Anti-French sentiment still runs high in the USA. Thankfully, Miquelon monitors French bashing activity since 2003. To gain some perspective, some even venture into the belly of the beast...Oh Paris Paramus, where art thou?
posted on Aug 11, 2008 - View this thread

@mateurdart is a French-language blog on erotic art in a wide variety of eras and styles. (NSFW)
posted on Apr 24, 2008 - View this thread

The hippest of today's French youth can't get enough of Tecktonik--a dance (YT), cultural movement and apparent marketing ploy (in French), Tecktonic is a style of dance characterized by its lack of footwork and embrace of various ridiculous arm gestures. Coupled with a strong fashion sense (in French) involving copious amounts of neon, pseudo (or full-on) mullet haircuts and jeans that could be painted on, Tecktonik is a dance craze that, since its birth in 2000 at a Parisian nightclub, has only increased in popularity.
posted on Apr 1, 2008 - View this thread

Alain Robbe-Grillet, French author, member of the Académie française and subject of this recent Mefi post, has passed away at age 85.
posted on Feb 18, 2008 - View this thread

YouTube user lightning49 has 160 of videos of French singers which she has subtitled with her translations. Her biggest collection is of Jacques Brel videos but there are also songs performed by George Brassens, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf as well as a smattering of other stuff. To start you off with a few songs here are three of my favorite songs by Brel, Je suis un soir d'éte, Le moribond and La valse à mille temp along with Charles Aznavour's La boheme, Edith Piaf's Milord and Georges Brassens' Les passantes.
posted on Feb 13, 2008 - View this thread

sarkozy, sarkozy, sarkozy.
posted on Oct 23, 2007 - View this thread

"I've hidden myself and covered myself for too long. Now I want to show myself fearlessly, even though I know my body arouses repugnance. I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is." French Comedienne Isabelle Caro, 27, an anorexic who weighs just 68 pounds, was displayed on Milan billboards (NSFW) for fashion designer Nolita as the city celebrated fashion week. The prevalence of eating disorders within the fashion industry have only recently been addressed officially, however Georgio Armani has complained that since Caro isn't a model herself it proves "even people who take no notice of fashion get anorexic."
posted on Sep 30, 2007 - View this thread

The Theatre de la Mode exhibition featured scaled down haute couture designs from Paris's top designers on miniature mannequins, and was intended to help revive French fashion after WWII. If you're in the area, you can go see the exhibition where it ended up-- the Maryhill Museum, established by a rather unique guy named Sam Hill (who also built a full-scale poured-concrete replica of Stonehenge nearby) in a small town in south-central Washington state.Or you can just look at some flickr pictures (hey, look, it's "Metafilter's own" Harvey Girls!) Or get the viewmaster disk.
posted on Sep 11, 2007 - View this thread

Flamenco clearly belongs to spain. But so many immigrants came to France to find work or escape from the civil war that there is a small community of guitarists in southern France who are playing it with original voices. Bernardo Sandoval was the subject of a post in mefi music some time ago. Antonio "kiko" ruiz is about to come to the United States with Renaud-Garcia-Fons : their work can be seen here. Serge Lopez is another great guitarist who puts some guitar parts on his website. Salvador Paterna adds to the traditional sound of flamenco both the 'oud and the violin. They are all from or nearby Toulouse.
posted on Sep 4, 2007 - View this thread

Super French Web Sites.
posted on Jun 2, 2007 - View this thread

Stephane Halleux is a French sculpture artist whose work feels like Jules Verne as realized by Tim Burton; the sculptures all share cartoonish steampunk vibe that's really appealing. Sadly, the site is 100% Flash, so no linking to specific favorites, but at the very least the navigation remains fairly straightforward.
posted on May 5, 2007 - View this thread

Like most boys, I grew up dreaming of a life filled with action and adventure. Unlike most men, I was able to live out those boyhood dreams during my five years in the French Foreign Legion. Previously.
posted on Mar 22, 2007 - View this thread

Les Poppys
posted on Jan 31, 2007 - View this thread

Support FONACON in their protest against the year 2007.
posted on Dec 30, 2006 - View this thread

Another fucking elephant post. This one however is followed up by a link to inhumanly good animation done by another French dude at the same company.
posted on Oct 8, 2006 - View this thread

90 years ago today, whistles blew around the river Somme in France as British troops prepared for an attack on German trenches. By the end of the day they had suffered 57,470 casualties. By the battle's end in November, there were over 600,000 Allied casualties, with perhaps the same number of German casualties. The Imperial War Museum has launched an online exhibition, where you can find out more about how the battle was planned, personal stories of those involved, and myths about the attack. Elsewhere you can find copies of Army reports on the first day, look at film of the attack, diaries and letters home from the troops, go on tours of the trenches, listen to contemporary songs and music inspired by the battle, and see some more modern responses.
posted on Jul 1, 2006 - View this thread

Is Cinco De Mayo For Sale By the Alcohol Industry? In the 1960s, Chicano activists in Colorado promoted a boycott of Coors beer in response to employment discrimination against Latinos at Coors breweries. Coors had two problems. They had to fix their image with Latino consumers, and they had to figure out some way to get college students to drink more beer in May. The solution: start sponsoring Cinco de Mayo! Thus, even though Mexicans in Mexico celebrate their independence day on September 15th and 16th, Mexican-Americans are more likely to celebrate the May 5th anniversary of the Battle of the Puebla, which is not even commemorated with a national holiday in Mexico. In fact, the Battle of the Puebla was a skirmish in the Pastry War, a French intervention in Mexico that began because a French chef demanded several thousand pesos to compensate him for Mexican military officers looting his pastry supply.
posted on May 5, 2006 - View this thread

Phrases you'd really like to know before you go to France. Special bonus how to be an obnoxious lover in French.
posted on Apr 6, 2006 - View this thread

The evolution of the French students' CPE protests in photos.
posted on Mar 23, 2006 - View this thread

SA VIGNAC. Welcome to the world of Raymond Savignac, the greatest poster artist of all time, and inventor of the little Bic man. Joyous, naughty, simple, elegant, and beautiful.
posted on Dec 7, 2004 - View this thread

Color Photographs of the French Army in WW1 (via MemeFirst)
posted on Oct 15, 2004 - View this thread

Insecula. As the Wiki says:

Insecula: L'encyclopédie des arts et de l'architecture is a French language art website containing images and descriptions of thousands of works of art from major museums and collections in France and elsewhere, including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Palace of Versailles, the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the MOMA.

But it's not just museums and art. It's got Mayan ruins, Manhattan and Brooklyn, and of course lots of Paris streets. I can't believe plep hasn't posted this already...
posted on Apr 10, 2004 - View this thread

She claimed to be a sporting champion whose brave and public battle against cancer turned her into a national hero across France. But when Florence le Vot was asked to become the patron of a charity to tackle the disease her conscience finally got the better of her.
posted on Feb 17, 2004 - View this thread

"pleix is a virtual community of digital artists based in paris. some of us are 3d artists, some others are musicians or graphic designers. this website is the perfect place to share our latest creations." [note: quicktime]
posted on Oct 17, 2003 - View this thread

112 Gripes About the French One of the best selling books in France today is about why Americans seem to hate the French so much (well hated them 60 years ago). The book, originally published by the US military to teach GIs in France how to get along with the natives, was translated into French and is now flying off the shelves. Now you too can hate the French (en anglais, naturellement).
posted on Jul 25, 2003 - View this thread

Are the days of French as a world language numbered? The French language is still considered a "world language," but it is slowly losing its relevance in an English-dominated world. "What is at stake is the survival of our culture. It is a life or death matter," said Jacques Viot, head of the Alliance Francaise in Paris. Will French finally surrender to English?
posted on Jul 7, 2003 - View this thread

The French Flash Festival website provides an introduction to many francophone flash treats such as a visit to the surreal Rolitoland, the fun sound experiments at Audiogame, the endearing Plok! or the strange goings on at Incorect. Lots more to explore on the festival site (click on 'preselections' for the shortlist)
posted on Jul 2, 2003 - View this thread

One in three French backs Saddam Seems to me that it is one thing to be against the war in Iraq--Many Americans are--but quite another thing to root for Saddam to win over America. I had known relations between the U.S. and France had deteriorated. But this is mind boggling.
posted on Apr 1, 2003 - View this thread

Chinese sold Iraq 'dual-use' chemical And France helped broker the deal. Now do we boycott not only French bread and wine but all Chinese food too?
posted on Mar 15, 2003 - View this thread

Very Interesting French Music Video The movie is somewhat hard to explain without giving away the ending, but the movie addresses very interesting implications for the future of mankind.
posted on Feb 26, 2003 - View this thread

We know that the French take their food seriously, and restaurant ratings are a BIG deal over there. But here's a sad illustration of that: famed chef Bernard Loiseau was found dead yesterday of an apparent suicide, and speculation centers around his downgraded rating from the influential GaultMillau guide. Shades of Vatel?
posted on Feb 26, 2003 - View this thread

Centre for Contemporary Images. Provides things such as Up to 625.
posted on Sep 27, 2002 - View this thread

Fantomas Lives!
Fantômas is the Lord of Terror, the Genius of Evil, the arch-criminal anti-hero of a series of 32 pre-WWI French thrillers written by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. He carries out the most appalling crimes: substituting sulfuric acid in the perfume dispensers at a Parisian department store, releasing plague-infested rats on an ocean liner, or forcing a victim to witness his own execution by placing him face-up in a guillotine.
In 1912, Apollinaire founded the Societe des Amis de Fantomas which included prominent artists and writers. Magritte considered Fantomas to be a major influence in many of his paintings. Fantomas was not only a comic book but also spawned films, tv and radio shows and plays. (There is, of course, a modern band as well)(I read the Mexican comic book as a child)
posted on Sep 14, 2002 - View this thread

blimey charlie the french are getting right hot under the collar. There is growing indignation in france at the creeping use of the english language. Well now it seems that the EU, with an impeccable track record of supporting the french is suddenly ruffling a few feathers.
posted on Aug 2, 2002 - View this thread

All about Tati.
posted on Jun 17, 2002 - View this thread

Now we know why French was required in school : échangisme, libertinism, Cléopâtre "For the past 18 months Jean-Charles and Sylvie have had a standing date with each other and with a changing cast of instantly made new best friends at a private club in central Paris called Cléopâtre...échangisme, she said, is something more interesting than the movies to do on a Saturday night...nearly 50 restaurants, clubs and saunas in Paris openly cater to heterosexual adventurers. " Time to bring back Plato's Retreat. [NYT reg req]
posted on Apr 30, 2002 - View this thread

Jonah Goldberg on why the British are like dogs, and the French like cats.
posted on Nov 12, 2001 - View this thread

First French woman in space set to go up again. Can Jerry Lewis be far behind?
posted on Oct 21, 2001 - View this thread

Whats that? is what we say, but the french seem to have a different way of asking the same question.
posted on Oct 10, 2001 - View this thread

A veritable potpourri of je ne sais quoi : so, I'm just dinkin' around, looking things up from my wish list, compiled before I got online at home, tonight's quest was 'Virgil Finlay,' and I back into this incredible virtual theme park devoted to the greatest living American science fiction author (that lifted straight from my show's, ahem, links page, that), imo--no humble here and now--and it's got starcharts of the Oikumene and maps and meals...gee, did I say it was a French site? And Rpgs and on and on and on...You 'could her nipples be any harder?' Klingon forehead hair splitting color TV babies have no idea: the technology does not exist to take his work to screen. The man is the premiere prose stylist of the genre and this concept has merit, I tells ya...
posted on Oct 2, 2001 - View this thread

French retards can sue their birth doctors for not killing them in the womb... I thought the link I posted about a woman suing her boss when she crashed her car after driving home drunk from a staff party was the height of lawsuit insanity, but this takes the cake: in France, if you are seriously disabled, you have the right to sue a doctor who failed to recommend an abortion to your mother.... .... Homosaywhat?
posted on Jul 13, 2001 - View this thread

France's 35-hour work week has boosted the economy and proved a hit with both employees and their bosses. "If the French experiment works then the UK Government may be forced to look at France rather than the U.S. for new ideas about reforming the jobs market." Thanks to AlterNet for the link.
posted on Jun 30, 2001 - View this thread

Not Dubbing the Simpsons The Office de la langue française and others are up in arms (ils capotent) about anglicisms in Internet discourse. Business 2.0 talked about it. Branchez-Vous writes a short, cutting article, giving those who pepper their French with English enough rope to hang themselves. («Dans la catégorie "Un mot français, un mot anglais et hop!," le prix revient à Rational Software France, the e-development company, qui a annoncé la nomination d'André Arich au poste de Partner Manager pour sa filiale française, ainsi que le lancement en France du programme de partenariat Rational Unified Partner Program (RUPP).») ¶ Strangely, French has a nicer word for E-mail than English does: courriel. (Grand Dictionnaire is the OLF's official bilingual tech dictionary.)
posted on Jan 5, 2001 - View this thread

Dubbing the Simpsons Should The Simpsons in French be egalitarian or classist? Depends on whether you use Quebec or national French, apparently. (Second article.)
posted on Jan 4, 2001 - View this thread