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Category Archives: Culture

After Liberté and Égalité, It’s Autopsie

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture, Paris

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Philippe Charlier, a physician and anthropologist, is known for his forensic research into some of France’s most famous dead.

From the NYT:  GARCHES, France — The plastic vial with the red top is Henri IV. The one with the blue top is the never-crowned Louis XVII.

Diane de Poitiers, the favorite mistress of Henri II, sits in a squat translucent vial a few inches away. Then there is Charles III, one of the Carolingian kings, locked in two black wooden file cabinets.

Their remains are the passion — or perhaps obsession — of Philippe Charlier, France’s most famous forensic sleuth.

A 34-year-old medical doctor and anthropologist, he conducts autopsies on bodies brought to the Raymond Poincaré University Hospital in the Paris suburb of Garches by morning and teaches at Paris Descartes University by afternoon. In between, he investigates the illnesses and deaths of the rich and powerful who made French history.

He refers to these subjects as his patients, and he prides himself on using the same rigorous methods as he would on current forensic cases. “Whether it’s Joan of Arc or a hand the police bring in from the Seine, it’s equally important,” he said.

But Dr. Charlier does not confine himself to his closet of a laboratory at the hospital here. He writes books, makes television documentaries and does radio broadcasts to popularize his findings, which has earned him the title of “Indiana Jones of the graveyards.”  Lisez l’article ici.

10 Things To Keep In Mind When Traveling Abroad

16 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture, Students, Study Abroad

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From the Huffington Post: Whether you’re embarking on a two week adventure to Central America for a community service trip or moving to Paris for a year to study abroad, traveling in another country can be an exhilarating experience.

When you exit the airplane and step into that country’s airport, the list of things to do may pile up. You want to see that museum, travel to an island off the coast, and try the local coffee. How do you come home completely fulfilled, without feeling like there’s something you missed?

We’ve compiled a list of what we believe are some universal guidelines to maximize your experience.  Cliquez ici.

On Haitian TV, Masses Laugh at Other Half

15 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture

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Culture

From the NYT:  Two and a half years after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, life here can still be a struggle.

“I couldn’t even get my mom a decent Mother’s Day gift,” Soraya said, pouting. “Finally, I used my measly allowance and bought her a ticket to Paris. It’s nothing special, but I figure it’s the thought that counts.”

Soraya isn’t a real Haitian, at least not exactly. She’s a character played by a 26-year-old actress named Belinda Paul in a sketch-comedy television show called “Regards Croisés.” 

Soraya is a caricature of a certain kind of privileged, bubbleheaded daughter of the Haitian elite — a Zuzu. Zuzu girls are conspicuous in places like Miami and Paris, but they are hard to see in the hills of Port-au-Prince, where they shop, go to the gym and party behind high walls topped with bougainvillea and concertina wire. Zuzu-speak, an affected whine of Creole, French and “omigod” English, is deliciously recognizable to the less fortunate masses, and every Saturday night Haitian viewers roar, clap and rock with laughter at Soraya’s airs.  Continuez.

In France, It’s Not Called Bastille Day

14 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture

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Today, le 14 juillet, is the French national holiday.  Families spend the day the day together eating good food and watching fireworks.  But only Americans call it Bastille Day.  This piece from the Huffington Post explains why.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibZUjiFpVx0&feature=related[/youtube]

In France, A Star Rises From An Oft-Neglected Place

29 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture, Film

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Film

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsPHXVnt27g[/youtube]

From NPR: Frenchman Jean Dujardin may have won this year’s Academy Award for best actor for his role in The Artist, but in France he was beat out for the country’s most prestigious acting award, the Cesar, by a new acting sensation: The 34-year-old son of African immigrants, Omar Sy.

Sy’s movie, The Intouchables, was a hit across Europe and is now playing in theaters in the U.S.  It’s a feel-good buddy comedy about a quadriplegic white aristocrat who hires an unemployed black kid from the projects as his personal aide. Despite the differences in age, race and background, Philippe the millionaire (renowned actor Francois Cluzet) and Driss (Sy) form a deep bond. The film confronts racism, poverty and infirmity, while Sy illuminates the screen with his rapid-fire banter and infectious laugh.  Continuez.

Au Revoir to the Minitel

29 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture

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Culture

From the NYT: The Minitel, the once-revolutionary online service that prefigured the Internet in the early 1980s, allowed the French to search a national phone registry, buy clothing and train tickets, make restaurant reservations, read newspapers or exchange electronic messages more than a decade before similar services existed almost anywhere else in the world. The network is now largely relegated to the realm of nostalgia, though, with its dial-up connection, black-and-white screen and text that scrolls out one pixelated character at a time.

Conceived in France, by the French, for the French — efforts to export the technology met with little success — the Minitel was long ago overtaken by the borderless, freewheeling Internet. It has remained in service, though, and it still has its devotees, including about 2,500 dairy farmers in Brittany who rely on it to call for the inseminator when a cow is in heat or to request that the authorities come to haul away animal carcasses.

That will soon have to change. The Minitel network is to be permanently shut down on Saturday — maintenance costs are too high, profits too low — after three decades of service that have left deep marks on business and culture in France.  Complete story.

Vivez la Langue

20 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture, Film, Language, Paris, Style

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From EF: Here’s a beautiful short story all in French, complete with phonetic transcriptions.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_QO8LoGNpc&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Very%20Short%20List%20-%20Daily&utm_campaign=VSL%2005%2F23[/youtube]

Reel Style: Jules et Jim

20 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture, Film, Style

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Culture, Film, Style

From GQ: According to legend, French New Wave director François Truffaut (who also directed the film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451) was browsing a bargain book bin in 1956 when he came across Henri-Pierre Roché’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Awakening: Jules et Jim. Struck by the story’s love triangle between two best friends and the woman they love (played in Truffaut’s film by the stunning Jeanne Moreau), his 1962 adaptation is an anthem to the energetic early ’60s French youth movement. While loose trousers, a wide array of hats, and tons of stripes are apparent in almost every scene, it’s the knitwear, in almost every cut imaginable, that inspires us the most.  Read More

Visions of France: Three Postwar Photographers

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture, Paris

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An exhibition on French photographers through July 8 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts . 

Many people consider Paris the “cradle of street photography,” a reference to an approach that, loosely defined, focuses on spontaneous images of daily life in urban areas. This exhibition looks at the work of three photographers—each roughly a generation younger than the next—who worked within this tradition while developing their own distinct visions: Robert Doisneau (French, 1912–1994), Édouard Boubat (French, 1923–1999), and Joel Meyerowitz (American, b. 1938). Although these photographers traveled throughout the world, this exhibition features their images of France—primarily those of Paris—as an homage to street photography.  Free admission.

In New York, French Politics Is Local

15 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by Wade Edwards in Culture, Politics

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Culture, Politics

From the NYT: Flanked by four campaign volunteers and a French television reporter, Corinne Narassiguin, a Socialist candidate in France’s coming parliamentary elections, went canvassing in her would-be district one evening in May.

But the doors she was knocking on were in the West Village.

“Bonjour, madame,” Ms. Narassiguin said over a town house’s intercom.

A volunteer leaned in to ask in French, “Would you like to talk for a few minutes, if you have time?”

The woman didn’t — she was putting her children to bed — but she did plan to vote for Ms. Narassiguin. “Merci beaucoup,” Ms. Narassiguin said, campaign postcards with her photograph in hand. As they went down the stoop, a volunteer shouted to the others, “It’s a vote!”

On June 16, for the first time, French nationals living in the United States and Canada will elect a deputy to represent them in the National Assembly of France. There are 11 such new parliamentary seats for citizens living abroad, in Europe and the rest of the globe. The North American constituency counts 156,683 registered voters — less than a quarter of the size of a United States Congressional district.  Continue here.

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