zefrenchpeople

The most beloved comedy actor of all times in France is the incontestable Louis de Funès.  Burlesque, sarcastic and energetic little man, he was the best in his genre and still is.  Always playing characters snappily impatient, rude and engaging, he was known for his twitchings.

Nothing can explain better than some videos… you’ll see!

Here are some twitchings from “Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob” in which he tries to get the cop’s attention:

In this one he tries to teach an Alien how to eat soup in “La Soupe aux Choux“:

Here’s the best of him playing a Gendarme in St Tropez:

One of the classics, “La Grande Vadrouille“:

Here is a trailer with some English for “Les Grandes Vacances“:

I found a translated biography if you are interested or his IMDB page.  Some quotes:

“Le cinéma ? Je le fais sur un écran, pas dans la vie “

“Le comique ça ne tient à rien, c‘est une chose qui est dans l‘air le comique ! “

“Le gendarme ? C‘est toute l‘humanité ! Au fond, on cire toujours les pompes de ses supérieurs hiérarchiques et on s‘essuie sur le derrière de son sous-fifre !“

 “Je cultive mon jardin. Et dans ma vie professionnelle comme dans mon carré de jardin, j‘ai bien l‘intention d‘exclure les navets !“

Below is a slideshow of some of the characters he depicted:

His Filmography:

A World War II bomb has been found yesterday in the afternoon near Le Mans‘ aerodrome.  It is not unusual to find such a thing in France, but it always freaks people out, mainly because it is still a functioning bomb.

While working on a new parking lot for airplanes, a worker found this 250kg, 90 cm long and 26 cm in diameter obus  and alerted the authorities.  After evacuation of the perimeter, the bomb was diffused: “plus de peur que de mal“.

Le Mans is best known for its sports car endurance race called “les 24h du Mans“ (pics) or Grand Prix of Endurance (more pics) which runs on a track containing closed public roads that are meant not only to test a car and driver’s ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24-hour period. That “circuit” is called Circuit of the Sarthe after the name of the “departement”

The motorcycle race is mid-April this year and the car one is in June (website)

Many people may have heard the expression “Pas de bras pas de chocolat” and not know what it means.  It was apparently said by House in the TV show, in season 1, which I don’t recall it.

It comes from an old joke, humour noir, in which it is the last sentence. Humour noir and sarcasm are the basics of French conversation so if you don’t get it, you will have a hard time understanding French people.

Here it is:

« Maman, je peux avoir du chocolat ?

- Il y en a dans le placard, va donc te servir.

- Mais Maman, je peux pas, tu sais bien que je n’ai pas de bras…

- Pas de bras, pas de chocolat ! »

“Mom, can I have some chocolate?

There is some in the cupboard, help yourself.

But mom, I can’t, you very well I have no arms…

No arms, no chocolate!”

It is supposed to show the absurdity of the prohibition or make fun of one’s physical inability.  Of course, this expression is over-used in several contexts, used in a commercial for chocolate, in songs…

On February 2nd, we celebrate “la chandeleur” (candlemas) and apart from the Catholic sound to it (Purification of the Blessed Virgin, Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple), it is mostly Crêpes Day!

The tradition is to hold a coin in your writing hand and a crêpe pan in the other; then toss the crêpe in the air. If you manage to catch the crêpe in the pan, your family will enjoy prosperity for the rest of the year.

There is also the old people’s belief that keeping the first crêpe of the year in aluminium foil at the bottom of your cupboard will bring money year-round… don’t know about that!

Here are some recipes in French.

As you may know, we also make another kind of crêpes than the one we eat as dessert.  The “crêpes de sarrasin“ from Brittany (also called Breton galette) are the ones you will taste if you are more interested in a complete meal.  Made with buckwheat flour, they have a very peculiar taste.  If you ever go to a crêperie you will have the choice between both so you might end up eating crêpes for dinner (recipe) filled with Ham, eggs, meat, fish, veggies, anything really… and crêpes for dessert… with cold cider of course.

N.B.: I finally did it! I started a new blog, same concept but in French about the US and it’s called Ze Ricains.  

One of our singers from the 70s passed away yesterday.  He started his career with the band Martin Circus (watch Marylene below) but after producing Princess Stephanie of Monaco’s first album, he started solo. He died of a heart attack while planning his new tour.

His major hit was #2 in 1987, “Une autre histoire” and that’s the only one I can really remember.

Princess Stephanie of Monaco (daughter of Grace Kelly), on the other hand, has been very famous, not for her music, but for her love life…she also recently on the cover of Vogue Magazine.

Watch “comme un ouragan”, her signature song!

N.B.: I finally did it! I started a new blog, same concept but in French about the US and it’s called Ze Ricains.