“The Incredible History of Sex”: a world tour of eroticism in comics

After “Sex Story” published in 2016, the psychiatrist Philippe Brenot and the designer Laetitia Coryn deliver “The Incredible history of sex”.

By Christophe Levent 

On January 3, 2021 at 15h13

They put the cover back. With “Sex Story”, in 2016 , Philippe Brenot – psychiatrist, anthropologist, couple therapist – and cartoonist Laetitia Corbyn signed the first history of sexuality in comics, from prehistory to the present day. A real success: the book has sold 80,000 copies and is the subject of 14 foreign translations, even entitled to the honors of the Wall Street Journal. They are back today with Volume II, “The Incredible History of Sex, from Africa to Asia”. A work that completes the previous one, devoted solely to the Western world.

“For me, it’s the same book actually. Initially, we wanted to do just one. But a 500-page comic, that’s a lot… The subject is so vast. What is certain is that the form of the graphic novel is perfect: an essay on the history of sexuality, that would be a bit annoying to read, ”said the sexologist. But make no mistake about it. If the images are explicit, although often enhanced with a touch of humor, the background is very serious, based on months and months of research and a dense bibliography.

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Trump will regret the call to Georgia

“I wonder if Trump knows you can commit a state crime in Georgia by telephone from DC, and you can’t pardon yourself or your henchmen on state charges.” – Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

“In any other conceivable moment in US history, this tape would result in the leadership of both parties demanding the immediate resignation of the President of the United States.” – Carl Bernstein

“The evidence is on tape. The next attorney general should move forward, if for no other reason, to deter further attempts at such reprehensible conduct. I would suggest impeachment as well, which could include a ban on holding office in the future” – Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post

“University of Georgia Law Professor Anthony Michael Kreis told Politico reporters Allie Bice, Kyle Cheney, Anita Kumar, and Zach Montellaro that it is against the law in Georgia for anyone to “solicit” or “request” election fraud. “There’s just no way that… he has not violated this law,” Kreis said. Michael R. Bromwich, former inspector general of the Department of Justice, tweeted that “unless there are portions of the tape that somehow negate criminal intent,” Trump’s “best defense would be insanity.”

Call My Agent: the French comedy gem A-listers are desperate to star in

The sharp, hilarious look at the hell of being an agent already features everyone from Juliette Binoche to Isabelle Huppert sending themselves up. Now, Hollywood has come knocking

The pilot opens with an unannounced arrival (of ingénue Camille, aggro agent Mathias’s hidden daughter) and an untimely death (of founder Samuel Kerr, who swallows a wasp while on holiday in Brazil). Mathias and his colleagues, Andréa, Gabriel and Arlette, are thrown into a frenetic power struggle both among themselves and in the wider film industry. Stars threaten to leave ASK, Kerr’s widow and heir threatens to shut up shop, and private passions, usually held at bay, threaten to derail everything.

If the show’s premise is somewhat predictable, its handling of fame is altogether less so. Each episode features a titular guest star – BéatriceDalle, Cécile de France, Guy Marchand – but rather than being written as the focal point, the big name is instead that day’s worry to assuage, the problem to be fixed. Call My Agent does that rare thing that interviews often fail to achieve, and makes these people, who live decidedly abnormal lives, very normal.

There are administratively challenged actors who need help answering emails and vetting nannies, and matrimonially challenged stars who want help finding a date. There’s the actor who can’t drive, the actor who can’t swim and the actor who suddenly can’t act. There’s one who, as Andrea puts it, is “doing a Day Lewis”, and can’t stop acting, unable to come out of a very intense Revenant-style survival role. He ends up being dropped from his subsequent gig as a clean-shaven banker when he literally attacks the producer’s dog, with his teeth.

However, instead of ramping up the self-deprecation implicit in these big-screen stereotypes as Extras did, or as you can imagine a W1A-style British remake might, the talent here is treated with tenderness, and not a small amount of poetry. And by ‘talent’ I mean not just the people (actors and directors) but the artform itself: the show is an ode to cinema. It is French, after all.

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Chilly Gonzales live performance FM4

A favovite of Monsieur Pas de Merde, here is the wonderful Chilly Gonzales performing a session from 2018

Tracklist:
 0:00:42 Pretenderness 0:05:00 Famous Hungarians 0:08:27 Chico 0:10:37 Nimbus 0:13:44 Prelude in C Sharp Major 0:16:30 Present Tense 0:19:51 Kenaston 0:22:44 Rideaux Lunaires 0:32:56 Be Natural 0:36:44 Oregano 0:43:51 Cello Gonzales 0:48:16 Dot 0:52:57 October 3rd 0:56:43 Kopfkino 1:04:30 Why don’t we disappear 1:11:30 Smells like Teen spirit / Hit me baby one more time 1:12:03 White Keys 1:14:59 Advantage Points 1:20:07 Knight Moves 1:30:42 Thriller Impromtu 1:34:29 So-Called Party Over There

Yelle’s “The Age of Aquarius”: it’s our album of the year 

The best record of the year was born on a Breton farm. An imposing 17th century building which was that of a shipowner, owner of a three-master, “Le Saint-Michel” under Colbert, which over time has become a customs house, a residence occupied by the Germans, renovated , enhanced. This is where Yelle lives and works, namely Julie Budet and Jean-François Perrier, alias GrandMarnier, couple in the city and on the stage, hidden behind the acronym of You Enjoy Life. It is here also that they imagined “The Era of Aquarius”, 4th disc, formidable electro-pop success, carried out in the studio arranged upstairs. You don’t need much: a computer, keyboards, a battery, a microphone. Craftsman’s work, cut off from the world, at the tip of the bay of Saint-Brieuc.

“For a long time, it was the only house in the area. There is a 14m deep well in the garden where you can draw water which is very good. We rent the cottage next door to our best friend. We went into debt to buy this place, we were totally out of budget. But we work as we want, at our own pace, we are our own producers, our own managers. We have our roots here, our friends, our parents who live in the area. And since we move a lot abroad, it’s a base camp for us. “

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Illegal French New Year’s Eve party that drew 2,500 ends after 36 hours and a failed attempt to shut it down

Regional authorities set up a coronavirus testing site near the party location and urged all participants to quarantine for seven days.

Continue at WASHINGTON POST: Illegal French New Year’s Eve party that drew 2,500 ends after 36 hours and a failed attempt to shut it down – The Washington Post