Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Top 10 Tuesdays - 10 Things I Like That Are French

For more Top 10 lists, go here:

http://suddenlykateshow.blogspot.com/2016/03/day-21-march-madness.html


1.  Baguette:  A long, thin loaf of French bread.  Slather some horse radish across the top and get to it. 


2.  Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette:  Fought for the U.S. as a major general in the U.S. Revolution.  He later served as commander-in-chief of the French National Guard.      


3.  The Louvre:  Museum in Paris - Originally a fortress and subsequently a palace, it is now one of the largest museums in the world and the most visited. Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is here, as well as works by Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Raphael, and Vermeer.  I.M. Pei designed the pyramid in front of the main building. 



4.  Eiffel Tower:  An iron lattice tower in Paris.  It was constructed in 1889 as the entrance to the World's Fair.


5.  Baron Pierre de Coubertin:  Founder and second President of the International Olympic Committee and credited with the revival of the Olympic Games.  He also created the modern pentathlon.   



6.  Le Penseur:  Bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin.  Also known as The Thinker.     


7.  French New Wave:  Term used by critics to refer to a group of French filmmakers in the late 1950s - 1960s.  They rejected the literary period pieces of the era and often addressed current social issues.  They also were known for experimenting with the film form.  Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer, and Jacques Rivette were among the most notable of these filmmakers.

8.  Emmanuelle Beart:  Actress.  Eight-time Cesar Award nominee.  She won the Cesar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Manon des Sources (1986).  Here she is in La Belle Noiseuse (1991), which brought her a Cesar nomination.  Does her pose remind you of an earlier entry in this list?  Hmm?
 
 9.  Laetitia Casta: Actress and model.  She has appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Rolling Stone, and in three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues, and was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1998 - 2002.  In 2008, she won the Golden Swan for Best Actress at the Cabourg Film Festival for her role as Catherine in Born in 68.  In 2011, she was nominated for the Cesar fro Best Supporting Actress for her role as Brigitte Bardot in Gainsbourg.   


10.  Eva Green:  Actress.  In 2003, she was nominated for the European Film Award for Best Actress for her role as Isabelle in The Dreamers.  In 2006, she won the BAFTA Rising Star Award for her role as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale.  In 2016, she was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Drama for her role as Vanessa Ives in Penny Dreadful.      

6 comments:

  1. The Louvre is grand and i had heard if you spent 5 seconds at each art piece it would take you a year to see the collection that is shown to the public.I can see why you would drift to these gals:) I have to add Auguste Renoir and his son Jean. We could just say Impressionism since they seem to all gravitate to France. I would also add Charles Boyer:)

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    1. Two good choices.

      You're more of an old movie aficionado than I am. When I think of that era, it's mostly Bogart movies (Casablanca, Maltese Falcon, etc.).

      I could have probably just done ten artists or ten pieces of art. But I wanted more variety in my list.

      The Moulin Rouge and French kissing were the last two cuts. I had also considered Charles De Gaulle, Emile Zola, Albert Camus / The Stranger, a French woman wearing a beret, Paul Gauguin, and The Death of Marat (Jacques-Louis David).

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  2. Nice list! It'd be one of my biggest dreams to definitely go to France and see some of the sites in person. Eva Green - what a great actress too.

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    1. Thanks. Yeah. It's an interesting city. A lot of history.

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  3. I've been to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Visited both in one day along with the Arc de Triumph. It was a crazy day, then I headed back to London.
    I also enjoy a good French Baguette.

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    1. I recently read a book about the art at the National Gallery in Washington,D.C. I might have to look for a similar one on the Louvre.

      You seem to have had a busy day. But London isn't a small town either.

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