Sac de fille...

July 3rd 2008 "to do list"

2008-07-03T01:24:00.003+02:00

1. Show up for final oral exam.
2. Don't blow it.
3. Leave Sciences-Po building for the last time.
4. Head to nearest store and purchase bottle(s) of whiskey.
5. Enter state of prolonged inebriation.

let the sock-tan season begin.

2008-05-14T22:13:00.002+02:00

Two weekends, two tournaments, two victories just within reach. Last weekend I was in Geneva for Talampaya, an invite tourney for european mixed teams. The competition wasn't amazing, so the first two days were spent steamrolling one opponent after the next. It only got interesting on day 3, for semis and finals. Unfortunately we pulled out our best game for the semi-finals, and totally choked when it actually mattered, and lost to the Dutch in the finals. The loss wouldn't have been so bitter if a week before, us ladies from the national mixed team hadn't lost in the finals of Tom's Tourney (in Bruges) to a Dutch women's team.

Having played in or witnessed my share of women's finals, I can safely say that our game versus the Dutch women at Tom's Tourney was one of the more exciting matches I've seen in a long time. Women's finals don't usually get as many spectators as the Open division - slower pace, less physical, in general not as interesting. But we managed to keep the (large) crowd thoroughly entertained for the entire match. I'm probably a little biased, but losing hurt quite a bit since we definitely deserved it more than our opponents, especially given the fact that they insisted on turning the game into a call-fest. It had been a while since I had seen such blatantly shitty foul calls (UBC girls - remember Florida at Centex?!) and excessively agressive behaviour.

These two weekends also served as a wake-up call re: my physical shape. It is nowhere near where it should be. Oh crap.

things that suck

2008-04-23T20:07:00.004+02:00

Because i'm feeling so positive these days:

1) Segways. Who is the retard who invented this? (Wikipedia tells me his name is Dean Kamen) It has got to be up there in the Top 10 list of most ridiculous inventions of the 21st century.

2) The people who use Segways. The Segway is stupid, therefore an individual who chooses it as a mode of transportation is equally stupid. Now that the weather is getting nicer and the tourists are once again overtaking Paris, my neighbourhood is literally teeming with these idiots humming around on their Segways. Tour groups are already annoying, but the annoyance factor goes through the roof once you stick them on a Segway with a helmet (yes apparently you need protective head gear) and fluorescent yellow vests.

Sidenote: Last September as I was leaving my building, a group of aforementioned idiots were crossing the street onto the sidewalk I was on. The gods must have been smiling down on me that day because the moment I had been waiting for for so long finally occured. A middle-aged american tourist was hurrying in order to avoid being hit by traffic. He was clearly labouring under the impression that a Segway is an all-terrain device, so he proceeded to ram full speed into the curb and completely eat pavement right in front of me while his Segway made bizarre buzzing sounds and tried to stay upright. The hilarity of the situation was so incredible (especially when his overweight wife started yelling "oh my GAWD honey are you alright?!?") that I didn't even try to suppress my laughter and immediately sent text messages to everyone I knew telling them about what I had just witnessed.

3) School until July. I don't get out of class until mid-June. And then I have my final oral exams in July. The better the weather gets, the more depressed I am at the thought of being stuck in class when it's 30 degrees outside. It hit me pretty hard today when the first Respect is Burning party was announced for June 4th. I will still have a full month of school left. Gasp.

4) My oral exam subject. La neutralite a-t-elle un sens? Balls.

the Republic of Kazantip

2008-04-22T10:54:00.003+02:00

Forget Ibiza, the new place to be this summer for all-night parties is...the fictional republic of Kazantip. Every year, this month-long rave changes location, to a new spot along the southern coast of Ukraine, on the Black Sea. One time it was held at a deserted nuclear power plant. Last year it was held on an old army base. The idea is simple: for one month, an autonomous republic is founded. The organizers all hold a position within the fictional government. The event is overseen by a self-elected president (President Nikita), and the rules and regulations are drawn out in a constitution. Of course, there aren't really many rules and regulations. It's essentially a month-long orgy of booze, electronic music and debauchery. It's the most random mix of beautiful women, eccentrics and russian mafiosos. Check out the Vice documentary here.

bubble girl

2008-04-21T15:18:00.003+02:00

Well my immune system has officially shut down. I am sick for the third time since the beginning of March. Perhaps it would be deserved if I had been partying non-stop for the last two weeks, but instead I was going to bed relatively early, exercising every day, and staying home on the weekends. So WTF. And now, the last two weeks of physical training are going to go out the window and I have to start from scratch...again.

My Friday night was cut short by the fit that my stomach decided to have after eating the best couscous in town. I managed to suck it up for the duration of the Feadz set, but had to scram before MSTRKRFT came on, which is a bummer because I was curious to see what they're spinning these days. Now my goal is to will myself back to good health in time for Cut Killer on Thursday night, and this:

I wanna know where da gold at!

2008-03-29T14:45:00.004+01:00

I am bummed about my ridiculous schedule this semester. Three times a week, I have class until 9:15 at night, including Fridays. I am no longer able to attend frisbee practice Tuesdays and Thursdays. To add insult to injury, my Friday night class is a required course on the United Nations Security Council. I am still waiting for someone to give me a valid reason why I should be spending an entire semester studying an illegitimate, irrelevant, and useless institution that I don't care about.

Furthermore, my lame schedule is making it very difficult for me to keep up with the physical training I'm supposed to be doing for the national team. Being sick for the second time this month also didn't help. And I'm now developping a reputation amongst the frisbee community as the girl who sleeps through her alarm and can't make it to tournaments on time. This weekend was calm in terms of partying, and yet I still managed to show up at the fields ridiculously late both days. Although after the Sunday night party at Paganello, my teammates no longer believe me when I tell them I didn't go out the night before.

Last night a friend of mine got borderline beaten up by the RATP metro security. I can't say that I'm surprised, because those guys are notorious douchebags. But the situation was completely ridiculous and infuriating: he had just stepped off the metro and was walking through the hallways. He came upon a ticket check...about 10 RATP security guys lined up across the hall. He stopped for a second to search through his pockets to find his ticket and two guards immediately pounced on him and began to harass him, thinking that he hadn't paid and was trying to turn around in order to avoid getting caught. He pulled out a few tickets, none of which were the right one, so they immediately assumed that he was lying. They didn't give him a chance to explain himself, much less to search through his stuff to find the right ticket. Once he did find it, one guy pocketed it without checking its validity. Instead they pinned him up against the wall, took out his wallet from the back pocket, saw that he had money on him to pay the fine, and forced him to pay the 40 euros. At first he refused and told they to call the cops so that he could explain himself. He was told that the cops would take an hour and a half to get there. In the end he just gave up trying to reason with the assholes and paid the fine.

What makes this story so infuriating is that it is completely impossible to reason with the RATP security, no matter how calm and polite you remain while they are riffling through your pockets and getting in your face. This is definitely not the first time I've heard such a story, and it is unbelievable that these wannabe cops (with absolutely NO authority to search you) get away with this shit!

I recently discovered last.fm, this website where you type in an artist and it creates a playlist of similar music. This isn't very exciting in and of itself...but this site is awesome because of the detailed and highly informative blurbs that go along with each song/artist. Example: I typed in Yung Joc and the following information came up when a Gorilla Zoe song was played:

"Also, Gorilla Zoe appears to have a feud with rapper The Game, dissing him on the track "1 Sluggg". Gorilla Zoe claims that he made the track because he felt offended by comments that The Game had made on his single "One Blood" about Atlanta's hip-hop scene. Game has never responded to Gorilla Zoe or said his name, but has addressed his reasons for the comment, stating that it was not a diss to Atlanta or the South. Some claim also that Gorilla Zoe dissed The Game because of his friendship with JT Tha Bigga Figga, a rapper/producer from the Bay Area who claims he discovered The Game and is not currently in a beef with."

WHO KNEW?!

Finally, thank you Sasha and Chad for bringing to my attention the existence of this YouTube video:

bad habits

2008-03-16T11:50:00.003+01:00

My suitcase has come back from it's round-the-world trip to land at my parents' front door. It took a month and a half, and I had to spend a bunch of money for new clothes while I was in Vancouver, but shit happens. At least I got my Bon Jovi 1990 tour shirt back!!! Also, now I have two Technotronik shirts, if anyone's interested in taking one of them off my hands...

It's looking like it's going to be a very long semester. I have a steady stream of assignments and projects due every week until the beginning of June. As a result, I've sunk back into old habits, namely not having time to eat 3 meals a day, and not sleeping enough. I'm also essentially dating the library. Sorry boys, this girl's off the market.

On Friday I went to Brussels for an internship/job fair put on by Sciences-Po and LSE. The morning portion was spent talking to various public and private organisations, all based in Brussels and focused on the European Union. Considering that most of the organisations attending were private consulting firms who dish out finance and communications advice to their clients, the event was probably more enriching for LSE students. That's what I get for chosing my Master's degree out of interest for the subject instead of consideration for the future. In the afternoon, we all split up and attended an information session. Unfortunately I couldn't get a spot for the International Crisis Group, so I had to suffer through an hour of the shittiest powerpoint presentation in history, care of the embarassingly incompetent communications department of the European Commission. The presentation was completely unadapted to the audience: we are all pursuing prestigious graduate studies, it's a little insulting when we are asked if we know how many countries are currently in the European Union. Also, it's the Treat of Rome, not Rom. Thankfully my iPod picked up on the Commission's free unsecured wireless.

It seemed like kind of a waste to travel all the way to Brussels just for a day, so I ended up staying the night at a friend's place and indulging in what the Belgians do best: liege waffles and good music scene.

back to school

2008-03-11T16:03:00.002+01:00

Well, it was only fitting that this trip end just as badly as it started. Immediately upon sitting down in the plane headed to Frankfurt, I got hit with that nasty virus that was going around Vancouver. And so, during eight excrutiatingly long hours, I suffered through every possible symptom in the book, and the two babies near me made damn sure that I wouldn't get any kind of decent sleep for the entirety of the flight.

Needless to say, I can barely remember my fist week of class. I went through it in an ibuprofen-induced haze, and I'm not even sure where I found the strength to drag myself to and from school every day. Fear of failure is a powerful incentive. I think I slept more in the past week than in the entire first year of my master's program.

On my way back to Paris from Vancouver I stopped for a couple of days in Toronto. I still can't make up my mind about that city. Perhaps it doesn't help that I always seem to go there during the winter months, and so it's pretty difficult to try to discover a city when your only preoccupation is to not freeze to death. But I did come to the realization that young torontonians are freaks of nature, parading around at night on Queen Street West in - 15 degree weather in mini-skirts and dress shirts.

Ahhh, Queen Street West. Toronto's version of Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. If you ever want to get harassed by a douchebag or randomly punched in the face, this is the place to be. Where are all the skids? Where are the locally-run art galleries? Also, where did all the good vintage shops go? Kensington market has become dismal...unless you're looking to buy bongo drums and cargo pants. Any answers to these questions would be much appreciated.

So now I'm back to school, and of course with schoolwork comes...procrastination! So I've recently discovered the excellent Vice Guide to Travel on VBSTV. I thought the one on Bulgaria was pretty neat. The guys go to Bulgaria and find out how easy it is to purchase a warhead on the black market. But then I saw the Vice Guide to North Korea. Must see viewing!

@#%WTF! $*@#

2008-02-15T03:00:00.003+01:00

This week has certainly been a lesson in taking deep breaths and trying to just let. things. go. I'm slowly getting there but it's been an uphill battle.

United Airlines lost my bag. At first I thought it was a simple case of my bag not making it on my flight. But no, it has actually disappeared. I should have known that something was up when my snowboard made it to Vancouver, but not my suitcase. I also had a 4 hour lay-over in Chicago, plenty of time for them to do their job correctly and load my bag on the flight. I have spent the better part of my vacation on the phone with incompetent call center agent after incompetent call center agent. They have given me every story in the book, including that they found my bag and it was on its way to Vancouver. The final version is that my bag somehow lost its barcode tag, and when they searched in the storage where all untagged bags go to die, they didn't find mine. So I'm gonna go ahead and assume that it was stolen. I'm not going to go into a detailed description of all the one-of-a-kind items that I lost, because it hurts too much.

So now here we are, 4 days into my so-called vacation. No clothes, no underwear, no shoes, no nothing. Also, no hope of getting any compensation any time soon. I'll be lucky if I get a fraction of what my actual bag and its contents were worth. Let this be a lesson for everyone: never fly United Airlines and never take a flight through Chicago.

I've also spent too much time driving around this city since I've been back...trying to pick up some necessities. It's been confirmed that Vancouverites are the worst drivers in the universe. They are allergic to signaling, they drive no faster than 40km/h and apparently the 4-way stop is a concept much too complicated for their pea-sized brains. Next time you're driving in Vancouver, try honking at the driver in front of you and notice how they slam on the breaks. Most retarded knee-jerk reaction ever.

But enough with the negativity. On the bright side, I won't have to check any bags in on my way back to Paris, right?

DEEP BREATHS.

The current security advisory level is Orange.

2008-02-10T10:36:00.000+01:00

I am very, very anal when it comes to travel. I hate to be rushed. I always show up with tons of time to spare. I have never been late for a plane or a train in my life, except for once when I relied on a Belgian to drive me to the Brussels train station and he took some wrong turns and ended up in the middle of the Sunday morning market and I had to sprint to the platform and made it just as the whistle blew. But I’m afraid my spotless record has been tarnished after this morning.

Last night started innocently enough: small dinner party at a buddy’s house. I’m really not sure at what point in the night I became blind drunk, but it’s pretty much a miracle that I even emerged from my coma this morning. I couldn’t say what time I got home, although I do remember that I made it back in a cab. For some inexplicable reason when I got home I decided to sort through the cards in my wallet…presumably to take out all the ones that I wouldn’t need in Vancouver. I’m pretty sure I responded to a few Facebook messages too, but I haven’t been able to assess the damage yet. And of course, classic Anne move, I randomly got up in the middle of the night to turn OFF my alarm on my cell. And when my actual radio alarm started blaring at 8am, I was so deeply passed out that I struggled with the damn thing for over 10 minutes without realizing that it was on for a REASON, and so I just turned the volume down and went back to sleep.

I finally woke up at 10am, the time I was supposed to be at the airport at. Obviously there was no time to shower, so I’m pretty sure I still smell like booze. I didn’t realize until I was lining up for check-in that I was probably still drunk. By some miracle I found a taxi on the street willing to take me to the airport, after calling my uncle and practically begging him to drive me because I was so late. He refused on account that he just woke up. It’s always nice to know you can count on family in times of stress.

So here I am now in Chicago O’hare, my second most hated airport (top prize goes to Paris CDG). Every time I pass through here something shitty happens. The first time they lost my luggage, the second time all connecting flights had been cancelled because of tornado warnings and in order to make it to the biggest competition of my Varsity ultimate career, Reg and I had to rent a car and drive the 800 miles to Columbus, Ohio because the only flight they could get us on was in two days. In retrospect it made for a great story, but as a result the word O’hare brings back very bitter memories of sprinting through the cavernous terminals, waiting in line for 2 hours to rent a car (never travel through the States during May long weekend) and playing the first day of competition on 2 hours of sleep.

The only thing that is making this lay-over in this godforsaken airport slightly more bearable is the NY Times, vitamin water and a bag of M&Ms.

Update: Three for three...those assholes somehow managed to get my snowboard gear on the flight, but left my suitcase behind. Chicago O'hare now gets top prize.

crazy.

2008-01-31T14:26:00.000+01:00

GURGAON, India — As the anesthetic wore off, Naseem Mohammed said, he felt an acute pain in the lower left side of his abdomen. Fighting drowsiness, he fumbled beneath the unfamiliar folds of a green medical gown and traced his fingers over a bandage attached with surgical tape. An armed guard by the door told him that his kidney had been removed.

Mr. Mohammed was the last of about 500 Indians whose kidneys were removed by a team of doctors running an illegal transplant operation, supplying kidneys to rich Indians and foreigners, police officials said. A few hours after his operation last Thursday, the police raided the clinic and moved him to a government hospital.

Many of the donors were day laborers, like Mr. Mohammed, picked up from the streets with the offer of work, driven to a well-equipped private clinic, and duped or forced at gunpoint to undergo operations. Others were bicycle rickshaw drivers and impoverished farmers who were persuaded to sell their organs, which is illegal in India.

Although several kidney rings have been exposed in India in recent years, the police said the scale of this one was unprecedented. Four doctors, five nurses, 20 paramedics, three private hospitals, 10 pathology clinics and five diagnostic centers were involved, Mohinder Lal, the police officer in charge of the investigation, said.

Read the rest of the story here.

trash.

2008-01-29T15:24:00.000+01:00

My excuse for not posting regularly this time is that I'm currently on a mission to exhaust myself to such an extent that when I go back to Vancouver in less than two weeks, I can fully take advantage of what I do best in the no-fun city: sleep.

So far I think I'm on the right path towards complete physical exhaustion. Last weekend instead of getting through a to-do list of chores that must get done before my departure, I decided to spend most of it in a haze of partying and sleep-deprivation that I did not get out of until Monday morning around 6:30am, thanks to a healthy cocktail of champagne, wine and Jack and coke. Sure, it wasn't the best way to start the work week, but I stopped pretending to give a shit about my job a long time ago. Furthermore, what good is living in Paris if you don't plan on experiencing all this wonderful city has to offer, including underground afterhours tranny clubs.

But I'm all about balance and I did manage to squeeze in a few enriching activities this weekend. I checked out Sweeney Todd on Friday afternoon. I was incredibly excited to see this movie. In Grade 2, our teacher got us to perform it in front of the school and our parents. Tim Burton's adaptation was fantastically dark and gory. Also, is there anything Johnny Depp cannot do? What's next, a major exhibit of his artwork at the MOMA?

And then I actually dragged myself out of bed twice this weekend to play some Ultimate with the national women's team. Granted, on Saturday I showed up almost 2 hours late, to the amusement of the coach who could probably tell just by looking at me what I had been doing the night before. Nothing like 3 hours of intense running to sweat out the night's excesses, right?

Guadeloupe

2008-01-17T19:16:00.000+01:00

the comeback

2008-01-16T15:50:00.000+01:00

I didn't even realize it had been a month since I last wrote an entry on this blog. Oopsie. Things got a little hectic once Christmas vacation rolled around and haven't slowed down until very recently, now that all the visitors and guests have gone back to their respective countries and I'm back to a more normal schedule.

The Maftei family went south for the holidays. We spent ten blissful days in Guadeloupe. The toughest decisions I had to make all week were what bathing suit to wear and whether or not my base tan was good enough to stop applying SPF 30. I did all the obligatory tourist things; eat fresh coconut, drink insanely strong rhum-based cocktails, roast in the sun all day and scuba dive. Although the highlight of the week was without a doubt the cheesy day-trip we took out to an island that was recently converted into a national park. I thought this was going to be one of those lame Mexico-all-inclusive style boat cruises where you're told you're going to swim with the sharks but instead you stand in line for half an hour only to find out that by "swim" they mean "hold" a disgruntled-looking mini-shark.

Instead, we were given scuba gear and were left to our own devices on a beautiful wild beach until lunchtime. Then the booze started flowing. Before I knew it, I had downed 2 Planteur (rhum and fruit juice cocktail) and 3 ti'punch (rhum, cane sugar, lime slice) and was trying to hide my glass from the captain, who kept filling it up. I narrowly escaped being temporarily married to one of the crew members, to the dismay of my brother who was thoroughly enjoying the fact that I was the target of most of the captains' jokes. And once I had sufficiently sobered up, I headed back into the water and swam with baracudas and sting-rays until we had to pack up and leave.

Obviously upon returning to the cold temperatures of Paris I got sick, and the excessive partying and lack of sleep since being back have certainly not helped. I long for those lazy days spent lounging around in tie-dyed hippie pants, sipping cocktails and reading trashy magazines, instead of sitting in this cold, dark office without natural light, struggling through the US Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual...

Le message de Al-Gathafi.

2007-12-12T15:32:00.000+01:00

It's pretty sad to see newspapers sink to new lows when faced with low readership, poor sales and impending financial crisis. Le Figaro, one of the major French publications, really outdid itself today. It sold a half-page, full colour advertisement space to Mouammar Kadhafi, who is currently being welcomed with great fanfare by the French president. In this ad space, the Brother leader invites you to consult his website, where one can read up on his many peaceful initiatives. The enlightened guide of the islamo-marxist movement also calls on the world to have the courage to give up nuclear weapons, nay, ALL weapons, so that we can live in harmony.

I don't know about you, but this kind of stuff - ruthless dictators trying to give us lessons on how to better the world - just warms my heart. I'm not so naive to be surprised by the fact that Le Figaro would accept to print this shit. It's called survival of the fittest in a world where the printed press is struggling to make ends meet. But whatever happened to journalistic integrity?

As if the ad wasn't bad enough: it comes out on the same day a story runs about a woman who claims to have been raped by Kadhafi in the street, and then threatened to be killed if she ever opened her mouth.

bored at work.

2007-11-28T13:42:00.000+01:00

My week has been terribly devoid of excitement. On Saturday I was so motivated to go big, but unfortunately by the time we rolled up to this new night being launched by Teki Latex, the lineup was too huge and we were too cold. Other than that, my weekend was spent roaming the parisian streets lost in deep thought, eating too many pastries and sitting in cafes, writing and people-watching. Not that those activites aren't enjoyable. But my days of going out until 5am and barely scraping by with 4 hours of sleep per night are becoming a distant memory. Which is ironic because given how slack my internship is, I should be taking advantage of all this free time before school starts again in March.

So, for lack of more superficial things to discuss, I thought I'd post this link to an op-ed piece by Thomas Friedman about the re-launching of the Middle East Peace Process in Annapolis. I tend to agree with most of what he's saying, and I'm willing to bet that nothing concrete will come out of these talks. History has shown that peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians fail when the leaders lack strength and legitimacy. Olmert's popularity is hovering around a dismal 20% right now. Abbas doesn't even control the entire Palestinian territories. The foundations of a lasting peace require risky political decisions and compromise. Given the shaky political ground both of these men are standing on, it is very unlikely that either of them would be willing to sacrifice their political careers for a peace process that, let's face it, looks a lot like a last-ditch attempt by the Bush administration to leave the White House on a positive note.

you're my tenderoni

2007-11-22T12:16:00.000+01:00

It's been a week. I was hoping that the strike would be over by now but those assholes are still going strong(ish). Slowly but surely, moderate factions are breaking away from the main unions and voting to go back to work, which explains why buses, metros and trains are running sporadically. However, in what can only be described as the most nonsensical decision ever, certain militant factions have started sabotage missions on major railroads, bus depots and bike stands. What part of "70% of the french population urges the government to stay firm against unions" do these shitheads not understand? The battle is over. Get back to work and stop punishing us for trying to use public transportation.

The train strike made getting down to Tours for tryouts a bit of a hassle, but at least I made it. I played like absolute garbage, but managed to make the first round of cuts. Playing frisbee in this country is an excercise in patience. I just don't understand the logic of what most of the players are doing on the field at any given time. So much chaos, so little strategy, it's no wonder I wasn't on top of my game. It will be another couple of months before I know for sure if I'm on the team. Hopefully by then I will have managed to convince people that I can actually play this sport, and that they should listen to my suggestions.

Look who's in town tonight!!!

these strikes are an outrage.

2007-11-15T11:34:00.000+01:00

If I didn't know that my parents sometimes read my blog, this post would be nothing but a series of the most offensive curses I know.

The country is being brought to a standstill because 500 000 workers refuse to give up their generous pension plan benefits. This is a textbook example of flagrant abuse of power by unions. The majority is against this strike. Everyone thinks that pension plans should be reformed. The government was elected on a platform of reform. But instead of directing their displeasure at the government by blocking the ministries or protesting outside the national assembly, the unions are disrupting the daily lives of the portion of the population that doesn't even get to have special pension benefits. This mentality of entitlement is economically destructive, disruptive and absolute bullshit. What exactly are they trying to gain by pissing us off?

Equally outrageous is the strikes going on at public universities over a bill proposal that would give universities more autonomy in managing their affairs, and allow them to seek minimal funding from private sources in order to boost the quality of education. The level of public universities has been free-falling for a long time now, and lack of funding is a major obstacle to improving the situation. Most of the student unions were included in the consultation process and the drafting of this bill. But any memory of that seems to have conveniently been erased from their minds, and the more radical factions have taken over certain universities in France and are literally blocking students from attending class.

These are the kinds of people who, when they were learning about marxism in high school, retained only the part about "private = evil, public = good". Now whenever there is mention of seeking private funding, they claim that the "man" is going to privatize education and that their future is being decided by the corporate dictatorship. These are also the people who rail against the police state for stifling their freedom of expression, yet they are using violent tactics - like beating up and intimidating people who are trying to go write their exams - to get their point across. Don't they see the irony?

DIMWITS.

the unforgettable fire.

2007-11-09T09:52:00.000+01:00

I'm leaving for Dublin this afternoon. I am so excited. It probably has something to do with the fact that I had a serious adolescent obsession with U2.

There I said it.

Now this piece of information is forever engraved in the blogosphere. Achtung Baby remains one of my favourite albums of all time. I still watch youtube clips of the ZooTV live in Sydney tour. My brother had it on video casette and I think I watched it so much that he tried to hide it from me so that I wouldn't break it from overuse. I sing along to One everytime it comes on in a store, even if it's that Mary J. Blige live version. I vehemently maintain that Bono has one of the best voices in music. Well, HAD...he's sounding a little thin these days. Also, he's become a bit of a pompous ass. Zooropa was probably their last great album, since then their musical genius has fizzled.

So here, for you while I'm off in U2-land, live performance of two of my favourite songs.

born under a bad sign

2007-10-31T11:45:00.000+01:00

It was a busy birthday weekend, and now I've got a week of vacation, so I've been limiting my computer-time in favour of more enriching activities. Like going to see great concerts. Or one in particular. Last Thursday I saw Richard Hawley at le Nouveau Casino. He used to be in Pulp. Apparently him and Jarvis had one of those classic rock 'n roll love-hate relationships. And rumour has it that Hawley is a huge son of a bitch. Which is suprising because most of his solo stuff is about love and nostalgia...and the odd one about drug abuse and addiction. JC once described him as an iron fist in a satin glove. All that aside, his show was fantastic. And it made me realise that there is not enough rockabilly in my life right now. Here are some pictures:

So I made the shortlist for the French national team. They want me to come down a day early to play with the team and see how I mix with them. I'm pumped. It's like my competitive spirit has been awakened after a long hibernation. I played Monday and Tuesday this week and now I can barely walk. I am feeling muscles in my body that I forgot existed.

i thought my quick repartee was part of my charm...

2007-10-24T13:57:00.000+02:00

It's been a while since I've been directly confronted with completely unprovoked insane behaviour. Last night after having a couple of glasses of wine after a long day at work and class, Cas and I grabbed some late-night chinese food. I knew this before, but it was brutally confirmed to me again last night: sometimes speaking english in Paris makes you an easy target for assholes and creeps.

So this thirtysomething man with crazy eyes marches into the restaurant and immediately begins harassing us in broken english. I ask him very calmly (in french) if there is a problem. Yes, apparently there is a problem. The man tells me that we know each other, through DJ Pacman, "remember?". Nope sorry I don't, I reply and go back to eating my dumplings. Well good, he says, because DJ Pacman died last night. That's a shame, I say without even looking up. More words were exchanged, mostly about this defunct mutual friend of ours. This guy was incredibly hard to ignore, but I did my best.

He proceeds to order food, while continuing to loudly harass me from across the restaurant. And then just as he's leaving, he stops in front of me, leans over and gets right in my face and says "You. The next time I see you I'm going to put a bullet through your head" while making the trigger motion with his thumb. At this point, most of the people in the restaurant had stopped talking. I had had just about enough of the random abuse, so I very calmly and very politely informed him that he could go f¤¤¤ himself. Oh boy, he did NOT like that! And to show his displeasure, he grabbed the closest chair and lifted it up over his head and asked me to repeat what I had just said. So I did. And yep, he was still pretty mad after the second time I said it. All of this, from the fake gun pointing to the brandishing of a chair over me, went down in less than 10 seconds. But the owner of the shop obviously has plenty of experience with psychos, so it took him half a second to get out from behind the counter and kick the guy out. And I was able to finish my dumplings in peace.

The moral of this story: don't threaten me when I'm trying to enjoy a meal after a long day. No wait...I think the real moral is that I have to learn how to keep my mouth shut. Oopsie.

it's almost over...they will be gone tomorrow...

2007-10-20T18:46:00.000+02:00

The biggest tragedy to come out of France's semi-final loss to England in the Rugby World Cup is that it meant the England supporters stuck around a week longer. Harsh? Maybe. But until you spend a week not being able to leave your appartment without coming across drunken louts hollering "BONNEJOOOR" at you and then laughing as if they are the most clever dudes on the planet, or shouting obscenities at you because you're biking in a skirt, you don't get to judge me for that last comment.

I live next to the Eiffel tower. The game is being broadcast on giant screens on the field in front of it. My neighbourhood is teeming with idiots carrying more crates of beer and bags of chips than they can handle. I just got back from the supermarket where I stood in line between two different groups of supporters buying, you guessed it, more liquor. The guys in front of me were infuriatingly obnoxious: snapping photographs of the cashier, assuring her that they weren't taking photos of her breasts, asking her if she likes boys, then upon receiving a negative response asking her if she likes girls..."oh you must be a LESBIAN". Thankfully the brits behind me were incredibly embarassed and made some remark along the lines of "no wonder the french think we're retards".

I hope England loses. Badly.

Put me in coach!

2007-10-19T17:17:00.000+02:00

The damn strike dragged on today and it's a huge pain. It has become nearly impossible to find a Velib' that doesn't have a flat tire or a busted chain, because EVERYONE has had to resort to biking to get around town. Not to mention that the machines you have to put your card in to unlock a bike are freaking out because of over use. I wouldn't be surprised if fights start breaking out around the bike stalls.

Today I put in my name to be considered for the French national ultimate frisbee team. I will find out next week if I made the shortlist. And if I do, I'll be heading to Tours in november for tryouts. And if I make the team, I will be playing at the World Championship next august in Vancouver. I've been going through team sports withdrawal lately, but last time I tried to play frisbee in Paris, it was an awkward experience. Not only was I by far the best girl out of all the others on the team I joined, but I could huck harder and further than 95% of their men. And by 95% I mean 100%. They felt emasculated and I felt butch. The stereotype of French machismo was confirmed. I promptly put my cleats back in the closet and kissed my athletic past goodbye.

But after looking at all the pictures from Canadian Nationals I got nostalgic and started googling teams in and around Paris. My search led me to find the national co-ed club homepage. Good timing too because today was the last day for applications.

They want me on their team. They need me on their team.

Recognize.

strike this.

2007-10-18T10:45:00.000+02:00

Ah yes, nothing says France like a country-wide transportation strike. I'm not really affected by it because I live 2 minutes away from work. But I still think it's bullshit. Two out of the three main opinion polls that came out yesterday suggest that the majority of the population is against this strike. Get. Back. To. Work.

So what is it this time? The government is trying to reform the pension system, which is founded on antiquated principles and is costing a lot of money. In a nutshell: a long time ago certain professions had special pension schemes because their jobs were considered more physically demanding or dangerous: so while all other workers pay pension dues for 40 years, these special workers only have to contribute for 37,5 years. Now the government wants to even it all out and make it 40 years for everyone. Polls show that a large majority of the french population supports these reforms. Even the opposition party is keeping its mouth shut.

I think what it comes down to is that these unions are itching to strike. It's been a long time since they've brought the country to a standstill, so they figured this was probably a good time. The fact that, in this particular case, they don't even have the support of the population highlights the specificity of French unions. Because they were placed at the centre of the social playing field after WWII, they gained far too much power in shaping the economic and social life of the country. Furthermore, a law was passed in the 1950s establishing that the 5 large unions could represent any worker, from any domain, regardless of whether or not they were even members of the union. Subsequently, these unions became much less interested in what their workers wanted, and began veering towards extremism. This lack of representativeness is aggravated by the fact that in France, there is a very low rate of union membership, thus limiting the funding coming from adherents. Which raises another important and controversial question: where do these unions get their money? Answer: nobody really knows because there is a law that protects them from having to publish their accounts. So the result is that these unions are weak, financially opaque (ie: corrupt), extremist, not representative of the workers they are meant to be protecting and lack negociating skills and power.

this is not a good way to start the week.

2007-10-15T14:19:00.000+02:00

So I had an aggressive bought of insomnia last night which was totally unexpected given how tired I was from my busy weekend. I must have slept about 30 minutes in total...and that was AFTER my alarm went off this morning. You can imagine how productive I've been at work so far. Also, I'm so tired that I keep on twitching.

Friday was wine-drenched, thanks to the friendly Chez Georges owners who had us over for shabbat dinner, although I use the word "shabbat" very loosely. In fact, it was pretty much just a friday night dinner in the cave before the customers were allowed in. Afterwards I headed over to Le Paris Paris to meet some friends, danced until my feet ached and then walked around for 20 minutes looking for a Velib'. Unfortunatly finding a bike on a friday or saturday night is kind of like trying to get a taxi. Impossible. Frustrating. But I've only had my Velib' pass for a week, so it's just a matter of figuring out which bike stands are more likely to be full at 4am on a saturday morning.

Saturday was spent reading. I finally received the book I was waiting for in the mail: the US Marine Corps' updated counterinsurgency field manual. I was sitting in a cafe waiting for a friend, and this twentysomething guy sitting next to me took interest in my book. We started chatting and despite him being a little bit drunk (the rugby semi-finals were on that night), we were having a pretty interesting conversation. Unfortunately it became downright comical when I came to realize how far to the left he swang... You know, like when someone is so far gone that no matter how poorly informed or ignorant they are, they are overly fervent and intense. And whenever you try to introduce some nuance or say, real facts, into the conversation, they look at you as if you obviously just don't "get it". I wonder, do these people ever get tired of always being indignant?

And then there was saturday night. In celebration of his birthday, Mike from Birdy Nam Nam threw a party. Himself, his "bandmate" Crazy B and Belgian pal Colonel were spinning. We got there at 12:30 and there was already a hundred person lineup. But a couple of text messages here and there and we bypassed that shit and headed into the sauna that is Le Triptyque. You know how sometimes I complain about there not being enough hip hop in this town? Well I got what I wished for and more. I hadn't been that sweaty since the Andrew WK show at Richards a few years ago. The walls were dripping, there was no ventilation and people were going absolutely nuts. The dance floor remained packed no matter what tunes were being thrown out: house, metal, rap, electro, UB-40...(no joke)

Yesterday I stayed in bed until 3pm watcing Schindler's List. One depressing movie in a day wasn't enough, so at night I saw L'ennemi intime, ("the french Platoon"), about the war in Algeria. It was surprisingly harsh and violent, and one of those movies that you're meant to say is good because it deals with a part of French history that many people are still unwilling to acknowledge. But maybe I've seen too many Vietnam flicks so I wasn't overly impressed...

Amsterdam

2007-10-08T18:41:00.000+02:00

wu-tang is not for the french.

2007-10-01T13:35:00.000+02:00

thecobrasnake.com

Fun-filled weekend - filled with dancing, wine, early morning walks home in heels, people-watching and sleeping in. On Friday, what started as a relaxed night having a few drinks at the usual bar turned into an all-night dance party at the Showcase. One of the guys from Hot Chip was spinning. Now, in general french partygoers have a pretty decent knowledge of music. Or at the very least they are the type of crowd that, if they dig what you're spinning they will definitely hit the dancefloor. Unfortunately, hip hop is rarely thrown into the mix and I miss it. A lot. And on that rare occasion that a DJ does play some hip hop, the crowd usually heads to the bar for another drink. Which means that only the people who "get it" are left on the dancefloor. So on Friday when Wu-Tang came on, I was pretty much the only person who got stoked and started pumping my fist while shouting wutangclanain'tnothintofuckwith. And that just ain't right. C'mon Paris, get up on Wu-tang already.

Last night WAD Magazine and fluokids put on a little party at Le Paris Paris. We got in 2.5 solid hours of excellent people-watching. There were almost as many photographers as people, no doubt because of the latest photography exhibit on at Colette starting tonight:

Hired guns.

2007-09-28T15:01:00.000+02:00

Here is an op-ed piece on that whole Blackwater security scandal. I'm surprised that the story is consistently making the front pages, even a week later. My cynical side expected it to fade into thin air, like so many similar stories often do.

I don't agree with some of the stuff Paul Krugman says here. Like for instance his sweeping generalisation about these private military contractors being mercenaries. There are at least 4 very different types of PMCs operating in Iraq today...most of these companies are hired to build infrastructure, feed soldiers, transport materials and supply troops. Meaning that they are very rarely involved in actual combat situations so they could hardly be called mercenaries in the proper sense of the term. There is a small number of PMCs, like Blackwater, who are hired to help the army carry out specific missions, and these are the contractors who are causing all the problems.

I also do not agree with Krugman when he says that the US government has had plenty of time to figure out a way to replace these PMCs. I'm curious to know who he would have put in their place: the hundreds of thousands of US troops that don't exist because the army is spread too thin? the Iraqi army that was disbanded as soon as Bremer took over? or how about all those allies who have progressively pulled their troops out because the situation has become too chaotic?

The privatization of war is not an Iraq-specific phenomena. Former military powers are no longer able to afford maintaining massive armies and the nature of war has changed so much that such power in numbers is no longer necessary nor desirable. While Krugman is right in portraying the situation as a out of control, he isn't considering the fact that resorting to PMCs is inevitable in an endeavor as gigantic as the Iraq invasion.

Slow day at the office.

2007-09-27T16:59:00.000+02:00

My internship is not the most challenging work I've ever done in my life, especially when you compare it to the veritable deluge of papers, presentations and projects that I had to do last year. Some days I complain that I feel like my brain is slowly turning to mush due to inactivity, but most days I am thankful for the slow pace. It will get more challenging once I get started on my research project. But for now I am at the mercy of the french postal system, which has yet to deliver a book I ordered online over a week ago.

Thankfully, I've reached Facebook overload level - I've spent so much time on it recently that something in my brain must have snapped and turned me off it. That shit's time consuming and useless and does not contribute in any way to one's intellectual development (unless of course you got to this blog through the link on my facebook profile). And the nine long hours I spend at the office every day just got a whole lot more enjoyable now that the New York Times decided to make ALL their online articles FREE!! So I just found this excellent (but devastating) report on the deadly consequences of China's economic boom. Some of the statistics are unbelievable: 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water, air pollution is causing 350 000 to 400 000 premature deaths each year, cancer due to poor air/water quality is now the leading cause of death...etc etc. If you have 15 minutes to spare, I strongly recommend you read it here. It's part 1 of a series.

Weegee.

2007-09-24T09:41:00.000+02:00

On Saturday I checked out the Weegee exhibit at the Musée Maillol. It was absolutely delightful. Arthur Fellig (aka: Weegee) is considered to be the founding father of photojournalism. He captured the harsh reality of life in New York City in the years following the Great Depression and leading up to WWII. While most of his photographs deal with poverty, death and misery, the composition is such that you almost forget you're looking at real people and not still frames of a movie.

There has always been a debate over the artistic value of Weegee's work. His critics accused him of taking advantage of his fellow citizens and profiting from their misery. I even read that certain people consider him to be one of the precursors of sensationalist tabloid photography. Granted, most of his crime scene shots are nothing more than...well, crime scene shots. But in his other pieces, he has such an amazing ability to capture raw human emotions, or pick up on the sombre irony of a situation, or sometimes even bait his subjects to create a unique moment (like this picture of a drunk woman giving the evil eye to two ostentatiously dressed ladies) that such critiques are unfounded.

Last night I saw the Julie Delpy movie 2 Days in Paris. If you ever want to see a near-perfect depiction of the difference between North American and French ways of seeing the world, I highly recommend this movie. Sure, sometimes she exaggerates certain situations for comedic purposes, but in general the script conveys the French sense of personal space, humour, privacy and human rapport so accurately. The moral of the story: North Americans take themselves too seriously, the French don't take anything seriously. Which begs the question: if I'm half-french and half-canadian does that make me the ideal human being?

is it 4:30 yet?

2007-09-21T11:54:00.000+02:00

Another gem from the Vice magazine blog:

This is what happens when Quebec, Reggae, and Jazz take a shit.

I figured 11:30 probably wasn't an appropriate time to take my lunch break seeing as I got here at 9:30. But time really flies by when you're surfing the dos and don'ts section on the Vice mag blog, desperately trying to supress uncontrolable fits of laughter.

Pas à la hauteur.

2007-09-20T10:51:00.000+02:00

Last night's movie was disappointing. Story of a guy in a happy relationship with a wonderful woman, who wakes up one morning and decides: I'm not good enough for her, she's going to leave me, I can't commit. The director should have saved himself the money and hired a camera crew to follow me around for the past year and a half. The story would have been the same, except with more laughs and tears. Snap.

Last week I saw another disappointing movie, but for entirely different reasons. I don't like Michael Moore but I am always willing to give his movies a chance because I consider that he plays an important role as a shit-disturber. America needs more documentary filmmakers with his unique combination of popularity and ability to ask the uncomfortable questions/annoy the hell out of people in high places.

I should have left the movie theatre appalled at the state of the American health care system. Instead I left feeling frustrated that (once again) he cheapens his arguments by resorting to sensationalism, over-the-top drama and superficial arguments. There is nothing that irks me more than intelligent people who dumb themselves down, and that is exactly what Michael Moore does in Sicko. He is like the Noam Chomsky of the film industry: he uses emotional footage to tug on his audience's heartstrings, and then dishes out a bunch of poorly-researched facts and figures without considering the counterarguments. It is frustrating because the majority of his audience probably doesn't realise that he is being dishonest. Instead they now think that Cuba is a magical land where prescription drugs grow on trees and that it's all sunshine and lollipops in Canadian emergency rooms.

Seriously though, what do you think he got from Fidel Castro in exchange for his shining portrayal of the Cuban health care system? It kind of reminds me of Jean-Paul Sartre's visits to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and how upon his return he would extole the wonders and virtues of the Stalinist regime. Get a grip.

Les matins de Paris

2007-09-19T20:26:00.000+02:00

Nothing brightens up my mornings like the crazy homeless man who lives on the corner of avenue de Suffren and avenue de la Motte-Picquet. I walk by him on my way to work. He is always hanging out on top of the metro vent. Sometimes he sports tribal-like markings on his face and crouches for hours on end, shooting glances at the passer-bys. Other times he's lying on sleeping bags with his buddies, presumably over for a slumber party. And then sometimes, I don't see him in his usual spot and I have to look around until I find him over by the trees, standing on one foot and listening intently to what I thought was a walkie-talkie. I started imagining this fantastical walkie-talkie network connecting all the homeless in Paris. You can imagine my disappointment when I realised it was only a portable radio. But I like to think he's listening to high frequency transmissions from another planet.

He is so wonderfully loony and whimsical. Lately he has taken to decorating his little sidewalk kingdom. One day the trash bins were covered with aluminium foil and golden bows. The other day he had tied bouquets of flowers around the lamp posts. And my personal favourite is when he slipped bright blue socks onto the iron pylons that line the avenue. Every day is a new surprise.

It suddenly got really cold in Paris. I'm keeping my window open for nostalgic reasons...I don't think I can handle the idea of summer being over. But I think I might brave the cold and check out a flick. Me, a bag of candy and Romain Duris. It doesn't get better than that.

Oh PS: I wish you could all teleport yourselves to my apartment right now because I just made the most delicious couscous ever. It tastes like paradise.

PPS: This video/song is good enough to make me forget that Kanye's last album ever happened. Me likie.

Né pour le combat.

2007-09-18T15:01:00.000+02:00

I think the world needs to calm down re: the French foreign minister's apparent call to arms over Iran's nuclear program. Kouchner is not a politician and he does not mince words. And this whole story is eclipsing more interesting stuff in the news these days, like this article in the NY Times about how the Iraqi government has suspended Blackwater USA's license while it investigates if its employees were to blame in the death of 8 Iraqis. The implications of this could be huge, since the second largest armed force in Iraq is not the British army but private military contractors. The US relies on these companies for security, intel missions, administrating army bases, feeding soldiers, building infrastructure...everything. The presence of these contractors, especially those directly involved in security or support missions, effectively blurs the line between combattants and civilians. They are also rarely held accountable because they were granted immunity under the Coalition Provisional Authority.

On a completely unrelated note...I like team sports. I LOVE world championships...the best athletes of every country battling it out for supremacy and glory. It's pretty much the only time of the year when I get patriotic. So you can imagine that I'm pretty jazzed that the rugby world cup is on in France right now. I'm reminded of it every single day when I look out my window at the Eiffel tower, which is currently sporting a huge rugby ball in between it's pilars (insert obvious joke here) and is lit up in green.

Rugby-mania is palpable in Paris. Every drink hole in town is showing the games. There is an inordinate amount of brits/scots/irish/welsh filling up patios in even the dodgy parts of town where tourists don't normally venture. Last week was a particularly tense moment in franco-scottish relations when, on top of the rugby matches, the scottish football team played France in a Euro cup qualifier. I am not exaggerating when I say that for two days straight, my neighbourhood was taken over by inebriated men in kilts blowing horns and in general being a huge nuisance. And for two days straight, the supermarkets around my place were out of beer and cheap rosé wine.

So unfortunately France went and made things harder for themselves by losing their first game to Argentina. Obviously they crushed Namibia 87-10, but they still have to beat Ireland (yikes) and Georgia (whatever). All hopes rest on this teddybear:

whose talents include single-handedly bringing down a 6-man scrum, crushing any and all things that get in his way, and starring in ads for kid's products. Chabal-mania!

how are things are the west coast?

2007-09-12T18:12:00.000+02:00

Evidently, not so great.

So what happened, vancouver? When did the homeless population get so huge? When did the crack and meth problem start taking over the West End? When did a massive police presence on Granville street become so necessary? When did the dumb jocks turn into dumb, violent jocks? No, this isn't just another one of my "no-fun city" rants. If I disliked Vancouver that much, I would not have spent the better part of my summer vacation there. But our favourite little west coast bubble has undergone some very noticeable changes in one year.

First of all, I can't get over how sketchy downtown Granville street is on club nights. You are more likely to end up in the hospital if you hang out there on a Friday night than you are walking around the downtown Eastside alone. Try standing outside any club or bar on that strip for an hour and count how many fights break out. Bet you couldn't count them on just one hand. Vancouverites' drinking habits are becoming alarmingly similar to those of the Brits.

Secondly, the petty crime rate is getting ridiculous. Yes, I got my bike stolen for the second time in a year, outside the Royal Unicorn, and yes, I'm still very choked. But so many people I know have either had the same shit happen to them, or have unwittingly bought stolen property from presuably legitimate sources.

Finally, I was surprised to find out the extent to which the population suffering from drug addiction has spread throughout the city. I don't ever remember seeing so many meth addicts around the West End. But the real eye-opener came when I cruised around the downtown Eastside searching for my stolen bike. The back alleys around the old Woodwards building and Carnegie Hall were literally teeming with junkies. When and how did this situation get so out of control?

I was searching around the internet earlier (I'm currently at work) and I found this online version of the BC Mental Health and Addictions Journal which deals specifically with the strong correlation between mental disorders and drug abuse. One of the main problems with the shelters and health services facilities in the downtown Eastside is that most of them are unable to treat both problems at once, even though the high occurence of mental illness among addicts suggests that they go hand in hand.

I'm noticing more and more how bizarre Vancouver is: while all the classic problems associated with large agglomerations have started to appear (infrastructure unable to cope with population boom, lack of social housing, homelessness and poverty, drug trafficking, etc) the mentality of most vancouverites seems to be stuck in the past, in an era where we could get away with not having a rapid transit system to and from the airport, or one could make a noise complaint and shut down a club with nary a peep from concertgoers. I hate to burst your bubble, Vancouver, but it's the 21st century now and you're supposed to be Canada's third largest city, and all that NIMBY bullshit is getting tired.

guilt

2007-07-12T16:07:00.000+02:00

Ever since the end of exams, I've been feeling guilty about my lack of updates. What have I been doing instead? Well first I caught up on months and months of sleep. Then when I was rested and feeling creative, I finally got my screening kit dirty and I turned my apartment into a shirt-making factory. After that I dove into the pile of unread magazines sitting on my bedside table and spent lazy afternoons reading in the Champs de Mars. I also went to see Mr. Oizo's first big-budget flick, Steak, featuring Sebastien Tellier, Kavinsky and Sebastian. That turned out to be a waste of my time and money. The only redeeming factor was the soundtrack.

After a few days of laziness, I had to get back into study mode for a week-long seminar in Strasbourg. I won't lie: going to this seminar was the last thing I wanted to do. The thought of spending a week waking up at 730, sitting through 6 hours of conferences a day and working on a group project until 11 at night had me close to tears for the whole train ride. But it was a valuable experience, I met some cool people, blah blah blah.

Then I went to Bucarest for 4 days - my first time back there since 1991. I was too young the last time to be able to tell how much the country has changed, but apparently the economy has taken off since Romania joined the EU. Concretely however, you would never guess it, since most middle-class families still live in old, decrepit Stalinist housing complexes. Only the people who fled the country and then came back are able to afford a comfortable life...and only if they managed to recuperate their belongings from the government after the fall of communism. The romanian mafia also seems to be doing pretty well for itself judging by the large numbers of expensive cars rolling through downtown.

Usually I'd be pretty sad to leave Paris in the summer, but the unbelievably shitty weather is starting to get to me. I can't remember the last time I was this pale in mid-July. Wreck beach here I come.

vive la paresse.

2007-06-20T15:19:00.000+02:00

It did not completely sink in yesterday, upon getting out of a grueling 4.5 hour exam, that my year is really over. But today I woke up and the sun was shining and my stomach was hurting from last night's tequila-drenched celebrations and it finally hit me that I'm on vacation.

VACATION!

The most challenging part of the next couple of days will be to figure out what to do with all this free time. Catch up on reading? Screen shirts? Movie marathons? Work on my tan? Check out some art shows? Decisions, decisions...

Rough year. It's time to be a lazy bum.

Hype.

2007-06-18T19:06:00.000+02:00

Hype must be such a terrifying thing when you're releasing your first full-length album. I don't know what it's been like on the other side of the world, but over here we've been hearing about the new Justice album non-stop since at least January. I have to say that it took about a week for the album to truly grow on me. My first reaction was slight disappointment, but mostly because several of the songs had already been released as EPs, so it wasn't completely new and exciting. Then again, new albums are never much of a surprise anymore thanks to the magic of the Internet.

I've made my feelings about Uffie quite clear on this blog, but once again on The Party she ruins a perfectly good beat with her asinine lyrics.

For all of you heading down to Seattle in July to see Daft Punk, here is a little 9 minute preview. A buddy of mine was at this show last Thursday and he said his head nearly exploded from the incredible wall of sound coming from the stage He literally wouldn't shut up about how amazing it was...and he's not even a Daft Punk fan.

Daft Punk - Bercy Intégrale
Uploaded by fubiz

Gala, Tarantino, etc...

2007-06-16T19:31:00.000+02:00

It's been a busy week. I'd like to say that it was busy because I was spending hours at the library studying for my Tuesday morning exam, but that would be a huge lie. The week started off with a bang, at the end-of-year Sciences-Po Gala. Even though I didn't have as much fun as I did two years ago, it was still a great night. The setting was beautiful, the champagne was flowing and the company was delightful. But the party quickly degenerated into a free for all around midnight. It's always a little unsettling when you witness supposedly bright and intelligent people become complete assholes over something as insignificant as alcohol. Although I guess those of us who attended the dinner are partly to blame since we drank most of the champagne which was meant to last all night. Oopsie. Here are some pictures.

I also went to check out the new Tarantino movie. I was completely engrossed and thoroughly entertained for the duration of the film. However, I have talked to several people - even though they describe themselves as huge Tarantino fans - who were incredibly disappointed. So all I will say is: go see it. Tell me what you think. Although I think we can all agree that the soundtrack is outstanding.

Tonight I'm taking it relatively easy, because last night I came home at dawn. It was truly a bizarre evening, timing-wise. I got home at around 11:30pm after studying and working all day, dropped my things off and rushed out. After a little bit of bar hopping, we finally settled down for some beers around 1am. It looked like it was going to be a quiet night, until I got a phonecall from a buddy on his way to Le Paris Paris. So off we went again, completely unaware of how late it was already. I got home around 6am, not even tired. So instead I ate a little, bummed around on the internet, and finally decided I should probably hit the sac. It's like I'm jet-lagged or something.

The point is, I'm going to check out Lo-Fi-Fnk tonight and I'm pretty excited after seeing the pictures from their show in Vancouver.

do and don't

2007-06-09T11:14:00.000+02:00

Instead of going to a make-up class this morning I decided to catch up on some quality Internet literature - the Vice DOs and DON'Ts section.

It takes a real man to admit that he’s wrong and an even realer man to gather up his druthers, pick up some flowers, and head over there to apologize. Let’s do this, Howard

jesus revient en vogue

2007-06-08T19:15:00.000+02:00

I heard mixed reviews of the Justice concert at La Cigale last night. Some people were pretty disappointed that they were only on for 1 hour. Others were whining that they never came out for an encore despite the thunderous applause. I read that Pedro even got booed at the end. I don't really get all the complaining since the Ed Rec crew were nice enough to organise a massive afterparty down the street, open to everyone and free for concertgoers.

JUSTICE CONCERT AFTER PARTY
Uploaded by mdailymotio

I did not go to the concert but headed to the afterparty around midnight. There are large parts of my night that are a bit of a blur, so we'll just assume that I was dancing and/or standing in line to get a beer. I do remember my I Heart Jesus scarf getting a lot of attention - the title of this post was inspired by a conversation with Teki Latex about said scarf. I also remember climbing up on stage and dancing with the Belgians for a while. Unfortunately the stellar pictures of that portion of my night are forever lost because Julien lost his camera. Also unfortunate is that we got there too late to catch Colo spinning, but then again we were treated to 5 solid hours of Ed Banger-Boys Noize tagteam behind the decks.

So it was an enjoyable night, capped off with a solid 6am meal consisting of a goat cheese and tomato panini and a plate of fries. The metro ride home at 7am was a little awkward - being the only person in the wagon that wasn't on their way to work. That being said, I think I'm done with buying tickets to these massive parties in cavernous clubs. It's nearly impossible to create a good vibe, the crowd is full of belligerently drunk jailbait and quite frankly it's just more fun to watch the debauchery from the comfort of the side of the stage. I may also be on the brink of an electro overdose, which is why I've taken to only listening to Wilson Pickett and the Standing in the Shadows of Motown soundtrack when I'm at home.

Speaking of music that isn't electro, Teki Latex's CD release party is Monday, which is a bit of a bummer because that also happens to be the night of the Sciences-Po Gala. So this time around sumptuous dinner and dance party with free champagne trumps Party de Plaisir at le Pourri Pourri.

invasion wallifornienne

2007-06-07T18:41:00.001+02:00

bon, on fait quoi ce soir?

j'aime bien travailler mais les weekends j'me la coule douce...

2007-06-07T00:14:00.000+02:00

New TTC video:

TTC - Travailler
Uploaded by v2music

Anyone else a little disappointed with 3615 TTC?

surprise!

2007-06-05T17:22:00.000+02:00

The last Colette Dance Class of the season was fantastic. Unfortunately, in order to participate in last night's class, you had to show up at Colette at 10am and get your number. So instead we watched from the sidelines and judged everyone's form. Clearly, I could have done a MUCH better job.

Good thing the classes only last one hour because everyone was just itching to get onto the dance floor. Moreso than usual. There's something about that song...

So we were dancing along to the most amazingly cheezy 70s music when I spot, completely out of the blue, an old friend I hadn't seen since Brussels in February. Of course I knew he'd be in town for Thursday night, but it turns out he came a few days early. The girls called it a night pretty early, but I wasn't quite ready to go yet, so I decided to stay at least until the end of the Justice set. The place was absolutely bananas - impossible to get on the dance floor, and I suspect the air conditioning wasn't working because it was unbearably hot. Despite the heat and the crowd, "until the end of Justice" became "until the end of this next set" became "ok, seriously one more song and then I'm out of here". Obviously I ended up staying until the very end: it is nearly impossible to drag me off a dance-floor when old school hip hop is playing. I dare you to try.

I never made it to my morning class despite my good intentions. The Justice aftershow party is at La Loco (aka: most cavernous club in Paris) on Thursday night. I'm sure it will be fun, but nothing beats hearing them spin in the tiny confines of an old private dancer club with 150 other music nerds.

how many times can i write dance in one blog post?

2007-06-03T13:24:00.000+02:00

It's like everywhere you look these days you are bound to see Gaspard and Xavier's faces on the cover of a magazine or the Justice cross plastered all over the metro halls. The album comes out tomorrow. For a preview of a couple of songs, head over to this blog and click on the link Justice chez France Inter. The boys even threw in a remix of D.A.N.C.E.

Tomorrow night is the last Colette dance class of the season. On the agenda: dance class to D.A.N.C.E, then dance party aaaall night long with the boys themselves. Tuesday morning class? I think not.

Dance!

T minus 3 days

2007-06-02T21:36:00.001+02:00

Paris must be the hardest city to do a cleanse in. Take a stroll in the street and on every block there is a bakery, releasing into the air the most mouth-watering smells. Turn a corner and you're faced with a patio full of people eating fries and steak tartare. Don't even venture into le Marais...the smell of crepes or the best falafel joints in the world will inevitably make its way into your nostrils, making you weak in the knees. I've also come to realise how much of my social life revolves around a good meal and a bottle of wine. I've done this cleanse before but this time was by far the hardest, no doubt because it's hard to keep when you're going to school full time. But, when I wake up tomorrow morning, I will have only three days to go.

On my way home from the movies last night I was accosted by a very well-dressed, good-looking thirtysomething couple. The man proceeded to embrace me and tell me not to be scared. Thankfully, a few seconds later he finished that thought by saying: "even though Sarkozy is in power, we still have each other. We must stick together." He then asked me what I was listening to on my iPod (Dan Bejar you now have a new Parisian fan. You're welcome). Then he embraced me once more and told me to be strong, gave me a high five because "I can tell you're left wing. Not like my companion here" and continued on his way.

spring cleaning.

2007-05-29T22:20:00.000+02:00

I'm sick for the...oh...hundredth time this semester. I have to admit that I ask for it every time though...too much partying, not enough sleeping, blah blah blah. So I'm doing a bit of a spring cleanse...no coffee, no alcohol, no fun.

This week was just not the best time to get sick. On top of the exam tomorrow morning at 8, and the two presentations today and tomorrow, I also have to do an analysis of a book. The book in question is unreadable. Picture your high school math textbook, but instead of algebra and trig, it's pages and pages of in-depth analysis of the CIA: the history, the institution, the links with the executive... What's worse is that the authors deceive you into thinking that it's going to be an exciting read, with chapters like "A World of Secrets" and "The Origins and Expansion of CIA Covert Operations". Oh my!

The truth is that I have had this book for a week and have fallen asleep every time I've tried to progress. And I'm starting to panic because this presentation is on Thursday and all I've learned is that the CIA is a bureaucratic monster with a superiority complex that abhors communicating with other agencies. So...has anyone read The Central Intelligence Agency: Security under scrutiny? Of course you haven't. The book was meant to be a door-stop.

Lady Sov goes Britney on Brooklyn

2007-05-26T10:51:00.000+02:00

Another victim of the music industry. Lady Sovereign was supposed to do a special late-night performance in Brooklyn after opening for Gwen Stefani earlier this week. Instead, she made it through two songs and then launched into a long tirade about how she is broke, depressed, tired of touring, about to get evicted and unable to write new songs. Here's the video.

Personally I think this is a far classier way to announce that you've reached rock bottom than by shaving your head and attacking an SUV with a baseball bat. The audience reaction was pretty terrible. I half expected someone to scream out "FREEBIRD!!!"...but I guess "HOW 'BOUT A LITTLE SHUT THE F*** UP!!" will do.

this could be interesting.

2007-05-23T23:01:00.000+02:00

Today I got accepted to take part in a 6-day seminar in Strasbourg, put on by l'Institut des Hautes Etudes de Defense Nationale, at the end of June. I had sent in my application after hearing about it from a guy who was evesdropping on my conversation with my friend, a few weeks back at La Palette. Essentially I will be spending 6 days studying any and all subjects pertaining to strategic studies and geopolitics...and mostly from either experts or officers in the army. At the end of the week we have to hand in a group research project. Not exactly the post-exam debauchery I had envisioned, but this will definitely look good on my resume. And really, how hard can spending a week surrounded by boys from the military academy be?

do something different

2007-05-20T19:28:00.000+02:00

In celebration of the fact that it's the Cannes Festival, but mostly because we've been having pretty terrible weather, I've been taking in a lot of movies lately. A couple of nights ago Sasha and I checked out Zodiac, the movie about the Zodiac killer told from the point of view of Robert Graysmith, who worked at the San Francisco Chronicle at the time that the murders (and creepy letters and cryptograms) started. I had pretty high expectations for this movie, because I enjoyed David Fincher's previous stuff (Se7en, The Game, Fight Club...), but I wasn't overly impressed this time around. To be fair, it can't be easy to make a film about one of the most famous unsolved murder cases ever - I mean, the audience already knows how the story ends. Yes, the acting was great, and I was entertained for most of the 2 1/2 hours, but had I read up about the Zodiac murders beforehand, I would have probably been bored as hell.

I also watched Scarface for the third time. But more importantly, I discovered Lord of War. Where was I when this movie came out and why did it not even register on my radar? The only possible explanation for this oversight is that I saw Nicolas Cage on the movie poster and immediately decided it wasn't worth my time - which I realize is a little unfair since I was very pleasantly surprised by his performances in Adaptation and Matchstick Men. This movie was recommended by one of my professors when we were studying the demilitarization of societies after the fall of the Soviet Union. Cage's character in the movie is said to be losely based on the life of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is suspected to have supplied arms to most of the African continent. Name any armed conflict of the 1990s, and there's a good chance Bout supplied arms for either side, sometimes both. Several warrants have been issued for his arrest, but he has managed to build such a solid network of business partners that he is protected by friends in very high places.

Perhaps I enjoyed this movie so much because it's directly related to what I study. I also liked it because it spoke to the realist in me. Instead of taking a moralistic approach, in which the arms dealer is portrayed as a heartless bastard who takes pleasure in knowing that his goods are used to decimate entire populations, the main message of the film is that the people who work in this business are despicable yet necessary. How else do you think our governments supply friendly rebel movements when they don't want the world to know about it? And in the grand scheme of things, they're making peanuts compared to what the US, the UK, China, France and Russia make on a daily basis in the arms trade.

I didn't spend my whole weekend in front of a movie screen. Last night we ventured further than I've ever been before without a car, into Zone 5 of the regional transport network, for a pool party. It's always scary to leave the comfort of Paris' fantastic night bus and metro system, especially when you're going to a house party where you know no one. There was a moment of panic when we turned onto the street the party was supposedly on and heard only the chirping of crickets... but in the end we had a pretty good time. And we discovered that when you're that far out of Paris, the normal night bus is actually a cushy Greyhound.

This weekend I also became addicted to two songs; the Boys Noize's remix of Feist's My Moon My Man, and this:

manic monday

2007-05-15T23:39:00.000+02:00

Mondays are always very long and hectic days from me, but yesterday especially. But not necessarily in a bad way. My ten o'clock class was buzzing, because our teacher just got offered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the new President. He has already held the position, under socialist president Francois Mitterand. Sarkozy is definitely not socialist, but this is part of his plan to put together the most competent cabinet possible. Hubert Vedrine (my prof) is a logical choice because he is widely respected both in France and abroad, is a pragmatist and has a lifetime of experience. The Ministry has also been offered to Medecins Sans Frontieres founder Bernand Kouchner...and I suspect he will get it for reasons that I wouldn't want to bore you with on this blog. Needless to say, most of our class was spent listening to Vedrine explain the circumstances under which he would take the job. There may or may not have been some Segolene Royal trash-talking in there too...which is always funny coming from the mouth of a respected Socialist.

Then I finished the day off with what has got to be the most boring class of the year. No wait. Not only is it boring, but the teacher is completely out of touch with reality. I should have known it would get this bad. In our first class of the semester he tried to explain "Terrorism" to us by using the Chaos theory. Yesterday he taught us that decriminalizing soft drugs is based on questionable and faulty reasoning. I'm starting to think he is confusing decriminalization with legalization. I have come THIS close to sprinting out of the room on two occasions because I could barely keep in the fits of laughter that took over when I looked at the expressions on my classmates' faces. This course is devastatingly boring.

But thankfully my day did not finish on that sour note. My friend had an extra ticket to Grizzly Bear at La Boule Noire. I hadn't realised it had been so long since I had seen a concert in Paris. I had heard this band's name kicking around but I had never actually listened to their stuff. Their music is so meticulously crafted...very haunting at times, almost as if their songs were made for a David Lynch movie. Their cover of Carol King's "He Hit Me (And it fell like a kiss)" is particularly eerie...and wonderful. You can listen to it here (along with two other songs). Despite some technical difficulties, the boys put on a fantastic show. You could literally hear a pin drop, the audience was so captivated.

Here's a clip of the boys doing an a cappella version of The Knife in the streets of Paris.

At the end of the show, the good people from La Blogotheque had a little surprise planned. A contest had been organised on their website inviting anyone who was interested to send in simple lyrics. Grizzly Bear quickly threw a melody together and sang the song live. Their accents were terrible, but I'm pretty sure the song was about how springtime is coming.

Here are some of my pictures from the show.

this is the remix.

2007-05-12T13:11:00.000+02:00

Short video of MSTRKRFT remix of D.A.N.C.E live at Coachella. The only reason I miss living on the west coast of the North American continent is because I can't go to Coachella anymore.

ouuuuffff!

2007-05-11T19:55:00.000+02:00

It's been a very busy week. I'm going to start with the most recent events and see how far back I can remember.

Today, I got an internship for next semester. This is a big deal for several reasons. It means that I no longer have to stress about finding an internship. PHEW. (instead of doing a thesis we do an internship, it's meant to prepare us for the real world and allow us to network in our field of study) This is also a big deal because I'm pretty sure my internship is going to be awesome. First of all, I'll be working at l'Ecole Militaire, which is a stone's throw from my apartment, in a research centre that is affiliated with the military. Secondly, I'll be doing research on exciting topics like nukes, terrorism, strategy... And finally, one of my papers will get published.

Speaking of published, the book that my class published about Kosovo last semester is finally out on Amazon.fr for 14 bones. Not that any of my readership would want to buy it, but I'm just sayin'...

Now that I've finally sat down to update my blog, I've come to the realisation that most of the stuff that I did this week that I found particularly interesting does not make for good blog material. So I'll skip back a few days and mention that I went to the Palais de Tokyo, one of my favourite galleries here, and saw a couple of really great exhibits. It would be very difficult for me to describe in detail what the exhibits were about without boring you to death but all I will say is that if you ever come to Paris, this museum is a must-see.

Onto more concrete things: today, while surfing this webpage - started by a couple of journalists, and for which a classmate of mine writes - I found this video of Arcade Fire performing in an elevator. The concept of Concert A Emporter is pretty simple: "You meet a band. You take them outside, in the streets, and ask them to play there, shoot the movie in one unique shot, whatever happens." I haven't had a chance to see them all, but in the Shins video you can watch the boys get led all around Montmartre with their gear in hand.

Finally, how much fun would this be?

Dj Mehdi Breakaway
Uploaded by viensboire

DJ Mehdi - Breakaway.

that's how you make it right.

2007-05-04T22:10:00.000+02:00

Justice video for the first single!!

Quiet weekend in Paris. Everyone goes back to their hometowns to vote...Come Sunday, Sarkozy will be the new president and the shit will hit the fan very shortly afterwards.

stomach pains and communists

2007-05-01T20:31:00.000+02:00

Never underestimate the powerful ties that bind the mind and the stomach. That is the lesson (re)learned this week. I was supposed to spend my monday night dancing until dawn to the sounds of Sebastian, Kavinsky and Surkin, but instead I spent most of it trying to pretend that I wasn't having excruciating stomach pains. I only lasted an hour or so. Stress, exhaustion, too much food at the family dinner...whatever the cause, it ruined my night. I heard Surkin tore the place up.

So the next day was a holiday. I spent it walking around, checking out the various rallies going on. Le Pen was having his rally in northern Paris, but I decided to pass on the Skinhead gathering. Instead I headed to Bastille and Republique and inadvertedly ran into a massive left-wing demonstration. At first I thought it was a Socialist party thing, then I realised that it was an anti-Sarkozy rally...until I hit Place de la Republique, which was literally a (cess)-pool of communists and other anti-free market ralliers. I perched myself and observed. And I got to thinking...what is it about communism that makes it so much less repulsive to us than fascism? Millions upon millions of people died under various communist rulers in the 20th century, and entire countries are still suffering, yet the Communist party remains accepted as a valid political entity. Whatever the reason, I was truly astounded at the sheer size of the crowd gathered at Place de la Republique...and of course, all of the usual crap that goes along with a communist rally: red clothes, Che Guevarra t-shirts, hammer and sickle flags, and those annoying 15 year old hippies who say they love Sartre and wish they could move to Cuba to live in a communist utopia. Strangely enough, there was also a large contingency of Kurds and Tamils...

Tonight is the big debate between the two candidates. My money's on Sarkozy. Also, Jim Lehrer from PBS Newshour recently did a piece on the French elections and came to my school. Check out the story here. Some of the info is slightly misleading though, namely that Sarkozy graduated from Sciences-Po. The real story as I've heard it from family friends who were in the same year as him is that he never showed up for class (he was already working for Chirac at the time), he was told by one teacher that he wouldn't go far in life with his attitude, and he eventually dropped out because he had better things to do. I guess things worked out for him in the end.

this is how i roll

2007-04-26T19:41:00.000+02:00

Since I started my Master's degree, I have managed to convince myself that in order for me to succeed, it is imperative that I go out at least once a week, you know, to let off some steam...regroup...clear my head...whatever. And if I think about it long and hard enough, it actually starts making sense. Last month I basically went three full weeks without stepping outside the 7th arondissement...well, except when I crossed into the 15th to get to my appartment. March was also a real low point in general. Coincidence? I think not. Seeing as I have an exam on Saturday and a presentation on Monday, tonight it is imperative that I go check out Sebastian, Uncle O and Solo at Le Triptyque.

Click here to see the track listing for the upcoming Justice album that will be out in June/July. The video for the first single D.A.N.C.E will probably be up sometime soon.

gardons l'humour.

2007-04-25T02:34:00.000+02:00

It's almost 3am and none of the work that I was supposed to get done tonight has been finished. Anything that makes me laugh out loud at this hour is blog-worthy.

Is the semester over yet?

it's about to get real up in here

2007-04-22T22:34:00.000+02:00

Election day in Paris. The city was positively buzzing this weekend. The more I live in this country, the more I realise how well-informed the general population is. I was in Vancouver during the last federal elections and not once did I ever launch into debates with random people in scuzzy bars. I can't even remember how many heated political discussions I got into on Friday and Saturday nights when I was out. It must be the French love of arguing.

So it will be a Sarkozy-Royal face-off. I can't say I'm surprised. To me this first round of elections was more intersting in terms of the "smaller" candidates. I was especially curious to see how many votes Le Pen and Bayrou got (as of right now, ~11 and 18% respectively). First of all, Le Pen lost some ground - which is a good thing - but probably in large part thanks to Sarkozy, who stole some of his electors when Bayrou started gaining ground in the opinion polls. In order to separate himself from the centre candidate, Sarkozy's political discourse veered to the right. Secondly, Bayrou now finds himself in a position of power - 18% of the vote is quite a solid proportion. Since he has yet to announce which (if any) candidate he will lend his support to, and since his support is extremely valuable to both candidates because both Sarko and Sego are looking to woo his electors in the second round on May 6th, Bayrou will surely use this to his advantage in order to secure himself a spot in the next government and/or make sure that his ideas get taken into account.

I am tempted to predict that Sarkozy will win the second round of elections. But it's going to be close. Several far-left candidates have already backed Segolene Royal and urged their electors to do the same. I don't have the exact numbers, but all the communist/trotskyist/green votes put together make up almost 10% of the popular vote. Meanwhile, Le Pen did not mention his voting intentions in the next round. Instead he stuck to what he does best: insulting the French population for making the wrong decision.

On a completely unrelated note, my big party plans for this weekend were foiled twice. The first time by a friend's roomate who forgot his keys (and being the kind soul that she is, she went home to let him in), and the second time by a killer sore throat that has now blossomed into a nice head cold. So no DJ Funk on Friday night. Although going back to the Truskel for the first time in almost two years was delightful, especially when accompanied by my two favourite pals Aaron and Sasha. On Saturday night I went to a birthday party in the 16th arrondissement (where high society lives) and stuffed myself full of Le Notre - arguably the best fine catering in France - finger foods and fine champagne. Foie gras sandwiches, anyone? I couldn't even describe to you in words how incredible this appartment was...filled with books, expensive art and the heirs to great fortunes.

without a dope beat to step to

2007-04-17T22:31:00.000+02:00

It's been a long time since I updated this blog. I just came back from a much needed vacation. It could not have come at a better time. The past two months have been eventful both academically and personally and it was about time I got to relax, sleep in and decompress. And while Vancouver in mid-April is probably not the best place to go to try to lift your spirits given the shitty weather, I had a pretty great week. More on that some other time, once I've uploaded some photos.

Now it's back to business. Aaron and I got into town around 4pm this afternoon. Just enough time for me to drop my bag off at home, hop in the shower and head to school for two hours of arabic. I challenge you to speak a foreign language when you've only had about an hour of (fitful) sleep on a plane. Those shots of espresso I threw back weren't even able to keep me awake.

More importantly though, there is some good stuff going down this weekend: DJ Funk on Friday and the Modular night at La Fleche d'Or on Saturday, featuring Datarock. And then, the French presidential elections on Sunday. Gonna be a good weekend!!

concert sauvage

2007-04-01T23:59:00.000+02:00

This sure beats that 17 year old kid that blasts the beat of the Numa Numa song and then tries to scream the lyrics over top even though it is obvious he does not speak one word of romanian...

Also...just in case you don't know what I'm talking about when I say Numa Numa:

yawnfest number 5

2007-03-31T19:24:00.001+02:00

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.

2007-03-29T00:18:00.000+02:00

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

2007-03-25T11:59:00.000+02:00

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?

2007-03-21T21:58:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-03-21T21:01:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-20T21:59:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-03-18T09:47:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-03-16T17:55:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-03-11T13:14:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-10T19:55:00.000+01:00

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?

2007-03-07T21:59:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-03-06T22:18:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-03T13:54:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-03-01T17:11:00.000+01:00

...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.

makes your body work

2007-02-27T23:24:00.000+01:00

Some pictures of the MSTRKRFT show at the Showcase last Friday. GREAT set. And they must have fixed the sound because everything sounded crystal clear! Others on the bill were Surkin and Buraka Som Sistema, as well as a Klaxons DJ set and the Modular DJs. Also, I'd like to mention that Bitsy, Katri and I totally beat these dudes twice in a row at foosball.

Last night was alright I guess - Kavinsky and Busy P release party - featuring Mr. Oizo, Mehdi, an as-always-totally-trashed-Uffie, Feadz, Sebastian. Yeah OK last night was awesome. Especially the parts where I met Oizo and I danced to Wu-Tang.

Last but not least, VICE Magazine has finally arrived in France!!! I picked up the first edition today along with my invites to the party this Friday and I proceeded to tear through it in the caf between classes. People were staring at me because I kept on bursting into uncontrolable laughter. French people are probably some of the harshest when it comes to criticizing others...so just imagine how stellar the Do's and Don'ts section is!!

Ed Banger vs The Ers: Round 2, Brussels

2007-02-24T18:49:00.000+01:00

I was so bummed when I had to miss Round 1 in Liege, because of too much schoolwork, so nothing was going to get in the way of me and this show on February 17th. I came home from the Alps on Friday night and 8 hours later was on the train heading to Brussels to meet up with the pals. It was an intense night. We danced until 6am. I stumbled out of the afterhours place at 9am, saw a jogger running down the street and jumped into the first cab in sight to make it back to Bitsy's place. For most of my pictures, you can check out my Flickr account, but here are just a few...

Favourite set of the night was Busy P's. Longest set of the night must have been Xavier from Justice.

Thanks to the ERS for an absolutely epic night. Round 3 sometime soon please!

The Alps

2007-02-22T15:53:00.000+01:00

Some pictures from my self-imposed exile to the mountains last week. These were taken at Les 2 Alpes, where I rode for 2 days. I also went to Alpes d'Huez but the weather and visibility were terrible and it was too wet to bring out my camera.

The highest peak at Les 2 Alpes is almost 4,000 metres high. Just to give you an idea, Blackcomb's highest peak is at around 2,300 metres. It was hard to breathe but the view was absolutely stunning and I spent almost an hour just up there hiking around and taking in the scenery.

Tahiti Boy and the Palmtree Family

2007-02-20T20:15:00.000+01:00

I've been MIA for the past week because I went to the Alps and then to Brussels for Ed Banger vs. the ERS Round 2. More on that in another post. This post will be dedicated to my new favourite french band, Tahiti Boy and the Palmtree Family. They have a residency at La Fleche d'Or this month, so every Monday they invite some buddies from the local music scene and we all get to enjoy 3 or 4 great bands and a DJ for free. Last week Teki Latex was behind the decks, but I headed out before then because my train left early the next morning. This week, Tahiti Boy invited Tunde Adebimpe, lead singer of TV on the Radio, and Ed Records DJ Vicarious Bliss. Here are some pictures.

Thank goodness Vicarious Bliss was there to drunkenly inform us between every song that we were witnessing a once in a lifetime opportunity and that we were lucky to be there that night to see "the best freaking band in France HANDS DOWN!!!"

run to the hills

2007-02-13T01:54:00.000+01:00

In 6 hours I will be on a train headed to the Alps for three days of blissful snowboarding and alone-time. Yep, it'll be just me, some books, my iPod, Savoie cooking and sweet sweet powder. Here's an Iron Maiden video to keep you entertained while I'm gone:

And just because this is one of the raddest songs ever:

Tonight I checked out Tahiti Boy and the Palmtree Family. They put on a stellar show, but I'm too lazy to post pictures right now so stay tuned.

joyeux anniversaire ed bang-eur!

2007-02-12T01:09:00.000+01:00

Saturday night Ed Banger records threw itself a little party to celebrate 4 years of making rad music and establishing Paris as a major electronic music capital. It was held at the Espace Pierre Cardin, a venue that I had never been to before. I'm not sure it was the ideal setting for this kind of event, but they probably chose it for its size. Unfortunately, the building is made entirely of glass, so there was a bit of a greenhouse effect going on. I'm guessing it was about 40 degrees inside. The windows were literally dripping with condensation. The Showcase might have been a better place to have it because there's a nice big stage and a huge bar, but since it's carved entirely out of rock, the sound is horrendous. So while it was really tough to get a good look at the DJs last night because of all the overzealous party-goers that had climbed up in front of the booth, and it was a little hard to breathe, the sound was nice and crisp.

We totally missed Vicarious Bliss, but got there just as Justice was nearing the end of their set. The little that I heard renewed my faith in their ability to spin good music live, after my disappointment the last time around. Hopefully they'll be in fine form next weekend. Mehdi was my favourite set of the night by far, with honourable mention going to Sebastian and his outstanding remix of Rage's Killing in Tha Name. The lamest part of the evening was (surprise surprise) Uffie. It's a shame that Feadz is being overshadowed by his girl, because her terrible lyrics cover up some very fine beats. I get it, she's hot and she's got a great voice for this type of music, but her fifteen minutes were up a long time ago. Mercifully, she's only got a few songs in her repertoire, so most of the hour-long slot was filled with Feadz' stellar mixing. Hey Vancouver, she's coming to your town next week. You can keep her.

I tried to take pictures but I couldn't unfog my lense long enough to get some shots. Nothing like a nice 5am walk home in torrential rain and gale-force winds to cool me off...

who's with me?

2007-02-08T17:38:00.000+01:00

yes yes I know I've been double posting a lot lately but I was walking through the metro halls today and I turned the corner and lo and behold there is a huge poster informing me that Daft Punk is playing in Paris in June and I could barely contain my excitement, so much so that I almost grabbed the nearest passerby and shook them while yelling "HOLY SHIT I GET TO SEE DAFT PUNK!!!"

BEHOLD:

So...who wants to come with me?

Pas la peine d'appeler...

2007-02-08T09:51:00.001+01:00

New TTC video:

Checked out Klanguage last night, but I was too tired to really enjoy it. Shame, really, because their music is catchy. We left before the end of the set.

to the right to the right

2007-02-07T15:46:00.000+01:00

new links to the right.

1. Fluo kids blog: great for picking up mixes and other goodies.
2. Bienvenue chez toi...

it's a strange world...

2007-02-07T09:40:00.000+01:00

Alright people. Those of you who know me well know how behind the times I am in terms of must-see movies. Hell, I only saw the Graduate this summer. That being said, why did no one just sit me down and force me to watch Blue Velvet? How is it possible that this is the first time I've seen a David Lynch movie? I'm not going to go into a lengthy discussion of why I loved it so much because this is probably old news to all of you, but if you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend it. Preferably on a movie theatre screen.

Paris has literally hundreds of movie theatre of all sizes. And the smaller ones organize mini movie fests once a month, so that they can compete with the large Silvercity-esque complexes. This means that you can see some of your favourite classics on the big screen again. So maybe it's a good thing I got to see Blue Velvet for the first time in a movie theatre... Did you know that he considered making it in black and white at first?

I've been on a bit of a movie binge ever since classes ended. In Spanish class last friday our teacher showed us Alejandro Amenabar's first major movie, Tesis. I'm usually pretty indifferent towards horror movies - at least more recent ones - because I'm always disappointed at the lack of suspense...and overall scariness. But this movie was terrifying. The basic premise: a university student in Madrid is writing her thesis on the depiction of violence in movies. She discovers a snuff movie in which a girl is being tortured to death. She finds out that the girl in the video was a former student at her uni and she decides to try to figure out who did it.

The real genius of this film is that you don't know who made the snuff film until the very last scene of the movie. And while the protagonist in the movie has a morbid fascination with violence, Amenabar is also trying to push the boundaries but never in a gratuitous or campy way. The end result is a truly scary movie that you will not be able to get out of your head.

ask and you shall receive

2007-02-05T10:30:00.000+01:00

Aaron is right, I have been seriously neglecting this blog lately. It's mostly because for the past month, I've been so miserable that I didn't really have anything blog-able to say. I didn't want to bore you all to death with long descriptions of the unbelieavable amount of work I had... nobody likes a whiner.

But the tide is turning and on Friday at 5pm, when my last exam gets out, I will finally be able to relax and get back to leading a normal life. You know, one where I get to go out until sunrise and sleep all day.

One of the reasons I've been so overloaded with work is that the second debate for my master's project was last week. I had to present that first set of polls to the panel, which included the director of Sciences-Po (very intimidating), and the spokeswoman for Nicolas Sarkozy (also intimidating). The whole thing was filmed. Check me out, here.

Yes, I'm reading off my cards too much, but let's just remember that I hate speaking in front of people to the point that last weekend I had a nightmare about presenting this debate. Glad it's over.

So now that vacation is finally within reach, I can start focusing on how many amazing shows are coming up....starting tonight, with Kavinsky behind the decks after the Colette Dance Class at le Paris Paris. Ed Banger Records is celebrating their 4th birthday in style at Espace Cardin on Saturday. Next monday I will be checking out Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah! Then I'm off to the mountains for a little fresh air and alone-time. And when I get back, I jump on the train and head to Brussels where some buddies are putting this on. I could go on...

COME ON!

2007-01-23T21:26:00.000+01:00

Are there not enough problems in France that need to be tackled? Does presidential candidate Segolene Royal have so much time on her hands that she feels the need to stick her nose in Quebec's affairs? I guess when you're not busy developping a viable electoral platform...you know with, like, plans for the country and stuff...you're a pretty carefree individual. Hey Segolene, I've got a shitload of work on my hands right now. How about you make yourself useful and write a couple of presentations for me instead of taking trips - both metaphorical and physical - to faraway lands and telling people how to live their lives.

Seriously...

UMP: 1, Parti Socialiste: 0

2007-01-19T23:18:00.000+01:00

Our first debate, the fruit of sleepless nights and horrendous stress, went down without a problem yesterday afternoon at Sciences-Po. If you speak French and are passionate about French politics (aren't we all??) you can check out the video for it here.

I really do feel bad for the Socialist party right now. The deputies have literally nothing to work with since their presidential candidate Segolene Royal has yet to create a platform. Oh wait, I forgot that last month she declared that she would ask "the people" what issues they want her to tackle. I guess that's her platform. She's also doing an excellent job of contradicting herself repeatedly and then getting mad at the press for highlighting her incessant contradictions.

So that is why I declare the UMP deputy the winner of this first round of debates...even though near the end he declares that he's had enough of the left's "racisme anti-riches". That did not go over too well with the audience.

Last night we went to check out a party put on by Trax magazine, and featuring a DJ set by the members of the Klaxons, who grace the cover of this month's issue. When we got there, the music was tremendous, but by the time we made our way through the huge crowd and grabbed a drink, a new Klaxon was behind the decks and his house music got a little boring. Highlight of the night: burning home through the empty streets on a bike.

Elections extravaganza

2007-01-18T11:19:00.000+01:00

Today is the first of six debates that I have helped organize at Science Po about the upcoming French Presidential elections. The topic will be "The French Social Model...a Model?". For those of you not attending, I'll cut to the chase and just tell you that the answer is a resounding "No". But more specifically, myself and the 7 other students in my group will be launching the debate around 3 themes: meritocracy, gender equality and social uncertainty. That last one doesn't translate properly in english, but in french it's "inquietude sociale"...Did you know that almost 50% of french people are worried that they may one day end up homeless?

Our panel members include two politicians with very different stances on the issue, two experts who have studied at length the issue and a coordinator who is also an expert on the subject. The whole thing will be moderated by Ali Baddou who hosts a great radio programme each morning on RadioFrance. If all goes well, the politicians will start yelling at each other. Fingers crossed!

Speaking of elections, the Serbs go to the polls on the 21st. This is a huge deal in terms of what will happen next in the Balkans. Two days ago in class we discussed the upcoming decision on Kosovo's political status with a top expert from the International Crisis Group and a member of the Kosovar government. They both told us very frankly that they see little difference between the so-called moderate candidates and the nationalist candidates in Serbia. This is troubling, because when the UN Special Envoy to Kosovo releases his report at the end of this month, he will probably recommend that Kosovo become independent. The Serbs have repeatedly declared that they would categorically reject any proposals for an independent Kosovo. There is great potential for the powderkeg to ignite again and it will be interesting to see how the outcome of the Serbian elections influence the decisions that will be made in the next few months.

photos...

2007-01-15T23:07:00.000+01:00

Some pictures taken by my talented and beautiful friend Svea who is currently visiting me from Toronto....
...getting ready for a night on the town...

...in my appartment...

...in my favourite bookstore...

...in the metro...

...in St. Germain des Pres...

la merde has hit the fan

2007-01-14T23:15:00.000+01:00

Never in my life did I think I'd be so excited to wake up terribly hungover two mornings in a row. Ever since classes started on January 2nd, I've been sleeping 4 hours a night, spending 12 hours at school a day, forgetting to eat meals, and in general, cursing Sciences-Po. I'm beginning to think that I have the immune system of a super-human because apart from a little head cold, I have somehow managed to avoid any major health breakdowns that would normally occur with such behaviour.

Last night was the most fun I've had in a long time. Jean Nipon came along and brought some friends...although the ONE dude I wanted to hear went on at the exact moment when I was engaged in a deep political discussion upstairs. Other highlighs of the night included dancing to this and this.

Now just because I've spent the last two nights drinking away my sorrows at Le Paris Paris does not mean that I'm out of the woods yet. I think this school has made it its mission to try to kill us. And the professors have all been taken by this random desire to move all of our due dates foward, sometimes by over a week. So things aren't about to get any better any time soon. Not to mention the fact that my Master's Project is really picking up now and our first large debate about the upcoming presidential elections is happening next week. Check out our pretty website.

All that being said, Trax magazine is having a bit of a celebration on Thursday night and I think it might be a good time...

so this is the new year

2007-01-01T14:47:00.000+01:00

It's with a bit of a heavy heart that I rang in the New Year. For those of you in the Vancouver Ultimate community you will have already heard about the tragic car accident that claimed the life of one of the UBC women's team's coaches. JK's death came as a huge shock and he will be dearly missed...

If classes didn't start up again tomorrow and if I didn't have so much work to hand in in the next 2 weeks, I would have stayed in Toronto for New Year's Eve. Unless you have lots of money to spend on exorbitant cover to get into even the shittiest club, Paris is lame on december 31st. Low expectations are key.

My night started off on the right foot when, on my way home from dinner at around 1030, I didn't respond to heckling from some 17 year old riff raff and I got a glass bottle thrown at my feet. Happy new year indeed, assholes.

This little anecdote illustrates perfectly why Paris is not fun during nights of big celebration. The chances that you'll get harassed increase tenfold; not only by the racaille that comes in from the suburbs, but from over-aggressive cops who are on edge and snap faster than usual. A general rule is to avoid the streets at all costs between 1am and 3am, because that's when they start laying the smack down. Although last night, the sirens started resonating across the city around 10pm.

I ended up at a very random house party in the diplomatic appartment of a guy who works for the Cypriot embassy. There were seemingly endless bottles of champagne, wine and hardbar, fabulous finger foods and a DJ. I spent a good half hour discussing the politics of fashion with this guy's business partner. FYI Vancouver, Leone distributes some of his clothes, so if you're looking for a $5000 dress...

After trying to hail a cab for about 20 minutes (and in the meantime getting harassed some more in the street) we gave up and I started walking home. Don't worry mom I had my pepper spray.

So now it's 2007 and I've got a very difficult 2 weeks of assignments and projects ahead of me. Maybe I should have joined this protest. Who said the French didn't have a sense of humour?

...and more goodies

2006-12-31T15:37:00.000+01:00

Need some tunes for your New Year's party? Check out DJ Kodh's mix from the Clark Magazine USR party last month.

Bye bye 2006!

goodies

2006-12-30T21:39:00.000+01:00

If you have iTunes, you should hit up the Justice podcast. They don't update very much but they just posted a 30 minute video clip of their set at I Love Techno in Belgium a few months ago. Also featuring some stellar hand-dancing and arm-waving by Kavinsky. It's exponentially better than their mix at Alors les filles..., so definitely worth checking out. They also have the video from their Waters of Nazareth release party, in case you didn't spend half of last summer drooling over it.

tout le monde vient habillé, mais tout le monde part à poil.

2006-12-26T05:18:00.000+01:00

Alright, this post is long overdue. I would like to mention, in my defense, that it took me a few days to recover from Saturday night. And then Christmas break happened and I hopped on a plane to Toronto and have been spending my days watching TV, sleeping and eating.

On saturday the 16th, I wrote an excruciating exam. Thankfully I wasn't the only one who walked out of there after three hours of frantic essay-writing looking less than thrilled with what I had managed to spit out onto the paper. But all of that was soon forgotten.

My friends and I were kind of dumb and didn't get advance tickets before they sold out, so we had to show up when the doors opened to try to get in. Doors opened at 9, we got in at midnight. Turns out it was as much of a gong-show in the VIP/presales lineup, since a couple of our buddies had to wait an hour despite being on the list.

Speaking of lineup, the DJ list for this show was epic. We missed out on Tacteel, Mehdi (with Dave1), Busy P and Das Glow. We did get there on time to hear that Uffie is still as mediocre as ever, even when she tries to rap over her own tracks played in the background. I was too distracted by the goodie bags handed to us in the VIP section to pay attention.

After saying hello to everyone, I grabbed a drink and started watching the show. Surkin was the first set I saw. How old is this guy? I think he might be about 18. He's absolutely awesome though. There are a couple of YouTube clips of his set that night.

After that, Para One was up. I was incredibly excited for this set...although the consensus around the dinner table the next night was that he definitely wasn't at his best. This was the first time I saw him live, so no complaints here! Especially when TTC jumped on stage and performed Musclor and Dans le club. Amazing!

Up next was Justice. Theirs was the set I was most looking forward to, and I have to admit I was not that impressed. However, their new single (EP to be released in February) sounded huge blasting out of the sound system. You could feel the bass vibrating in your stomach.

Sebastian followed Justice and he pretty much blew them out of the water. The dinner table was in agreement. Not only did he trick us into thinking he was doing a live mix (certain dinner guests informed me that he had prepared it earlier) but his set was ace. Check out his EP Ross Ross Ross and get familiar Vancouver, he's coming to your town in March!

I think around this time I found out that Romain Duris (my favourite french actor) had shown up and was hanging around the VIP section. I went on a frantic search but couldn't find him. Maybe it's better I didn't find him because I had been drinking and probably would have blurted out some embarassingly unoriginal compliment or stared creepily. But next time he's in the same place as me, I'll be ready with the line of the century! Feadz was on afterwards, but I decided to be social instead of listening to what turned out to be the most boring set of the night. It was 6am anyways, so we decided to stumble home.

Of course I cannot forget to mention the surprise guest, none other than Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, who jumped behind the decks around the same time that I arrived. And while I don't remember seeing him with my own eyes, I checked out the YouTube clips afterwards and remembered hearing his set. Unfortunately after 3 hours spent in line and half a bottle of wine to myself I had to bee-line it to the bathroom and face the massive lineup. First time he has played in Paris in 8 years, by the way!!

Sunday was a writeoff. We woke up at 2pm, grabbed falaffels downtown, then met up with some people from the night before around burgers and wine. We were a sorry bunch. I was still feeling the exhaustion well into Tuesday...

alors les filles...

2006-12-15T21:23:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow i have a huge exam. Then i have this to go to:

This will make all the studying and stressing and stomach problems worth it.

Summit in Tehran

2006-12-12T20:57:00.000+01:00

Question: Where would you go this week if you wanted to hang out with Holocaust deniers? Answer: Tehran.

Ahmadinejad is nothing more than a demagogue, not worth me wasting a post on him. However, I came upon this article on the BBC website, about a group of rabbis who made an appearance at the conference. Unlikely guests? Read on.

is it christmas break yet?

2006-12-11T23:44:00.000+01:00

If you want to see some of the saddest-looking people in the world, all you have to do is stand outside Sciences-Po, 27 rue Saint-Guillaume, any day of the week. Every two hours, the same tragi-comic scene unfolds. We all pour out of our two-hour lectures looking haggard, desperately searching for our smokes at the bottom of our bags, shivering from lack of sleep and malnutrition. We then sprint to the nearest coffee machine, or to the loyal Basile (where everybody knows your name) to slam back a shot of espresso before shuffling off to our next lecture/library marathon. In these 15 minutes between classes, the current favourite topic of discussion is when we think we might snap. We are truly a sight for sore eyes.

Speaking of sad stories, this is a picture of the contents of my fridge. I can't remember the last time I had time to go grocery shopping. Not that it would matter, since stress has made it nearly impossible for me to handle solid foods.

Isn't it fitting that in the land of perpetual "social movements" as the French unions like to call them, my stomach has gone on strike and is refusing to properly digest anything I try to eat. And in true French fashion, I have raised the white flag of surrender. So I'm trying to stick to a liquid diet, since the only other alternative is to endure stomach pain all day.

On a completely unrelated note, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and favourite target of Israeli satyrists Shimon Peres gave a conference at Sciences-Po today. I signed up as soon as I heard about it...not because I'm convinced he still has anything truly relevant to say, but because these kinds of conferences always end with question periods. And that's when the magic happens.

Mr. Peres talked for only 20 minutes in order to be able to field as many questions as possible. His speech was a series of generalities that I didn't even bother to remember. I was really hoping that the typical angry anti-Israel student would stand up to the mic and start spouting off statistics and dates, and I got my wish. This guy was particularly huffy, his voice all a-quiver with rage and indignation. His huffiness was even more comical when he finally ineloquently spat out some half-assed question having to do with Israel's criminal behaviour, and Mr. Peres simply replied "When Hamas stops shooting rockets at us every day, then we can talk. Next question?" SNAP.

But angry anti-Israel student was not at all satisfied with that answer, and he tried to get back on the microphone. He was gently led back to his seat by one of the organizer. Actually, he had to be gently led back to his seat several times. He was finally allowed to return to the microphone, where he started on another rant full of uninspired accusations. Mr. Peres curtly told him to get his facts straight.

Now I'm not saying that all of the things this guy had to say were necessarily irrelevant, since crimes have been committed on both sides of the conflict. However, recognize who you're up against and adjust your question accordingly. C'mon guy, Shimon Peres been accused of being a murderer by Palestinians and Israelis alike, and he's considered a moderate. He's seen and hear it all and he was probably bored to tears by your 10 minute tirade.

So...is it time to go on vacation yet?

tranquille...

2006-12-07T08:32:00.000+01:00

Not many new posts these days. This is entirely due to the fact my life currently consists of studying, drinking too much coffee and stress...not exactly exciting blog material. I don't even have the energy to go out anymore. Usually when I'd rather be curled up in bed than dancing, it's a sign I need a break. So that's what I'm doing.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from my trip to London a few weekends ago:

My weekend in London was a lot of fun. These pictures are from my Saturday night. Bitsy, Zoe and I went to 333 Old St. for what had to be the most haggard party I've ever been to. The club was trash, the trannies had 5 o'clock shadow and literally everyone was strung out. Zoe's pals were on the decks for the last part of the night, so we stayed until the bitter end. On my bus ride back to Kentish Town, I got to listen to a highly entertaining sass-fest between two slutty north London girls. Good night all around.

Of course, I can't mention London without expressing my hatred of its public transportation. Maybe I've just become too accustomed to Paris' amazing metro, but is it too much to ask to keep the tube up and running on weekends? C'mon!

45 minutes in Kosovo

2006-11-29T22:46:00.000+01:00

Train, military van, Belgian defence plane...we did it all last Tuesday. And even though we ultimately only got to spend 45 minutes in Kosovo itself, the trip was incredibly valuable.

So...why did I got to Kosovo?

I'm taking a class that deals with the European Union and issues of security. My teacher is Mme. Anne-Marie Lizin, President of the Belgian Senate and rapporteur of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. When she found out that Belgian peacekeepers were headed to Kosovo to relieve troops that were finishing their 4 month tour of duty, and since our assignment for the class is to publish a book on European reactions to the war in Kosovo, she jumped on the occasion to bring us along to speak to some of the heads of operations in the country. It was incredibly last-minute, but it was an offer I could not refuse.

The UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) began in 1999, and is to date the largest mission ever attempted. Its mandate at the time was not only to end the conflict and establish security so that the hundreds of thousands of Albanian refugees could return to their homes, but also to rebuild a nation completely destroyed by clashes between Serbs and Albanians and the NATO bombing campaigns. Currently, the European Union, the OSCE, the UN and NATO are all present on the ground, and are all in charge of very specific tasks. The NATO peacekeeping mission, KFOR, includes contributions from 35 nations. KFOR is responsible for establishing and maintaining a secure environment throughout the country.

On the way to Pristina, we were in the plane with about 100 Belgian troops set to start a 4-month tour of duty in and around Mitrovica - generally considered the most difficult area since most of the country's Serbs (who make up less than 10% of Kosovo's population) reside there. The people we talked to, both commanders and soldiers, said that Albanians and Serbs rarely mix anymore, but that any small event could potentially spark new hostilities.

The event in question that could reignite the conflict will likely occur at the beginning of 2007 when the UN envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, is expected to publish his recommendations on the status of Kosovo. He has already delayed publication once out of fear that his suggestion that Serbia lose Kosovo would help extreme nationalists come to power in the Serbian elections scheduled for January 21st. He came to this conclusion after being unable to reach an agreement in talks between the Serbs and the Albanians. This means that the troops we travelled with on our way to Pristina may have a very difficult 4 months ahead of them. Not only do they have to deal with a long winter, but they may find themselves in the middle of new skirmishes, as Albanians start to demand full independence and Serbs forcefully try to maintain control over Kosovo.

Because of security delays in Belgium, our time at the Pristina army base was limited, but we did get to speak to a UN representative on the ground, who laid out the main issues currently on the table in the area. As with anything that happens in its former backyard, Russia is especially interested in Mr. Ahtisaari's recommendations. The Russians aren't favourable to the idea of an independent Kosovo, but they may promise not to veto the UN resolution if they can get what they want in the Caucasus - no doubt related to the separatist movements in South-Ossetia and Abkhazia which they have been supporting on and off since Yeltsin's days.

On our way back, we were in the plane with about 60 Belgian peacekeepers who were heading home. We got a chance to speak to some of them about their impressions of their mission. In general, they are very well received by the population. The situation is calm, but that is because Serbs and Albanians stay away from each other, apart from a few small enclaves. Because we only spoke to members of the Belgian forces, they could only tell us what is going on in the North of Kosovo. They didn't have much to say when we asked them about certain secret American detention centres in the East...

While Kosovo is calm right now, it will be interesting to see what happens when the UN report is finally released. And just because it is calm does not mean that life is much better. Electricity and water is unavailable more often than not, even in the better parts of the capital. Human and arms trafficking are huge problems, and international forces are unable to crack down because it is not in their mandate. And while people don't like to admit it, the presence of large numbers of troops in the country inevitably allow mafia-run prostitution rings to survive. Supply and demand...the only thing I remember from two semesters of Econ.

So there you have it, my relatively short and concise recap of a very complicated situation: if you made it to the end of this huge post, you get a treat next time I see you!

madness

2006-11-28T01:54:00.000+01:00

To all my loyal readers (all 7 of you), I apologize for the serious lack of posts in the past week. Between Kosovo and a weekend spent in London, it' s been a pretty busy couple of days. I got back from London this morning, unpacked quickly, headed to class until 9pm and then went out with the girls for a little dancing session at Le Paris Paris. The music was amazing...care of DJ Mehdi and Dave1 of Chromeo. This must have been the first time I'd been to a completely packed club on a monday night. Love this city...

So I'm still alive - which is pretty surprising given the workload I had last week, and the partying that I did this weekend - but it's a little late to dive into a long post about my trips to Pristina and London. Pictures and stories to come, real soon!