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From viewonfashion:
“The Louis Vuitton ad campaign for the Stephen Sprouse collection is really amazing, and it´s a great branding tool too. All around the world, LV shops are using graffiti to promote this long-awaited collection which is already a big sales hit.
To promote the launch of the Louis Vuitton book that pays tribute to Stephen Sprouse, they´ve got legendary graffiti artist Skam to paint an LV mural in Toronto.” [via] (photo courtesy of inqmnd)
From stereogum:
“Turns out there’s still hope of getting paychecks in indie rock, just be cool with getting low-balled by French heads of state. The Wesleyan boys are seeking damages for President Sarkozy using “Kids” as his campaign soundtrack and in two web videos without just compensation. The administration did pay 53 euros to license the track, but MGMT’s lawyer claims that isn’t enough to cover the additional internet usage. Sarkozy’s counter offer: a sizable 1 (i.e. one) euro. Le you-got-served, MGMT. Actually, Sarkozy got served. With a lawsuit. Because that is statutory rape of his artist-fee obligations. (I’m a civil law expert, don’t worry about it.) Worth noting: The French government is in the midst of pushing through extensive anti-piracy and file-sharing legislation (i.e. vague irony). Sorry Sarkozy, MGMT are a very sexy duo who have international counsel for real. And all this after MGMT taught Paris the meaning of Thanksgiving. More at BBC.”
From the telegraph:
“Anybody entering the word “Eu” in a search engine is likely to get a number of results, but most will be a reference to the past participle of the French verb avoir (to have), not to the pretty market town in Normandy.
The search also brings up pages related to the European Union.
Accordingly, the small town, which boasts a number of attractions, including an impressive château and gardens, is being bypassed.
Marie-Françoise Gaouyer, the local mayor, now has two options – to pay internet giants like Yahoo and Google thousands to put the town at the top of all “Eu” searches, or change the town’s name.
“The second option appears the most sensible,” said Mrs Gaouyer, adding: “As far as the internet is concerned, we have to bring ourselves up to date.” Mrs Gaouyer’s favoured option is Ville d’Eu (Town of Eu), with other possibilities including Eu-le-Château and Eu-en-Normandie.
The mayor, who believes tourism revenues are down by as much as a third because of the town’s current name, now wants all of the alternatives put to the local population of some 8000 in a referendum.
There is likely to be opposition from traditionalists in Eu, who point to a proud history which has seen visitors to the town include Joan of Arc and William the Conqueror.
If a name change is agreed, it will take some five years to become legal, following a Parliamentary Act and government approval.” [link]
It’s been reported that Pierre Bergé, the long-time companion and business partner to the late Yves Saint-Laurent, began putting up articles for auction, artwork and artifacts owned by the late designer. Proceeds are to be designated to the AIDS foundation he founded. The auction began despite China’s demands to halt it. China claims that two valuable Qing Dynasty bronzes, a rat and a rabbit, worth about $12 million each, belong to China. Chinese officials claim the items were stolen from Beijing’s Imperial Summer Palace by British and French forces in 1860.
Bergé, as the legal owner of these bronzes, will not relinquish the bronzes to China UNLESS China meets certain demands of his own.
Here’s what Mr. Berge has declared, “Moi, je suis prêt à offrir ces têtes en bronze au gouvernement chinois, tout de suite…Il leur suffit de déclarer qu’ils vont appliquer les droits de l’homme, rendre la liberté aux Tibétains et accepter le dalaï-lama sur leur territoire.”
Translation: “I am ready to offer the bronze heads to the Chinese government immediately… They simpy have to declare that they will enforce human rights, give freedom back to Tibetans and allow His Holiness The Dalai Lama entry into Chinese territory.”
If not, Pierre Bergé invites China to say, “ au revoir rat and rabbit heads!”
Pierre Bergé is awesome, tout simplement.
[sources: France Inter, France 2, lexpress]
From appletell:
“Apple is extending its European reach by confirming the opening of two retail stores in France. One of these we’ve known about for a while, and will be situated in Paris. The other is more of a surprise, as Apple has chosen Montepellier, found on the south coast, as its second store location according to ifoAppleStore.
The exact location of the Paris store has been confirmed as being inside the underground shopping mall, Carousel de Louvre. Apple have gained about 7,700 square feet of floor space from the two previous stores that occupied this space, Lalique and Résonance. Design and construction of this new site has already begun, according to local people around the area, and it’s quite possible they’ll be following the new plans for Apple’s retail stores.
The second location, in Montepellier, has not yet been confirmed. Montepellier has its own university, and we all know how much students like Apple products, whether their student loans can afford them or not. Place de la Comédie, the city-centre features many elegant buildings, that you could see with an backlit Apple logo above the flush glass front.
It is expected that both of these stores will be open at some point over the summer. Whichever is the first one with its doors open will be the first Apple store in France.” [source]
What’s more perfect than a pain aux raisins dunked into a steamy bowl of café au lait for breakfast in France? Ok, a lot but this is still tops in my book. What is a pain aux raisins? It’s classified more in the viennoiserie category rather than the patisserie category (so it’s not officially a pastry, but anyway…) – and is a rolled up brioche dough filled with custard and raisins, and baked crispy thin on the outside and soft and moist in the inside, finished with a glaze.
When in France, please do indulge in this classic French treat. I can easily eat two of them but I’m American so I can be a pig like that. It’s expected. Thankfully.
See more French Pastries 101.
I wonder if Jeff Koons, the artist whose sculptures are displayed at the Château de Versailles (until Dec 14), is responsible for those condom ads.
Versailles Exhibition (slideshow and article at nyt)
From timesonline:
“With gloom all around, President Sarkozy’s Government might have chosen another moment for its latest campaign. This one tells the French people to stop drinking wine.
To the anger of the drinks industry and disbelief of many patriots, the Ministry of Health has made alcohol one of the chief villains in a drive against cancer.
“The consumption of alcohol, and especially wine, is discouraged,” say guidelines that are drawn from the findings of the National Cancer Institute (INCA). A single glass of wine per day will raise the chance of contracting cancer by up to 168 per cent, claims the ministry’s brochure.
Forget those 1980s findings that antioxidants in wine were good for health, said the French experts. “Small daily doses of alcohol are the most harmful. There is no amount, however small, which is good for you,” said Dominique Maraninchi, INCA’s president.
Related Links
* Men’s alcohol-linked deaths double in 16 years
* Health chief wants ban on under-15s drinking
Authorities elsewhere have been telling people in recent years to go dry if they want to stay healthy. But the advice was especially sobering, coming from the Government of France, a country where wine is part of life and the national heritage.
The pleasantly illustrated ministry brochure makes grim reading. The INCA collated hundreds of international studies and summarised the relation between types of cancer with food, drink and lifestyle. Apart from wine, the dangerous stuff is red meat, charcuterie and salt. A pavé de rum-steakmight not sound so mouth-watering after reading: “The risk of colon-rectal cancer rises by 29 per cent per 100-gramme portion of red meat per day and 21 per cent per 50-gramme portion of charcuterie.”
Alcohol facilitates cancers of the mouth, larynx, oesophagus, colon-rec-tum and breast, say the guidelines.
The wine producers are crying foul, accusing the health lobby of trying to kill one of the glories of the nation. They note the suspicious coincidence that France now has its first teetotal President. Mr Sarkozy sips mineral water and orange juice when all around him are knocking back the champagne and burgundy.
“This persecution of wine has to stop,” said the General Association of Wine Producers. The growers say that the scientific evidence is contradictory and they point to a World Health Organisation study which found that moderate consumption helped to prevent cancer.
Xavier de Volontat, president of the wine producers’ assocation in the southwestern Languedoc region, said: “The extremists must not be allowed to take consumers hostage . . . Wine consumption has dropped by 50 per cent over the last 20 years in France but cancer has increased. You have to admit, that’s a paradox.”
“We never said that alcohol is not dangerous for health,” Mr de Volontat said. “We are for responsible, reasonable and moderate consumption . . . It is not in our interest to see our consumers dying of cancer or in car accidents.”
Vintage statistics
- 60 litres of wine consumed per head in France in 1997
- 56 litres of wine consumed per head in 2005
- 2 per cent decrease in the sale of wine in France in 2007 (by volume)
- 1 per cent decline in sales (by value)
- 2,134 acres of land estimated to be used for vineyards across France
- 5 million litres: the amount of wine estimated to be produced by France annually
- 34 per cent of the world wine market is made up of French exports “ [source]
Can you tell? There’s not a whole lot of excitement goin’ on chez nous these days. Anyway, the little guy from the other day is back. Actually, I think this might be a different one. It’s hard to tell; they all look pretty much the same (sorry, squirrels!). The walnuts have made the French squirrel news because I saw four squirrels around our house yesterday. That, I think, is a bit too much.
If you’ve spent some time in Burgundy, you will know that most of the regional cuisine is extremement copieux – not that there’s anything wrong with that – but occasionally one needs to deviate from the standard Burgundy fare.
La Petite Marche is a wonderful reprieve from eggs swimming in wine, beef slow cooked in wine and snails soaked in parsley and garlic butter. Here you can spend very little for a completely organic and delicious meal in a relaxing setting with a great view of old town Dijon.
There’s nothing complicated at La Petite Marche but everything we ate was simply flavorful and healthful. Service is friendly and excellent, too.
Rillettes aux légumes, carottes râpées, salade
Escalope de volaille, et une composition de lentilles, choux fleurs, poivrons verts
Gâteau au chocolat dans sa crème anglaise
Café et mignardises
La Petite Marche
27-29, rue Musette (located above the organic grocery store, La Vie Saine)
21000 Dijon France
Tél: 03 80 30 15 10
Open Mon – Sat – Serving Lunch Only ’til 2pm
10€ – 20€
You thought I might be speaking of Monsieur le président himself with a title like that, n’est-ce pas? Not that he ISN’T a jackass (he is), but today I’ll be speaking of different kind of jackass named, Rémi Gaillard. He’s been an internet star for quite a few years now doing outrageous and ridiculous stunts that involve many things including jumping on unsuspecting stranger’s backs, dressing up as animals, disrupting businesses, destroying property, injuring people, exhibiting a host of athletic ability (which is the most entertaining to me) and unabashed theft. Yes, he even teaches people how to steal from a McDonald’s drive through, among other things.
Gaillard is a bit like another jackass in France, Michaël Youn, who I absolutely can not watch (I just don’t get him), but with more variety and silliness. Gaillard actually one time sent Michaël Youn an example of his work, which Youn promptly stole for himself and used the same ideas for his morning show. What a jackass! Sadly, that happened a few more times after Gaillard sent copies of his work to various television producers in France. More jackasses!
I think Gaillard has a much bigger following from English fans, more so than French fans due largely to the fact that his stunts don’t really need any translation, and he got extensive publicity in the UK.
Gaillard’s tagline is: C’est en faisant n’importe quoi qu’on devient n’importe qui, which roughly translates as “It’s while doing whatever that you become whoever.” Silly!
What cracks me up the most about him, isn’t his actual stunts, but instead, the reactions of the people around him. Their reaction is usually…well, no reaction, complete nonchalance, nada. He will walk into the frozen food supermarket, Picard, dressed as a penguin and steal a humungous whole fish. No one bats an eye. He went to a butcher, shirtless and wearing boxing gloves, then proceeds to punch out meat hanging in the frig à la Rocky. Not one reaction! They’re sort of like New Yorkers! 
Anyway, for what it’s worth, to see Rémi Gaillard’s work, his videos are here at Youtube, his website is here and here’s his Facebook page. Also, he sells DVDs illegally from his website. (He hasn’t paid for the licensing of music he uses.)
tags: france, french, Rémi Gaillard, C’est en faisant n’importe quoi qu’on devient n’importe qui, jackass
It probably helped immensely that my sweetie put out a bunch of walnuts from our last walnut harvest. I don’t think the little guy would be that bold and stay so near to me, being only about 6 feet away when I took the photo. He was alternately watching me and the gros lot (the jackpot) of walnuts.
Found this Eiffel Tower Dome Pendant Charm Cluster Brass Necklace Kit at one of my fave places to waste time, Etsy, and thought I’d share. Here’s the link: Eiffel Tower Necklace. It’s available for $7.50.
From the latimes:
“Over the centuries, the French have cultivated the fine art of rebellion.
The list of targets encompasses tyrants, wars, colonialism and, above all, capitalism in its many manifestations. The latest enemy may seem unlikely: billboards.
The Dismantlers, as a nationwide group of anti-ad crusaders call themselves, aren’t violent or loud or clandestine. In fact, they invite the police to protest rallies where they deface signs. With a copywriter’s flair, one of their slogans warns: “Attention! Avert your eyes from ads: You risk being very strongly manipulated.” The goal of the Dismantlers is to get arrested, argue the righteousness of their cause in court and, you guessed it, gain publicity.
“We challenge the mercantile society that destroys all human relationships, professional relationships, health, the environment,” said Alexandre Baret, 35, a founder of the group. “It’s a message that proposes to attack advertising as the fuel of this not very healthy society.”
Despite the stick-it-to-the-man rhetoric, there were neckties and briefcases in the crowd at an evening rally here a while back. Part-time insurgents had come from work for the gathering in the Place Malesherbes, an elegant, tree-lined plaza graced by statues of the author Alexandre Dumas and his musketeer hero D’Artagnan, one of literature’s most irrepressible swashbucklers.
The 80-odd demonstrators, looking bohemian and stylish, listened to Baret set the ideological stage. The red-bearded schoolteacher and father of four explained that he doesn’t want to abolish advertising, just …” continue reading
Santa Monica California-based artist, Eva/Effunia, makes the most adorable custom-made mushroom plushies ever. This one is called Le Champignon Jean-Michel, who sports a removable painter’s palette, paint brush and beret, with a requisite black and white striped shirt. The moustache is perfect. The polka dotted head is brilliant and reminiscent of the mushrooms in Mario games. This French mushroom’s favorite colors are red, blue and white and his favorite drink is a cafe au lait. His favorite expression? C’est la vie!
Mignon!
This is only one of many cute plushes she’s made. You can order from her directly from her Etsy store. Her blog is here.
From reuters:
” A hapless thief drilled his way into a French bank at the weekend, but missed the safe and instead found himself in a lavatory where he was promptly arrested, a French newspaper reported Sunday.
The 21-year-old broke into a building adjoining a branch of Banque Populaire in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille in the early hours of Saturday morning, La Provence newspaper said.
The paper said the man, who came from Belgium and was not named, thought that he was going to end up in a room housing safe deposit boxes but instead drilled into the lavatories.
Alarms were triggered when he broke through the wall and police caught the man when they arrived on the scene.”
