Hints and Hindsights – FFFFFF. F to the sixth power.

Hints and Hindsights. FFFFFF. F to the sixth power.

The six Fs. Fascinating, Fun Facts and Figures about France and French.

They come in handy more often than you’d think: during lulls in parties, as intros or outros to speeches, when you need to prove to some arrogant twit that at least some foreigners know there’s a world beyond Main Street and a timeline that precedes 1776. But let’s not get too arrogant ourselves - even for the most cultivated among us, some of these are real jaw-droppers:

-> When was the last guillotining in France? No, it was not during the 1793 Reign of Terror. It took place in Marseille on September 10, 1977 (that’s nineteen seventy-seven!) to end the life of Tunisian immigrant Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of having tortured and murdered his 21-year-old his former girlfriend, Elisabeth Bousquet. (France abolished the death penalty in 1981.)…

Voir Plus about Hints and Hindsights – FFFFFF. F to the sixth power.
  • Avatar of Guest
  • 31 janvier 2023
  • 0

Quintessential French Objects

In nearly every French household you’ll find quintessential French Objects... French Objects #1 DURALEX The invention of nearly indestructible tempered glassware in 1947 revolutionized tables in homes, schools, bars, hospitals and on boats. Even stacked tall in the cafeteria or high in the cupboard at home, Duralex (the name is a contraction of Dura lex sed lex) keeps those with butterfingers from being scolded. Kinds in the school cafeteria always check the mold number on the bottom of the glass - he or she who has the lowest number that day has to help clear the tables! The cult models, Gigogne and Picardie, have been seen in movies, used in sculptures and are popular in hip casual restaurants. Purchase Duralex limited edition glasses here    French Objects #2 SYNTHOL The French family’s solution to bobos - the bumps, bruises, bites and scratches of everyday life. The amber magic potion always makes you feel better no matter the ailment. In 2014 the prod…
Voir Plus about Quintessential French Objects
  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 21 janvier 2023
  • 0

The striking Portrait of Buffalo Bill

The unlikely friendship of ROSA BONHEUR and BUFFALO BILL and the striking portrait of Buffalo Bill remembered at Bill & Rosa’s Book Room, at the “Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899)” exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay and on World Radio Paris. The striking Portrait of Buffalo Bill In an episode of “Turning Points in France”, on World Radio Paris, Patricia Killeen chatted with Natacha Henry, an international consultant on gender-based violence and an award-winning Anglo-French author living in Paris. Natacha saw a portrait of Colonel William Cody, aka BUFFALO BILL painted by French artist and feminist ROSA BONHEUR, at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Intrigued by the connection between the famous French animal painter and the American showman, Natacha researched the story of the unlikely encounter between these two mythical characters. It turned out to be a riveting tale, and the inspiration for her novel: “THE FRENCH PAINTER AND THE AMERICAN SHOWMAN: THE UNLIKE…
Voir Plus about The striking Portrait of Buffalo Bill
  • Avatar of Guest
  • 11 janvier 2023
  • 0

“RECONCILIATION”

“RECONCILIATION” Wrapped in the joyous colors of Martin Parr and imbued with Henri Cartier- Bresson’s timeless portraits of humanity, RECONCILIATION is a satisfying last-minute holiday gift to yourself, alone or accompanied... and it’s up through January 29. The exhibition opened in November, launching an additional exhibition space called “The Tube” created by renovating an 18th century cellar located beneath the existing Fondation HCB at 79 Rue des Archives, 75003 Paris, France. The style of the two photographers is as opposite as can be: in the words of Cartier-Bresson, they come from “two separate solar systems.” Parr’s saturated, often garishly-colored images of the northern English working and middle classes document that population “at work and at play” during three different time periods: the early 1960’s, the mid ‘80s, and after 2010. Through his lens we see the bumpy transformation of working-class England from a grim, Dickensian manufacture-based economy to an …
Voir Plus about “RECONCILIATION”
  • Avatar of Guest
  • 6 janvier 2023
  • 0

Au Gui l’An Neuf ou Bonne et heureuse année à vous

Au Gui l’An Neuf  is another way, a bit old fashioned, to say Bonne et heureuse année à vous. La saison voulant que le gui abonde, on en cueillit dès le Moyen Âge pour l'offrir avec ce souhait : « Au gui l'an neuf », formule qui fut remplacée plus tard par « Bon an, mal an, Dieu soit céans » (soit dans la maison). Au XIXe siècle on disait « Bonne et sainte année, le paradis à la fin de vos jours », expression modernisée au XXe siècle en « Bonne et heureuse année ». Mistletoe grows all over northern France and on six of the seven continents. It’s those balls in the bare trees that you think might be nests at first glance, but in fact it is vegetal parasite which rarely kills the host trees and thus is not a pest. Ecologically it is an important plant as it provides food and shelter for many species. A study in Australia mentioned in the NY Times compared forest parcels with mistletoe to parcels from which mistletoe had been removed. The study suggests that mistletoe is…
Voir Plus about Au Gui l’An Neuf ou Bonne et heureuse année à vous
  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 2 janvier 2023
  • 0