On a lighter note, here’s a goofy, silly fun online holiday greeting card from Rail Europe. This is what our turkey friend here looks like if you go to France. You can choose your destination and your turkey will dress accordingly.

Check out that turkey now.

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From Cleantech:

“A prominent researcher shared a nuclear secret today that he said not even everyone in the U.S. Department of Energy knows.

Is the U.S., in fact, storing a large amount of nuclear waste produced by France’s nuclear reactors?

That was the suggestion in a keynote today at the ThinkEquity ThinkGreen conference in San Francisco by Dr. Yogi Goswami, former President of the International Solar Energy Society, and prolific author and University of Florida professor.

“One small bit of information that most people don’t know, even in our Department of Energy: a large majority of the nuclear waste from France is actually shipped to the U.S.,” Goswami said.

“It’s stored in…”

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From greencarcongress:

France’s Ministry of Ecology (Ministère de l’écologie, du développement et de l’aménagement durables) announced a new feebate system based on CO2 emissions for new vehicle purchases.

Under the scheme, a bonus will be paid to purchasers of new passenger cars emitting less than 130 g CO2/km, which now represents about 30% of sales. The bonus will be supplemented by an extra payment when the acquisition of the vehicle is accompanied by the scrapping of a vehicle that is more than 15 years old. Conversely, buyers of new vehicles that emit more than 160 g CO2/km will pay a penalty. This will affect approximately 25% of new vehicles sold. Buyers of vehicles emitting between 130-160g CO2 will not receive a bonus nor will they pay a tax. This “neutral zone” will apply to about 45% of vehicle purchases.

The payments and the penalties are based on a sliding scale—the less (or more) carbon dioxide emitted, the greater the payment or penalty, respectively. The threshold points for payments or penalties will advance 5 g CO2/km every two years to encourage ongoing development efforts.

To encourage the development of extremely low emission vehicles—especially electric vehicles, the government has a special bonus of €5,000 (US$7,300) for the purchase of vehicles emitting less than 60 g CO2/km….

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More snarky ads this time coming from the ad agency, Euro RSCG Prague for the school Belecole in Prague, a French language school. Is THAT supposed to be charming and funny? I wonder if it really inspires people to WANT to learn French. If anything, it makes me think about learning English grammar, punctuation and spelling…

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Paris

Is it my imagination or did Frylock leave Cartoon Network to pursue a singing career in France? Here’s a screenshot of Florent Pagny’s just released music video of
“La Chanson de Jacky” from the new CD, Pagny Chante Brel:

Here’s Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force:

It’s already December, which means you have a couple of weeks to get in all of your holiday shopping. I don’t mean to nag, but you should do that now, unless you like doing that last minute crazy psycho shopper madness. Since this is a site about France, I’ll be suggesting France/French related items. Here’s Part I. I got this idea from my very good friend’s 5 year old daughter, who fell madly in love with Paris and France after reading the classic children’s book, Madeline. I started looking for other books and DVDs about France for kids and came up with these:

This is Paris This is Paris takes kids on a really fun tour of famous buildings, beautiful gardens, cafés, and the Parisians-artists, and even thousands of cats. Young readers will travel along the banks of the Seine, through the galleries of the Louvre, and to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The Little Prince Fun and Adventure Inspired by the famous tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, kids will discover a whole galaxy of board games, mazes, connect-the-dot puzzles, finger puppets, masks, coloring pages, and more activities – all the while learning about everyone’s favorite little prince.

Postmark Paris: A Story in Stamps Ten-year-old Leslie tells her story of living in Paris for a year, illustrating this appealing odyssey with postage stamps.

Monsieur Saguette and His Baguette Monsieur Saguette, on the way home, transforms his ordinary baguette into something extraordinary. (No matter how tempting it is to find an innuendo here, just remember this is really a kids story…)

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet A great way to introduce kids to famous artists, this is a story about a little girl who thinks that Monet is the gardener and is immersed in his gardens at Giverny.

The Truffle Hunter The story of an inept pig who is abandoned in the forest where she finds true love in the form of Raoul, a wild boar. Raoul teaches her the lost art of truffling, whereupon she returns to her home with a fine chef. But she has also learned the value of freedom.With charming style the book tells of problems that reveal hidden opportunities.

The Cat Who Walked Across France A cute cat in France travels through lavendar fields, palatial castles, canals, Paris and beyond.

Anatole A bicycle riding Parisian mouse named Anatole makes his living by tasting the cheese in a cheese factory and leaving notes about its quality. This story makes me wonder if it was the inspiration for Ratatouille.

Katie and the Mona Lisa Katie convinces a sad Mona Lisa to leave her portrait in order to regain her famous smile. Katie leads her to several other famous Italian Renaissance works.

Let’s Learn French Coloring Book This introduces kids ages 3 to 6 to every day French vocabulary using the same simple techniques that help children build vocabulary in their native language.

French for Children Cute, catchy songs and the humorous, serial adventures of SuperCat captivate the imagination and foster language acquisition. The set in the series contains an 80-page full-color activity book coordinated with two 60-minute CDs as well as a Parent/Instructor CD packed with helpful tips.

Click here for more kids books about France

From AFP:

An eye-popping array of rutting satyrs, tumescent aristocrats and lusty 18th-century shepherdesses went on display in Paris on Tuesday, as France’s National Library lifted the veil on its collection of long-censored erotica.For the first time since it was catalogued in the 1830s, the library’s special pornographic section — officially entitled ‘Enfer‘ (Hell) — has been revealed in all its priapic glory. Such is the graphic nature of the material that under-16 year-olds are barred.

Some 350 books, engravings, photographs and curiosities — the oldest a 14th-century manuscript illustration of a nun picking the fruit of a phallus-tree — bear witness to man’s insatiable instinct for the lurid intimacies of the flesh

Closed to the public before

Overall more than 2000 works — including books by the Marquis de Sade, Jean Genet and Guillaume Apollinaire — were marked with the library inscription ‘Enfer’ until the department’s closure at the end of the 1960s. It meant they were off-limits to the reading public.

“Today the ‘Enfer’ section is still the focus of all sorts of false rumours and fantasies, even though it no longer exists. This exhibition is to set the record straight,” said curator Raymond-Josue Seckel.

The first golden age of French erotica was the 17th century — when titanically-endowed figures from the Greek pantheon were shown doing things to each other that certainly did not figure in the conventional myths and legends.

A hundred years later the novel was born and a secret book called ‘Therese Philosophe’ (Therese the Philosopher) lay discreetly on many a nobleman’s bookshelf. Harbinger of the enduring ‘Confessions’ genre, it told of a girl’s sexual awakening through the perusal of pornography.

Cruelty, crime and obscene delights

Contemporary police documents show the troubles encountered by another novel, ‘The History of Dom Bugger’, whose publisher was sent to the Bastille. As indeed was the Marquis de Sade, whose ‘Justine’ published in 1791 brought sex into new contact with…

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Note: The exposition continues at the Bibliothèque nationale de France until March 2, 2008. Quai François-Mauriac 75706 Paris (13th), Tél : 33(0)1 53 79 59 59 – Under 16-year olds are not permitted; 7 euros entrance fee; Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10am to 7pm; Sundays 1pm- 7pm.

A couple of months ago, we spent about a week in the Lyon area and a bit farther south for work, and today, I am still digesting the meal we had down there.

One of our clients wanted to take us out to dinner, which always confuses me a little about our client relationships here in Europe. Aren’t WE supposed to be taking THEM out to dinner? Not complaining! We have the best clients – ever. Anyway, he picks us up at our hotel in downtown Lyon (they are NOT in the Old Town like they advertise) and off we go at bullet speed until we reach the tiny town, Collonges au Mont d’or, which is a couple of miles north outside of Lyon along the Saone River. We enter the parking lot and I gaze up at the brightly painted (pink, red, orange, yellow, green) building that looks vaguely familiar to me.

“I’ve seen this place before on TV.”

Then I see the larger than life painting of Paul Bocuse on the side of the building looking out from a painted balcony window, a veritable study on narcissistic exterior restaurant design (little did I know, that was just the tip of the iceberg.)

“Paul Bocuse! L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges!” (and I thought, doh! I didn’t bring my camera to take food photos for my blog, forgetting temporarily that it was a business meeting.) Paul Bocuse’s restaurant in Collonges au mont d’or was included in Restaurant Magazine’s Top 50 Best Restaurants in the World for 2007.

We’d recently watched a documentary about the life of Paul Bocuse on ARTE, and it became immediately crystal clear that the life of this Michelin starred chef, is a far cry from that of the ordinary French lifestyle – well, from the lives of mostly anyone anywhere.

“Did you know he has THREE wives??!”

Back to the restaurant.

We were brought into a salon for hors d’oeuvres (foie gras or smoked salmon on tiny square inch toasts) and drinks, and later escorted to our table.

Once seated, one could not miss the name, “Paul Bocuse” etched on…EVERYTHING. The napkin holders, the plates, the butter dish, the wine cooler, the walls. Paul Bocuse this. Paul Bocuse that. I get it. You are NOT to forget where you are. Period. I think his name is now indelibly tattooed on my eyeballs.

How was the food? The food was… pretty tasty. I don’t have photos of any of the dishes. Sorry. Needless to say we had little complaints (except the lobster cassolette was a slightly over salted. I’m sorry but is WAS.) from the aperitifs to the desserts (the house ice cream was great). Worth mentioning is the sea bass with lobster mousse baked in a puff pastry shell, which was excellent, as was the cheese cart supplied by La Fromagerie La Mère Richard. You must sample their famous Saint Marcellin cheese, which is to-die-for (to find cheeses from La Mère Richard, go to Les Halles market in downtown Lyon). The Bresse chicken cooked in a bladder with morille mushrooms wasn’t too shabby either. They bring the whole thing out and pop the bladder in front of you. Do you think it would not taste as good if it were NOT cooked in a pig’s bladder?

During our meal we thought we saw Paul Bocuse on the other side of the restaurant. The waiting staff, which by the way, is no short of extraordinary (some of the guys are pretty cute too), confirmed that he comes to the restaurant every day to eat and to make an appearance. Then, I saw this ginormous chef-apron-and-toque-clad man approach our table.

We all say in unison, “Good evening” to this culinary icon.

He just stood there and stared with a half smile. Then disappeared.

Squinting and in unison again, “Why didn’t he say anything?!”

“Were we supposed to say ‘Oui, chef!’ or something??!”

The other strange thing was that in our section of the restaurant, there were other tables but he only came to our table. Very odd, indeed.

Maybe….maybe it wasn’t really Paul Bocuse!! You know, the restaurant borrowed wax Paul Bocuse from Madame Tussauds and he rolled away on tracks…

Paul Bocuse Restaurant – L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges
40 Quai de la Plage
69660 Collonges au Mont d’Or France
Tél. : (33) 04 72 42 90 90
Website: Paul Bocuse

Note: The waiters gave me a menu to take home with me and if you want Paul Bocuse to sign it, you can ask him while he’s in the restaurant. Also, I went back to the restaurant on our way out of town to take some quick photos. I know. I’m such a nerd.

You might have noticed that someone has painted the town pink. At least the Velib seats, anyway.

“Operation Act Up” has hit Velibs across Paris with a simple message: “et vous, vous faites quoi pour vous protéger?” – What are YOU doing to protect yourself?

Prevent the spread of AIDS by using condoms. Here’s a video at dailymotion.

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Alhough I’m not very fond of this French milk commercial set to a remixed version of “Staying Alive,” I thought I’d share it anyway for it’s creepy value.

Basically, it’s a bunch of baby bones dancing around cow udders. Need I say more? I think I prefer the “got milk?” campaign…

Watch the video

Yay! Get ready to scribble away on your favorite notebook next year. The Moleskine Limited Edition Daily Planner 2008 is now available and if you haven’t noticed, they’re red!

If you need to be more discrete or if red just isn’t “you,” you can opt for a black Moleksine (Moleskine Black Edition Daily Planner 2008) or a smaller pocket Moleskine.

Remember that some of your favorite famous writers could not live without these legendary notebooks. People like Hemingway, Picasso, Chatwin and Van Gogh. Like them, you can carry these with you in your purse, your pack or whatever and jot down all of your brilliant ideas, notes and artwork. They are absolutely a must. (They also make great stocking stuffers.) Love these!

Get one now

Related: Moleskine Notebooks are French Again

From ecorazzi:

French fries. French toast. French Eco-Friendly Christmas? You better believe it!! Paris (not Hilton) just unveiled plans to follow New York City’s lead and bring in the New Year with their own resolution: a greener, more energy efficient holiday season.Paris Mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, and French singer and actress, Vanessa Paradis, were on site at the annual lighting of the trees which kicks off the holidays and has been a Paris tradition for 26 years. However this year marks a new tradition…

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