French bad guys and an American in Paris

French actors have been making good money in recent years playing the villain for Hollywood. In the latest case, the fourth Die Hard, Bruce Willis lays waste to a gang of assassins who for some inexplicable reason are Frenchmen. Gallic bad-guys have been up against the American heros in a string of recent hits, including Matrix Reloaded, Mission Impossible, S.W.A.T., Catwoman, Da Vinci Code and Oceans 12 [see the montage of méchants français below].

Now, four years after the feud over Iraq, the tide is turning. Look at Ratatouille, the animated US summer success that is set in Paris. All right, the hero is a French rat, but he is lovable. Hollywood seems to have overdosed on nasty Frenchmen and Paris is returning to its role as capital of romance and mirror for Americans to inspect their own neuroses. One sign is the re-release of Last Tango in Paris, Bertolucci's 1973 cult film starring Marlon Brando as a depressed American.

That lets me introduce Two Days in Paris, a great new comedy about the culture clash when an American discovers the French. The film is a treat because, for once, the joke is on both sides. Julie Delpy, the Parisian actress, wrote, directed and stars in the film. She uses her knowledge from 15 years living in the US to nail the clichés and mock the misunderstandings between French and Americans.

Obviously influenced by Woody Allen, Delpy plays Marion, a New-York based French photographer who brings her partner Jack, an interior designer (Adam Goldberg), to visit her Parisian family.

Her parents, played by Delpy's actor parents, are a hilarious pair of 1960s bohemians. They live in a cramped, mildewed flat that horrifies the hygiene-conscious Jack. The father is a cantankerous and foul-mouthed anti-American. The taxi drivers are rude and racist. Jack, who is too frightened of terrorists to take the Metro train, gets to the front of a taxi queue by deliberately misdirecting a group of fat Americans. They are going to the Louvre for "the Da Vinci Code tour" but spend the next 24 hours wandering lost around Paris.

In a scene that I have often witnessed for real, the American is unable to make himself understood when he tries to order a hamburger in a McDonald's-style restaurant. Delpy does a delicious send-up of her character's circle of verbose, sex-obsessed intellectual friends. The uncomprehending New Yorker imagines that they are all her former boyfriends. There is also a nod to Last Tango and the couple's New York cat is called Jean-Luc after Godard, the nouvelle vague film maker.

The film fades a little towards the end, but it has earned enthusiastic reviews in France and from US critics who have seen it. Variety called it "fresh and brilliant" and the Hollywood Reporter found it "extremely funny".  Le Monde called it a "snapshot of Paris taken by an ex-resident full of tenderness and quite a lot of bitterness."

It's worth seeing -- especially if you have a foot in both camps and know both languages. The film (with English subtitles for the French bits) opens in the US next month and it premiers in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival on August 25.

Doing the media rounds last week, Delpy said she had only exaggerated a little. A gulf of incomprehension divides the French and Americans, she said. "Living in both, I have tried to take the best of each country. I have adopted American humour for instance. But I have kept the quarrelsome spirit of the French," she told the Nouvel Observateur.   

[below: Hollywood's French villains, Inspector Clouseau and nice French rat]

Comments

[Terry]

Sounds like a good movie. I have a thing for Julie Delpy (Europa Europa) but I thought she was belgium for some reason. I know she speaks five languages.

There is an aspect of the film that I think is quite farfetched. A straight American interior designor? Does such an animal exist?That's a little too much for me to swallow. (no jokes please).

[John Gregory Flinn]

Bruce Willis's earlier 'Die-Hards' used to feature well-spoken English as the bad guys.
In fact for as long as I can remember there has been a detectable pattern for Hollywood to portray, mostly, the English in this guise. There was the English-educated Arab in one of the '24' series, which is a variant on the same theme.

From time to time it changes almost like a 'flavour of the month' to reflect their perception of popular hostility. For example, in another '24' series the villains were Serbs.
So I suppose the French should have expected their turn to come.

It's a form of cheap, populist propaganda - often somewhat comic -that can be well-disguised by a clever story line and without the menace of pre-WW2 use in Nazi Germany.

[Tara_Lane]

Can't wait to see this! Have loved Julie Delpy since Before Sunrise. Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Bremner.

[Valerie]

Uh, how many American 'good guys' do you see in French films, may I ask?

Not many!

;P

[textibule]

We Americans take our enemies VERY seriously because we cannot live without one.

Are the French no longer considered our serious enemies? Mince, je vais avoir a reviser ma copie!

[Terry]

BTW: The U.S. has had other French characters in cartoons. Most notably, the oderous but amorous Pepe Le Pew. The french stereotypes, as seen by Americans, in this one are quite funny (at least to me). Check out the video clip.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u5evUmRj4mE

There was also a Bugs Bunny episode with Francis and Louis, two french chefs competing for the secret recipe for Rabbit ala Antione. Unfortunately, I cannot find the video clip. But here's the summary. Vive Antoine! (i have too much time on my hands today)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043564/

[azloon]

perfect.

"diehard" french villians and julie delphy in one blog piece.

CB, what do your sources say, were those guys french-french or french-canadian? their accent sounded a little funny.

julie delphy. best french export since catherine deneuve. "before sunset," great movie. as you're watching it, you think the dialogue must have been improvised -- it has an impromptu feel to it, very casual. actually, delphy says, every word scripted. and her nina simone imitation in the final, ambiguous scene is as french-sexy as it gets. her parents were in that flic too -- only briefly, and not playing her parents. she's the perfect mid-atlantic type to bridge the franco-american gulf.

[azloon]

Two Days in Paris

there was a w.c. fields joke that went something like this:

first prize in the contest was a week in philadelphia, second prize was two weeks.

[Monika]

John Gregory Flinn: "Bruce Willis's earlier 'Die-Hards' used to feature well-spoken English as the bad guys."

Yes, they were English speaking Germans who keep the role of vilains in many movies (very often in older and more recent war movies obviously :D but not only. Quite often the vilain whatever his nationality has a black mercedes).
Then there are French, English, Russian or French villains. I'd like to see a hitlist of which kind of vilain's nationality in movies. That'll be interesting.

btw. Charles: Inspector Clouseau was never a vilain if I remember (great movies btw).

[christopher muir]

One can only welcome a fresh start in US movie perceptions of the French. Of course, it's widely known that only a small percentage of US citizens possess passports - even some members of Congress are said to abstain from international travel. I guess that there has always been a tension between the two countries, but old films like "An American in Paris: and "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort" bring back memories of cultural differences being treated with an abundance of warmth. In its day, the splendid American Students Centre on the Boulevard Raspail symbolised the efforts some young Americans went to to understand and enjoy the spirit of French living. "Two Days in Paris" deserves attention. Gentle comedy would appear to be the best way to bridge the present unnecessary gap.

[Edward Johns]

Sounds like a film to be enjoyed !
Valerie, when you say !
"Uh, how many American 'good guys' do you see in French films, may I ask?

Not many!"
It may be unecessary because so many US programmes are shown on French TV--the American good guys are heavily represented there.
As regards Last Tango in Paris, I suppose that if there were to be a modern re-make, the butter would have to be replaced by Omega 3 on health grounds.

[Sandrine]

I'll watch this movie when I go back to Washington.It's gonna be interesting to hear the reactions of the people in the cinema.

I saw Spiderman with the stupid "french" Maitre d, the actor was american and he didn't know how to speak english with a french accent. People in the cinema were making fun of the French as if the way we were represented was true. I was really ashamed even if they couldn't know that I was French.

I was like : why put a "French" character in this particular movie ? And then I understood, when american people need to go to a good restaurant, they obviously go to a french one. So this whole thing was just a sort of compliment for the French. Sort of...

[azloon]

Notes on: "Now, four years after the feud over Iraq, the tide is turning. Look at Ratatouille, the animated US summer success that is set in Paris. All right, the hero is a French rat" CB

now that we know that invading iraq was a dimwit idea, and that the french had it right -- that simply selling arms and technology to saddam -- was a much more sensible approach to that country. french rat -- a redundancy? (harsh, cheap shot)

why can't i make myself go to animated movies? besides seeing "finding captian nemo" five times with my grandson while babysitting, i haven't paid to see one since i was a kid. watching nemo was motivated by self-preservation (it worked). god bless the video nanny.

maybe i'll go to, or rent, "the simpsons movie." my 27-year-old son says the simpsons is the greatest tv series ever though i'm partial to st. elsewhere (past) or curb your enthusiasm (present).

since i live in the 'boonies," i'll probably have to drive to phoenix to see 'two days in paris' in 38C temps. but i'll do it. movies up here tend toward the smokey and the bandit part six, live free or die hard sorts.

[Maggie G]

Very quiet on the blog today!

Very quiet at home too. I've just convinced my son and his Canadian cousin to come with me to see "Two Days in Paris" in Nice tonight. I couldn't convince the cousin to see "Ensemble c'est tout" a couple of weeks ago, which I adored, so it is a great coup that he's accepted to see this one strictly on your recommendation, Mr Bremner.

Neither of my sons was wildly impressed with "Ensemble c'est tout", after me raving about it to them when they came home for the holidays. I just couldn't understand that. I adored Guillaume
Canet.

[Valentin]

"I was like ..."

LOL Sandrine, you expose yourself yet again to pundits of the English language ! :) Free tip: never write as you speak, especially on such a blog. Just imagine you have a fancy French in front of you :P

Maggie: "Ensemble c'est tout" ?? And what else, "Prete moi ta main" ? THESE ARE ALL CHICK MOVIES ! :))
(for predators out there in the wild fishing for softballs: no, I don't mean the french! )

Otherwise, I confess Azloon's relaxed style and his endless paintings of Arizooonaaa, the loons, music of the 80s threw me in a lazy summer mood I can't seem to get past of.
Urgent political provocation required!

[Sandrine]

"never write as you speak"

I know I know, it's just that it's easier this way. Sorry for that. I'll try to write better next time !! ;o)

[Terry]

"for predators out there in the wild fishing for softballs:"

Predators don't fish. We hunt. Softballs, yes. But also on the weakest in the herd. How's that bum leg doing, Valentin?

PredatorS? There's more of us? I'm kind of a solitary hunter myself. Robert and Rocket are alpha male pack hunters.

I'm gonna regret this. Where's Dominique? It's so quiet. Did he start the famed 4 week August vacation early this year?

[azloon]

valentin --

"endless" is the operative word, oui? :)

i mean, like, you know, what do we have to do to get you off your ass/out of your lazy summer mood and back to posting, huh ???

i kinda like that sandrine is picking up a little "valley girl."

p.s. did you read the timeonline review of a.a. gill's new book about his hatred for the british (he's scottish, and "pundit' would be grossly understating his attention to language. anyway, he says no one in england cares about sounding "ed-you-kated british" anymore -- street language is now cooler, so pleeeeze, cut our sandrine a little slack.)

[Valentin]

Azloon,
Endless means just endless, very long, not boring :) They were endless and fascinating and changed the mood here. Don't you see what you're doing to us? :)) What Terry and others didn't manage, you've done in one week: anaesthesiating Dominique. I bet he's off to the Var to sip his marguerite - like one of your loon-partners earlier.

Btw when do we get the cd?

[Valentin]

"i kinda like that sandrine is picking up a little "valley girl."

lol just what I was saying, Sandrine la Parisienne is being called a country girl by a retired american in the bottom of Arizona. I lived to see that !!

(just to stir waters a bit :) )

[Valentin]

"Predators don't fish"

Yup. You pinpointed the "operative word", as Azloon calls it. Good, very good :)

[Sandrine]

== Ok, Valley girl speaking :

Hey guys, I'm currently in Roissy waiting for my flight to go back to Washington !!

I'll see ya'll next time (like, tomorrow)!! ;o)

End of Valley girl speaking ==

Valentin we missed you on this blog, where were you ?

"What Terry and others didn't manage, you've done in one week: anaesthesiating Dominique"

Excellent !! lol

[Edward Johns]

Hi Azloon,

"his hatred for the british (he's scottish"
some confusion here, last time I looked, to be Scottish is to be British. Do you mean that he hates the English ?

[azloon]

valentin --

thank goodness. we've revived you, and with a vengence, i might add.

i've used the term "valley girl" a couple to times, and i think i need to explain it: it refers to the san fernando valley, an upper-middle class area near los angeles, where teen agers, subject of several tv series, speak in a casual, hyper, illiterate style that was/is widely mocked by comedians and other social observers. kinda like that, you know what i mean?

i intend no offense to sandarine. she has not truly risen to the level of "valley girl." imo, she's just demonstrating her affection for american culture now that she's getting into 'the swing of things.'

when a french citizen allows herself to be even mildly influenced by the 'insidious monster,' you have to be impressed. she's not afraid she'll to hell for this, or have her french epaulets ripped from her shoulders. :)

if we have to get back into heavy political discussion to get dominique back here posting, i say "fuhgetaboutit" (new youk/new jersey faux mafia slang). i prefer the blog when we discuss on the level of a julie dephy film comedy, or sego's marital convolutions.

i am basically an absurdist at heart, albeit one who lives in the 'sticks," or "bottom of arizona" as you put it. (actually, i am in the "middle of arizona" which has three altitude levels -- the low desert (sea level), the central basis/mountians (where i live), and a high plauteau which includes 4000m mountains.

terrry, i was kidding about you marching in next year's bastille day parade with your rifle. :)

[John Gregory Flinn]

MONIKA - unless he's changed his nationality, Alan Rickman - star villain in the first Diehard - is English.

Talking of French accents has anyone seen the number of variations of French available on 'Window's Vista'?
Do they all have a noticeable accent?

[rocket]

Valentine

"anaesthesiating"

For those of us who don't speak Kazak I think the word is anesthesizing

[Daniel Strohl]

Terry,

I had a look at Pepe the Pew. Very funny ! Reminded me of my time in the merchant navy ...

CB should found an "Order of the Good Linkers" - you would be prominent there, along with Rocket, Azloon and some others ...

Azloon,

You entertained your grand'son (and yourself, as I understand ...) with the movie "Captain Nemio". Is this an American character or is it Capitaine Nemo of "Vingt mille lieues sous les mers" (Jules Verne - Twenty thousand leagues under the seas) ?

[azloon]

edward johns --

yes, yes, my bad.

"hates the english" (i think that's the title)

[azloon]

john gregory flinn --

"Talking of French accents has anyone seen the number of variations of French available on 'Window's Vista'?
Do they all have a noticeable accent?"

i don't know. do they?

i've been to quebec, and i've been to france, and there is a noticeable difference to my ear in the way french is spoken.

[Daniel Strohl]

John Gregory Flinn,

Yes, there are many accents, and even inside France - but I suppose that this is also the case in the UK or in the USA.

One of the strongest "alien" French accents is Quebec - it is not very euphonic, at least for French ears, but it is said to be the pronunciation used in France in former centuries.

Belgians and Swiss have very characteristic accents, also French speaking Africans. Another variant is "l'accent créole" (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion).

Of course, Vista mentions all the variants because of the differences in vocabulary and grammar.

PS : I don't use Vista, but I have (beta) tested the Office 2007 word processor a few months ago. It is a significant improvement. Nevertheless, I am still quite happy with Open Office, Firefox and Thunderbird.

[Valentin]

Rocket,
navré de devoir vous contrarier but no, actually it should have been : "anesthetizing", ! :)
You were closer than me tho'.

[Valentin]

"san fernando valley, an upper-middle class area near los angeles"

Ah ok, that's more like it. Au nom de Sandrine (qui passe à Paris sans même dire bonjour :)) you're forgiven !

"...where teen agers...speak in a casual, hyper, illiterate style that was/is widely mocked..."

A. Guess I praised you too early.

"she has not truly risen to the level of "valley girl.""

Hmmm. Is that a compliment, or the opposite of it. These journalists...

"she's getting into 'the swing of things.'"

Oh no, it was bad enough already, why would you teach her more "casual writing"! :)

"when a french citizen allows herself to be even mildly influenced"

That's different, she blends in. The French are excellent in-blenders. They say, "we have to behave according to the customs of the indigenes" and that's as good an excuse as any :P

"bottom of arizona"

lol. Well in French we say "au fin fond du Jura", it's a literal translation (A) You do say "from the bottom of my heart", so I figure it didn't sound quite like the cock gaulois !

"fuhgetaboutit"

Mwoah. Ok. For the time being.

[Andy]

I think that Rocket is winding us up. My Shorter Oxford English Dictionary spells the verb as "anaesthetize" so that would suggest "anaesthetizing" as being correct. No, I'm not going to argue over "z" and "s".

[azloon]

yo Vee -- whud up? (attention: valentin)

(as my 20-something kids like to say)

" "she has not truly risen to the level of "valley girl.""

Hmmm. Is that a compliment, or the opposite of it. These journalists..."

good point.

i meant that she had not risen to the level of idiocy of a true valley girl so it's a compliment.

i could have said she hadn't "sunk' to that level of idiocy.

so the question is raised (oops): if someone is an idiot, did they 'rise' to that level, or 'sink' to it? i prefer 'rise', because it denotes some degree of special effort in achieving this dubious distinction.
and i believe in rewarding effort no matter how midguided the objective.

re: bottom of arizona

as you know, i'm sure, the bottom en anglais is the "depths" or the 'pits" as young people used to say (john mcenroe at wimbledon called the umpire the "pits of the world.") i can live far away from an urban area without being considered "at the bottom." the bottom would be, for instance, a crack addict in an abandoned building in the south bronx section of new york city. i have a ways to go, but 'never say never.'

"to get to bottom of things": to discover the truth

"things are bottoming out": the worst that things will be before the situation improves.

"he really hit bottom": see crack addict (above)

"she has a nice bottom" (british) : a nice ass (which is why they can charge 5 euros for a coke in paris cafes).

:) x2

[Maggie G]

By the way, I forgot to say -- we didn't see "Two Days in Paris" last night because they had been for a bike ride and got tired out, and when it was time to go they were both sound asleep.

[azloon]

daniel --

"saving nemo," not "saving captain nemo," is the name of the animated film which i watched numerous times with my grandson. i must have been thinking of the jules verne character and got it tangled in my aging mind with the disney(?) movie.

colin was certainly amused (engrossed would be a better word), and i was delighted that he was amused/engrossed because i was exhausted after baby sitting him and his sister for the day. actually, after the third viewing, i was starting to warm up to the story --about a young fish who wanders off from the 'school' and ends up in the fish tank of a dentist in australia. i'll say no more because i don't want to ruin it for you. :)

speaking of movies, i saw "hairspray" today, its first day of u.s. release. it's based on a 80s broadway musical which won a number of awards. think "umbrellas of cherbourg" but with a theme of racial integration in the after-school, dance party-type television shows (did they have these in europe?). the highlight is john travolta as an obese female, mother of the equally obese/chubby heroine, who shows some of his saturday night fever 'moves." this movie is really 'grease' with a social conscience. (germans will have to forgive john his scientology connection.)

i suspect jacques demy would approve.

[azloon]

re: hairspray

a review from nytimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/movies/19hair.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

[azloon]

maggie --

pls see movie and review here.

i don't care whether your children are interested (or awake).

:)

[Sandrine]

"Ah ok, that's more like it. Au nom de Sandrine (qui passe à Paris sans même dire bonjour :)) you're forgiven !"

"A. Guess I praised you too early."

"Hmmm. Is that a compliment, or the opposite of it. These journalists..."

Héhé, je me suis posée les mêmes questions que toi en lisant le commentaire d'Azloon. I was like : is he making fun of me ??? ;o)

And sorry if I didn't say hi, but you were on holidays, I didn't know when you would come back.
Maybe next year !

[Daniel Strohl]

Azloon,

I too have got an aging mind. But nevertheless, I noticed that you never use capitals when you write. What is the reason :
a) You have got a cheap keyboard with no provision for capitals ?
b) Or does the state of Arizona grant retired persons the right to neglect typographical rules ? In our country, retired persons try to respect rather complex French grammar and spelling rules, young persons are much more relaxed in these matters or trifles, as is apparent in most of the blogs, including this one when there are (heated) posts in French ...

But let us be serious again. On TF1 TV, there was an interesting documentary today. It was about retired Americans living and travelling extensively in campers (called "camping cars" in Franglais) - some of them quite luxurious and big, at least for European standards. Some of the characters, most of them with a good sense of humour, are called "full timers", since they live all year long in their campers. This is apparently a good way to live, but would be difficult in Europe due to overcrowding and lack of space.

The oldest "full timer" is 80, is bearded and is called "Ange" - pronounced "Angee"- (if I have got his name right, since my ears are aging even faster than my brains ...).

Bon week end à tous (standard Franglais)

[terry]

Thanks Daniel. Im glad you got a kick out of it. It really showed American stereotypes of ze french.

[Helen]

Isn't it called "Finding Nemo"? And "Le Monde de Nemo" in French.

[azloon]

helen -- yes, "finding nemo." my god, my brain is 'scrambled.' third time is a charm? (i think i knew the correct name after seeing the movie three times. it was the fourth and fifth times that caused the malfunction of my synapses)

valentin -- lower case is faster. readers know what's supposed to be capitalized so they can imagine it. poet e.e. cummings popularized this method. if you are imagining, don't capitalize his name. :)

re: big, fancy motorhomes. yes, they are "all over" the goddamed road here. i was driving behind them at least half the time on my recent trip to colorado. they typically drive at least 15 miles per hour below the speed limit. and they are so big, you risk your life if you try to pass them. and as a final sort of "up yours," they often are towing an expensive mercedes, bmw, or lexus behind them.

these vehicles typically cost 700,00E and up. they are built on a diesel truck chassis. owners of these often then buy parking spaces in upscale "parks" which can cost 100-200,000E each. many people own several in different part of the country (warm in winter, cool in summer). these luxury coach folks like to stick with their own and not associate with the 'trailer trash' who have traditionally been associated with mobile living. charging 100,000E to park is a very efficient way of separating the 'haves' from the 'have nots.'

is this a great country, or what ???

[azloon]

daniel --

i guess i can't read either.

i meant to address my comments about lower case to you, not m. vee.

my bad.

after i've converted everyone to the lower case method, shall we start using some of the text messaging/live chat abbreviation on this blog ??

i am partial to LMAO (laughing my ass off) or it's variant, LMFAO (fill in the blanks).

C U L8R

:o)

[Edward Johns]

Motor homes in the USA, tractors here in Brittany. Even slower, they have flashing amber lights on permanently and occasionally the driver appears to be sober.

[christopher muir]

It's possible to blame sloppiness in writing on the demands of rapid text messaging. Certainly it's sometimes an effort on a cell phone to use caps. The use of 4 instead of for and U instead of you are simple examples of a primitive, modern shorthand. And, of course, the internet often gives us no choice but to use lower case. It's forgivable in an electronic context. However, the resistance to hit the caps key in a standard document reminds me that we are changing our values fast. can't say i like it. Does ALZOON in fact spell his/her name Alzoon, aLZOON or alzoon?

[azloon]

"two days in paris" was well-received at the seattle film festival last month. "charming, screwball commedy," one reviewer said.

from festival website:

2 Days in Paris
Deux jours à Paris
France, 2006, 96 Minute Running Time

Genres: Romance, Romantic Comedy
Language: English and French
English Sub-Titles

Clashes of culture, volatile in-laws and flirtatious ex-boyfriends test the relationship of Marion and her American boyfriend Jack on a visit to Paris in this charming screwball comedy. Actress Julie Delpy not only directs and stars but also writes, produces, edits and composes the music for this snappy crowd-pleasing gem.

DIRECTOR: Julie Delpy
Producer: Christophe Mazodier, Julie Delpy, Thierry Potok
Editor: Julie Delpy
Screenwriter: Julie Delpy
Cinematographer: Lubomir Bakchev
Music: Julie Delpy
Principal Cast: Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Daniel Brühl, Marie Pillet, Albert Delpy
Filmography: Looking for Jimmy (2002)

[azloon]

longer review from hollywood reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=n2x6F9QQnhDV5lQk7GzPFhq41JGJqSl91blJ6xbnkH4tjpMttVp0!929018451&&rid=8797

[azloon]

Christopher --

i realize it may be somewhat discourteous if you use the lower case with someone's name when you are writing to THAT PERSON.

so, i usually use UPPER CASE in that situation, as in "dear Sandrine,' but i am azloon. i don't mind 'dissing' myself.

your examples are funny, tho you ommited azLOON, with the emphasis on LOON. one advantage of this method, as you may notice, is that UPPER CASE stand out for emphasis.

do i make myself clear, Christopher ??

p.s. i have never sent a text message because i can't figure out how to do it. there is a successful text messaging software company here called 'thumbspeed." i don't have it.

[Daniel Strohl]

Azloon,

"... or sego's marital convolutions".

Very funny formulation. The word convolution exists also in French, but is used almost exclusively in mathematical jargon. I met it for the first time over 30 years ago, when I had, along with a colleague, to try to understand complex math theory about signal processing. And since I am not a math genius (or any other sort of genius as well, if I believe my wife ...), this was not easy and the word convolution had a bad aftertaste for me.

But now, thanks to a retired but fast witted Arizonan, I like this word ...

[azloon]

new blog subject:

khadafi is as anti-jihadist as most dicators who are afraid these muslim maniacs will de-stabilize their country. but make no mistake (as dubya is fond of saying), khadafi and his ilk are terrorists in their own rite.

now, apparently, khadafi has been appeased -- even though early stories from sarkozy said no deal for the release had been made. but, timesonline reports libya is getting everything they demanded.

so my initial approval of NS's initiative is tempered by that news.

it makes sarkozy seem remarkably like jesse jackson, or al shapton, both of whom show up at every alleged incident of social discrimination in the u.s. (even phony ones), and occasionally travel to enemy states to try to get imprisioned americans freed. but at least these guys are acting as private citizens, they don't barter, and don't pretend to be representing the u.s. government. obviously, sending your wife to do the same sort of thing doesn't get you off the appeasement hook.

his being said, the convictions of the bulgarians were a tragedy and a travesty. personally, though, i would have favored forceful means to achieve the objective. we did it after libya was linked to lockerbie. are seven lives not enough?

i sympathize with europe having crazed muslim states so close to their borders. killing libyan children with the aids virus? are you frigging kidding me? these people are psycho.

and to think that americans are sending mexicans, who are hard working and do the work, cheerfully, that americans won't do, back across the border -- while europe tolerates deadbeat muslim immigrants who have no interest in contributing to their new society. it's nuts. if europe had mexicans in their banlieus instead of muslims, you'd be celebrating cinco de mayo as an official holiday every year.

[Valentin]

"i would have favored forceful means to achieve the objective. we did it after libya was linked to lockerbie. are seven lives not enough?"

Yeah well that's the problem with the american interventionism, sometimes little details get in the way : lockerbie was about a plane having already crashed and about punishing the authors; in our case, those seven lives were not yet lost but would have probably been so and no bombardments would have brought'em back.
Sometimes choosing between appeasing and threatening is not obvious, especially as US threatening doesn't impress many these days.

[Valentin]

"you'd be celebrating cinco de mayo as an official holiday every year"

lol guess so yes; plus, mexicans are catholics too, that would have helped :)
Then again considering our 10 holiday weeks per year, one more day wouldn't have been such a big deal!

[Sandrine]

Tonight, I'm going to see "two days in Paris" at La Maison Française here in Washington. And guess what ? Julie Delpy will come to chat with the public !! How lucky am I, huh ??

I hope I'll be able to talk to her afterwards. And I'll take pictures for sure !

[azloon]

"Then again considering our 10 holiday weeks per year, one more day wouldn't have been such a big deal!" valentin

it occured to me too late to make your observation about an ADDITIONAL holiday. :)

not a big deal, you're right., but a great excuse to drink margaritas.

no doubt, my thinking about libya is quite american. i can't help it. i grew up on the ethic of hollywood western movies: somebody messes with you? blow them away. no appeasement, no f***ing around. that's occasionally the correct approach to take.

a clandestine operation is also an alternative.

sending your wife is not a clandestine operation, although perhaps a clever idea if your marriage is not going very well.

[azloon]

valentin --

most of the time, americans, and their approach to international problems, are a pain in the ass.

when you're country is being invaded, their approach and way of thinking, comes in quite handy.

[marine]

"his being said, the convictions of the bulgarians were a tragedy and a travesty. personally, though, i would have favored forceful means to achieve the objective.

i sympathize with europe having crazed muslim states so close to their borders. killing libyan children with the aids virus? are you frigging kidding me? these people are psycho.

and to think that americans are sending mexicans, who are hard working and do the work, cheerfully, that americans won't do, back across the border -- while europe tolerates deadbeat muslim immigrants who have no interest in contributing to their new society. it's nuts. if europe had mexicans in their banlieus instead of muslims, you'd be celebrating cinco de mayo as an official holiday every year."

Forceful means... What good could that bring? Do you think Khadafi would have release the nurses and the doctor? Do you think civilians should get hurt because they have a dictator as a leader? France, the EU and the US want Lybia to participate in world and trade affairs. What for? Well, as usual.

I hope your comment on mexicans vs muslims is only a joke to create debate. Otherwise, it seems to me it's basic racism. All muslims are terrorists and psycho, all arabs are muslims, and they're lazy and don't want to particate in the country they live in? And all mexicans are good catholic hard working people?
And all americans are puritans that live so bad with their repressed sexuality that they had to be the first producers and consumers of pornography.
How are named such reasonings? Cliché?

Basically Azloon, I can't believe you think what you wrote.

[azloon]

i was reading the reuters story on the agreement between france and libya. it mentioned that libya paid reparations to 270 families of vitims of a french uta airliner in 1989 and to 170 surrviving families of lokerbie -- thats a total of 440. if we presume the libyan compensation was $1,000,000 per person, then libya paid $440 million total for those two bombings. this total woud be offset, almost to the penny, by the money the eu agreed to pay libya for the 443 children alleged killed by the bulgarians. so it's a complete 'wash' for kadafi. pretty slick. he's no dummie. huh??

[azloon]

marine, you wrote:

Forceful means... What good could that bring? Do you think Khadafi would have release the nurses and the doctor? Do you think civilians should get hurt because they have a dictator as a leader? France, the EU and the US want Lybia to participate in world and trade affairs. What for? Well, as usual.

I hope your comment on mexicans vs muslims is only a joke to create debate. Otherwise, it seems to me it's basic racism. All muslims are terrorists and psycho, all arabs are muslims, and they're lazy and don't want to particate in the country they live in? And all mexicans are good catholic hard working people?
And all americans are puritans that live so bad with their repressed sexuality that they had to be the first producers and consumers of pornography.
How are named such reasonings? Cliché?

Basically Azloon, I can't believe you think what you wrote.

__________________

your reaction to my post is predictable. what nationality are you?? i would be interested so i can stereotype you :)

but, to your points: my post was somewhat of a 'rant,' but i believe most of what i said, at least at a visceral level.

as to stereotypes, have you ever noticed that stereotypes are often fairly accurate? i know this not a 'politically correct' idea, but true nonetheless.

if my comparison of muslims and mexicans is racist, then i'm a racist (tho i don't think you'd guess so if you knew me). i would postulate that the mexicans' contribution to american society is hugely more significant than is mulim contribution to their adopted economies. i can't prove it. but, if, for instance, you read the economist each week, you will seldom (never) see evidence of the sorts of discontent, anger, and threat in our mexican residents that you read about in regard to european muslims. the people who flew airplanes into buldings on 9/11 were not isolated, as we have discovered. they represent a not insignificant percentage of the larger muslim (mostly arab) culture.

is every muslim a terrorist? of course not. but where are muslim leaders, or ordinary muslims for that matter, when it comes to denouncing muslim fanaticism. IT DOESN'T EXIST, to my knowledge. if it does it's barely a whisper -- a conspiracy of silence.

are most mexicans hard working, god-fearing (our god, not allah) citizens? yeah, most of them. i can't prove this, but i know so many of them that my stereotype has a high degree of being reasonably accurate.

just because france, the uk, and supposedly the u.s., want libya want to participate in world and trade affairs doesn't mean i agree. i know sarkozy sees economic opportunity here, witness his having already signed an agreement to build and nuclear plant there.

but to put this in context, the west, europe and the u.s. have such a long history of supporting thuggish criminal dictators for their own economic interest that i don't put much stock in this desire to de-villianize kadahfi. basically, he's a murderer who tyrannizes his own peope. but he is lucky enough to have the advantage at this point of being as anti-muslim terrorist as we are. so we embrace him for the sake of some supposed greater good. i guess since france lost most military weapons business in irag, they are moving into new markets so as to fill the hole.

btw, you never know what effect force will have in any given situation. we didn't think kadahfi would surrender the lockerbie bombing suspect, but he did when the proper force was applied. and, yes, regrettably, occasionally ordinary citizens pay of the price for allowing tyrants to govern them.

as to your mocking stereotye about americans being sexually repressed, and thus very suseptible to both creating and consuming pornography, it is quite accurate -- more than you apparently believe.

[Monika]

"it makes sarkozy seem remarkably like jesse jackson, or al shapton, both of whom show up at every alleged incident of social discrimination in the u.s. (even phony ones), and occasionally travel to enemy states to try to get imprisioned americans freed."

Actually, I have similar thoughts about Sarko (although not comparing him to JJ about whom I know only little).

I get the impression that Sarko loves first of all a big show and wants above all to shine which motivates his agitation in about any affair of international significance. To me it appears so exagerated that it flirts with ridiculousness.

[marine]

Azloon,

to answer your question I am French. And I live in France. And I went to school with arabs. And guess who was at the back of the classroom?

Yeah, I found your comment pretty upsetting, because it reflects all the stereotypes on the French banlieues and it mixes everything. The banlieue crisis with Khadafi and islamist terrorism, diplomacy with immigration, it's like you've blended together all the cliché, mixed them and got the perfect scapegoat cocktail.

Of course cliché and stereotype have some truth. But only some...and using cliché as truth can be dangerous. I'm from Italian descent. Do you want to know what the French had to say about the italians 80 years ago?
By the way, I am well aware that my remark on the porn industry and the US is based on solid facts.
But what would you make of the following remark, which I think will become a cliché on Us foreign policy, "Us has no respect at all for human rights and practice torture, look at Guantanamo".

I don't know what you know about arabs, the muslim world and French banlieues. I know many French from arabic descent and arabs living in France, some are muslims, some are not. And I need to react when I feel that people are insulted because of their race. What if I write something like "Black people tend to be criminals", because most prisonners in the US are black?

I don't believe in god (that's for the "our" god ;-)), and I think conflicts, wars and power relations must be read through a cultural and social lens. Finding explanations is not a reason to "excuse" but it is necessary if we want to find clever means to act on the future. But perhaps many of us would favour a good old conflict, with a good side and a bad side.

Islam needs to do its modern revolution, the current period is dangerous because, as it happened in Europe centuries ago, some people are trying to use religion to gain power over other people. And many muslims do not approve of terrorism, but the media have no interest in talking about them.

And to conclude, reguarding your original post, I believe European policy is much tougher on illegal immigration(and I disapprove) than the US one. But I'd need some more research to confirm that.

Azloon, if I took the time to react to your post it is only because I have appreciated many of your comments on this blog.

[azloon]

Marine

i appreciate your comments (please see my post on the CB holiday blog).

about my opinions: EVEN I DON'T ALWAYS AGREE WITH WHAT I SAY! :)

muslims have been at war with non-muslims, overtly or covertly, for 1500 years. look at the balkans if you want to know about the chances for meaningful progress toward reconciliation -- perhaps two or three centuries from now, if we haven't destroyed the planet by then. :(

yeah, i don't know many muslims, though lots of mexicans. i don't believe i need to need to know any single additional thing about islam to know who i want as my neighbors (NOT iran, afganistan, et al). i apologize if this is offensive, i.e. generalizing about the actions of a supposed minority to the entire population, but i can't help myself. i'm american.

i have basically given up on liberalism, your point of view, as an abiding tenet of supposed human progress. and i am not, i don't believe, a troglodite (in fact, a registered democrat). i just don't trust politicians, of any stripe. i am not so sure there is such a thing as human progress (new technology notwithstanding). anyone promising improvement in the human situation by following this or that philosopy are worthy of most extreme form of skepticism (as an editor once told me, in my incarnation as a journalist, "if your grandmother says she loves you, check it out").

about guantanamo ..... you're right on! i'ts hell on earth. it's the u.s. version of 9/11 (eye for an eye) and deliberately so. i don't approve.

i spent 6 weeks at 'gitmo' (its navy nickname) in the 1960s (on a ship). without copious amounts of rum, the place would have been unbearable. i can't imagine the horror of being a prisoner there.

i don't know about respective immigration policies. i know i favor very liberal immigraton restrictions because i believe, muslims in france not to the contrary, "new blood" keeps a societiy healthier.

have you heard the joke about the italian and the ......???

ok, not now, not here,

ciao

[Monika]

Azloon wrote
"muslims have been at war with non-muslims, overtly or covertly, for 1500 years. look at the balkans if you want to know about the chances for meaningful progress toward reconciliation"

Mh. Agression is not always coming from the Muslim world against non-Muslims.

You cite the Balkans: just a good exemple that it often is the other way round: Christians attacking Muslims out of hate (Serbs were Christians who slaughtered Muslim Bosniacs, remember Srebrenica, or expelled Muslim Albanians from Kosovo).

The crusades were wars started by Christians against Muslims.

It is not to condone what a group of Muslims does today but things never are as easy as that one side in a conflict can be identified undistinguishingly as the absolute evil while one's own is without fault ...

[Maggie G]

Well, I finally got to see this movie (2 Days in Paris) and to tell you the truth, we didn't like it that much. I went with two friends, one who used to be married to an Italian, and one who used to be married to an Austrian (so trilingual both) , so you couldn't say we were inexperienced as far as cultural differences are concerned.

It started out not too bad but by the end we found it frankly rather disgusting. The French girl's sexual background and behaviour was just too exaggerated. We all agreed we didn't know any French girls who were similar to that at all.

Of course we realized they were trying to make her look like what Americans imagine the French are like. We didn't think many French people would appreciate the portrayal, and I personally can't see many Americans enjoying this kind of movie.

Maybe an old hippie like Azloon would like it, I don't know. You'll have to see it Azloon, and tell us what you think. Maybe Rocket might like it, I don't know.

By the end it was really kind of gross. It also touched on the idea that French people don't have much problem with telling lies.

I'm really glad my son and his cousin fell asleep that night, because if I'd taken them my son would have had such a low opinion of my choice of movies that I'd probably never have been able to get him to see a movie with me again. I convinced him to come to one about ten years ago, some Irish movie that looked good on the poster but which turned out to be pretty weird, and it took me years to live that down. Every time I'd say, "Hey, this is a great movie," he's say, "Oh sure -- like that Irish one!"

Well, that's my opinion. Maybe I'm just a prude. Has anyone else here been to see it?

[terry]

Azloon:

"i am not so sure there is such a thing as human progress (new technology notwithstanding)."

Oooh, if I could just time warp you to the year 1068 anywhere in Europe. We'd see how that statement stands up.

Are you truly an old hippie? I pegged you as more of a trotskyite, socialist, Nader, McGovernite, Burkian, Abbie Hoffman loving, Reaganite libertarian by the opinions expressed in your posts.

[azloon]

Monika -- of course, you are right in many of the points you make. you must realize that i am still traumatized by 9/11, and that my ranting reflects that.

i would love to return to the days of egyptian astronomy and high persian culture, but it's not likely to happen in the current environment.

what were currently experiencing, in most of the muslim world, is the worst of this faith: violence, anti-intellectuallism, et al. moderate voices have been silenced to the point one wonders if they still exist.

have you heard anyting soothing and reassuring spoken from a muslim mouth in the past few years? i would love to know of such.

[azloon]

Maggie -- thx for the review. i am not deterred. sexual crudity, and stereotyping are right up my alley, so i am sure (as an ex-hippie?) i will thoroughly enjoy it. (i could watch julie delpy sweep her kitchen for an hour. :) )

i really never was a hippie, and so never got the presumed benefis: unobligated sex without end, and copious amounts of weed/hashish (a little tho, of both, and i did inhale). the whole scene did have its attractions from afar (a navy ship) tho i returned to become a button-down collar type who drank martinis (liquid heroin) and acted "responsibly" while raising my family in a fairly conventional way. i do have a strong anti-authoritarian streak but am very suspcious of most "la-la" (hippie) interpretations of life. i consider myself a buddhist immitator (non-practicing, except if inadvertantly), with a deep absurdist streak.

more movie news:

i saw the bourne ultimatum last night, on its opening day. it got very good reviews, tho i found it a little jerky and uncessasarily crypic (by directors intention). and humorless.

imo, bourne is the "anti-bond," for the attention defecit-disordered generation. i actually enjoyed casino royale and die hard better, of that genre.

bourne and his admirers take themselves more seriously than i care for. bourne's plot is just as implausible as bond's and die hard's but humor is virtually absent. i think this arises from the fact that the bourne story flirts ever so slightly with real world events, and we're supposed to be "serious' about those, i.e. torture and brainwashing as practiced at guantanamo bay and secret european interrogation sites.

it didn't help that we were sitting in a row so close to the screen that the jerky camera movements and tight cuts made me feel nauseated and head-achy. suggest sitting in a rear row.

those negatives aside, had a peachy time (except for the assassination, mrs. lincoln, how did you like the play?)

[Valentin]

"violence, anti-intellectuallism, et al. moderate voices have been silenced to the point one wonders if they still exist."

This actually sounds more like one well-known western country quite at odds with democracy lately. Hmm. Is Azloon more subversive than we thought. Oops. Intellectualistic word. My apologies! :)

[Valentin]

I just saw Before Sunrise and Before Sunset with Julie Delpy. Not so bad, even cute actually.

"This actually sounds more like one well-known western country quite at odds with democracy lately." Valentin

don't worry, hilary or barack is next, dubya on his way back to texas. no matter who is president, we promise to serve up ample grist for european criticism for as long as all of us are alive.

glad you decided to see j. delphy's flicks. now she's definitely someone the french can put "out there" to advertise le civilization francaise. but she didn't get the way she is without living in the u.s. for fifteen years.

[Pierre]

Oh, I know it's impossible, but I wish Americans could regain some of their old innocence. Stop trying to be all world-weary like us Europeans! Here's a good one from Terry: "I pegged [Azloon - greetings, I've been away for a while, I gather you're from middle Arizona] as more of a trotskyite, socialist, Nader, McGovernite, Burkian, Abbie Hoffman loving, Reaganite libertarian". Enough self-knowledge! Enough South Park! What happened to the good old wholesomeness of the 1950s? Vote for Ron Paul if it makes you feel better. Just stop preaching at us. You need to be at some high point for that, and you're not, you're very low. Bottom, in fact. Let Lily Allen bring some joy to your country.

[Valentin]

"One part of the Justice Department mess that requires more scrutiny is the growing evidence that the department may have singled out people for criminal prosecution to help Republicans win elections.

Putting political opponents in jail is the sort of thing that happens in third-world dictatorships. In the United States, prosecutions are supposed to be scrupulously nonpartisan. ... Individual Democrats may be paying a personal price. Don Siegelman, a former Alabama governor, was the state’s most prominent Democrat and had a decent chance of retaking the governorship from the Republican incumbent. He was aggressively prosecuted by both the Birmingham and Montgomery United States attorney’s offices. Birmingham prosecutors dropped their case after a judge harshly questioned it. When the Montgomery office prosecuted, a jury acquitted Mr. Siegelman of 25 counts, but convicted him of 7, which appear to be disturbingly weak.

The prosecution may have been a political hit. A Republican lawyer, Dana Jill Simpson, has said in a sworn statement that she heard Bill Canary, a Republican operative and a Karl Rove protégé, say that his “girls” — his wife, the United States attorney in Montgomery, and Alice Martin, the United States attorney in Birmingham — would “take care” of Mr. Siegelman. Mr. Canary also said, according to Ms. Simpson, that Mr. Rove was involved.
...
Georgia Thompson is a Wisconsin state employee wrongly put in jail on corruption charges by the Milwaukee United States attorney. Despite strong evidence that she was innocent, Steven Biskupic prosecuted Ms. Thompson for corruption and got a conviction. The news hit shortly before a bitterly fought governor’s race, and opponents of James Doyle, the state’s Democratic governor, used the conviction to attack Mr. Doyle as corrupt. An appeals court later freed Ms. Thompson, but only after she had spent months in jail.
...
The Bush administration is throwing roadblocks in Congress’s way. It missed a deadline for turning over documents, and it has refused to make some of the principal actors available to testify. The Judiciary Committee should not be deterred. If Americans are being put in jail for political reasons, Congress must put a stop to it."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/opinion/06mon1.html

[terry]

Pierre:

"Here's a good one from Terry:"..."Enough self-knowledge! Enough South Park!"

Hmmm. Was that a backhanded compliment I just received?

Je suis innocent.

[Pierre]

Well you made me check up Abbie Hoffman, so that was something, but the rest was tripe. Correction. It was all tripe. And onions, as we say in Scotland.

[Pierre]

Isn't that typical Valentin? Post something of general interest and you come back with a broadside of Washington trivia. In your own way you're as bad as Dominique. There's more to contributing to a blog than copy-pasting pages from the NYT. There's nothing worse than a French right-wing democrat. Like Edward Heath with a silly accent.

[Valentin]

lol if you find my post (not enough) rightwingy, well, chapeau Pierre, so much for my lifelong strife for common sense :)
I'll change, I promise. Forget silly Democrats and their stupid complaints, forget that giant hoax called global warming too (right?), forget any issue with Bush... I'll just write with gusto and emulate Terry & Co. Thanks for the lesson, Pierre!

'Zjust that my post was in support of a previous claim that America shouldn't give lessons of democracy. Why insult your own intelligence and pretend you didn't notice.
Which leaves us with the personal side. But I'll wait for you to come out of the den and bless us with more of your own posting, before judging it. For now you're forgiven, I'm in a good mood tonight :)

Valentin

[azloon]

julie delpy is getting some exposure in u.s. in connection with her movie which opened in NY and LA this past weekend (how well it did will determine how many other theaters/cities will get it).

current esquire magazine (containing some of cleverest writing on american culture today) features her in their "eight things you need to know about women' section.

item #4: "next time you have to buy your girlfriend a gift, make it a season of Curb Your Enthusiasm on dvd. the surest way to a woman's heart is Larry David." (co-creator of 'seinfield').

she's right. best american entertainment today is that tv show (from HBO). it's universal in it's appeal. a chilean female friend thinks it is hilarious. so while you have to put up with GWB for another year, treat yourself to something good we have to offer.

[azloon]

nytimes review

http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/movies/10pari.html