Mireille Darc: the most beautiful roles of the great grasshopper

Mireille Darc, who just left us at the age of 79, was able to invent in the 60s a new kind of woman liberated with mutinous charm under the leadership of Georges Lautner and Michel Audiard. In the second part of her career, influenced by Delon, she encamped darker roles as in Ice Breasts .

A film gave him her nickname. In 1965, Mireille Darc became the great grasshopper forever. An actress apart from the crazy chic that sticks perfectly to her time. Men, and not just anyone, would transform her into a symbol of the liberated woman who would take power in the 1970s.

After a few appearances in the early 1960s, Mireille Darc became famous with the comedy Pouic-Pouic by Jean Girault. She is Patricia Monestier, the half-ingenious, half-sophisticated daughter of a businessman who [ . . . ]

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Tourists defy Trump to return to Paris in record numbers after terror attacks 

On a warm August day, the world’s most famous boulevard, the Champs-Elysées, is heaving.Li-na and Zhangli from Shanghai, laden with bags from designer stores, are here to go shopping, while James from Illinois wants to climb the Arc de Triomphe.“I’ve already done the Eiffel Tower, Sacré Coeur and Notre Dame,” he says.

“Tomorrow it’s Versailles.” Bernard, from neighbouring Belgium, is in the French capital for a short break “because it’s beautiful and not far by train”.In the tree-lined street’s grand flagship stores and myriad eateries you can almost hear the collective sigh of relief: after a “catastrophic” 2016 for tourism following a series of terrorist attacks in France, the visitors are back – and in record numbers [ . . . ]

Read Full Story: Tourists defy Trump to return to Paris in record numbers after terror attacks | World news | The Guardian

‘Anti-petanque’ measures built at Paris tourist hotspot

The famous French game has been played at Place Dauphine, by the River Seine in Paris, since the early 20th Century.

Paris officials have sparked outrage by installing ‘anti-petanque’ measures at a tourist hotspot in a bid to stop players creating dust and making too much noise.

The famous French game has been played at Place Dauphine, by the River Seine, since the early 20th Century.

But the city council has decided to ‘reduce the surface available’ to enthusiasts after receiving a series of complaints about the noise and dust it creates.

Jean-François Legaret, Mayor of the city’s 1st arrondissement, confirmed that the site was due to be covered in new plants and other obstacles.

The Place Dauphine, by Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, currently attracts up to ten separate games at any one time.

Tourists, including many from the UK, mill around watching and taking pictures of the action, just as they have done since the early 20th Century.

‘We’re part of Paris’s history,’ said Alain Groulet, 72, who was playing on the square with a group of friends on Sunday morning [ . . . ]

Read Full Story: ‘Anti-petanque’ measures built at Paris tourist hotspot | Daily Mail Online

Paris offers FT journalist la vie in prose

There were nine of us living in my first flat in Paris. It was grand on the outside, with a trompe l’oeil and marble staircase in the entrance hall, but grimy and dark inside. Only three of my flatmates had full-time jobs, and they all smoked. All the lights in the hall were broken.I moved there from London nearly four years ago, during the gloomiest days of François Hollande’s presidency, long before the youthful reformer Emmanuel Macron took power this year. Economic growth at the time was weak, unemployment double that of the UK today, and polls showed two-thirds of French people thought the nation was in “decline”.

My flatmates, who I found online, were all 25- to 35-year-olds from the provinces who had come to Paris to find work and, passing their days in our tiny kitchen, were victims of this faded France. Within rigid labour markets many struggled to find jobs, or the right jobs, and were frustrated and angry.They protested in the street, talked incessantly about politics and were always discussing what was to blame for France’s seeming stagnation. Being French, and young, it was never a question of tweaking tax rates — but creating a new world order.“It’s neoliberalism that is ruining us,” said one, lighting his cigarettes from the filaments of our toaster (they all smoked but no one ever had a lighter). “Yes, you are right,” said another. “It’s time for a revolution.”
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Full Story: Paris offers FT journalist la vie in prose

What’s underfoot flavors great cheese

The French elegantly use the word “terroir” (ter-war) to describe the specific characteristics of an earthly location that’s usually applied to grape-growing areas. In his witty book “What the French?!” Olivier Magny says, “Terroir is somewhereness; it is the essence of a place, its signature. It is what’s unique, nonreproducible and singular about it.”That’s one of the best definitions I’ve heard for “terroir.” Along with wines and foods, the term can also be applied to beautiful rivers, stunning forests, rock formations and even cultural habits. It’s knowing where you are by seeing certain sights, or behaviors like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. In Paris, it’s the Champs Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe or [ . . . ] More: What’s underfoot flavors great cheese | Home | calaverasenterprise.com