French

On November 25th, 2011, JEAN DUJARDIN…

Jean Dujardin and Uggy in The Artist

…’where have you been all of my life?’ is what I was asking myself – surprised I had never heard of him and being such a French film fan and now planning to see all of his lowbrow slapstick comic roles – after making a rare cinematic pilgrimage to LA’s Cinerama Dome to get a privileged LA preview of the new French movie that I have been hearing about all over the place called ‘The Artist‘.

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On August 22nd, 2011, GRAND APPETIT…

Grand Appetit, Paris

…the simple casual homey delicious macrobiotic Marais cafe established in 1980, where you feel like you are dropping by your very cool exotic earthy French aunt and uncle’s place for a fresh vegan homemade lunch (bus your own dishes!) – is my Parisian culinary salvation at whose front door I was hungrily waiting at noon today for them to finally re-open from the August holiday – to dine on a nourishing plate of beans and grains and fresh vegetables – yum – now to be my Paris Souen, the place I have a hard time not eating every meal at when in NYC.

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On August 21st, 2011, ARTAZART DESIGN BOOKSTORE…

Artazart Design Bookstore, Paris

…on Canal St. Martin in my new favorite Paris neighborhood of Bellevue is a welcome find this afternoon – again biking my way to all corners of town – where contemporary art, design, photography materials are a welcome jolt of inspiration in a town otherwise shuttered for the month, and I wish every neighborhood had such a relaxed booky arty place to drop into any time. (website)

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By Fritz Haeg on August 21, 2011 | books, Paris
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On August 20th, 2011, PLACE DES VOSGES…

people enjoying the lawns of Place des Vosges

…in the Marais is just around the corner from where I’m staying, so I like to bike (having subscribed to the Vélib’ bikeshare program I am spending all of my Parisian street time on two wheels) through the majestic/hidden portal off Rue de Rivoli no matter which way I’m headed to enjoy this grand outdoor room – and today seeing the sprawling mass of humanity making themselves at home on a Sunday afternoon is the best case for a bright green carpet of lawn in just right place.

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On August 19th, 2011, PLAGE ON THE SIENE IN PARIS…

Paris Plage picnic on the Seine

…is the ambitious summer civic project involving sandy beaches, colorful umbrellas, a swimming pool, striped cabanas, exotic palm trees, lounge chairs, and all of the August seaside pleasures of the Riviera delivered to the middle of the city for the beach-hungry Parisians stuck in town, and the fun part was seeing how seriously they received and participated in the illusion with elaborate picnics, suntan oil, tiny bikinis…

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By Fritz Haeg on August 19, 2011 | Paris
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On August 18th, 2011, A LITTLE HUT AND LITTLE DOCK…

what you can't see in this ideal picture is the constant swarm of wasps, and the one that just stung me

…on this little lake in the woods nearby, where we are spending our days in the sun and water, are each big enough for one – maybe two people – and I’m starting to think that this is all I could ever need – and what more could we want for a quiet August retreat?

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By Fritz Haeg on August 18, 2011 | France
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On August 17th, 2011, A SMALL PURPLE MUSHROOM…

little purple mushroom sitting in the French woods

…which we are later told might perhaps be edible, stops me on my afternoon hike from the lake, down the hill, through the woods, a shock of subtle but extravagant color in the relentless green around us here.

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By Fritz Haeg on August 17, 2011 | landscape
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On August 16th, 2011, A SNAIL ON MY PATH…

escargot

…this morning is slowly making it’s way from one side of the boardwalk to the other and catching my eye – as I am drawn to smaller and slower things here in the woods.

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By Fritz Haeg on August 16, 2011 | animals
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On August 15th, 2011, FAST AND SLOW TRAINS TO HAUTE SAONE….

Gare de L'Est and a view from my regional train car into the eastern French wilderness

…took me from Amsterdam to Paris Gare du Nord in a speedy comfy fancy wified Thalys ride, then to a quaint modest pokey regional car out of Gare de L’Est to this hilly wooded region of Eastern France where I’ll be quietly retreating, doing yoga, reading, and checking out.

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On September 16th, 2010, THE FRENCH ACADEMY’S VILLA MEDICI…

early evening view from Villa Medici gardens towards Saint Peter's

…is one of my favorite places in the Rome – where I’m lucky to have some French friends of friends in residence who I can go visit – and today I was treated to a tour of the gardens by one of the French fellows, a landscape historian who took us to the 20m high artificial mound known as Mt. Parnassus, and them deep underground into the chambers beneath it – an academic interpretation of which was provided in great detail – in French – so I left with only a general sense of his insights, which was fine & a bit more mysterious. (links: Academie Francais, photo archive, and Wiki page)

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By Fritz Haeg on September 16, 2010 | gardens
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On May 22nd, 2010, DONNE-MOI LA MAIN…

French 18-year-old twin brothers Antoine (Alexandre Carril) and Quentin (Victor Carril) journey on foot to their mother's funeral in Spain...

…the 2008 film by Pascal-Alex Vincent featuring handsome twin brothers Alexandre and Victor Carril, which I just watched last week is a very slow picturesque film with almost no dialog – and at the moment I’m actually feeling like it is one of my all time favorite French films – wow.

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On April 29th, 2010, JULIETTE BINOCHE…

Juliette Binoche

…in The Unbearable Lightness of Being reminded me of how awesome she is – and now I’m having a Juliette Binoche moment – watching Damage (1992), Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge (2007), Paris (2008), Caché (2005), and Chocolat (2000)… (wiki bio)

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By Fritz Haeg on April 29, 2010 | film
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On February 4th, 2010, CRUSH FANZINE…

Crush Fanzine issue #3: Acting French

…is a classy romantic publication by French New York photographer Nicolas Wagner (who shot the sexy images for the Animal Scores cards for the 2008 Whitney Biennial Animal Estates project) with a current issue called Acting French which is really exciting because we like French actors…a lot. (Crush Fanzine website)

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On January 8th, 2010, CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG, again…

…is still on my mind, and I’m now finding older material, like this video for “If” with Etienne Daho, from which I have been memorizing the French lyrics, another symptom of my recent Franco-file tendencies, accompanied by fantasies of creating some sort of contemporary/non-new-agey incarnation of an intentional community in a farmhouse in a small village in Southern France – which has been causing me to only watch films about big groups of friends or extended families that gather in French farmhouses, but more on that later.

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By Fritz Haeg on January 8, 2010 | music
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On January 7th, 2010, CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG…

…has a song on the IRM (MRI en Francais), her just released collaboration with Beck, called Voyage that I have been listening to all afternoon, and this morning it was The Operation and it’s video (below) by Jean-Batiste Mondino which features the mysterious arrival of a male model, but I really like Charlotte (daughter of Serge and Jane) maybe because she is a normal/amazing looking – not polished – super stylish middle-age French woman that can really act, and write songs, and sing.
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By Fritz Haeg on January 7, 2010 | music
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On January 2nd, 2010, LES CHANSONS D’AMOUR…

Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet and Louis Garrel in the bedroom window singing their way through the final scene of Les Chansons D'Amour.

…the 2007 musical French film by Christophe Honoré, made me so happy with its singing cast including three of my favorite young French actors, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, and, yes, especially Louis Garrel, whose songs from the soundtrack I have been listening to all day. (link)

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