Good ….. There was a DA VINCI

He was a genius. He may or may not have been the Da Vinci portrayed in the book and the movie. There is fact and there is fiction, but neither authors nor producers in Hollywood ever seem to know the difference between the one and the other. Certainly they didn’t in this case – and neither do I – but I had fun playing with their product. Then I produced the Da Vinci Quizz. If you read the book or saw the movie, or preferably both, you may have fun with my product. Then you will be the genius and know all the answers. Except one. Is it fact or is it fiction?

Better ….. The book, The Da Vinci Code

There is a book called The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown is the author. It has sold 33 million copies. Actually I made up that number as I have read a number of numbers, but that is about average of what I have read. The book has a number of characters, places and plots. You don’t need to know the number of copies sold but you do need to know some of the characters, places and plots. If you do you will know some of the answers in The Da Vinci Quizz.

Best ….. The movie, The Da Vinci Code

There is a movie called The Da Vinci Code. It is the movie that has already been featured on the covers of Newsweek and Paris Match. It is the movie that is slated to open the Cannes Film Festival this year. Perhaps 33 million people will see the movie – give or take a few million. It has stars, producers and companies that created it. If you know some of the stars, producers and companies that created the movie you will know more of the answers in The Da Vinci Quizz.

Mixed …. The Da Vinci Quizz

Perhaps better than best is The Da Vinci Quizz. Perhaps not. At any rate it is mixed in the sense that that the answers are mixed, mostly between the book and the movie. If you know the one or the other, and preferably both, you will know most of the answers in The Da Vinci Quizz. But you still won’t know whether they are fact or fiction. As for me, I have faith. You have fun, because I had that too!

Place … Right here on Tricolors: Just Click on Common Denominator in May & June

Original appearance May 2006, © 2006 / PRO 536-539, OO MAY, RD 2-09, YP 30/7-9

She was born in Beaumont. A cowboy can dream, but no, not that Beaumont. Far, far from Texas there is a Beaumont, Puy-de-Dôme, France. That Beaumont, in 1978. She burst upon our screens in 2001 and slowly receded from memory. A few weeks from now you will remember her again, and you may remember her forever. Amélie is back.

Read more on Our Magazine / Original appearance CIP & MAG May 2006, © 2006 / CIP 514, OO MAY, MAG, RD 2-09, YP 30/7-9

“It’s in the Can” they used to say in Hollywood, when a movie was a wrap. More recently, if it was the ‘right’ kind of movie, they might say, rather haughtily “It’s in the Cannes.” Perhaps some other Americans would say about the very same movie “It’s in the Can.” Here though the reference could be to the garbage, or even some place scatologically lower. For me “Fahrenheit 9/11” comes to mind. What a difference a ‘can’ makes. Can Cannes, anyone?

Read more in Our Magazine / Original appearance CIP & MAG May 2006, © 2006 / CIP 515, OO MAY, MAG, RD 2-09, YP 30/7-9

Humphrey Bogart went to Casablanca in 1942 – six years later Jean Reno was born there. Today Jean Reno may be the closest thing France has to a Humphrey Bogart. Still, at least with respect to the Atlantic – on opposite sides. Léon and Bezu Fache – opposite sides. Audrey Tautou and Jean Reno both, oh so very French, but still, on a couple of levels – opposite sides. C’est la vie, c’est la die – opposite sides.

Read more in Our Magazine / Original appearance CIP & MAG May 2006, © 2006 / CIP 516, OO MAY, MAG, RD 2-09, YP 30/7-9

The “Lone Eagle” has landed. Charles Lindbergh, after following the Seine from the coast, descended onto Le Bourget Airfield just North of Paris at 10:22 PM, May 22, 1927. History was made. Euphoria was rampant. With that descent Franco-American relations ascended almost instantly to heights not reached since Lafayette. Sadly, it has been a more or less steady glide path downward ever since. One wonders where Charles de Gaulle was on that day. As the architect of that descent, though undoubtedly a principled and certainly an ethical man, de Gaulle’s record was spotty. The politics of grandeur were a mixed blessing. With Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin tottering, the last Gaullists appear to be on their last legs. Hopefully now a slow 80 year ascent could begin.

Read more in Our Magazine / Original appearance CIP & MAG May 2006, © 2006 / CIP517, OO MAY, MAG, RD 2-09, YP 30/7-9