samedi 15 mai 2010

Les râleurs français


I read this article La nation la plus râleuse on yahoo.fr the other day and meant to post it up earlier but better late than never so here goes:

Le sondage réalisé pour Metro et la Maaf montrerait ainsi que d'après les personnes interrogées selon un échantillon représentatif, les Français seraient davantage râleurs que les autres nationalités. Ainsi, à la question "Les Français râlent-ils souvent ?", nos compatriotes sont 48% à déclarer que oui, très souvent, 45% à dire que oui, souvent. Finalement, ils ne sont que 6% à dire que les Français ne râlent que de temps en temps, et 1% rarement. Pourtant, lorsque l'on pose la question à des Français cette fois-ci, ils ne sont que 37% des répondants à dire que oui, ils râlent souvent. Le Français serait-il aussi de mauvaise foi ?Quoi qu'il en soit, d'un point de vu extérieur, il s'agirait des personnes âgées et des hommes qui râleraient le plus souvent, la femme française donnant alors l'image d'une personne plus patiente. Et pourquoi les Français râleraient-ils le plus souvent ? Ce serait, toujours d'après le sondage, contre les soucis administratifs, les transports, le coût de la vie ou encore les bugs informatiques. Finalement, être râleur pourrait avoir du bon, puisque Maaf Assurances lance à partir du dimanche 8 mai un Championnat de France des râleurs, pouvant permettre de gagner jusqu'à 5.000 euros.

Classement du sondage à la question : Quelles nationalités râlent le plus ?

1. Les Français - 72% des suffrages

2. Les Italiens - 50%

3. Les Américains - 19%

4. Les Anglais - 12%

5. Les Espagnols - 11%

6. Les Belges - 8%

7. Les Allemands - 6%

8. Les Australiens - 1%

The survey carried out for the insurance company Metro and Maaf showed that after some people were questioned according to a representative sample, that French people would moan more than other nationalities. Thus, with the question, "Do the French complain often?", 48% of our compatriots declare very often, 45% say yes, often. Finally, there are only 6% that say that the French moan only from time to time, and 1% say seldom. However, when one poses the question to some French people this time, there are only 37% of the guarantors to say that yes, they often moan. Would the French also be unsincere? When one is on the point of considering an outsider's view, it would be generally the elderly and men who moan, the French women give an image of a more patient person. And why would the French generally moan? It would be always after an opinion poll, against administrative concerns, transport, the cost of living or computer bugs. Finally, being a moaner could be good, since Maaf Assurances will launch, starting from Sunday May 8, a French Championship of moaners, making it possible to win up to 5,000 euros.

I guess you can translate râleur to mean moaner, complainer, grumbler, whinger, whiner, grumpy person, unhappy person, dissatisfied person, grouch, sorehead. It is also translated as 'grouser' although I have never heard of this word in my entire life.

I'm shocked that Australians come at the bottom of the list with only 1% of people that moan. Hahaha.

Surprisingly, there's even a blog called The French râleur!

Sydney Film Festival 2010 / International film festivals 2010-2011 dates



The Sydney Film Festival appears to be back on a strong footing after a difficult few years.

This year’s festival, which was launched last week at Customs House, will feature 157 films from more than 47 countries and the premiere of new Australian Film South Solitary which stars Miranda Otto and father Barry.

South Solitary is the first film in a decade for director Shirley Barrett who last made Walk the Talk in 2000.

Jury president is Australian producer Jan Chapman whose extraordinary list of credits includes The Piano, Lantana and most recently, Bright Star. Chapman will be joined by Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper. The three remaining jurors will be announced in the lead up to the festival.

The Sydney Film Festival’s official competition, now in its third year will feature 12 films from across the world.

The 12 highly lauded films include three direct from the 63rd Cannes Film Festival and will include the world premiere and Australian debut of Wasted on the Young by West Australian director Ben C. Lucas. Two winning films from the Berlin Film Festival are also included: How I Ended this Summer (Russia) and If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (Romania).

Films by internationally renowned directors will have their Australian premieres. These will include Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me, Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime, Brillante Mendoza’s Lola, celebrated Iranian artist Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men, Chris Morris’ outrageous comedy Four Lions, and Raoul Peck’s searing Haitian satire Moloch Tropical.

Festival director Clare Stewart said this year was shaping up to be one of the best festivals in years.

“The 2010 official competition line-up is set to take Sydney by storm - daring, commanding films that have already made a splash on the world’s best screens alongside a significant Australian discovery and films that will be unleashed at 63rd Cannes Film Festival.’’

The festival appears back on track after financial woes: 12 months ago a $300,000 rescue was needed, however since those dark days the State Government has committed $3 million over three years.

The Sydney Film Festival runs from June 2 to 14.

Article from Sydney Central/Where I live magazine


List of films made in France or with French collaboration or in French language:

Austria-Germany-France
Lourdes
Lourdes (General Admission)

Belgium-France-West Germany
Daughters of Darkness

France
Babies
Chicks (La vie au ranch)
Hadewijch
Hadewijch (GA Stalls*)
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (General Admission)
Mammuth
Mammuth (GA Stalls*)
Nénette
Story of My Life
The Game of Death
The Refuge
The Refuge (GA Stalls*)
Two in the Wave
Two in the Wave (GA Stalls*)
White Material

France-Australia
The Tree
The Tree (GA Stalls*)

France-Germany-UK
The Ghost Writer

France-Haiti
Moloch Tropical
Moloch Tropical (GA Stalls*)

France-Philippines
Lola
Lola (GA Stalls*)

France-Senegal
Saint Louis Blues

France-Serbia-Switzerland
Ordinary People

France-UK
The Illusionist
The Illusionist (GA Stalls*)

Germany-Austria-France
Women Without Men
Women Without Men (GA Stalls*)

Germany-Israel-France-Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon (General Admission)
Me, Too

Spain-France
Cell 211

Sri Lanka-France
Between Two Worlds
Between Two Worlds (GA Stalls*)

UK-Iraq-France
Son of Babylon

UK-Thailand-France-Germany-Spain
Winter's Bone

USA-France
La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (General Admission)


--

There are so many good films. How will I be able to choose which ones I want to see?

It will be interesting to see how well The Tree does. Directed by Julie Bertuccelli, and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, it's filmed and set in Australia. I read the synopsis on various sites and it seems a little too 'out there' for me. It is also the closing film for this year's Cannes Film Festival so I guess it could be good?

I met a German girl at the recent German film festival here and she was saying that film festivals seem to be big things in Sydney. I never thought about it before but after she mentioned it it got me thinking. We DO have a LOT of film festivals. After trawling the 'net for a long time, I realised there was very little information about the upcoming festivals for this year, in 2010, so I decided to compile my own list (for my own reference, but I'm sure it's also useful for other film buffs).

There are probably more but these are the main ones I found. Also some of them don't release the exact dates until closer to the event, and the dates I've listed here are only for Sydney even though many of these festivals happen in other Australian cities too.




Flickerfest - International short film festival at Bondi Beach
8-17 January 2010

Tropfest - World's largest short film festival
21 February 2010

Sydney China Film Festival
19-28 February 2010

Australian Film Festival, Randwick
24 February-7 March 2010

Alliance Française French Film Festival
2-23 March 2010

Bollywood and Beyond: Indian Film Festival
12-21 March 2010

A night of horror: International Film Festival
10-23 April 2010

Audi Festival of German films
21April-2 May 2010

Spanish Film Festival
5-16 May 2010

Sydney Buddhist Film Festival
15 May 2010 (today!)

Human Rights Arts and Film Festival
27-29 May 2010

Newtown Flicks short film festival
4-6 June 2010

International Sydney Film Festival
2-14 June 2010

Arab Film Festival
1-31 July 2010

Possible Worlds: Canadian film Festival
2-8 August 2010

Indonesian Film Festival
26-29 August 2010

Russian Resurrection: Russian Film Festival
19 August - 1 September 2010

September 2010

Sydney Latin American Film Festival
1-19 September 2010

Sydney Underground Film Festical
9-12 September 2010

Sydney Fringe Festival
10-26 September 2010

Italian Film Festival
23 September - 10 October 2010

Greek Film Festival
9-20 October 2010

Korean Film Festival
October 2010

Fantastic Planet: Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Festival
October 26 - November 5, 2010

Hola Mexico Film Festival
November-December 2010

Japanese Film Festival
November-December 2010

Harmony International Short Film Festival
December 2010

Queerscreen: Sydney Gay/Lesbian Mardi Gras film festival
February 2011


Let's just say I'm going to be saving my pennies for these! :D I am a massive fan of foreign films.

Petit Ecolier chocolate biscuits

Petit Écolier chocolate biscuits 
by LU (Lefèvre-Utile)

Oops... I just ate half a packet of chocolate biscuits! Naughty me.

Yesterday I was at the supermarket browsing the biscuits aisle. I have not done so for at least a month as I generally like to eat healthily. I actually passed by the biscuits by accident.

Australian biscuits are generally pretty good. Chocolate Tim Tams are famous and everybody from overseas loves them too. Most things sold in our supermarkets are made in Australia. There are actually very few imported products so it was kind of a shock to see these and being French, I had to have them ;) They cost me around $3.50 for a packet of 12. A quick search on the internet tells me they sell for around 1,30-2€ in France (1,6€ is AUD$2.20).

There's an interesting and funny article here on Nice up of tea and a sit down about these biscuits:

"What happens when you take an unremarkable biscuit, slap a big old lump of chocolate on it and call it rather dubiously a 'small schoolboy'? Well, you get the flagship biscuit for leading French biscuit manufacturer LU. As Gallic as a three hour lunch break or a terrifyingly constructed road junction, the Petit Écolier is not a biscuit that I would expect to see in our shops anytime soon.

On first encountering the Petit Écolier it appears bizarre, having embossed onto its slab of chocolate an odd looking child carrying a basket. On further investigation it turns out that the lad in question is called Jacques, son of poster artist Firmin Bouisset and painted by him in 1897. The baker and biscuit maker LU was founded by the husband and wife team of Pauline Utile and Jean-Romain Lefèvre, in the Tourane region of France, their surnames giving rise to the company name. They adopted the image of the little school boy, originally pictured eating straight forward Petit Beurre, over the even madder image of a flying trumpeting laurel distributing angel type woman. Back in the 19th century the little chap must have thought Petit Beurres were cutting edge biscuit heaven. Nowadays they are ranked somewhat below balsa wood, charcoal briquettes and airline food in the league table of appetising things to eat.

As one might expect with such an elaborate biscuit, it ships in a little cardboard box with a tray insert, a dozen to a pack. Different versions exist, milk, plain chocolate, caramel flavoured, or hazelnut. All of these have their own elusive charm, but given the almost transitory nature of the biscuit and chocolate coupling, I can easily imagine other toppings replacing the chocolate, sardine or radish for example.

The chocolate is nice, soft and creamy but I feel that the biscuit is a little too dry. If it was just the biscuit by itself I don't think I'd like it very much (and feel the need to drink a lot) but together with the chocolate, it makes a great combo."


Information Nutritionnelle

I love reading the packaging of European foodstuffs because there are always so many languages on it.  One thing I noticed on my box of Petit Écolier is that there's a sticker with "Imported by Kraft Foods Limited" and they have 'translated' the ingredients and quantities.  On the box itself is the amount per serving (milligrams or grams) , and % of daily value, but the Australian way is to have amount per serving and amount per 100g. I prefer the amount per 100g column because it makes it easy to compare the ingredients of the same goods across different brands, and it is also the percentage, eg if this contains 24g fat per 100g it means it is 24% fat. I guess Europeans/other countries don't use this?

The strangest thing is that the amount per serving (25g or 2 biscuits) on the box is not the same as the sticker. eg sodium is 50mg on the box but 56mg on the sticker!

There are speciality supermarkets here that specialise in imported goods from all around the world and these are always fun to browse in, but even though I see a lot of Italian goods I rarely see French ones. Bizarre.

Oh, I just realised if one portion is 2 biscuits, I just ate 3 portions... oops! No more for me for a while.


45 weeks of learning French / Coffee Break French


It's been a while since I did my weekly updates. 21 weeks of learning French was my last one and now I've been learning French for 45 weeks!

I haven't progressed much since the 21 week mark but in the meantime I've done 3 sessions of French lessons, as well as made French friends here in Sydney to practise conversation with.


So far I have:
  • finished listening to all 80 lessons of Coffee Break French. Yay!
  • Done up to the end of Assimil - Lesson 92 (of 113 lessons) (no progress)
  • Done up to the end of Live Mocha - Lesson 37 (of 50 lessons)
  • Done up to the end of French in Action - Lesson 22 (of 52 lessons)
  • Done up to the end of FSI - Lesson 56 (tape 8.5) (of 189 lessons) (no progress)
  • Done up to the end of FSI French Phonology - Lesson 3 (tape 2.1) (of 20 lessons) (none this week) (no progress)

Updated progress bar on right hand column of this blog.

jeudi 13 mai 2010

Studying in France II CNOUS CROUS



I previously wrote about my confusions towards the French university system. The more I read, the more confused I got!

However, I just stumbled upon this 36 page PDF document which explains clearly (in English!) (almost) everything you need to know about studying at an university in France. I wished I found it earlier! It is from cnous.fr the "institutional portal for student life" (seems like a computer translation to me ;) )

How to search imdb for filming locations, flickr, google streetview

Did you know?

Internet movie database (imdb)

Using imdb's advanced search you can look for specific filming locations. Select 'filming locations' in the drop down selection box.

To get the exact location, you might have to just search the place name you know such as "Paris" but when you click search, you'll see that some places are not what you are looking for so you'll have to use their formatting (city name, state, country) and 'copy' the text, click 'back' on your browser, and 'paste' it back into the search box to get the exact hit.


I've done the hard work for you already:

imdb: filming locations: Paris
imdb: filming locations: Lyon
imdb: filming locations: Marseille
imdb: filming locations: Toulouse
imdb: filming locations: Montpellier
imdb: filming locations: Grenoble
imdb: filming locations: Bordeaux
imdb: filming locations: Nantes
imdb: filming locations: Strasbourg
imdb: filming locations: Rennes
imdb: filming locations: Nice



Flickr

Go to Places and do a keyword search for the city you want. Here is the link for France and the various cities:


I've done the hard work for you already:

Paris
Lyon
Marseille
Toulouse
Montpellier
Grenoble
Bordeaux
Nantes
Strasbourg
Rennes
Nice



Google Streetview

Then of course there is Google's streetview. In case you've been hiding behind a rock, this is the best way to see what a place looks like in real life!

Go to maps.google.com, type in your location. Use the + in the top left corner, or double click to zoom in on the map. You can also pick up the map (click and drag the mouse) and move it around.

To use Streetview, drag the little yellow man (top left hand corner) onto the map. The blue lines will appear where you can place him, wait a few seconds and voilà! A virtual reality world. It really feels like you're in Paris. (this looks better on a big screen).






I hope these tips have been useful. They are a good way of 'visiting' a place without actually going there. I am a mega movie buff and love seeing locations in a movie and then later visiting them in real life, and of course that's my aim with various French cities ;)

mercredi 12 mai 2010

French in Action - Capretz method - finished watching


I have been plodding along the past few months, watching the French in Action videos on Youtube starting with this one:



and the other day I finally finished watching them all up to episode 52 (the last one). The ending is an absolute shocker. So shocking it's hilarious!! It was a bit of an anti-climax really as I was dying to know what would happen between Mireille and Robert, and what's the deal with the man in black (l'homme en noir).

I bought the workbooks and I'm not even halfway through the exercises. I'm only up to episode/lesson 22. I have a long way to go. I enjoy doing all the exercises and find them extremely helpful but they are soooooo time consuming. It takes several hours to go through each chapter.

All I can say is, I highly recommend this series for learning French. Prof. Pierre Capretz has really outdone himself with creating an educational and entertaining series for language learning. It is also hilarious to see what life was like in Paris back in the 1980s!

French in Action: Wikipedia
List of episodes
Mystères et boules de gomme / FiA fans blog

The Promise - Lisa Clifford - book review

This review and the links will contain spoilers.. I hate spoilers myself so I thought I'd warn you in advance.

The Promise - Lisa Clifford


I went to the library to return some books and to see if there was anything interesting in the France section. Didn't see anything worthy of my attention that I hadn't already read so I skimmed the shelves of the nearby Italy section. If I wanted to read books about Italy I would've started a long time ago but I've so far only limited myself to books about France.

I did read Eat Pray Love as I've mentioned several times already and I have wanted to travel to Italy for a really long time so when I saw this book on the shelf I thought, "What the heck, I'll borrow it."

It almost reads like an Italian version of Sarah Turnbull's Almost French. Here is yet another female journalist from Sydney who goes to Italy (this time) and meets a man...

The only difference is that Sarah is 27 when she goes to France, but Lisa is only 17 when she goes to Italy (Florence).

From the aspect of being a Sydneysider, the book was very easy to read. All the places, suburbs, and very Sydney 'things' she mentions throughout the book, I know exactly what she's talking about. I know where all the places are on a map and I know the typical Australian culture.

I do know some things about the Italian culture too as I had some Italian friends when I was in high school and I knew that most of them lived with their extended family all together in one big house. However, there were many things I was yet to learn, which I did through the help of this book.

Lisa is a likeable character and the book is easy enough to read. At the young and impressionable age of 17, and not having finished high school, she goes to Florence, which is her first time overseas without her parents.

Her mother is a celebrity in her own right, June Dally-Watkins of the famed modelling and etiquette school. Lisa neglects to mention this at the beginning of the book as she stresses she wanted to be her own person and was sick of being regarded simply as her mother's daughter.

The book is a look at Lisa's life over the next 18-20 years where she goes back and forth between Sydney and Florence, starting and stopping and starting her career, and being confused about her love for Paolo, and whether or not their relationship will ever work because she doesn't feel 100% at home in Florence, and he would never feel 100% home in Sydney (and their cultural differences, obviously!).

It's an interesting dilemma and I'm sure many couples of today face. I know quite a few couples like that where one has to give up everything they ever know (family, friends, familiarity and culture) to live overseas with their one true love. But at the end of it all I guess if you can conquer such a huge challenge, your relationship will more than likely last the test of time :)

Links (don't read if you don't want spoilers)


Lisa Clifford's official site
Lisa's Facebook and the first chapter of the book
Interview with Lisa on the Florentine
Photo of Lisa
Interview with Lisa, ABC radio

Super news

I have super super jolly good news!

But I can't tell you yet.. all will be revealed in due course. :)

lundi 10 mai 2010

Cannes film festival - 12-23 May 2010



The 2010 Cannes film festival will be starting soon! Yippee! It is on from 12 to 23 May.


OPENING FILM


Ridley SCOTT
ROBIN HOOD (Out of Competition)
Robin des bois
USA

COMPETITION


Mathieu AMALRIC TOURNÉE (On Tour)
France

Xavier BEAUVOIS DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (Of God And Men)
France

Rachid BOUCHAREB HORS LA LOI (Outside Of The Law)
France/Algeria/Belgium

Alejandro GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU BIUTIFUL
USA

Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN UN HOMME QUI CRIE (A Screaming Man)
Chad

IM Sangsoo THE HOUSEMAID
South Korea

Abbas KIAROSTAMI COPIE CONFORME (Certified Copy)
France/Italy/Iran

Takeshi KITANO OUTRAGE
Japan

LEE Chang-dong POETRY
South Korea

Mike LEIGH ANOTHER YEAR
UK

Doug LIMAN FAIR GAME
USA

Sergei LOZNITSA SCHASTYE MOE - 1st film - (My Joy)
Ukraine

Daniele LUCHETTI LA NOSTRA VITA (Our Life)
Italy/France

Nikita MIKHALKOV UTOMLYONNYE SOLNTSEM 2: PREDSTOYANIE (Burnt By The Sun 2: Exodus)
Germany/France/Russia

Kornél MUNDRUCZÓ SZELÍD TEREMTÉS – A Frankenstein Terv (TENDER SON - The Frankenstein Project)
Hungary

Bertrand TAVERNIER LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER (The Princess Of Montpensier)
France/Germany

WANG Xiaoshuai RIZHAO CHONGQING (Chongqing Blues)
China

Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives) 
Thailand/France/Spain/Germany/UK

UN CERTAIN REGARD


Derek CIANFRANCE BLUE VALENTINE - 1st film
USA

Xavier DOLAN LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES (Heartbeats)
Canada

Manoel DE OLIVEIRA O ESTRANHO CASO DE ANGÉLICA (The Stange Case of Angelica)
Portugal

Ivan FUND, Santiago LOZA LOS LABIOS (The Lips)
Argentina

Fabrice GOBERT SIMON WERNER A DISPARU… - 1st film - (Lights Out)
France

Jean-Luc GODARD FILM SOCIALISME
France

Christoph HOCHHÄUSLER UNTER DIR DIE STADT (The City Below)
Germany/France

HONG Sangsoo HA HA HA
South Korea

JIA Zhang-Ke HAI SHANG CHUAN QI (I Wish I Knew)
China

Lodge KERRIGAN REBECCA H. (RETURN TO THE DOGS)
USA

Ágnes KOCSIS PÁL ADRIENN (Adrienn Pál)
Hungary/Netherlands/France/Austria

Vikramaditya MOTWANE UDAAN - 1st film
India

Radu MUNTEAN MARTI, DUPA CRACIUN (Tuesday, After Christmas)
Romania

Hideo NAKATA CHATROOM
Japan

Cristi PUIU AURORA
Romania/France/Switzerland/Germany


Oliver SCHMITZ LIFE ABOVE ALL
South Africa

Pablo TRAPERO CARANCHO
Argentina

Daniel VEGA, Diego VEGA OCTUBRE - 1st film - (October)
Peru

David VERBEEK R U THERE
Taiwan/France/Netherlands


OUT OF COMPETITION


Grand Théâtre Lumière

Woody ALLEN YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER
USA/Spain

Olivier ASSAYAS CARLOS
France

Stephen FREARS TAMARA DREWE
UK

Oliver STONE WALL STREET - MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (Wall Street - l'argent ne dort jamais)
USA


Salle du 60ème

Andrei UJICA AUTOBIOGRAFIA LUI NICOLAE CEAUŞESCU
(L'autobiographie de Nicolae Ceausescu)
Romania

Midnight Screenings

Gregg ARAKI KABOOM
USA/France

Gilles MARCHAND L'AUTRE MONDE (Black Heaven)
France/Belgium

Special Screenings

Charles FERGUSON INSIDE JOB
USA

Sophie FIENNES OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW
Netherlands

Patricio GUZMAN NOSTALGIA DE LA LUZ (Nostalgia for the Light)
France

Sabina GUZZANTI DRAQUILA - L'ITALIA CHE TREMA (Draquila-Italie Trembles)
Italy

Otar IOSSELIANI CHANTRAPAS
Georgia

Diego LUNA ABEL
Mexico

Lucy WALKER COUNTDOWN TO ZERO
USA

Manaira CARNEIRO,  5 X FAVELA POR NOS MESMOS
Wagner NOVAIS,
Rodrigo FELHA,
Cacau AMARAL,
Luciano VIDIGAL,
Cadu BARCELOS,
Luciana BEZERRA
Brazil


CLOSING FILM

Julie BERTUCCELLI THE TREE 
France/Australia

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Robin Hood (Ridley Scott) trailer



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Official Cannes site
Another Cannes film festival site with links to imdb for each of the films

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Ce serai amusant et ça serait intéressant de découvrir qui/lequel va être le vainqueur !

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