Bonne Fête Nationale! 2026

Aujourd'hui c'est la Fête nationale en France!

The French National Day is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a major event of the French Revolution, as well as the Fête de la Fédération that celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790.

A mes lecteurs qui habitent en France, je vous souhaite...

Bonne Fête Nationale!

"Au 8ème Jour"

This beautiful, profound short film from France, "Au 8ème Jour" ("On the eighth day" in English) is moving and offers no answers, because, well, we are not sure there are any.

And here is an interesting look at the CGI used to make this multi-award winning short film.

https://www.piktura.fr/projets/au-8eme-jour-79.htm

Bonne Fête de La Toussaint 2025!

Aujourd'hui est le jour de La Toussaint en France.

La Toussaint by Emile Friant (1863-1932)

Today is La Toussaint in France, a national holiday. Toussaint (pronounced "TOO-sawnt") is a combination of the word tous ("all" in French) and saint, meaning "All Saint's Day." The festival is closely related, in intent and spirit, to the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in Latin cultures (previously here). It is a day to remember, celebrate, and honor departed loved ones and ancestors.

In France, the general population are not very religious, so this once-Catholic celebration has become a secular national holiday. People visit cemeteries to have picnics and to tend to the graves of family members and decorate them with chrysanthemums, a flower symbolizing death (a symbol shared with Day of the Dead); generally, the French do not use this flower for any other purpose.

"Alone" by Flo/so

LOVING this intense song and enigmatic video for "Alone" by Flo/so (previously here) from earlier this year...

https://www.flosomusic.com/

Bonne Fête de La Toussaint 2024!

Aujourd'hui est le jour de La Toussaint en France.

La Toussaint by Emile Friant (1863-1932)

Today is La Toussaint in France, a national holiday. Toussaint is a combination of the word tous ("all" in French) and saint, meaning "All Saint's Day." The festival is closely related, in intent and spirit, to the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in Latin cultures (previously here). It is a day to remember, celebrate, and honor departed loved ones and ancestors.

In France, the general population are not very religious, so this once-Catholic celebration has become a secular national holiday. People visit cemeteries to have picnics and to tend to the graves of family members and decorate them with chrysanthemums, a flower symbolizing death (a symbol shared with Day of the Dead); generally, the French do not use this flower for any other purpose.

Bonne Fête Nationale! 2024

Aujourd'hui c'est la Fête nationale en France!

The French National Day is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a major event of the French Revolution, as well as the Fête de la Fédération that celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790.

A mes lecteurs qui habitent en France, je vous souhaite...

Bonne Fête Nationale!

Bonne Fête de La Toussaint 2023!

Aujourd'hui est le jour de La Toussaint en France.

La Toussaint by Emile Friant (1863-1932)

Today is La Toussaint in France, a national holiday. Toussaint is a combination of the word tous ("all" in French) and saint, meaning "All Saint's Day." The festival is closely related, in intent and spirit, to the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in Latin cultures. It is a day to remember, celebrate, and honor departed loved ones and ancestors.

In France, the general population are not very religious, so this once-Catholic celebration has become a secular national holiday. People visit cemeteries to have picnics and to tend to the graves of family members and decorate them with chrysanthemums, a flower symbolizing death (a symbol shared with Day of the Dead); generally, the French do not use this flower for any other purpose.

"Big Eye" by Christine and the Queens

I have been wanting to post this arresting song, "Big Eye" by Christine and the Queens (previously here) for a while now. The lyric video, below, naturally uses the album track from his newest release, the ambitious concept album "Paranoïa, Angels, True Love," but Red also performed a staggering live version at Glastonbury a few months ago.

Red (Chris) now uses he/him pronouns and performed this song sans blouson, with some tape on his nipples in an apparent way to circumvent any sort of public nudity laws. Apparently this passes YouTube's rule against nudity as well. But honestly, Red has a masculine build anyhow and if one were to glance quickly, one could possibly take him for a cisgendered man. But I don't want to chance posting the video here and risking someone, um, shall I say unenlightened and overzealous flagging my blog to Blogger. So, here is the lyric video, and then a screen capture from his Glastonbury performance of "Big Eye" with a link in the photo. Do yourself a favor: click on it to go to the YouTube page of BBC Music so you can marvel at one of the most powerful, electrifying live performances I have seen in a while.

http://christineandthequeens.com/

BEAUTY: Illustration For Winter--Gerard Dubois

In collaboration with Japanese department store group Mitsukoshi Isetan, French illustrator Gerard Dubois created an homage to an antique view of what the future could possibly look like in his series Nostalgic Merry and Delightful Future Christmas. The images have a charming quality with little hints of a mechanical future that never actually arrived...with levitating robots, Victorian space helmets, jet packs for reindeer, android nannies, and a flying snow machine cage.

https://www.gdubois.com/ 

https://cp.mistore.jp/global/en.html

Bonne Fête de La Toussaint 2022!

Aujourd'hui est le jour de La Toussaint en France.

La Toussaint by Emile Friant (1863-1932)

Today is La Toussaint in France, a national holiday. Although Toussaint is a combination of the word tous ("all" in French) and saint, meaning "All Saint's Day," it is also "All Soul's Day." La Toussaint is closely related, in intent and spirit, to the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in Latin cultures. It is a day to remember, celebrate, and honor departed loved ones and ancestors.

In France, the general population are not very religious, so this once-Catholic celebration has become a secular national holiday. People visit cemeteries to have picnics and to tend to the graves of family members and decorate them with chrysanthemums, a flower symbolizing death (a symbol shared with Day of the Dead); generally, the French do not use this flower for any other purpose.

Bonne Fête Nationale! 2022

Aujourd'hui c'est la Fête nationale en France!

The French National Day is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, a major event of the French Revolution, as well as the Fête de la Fédération that celebrated the unity of the French people on 14 July 1790.

A mes lecteurs qui habitent en France, je vous souhaite...

Bonne Fête Nationale!

How To Set A Table In The French Style

Infographic by M0tty

Bonne Fête de La Toussaint 2021!

Aujourd'hui est le jour de La Toussaint en France.

La Toussaint by Emile Friant (1863-1932)

Today is La Toussaint in France, a national holiday. Although Toussaint is a combination of the word tous ("all" in French) and saint, meaning "All Saint's Day," it is also "All Soul's Day." La Toussaint is closely related, in intent and spirit, to the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in Latin cultures. It is a day to remember, celebrate, and honor departed loved ones and ancestors.

In France, the general population are not very religious, so this once-Catholic celebration has become a secular national holiday. People visit cemeteries to have picnics and to tend to the graves of family members and decorate them with chrysanthemums, a flower symbolizing death (a symbol shared with Day of the Dead); generally, the French do not use this flower for any other purpose.