9.28
Filmed over the period of one entire academic year and utilizing students playing fictionalized versions of themselves, “The Class” examines the development of a group of modern, multicultural French youth in the 20th arrondissement of Paris as they transition from children to young adulthood. The film is currently showing at the New York Film Festival and was a winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. I’m excited for this one to come out in wide release.
6.26
In “On pie”, Dean Allen writes his treatise on the finer points of good pizza. Simple, really: a little skill, a little time, a focus on process, add just a few good ingredients and voila: good pie. Sounds familiar.
12.27
France Bids Adieu to ‘E-Mail’ @Wired
Yes, the French take the preservation of their language verrry seriously.
Makes me think of the linguistic hypothesis of Edward Sapir & Benjamin Whorf. Roughly (if I am getting this right): language directly corresponds to cognition i.e. the language we speak is connected to the way we think. I believe, by and large, that the French would agree. I also think that we Americans would disagree. That’s why, when the majority of Americans hear about something like this there is a lot of eye rolling. Of course we have less at stake, culturally, than they do. American culture – and therefore language – is everywhere.