Recently, a commission of deputies and senators of the French Parliament agreed to adopt legal action to impose a unique price to any e-book sold in France, even if it is bought from a foreign website belonging to any distributor of a company located outside the French borders (Apple, Google, Amazon).

Despite the agreement among the political parties was unanimous, this decision conflicts with the community legislation in this respect, which applies a territoriality principle that prevents a country from legislating against companies whose headquarters are located abroad. In fact, this is the main reason why the French draft was initially withdrawn from the upper house. Nevertheless, probably as an element of pressure in a future negotiation in Brussels regarding the fiscal harmonization among the EU countries, the French politicians decided unanimously to revive and boost the initiative, despite the fact that currently, the e-book represents less than 1% of the publishing market.

The conflict with Brussels might be one of the most symptomatic disintegration movements within the European Union. The huge pressure exerted through the imposition of draconian adjustment plans, which are impossible to achieve in the short term, especially for the countries that have received financial rescue funds to avoid bankruptcy (Ireland, Portugal and Greece) makes their growth quite un-viable. This way, it is unlikely that these countries can grow enough to pay abusive debt interests and approach the required level of deficit, which must not be higher than 3%. . According to some analysts, that is the equivalent of leaving them deprived of the benefits of the Euro zone. On the other hand, governments such as Denmark gave in to the pressure of extreme right. Denmark has also decided unilaterally to break the Schengen Treaty and restore border control.

According to the French Politicians, the aim of the new legislation about the e-books (From 2012, e-books will have an important cut of VAT; they will be taxed 5.5%, as the basic necessities)  is guaranteeing both, author and editor, fair and equitable remunerations, although there are divergent opinions with regards to the way to understand what is fair.

Actually, despite the efforts to limit the situation, the future debate will not be based on  how much to charge for the e-books, but on whether it makes sense in the era of information technology to continue to use the same commercial criteria from Gutenberg’s times regarding books. A technology that facilitates the free and instant book reproduction should create more relationships between readers and authors that would democratize culture once and for all.

In the meantime, there are still libraries, and one of the most beautiful ones in France is the St. Genvieve Library in Paris, located in the Pantheon Square.

Paul Oilzum

The library was designed by the rationalist architect Henri Labrouste in the mid 20th century. When you rent apartments in Paris you will be able to visit this library. From inside the library, which has 2 million books, you can also see its extraordinary iron structure, which hides behind its renaissance facade.

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Translated by: Hans
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He has walked on the wild side and returned to tell you about it several times.

Lou Reed is undoubtedly one of the most important composers of the twentieth century, from his beginnings singing and writing songs such as “Do the Ostrich” and “You are driving me insane” for Pickwick Records, back then he  already felt something that  soon was  to be the most influential band of the last fifty years: the Velvet Underground. Thus, still to this day as the urban myth says: everyone who hears this record immediately decides to form a band. With only 4 albums, The Velvet Underground and Nico, White Light / White Heat, The Velvet Underground and Loaded, Reed and company outlined  the exact landscape for  genres like psychedelic, krautrock, glam, punk and post punk, gothic, indie and noise. The albums loaded with vibrant energy, loud guitars and lyrics that tell the misfortunes and glories of the  human experience in a honest and visceral way fully convinced three generations that to be an outsider is always to be a pioneer.

As Reed himself once said in an interview, “we put a boat on the shore without knowing it would be an underwater  torpedo, and time has given us the oportunity  to see where it landed at.” But Velvet Underground was not only Reed, but also John Cale with his classical knowledge, Sterling Morrison’s  and his wild guitars, and the crushing drums of super “cute” Maureen Tucker  last but not least  the amazing presence of Nico, “femme fatale” of many megastars including Reed, Cale , Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, and many more.

Enter The White Duke: After Reed’s first album, heroin, along with many other crazy nights and days in the city that never sleeps, its  David Bowie who takes Reed to London to record and produce one of the best albums of the 70′s, “Transformer.” Then came “Berlin”, an opus about poverty, street violence and addiction levels so obscure that even now, it is excruciating to listen to . The 70′s would be the years of Reed and sex polymorphism, his beautiful girlfriend Rachel, “Coney Island Baby,” “Sally Can not Dance”, “Rock n Roll Animal” among other masterpieces of dirty and overflowing  rock n roll. Reed in the 80′s is better left aside. The Best  Reed then came back with the albums “New York”, “Songs for Drell” and “Magic and Loss” in the 90′s. Lou now does everything  from photos, movies, a radio program, Tai Chi and experimental music.

For more info: www.loureed.com

SISTER RAY

So if you want to listen to the songs of this legendary musician, rent apartments in Paris and go to see him on July 5 thin Le Grand Rex. Despite his occasional pedantic rockstar attitude its a un unmissable occasion to see a living icon perform so many musical masterpieces

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Translated by: Marc
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From 7 July to 13 November, Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris will be holding an interesting exhibition by one of the most innovative and visionary creators of modern times: the Turkish Cypriot conceptual artist, Hussein Chalayan.

The exhibition is organised around a series of productions in which Chalayan shows his genius for bringing together fashion design and visual projections in one installation.

In exhibiting the work of Chalayan, Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris is giving visitors the chance to see the place where fashion, design and art meet. This artist’s work pushes traditional boundaries by venturing into the world of architecture and design, while his use of image through video, photography and cinema has given him a projection which reaches far past the catwalk, gaining him critical acclaim as a conceptual artist.

Hussein Chalayan was born in Nicosia, Chipre, in 1970. In 1978 he moved to England with his family and later attended Central Saint Martins in London. He graduated from this prestigious college in 1993 with a collection called The Tangent Flows, composed of clothing that he had buried in his garden and dug up before the show. This collection was an instant sensation and all the pieces were bought and displayed in the luxury design shop, Browns, in London.

Two years later he competed with 100 designers in a competition organised by the company, Absolut. He won the first prize of 28,000 pounds, which he used to create his collection for the 1995 London Fashion Week, where once again he triumphed.

Later that year he worked with Björk, providing her with the jacket that she wears on the cover of the album, Post, as well as contributing to the visuals of her live tour. In return, the Icelandic avant-garde singer modelled for Chalayan during London Fashion Week.

His modern take on fashion and society led him to design the ANU sports shoe for the Urban Mobility collection. These minimalist trainers explore the boundaries between fashion and technology.

He has revolutionised design more than anyone else: his paper dresses that can be folded up and sent in the post, his seat cover that be converted into a dress, or even his coffee table top that doubles as an interesting wooden skirt convey his genius for using new materials and converting anything he touches into a work of art.

More information: http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/francais/mode-et-textile/expositions-70/prochainement-446/hussein-chalayan-943/

Nancy Guzman

If you would like see how fashion can become an art form then don’t miss this wonderful exhibition of Hussein Chalayan’s work when you rent apartments in Paris

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Translated by: Ben Palmer
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