We are blown away by this guy. You can buy his CDs and the DVD of this program at the Francophilia Amazon store.
Street artist/activist JR at the Pompidou Center
See JR’s work at the Pompidou Center right now, and don’t miss this chance to get your own GIANT passport photo printed out while you’re there (only until September 5th). JR encourages you to stick it on a building!
See more pics at Frenchies in Paris (article in French). We’ve covered JR on the Gazette before: here and here.
Fine French animation: “Dripped”
Dripped is a wonderful and beautifully animated French short film by director Léo Verrier, paying homage to [Jackson Pollock].
Read the rest at Brain Pickings.
Tallest bridge in the world
It’s hard not to be impressed by the Millau Viaduct that’s down the road from where I live in France.
Read more at Design Observer.
Gainsbourg’s songs selling Guerlain, Dior perfumes…
The work of Serge Gainsbourg, the large-nosed, Gitanes-smoking French icon whose jazzy, bohemian songs exemplified a sexually liberated France of the 1960s and 1970s, is enjoying a resurgence in the most unlikely of places — perfume ads.
Read the rest at Reuters.
Royal wedding in Monaco
Prince Albert II of Monaco and his bride-to-be Charlene Wittstock say in an interview published in France they’re looking to become parents soon after they tie the knot next month.
Read more at GreenwichTime.
Commune de Paris, 1871
Just way too cool. Commune de Paris shop and blog. Fabulous items created from artists’ designs. Don’t know about the Commune?
A little girl, a train ticket and a Belgian museum
Built by the same firm that renovated the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Red Star Line Museum will open in Belgium in 2013. All told, the train had transported 2.6 million people through Europe on their way to the United States–Antwerp was typically the last stop before America. Passengers on the line, which ran from 1873 to 1934, included Albert Einstein, Irving Berlin, Golda Meir and Arthur Murray.
Read the rest at Forbes and visit the Red Star Line Museum site.
French chocolate coffee table
We just loved this crafter’s French chocolate coffee table! See how she did it at Red Hen Home.
Cartooning for Peace
Thought up by the French cartoonist Plantu, Cartooning for Peace is an initiative born on 16 October 2006 at UN headquarters in New York. A two-day conference organised by Kofi Annan, the then Secretary General of the United Nations, brought together the twelve best-known political cartoonists in the world for “unlearning intolerance”.
Cartooning for Peace is based in Geneva. Don’t miss the current outdoor exhibit in Geneva till July 10: Geneva Lunch.
Surrealist photog Claude Cahun exhibit at Jeu de Paume
Female. Lesbian. Jewish. Born in the French provincial city of Nantes. Working with Surrealist motifs which were barely acknowledged as such by the Surrealists, who – for all their talk of revolt – regarded women as little more than exotic furniture.
Learn more and find a link to the exhibit info at Strange Flowers.
Quiz: Are You a Francophile?
Take this quiz to discover just how deeply you love the country and its people.
You wear:
a. an “I love Paris” T-shirt
b. a sweater tied around your neck
c. a permanent scowl
Take the quiz at The Paris Blog. Image via Polyvore. Check out the rest of her funky fashion combos!
“Le Chat du Rabbin”
Just out, an animated feature film by Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux, based on Sfar’s graphic novel of the same name. Sfar also directed the fabulous and fantastical Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque).
Buy The Rabbi’s Cat at the Francophilia Amazon store!