Word: frans
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...massive theft of artworks all across Europe. One problem: Mona Lisa had never been part of the Napoleonic plunder. Though Leonardo had begun the painting in Florence in 1503, he took it with him to France 13 years later when he resettled at the court of the French king François I. After his death there in 1519, the painting passed through several hands until an eager François bought it for the modern equivalent of around $10 million...
Whether it's "tobacco revisionism," as critics contend, or political correctness à la française, things have just gotten tougher for smokers in France - including those who've long kicked the habit in death. Métrobus, the company that handles display advertising for the Paris Métro and SNCF rail company, says it was obliged to refuse a poster for Coco, Before Chanel because it violates a 1991 law "prohibiting all direct or indirect advertising" for tobacco or alcohol in most public venues. Under that ban, Métrobus reasoned that the poster's shot...
Earlier this month, the Cinématheque Français in Paris was ordered by Métrobus to remove or mask another purported subliminal call to start smoking: legendary filmmaker Jacques Tati's equally legendary pipe. The Cinématheque's ad for its Tati exhibition uses a shot from the 1958 film My Uncle, featuring the filmmaker in his iconic pose: riding a Solex, decked out in felt hat and overcoat, signature pipe clenched between his teeth. Forced by Métrobus - and, claims the company, France's advertising law - to do something about the illicit pipe...
...share every thought, significant or un, from the moment we switch on our iPhones in the morning to the instant we sit down face to face with an actual person. The difference between face-to-face conversation and any other medium of communication is simple: No distractions are permitted. Fran Lebowitz once remarked that “the opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.” Given our intense generational ADD, this has become something of a hurdle. Unlike actual conversation, texts, Gchats, Tweets, wallposts, and e-mails are things...
...Congo, and Niger, in search of business opportunities for French companies. French commentators have noted how such business-as-usual tightness with African cronies, whose track record on democracy and human rights often leaves much to be desired, contrasts with Sarkozy's earlier pledges to break with Paris' traditional Françafrique policy of turning a blind eye to authoritarianism and corruption to maintain healthy relations with stable African allies. (See pictures of the Pope's recent visit to Africa...