I'm a Francophile. Ask me anything.

[Seabiscuit]

[fryguy]

1. Is Franco still dead?

<<sarcasm>>

[Seabiscuit]

3. Hee hee. Yes, last time I looked (he wasn't around).

Not THAT "Franco". :)

Think: "Gallomaniac".

And forget about those cheesy California winemakers before you post again, puleeze.

[fryguy]

11. aww

and i was getting ready to pull out my best oenology and viticulture jokes....

[Seabiscuit]

16. Pull away... I'm game.

[bettyellen]

2. your favorite crepe?

[Seabiscuit]

4. suzette

[u4ic]

5. Poutine? n/t

[Seabiscuit]

8. So why's your baby poutin'?

[azoth]

6. SpaghettiOs or RavioliOs?

[Seabiscuit]

9. Neither. StromboliOs

[glarius]

7. Je suis tres bien

Coment allez vous?.....:)

[Seabiscuit]

10. Tres, tres bien ce soir, merci.

[glarius]

12. Ahhhh.....bien

That's it...I'm just about out of French....:)

[Seabiscuit]

15. OK, let me pour you a glass of this fine Saint Emilion Gran Cru I'm

drinking tonight - bought it at Isle St. Louis (Paris) in 1999. That should inspire you. It inspired me. :)

[BeyondGeography]

13. Satie, Debussy or Ravel?

Or all three?

[Seabiscuit]

14. Les trois! Ils sont tous magnifique!

J'ai rencontre un pianiste qui est tres bien connu a Paris qui joue tous les ouevres de Eric Satie.

Moi, je joue Ravel et Debussy au piano, mais pas Satie.

[BeyondGeography]

19. Il est impossible de choisir. Je suis d'accord avec toi.

Vivre sans Satie, Debussy or Ravel, c'est serait insupportable. Satie, c'est la musique de la reflexion et de la nuit incomparable (3eme Gnossienne anyone?). Debussy, cela fait voyager, dans le sens intellectuelle, visuelle et géographique. Chez Ravel, il y a Rapsodie Espagnole, Daphne et Chloe, Pavane, etc. C'est peut-etre le seul parmi eux qui a composé ses plus grands oeuvres pour orchestre.

Ils sonts tous les trois révolutionaire, et quand la radio les met, j'arrete tout pour écouter.

Malheureusement, je ne joue pas du tout.

[Seabiscuit]

21. Mais...tu parles tres bien le francais, et tu joue les CD's, n'est-ce pas?

Autrement, tu ne connaitrais pas le delice d'ecouter Satie, Ravel, et Debussy, non?

[BeyondGeography]

24. Voilà, je joue les CD's, mais pas au piano

Je suis diplomé de l'Université Americaine de Paris (circa 1982, for crying out loud). Dans le temps, je ne parlais que le francais tous les jours avec ma petite amie parisienne. Elle etait chiante, mais elle m'a bien appris la langue. Elle aimait le cinema, la musique et les promenades, mais elle avait trop de neuroses à la fin.

[Seabiscuit]

25. Je suis diplome de l'Universite Americaine de Paris aussi (1970)

et aussi de La Sorbonne, UC Bezerkeley & Boalt Hall. A ce temps-la a Paris j'etais comme toi - je parlais francais tous les jours, sauf avec des Americains et des Anglais qui ne parlais que d'anglais. J'avais aussi une jeune fille francaise la qui m'a donne tout-ce qui etait necessaire, et puis un peu.

[Seabiscuit]

26. Savais-tu que le meilleur vin a boire avec le fromage de chevre est

un verre de chablis?

[Seabiscuit]

17. For the record, I think

Tucker Carlson is totally "frou-frou"

And the Smirking Chimp is utter "caca".

[Seabiscuit]

18. Query: Which of the following companies are not French?

Air France
Air Liquide
Airbus
Alcatel
Allegra (allergy medication)
Aqualung (including: Spirotechnique, Technisub, US Divers, and SeaQuest)
AXA Advisors
Bank of the West (owned by BNP Paribas)
Beneteau (boats)
BF Goodrich (owned by Michelin)
BIC (razors, pens and lighters)
Biotherm (cosmetics)
Black Bush
Bollinger (champagne)
Car & Driver Magazine
Cartier
Chanel
Chivas Regal (scotch)
Christian Dior
Club Med (vacations)
Culligan (owned by Vivendi)
Dannon (yogurt and dairy foods)
DKNY
Dom Perignon
Durand Crystal
Elle Magazine
Essilor Optical Products
Evian
Fina gas stations and Fina Oil (billions invested in Iraqi oil fields)
First Hawaiian Bank
George Magazine
Givenchy
Glenlivet (scotch)
Hennessy
Houghton Mifflin (books)
Jacobs Creek (owned by Pernod Ricard since 1989)
Jameson (whiskey)
Jerry Springer (talk show)
Krups (coffee and cappuccino makers)
Lancome
Le Creuset (cookware)
L'Oreal (health and beauty products)
Louis Vuitton
Marie Claire
Martel Cognac
Maybelline
Méphisto (shoes and clothes)
Michelin (tires and auto parts)
Mikasa (crystal and glass)
Moet (champagne)
Motel 6
Motown Records
MP3.com
Mumms (champagne)
Nissan (cars; majority owned by Renault)
Nivea
Normany Butter
Parents Magazine
Peugeot (automobiles)
Pierre Cardin
Playstation Magazine
ProScan (owned by Thomson Electronics, France)
Publicis Group (including Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising)
RCA (televisions and electronics; owned by Thomson Electronics)
Red Magazine
Red Roof Inns (owned by Accor group in France)
Renault (automobiles)
Road & Track Magazine
Roquefort cheese (all Roquefort cheese is made in France)
Rowenta (toasters, irons, coffee makers, etc.)
Royal Canadian
Salomon (skis)
Sierra Software and Computer Games
Smart & Final
Sofitel (hotels, owned by Accor)
Sparkletts (water, owned by Danone)
Spencer Gifts
Sundance Channel
Taylor Made (golf)
Technicolor
T-Fal (kitchenware)
Total gas stations
UbiSoft (computer games)
Uniroyal
Universal Studios (music, movies and amusement parks; owned by Vivendi-Universal)
USFilter
Veritas Group
Veuve Clicquot Champagne
Vittel
Vivendi
Wild Turkey (bourbon)
Woman's Day Magazine
Yoplait (The French company Sodiaal owns a 50 percent stake)
Yves Saint Laurent
Zodiac Inflatable Boats.

[porkrind]

20. What does a French whore

really smell like? I've been meaning to find out. :)

[Seabiscuit]

22. Un macquerelle.

[Seabiscuit]

23. Je pourrais dit les anchoves, mais peut-etre il y'a des femmes ici....

[Seabiscuit]

27. What? Doesn't anyone else here appreciate Chirac's contribution to

the public discourse about Iraq?

[Seabiscuit]

28. Shee-it. My thread's in danger of dying on page 2!

:kick:

[Eyeball Kid]

29. Dommage!

Cela m'agacait aussi!

[Seabiscuit]

35. Merci

[Timebound]

30. Do you like pineapple on your pizza?

[Seabiscuit]

36. Only with Canadian bacon. Otherwise I'm a sausage & pepperoni

kinda guy.

[bloodyjack]

31. Can you guess from which movie the following screen capture was taken

[Seabiscuit]

37. I could guess, but the title escapes me. I do recognize it, though.

So what's the answer?

[bloodyjack]

39. Le extension du domaine de la lutte

Here, let me find a cast & characters on imdb

Extension du domaine de la lutte (1999)
Directed by Philippe Harel

Writing credits
Philippe Harel
Michel Houellebecq (also novel)

Philippe Harel .... Notre Héros
José Garcia .... Raphael Tisserand
Catherine Mouchet .... La psy
Cécile Reigher .... Catherine Lechardey

Having commented a few times on the decline of recent French cinema it is always a pleasure to report the discovery of works that run counter to this trend, the films of Andre Techine for instance. Although not quite in the same league as Bresson or the best of Chabrol or Truffaut, his films are outstanding because of the compassion with which he depicts his characters, generally young men caught up in adversity. Philippe Harel has achieved something similar in "Extension du Domaine de la Lutte" with a somewhat older pair of working men who are trying to face up to the fact that life is proving a disappointment. "Our hero", as the unseen voice-over narrator refers to him, is a computer systems salesman who, nearing his forties, has had no luck in attracting feminine affection. He lives alone and is unhappy and unfulfilled in his work. The youthful promise and enthusiasm for life glimpsed only in boyhood photographs have been drained out of him and he has all but given up on finding a lasting relationship. His colleague with whom he is obliged to share a sales promotion tour approaches a similar sexual predicament in a different way. Shorter and uglier he has adopted a defence mechanism of bravado and the bonhomie of the blue joke teller. He refuses to retire into his shell to the extent of continually looking for conquests in nightclubs. These always end in rebuttal with tragedy the eventual inevitable outcome. "Our hero" on the other hand finds a different sort of defence mechanism in voluntarily committing himself to a mental institution when no longer able to cope with normal relationships at his workplace. The film's conclusion is open-ended in its suggestion that he might be on the verge of finding a relationship but it only hints at the possibility. Such an outcome is by no means certain. The director has elected to play the central role and a remarkable job he has made of it, balancing stoicism with self-pity most convincingly. That we are offered such a three-dimensional view of his character is largely due to the way Harel shares that most French device, the voice-over commentary, between two narrators, an unseen storyteller and the character himself. The alternation of the two voices illuminates the central character in a way that justifies this narrative device more effectively than I can remember from any other film.

[Penndems]

32. Are you into haute couture?

Are you a fashion maven? Or metrosexual? :)

[Seabiscuit]

34. No. I have nice clothes, but

no one's ever referred to me as a "fashion maven". Others here on DU have, however referred to me as "metrosexual".

[radwriter0555]

33. Would you like fries with that?

:D

[Seabiscuit]

38. Always. Just don't abuse the word "freedom", thank you.

[Seabiscuit]

40. OK. I'm baaaaaa-aaaaack.