kids, Jarvis Cocker, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Tool, Puppetmastaz, Hellogoodbye, Erik Truffaz, CSS, Les Rita Mitsouko, I Love UFO, Calvin Harris, Terry Poison, Alpha

Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Horrors, Mark Ronson, Kings of Leon, Faithless, Bjork, Bat for Lashes, Devotchka, Kelis, Just Jack, Craig Armstrong, Housse de Racket, Nelson, Albert Hammond Jr, Bromheads Jacket, Enter Shikari

Declared and soon to be crowned “The Best Plumber in France” Oliver Watson, a British citizen, competed against 6000 other plumbers. And everyone thought it would be that Polish plumber from the ad… Remember him?

But my question is: Are there even any FRENCH plumbers left in France?

[Link]

Me: Why do these coquilles saint jacques (scallops) have orange tongue-like things?

Him: That’s how you can tell they’re REAL scallops. When they’re without, you know they’re fake.

Me: Uh huh…Wait. Fake??! So…the French eat the tongues, right? Maybe Americans prefer not to and they simply remove them. Could it be that they just were real scallops with the rest removed? Because I’ve never seen these orange things served in restaturants even here in France and I’ve never seen them in the U.S. ever – that I can remember.

Him: They must’ve been fake scallops at the restaurants and in the U.S. EVERYWHERE.

Me: So you’re saying that I never ate any real scallops in the U.S.?

Him: Ouais. (Yeah.)

Me: What have I been eating all this time? What are “fake scallops” made out of, then?

Him: Some fish that tastes exactly like scallops.

Me: Are you sure about this? Your perspective on “tongue-less scallops … seems… well…I dunno.

Him: No, I’m not sure but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

As of yesterday, have you noticed that you’re not able to send out email, and your internet service provider is Orange (previously called Wanadoodoo)? Of course your Orange email works but not your businesses or private email smtp accounts from your sites. (i.e., yourname@yourwebsite.com). You might have thought that your server was down, which prompted a near nervous breakdown. The good news is: your site’s server is probably fine. The reason why your email client isn’t working correctly is that Orange doesn’t want you to be using your own mail server. They want you to use theirs ( smtp.orange.fr ). Nevermind that it’s for your business or that you simply don’t want to use smtp.orange.fr and see your emails delivered 3 days after you send them. Orange disabled outgoing email without any notice.

We’re fortunate we don’t have them as a service provider but if you’re one of the many unlucky ones, there are a couple of things you can do: 1) resistance is futile so you must acquiesce to THE ORANGE and change the smtp to Orange’s slow server, which will allow you to send outgoing email from your own email address but be aware that your outgoing mail might be extremely slow and could often take a long time (days!) to be sent out, which is no good for businesses; 2) change service providers if possible but remember that free.fr does exactly the same thing (however, at least they warn you about it); 3) make a complaint to tech service at Orange. Of course, you’ll have to call them (dial 3900) and pay .34 centimes (45 cents) per minute. You could be wasting your money, though. I don’t think know that calling them will change anything, however.

[Thanks for the info, Eduscpe!]

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Steve Jobs’ neglected, adopted son called, The Paris Apple Expo, is creeping up on us if you were wondering. This year, I thought I’d give you some advanced warning about it so you’ll have ample time to plan your vacation expensed work trip to Paris – for the biggest Mac marché aux “puces” ever.

As usual, I don’t expect anything new this year, but one could still hope and dream. There are rumors that attest to likely new releases like a new iPod nano, perhaps other new iPods (but I doubt it), and there’s much anticipation about an announcement for the availability of iPhone in France (with the carrier Orange/France Telecomique). But as I’ve mentioned last year, it is ZEE premier Mac event in Europe and is a good time to stock up on your Apple products. A couple of recent additions to think about acquiring: the new 20 and 24 inch screen iMac. (yeah!) and the new mini’s.

Paris Apple Expo
September 25-29, 2007, Hours: 10am to 7pm
Porte de Versailles, Hall 5
Free if registered in advance, otherwise 12€ at the door
M: Porte de Versailles (Line 12), Tram T3, Bus 39, 49, 80
Website: Apple Expo

Sullr is a free online tool to obtain information from telephone lines in reverse mode. Enter a phone number on the site then the name and address of that person will appear. 5 countries available on the site: Argentina, Belgium, France, Italy and the USA. Results for mobile numbers not yet available.

Sullr

Amigo Software just released new French learning software for Mac and PC.From the site:

“Learn French vocabulary using games and puzzles. Amigos French Puzzles includes over 2500 French words and expressions, divided into 75 categories and sub-categories for easy learning. Create unlimited fill in tests, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles and word games from these words, or play a fun dice and board game. Amigos French Puzzles provides a unique and fun filled learning experience…” Find out more

Download “free to try” demos:

French Puzzles for Mac
French Puzzles for PC

French Conjugation Learning Software for Mac
French Conjugation Learning Software for PC

Did you know that in France it’s illegal to name a pig, Napoleon? NO?! Eh ben ça alors!!

[from The World's Strangest Laws at Times Online]

Un Français, c’est un Italien de mauvaise humeur.
The French are Italians in a bad mood. ~ Jean Cocteau (French artist/filmmaker/poet/novelist – 1889 – 1963)

I don’t think the French find this quote particularly endearing…

One of the reasons NOT to complain about the crappy unusual weather this year in France is that the wonderful French plums called Reine Claude seem to be having a extended season. I love these luscious, sweet Queen of plums.

Reine Claude (Queen Claude) plums are named after the Duchess of Bretagne (Brittany), Claude, who later became the Queen consort of King Francis I of France on May 18, 1514. The plums, however, were originally from Asia Minor (roughly found around the area of modern Turkey, Cypress and Greece).

The plums were later brought over from France to England in the 1700s by Sir William Gage, 2nd Baronet. Once in England, the Reine Claude plums had their royal name “misplaced,” and from then on were stripped of their royal moniker to be transformed permanently (in England) into the more banal name of “Greengage” plums.

Yay Cecilia Sarkozy!

I am beginning to really like her especially after having read that she opted out of lunch yesterday with Dubya and Laura Bush. Apparently, Cecilia was too “ill” to attend AND it turns out that her kids were too “ill” to attend as well. Uh-huh.

If that wasn’t a snub if ever I saw one. Now, who will get the next snub?

Nicolas, perhaps? [via]

The French Paradox is a so-called “phenomenon” concerning the fact that people in France consume lots of food rich in saturated fats (butter, cheese, eggs, whole milk, foie gras and other animal livers, animal fats and all kinds of meats including bacon, etc.) and cholesterol, yet in general, have a much lower incidence of heart disease. This is only paradoxical if you naively believe that natural saturated fats causes heart disease.

Believe what you will, but the reason why Americans suffer a high rate of coronary heart disease is related to too much industrially processed foods, an insufficient amount of Omega 3 fatty acids, too much polyunsaturated vegetable oils, trans fats (hydrogenated fats found in junk food and in margarine), refined sugar, family history of heart disease, lack of fresh veggies, consumption of unbalanced meals and a sedentary lifestyle (to name only some factors; there are more). Of course, the relationship between diet and heart disease is much more complicated that the above factors. But basically, scientists have been too quick to announce what is good and bad for people. Afterall, what kind of condition are Americans in now? They are freakin’ obese. Clearly, they are doing something wrong.

In addition to their saturated fatty diet of cheese, creams meats and the like, the French also eat all kinds of vegetables and fruit – and exercise in one form or another plays an important part in the whole picture. It has to. However, probably the main thing I can say about most French cooking is that it is relatively simple, using basic ingredients cooking with traditional fats: butter, lard, chicken and beef fats, along with vegetables and non-industrial ingredients. These kinds of traditional fats are stable at high temperatures so they are the best to cook with and don’t lose any nutrients, whereas when cooking with some other oils like sunflower, shortening, soybean, canola or corn oil, they oxidize and create carcinogens or simply strip nutrients from the oil at high temperatures. These oils also raise bad cholesterol (LDL) and reduce good cholesterol ((HDL). Just a quick note here: During  the 1900s in the U.S. when cooking involved using saturated fats like butter and lard, heart disease was rare. It was later on when traditional fats were replaced by margarine, shortening and other polyunsaturated oils, that things changed dramatically. By the 1950s, heart disease was the leading cause of death in the U.S.

It makes me sad that people have been fooled into thinking that things like margarine, skim milk and egg white omelets are good for them. They aren’t. First, margarine is a trans fat and causes heart disease. Second, anything SKIM tastes like crap, and your body actually needs fat to help digest protein – also you need the fat otherwise your body will not be able to absorb the calcium. This is probably why there are so many dieting girls in their 20s who have osteoporosis and their brittle bones resemble those of very old people. They completely cut fat out of their diets and are suffering the consequences. While we’re on the subject a milk, avoid not just industrial milk (which contains growth hormones and other icky things), but also try to stay away from powdered milk of any kind. The process that makes milk powdered creates oxidized, damaged cholesterol. Some foods containing powdered milk: yogurt, lowfat cheese, cake mixes, cocoa mixes, candy bars, baked goods, etc.

Regarding the egg white diet. If you are a egg white only kind of person, cut it out! That said, eat pastured eggs (not industrial eggs), they are actually good for your heart. The whole cholesterol phobia was based on fear and immature science. Today, we know that when we talk about cholesterol, it’s more important to see what the body actually does with the LDL and HDL cholesterols, rather than simply looking at foods that contain cholesterol in them. You just have to look at the whole picture.

Pastured eggs contain vitamins A and E, more monosaturated fats, beta carotene, and lutein. They also have more omega 3 fats, which prevent diabetes, heart disease, obesity and depression. The ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fats in pastured eggs is perfect, being 1:1. You see, the egg white and yolk were meant to stay together, the way nature created them; without the other, you’ll get an unbalanced food. Don’t ignore the yolk! Yolks have the highest concentrations of biotin, a B vitamin necessary for healthy skin, hair and nerves. Biotin is also essential for digestion of fat and protein. A last word about eggs: Don’t eat industrial eggs, liquid eggs, powdered eggs, egg substitutes or pasteurized eggs. Stick with free-range eggs laid by happy, pastured hens.

Basically what I’m trying to say is stay away from industrial and processed foods. Stick with simple traditional balanced foods, don’t overeat and get some exercise. Also remember that grass-fed beef is better for your health than factory beef. This is what the French do. It’s as simple as that.

Some silly wine trivia: In 1991 when the TV show 60 Minutes aired a program about the French paradox, red wine consumption in the U.S. increased by 44%! Did that help them? Don’t think so.

Sources: The Book – Real Food: What to Eat and Why, Wikipedia

What do you get when you put 33 skate wheels strategically on a French guy’s body? Jean-Yves Blondeau aka Rollerman!

Watch Rollerman

How could I have missed this festival of gluttony aux escargots? I don’t know. AND it was held in Burgundy’s Digoin, not too far from where we live! Well. I would have warned informed you about this snail fête in advance so you could have made it there to try to join the rest of the gastropod eaters and stuff your face with Polish snails (I don’t think they could find enough French snails). Doesn’t that sound fun??! There was an all-time record of 100,800 snails gobbled in total. I would have loved to have SEEN the event but no matter how much butter, garlic and parsley, it simply comes down to chomping on slimey, rubber bands with antennae. Btw, make sure you don’t miss next year’s fest in Digoin. It’s always on the first weekend of August. More info is here.

[via tocqueville]