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Enter the BD&Comics Passion & Culturethèque Facebook Competition
How can Culturethèque's Comics section win you 2 tickets for one of the events of the BD&Comics Passion Festival?
From 24th to 27th May, the French Institute, London will host the second edition of the BD&Comics Passion Festival.
Culturethèque is giving away 2 tickets to one of the festival's events: Grzegorz Rosinski telling “All about Thorgal,” which will take place on Sunday 27 May – 2pm-3pm, at the Institute.
BD&Comics Passion festival - 24 to 27 May 2012 - Meet Culturethèque's team in the Comic Bar of the Festival
Fans of comic books, graphic novels and bandes dessinées rejoice: the international BD & Comics Passion festival is back from 24 to 27 May 2012!
Get ready for four days of fun brought to you by the Institut français in association with Comica Festival, featuring extraordinary creators (Christophe Arleston and Jean-Louis Mourier, David B., Guy Delisle, Karrie Fransman, Tom Gauld, Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill, Luke Pearson, Grzegorz Rosinski, Jonathan Ross aka Wossy), music (Mesparrow), performances (Freeeks Factory), films and the best booksellers (Gosh!, La Page, Cinebook).
With nearly thirty events including live drawing, talks, exhibitions, workshops, a drawing jam with Mesparrow and a dress-up party, this innovative festival will have something for everyone!
Meet Culturethèque's team in the Comic Bar of the Festival
The Institut's Bistrot will be turned into a Comics Bar during the BD&Comics Passion Festival, on the 26th and 27th May 2012.
BD&Comics Passion festival - 24 to 27 May 2012 - Highlight on one of the workshops
Fans of comic books, graphic novels and bandes dessinées rejoice: the international BD & Comics Passion festival is back from 24 to 27 May 2012!
Get ready for four days of fun brought to you by the Institut français in association with Comica Festival, featuring extraordinary creators (Christophe Arleston and Jean-Louis Mourier, David B., Guy Delisle, Karrie Fransman, Tom Gauld, Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill, Luke Pearson, Grzegorz Rosinski, Jonathan Ross aka Wossy), music (Mesparrow), performances (Freeeks Factory), films and the best booksellers (Gosh!, La Page, Cinebook).
With nearly thirty events including live drawing, talks, exhibitions, workshops, a drawing jam with Mesparrow and a dress-up party, this innovative festival will have something for everyone!
Learn how to create digital comics on your iPad in a single workshop
Workshop: learn how to make and publish digital comics on your iPad.
14h-17h / 15£ / 15 people max / Institut français' Médiathèque.
Urne
Earlier this month, I had – as an EU citizen - an important electoral week-end.
This experience has given me some ideas on the voting traditions of both France and now England, too.
Went I went to vote for London’s new mayor, I was struck by the quasi absence of ceremonial when I cast my vote in the ballot box. I am not sure if I was more astonished by the absence of proper 'isoloire' (voting booth) or by the fact that I put three unfolded sheets of paper in a cardboard box or that the election clerk did not even look at my hand when I stocked my papers in the ballot box! And I did not get to hear the concluding ‘a voté’phrase which indicates that one is free to go! Or maybe was it that the clerks did not even ask for my ID and that I consequently thought that anybody knowing my address could have voted for me.
Having said that, the whole process must have taken me 3 minutes and I did not queue for ages contrary to what French voters in London experienced during the first round of the presidential elections. See the picture here:
Nice: The Highlight of the French Rivera
The French Rivera, also known if the French language as the Côte d'Azur, is a compilation of scenic and beautiful cities, towns and villages along the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of the country of France. Each exclusive spot in the French Rivera has its own special feeling about it. The picturesque and historical town of Nice is one of these locales along the Rivera that should not be missed.
BD&Comics Passion festival - 24 to 27 May 2012 - Highlight on the Reading group
Fans of comic books, graphic novels and bandes dessinées rejoice: the international BD & Comics Passion festival is back from 24 to 27 May 2012!
Get ready for four days of fun brought to you by the Institut français in association with Comica Festival, featuring extraordinary creators (Christophe Arleston and Jean-Louis Mourier, David B., Guy Delisle, Karrie Fransman, Tom Gauld, Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill, Luke Pearson, Grzegorz Rosinski, Jonathan Ross aka Wossy), music (Mesparrow), performances (Freeeks Factory), films and the best booksellers (Gosh!, La Page, Cinebook).
With nearly thirty events including live drawing, talks, exhibitions, workshops, a drawing jam with Mesparrow and a dress-up party, this innovative festival will have something for everyone!
Witness London's most French reading group explore a comic book for the first time.
Focus on Marjane Satrapi with Comic book specialist Paul Gravett.
Le Samsung Galaxy S3 qui veut se faire aussi grosse que le Boeuf
In this day and age we ride the tube with our heads bowed, we speak to head phones and have worked our thumbs to the core. As technology grows, the social standards slip…when will we replace phone hacking with phone smashing?
L’Éducation (d’Hollande)
Things are certainly hotting up in regard to the French presidential elections. A certain Monsieur Hollande is nearing the finish line, but lest we not assume anything. This week’s fable L’Éducation teaches us the basis of Marx doctrine…with a little help from our faithful friends.
Iggy Pop sings covers of French classic singers Gainsbourg, Piaf and Brassens
Ex-Stooges leader is releasing an album entitled “Après” ("afterwards").
On this album, Iggy Pop re-interprets some of the most great figures of “La Chanson française” including Serge Gainsbourg, Georges Brassens, Edith Piaf, Joe Dassin, Henri Salvador. Despite offering another version of French classics songs, Iggy Pop also covers Frank Sinatra and The Beatles.
Gnomonique.
On top of the Mount Saint Odile, a mount near Strasbourg adjacent to the Vosges, my brother and I had a revelation.
I am now certain that this lexical revelation is nothing but a metaphor of Saint Odile’s life: she was born blind and she recovered the sight as holy oil was poured on her forehead when she was baptised, hence her name Odile, which means ‘daughter of light,’ fille de la lumière. And a bonus for a perfect setting: though my brother and I did not have any holy water at our disposal, whoever it was upstairs was sending plenty of water down from the clouds.
Le Stamp et le Hosepipe
An alternative take on the ambiguous La Cigale et la Fourmi. Whilst we all drown away our sorrows with the rise in stamp prices, we are doubly hit with a hosepipe ban. Times awfully hard which has led one to conserve and preserve. Despite this, an Olympic summer is ahead; do we dance maintenant?
Traditional French Cuisine
As with most countries and regions throughout Europe, each has their own food specialities and styles of cooking and the same applies to the country of France. However, there are some distinct and traditional dishes that are unmistakably French. Here are a few of those dishes that are undeniably influenced by French cuisine.
The Political Spectrum in France
La Droite
In my last blog post, I looked at La Gauche in French politics.
This time it’s the turn of right wing politics in France.
I’ve just returned from Paris and was fascinated to see the city in election mode - posters everywhere, the virtually constant political chat on all the news channels and in the city’s bars and cafes.
The first round is but a few days away, so here’s a brief insight into what the French Right are all about.
Anacoluthe
In my last post, on Bachi bouzouki, there was a picture of Capitaine Hadock shouting “insults” at people…among those invectives was the word ‘Anacoluthe’ or ‘anacoluthon’ in English.
This word comes from the Greek ‘anakolouthon’ and is a rhetorical device, a ‘figure de style’. In Greek, it literally means ‘not following’.
I don’t know about the English school system, but my French teacher in 3ème (when I was 15) was crazy about rhetorical devices. We had scary exams assessing our ability to recognize them...that was one of the keys to our understanding of literature, he thought. To me, it was sheer agony!
Le Corb-ande et le Ren-kozy
The infamous Le Corbeau et le Renard . Of course we all know it by heart, but does the voice of de La Fontaine speak from the grave? In today’s presidential elections the French are torn between the extravagant and the safe…who will flatteur and who will be fooled?
WORLD PLAYBACK WEEK 2012
Improvisational theatre ensembles performing in many languages.
From Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 May at the New Diorama Theatre, Regents Place, London NW1 3BF, London’s diverse audiences as well as visitors to London in this our Olympic year, will be able to experience a week of Playback Theatre with groups from France, Italy, Hungary, Norway, Greece, alongside UK-based ensembles.
“Tout moelleux” Chocolate and vanilla muffins on Culturethèque
After testing a “madeleines” recipe and offering it to you on my first cookery blog, here's another (but not less “gourmande”) recipe extracted from Culturethèque : “Tout moelleux” Chocolate and vanilla muffins.
This recipe is taken from the Muffins : 750 grammes de plaisir book available for free on Culturethèque. This book offers 60 recipes, including 30 illustrated ones, but all of them original and tasty!
Flaubert vs. Wilde
Question: who would apologise for being too “maimed by extravagance”, and who would else would say “exuberance is better than taste”? Why it is no other than witty Wilde and flamboyant Flaubert. This week, we will need elocution, a dictionary and a touch of dapper as we float inside the minds of these two whizz kids...or should I say virtuosos of language...
French porn comedy HARD has been bought by Sky.
After having hosted the 3 first episodes of Hard second season during the Totally Serialized festival (in February at the Institut français), we are pleased to announce that the first season of the French comedy series about porn will soon be on Sky (thanks to the Box distribution!)
Le Cercle de Lecture Français in Islington
Le Cercle de Lecture Français à Islington only started a few months ago and at the moment, it only has a few members. We meet every three weeks at a lovely café in Islington to discuss a book, or part of a book, we have read over the previous weeks.
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