Saturday, June 08, 2013

The Life & Times of Queen Margrethe in Graphic Novel Format



Kristian Lindberg has an article in the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende about a new biography of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in graphic novel format:

Dronning Margrethes liv bliver til en tegneserie

7.000 fotografier er en del af researchen på Thierry Capezzones og Erik Svanes tegneserie om Dronningens vej til tronen – og tiden derefter.

I 2015 fejrer Danmark dronning Margrethes 75 års-fødselsdag, men allerede til næste år vil regenten blive hyldet med en tegneserie i to bind, der skildrer hendes liv fra fødsel til i dag.

Bag serien står to meget erfarne tegneserieskabere, nemlig den 49-årige herboende franske tegner Thierry Capezzone, der blandt andet står bag tegneserien om »H.C. Andersen Junior«, og den 45-årige danske manuskriptforfatter Erik Svane.

Tegneserien om dronning Margrethe bliver i to dele, hvor første del, med arbejdstitlen »Daisy«, blandt andet handler om hendes fødsel, kort efter at Tyskland besatte Danmark, uddannelsesårene i Cambridge, hendes deltagelse i arkæologiske ekspeditioner og hendes ægteskab med prins Henrik. Anden del handler om tiden efter hendes indsættelse som regent i 1972.

»Dronningens liv er som et eventyr, men vi vil gøre alt for at få alle de historiske detaljer gjort så korrekte som muligt,« siger Thierry Capezzone.

For tegneren er serien om dronning Margrethe et skridt væk fra den eventyrprægede stil, som han hidtil har været kendt for. Han har foreløbig tegnet fem album om »H.C. Andersen Junior«, hvori den unge digter oplever sine egne mystiske eventyr i datidens Odense og København. Disse album har solgt i flere oplag i Danmark, Norge og Frankrig.

Alt skal være korrekt

Manuskriptforfatter Erik Svane har i mange år været bosiddende i Paris og leveret manuskripter til den store franske og belgiske tegneseriebranche. Blandt hans tidligere projekter har været en såkaldt kontrafaktisk biografi om Leonardo da Vinci, hvor man forestiller sig, hvad der kunne være sket, hvis de historiske rammer havde været anderledes. Hvad angår dronning Margrethe er forbilledet dog klassiske biografiske film som »Gandhi«, hvor der ikke gås på kompromis med det faktuelle.
»Alt skal være korrekt, men vi laver ikke bare en opremsning af facts. Vi vil koncentrere os om de dramatiske afsnit af Dronningens liv,« siger Erik Svane.

En rød tråd i fortællingen vil være at beskrive, hvordan Dronningen gradvist finder sig til rette med de pligter, der følger med positionen som statsoverhoved.

»Det har ikke altid været lige sjovt, og jeg tror faktisk, at det er en af årsagerne til, at Dronningen og prins Henrik faldt for hinanden - de har begge kæmpet for at finde deres plads i systemet,« siger Erik Svane.

Som et led i sin research har forfatteren rejst rundt i Danmark og taget omkring 7.000 billeder af blandt andet rigets slotte, fotos som Thierry Capezzone skal holde sig til under udarbejdelsen af sine baggrundstegninger.

Ideen

Ideen til en tegneserie om dronning Margrethe begyndte, da Thierry bemærkede, at hans tegnestil var begyndt at udvikle sig i en mere realistisk retning end den tegnefilmsagtige stil, som hans serie »H.C. Andersen Junior« er holdt i.

»Noget, jeg godt kan lide at tegne, er 1940ernes bilmodeller, og derfor fyldte jeg gadescenerne fra besættelsestiden med biler. Erik påpegede dog, at der på grund af benzinrationeringen kun var få privatbiler i gaderne. Folk cyklede mest,« siger Thierry Capezzone.

På trods af sin franske baggrund er tegneren i øvrigt overbevist royalist.

»Hvis man sammenligner kongedømmerne Danmark, Holland og Storbritannien med det republikanske Frankrig, så føler jeg selv, at kongedømmerne er at foretrække som statsform. Jeg elsker kongehuset og vil gøre mit bedste for at behandle det med den respekt, det fortjener,« siger Thierry Capezzone.

Tegneren og forfatteren har indgået aftale om udgivelsen med tegneserieforlaget Cobolt, der udgiver klassikere som Tintin, Linda og Valentin og Smølferne. Og snart også albummerne om dronning Margrethe. Redaktør på Cobolt Carsten Søndergaard ser de kommende album som et vigtigt skridt for danske tegneserier.

»I Danmark bør vi tilstræbe at fortælle danske historier i stedet for at lave efterligninger af amerikanske eller franske tegneserier, og de tegnere, der har gjort det, har også haft succes med det, som for eksempel Claus Deleuran og Orla Clausen,« siger Carsten Søndergaard.

På hjemmesiden hc-junior.dk/wordpress vil man kunne følge Thierry Capezzones og Erik Svanes arbejde med tegneserien.

Thursday, June 06, 2013

Many Men Won't See the Sun Set


…when it ends the longest day…

The story of D-Day.

From Instapundit:
REMEMBERING D-DAY.
And — as reader Eric Beeby notes — it’s always nice to remember D-Day with Patton’s Speech To The Third Army.

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Pointing a Smoking Finger at the NRA



In a cartoon of exquisite subtlety, Le Monde's Selçuk points the smoking finger of a bloody hand at the gun lobby, the National Rifle Association

France and Its International Image: A nation for whom richness is more of a scandal than poverty


France has to deal with an international image little interested in the creation of riches and reputed for making life difficult for entrepreneurs and companies, writes Marion Van Renterghem in a two-page spread in Le Monde, and symbolized in foreign business circles by the red flag nicknamed 75%.
It's an old story: the economy does not play a part in France's founding myths. Go see the list of great men — including two women — who have lain in the Pantheon: they include writers, politicians, scientists, resistants, doctors, navigators, soldiers. Never a businessman, never an entrepreneur.

 … The gold rush, lionized in America, is not a French dream and those few Frenchmen who do so dream don't dare tell anybody about it. Rather than winning the West and dreams of success, we prefer arts, weapons, and laws.
 … It is the old story of a nation built by Catholicism and for whom, by contrast with Anglo-Saxon Protestants, richness is more of a scandal than poverty.

 … Says Philippe Lentschener … friend of Arnaud Montebourg and McCann group CEO: … "We are the developed country with the weakest economic personality. We glorify research and intellectual activities, but we drop the link with the money-oriented department. We invent the Minitel, the smart card, 50% of the electronics on the Curiosity robot, but it is the Americans who build Apple, the Koreans who build Samsung. The question is: where is it that our creativity gets lost?"

 … Abroad, France is described as an over-regulated country practicing the heaviest tax rates in the European Union, surtaxing success, where administrative procedures are Kafkaesque, where labor, productive but expensive, is linked to deference for its 35-hour rule, where the social climate is tense and where bosses are sequestered.

 … "When they speak of France, foreign buinessmen bring it down to two numbers," quips Alexis Karklins-Marchay of the Ernst ESPERLUETTE Young audit cabinet: "75 and 35."

 … Adds external commerce minister Nicole Bricq: "In Koweit, I was told: 'I will tell you who you Frenchmen are — you are excellent engineers and awful entrepreneurs."
More excerpts at Le Monde Watch

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

France "Is Positive" That Sarin Gas Has Been Used "Several Times" by Syria's Assad (aka Saddam Hussein's Neighbor)


France, which considered it a mark of honor to vilify, demonize, and/or ridicule America — or at least George W Bush — for having the audacity to "lie", claiming that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), had just declared (write the BBC and Le Monde) that Syria (also known by its synonym as the neighbor of… Iraq) has… weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Related: Why castigate the U.S. for having intervened in Iraq for "no reason," given that Saddam had "no" WMD, while doing nothing in Syria now that Assad does have WMD?

The BBC:
France's foreign minister … Laurent Fabius said lab tests in Paris confirmed numerous uses of the nerve agent, adding that those who resort to chemical weapons must be punished.

But he did not specify where or when the agent had been deployed; the White House has said more proof was needed.

The UK also says it has tested samples which give evidence of the use of sarin in Syria.

According to a Foreign Office spokesman, Britain "has obtained physiological samples from inside Syria which have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin".

… UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon described the atrocities listed in the report - which details evidence of fresh suspected massacres, sieges and violations of children's rights - as "sickening and staggering", said his spokesman.

Children have been taken hostage, forced to watch torture and even participate in beheadings, says the report.

 … Mr Fabius said various samples taken from unspecified locations in Syria and tested in France showed the presence of sarin.

"There is no doubt that it's the regime and its accomplices" that were responsible, he told France 2 television in an interview.

Mr Fabius said the test results had been handed to the UN.

"All options are on the table," he added. "That means either we decide not to react or we decide to react including by armed actions targeting the place where the gas is stored."

The tests came after journalists for French newspaper Le Monde smuggled blood and urine samples out of Syria following what they believed were chemical attacks in the capital Damascus and the northern town of Saraqeb.

Sarin, an extremely potent chemical nerve agent, is colourless and odourless. The use of chemical weapons is banned by most countries.
 Le Monde:
Le ministre des affaires étrangères, Laurent Fabius, a assuré, mardi 4 juin, que, selon des analyses françaises, du gaz sarin a bien été utilisé "avec certitude à plusieurs reprises et de façon localisée" en Syrie.

Des soupçons sur l'utilisation d'armes chimiques en Syrie circulent depuis plusieurs mois. Mardi, la commission d'enquête de l'ONU sur le conflit a indiqué, sur la base d'entretiens avec des victimes, du personnel médical et d'autres témoins, qu'"il y a des motifs raisonnables de penser que des quantités limitées de produits chimiques ont été utilisées".

Les enquêteurs font état de quatre événements : à Khan Al-Assal près d'Alep le 19 mars, à Uteibah près de Damas le 19 mars, dans le quartier de Cheikh Maksoud à Alep 13 avril et dans la ville de Sarakeb le 29 avril.

Au cours de ces derniers mois, les envoyés spéciaux du Monde en Syrie ont pu être témoins d'attaques chimiques contre les rebelles. Notre photographe a filmé une attaque, a recueilli le témoignage des combattants et a rencontré des médecins qui ont soigné des victimes des gaz.
UN GAZ INODORE, INCOLORE ET VOLATIL

Produit en quantités énormes par l'Union soviétique et les Etats-Unis après la seconde guerre mondiale, le gaz sarin est utilisé comme arme chimique. "La France conduisait des essais sur le terrain en Algérie, même pendant la guerre d'Algérie", indique John Hart. Il a été étiqueté comme arme de destruction massive par les Nations unies en 1991, par la résolution 687 (PDF).

Il fait partie des armes et munitions stockées par certains pays : la France, par exemple, en a immergé une certaine quantité, noyée dans du béton, au large d'Ouessant. En 1995, ce gaz a été utilisé lors d'un attentat dans le métro de Tokyo, au Japon, par la secte japonaise Aum, faisant 13 morts et plus de 6 000 blessés.

Substance inodore, incolore et volatile, il passe facilement la barrière des poumons et est absorbé par la peau, d'où il passe directement dans le sang. Quand il ne tue pas, il laisse de graves séquelles neurologiques. Le sarin attaque le système nerveux humain.

Monday, June 03, 2013

The left's unmistakable trend toward weaponizing the tax code

What the IRS was doing behind closed doors may soon be official policy in California
writes Benjamin Duffy in his post on conservatives Staring Down the Barrel of Weaponized Tax Code.
Last week, the State Senate voted to revoke the nonprofit status of any group within the state that does not allow full participation of homosexuals, a move aimed directly at the Boy Scouts of America. According to the Associated Press, the bill “would require those organizations to pay corporate taxes on donations, membership dues, camp fees and other sources of income, and to obtain sellers permits and pay sales taxes on food, beverages and homemade items sold at fundraisers.”   Groups that sponsor troops would also have their tax returns and membership policies scrutinized by the Franchise Tax Board, California’s version of the IRS.

If further proof was needed that the BSA’s partial surrender on the homosexual issue only emboldened their opponents, here it is. Compromise is not in the left’s vocabulary. Not until Dan Savage is taking your son camping will they be happy, and probably not even then.

The thread that connects California’s proposed tax policy with the IRS scandal of recent weeks is the unmistakable trend toward weaponizing the tax code. What was once a neutral instrument used for the purpose of collecting revenue for legitimate governmental functions is now employed to punish behavior that powerful people don’t like. Lois Lerner of IRS infamy had a concealed carry permit but the State of California is carrying theirs right out in the open.

The government can indeed punish citizens monetarily. Until recently, monetary punishments were called “fines” and they were extracted for offenses such as parking in front of a fire hydrant.

California cannot however, fine the Boy Scouts for their membership policy. Thirteen years ago the Boy Scouts fought and won a legal case called Boy Scouts v. Dale, which affirmed the organization’s right to freely associate. Private organizations are private and, as such, have the right to set their own membership requirements. Membership in a private club is not an equal rights issue.

Yet the totalitarian impulse of Left Coast liberals knows no bounds. What was once called a “fine” is now called a “tax” and is specifically targeted at ostracized groups such as the Boy Scouts, even if what they are doing has been upheld as constitutionally protected behavior by the Supreme Court. If the tax code were an “assault rifle,” the Boy Scouts would be looking down the barrel of it.

A fine by any other name is still a fine. Fines disguised as taxes that are used to punish constitutionally protected behavior are unconstitutional. It would be no different than having a free speech tax or a free exercise of religion tax, both of which the left would love, I’m sure.
 
 … The precedent is chilling. The tax code could be used to punish churches that don’t recognize same-sex marriages or prefer only male clergy. Religious organizations could be required to include atheists. Liberals should worry too. If California can point the muzzle of their tax code at the Boy Scouts for refusing to allow homosexual adult leaders, Arkansas can do the same thing because the BSA now permits homosexual youth. It would be just as wrong for socially conservative states to use their tax code to punish groups it doesn’t like. This one trend that’s bad for goose and gander alike.
Update: thanks to Instapundit for the link

Sunday, June 02, 2013

French Chef Puts Crickets on Menu in Push to Use Insects as Food

French Chef Puts Crickets on Menu in Push to Use Insects as Food titles Bloomberg's Rudy Ruitenberg (thanks to RV who pointedly remarks: "But at least he'll be proud to anounce he will ferociously defend French cuisine tradition and never [imported] American junk food).
French chef David Faure says diners don’t complain about the crickets he started serving with his foie gras starter last month. Some say they wouldn’t mind more.

Faure, who runs the Michelin-starred restaurant Aphrodite in Nice, praises the popcorn flavor of crickets and the nutty tones that mealworms bring to his cod dish.

“I had this idea for several years, after travel to continents where it’s normal to eat insects,” the chef said by phone from his restaurant two days ago. “It’s really a question of taste.”

Faure says eating insects may soon be as normal in Western countries as having sushi. He may be onto something. The United Nations agency in charge of agriculture published a report today promoting insects as food, saying their benefits merit educating consumers in rich countries to help overcome their aversion to finding critters in their plate.

“Consumer disgust remains one of the largest barriers to the adoption of insects as viable sources of protein in many Western countries,” the UN’s Rome-based Food & Agriculture Organization said in the 201-page report promoting the practice known as entomophagy.

Insects are healthy and nutritious, convert feed more efficiently than livestock and produce less greenhouse gases than pigs and cattle, according to the agency. With 9 billion people expected on the planet by 2050, new ways of growing food are needed, the FAO wrote.

At least 2 billion people worldwide eat insects as part of their traditional diet, the FAO said. The practice hasn’t caught on in Europe nor in the U.S.

$76.50 Meal

Faure said his insect-themed “alternative foods” menu at 59 euros ($76.50), which also includes a desert with mealworms, may provide confidence to diners who want to try eating a little differently.
“People will continue to put a steak on the barbecue, but if from time to time people make this gesture, that can make a difference,” the chef said.

 … In Western societies, communication and education needs to address the “disgust factor,” it said.
“Some clients say it’s not cuisine or stupid things like that,” Faure said.