Word: frenchness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There was something about the last man off the 6 p.m. ferry from Victoria, B.C., to Port Angeles, Wash., that didn't seem right to U.S. Customs inspector Diana Dean last Tuesday. She threw a couple of routine questions at him, and he choked, claiming to be a French Canadian named Benni Noris. When officials opened the trunk of his rented Chrysler, they found what looked like the contents of a bombmaker's shopping cart: 118 lbs. of urea; two 22-oz., three-quarters-full jars of nitroglycerine; 14 lbs. of sulfate; and four timing devices consisting of Casio watches...
Well, not everyone, and there's the rub. Americans, happy in their getting and spending, are largely oblivious to their massive world influence. But others are not, particularly foreign elites. Some chafe, like the French Minister of Culture who called Disneyland Paris a cultural Chernobyl. Some rant, like the Malaysian Prime Minister who rose at the U.N. in September to denounce "the true ugliness of Western capitalism...backed by the military might of capitalism's greatest proponent...
...NUBIANS Princesses Nubiennes (Omtown). Helene and Celia Faussart, singing sisters from Bordeaux, France, boast a global sound: they take African rhythms and American soul and top them off with a cool, seductive delivery that's distinctively French. A magical musical package tour...
...OMIKRON What other game boasts a virtual David Bowie? French designer Quantic Dream drops you into a parallel world that owes much to Blade Runner and 1984. With more than 400 locations--including the club where Bowie's character sings--Omikron is a game you don't so much play as live...
Then, in July, European authorities conducted a series of dawn raids on Coke facilities from the Continent to Britain in search of evidence that the company was offering retailers illegal kickbacks for favored shelf space. That investigation is ongoing. And last month French authorities rejected Ivester's $840 million bid for the Orangina soft-drink business. Observes John Quelch, dean of the London Business School: "The power of global brands may be strong, but they are not strong enough to preclude the need to cultivate [government] relationships at the national level...