A friend at Bookspread reports from the Salon du Livre The Salon was divided in, roughly, five zones: comics and manga, children’s books, e-books, French publishers and international stands (Argentina, Nordic countries, Lebanon, Hungary and Poland were among them). The only book in English that I found was a fake guide to Beirut, but there [...]

Can a country be considered a brand whose values, attractions and cultural gifts should be promoted like a product or service? Absolutely. Here’s an interesting approach by France’s primary multilingual reference portal, France.fr. Commentary (English/French) from figures like Elie Wiesel, Moby, Jeff Koons, Marc Jacobs, Roberto Cavalli, and Kanye West, among others, serve to remind us [...]

When I was little, my brother and I had a subscription to a kids magazine called Highlights. One of the cartoons that I loved in that mag was called “Goofus and Gallant” about 2 brothers who were presented with different social dilemmas in each issue.  Goofus always took the low road (”Goofus doesn’t share his [...]

A recent New York Times article documents a thrifty weekend in Paris on $74 total, excluding lodging (the author stayed with a friend). As the Readership knows, Experienced Travelers are always on the lookout for cost savings. How else would we accumulate “Found Money” for frivolous spending later on? But we feel obliged to comment [...]

“Pssst. Dirty postcards, monsieur?” Is that your image of Paris postcards? Les cartes coquines (naughty or saucy postcards) are still for sale if you know where to look, but there is much more to old Paris postcards. Many of them offer us new ways of seeing, understanding, and remembering Paris. Consider the unusual street scene [...]

I have read my share of cliché-ridden articles about Parisian women, but I was surprised to find one in the New York Times. French women, the paper of record has discovered, age gracefully. Except, of course, when they don’t (Brigitte Bardot, Socialist party honcho Martine Aubry). How do they look so chic after 40? Well, [...]

French TV channel M6 recently pre-empted a documentary exposing McDonald’s unhygienic practices, but it’s available (for the moment) to watch online at Dailymotion. An employee at a French McDo’s took in a hidden camera and revealed the dirty procedures some of the chain’s restaurants practice. It’s in French so here are some main points emphasized [...]

Have you seen the Francophilia Gazette? It’s an online magazine offering a fresh take on France and Frenchness: bite-sized morsels of news, trivia, history, arts, pop culture, food, fashion, language… It’s like a box of bonbons! You won’t know which one to try first. But watch out! The Francophilia Gazette is rated “French,” which means [...]

International Living has done its annual quality-of-life ranking of almost 200 countries. And the winner is (drum roll)…FRANCE! This comes as no surprise to anyone who saw the website’s winners for 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. Because France won for those years, too. France always nets high scores in most categories. But you don’t need [...]

So just how did the poster on the left become the one on the right? I knew it was about roller derby and couldn’t figure out why on earth it would be called “Bliss.” The logical explanation? That’s the main character’s name. Still, it seems strangely bland compared to the original title.