Monthly Archives: August 2009

Canada’s own Castafiore selling Moulinsart Castle.

File under: “Only in Canada”

The leader of the Quebec political party known as Parti Québécois, Pauline Marois, has come under attack recently, being called, of all things, “La Castafiore”. Apparently, she is reviled both for her grating personality and for her status as a person of wealth. Her home, which is now for sale, is even being called Moulinsart. According to “The Gazette“, a Montreal daily:

The house even has a name: La Closerie. It means a small field, which is ironic, since the couple’s real-estate agent has described the 1.7-million-square-foot lot as “probably the largest private residential lot in the Montreal area.” Others have nicknamed the house “Moulinsart,” the name of a Loire Valley-style château in the popular French-language Tintin comic books, which Marois’s house resembles. And they’ve nicknamed her “La Castafiore,” the name of the only prominent female character in the Tintin stories, an insufferable opera singer.

Poor Marois! We hope she gets a good price

Moulinsart to stop production on classic collectible cars.

We learned during our recent Tintin buying trip that Moulinsart has ended a very long releationship with the French company responsible for the design and manufacture of the classic Tintin cars we have all come to love. Instead, Moulinsart is now manufacturing their own group of cars, which are more “scene-based” and twice as expensive. Zut alors!

Here is an example of a car Moulinsart is “retiring”:

Here is an example of a new car:

We have ordered as many of what are now being referred to as the “old cars” as we could – but it was slim pickings. We also ordered a few of the new models. If you ever thought about buying a collectible Tintin car, now is the time because once these are gone, they are gone forever.

I suppose the good news is that if you are an owner of a Tintin car from the “old” series, you now posess something that will grow in value. To see all the cars we have in stock, please go here.

Tintin Albums back in stock

YAY! Tintin albums are back in stock. Well, almost all of them, as we remain sold out of The Calculus Affair. Should get it later on in the month (fingers crossed).

Tintin Books and More on Sale

We recently put all of our Tintin Baby Books on sale at 25% off the retail price. We also put the Tintin address book on sale at 25% off. Don’t know how long the sale will last – at least a week as we leave in two days for a New York Tintin buying trip (yay!).

Check out the sale here.

Tintin Baby Books on Sale

Tintin Baby Books on Sale

Tintin Address Book

Tintin Address Book

Tintin in the Congo: a Congolese Perspective

Nuala Sawyer, a former staff member, and accomplished photographer, was in the Congo recently. She was in charge of stills for a film that was there on location. When she wasn’t taking photos of the cast, crew, and location, she took the following images, which you can see on her blog. According to Nuala, unlike most Western Europeans and Americans, Tintin in the Congo is embraced by the Congolese. Perhaps perspectives on race are just different in the Congo, or perhaps Tintin is embraced because he is European. What do you think? Oh, and all photographs belong to Nuala Sawyer and are copyrighted as such.