Random Francophilia - Part I

As much random Francophilic marginalia as I can write about before I have to take a shower.

• 'Kozy?  Americans need their own nickname for M. le Président. This one showed up in the NY Post. Makes him cuddly, dontcha think?
• Faces of Paris/Visages de Paris. If you're in Paris during Christmas week, a gentleman has created a Parisian scavenger hunt in which you can win $5,000. (That's approximately 300 euros.) Sounds like fun, if also a major undertaking. Don't know if any strings are attached.
• Boston goes bistro, Part Deux. Are other cities experiencing a bistro/brasserie craze like Boston? Joining the four or five that opened here in 2005/6 are three new ones: Gaslight, an immediate success. (The night I went the white tile walls caused so much reverberating clatter that I could barely hear my husband, who was two feet away from me. But there's free parking. In downtown Boston, a Denny's could be a success with free parking, although -- to be fair -- Gaslight is much better than Denny's); La Voile, a transplanted Provence brasserie, with a charming Newbury Street setting and charming owners and adorable waiters; and a third Petit Robert Bistro, soon to open in Cambridge. Maybe I'll conduct my own contest: who makes the best steak frites in Boston? (As soon as I get a job, that is, and can afford multiple helpings of steak frites.)
• Brighton French Film Festival. Here's what's been on my DVD player lately (or, believe it or not, in my VCR. Remember them?):
  • La chambre verte/The Green Room: Minor Truffaut, an adaptation of James' Altar of the Dead, it features the director in the lead, and he is alarmingly bad. However, a young Nathalie Baye (I LOVE HER) stars as well.
  • Les voleurs/Thieves: A picture about a ménage à trois by director André Téchiné from about a decade ago. Intriguing, but I found Catherine Deneuve's final act inexplicable. I could reveal it here, but I'm afraid of spoiling for the one person reading this item who may someday see the picture.
  • Ne le dis à personne: A very effective thriller. It's so commercial that I don't understand why it hasn't been picked up in the U.S.
  • Into Great Silence. About the monks of Chartreuse, with a pace to match its subject. To manage, we watched about a half-hour every night for a week. Perhaps the most beautiful cinematography I've seen all year.
• Current events. I know that there have been riots in France and other major upheavals. (Were these the "wait until fall" cataclysms that everyone warned me about?) There are people better qualified than I am to cover these happenings. Check out any of the links in my French News and Politics blog roll.

One or two more little bits coming up, but I now must keep my date with a wash cloth.

Comments

[Polly]

Very funny about the euro/dollar conversion, CL. Painful, but funny.

[Chris Late]

Polly: Funny? December ain't over yet.

CL

[Polly]

Merci, Monsieur Grinch...

[L'Amerloque]

Hi CL !

(grin) Er ... five grand, US, is a slightly more than 3000 euros, not 300 ...

Best,
L'Amerloque

<>

[Chris Late]

I was making a trenchant, satiric comment on the state of the economy. But my satiric skills may not be so sharp, alas.

CL

[blueVicar]

CL,

Let me know where to find that exchange rate and I'll change the few euros I have left.

Meilleurs voeux!!

[Chris Late]

BV: Wait about a week and I think you'll be able to go to any exchange spot in the country (he replied with a sigh).

CL