yawnfest number 5

Our second to last debate was on Thursday. We had a great lineup, including Pierre Lellouche (UMP) and Ghassan Salame, one of my professors this year. Unfortunately, we had a substitute moderator because the usual Ali Baddou was on the road with his radio show. And while the substitute was equally good-looking and well-spoken, he completely ignored our instructions on the structure of the debate. So the result was a completely flat discussion: the guests didn't even raise their voices. No yelling. No veiled insults. No below-the-belt jabs. Boring. Nonetheless, here is the video. My little speech comes at around the 25 minute mark (1/3 of the way in). Check out my incredibly long shag.

La France et l'Europe dans le monde
Uploaded by lemondefr

In other news, last night I got drunk for the first time in a while. It was one of those random nights where we migrated from one bar to the next. In our travels we discovered a bar that makes the strongest drinks in the city, if not the entire country. I don't really remember what I ordered, but I know it was called the Rio Grande, and it had 4 different kinds of liquor in it, including Tequila. This bar also has a 10-page drinks menu, which obviously means that if I want to find out what the best cocktail at the Crocodile is, I need to be making weekly trips there.

Third day on the job and already there's a riot.

On Monday, Nicolas Sarkozy finally stepped down as Minister of the Interior and made way for an interim minister, Francois Baroin. I'm betting Baroin is pretty happy he's only got the job for 2 months...

What started as a simple metro ticket control turned into a full-fledged shitshow last night at Gare du Nord, in Paris...one of the main metro and train stations in the city. There are conflicting reports on how it all got started, but as far as I can understand, things turned violent when passerbys took exception to the rather agressive way the metro security guards were treating this person who hadn't paid for a ticket. Some people got involved, friends were called up to come down and join the party, the CRS (riot police with a terrible reputation) stormed in and the situation escalated very rapidly. These videos pretty much show the whole thing unfold: looting, confrontations, beatings, arrests.

Emeute compil 27.03.07 gare du nord
Uploaded by jacquoth

Gare du Nord is probably my least favourite metro station to walk through alone at night. It's huge, it's in a particularly unsavoury part of town and the security isn't that great. This was confirmed last night. Does anyone else find it unbelieavable that a) there were still travellers walking INTO Gare du Nord, suitcases in tow, while the rioters and police were engaged in a cat and mouse game throughout the cavernous halls of the station, that b) all trains and metros kept on running as usual, and that c) it took hundreds of policemen hours before they could finally secure the place? If this isn't a resounding indictment of Sarkozy's terrible track record as Minister of the Interior, then I don't know what is. France's next president? Here's hoping his first act as President is to secure the train stations for the weekly riots that will surely ensue...

anti-Trance army

FADER magazine has set up an Ed Banger tour blog updated by Busy P and Mehdi. Check out Day 3 in Miami when the intrepid crew find themselves in a crappy karaoke bar listening to a soul-shattering rendition of Renegades of Funk by some dude with a ponytail. I guess anything is better than enduring trance music. Busy P captures the magic on tape. His facial expression says it all.

monsieur qui?

Double post time. I know I'm probably the last one to see this, but I thought I'd post it anyways. New Mr. Oizo, c/o Sebastian at Ed Banger's birthday party, aka: sweatiest party in history.

Un...



...et deux:



Mr. Oizo spun a little bit at Kavinsky and Busy P's release party, and it's safe to say that he is on a whole other level. Musical genius level, perhaps? Mind = blown. Can't wait for the new album.

Jacques Chirac, tête à claques.

I have this problem where I can't help but giggle uncontrolably when I see videos of the President giving a speech. Check this link out and tell me it's not just me...

Tomorrow is debate number 4, the topic is the economy: does France have what it takes to compete in the global economy? According to this study, the French want nothing to do with global anything.

what myspace bulletins were made for

Here's what MSTRKRFT posted on their bulletin today:

Hey,

If anyone from Canada is coming down to Miami for WMC and is gonna be at any of our parties... we need 2 cartons of Belmonts to get us through the rest of the tour. We'll reimburse you and take good care of you at the party. let us know.

thanks
-MK

...and then one hour later:

So we were serious about the cigarettes. Please only reply if you are able to do it. Please don't reply with "LOL!!!" You can get them at the duty free shop at Pearson for $50.00.

Sorry for the confusion

Myspace users could learn a thing or two from these fine gentlemen. Please, no more ridiculous surveys or instructions to determine your stripper name. Let's reserve the bulletins for important and hilarious information only.

they're always after me lucky charms!

I really don't like St. Patrick's Day. I think it's just an excuse for people to pretend they're Irish, wear stupid green outfits, get disgustingly drunk and act like complete idiots, all in the name of a tradition most people aren't even familiar with. What's worse than St. Patrick's day in Paris? When it falls on the same day as the French and Scottish rubgy teams face off for the Six Nations title. (France dominated Scotland, btw.) So last night downtown Paris was literally teeming with a terrifying mix of old men in kilts and young hooligans wearing Guiness foam top-hats. On the upside, anglo-saxons are a lot more respectful when they drunkenly holler at you. "Ah! Here are some pretty lasses. BONNE SOIR MES AMIES!"

Henry Kissinger, how I'm missin' ya...

Today I got a phone call informing me that a spot had opened up at the last minute for a seminar taught by William B. Quandt. At first I didn't really understand what was going on (I had only had 1 cup of coffee...) because I had tried to sign up for it a long time ago. But I figured that if I had willingly tried to sign up for 4 more hours of class per week plus a paper, it must have seemed worth it at the time.

Quandt was part of Henry Kissinger's staff during the 1973 Arab-Israeli crisis (and ensuing shuttle diplomacy) and head Middle East policy advisor to Jimmy Carter. He is now a professor at the University of Virginia. The course is on American Foreign Policy in the Middle East, with a special focus on four key periods in history: 1967, 1973 onwards until the Egyptian-Israeli peace, the Clinton and GW Bush years. This isn't a history course, however, but more of an analytical approach to the decision-making process within each case. Quandt had just entered the political world when he became part of Kissinger's team, but he was the note-taker at all the important meetings, so his first-hand accounts of the negociations are fascinating. Not to mention, the man is a veritable encyclopedia of anecdotes. Say what you will about Carlyle's "Great man theory", but in diplomacy, so much is dependent on personalities and relationships. If Nixon hadn't spent most of 1973 in a drunken haze, and had not been forbidden to answer phonecalls and make important policy decisions, would Kissinger's impact during the crisis have been diferent? We'll call that Essay topic Plan B...

Oh and I'll buy you a drink if you tell me where this entry's title is from...

the little candidate that could.

The French elections are approaching, people! And things are starting to happen. Namely that they are so much a part of my daily life that the other night I actually had a dream in which I discussed the possibility and implications of the centre candidate, Francois Bayrou, making it to the second round. I have no idea how much coverage these elections are getting outside of Europe, but I would imagine that North America will start hearing about them a lot more in the next few weeks. Here's why:

There are usually three major candidates, and a plethora of others who just use presidential elections to voice their grievances. These smaller candidates cover an incredible spectrum of political views (ex: Jose Bove, the guy who burned the McDonalds. Or Besancenot...a postman) but they really don't matter much. You might remember the last time around, the right-wing Front National led by Le Pen made it to the second round and it was a huge embarassment because it essentially announced to the world that a certain proportion of the French population is racist and/or anti-semitic and/or xenophobic and/or easily brainwashed. Mercifully, Le Pen is still scrambling to get his 500 mayor signatures so that he can officially launch his campaign. Up until last week, the race was basically between Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP) and Segolene Royal (Socialist party)...but a third candidate has slowly been gaining ground. And then this weekend it was announced that Francois Bayrou of the UDF (centre) has caught up to Segolene in the opinion polls, with Sarkozy a mere 5 points ahead of both. The implications of this are huge.

First of all, it means that the French are confused and have no idea who to vote for. Bayrou has trouble speaking proper French. I am starting to wonder if he's doing it on purpose.

Secondly, he has no political plan to speak of. I'm pretty sure his campaign platform consists of trying to convince us that he's not as scary and authoritarian as Sarkozy, and moderately more intelligent than Segolene, whose idiocy has become caricatural.

And finally, this means that maybe these elections will finally start to heat up. Although there is no discernable "campaign issue" to speak of. No war of words over gay marriage, abortion or foreign policy. No mud-slinging other than the occasional accusation of tax fraud (yawn). And sadly, no accusations of past drug-use or extra-marital affairs. These elections are too tame for my liking. Something's gotta give!

Signatune

New Mehdi video for his latest single, Signatune (Thomas Bangalter edit). This one was directed by Romain Gavras, co-founder of Kourtrajme, an artist/musician collective. Get familiar. They have tons of goodies on their site.

Qu'est-ce qu'etre francais aujourd'hui?

Third of six debates I'm organising as my Master's project. This one is big. It will be broadcast on television across France on Public Senat at 8 tomorrow night and then again on monday.

back to Nerdom.

Yep, it's time for me to get serious again. The wakeup call came yesterday when I looked through my agenda and realised that I have an oral presentation, a paper or a group assignment due every single week until my week vacation in April. Oh boy.

Nonetheless, as a sort of farewell to my life of leisure, I headed to the Colette Dance Class last night. The theme was the Jackson 5, but unfortunately we got there too late to participate. Didn't matter too much though because after the class we got treated to hours of amazing hip hop, c/o Pedro Winter. Tell me, when was the last time you got to dance to Biggie's Ten Crack Commandments in a club?? I must also mention that Sasha is my new favourite person for knowing every single word of that song and pulling out the sweetest dance moves, while sporting a dress shirt and an old man cardigan. A king among men.

The real purpose of this post, however, is to discuss my love affair with PBS Frontline. Not only do they consistently put out some of the best investigative journalism on television today, but they upload all of their documentaries online for everyone to access...for FREE. On top of that, they also provide all of their interview transcripts since they only use excerpts in their shows, AND tons of other goodies like de-classified documents, links and analysis. I strongly recommend you check out Al-Qaeda's New Front, Private Warriors, and News Wars which is their most recent feature on the changing role of the press in America and how it is reacting to huge economic and political challenges, the latter coming especially from the current Bush administration.

At the risk of including too much geekiness in one post, I would also like to mention how awesome Sciences-Po is. It is unbelievable the stuff I'm learning here since my classes are taught by people who are "in" at the highest levels of government. For instance, I am taking a class with Hubert Vedrine, Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Francois Mitterand. I will forgive him for always arriving 15 minutes late, not giving us a course outline and occasionally sending messages on his Blackberry in the middle of lectures, because he always ends his class 30 minutes early in order to allow us to pick his brain on anything going on in the world today....anything. My spanish class is taught by a journalist who last week gave us some info about a certain very well-known journalist who has been held captive for years in Colombia, and that I'm not sure I should talk about on this blog. I won't even go into all the juicy gossip floating around the halls about the sordid affairs of France's political elite. All of this makes up the "Love" part in my Love-Hate relationship with Sciences-Po. Perhaps one day I will describe the hated elements. Catch me in a couple of weeks when I'll be sleep deprived and malnourished.

vicieuse soiree Vice

We thought that in showing up at Point Ephemere last night right at 11pm, invites in hand, we would be sure to get in. We were wrong. But what could have been a terrible night turned into one of those awesome random evenings. It had everything: some whisky, a bottle of martini, a marriage proposal from an incoherently drunk man on the metro, two hours of waiting in line which turned into two hours of meeting new people, 4:30am return to the Vice party, sweet music and good people, a butt naked dude (look for the youtube vid soon) and ruckus. Lots and lots of ruckus. And nothing beats walking home at 7am munching on a freshly baked baguette and then passing out knowing that it's saturday and it's ok to sleep in...

a link...

...to some better pictures of the soiree in Brussels. Done by, like, an actual photographer and stuff. You can probably spot me (and my stellar Alps face tan) and Bitsy in some of the crowd shots.