Sunday, November 30, 2008

This Is Not How To Learn French

Noir Désir -French Rock Group


Noir Désir is a French rock band
The band was formed in Bordeaux in 1983 by singer Bertrand Cantat, drummer Denis Barthe, guitarist Serge Teyssot-Gay and bassist Frédéric Vidalenc (replaced in 1996 by Jean-Paul Roy). Their first album 
Veuillez rendre l'âme (à qui elle appartient) (1989) was recognised as one of the best French rock albums ever made, and it produced a hit single: "Aux sombres héros de l'amer", a sea-shantyesque harmonica-driven ballad that uses the metaphor of sailors "lost in the sea" to speak of the 19th century "poètes maudits" and other fellow navigators of existential emptiness. Noir Désir became one of the most prominent rock bands in France, releasing albums every few years.
In 2003, following an argument related to infidelity, Bertrand Cantat, drunk at the time, hit his girlfriend Marie Trintignant, also drunk, in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania. She fell and hit her head on the radiator, becoming unconscious. Bertrand Cantat put her to bed and called her brother who was in the area. Seeing his sister in bed, he thought she was asleep and advised Cantat to wait until the morning. The following morning, Marie Trintignant was found in comas in her bed and died a few days later. A Lithuanian judge sentenced Cantat to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of manslaughter. He served four years of his sentence in a prison near Toulouse, France, and was freed on parole on October 16, 2007.

Noir Desir - Marlène

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Be The Croissant

Back by popular demand . A very amusing video.



Poor Poor Croissant

George Sand - French Novelist & Feminist


Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, later Baroness  Dudevant (July 11804 –June 81876), best known by her pseudonym George Sand French novelist and feminist.

Sand's reputation came into question when she began sporting men's clothing in public — which she justified by the clothes being far sturdier and less expensive than the typical dress of a noblewoman at the time. In addition to being comfortable, Sand's male dress enabled her to circulate more freely in Paris than most of her female contemporaries could, and gave her increased access to venues from which women were often barred — even women of her social standing.

Also scandalous was Sand's smoking tobacco in public; neither peerage nor gentry had yet sanctioned the free indulgence of women in such a habit, especially in public (though Franz Liszt's paramour Marie D'Agoult affected this as well, smoking large cigars). These and other behaviors were exceptional for a woman of the early and mid-19th century, when social codes—especially in the upper classes—were of the utmost importance.

Her first published novel, Rose et Blanche (1831), was written in collaboration with Jules Sandeau.

Drawing from her childhood experiences of the countryside, she wrote the rural novels La Mare au Diable (1846), François le Champi (1847–1848), La Petite Fadette (1849), and Les Beaux Messieurs Bois-Doré (1857). A Winter in Majorca described the period that she and Chopin spent on that island in 1838-9.

Her other novels include Indiana (1832), Lélia (1833), Mauprat (1837), Le Compagnon du Tour de France (1840), Consuelo (1842–1843), and Le Meunier d'Angibault (1845).

Further theatre pieces and autobiographical pieces include Histoire de ma vie (1855), Elle et Lui (1859) (about her affair with Musset), Journal Intime (posthumously published in 1926), and Correspondence. Sand often performed her theatrical works in her small private theatre at the Nohant estate.

In addition, Sand authored literary criticism and political texts. Her most widely used quote being, "There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved."

She was known well in far reaches of the world, and her social practices, her writings and her beliefs prompted much commentary, often by other luminaries in the world of arts and letters.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Answer to Yesterday's Guess Who



Olivier Martinez (born January 12, 1966) is a French film actor. He became known after roles in several French films, and has also appeared in Hollywood-produced features, including Unfaithful.

In 1994, Martinez won a César Award as "Most Promising Actor" for his role in Un, Deux, Trois, Soleil, (1993). He first came to mainstream attention in Hollywood films with his performance opposite Diane Lane in Unfaithful (2002). He has since appeared in a television adaptation ofThe Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (2003), S.W.A.T. (2003) and Taking Lives (2004). He also starred as Gabriel in the 2007 movie adaptation of Blood and Chocolate, a popular book.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Guess Who


Guess who this french person is.

nswer will be posted tomorrow.

Comédie-Française


The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the Ier arrondissement of Paris.

The theatre has also been known as the Théâtre-Nautique and as the théâtre de la République. The best-known playwright associated with the Comédie-Française is Molière. He was considered the patron of French actors; however, he died seven years before the birth of "la maison de Molière", as the Comédie-Française is often styled.

Click here to go to their season's schedule

Wednesday, November 26, 2008


Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter,sculptor, and filmmaker. Fernand Léger initially trained as an architect from 1897-1899 before moving in 1900 to Paris, where he supported himself as an architectural draftsman. In 1909 he moved to Montparnasse and met such leaders of the avant garde as Archipenko, Lipchitz, Chagall, and Robert Delaunay. His major painting of this period is Nudes in the Forest (1909-10), in which Léger displayed a personal form ofCubism—his critics called it "Tubism" for its emphasis on cylindrical forms—that made no use of the collage technique pioneered by Braque and Picasso. In 1910 he joined with several other artists, including Delaunay, Jacques Villon, Henri Le Fauconnier, Albert Gleizes, Francis Picabia, and Marie Laurencin to form an offshoot of the Cubist movement, the Puteaux Group. Léger was influenced during this time by ItalianFuturism, and his paintings, from then until 1914, became increasingly abstract. Their vocabulary of tubular, conical, and cubed forms are laconically rendered in rough patches of primary colours plus green, black and white.

Stéphane Grappelli -Famous French Violinist


Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt. It was one of the first (and arguably the most famous) of all-string jazz bands.
Grappelli was born in Paris, France to Italian parents. His mother died when he was four and his father left to fight in World War I. As a result he was sent to an orphanage. Grappelli started his musical career as a performer on the streets of Paris and Montmartre with a violin. He began playing the violin at age 12, and attended the Conservatoire de Paris studying music theory, between 1924 and 1928. He continued to street perform on the side until he gained fame in Paris as a violin virtuoso.



Stéphane Grappelli "Tiger Rag"

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Quick Phrase of the Day - Is This A Private Beach

You come to a beach (plage). You may have to ask someone:

Est-ce une plage privée? (ess oon plahzh pree vay) -Is this a private beach?

Repeat this phrase all day long till you know it by heart.

Vocabulary word of the day:
incassable (ahn kah sah bluh) -unbreakable
Cette lampe est incassable (seht lahmp eht ahn kah sah bluh)-this lamp is unbreakable

Quick Phrase Video (by a very brave man)

Monday, November 24, 2008

Johnny Halliday Song of the Week

Johnny Hallyday : Je te promets!

Quick Phrase of the Day -It Is A Common Expresson

There are a lot of expressions you may here in France that you won't understand, much in the way we have a lot of slang expressions here in America. When you ask someone there about a phrase you don't understand & can not find it in your translation book, they may tell you:

C'est en effet une expression courante (seht ahn eh feht oon ehk spresh shee yohn koor ahnt) -It is a common expression

Repeat this phrase all day long till you know it by heart.

Vocabulary word of the day:
le mot (leh moh) -the word
il est un mot que je ne connais pas (eel eht uhn moh zhuh neh kohn ay pah) -It is a word that I don't understand.

Quick Phrase of the Day (by a very brave man)

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Monthly Welcome To All The Newcomers

Bonjour tout le monde (bohn zhur too leh mohnd). Hello everyone. This site is getting more people everyday so I just want to say Bonjour to all the newcomwers. 

Thanks for the nice responses to my site. For all you newcomers, the reason for this blog is this:
1. For me to keep studying my French.
2. For you to learn with me at a relaxed & non structured pace. (No grades or report cards :)
3. I will not teach unnecessary phrases or words that you will probably never use if you visit France (such as drain-pipe, soil, grasshopper, oboe, etc). We will only concentrate on words & phrases that we would need if we go on a vacation to France.

I will not dwell on grammer, or thousands of verbs and every possible past present and future combinations that they teach in the books. My purpose is to learn needed words and phrases so we will not stumble around Paris trying to find someone who speaks English. We will not be fluent in french from this site, but we will be able to somewhat communicate to people when we get there. Where I work we have thousands of tourists visit our store, and they do not speak perfect English, but I can understand what they are trying to communicate to me. That is what I want to be able to do if and when I ever go to France.

How to use this site:
Write down or print out each lesson or Phrase Of the Day posts. keep it with you all day. Look at it whenever you can. Keep saying the phrases to yourself (don't worry if people think you are crazy talking to yourself). Keep a notebook or a blank piece of paper so you can repeatedly write the phrases & words over & over. Repetition is the key here. Don't worry if you miss or skip a lesson or phrase. There is no order to the things I post here. It is not like a book where you have to start from page 1. All we are doing here is trying to keep adding to our own vocabulary of the french language. Also, do check the day after a post, as we have a few people from France (most notably our friend Isabelle) who help keep this site accurate, and who also advise us on better ways of saying certain phrases.  

As I am a beginner also, Any comments, or suggestions, or corrections will be greatly appreciated. Email me anytime at RoyBurstiner@gmail.com even if you want to practice your french writing. We are all here to help each other.

So in the meantime, everyone have fun with this blog, practice the phrases in your head all day long, & enjoy. -Roy

Les Deux Magots


The name of Coffee "Les Deux Magots" was originally the banner of a new store that once occupied the same location. This shop, founded in 1812, was originally 23, rue de Buci, at the corner of the Rue de Seine, was transferred in 1873 due to expansion-ment, place St-Germain-des-Pres. From that time testify to emphasize the two statues that adorn the room of the institution. 
Around 1885 the new store gave way to a coffee liqueur in this together. Verlaine, Rimbaud and Mallarme, among others, took then used to meet them. 
Café Les Deux Magots has always played an important role in the cultural life of Paris.Established in 1933, Le Prix des Deux Magots mark his literary vocation. Frequented by many famous artists including Elsa Triolet, André Gide, Jean Giraudoux, Picasso, Fernand Léger, Prévert, Hemingway, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, among others, he welcomed the Surrealists led by Andre Breton, well before the existentialists who did the best nights of the cellars of the neighborhood. 
Today the world of arts and literature are also the borders of fashion and politics.

Café Les Deux Magots is proud to be one of the oldest cafes of Paris: the service has retained its original character. The servers, dressed in black and white according to tradition, serve some drinks (wine, champagne, spirits, whiskey) to the client, with presentation of the bottle. They also serve chocolate prepared from the ancient tablets melted in milk and coffee, like in real pots made smoking at the table. 

The Scarlet Pimpernel


The Scarlet Pimpernel is a classic play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the spy fiction and the superhero genres, where a hero hides under a mild-mannered alias.

The Plot:

The novel is set in 1792, during the bloodthirsty, early stages of the French Revolution. Marguerite St. Just, a beautiful French ex-actress, is the wife of the wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney, a baronet. Before their marriage, Marguerite had said unintended things in private that had resulted in sending French aristocrat the Marquis de St. Cyr and his sons to the guillotine. When Percy found out, he became estranged from his wife.
Meanwhile, a secret society of 19 English aristocrats, the "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel", is engaged in rescuing their French counterparts from the daily executions. Their leader, the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, takes his nickname from the drawing of a small red flower with which he signs his messages. Despite being the talk of London society, only his followers and possibly the Prince of Wales know the Pimpernel's true identity. Like many others, Marguerite is entranced by the Pimpernel's daring exploits.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Tour Montparnasse - Montparnasse Tower


Tour Maine-Montparnasse (Maine-Montparnasse Tower), also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a 210-meter (689 ft) tall office skyscraper located in Paris, France, in the area of Montparnasse. Constructed from 1969 to 1972, it is the tallest skyscraper in France and the ninth tallest building in the European Union.

Its simple architecture, gigantic proportions and monolithic appearance have been often criticised for being out of place in Paris's urban landscape and, as a result, two years after its completion, the construction of skyscrapers in the city centre was banned.
The design of the tower predates architectural trends that placed high importance on a view of the outside, and so only offices around the perimeter of each floor have windows (more modern skyscrapers are often designed to provide a window for every office).
It is sometimes said, only half-jokingly, that the view from the top is the most beautiful in Paris, since it is the only place from which you cannot see the tower

Friday, November 21, 2008

English Lesson

It's funny, I started this site to help me learn french (& anyone else who wanted to learn), but I've also received Emails from several Europeans who are trying to learn English & are following this blog to help them too. 
One question I received from Carlo in Italy, was that he was confused over how many ways Americans greet each other. Here's  a list of what I came up with:
Hello (very formal)
Hi (informal, used a lot)
Hey (informal, used a lot also as in "Hey Paul" "Hey Mary"
or if it's the morning, a lot of people just say "morning" short for "Good Morning"
as:
"Morning Paul" "Morning Mary" instead of Hi or Hello.

Also no one ever really says "How are you". Usually people say "What's up" as in:
"Hey Paul, what's up?
"Nothing much" or "Same old thing" or "Same old same old" or even "Not Much"

Hope that helps

You can ask me anytime about english words or phrases too.

David Grimal - French Violinist

David GRIMAL was born in 1973 in Paris and started to play the violon at the age of cinq. He won First Prize in violon and musique de chambre at the Paris Conservatory in 1993. Afterwards he did his postgraduate studies with Regis PASQUIER. He also enriched and deepened his musicality by studying with such personalities as Philipp HIRSCHHORN, Shlomo MINTZ, Isaac STERN.
More recently he won the European Community Prize-1996, the European Radio Union Prize-1996, and received the 'Crédit National" Fellowship Award. He was also honoured as the Classical discovery of the MIDEM 1997.
He has performed as un soliste and in chamber ensembles in Switzerland, Japan,Korea, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, New York (Lincoln Center), Vienna (Musikverein), as well as on the main stages in Paris (Theatre du Chatelet, Theitre des Champs-Elysees, Auditorium du Louvre, Radio-France ...) and in such festivals as Ravinia, The Casals Festival in Porto-Rico, Menton, Festival de Musique en mer, Radio-France Montpellier. He has given radio and television performances on various European channels.

Violon (vee oh lahn) -violin       cinq (sank) - five       
Musique de chambre (mew zeek deh sham bruh) -chamber music
un soliste (uhn sohl leest) - a soloist

Dissonances & David Grimal - Mozart

Jean-Gaspard Deburau -Shhhhh


Jean-Gaspard Deburau (also Debureau) (July 311796 - June 171846) was a Bohemian-French actor and mime.
Born in KolínBohemia, he adapted the conventions of Italian commedia dell'arte to Parisian tastes. He performed in Paris at the Théâtre des Funambules. His most famous mime character was Pierrot, whose classic image Debureau fixed, a moonstruck tragic silent suffering lover in a flowing white smock and pantaloons.
Debureau immortalized the silent Pierrot pantomimes, which we today call pantomime blanche because of the whiteface the artist wears. All Paris came to applaud Debureau at the Théâtre des Funambules. His Pierrot, though inspired by the lazy, mischievous valet Pedrolino of the commedia dell'arte, soon became an essentially French character. He changed Pierrot from a cynical, grotesque rogue into a poetic fellow and brought a personal expression to the fantasy, acrobatics, melodrama, and spectacular staging that characterized 19th-century pantomimes. Not only did he add extempore bits of business to a given action, but he also invented his own scenarios. Just as for several centuries the commedia dell'arte, which depended on the actor's improvisational skills, had influenced European theatre, 19th-century pantomime, with Debureau's inventive genius, reached great heights.
Debureau is buried at the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. After his death, his son Charles Durburau took over his school and established the modern tradition of whiteface mime, personified for many English speakers by Marcel Marceau.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Philippe Decouflé -French Choreographer


Philippe Decouflé (born Neuilly-sur-Seine, October 22, 1961) is a French choreographer, dancer, mime artist, and theatre director. As a child he travelled extensively around Lebanon and Morocco, before learned his skills as a teenager at the Annie Fratellini Ecole du Cirque and the Marceau Mime School. While frequenting Parisienne nightclubs he discovered and was attracted to contemporary dance, and he eventually moved to the Centre National de la Danse Contemporaine in Angers to study under choreographer Alwin Nicolais. After briefly working as a solo dancer, he formed the Découflé Company of Arts in Bagnolet in 1983, moving it to a former electrical works in the Parisienne suburb of Saint-Denis in 1995.
He has worked for the Lyon Opera Ballet, and choreographed the music video for New Order's True Faith. It won the "Best Music Video" prize at the 1988 BRIT Awards, while his advertisement for Polaroid won a "Silver Lion" prize at the 1989 Venice Film Festival. On the back of these successes, he was selected to choreograph the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1992 Winter Olympics, in front of a global television audience of over two billion people, the 50th anniversary Cannes Film Festival in 1997, and a parade for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in Saint-Denis in Paris.

"SOMBRERO"

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Château de Marly


The Château de Marly was located in what has become Marly-le-Roi, the commune that existed at the edge of the royal park. The town that originally grew up to service the château is now a dormitory community for Paris.

At the Château of Marly, Louis XIV of France escaped from the formal rigors he was constructing atVersailles. Small rooms meant fewer company, and simplified protocol; courtiers, who fought among themselves for invitations to Marly, were housed in a revolutionary design of twelve pavilions built in matching pairs flanking the central sheets of water, which were fed one from the other by prim formalized cascades.

The château is no more, nor the hydraulic "machine" that pumped water for Versailles. Only the foundation of Jules Hardouin-Mansart's small château, the pavillon du Roi remain at the top of the slope in Marly park.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Answer to Yesterday's "Guess Whose Sculpture This Is?"



Tony Dow, best known as the actor who portrayed the Beaver's big brother, Wally, on the 1950s family TV series "Leave It to Beaver," will soon have one of his abstract sculptures on display at the Louvre. But the sculpture isn't going to be permanently installed next to the Mona Lisa or anything: It will be part of the annual Societe National des Beaux-Arts exhibition, held at the Carrousel du Louvre, an exhibition hall within the Louvre. Dow has been an artist and had been sculpting and painting since his teen years.

Answer To Yesterday's Guess Who



Philippe Noiret
Philippe Noiret (October 1, 1930 - November 23, 2006) was a French film acteur.

Noiret debuted on the screen in 1949 in an uncredited role in Gigi. In 1956 he appeared in La Pointe Courte directed by Agnès Varda. He was not cast encore until 1960 in Zazie dans le métro. Après his role in Thérèse Desqueyroux in 1962, he became a regular on the French screen, without being cast in major roles until La Vie de château directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau in 1966. He became a star in France with Alexandre le Bienheureux in 1967. At this point, he started to devote himself entirely to the screen.
Noiret could not play romantic leads, so he was cast primarily as the Everyman character, although he did not hesitate to accept controversial roles, such as in La Grande Bouffe, un film about suicide by overeating, which caused a scandal at Cannes in 1973.
Noiret won his premier César Award for Vieux Fusil in 1976. His deuxième César came in 1990 for La Vie et rien d'autre.
Noiret is best known internationally for his role as Alfredo in Cinema Paradiso and the role of Pablo Neruda in Il Postino.
acteur (ahk toor) -actor
encore (ahn kore) -again
après (ah preh) -after
un film (uhn feelm) -a film
premier, première (reh mee yay, preh mee yehr) -first
deuxième (doo zee eh) -second

Monday, November 17, 2008

Guess Who


Guess who this famous French person is.

Answer will be posted tomorrow.

The Paris Air Show


The Paris Air Show (Salon International de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, Paris-Le Bourget) is an international trade fair for the aerospace business. It is held at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France every odd year. 
The Paris Air Show is a commercial air show, organised by the French aerospace industry's body the Groupement des Industries Françaises Aéronautiques et Spatiales (GIFAS) whose main purpose is to demonstrate military and civilian aircraft to potential customers. It is one of the most prestigious in the world; traditionally, some major sales contracts are announced during the show as part of the corporate communication of the manufacturers. All major international manufacturers, as well as the military forces of several countries, attend the Paris Air Show.

The Paris Air Show traces its history back to the first decade of the twentieth century. In 1908 there was a section of the Paris Automobile Show dedicated to aircraft, and from 1909 there was an Air Show, held at the Grand Palais. There were four further shows before the First World War. The show re-started in 1919, and from 1924 they were held every two years. The shows were interrupted again by the Second World War, and they re-started again in 1946. Since 1949, they have been held in every odd-numbered year.

The shows continued to be held at the Grand Palais, and from 1949 flying demonstrations were staged at Orly Airport. In 1953, the show was relocated from the Grand Palais to Le Bourget.

Guess Whose Sculpture This Is

This piece of work will be on display in the Louvre as part of the Societe National des Beaux-Arts exhibition to be held in December. This may be a tough guess for everyone, and outside of America, this person may be unknown, but for Americans who grew up in the 50's & 60's, this will be artist will be very surprising. Answer will be posted tomorrow.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Break in our studies...

Take a momentary break in your studies & just look at this painting by Claude Monet for a minute or two. Relax, take a deep breath, & relax for moment. 
San Giorgio Maggiore at Twilight


Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Claire de Lune - Poem by Paul Verlaine

Clair de lune

Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune,
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres 
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.


Translation:

Moonlight

Your soul is like a landscape fantasy,
Where masks and Bergamasks, in charming wise,
Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be
Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise.

Singing in minor mode of life's largesse
And all-victorious love, they yet seem quite
Reluctant to believe their happiness,
And their song mingles with the pale moonlight,

The calm, pale moonlight, whose sad beauty, beaming,
Sets the birds softly dreaming in the trees,
And makes the marbled fountains, gushing, streaming--
Slender jet-fountains--sob their ecstasies.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Étienne Bacrot - French Chess Champion


Étienne Bacrot (born January 22, 1983 in Picardie, France) is a French chessgrandmaster.
Etienne was born in Lille on the 22nd of January 1983. He discovered chess at the age of four while watching an Italian uncle playing. The 64 squares of the chessboard thus became his world. His first chess club, at the age of 6 was in Albert, and later on Amiens, before joining Cannes in the first division and now Paris. 
In youth circles, he became European champion (Zombathely 1993) and later that year World under 10 champion in Bratislava. In Sao Laurenzo in Brazil 1995 he was victorious in the World under 12 championship. He added a third World title in Disneyland Paris 1995, this time at rapid chess.
At the age of 12 he was already an International Master, and was competing on level terms with professionals in France. He came further into the public eye when he qualified for the PCA Intel Grand Prix in Paris where he distinguished himself amongst the world's elite. In March 1997, under the auspices of his trainer Iossif Dorman, he became the youngest ever grandmaster at the age of 14 years and two months.
In 1999, he took the crown of French Champion, a title he went on to win five times consecutively.
Won the 2008 French Championship.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Plastic Bertrand - French Singer


He was born in Brussels of a French father and Ukrainian mother. At the age of nine, he became a singer and drummer in the Buffalo Scouts Band, a group he formed with the Boy Scouts, who performed covers of Rolling Stones songs. He later formed a band called The Pelicans who performed at parties, later changing their name to Passing the Time, extending their act in bars, clubs and at festivals along the Dutch and Belgian coast.

In 1977, Plastic Bertrand started his solo career with the hit single "Ça plane pour moi", his most fmous hit to date,  composed and written by the Belgian Lou Deprijck. He toured CanadaJapanAustralia, the United KingdomScandinaviaEurope and the USA, becoming one of the few French-speaking artists to appear in the Billboard chart. This song 30 years later continues to show up on TV shows & commercials. He was voted on MTV as one of the artists most wanted to make a comeback.

On a trivia note: Plastic Bertrand became a Scrabble enthuist & almost defeated the World Champion in a match.


Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi

Le Monde - French Newspaper






Le Monde (English: The World) is a French daily evening newspaper and it is considered the French newspaper of record, and is generally well respected, often the only French newspaper easily obtainable in non-Francophone countries.

Le Monde was founded by Hubert Beuve-Méry at the request of General Charles de Gaulle after theGerman army was driven from Paris during World War II, and took over the format of Le Temps, whose reputation had suffered during the Occupation. Beuve-Méry reportedly demanded total editorial independence as the condition for his taking on the project. Its first edition appeared on December 19, 1944. Le Monde has been available on the Internet since December 19, 1995 (click here to go to it).

Its current board chairman and director of publication is Éric Fottorino.