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Tag Archives: France
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘The Frog and the Crocodile’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. The next essay I want to excerpt is called ‘The Frog and the Crocodile’, originally published in The New Yorker. Yet another essay by Joan Acocella that … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, France, Joan Acocella, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
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Polisse (2011). It’s a Horrible Job But Someone’s Gotta Do It.
This originally appeared on Capital New York. “You try to handle it on a case by case basis,” one member of Paris’ Child Protection Unit says when asked about the emotional implications of his job. He deals with victims of … Continue reading
“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines …” Happy Birthday, Ludwig Bemelmans
Today is the birthday of Ludwig Bemelmans, author of the beloved Madeline books. Here is a really interesting biographical sketch of him. I didn’t know any of it. Listen to this: When he was a teenager, his parents apprenticed him … Continue reading
The Books: The Theatre and Its Double, by Antonin Artaud
Daily Book Excerpt: Theatre Next book on the acting/theatre shelf is The Theater and Its Double, by Antonin Artaud Antonin Artaud as Jean Massieu in Danish film director Carl Dreyer’s “La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc” (1928) Boy, Artaud was a … Continue reading
The Books: Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser
Daily Book Excerpt: Biography Next biography on the biography shelf is Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser Or consider that unutterable business of the Diamond Necklace. Red-hatted Cardinal Louis de Rohan; Sicilian jailbird Balsamo Cagliostro; milliner Dame de Lamotte, … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Austria, Biography, Edmund Burke, France, politics, Sofia Coppola, war
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Opening Credits: Gaspar Noé’s Enter The Void
I think I’m in love.
The Books: War Within & Without: Diaries And Letters Of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1939-1944
Daily Book Excerpt: Memoirs: Next book on the Memoir/Letters/Journals shelf is War Within & Without: Diaries And Letters Of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1939-1944 Anne Lindbergh’s journals of these terrible years read, at times, like one long apologia for her husband’s … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Charles Lindbergh, France, Germany, Memoirs, war, WWII
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Tribeca Film Festival 2011: Flowers of Evil, A Film of Love and Protest (With Lots of Tweets)
This review originally appeared on Capital New York, as part of my coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival. Much of the current conversation about social media and technology, in the world at large and in cinema, focuses on how it … Continue reading
Rotterdam@BAM: La Vie au Ranch; Director: Sophie Letourneur
This week, BAM is partnering with the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam to present to American audiences the winners of IFFR’S Tiger competition (given to first- or second-time filmmakers). The screenings for the public are going on this week (see … Continue reading
“It is part of my creed that the only Poetry is History could we tell it right.”– Thomas Carlyle
Whether he got the French Revolution “right” is not only up for debate but irrelevant. After all, he wasn’t actually there. But Thomas Carlyle’s great (and difficult) and frenzied