Drownout France

Notes From the USA

Things are rarely simple and blogging your sojourns isn't either. I'm out of France, back in NY, and that should be that. Yet the possibility of spending a few more months there has returned. Maybe I'll spark up this blog again sometime.

Until then, though, this travelogue is done. Hope you've enjoyed it. There are lots of nice archived entries organized sensibly here on the left of the page.

It's funny because I think I lost perspective towards the end. When you show up, everything jumps out at you. By the end, there is nothing funny about the way Chirac conducts himself on television at all. I'm having that feeling of bouleversement here in NY -- seeing the Café Charbon near Stanton Street, that was something to talk about. The Café Charbon in Oberkampf, well that's just typically Parisian, yawn.

Goodbye blog. I'll see you at Drownout News.

The Long Summer

That's it. I leave tomorrow at 8.45 am for NY. If I'm back next year, c'est la vie. Mais, si non, il était un très beau séjour.

Photo Gallery: Claireobscure

My chum Matte has put up a great photo gallery. It's at www.claireobscure.com. I've started putting a gallery up there of photos from November etc.: Amol's Paris.

Digital photography is one of the best things about traveling. An efficient way to post photos has been what's been missing. Looks like tools are developing.

From Shanghai to the Moon

Back in Paris. November 16.

Can leaving a city you're only visiting give you perspective on it? I can now definitively answer this question.

After 5 and 1/2 months in Paris, I took a little 2 week sejour to the States. Mostly New York, and a bit of DC and NJ. What a lovely time of year to be in the US Northeast (leaves changing, that sort of thing).

So here's the nutshell: I was a bit nervous on the plane, sitting behind some grossly overweight, loud-talking boors. Is this my America?

The relief was in NY. It ain't the same place it used to be. Arriving to Terminal 4 at JFK is like a miracle, like arriving in Tokyo. But it's also old: old friends, my neighborhoods, LIRR, the 1 line. No more 9 line. Steams up your glasses. NY is A-OK.

So now one last amiable month in Paris before a hero's return to NY.

Rainy Day Bleues, Quarante-cinq

Webcam. October 25.

Rain in Paris? Well, it happens. The last few days, non-stop. I won't complain. But the seasons are changing: getting dark early (7.25pm), colder (18C), rainier. Danni Minogue is on the BBC at the moment, telling us how much she loves Paris in the summer. For some reason, she's recommending the Moulin Rouge, which I assure you is not good. "I love a tart", she says.

Moz coming up!

We are all getting excited, aren't we?

Boz's tour diary
David Tseng's noble site

Tonight's concert takes place on the anniversary of James Dean's death.

Winding Up, Checking Out

Well, world, I'm winding up this blog. I still notice lots of things every day and have lots of things to put up here--but it's getting to be too much. Perhaps I return to this later. But we're officially past the three month tour of duty you were promised. We're staying in Paris a bit longer now, but it's going to be un-narrated.

Schengen Renewal

Street Survey.

I am headed for the border.

After three months here, I must renew my visa. But I will not be back in the USA for some time yet, dear reader. Do not miss me.

When I return: news from Geneva, Switzerland, guaranteed to be the most boring city in Europe but outside of Germany.

The Ears of Paris

The fine Canon Powershot G1 that I've been using for this site has developed a faulty button. Sending it to the factory in the US. Could be a little while before the photojournalistic flair to which you have been accustomed returns to this site.

France, where I won the bet

In November 2002, I was sporting a denim jacket covered with patches I had picked up on a recent tour of western national parks. This guy made fun of them so I bet him $500 that patches were cool, but more precisely: that they were so cool right then that in fact The Gap would not pick them up until Autumn 2002 at which time Gap would feature them in ads demonstrating their mass-market "coolness" (at which time they would be decidedly uncool, but whatever).

Snicker if you want, but I won the bet, Dan Schulman.

Special Offer to Readers

Now for a deal too good to pass up. Four ultra high-resolution images from the library of Parisian classics to use as your very own desktop background. Cost: $1. It's the lowest price they would let me charge on Amazon. Plus a fifth image free! Just click on the Amazon box to the right.

+

On Offer.

If you want to request an image seen here previously, just ask. Click on the Amazon box to the right to begin.

You Are Invited

Head. 08 Juillet.

Consider this your invitation.

It's lovely to have visitors and we have space to sleep two extra comfotably, plus 2 more uncomfortably. For a few days, it couldn't be lovelier.

If you're going to be in Europe, do come by Paris. We're here at least till Aug 26, but perhaps a few months or years longer.

This offer is only good for faithful of this blog, and could be cancelled at any time without notice. Mention this advertisement.

In the Dark

(c)A.Tannenbaum.

So there has been a near info blackout from my end.

Not to worry--all is well.

We've just had a lot of visitors! Last weekend, this weekend, next weekend; and of course the weeks are jammed with some highly productive writing days at the moment. I'm in the end-game of Chapter 3. That will put me into striking distance on the whole dissertation! I'll have first drafts of 3 of the 4 main chapters. I'll only need to write that last one, add a minor 5th chapter, and polish things up a bit. September, here we come.

Progress and the Age of Les Lumieres

NASDAQ pre-April 2000? 28 Juillet.

In French there is a "vous" and a "tu"-- like in other languages you may know -- with one reserved for privileged social relations. In the Revolution they decided to get rid of the "vous"! (I wish they had succeeded, but c'est la vie.) Robespierre addressed great masses as "tu".

So how is my progress going in Paris? That, I'm sure, is the question on everybody's mind. Well, I hereby present to you an SEC-verified statement of progress:

Summer Progress 2002.

I do not endorse any gaming or wagering on the eventual results.

Images Galore

I hope you're not on a modem! If you are, all I can do is apologize. There are a lot of pictures on this page, but they're pretty cool and I think they're an important part of this whole deal.

The Writer in Paris

Salle J. 30 Juin.

Perhaps you picture a shabby fellow shuffling around with a sheaf of papers from cafe to cafe? Well no! I am buried in the heart of the grand BNF.

I really should give that cafe thing a try. But I don't live in a part of Paris that's terribly desolate, i.e. the cafes are full of German tourists. Not exactly sleeply parts of the Parisian margins. I plan a visit to the margins soon--but to see the French hypermarkets. Watch this space.

The schools are out now--no more late-teenage kids studying. Now it all seems to be people studying law (Droit Civil and all that).

Growing Out of Control!

Growing Out of Control!
My beard, since I've been here, is growing like crazy! Is it the super-summer effects of the long days? Are the Scandinavians growing huge beards?

Californie Diaries

Californie Diaries

CA documentary. 1 Juillet.

I guess every week this program goes to California and interviews representative Americans. This guy owns an alternative bookshop. He sells, in his words:

"Some of the most unusual and bizarre things you will find anywhere in the world practically. Wes Craven comes here. Marilyn Manson comes here. We have things you will not find anywhere.

Very unusual things. Mayhem, destruction, violence. Amok. Running amok, murder, blood, sexxxxual perversity. Books about rape. Books about bondage. We have extreme and unusual Japanese comics. Unusual stories about people die trying to masturbate while strangling themselves. French books. Uh, ... oh, uh. Yeah I just spaced out there for a minute. [..]

I like Camus. We have The Plague. No I haven't read that one, but I am very interested in The Rebel. That's what we do here. [...]

I've never left LA, never left California. I was born here in LA, opened this shop, and we have some very unusual things here. This is still somewhat of a free country. So we have very uncommon things."

The Monolith, Delivered

The Monolith, Delivered

Le Monde Sunday. 30 Juin.

They include a 12-page New York Times insert in the Sunday Le Monde. In English. Apparently the NYT wanted to have it published in French (marketing). Le Monde preferred to have it in English (anthropology).

Fatty Food, Less Food?

Fatty Food, Less Food?
Here's a crazy theory based on the following observations:
- breakfast foods pretty much amount to butter croissants, chocolate croissants, madeleines (soft chewy egg and butter cookies), and other small pastries like that.
- huge snack sections for yogurts (with all the creamy milkfat) and biscuits (butter biscuits, chocolate butter biscuits), and some chips (zero "low fat" or "baked" types).
- meal main courses which focus on sauces, or if you're me which focus on steak frite (fried steak, not even BBQ'd!).
- lots of chocolate bars (the lady in front of me on line always has one in the basket).
- pre-made sandwiches (at grab-n-go lunch type places) with healthy slathers of mayonaisse without exception.
- Relatively small serving sizes of most of these things.
- I eat this stuff, in the small servings, but then don't feel hungry the way I'd expect.

Theory: maybe fatty foods leave you feeling full longer, interposing on any need to faire de snacking as industry urges to do in the US.

French...rock

French...rock

Grace de Amazon.fr

A sensitive reader suggested I look into French pop.

Methodology: went to Amazon.fr, picked the top two albums, downloaded them using Kazaa, listened to them while doing some other stuff, wrote comments on a few songs.

#2 Album: Renaud, Boucan d'enfer
"Petit Pede"
Literally a cross between Serge Gainsbourg's pop melodies and light instrumental backgrounds (without the overtly cribbed ethnicities) and Bob Dylan (post-accident, 1970's vocal whining nonsense). Not bad, actually.

"Manhattan - Kaboul (avec Axell ...)"
There's a John Cougar Melloncamp vibe on this track, a duet with someone who sounds like a young, beautiful, naive chanteuse with eyes like sunglasses. But without the whiff of tired old rocker you get from JCM (i.e. JCM - Jon Bon Jovi + Twiggy = this track).

"Tout arreter"
Country and western whine in the instrumentation, layers of criss-crossing provincial banjo sounds. Which is to say, Bob Dylan cover. I'm thinking _Desire_, like Jack of Hearts but about 10 minutes shorter. Except, replace the kickin' harmonica solos with....accordion.

"Mon nqain de Jardin"
ON the subway you'll see these cute gypsy guys playing the accordion. No more monkeys these days, and they aren't nice guys--aggressive for their dough--but it's France. This track is more straightforwardly the sort of french country/traditional music you might see if you went with your parents on one of those Seinne river dinner boat and a show things.

"Mal Barres"
Translator having difficulty with this one.

"Elle A Vu Le Loup"
This one's a live track. You can hear the cabaret audience laughing at his jokes. I'm guessing you're going to have to speak french to like this song. It's

Okay I'm bored of this one now. On to the next.

Patrick Bruel, Entre Deux (double album)

"Mon amant de Saint-Jean"
Soaring, winding and classically french syncopated accordion, piano, and strings. To me, it's 1925, I'm drinking absinthe, the grainy black and white color of the heroine abandoning me breaks my heart.

"Le premier rendez-vous"
Pianos ouverture. It's a 50s Hollywood lightsdown introduction. Then here he is. Handsome, mysterious, crooning, deeply gazing...then come the fancifully constructed layers of banjo. The provincial western quarters of France. The troubadors.

Concluding remarks.
I'm not listening to anymore. Bottom line: French popular music is stuck in an introverted, backward looking timewarp of "chanson" fascination from two generations ago. The way indian Hindi film songs are essentially interchangeable with those of 25 years ago and appeal across age groups to mom and teenage punk. Though I don't think the kids are listening to this schlock. It must be that demographic trends in the slowing french population have made Moms and Dads the top music consumers, as opposed to the US where demonic pre-teens are drinking blood and having abortions vicariously through their rappers and barbie-pop-princesses.

Failsafe methodology check: the #3 album, By The Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Uh oh!

One Month in Paris

One Month in Paris

At Musee D'Orsay. 30 Juin.

We've been in France for a month now. Not coming back for a while yet.

In fact, maybe not at all! Here's the dreamscape to underwrite it: my french is improving quickly. Indeed, perhaps I am an idiot-savant for languages. Indeed, perhaps by summer's end I will have the mastery and vocabulary not of a migrant farm worker but of a grand ecoles-educated, duck-eating, St. Germain de Pres-living, homme politique. And indeed if that were the case, then I could simply take some work with a Paris-located multinational (consultingco?), immediately begin enjoying my 5+2 weeks of annual vacation, generous health plan, annual strike threats, and job security. If you don't think I'd do it, you really haven't tried the supermarket yogurt here. What they sell in the US (fruit on the bottom??) is cat's milk compared to this stuff.

Sempé, Busted!

Sempé, Busted!

Ur-Sempé. 30 Juin.

If you look at New Yorker covers regularly, then you know that the retro ones that continue to appear, those featuring landscape-style scenes of New York in the seasons--utterly news-less and simply natural--are usually by JJ Sempé.

Well have a look at this then!! I make no claims of authorial orginality here, but in the wake of Doris Kearns Goodwin and all that, I expect that JJ will respond formally.

(If you can't see it, it's a huge white snowfield with a tiny cartoony skier sliding across it, on a 50-year-old canvas hanging in a museum. My picture of the painter's name was blurry, but who cares about that anyway.)

Daniel Buren, the stripe guy, in Paris

Daniel Buren, the stripe guy, in Paris

The Palais Royal. 27 Juin.

A major new show for the summer has opened at the Centre Georges Pompidou, which is the main museum of modern art in Paris.

They've given the top floor to Daniel Buren, a guy I always liked every since Rosalind Krauss told me about him in 20th Century Art.
What I liked so much about him was this thing he had for stripes, which you can see in both pictures on the right. In one famous "stunt", he went all around New York and replaced the awnings on buildings with his black-and-white striped pattern.

On the video screen outside the exposition they showed some even more interesting stuff. Protesters carrying large placards as they marched back and forth in front of major art and political sites, but the placards were just big rectangular fields of the stripes. It has all the elements of the great art of the 70s: channeling political energy without necessarily adopting a conventional political attitude, taking art out of bounds into the street or the night, hypostatizing the artistic element--the striped field--into the minimal expression of the visual character of what is artistic (the stripes aren't accidental, wherever they turn up you know they were put there on purpose).

A floor from the new show. 30 Juin.

So France hired him to liven up a space in one of those big empty palace quads, at the Palais Royal just behind the Louvre. He put in a cipher of columns, of different heights, striped, with matching window awnings of the same stripes. The result is an absolutely lively and fun-house type place that's great for taking pictures. Parisians, through the medium of Le Monde, consider it a modern classic on an order with I.M. Pei's pyramid at the Louvre. And indeed it shares many of the ideas of classical antiquity transformed and delivered to modern people.

As for the show at Pompidou, it's all new work. Very architectural: he divided up the huge roof-level floor of the museum into 20-25 square rooms, then did crazy things to them. Put mirrors all around, or painted them in his stripes or in new interesting fields of color, or projected light-fields of color, etc. Again, a fun place and nice for taking photos. Here's a neat video we took while there.

Big Day in French News

Big Day in French News

Au revoir, Messier. 1 Juillet.

Two french stories led the business news today worldwide. Messier is out at Vivendi, and France Telecom might be renationalized (!!!). That's France for you. The socialist party is working on re-organizing while the re-elected conservative leadership plots their next move after implementing the semi-communist 35-hour workweek.

Meanwhile, the papers are excited to report that the Euro has reached parity with the US greenback. In January, when last I was hear the dollar was $0.80 to the 1 euro. Now it's $1/euro1. It makes shopping easier, but more painful.

Libraries, but books? Fous!

Libraries, but books? Fous!

Cold War collection. 29 Juin.

The public works around here sure are great, and I've been saying how impressed I am by the Centre Georges Pompidou and the BNF Francois Mitterand.

So I was pleased by how helpful they were to an etudiant etranger at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme. Wrongly. They don't have any books. The only vaguely me-related journal they had was Cognition which is fair enough but geez.

Anyway, they did have the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. In volume 6, I found the entry on Germany. "State that existed until 1945." Long discussions of a string of capitalist crises, monopoly capitalism, "Junker capitalism", and other fine-grained Marxist-historian categories of analysis for pre-war Germany.

Then WW2: "German fascist campaign for world domination". Mentions the UK/French declaration of war in response to Germany's invasion of Poland, but then derides their efforts as "completely unable to help their ally". Does not mention USSR policy at all--except to say that Germany finally broke the non-aggression pact. No mention at all of Soviet complicity with Hitler theretofore (remember Churchill's "Russia is a mystery wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery" or whatever).

Mentions the USA a single time, to say "From 1940, Germany was also at war with the USA." Absolutely no further mention of the US role in WW2, and in the defeat of the Nazis in Europe. Then again, how much do you know about the USSR's role in defeating Germany? You know the US met the USSR in Berlin, but what about how they got there?

I wonder if non-communist history has been much more even-handed than the state-administered variety.

Special Address from George Bush

Special Address from George Bush

Sly and George. 27 Juin.

Everyday, around 1.15pm, after the noontime news on Canal+, there is a program that raps up the day's news with puppets. They often have the American president on, as they did earlier this week.

You'll recall that Bush announced that he wants Arafat out of power in Palestine (no comment on Hugo Chavez in Venezuela though).

Bush appeared, as usual, with his slick spokesman, Sylvester Stallone. Sly does most of the talking, only checking with George on the tough ones.

The interviewer asked "what orders does Bush have for the Palestinians?" Sly said, "well we want to get rid of Arafat." Then he turned to Bush. George said he wants "fries with that!" and that he'd like "some buffalo chicken wings!" I didn't totally follow, but then Sly tried to quick GB on his ability to identify a pickle; Bush first thought it was a car, then guessed "french fry".

Chateau Architecture

Chateau Architecture

The Arts and Metiers. 23 Juin.

How, you might wonder, did French Chateaux get that way?

Indeed, a timeless question. Well here you have it, a fine "transitional period" building that shows the where and wherefore of that architectural peculiarity.

The chateaux-style construction links back to the political/economic organization of French society under feudalism. Local lords ruled their fiefdoms oppressively while warring with their neighbors constantly (like at your office job). The lords had houses, and since there were many lords the houses are spread all around France. They are moderately sized, not Versailles-scale because they antedate the consolidation of power and the nationalism movements to follow. Fine.

But their generally warlike roots required fortress construction, not suburban pleasure palaces. Here on the Arts et Metiers (the engineering university in Paris, I think) you can see the fundamentally Lego-esque fortress. The round turret tower with the little slits for pouring hot oil or shooting arrows or whatever. The windows lined up with like the row of teeth on top of Castle Grayskull in He-Man; the Platonic form of the 'medieval castle'. Only the moat is missing.

As the warring and such subsided, the places got spruced up. Need a roof on that ugly old turret? Well, a cone will do to keep the rain off of Rapunzel or Rumplestiltskin or whoever you need to keep up there. Same thing with that huge, sloping mansard roof on the corners. There you have it.

Dropping "e" in the library

Dropping "e" in the library

Party central. 23 Juin.

The French have a civic culture that finds much diverse community life located in neighborhood activity centers. Here we see such an installation that combines a library ("bibliotheque") with a night club ("discotheque").

The Arcades Project

The Arcades Project

A Passage near St. Denis. 23 Juin.

There's this unfinished project of Walter Benjamin ("benjamin" in French, literally "youngest child") that appeared a few years ago as a grand omnibus posthumous document-box.

It was to be Benjamin's grandest project, the study of the arcades of Paris. A study of the specialized architectural spaces designed to suit an emerging form of popular consumer and commercial culture in Paris early in the 20th century.

So I used to wonder what this was about, not having read anything much about it of course, since I'd never seen many video games in Paris.

Well the arcades in question were these passages which are in many parts of the city but particularly concentrated in the 2nd admt. near the gate of St. Denis. I'm told the Catholic Church sold off a lot of land at the end of the 19th century, to raise money for something (sexual predation scandals?) and that enterprising builders went on a spree of passage construction.

The photo there is not so much of a street, it's through a gate in the middle of a block. It looks into a very large space mined out of the block itself. It's a narrow little pedestrian street with shops along both sides. Many of the passages are themed--so there's one with tons of tacky Indian restaurants (like 6th st in NY) and another one with lots of elaborate mirrors (just for aesthetics).

The passages are malls!

Too bad Benjamin couldn't stick around to finish his project and/or visit the Mall of America.

French Lessons

French Lessons

The student's friend. 23 Juin.

I am taking French lessons. Things ain't going bad!

Psycholinguists divide the overal linguistic ability into five big sections: phonological processing, morphological processing, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics (the last one is sort of extra-linguistic).

The first one is the sound components of words. So that guttural french R sound or the english liquid R sound ("whateveRRRR!"). That's a big problem, since everything I say makes me sound like a crazy anglophone. Interestingly, the French can't tell (when I am speaking french) whether I am American or British. The second one is how to assemble parts into words. That one you don't really think about as often in language class or in real life. You kind of run morphology and phonology together, actually.

The third thing is the meanings of words, roughly. Now that's the vocabulary problem and I'm attacking it head on. Flashcards and stuff. That you can solve.

Finally, there is syntax. Normal language users really don't think about this at all, yet learning language makes the complexity of the Byzantine rules quite vivid. That's the biggest problem. You learn vocabulary in your own language all the time; learning French vocabulary just involves learning more of it. But the syntax--ouf! When's the last time you thought about indirect object pronouns and whatnot? They just SOUND right. And that's because a sub-conscious congitive system is computing the right answers for you. If only mine would read the French book when the rest of me is sleeping!

Clichés

Clichés

Lacoste; Tony parody. 23 Juin.

One has preconceived notions about the French, doesn't one?

They are not at all reliable, it turns out.

Things you thought they do that they really do:
- Say "Voila!" -- but they say it constantly (like "yeah" or "that's it"), not reserving it for waiters flourishing out a dish
- Wear Lacoste -- but it's not cool at all. It's kind of the like the Ralph Lauren Polo shirt or CK logo t-shirts. Very bourgeois.
- Wear blue horizontal striped shirts -- more on this later.
- Sit about lazily -- 10% unemployment.
- Behave rudely -- indeed.
- Have lots of little dogs -- the Parisian's exposure nature.
- Drink wine -- even at McDonalds, as I'm sure you've heard.
- Smoke cigarettes -- but less than they used to, that's for sure.
- Dislike the Brits and Krauts

Things they don't really do:
- Say "Sacre Bleu"
- Wear red scarves or berets.
- Eat "croque monsieurs"
- Eat French food
- Speak English very well at all -- all that Hollywood schlock is dubbed, silly! (Guess how they pronounce Spider-Man...)

Madeleines

Madeleines
The madeleines--made from fresh eggs, as they say on the packet--are delicious: soft, spongy, sweet and buttery. I've been eating them every day for breakfast. Their fame in the famous passage from Proust is well-earned. Today I did not buy a new sack of them, however. We shall explore this belgian-waffle-looking-thing.

The Gray City

The Gray City
So here's a photo to answer the challenge, from a sensitive reader, to produce some photographic explorations of color in Paris.

Velvet ropes at BNF. 24 Juin.

From the lobby at the BNF.

Le Monde en Dimanche, revisited

Le Monde en Dimanche, revisited
The thing that got me started on the whole journalism thing below is this: I read an article in Sunday's Le Monde about a recently discovered letter from Thomas Mann (author of Magic Mtn. and Dr. Faustus, etc.) to Columbia theologian Paul Tillich. The letter constitutes the only recorded statement by Thomas Mann on Martin Heidegger, his countryman, fellow intellectual, and (unlike Mann) a Nazi. Mann argues that in Heidegger's philosophy one finds a doctrine of reason and progress, and that in the criticsim of Enlightenment ideas we can raise their flag over new terrain, an argument that the journalist links to Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human. But the extreme rationalism of fascism should not be taken as an argument for the absurdity of progress, but as a new opportunity.

The guy is reporting the discovery of this letter and commenting on the position it reveals. The closest thing to this kind of discussion you could find in the NYT is if some sensationalist new interpretation of Shakespeare's identity kicked up a lot of dust. This particular piece hardly departs from the "news" of an academic firestorm, but rather from the issue of the idea itself.

The Role of Tourism

The Role of Tourism
Tourist season starts in earnest next month, July. So far it's just been college students from American/German unviersities on the semester system. Now that school's out, I believe the worst is to begin.

Pre-season. 23 Juin.

Nobody, anywhere likes American/Italian/German tourists. Even the guys making their living off them consider them dolts whom they bilk. Why don't they like them? Here's what I take to be the French attitude:
- The Americans are loud. They talk to themselves loudly and make their annoying character very obvious. So I heard a quintessential New York-type pass by wondering outloud, "Let's get a Timeout! Let's see what's going on in this place!" There's no Timeout in Paris (there's a two-page TO insert in the Paris events weekly, Pariscope). The woman struck me as dumb just for thinking this foolish thought. Unfair? Maybe.
- The Americans are sharing-psychology victims. They like to say every damn thing on their mind. A woman on the bus with her kids was simply narrating every bloody thing that entered her mind, "Now I'm going to look for your diaper. Where is the thing? Okay, I'll look here....blah blah". Combine that problem with volume.
- The Americans start in English, usually. If you go anywhere that tourists are, you'll see them walk right up and say "What's this cost?". The French don't speak English, being French and all. Then the Americans get annoyed and repeat themselves more loudly, as if the Frenchman had come to America and was asking for directions or something.
- The Americans are visually repulsive to the French. The Americans are exceedingly fat. You cannot comprehend this fact if you don't leave the US. You can tell simply from someone's neck whether they are American or not. Even the Italians and the Germans are nothing like the Americans in this regard. The Americans also dress like tourism is a sport, wearing specialized athletic apparel to do their sightseeing--and they look silly in their cargo pants, hot weather shirts, sun hats, bookbags, etc. Perhaps this is practical but it is obvious and I think it attracts gypsies.
- The Americans have no taste. I don't think the Italians or Germans do either, but nevertheless all these tourists are completely missing all that is lovely about Paris. They are lined up in the heat at the Eiffel tower and at the mega-department stores when all the cool shops and beautiful little streets are elsewhere.
- The Americans are culture-consumers. They come to France to "buy" access to culture and history and taste and style from a place with nothing of its own to offer. At least the Italians and Germans come from very old countries with deep shared values in common.
- America is a semi-evil country. At this stage, the French would consider themselves at least as friendly to the Chinese and Russians and Middle East generally. The Cold-War-friendships have re-aligned. Tony the Rascal may still be the First Lapdog, but the French are no longer currying favor with the American colossus.

Dimanche en Le Monde

Dimanche en Le Monde

Le Monde. 23 Juin.

Le Monde doesn't appear until the afternoon each day.

Already this tells you a lot. It's easily one of the world's great newspapers, probably has the highest circulation in Paris (if not France), and certainly a leading voice in French politics. But they don't hurry it out by morning.

The American attitude on newspapers is that they should be one step short of peer-reviewed scientific journals of political and economic report.

The French papers are explicitly political. They call Chirac "Superliar". They call for rallies, and make themselves into protest placards (as was Liberation's cover against Le Pen, with an enormous "NON"). The lead story on Le Monde's cover is most often illustrated with a political cartoon, not a photo. At least a third of the cover inches are given to commentary, some directly from politicians advocating particular views.

As if American papers were not political. The oldest dailies surely are, think NY Daily News vs. NY Post. But the explicit project of the NYT, WSJ, WP etc is to isolate the editorial page into a hermetic box. The paper itself feigns to objectivity, the reporters are instructed to present all sides. The paper is meant to present the dialogue itself, not participate in a larger one that occurs on a wider stage.

There is much less room for news and wires in Le Monde. It's much more like the Economist than the Reuters newsfeed. The Economist reporter will say, Murdoch is buying fast (and it's a good thing too because otherwise he'd be toast, or whatever).

It all happens under the banner of the paper as well; very often, highly particular viewpoints (such as one recent frontpage box laughing at "Tony the Rascal's" problems with Her Majesty the Black Rod--which they translated as "la verge noir", the first meaning of "verge" being "penis") will be presented as from "our correspondent in London".

They also now include the New York Times on Sunday. (Le Monde on Dimanche costs exactly what it costs every other day, euros1,20.). I'll check the NYT/LM out and report back on it later. But the 12-page insert runs in English, not French. The American transmission appears not as an integrated body of reporting, but as an undigested ingot of Americanism. Presumably it is also spit out in just this fashion.

La fête de la musique

La fête de la musique
What are they talking about when they talk about French Culture? If all it amounts to is cheap tickets to a bunch of crappy Operas, then we don't need that in the US of A, now do we? Indeed, this is not what is meant.

Consider, for example, June 21. The date of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, marks a major nationwide festival which clearly links back to pre-Christian pagan celebrations of the machinations of the natural world. In France, it happens to be the festival of music. It takes place in every city and town in France, and presumably also in people's homes and so on; and it exists entirely in communal, exterior public spaces.

25,000 people, Baaba Mal at Hotel de Ville, 21 Juin.

Here for example is the headline of the night: superstar British DJ Talvin Singh and Senegali world-music-megastar Baaba Mal. Here at Hotel de Ville--the site of constant, beautiful juxtapositions of French history and contemporaneity (they show the World Cup there on a huge screen to big crowds, but on a random no-match day as I passed, there were showing an old Tom & Jerry cartoon: the one where the avatars of Tom and Jerry appear as Musketeers and battle with rapiers. 40 feet tall, in front of the Hotel de Ville!! Hilarious.)--here at HdV, there were something like 25,000 people of all ages, mainly youngish. Essentially, it was Lollapalooza at the Lincoln Memorial.

25 people, Metallica cover band somewhere 21 Juin.

But the Fête de la Musique is more than music events in strange places.

Of course it's gratuit to attend. The government pays. The last great free concert I attended was at Columbia, and my suspicion is that there was an economic model somewhere in the background including variables linked to alumni-giving rates. There is, I suppose, the Central Park Great Lawn series in New York, the summer stage stuff, and so on.

But on the same night, Lenny Kravitz was at Republique, playing to 45,000 people. Jazz, rock, world, classical, opera, you name it was on in some part of town. The ten-page insert in Le Monde had only enough room to devote 4 words to the Lenny Kravitz event. There was a lot going on.

And there was this wacko French Metallica cover band around the corner from our house, "...and nothing else matters!". Across Sebastopol into the Marais, we cruised through streets of inverted clubs--their sound systems and DJs turned outwards and the streets turned into dancefloors. 500 kids pumping their fists to breakbeat; next corner, an ultra-cheese 80s Madonna-remix set; next street, a huge throbbing big-bicep, ripped t-shirt ocean of french kissing gay men at Open; two blocks till a group of 20 people bugging out to some french dudes slashing out "Louie Louie...oh oh".

Outside our window, the crowd at the Afro-Cuban restaurant peaked around 2am, as the drummers hit their peak intensity.

Rooftops

Rooftops

Twins on the skyline. 19 Juin.

Old Paris, Gay Paris

Old Paris, Gay Paris

Bains in the Marais. 19 Juin.

Paris has a lot of baths and sauna, sort of a roman legacy maybe. And there are many many such places in the Marais, traditionally the Jewish neighborhood and still the only place a fellow can do some shopping on a Sunday.

But now the Marais is the gay district--Chelsea or Castro-scale in scope. And the baths, well, you don't have to change a thing, do you? But in this case they did--the Bains Guerbois are now a kickin' dance club.

French-Mex

French-Mex

Pecos Grill. 19 Juin.

So you don't go to California looking for great Shepard's Pie. Yet, down the street is the siren call of a tex-mex joint.

The Frenchman's burrito: at the center of the plate, a chicken crepe folded in a rectangle, with a shell of crispy cheese melted all around. A small bowl of tomato sauce (Italian style, but with a bit of spice to merit calling it salsa), a bit of avacado puree, and creme fraiche (not quite, but may as well be sour cream).

Little Frenchman, Little Feet

Little Frenchman, Little Feet
Went shopping for rollerblades. Available as cheaply as 45 euros/pair.

But, the Frenchman is a small genus of european humanoid. Think of Sartre. You never saw him photographed standing next to anyone, did you? Or Camus? They faked the whole "lonely existentialist figure" thing to avoid standing next to brawny Germans like Heidegger in daguerrotype sittings. Vichy France anyone?

My feet are on the large side--size 13 in US sneakers, or size 14 in US basketball sneakers--but seriously, how is it that the great continental capital of Paris doesn't carry my size in rollerblades, period?

The Papers

The Papers

The Papers, 18 Juin.

At 10h29 on Tuesday 18 Juin 2002, I noticed a headline on Yahoo.com that a bomb had gone off in Israel. So I took a snapshot of the websites of Le Monde, The New York Times, and The Times of London.

LeMonde.fr Headlines:
Lead: Jean-Pierre Raffarin Chooses His Ministers
Photo: Claudie Haignere, nominated for a post
Also:
Israel Palestine: Suicide attack in Jerusalem,
China: Over 550 Dead in Floods,
Andersen: Death of the Accounting Firm
Latest/Wire:
Club Med reports fall in profits and summer bookings
Bourse: Paris market returns to 4000 height
Club Med fall in summer bookings

TheTimes.co.uk Headlines:
Lead: Budget airline pilots accused of putting safety at risk
Photo: David Beckham's homework: to beat Brazil
Also:
EU rejects Blair's asylum crackdown,
Brown softens reshuffle blow,
World Cup: Ronaldo points Brazil at England
Latest/Wire:
Israelis seek more bombers after fatal blast
Japan eliminated from World Cup
Inflation down 0.4% to 1.1%

NYT.com Headlines:
Lead: Suicide Bomber Hits Jerusalem Bus
Photo: Jerusalem bus wreckage
Also:
Americans seized at Afghan border, Pakistan asserts,
Silently shifting teachers in sex abuse cases,
Critics christen ship project as an off-course USS Pork
Tertiary:
Forest worker held in fires creates anger and sympathy
A Wall St. push to water down securities law
Bloomberg plans more housing aid for the homeless
Krugman: Politicians on drugs
Kristof: Women's rights--Why not?
Latest/Wire:
Injured Brewers outlast Astros
New EgyptAir head named
Top Enron managers paid $744 million

Back to the BNF

Back to the BNF

The Fortress of Connaissance. 18 Juin.

The BNF, so far, is the most impressive structure I have encountered in Paris.

A French architect friend mentioned that he didn't find the BNF (Bibliotheque National de France--like the Library of Congress) to be a successful project. It was a fortress, isolated from the city around it and therefore from the people.

On my first visit, reported exclusivly on these very pages last week, I couldn't have agreed more. The bloody thing was closed on a Monday (as if it were a museum) and completely iced down. A huge esplanade framed by four glass monoliths--completely transparent yet utterly mysterious about their contents; you can only see through them, not into them.

You can click on the pictures over at the right. The first big one will be the cover of my next album or first existentialist manifesto. At 5pm, at a time when the library was absolutely bustling with activity deep inside from whence I was emerging, this was the scene on the surface level. Utterly empty, huge spaces, punctuated by the occasional and tiny human figure. In this case, it was a guard (see "Manpower" below).

Look at the choice of materials: this huge space is constructed of this bleached, gray wood. Set into immense, unbroken strips that join with the towers and run straight upward.

The wide, low steps that border the entire campus put the pedestrian at the outside of a wall of metal rectangles and cubes of bushes. The metal/plant alternation along the border of the perimeter is broken only by very narrow channels through with a person can enter. They are all identical narrow channels; there's no wide main entrance anywhere. The plant boxes are more like cages, with gridded fences holding in the closely trimmed bushes inside.

Outside it's all exclusion, isolation, fortification.

Then inside, just look at the two snaps below. Huge glass corridors with ceilings high above. At the upper level, about a dozen cellular study rooms, each devoted to a different discipline. Each room completely isolated from the others, even from light from the outside. All the interior light of the studies is provided by numerous warm halogen bulbs set all around the rooms. It reflects off of the extremely rich, red woods chosen for the floors and the bookshelves. The futuristic glass-and-steel frames of the exterior become ultra-luxurious carpet, wood, fire, leather, and paper on the inside.

There are stacks of books in the reading rooms, but apparently a vast collection is stored in the four towers and mechanically extracted on request by researchers.

The interior spaces really are incredible, easily the most sumptuously furnished library I've been in. And that's just the upper level, for which I paid my annual admission ticket to use. At the lower level, you need to file a special application. One can peek, across the central forest of the library, down through the glass into the lower level. There, the ceilings are three stories high all around. I wonder what they have at this most privileged heart of knowledge!

The architect is Dominique Perrault.

Manpower

Manpower
At the library in particular, or even at FNAC (sort of like Nobody Beats the Wiz or Circuit City, except with a huge and very busy book section--the French read, I guess), there's a heck of a lot of manpower on display. At the Pompidou, there's a librarian station with two librarians every 50 feet. There are security-type guys staring into space at every traffic flow point. There are cleaners and card checkers and book filers. At the stores, especially the big ones, there are dozens of people standing around, literally.

At BHV, the megamart across from Hotel de Ville, there's something like 1 saleperson for every 10 shoppers. The place is crowded like the perfume counters at Macy's Herald Square, if you know what I mean.

Yet on the streets, there are people all day. Doing stuff. Not exactly standing on the street corner, staring glumly, Harlem-style. But just doing stuff that's un-touristy. I'm guessing they're on the streets, on the dole, and out of luck.

Indeed one of the big arguments for the mad 35-hour workweek 2 years ago was not quality of life, but the idea that this would encourage employers to take on more workers. Reducing unemployment by limiting the maximum work hours!! What an idea. No wonder 10% of France is unemployed (presumably this is 10% of the work-eligible population, meaning that another 10% or so is too old, on pension, too young, too sick, too pregnant, etc.).

La Culture Portable

La Culture Portable

Cell tower, en face. 18 Juin.

So the French love their cell phones as much as you and me, only more so.

What are the anthropological insights into the American future or the French psyche that portable culture observation affords?

Rich kids have the coolest phones. At the BNF, watching the law students, one observes some pretty fresh phones. The hyphenated Frenchmen (immigrants' children) also have some pretty dope phones to go with their diesel jeans, "wet look" hair, and gaudy jewelry (same in the US, right?).

Phones as necklaces. I have seen some mention of this kooky trend in the US, but there are a number of people walking the streets with their phones on necklaces. Think summer camp counselor with that big, goofy pen on a string around her neck...that's sort of what it looks like even when the portable is a shiny silver Nokia. Not sure that the look has legs (unless the phones start looking more like pens).

Usage Interdit. Many many many places prohibit the usage of mobile phones altogether. Especially libraries of course. This is something only starting to happen in the US. The development of a cultural etiquette to accompany new technology also requires some zones of legislated norms. They even make announcements every 90 minutes or so in the Pompidou library, it's that much of a problem.

People don't seem to worry all that much about theft. I see people leave their books and phone sitting on a desk and walk away. The phone is expensive; what's the deal?

Personalized ringtones. In the US, when the phone rings it's usually that lame generic Nokia ring. That's because the owner is usually that lame generic cell phone novice. "How do I make it stop ringing?!! Damn thing. HELLO, CAN YOU HEAR ME? YES I'M ON MY CELL PHONE..." Don't hear the rings in public as often here, and when so they are different. Haven't seen any loud talkers either though there must be some, right?

Grandmas with cell phones? I haven't noticed any yet. Not sure why. But in the US there are surely many. Perhaps a product of affluence or the American paranoia about being old/along ("I've fallen and I can't get up!").

Plenty of cell phone shops. I'd say there are more SFR, Orange, Boygues Telecom shops here than in the US. They certainly cell phones in more outlets than in the US. And the sales channels for the prepaid airtime cards are numerous. This seems to piggyback on the ubiquitous public phone prepaid cards system, all for sale at Tabacs.

Texting. Everywhere. Even where interdit, cell phones are used constantly to send text. Kids on line, security guards in their little security chairs, etc.

Variety of contracts, semi-contracts, no-contracts. You can get a plan with a 1 year or 2 year contract, 6-month contract (with higher up front cost for the phone) or 3 month contract or even no contract at all. Even when you get no contract and go for prepaid (no monthly charges), you have a wide range of different prepaid "plans". Some are weekend friendly, some are peak friendly etc. Much more choice. Obviously lots of choice in handsets too; all way cooler than the US options, generally.

Public Arts

Public Arts

Columns under the El. 18 Juin.

At boring stretches of highway, where California-style flower-intersections create swirls of concrete and road, the French hire painters to put huge murals on the walls. At the interchange where the autoroute at the edge of Valbonne (down south) reaches Cannes there were massive, colorful landscapes on the highway walls. The only comparable thing I can think of in the US is Ladybird Johnson's highway flowers project. Vividly naturalistic that, but there is a fuller notion of art, urbanism, nature and human life on those painted highway walls.

Take a look at this stretch of elevated Metro in Paris, at Quai de la Gare. The columns that hold up the rail track are (in Bush 43's words) "grecian". Compare to the elevated tracks at 125th Street in Manhattan, where huge futurist girders soar 100 feet above ground, painted silver and cross-hatched with the diagonals of heavy iron supports. The building there is the station house itself, where inexpensive brick has been arranged into an interesting pattern of color.

At a particularly immense interchange, at Metro Montparnasse Bienvenue, there's an airport-style corridor that just goes forever. They've put in moving walkways and it still takes a while. But all along the long tube there are huge illustrations, Metro-agency installed art and photographs, a long historical timeline of the metro and Paris history, and so on. Think even of American airports: you'd usually find some lame faux-museum exhibit on the history of the local Native Americans (San Francisco International airport domestic terminal) or an endless and mind-numbing series of lightbox ads for consultings companies that "think at the speed of thinking" and so on.

Il fait chaud

Il fait chaud

The map of Parisian temperatures. 18 Juin.

It's bloody hot. I don't know what to tell you. 91F yesterday and today. Trouble is, Paris is not set up for this. No air conditioning. This place we rented doesn't even have fans. Even the fridge is this tiny little dorm-room fridge (only fresh food for us!) which can't even hold a container of ice cream. It's a freak of the season, since the Parisians are telling me that it ain't every like this. J'espere!

Those little black numbers next to the temperature readings do not correspond to any metereological facts. Those (such as the 75 in the center), I believe, correspond to the numbers of the districts of France. Paris itself constitutes 9 districts of the nation's several hundred (I think -- if this were Le Monde I'd be checking facts). Interestingly, I'm not sure that the districts map onto particular arrondissments.


On the positive side, though, is the sunlight.

The long day. 18 Juin.

Here you see evidence that the day is about 16 hours long in Paris today. That's something. No wonder those Normandy movies are about the "longest day" and all that. (Isn't it cute? The sun "rises"--lever--and "goes to bed"--coucher .)

Added - 12/12/2002
The man's comment below is right. I was mistaken. Maybe the 9 departments are those that make up "greater" Paris or Ile-de-France, as many do refer to places like St. Denis as part of Paris qua population center. Though this still is not Le Monde.

H&M, worldwide

H&M, worldwide

Bustling. 15 Juin.

Having conducted a comprehensive survey of the shops--from les grands magasins to les boutiques de batik antique--I can safely conclude that H&M is the most happening place in Paris. The most fashionable people in one shop at H&M on Blvd Haussman.

The shocking part is that H&M seems to be Swedish; Paris has 4 Ikeas in the metropolitan area. There is something to the concept: cheap, chic, simple, and so on. Somehow, Old Navy doesn't even seem to be close.

Anyway, the Frenchman loves H&M as much as the New-Yorker.

Other good neighborhoods for shopping: Marais (including the streets running right up to Rue de Rivoli near Hotel de Ville), Oberkampf, the rest of the Opera area. To be explored: the recommendations of Paris Pas Cher. Also not yet investigated: Samaritaine's and Au Bon Marche. BHV, Lafayette and Printemps are pretty under control.

Rooting for Ireland

Rooting for Ireland

Espagne 1-Eire 1 (3-2 tirs au buts) . 16 Juin.

The French Street, where interest in regional European competition runs high. These partisans gathered outside the falafel shop downstairs, to watch the tirs au buts deciding the match.