sound advice 1 - Arcade Fire

since posting about my desire to write more regularly about music I've been thinking about what artist or band I could start with. I listen to a wide variety of music genres, and asking me my current favorite album pretty much depends on what minute you ask me. Writer's block this was not, more like writer's indecision. And then something pretty big happened, in a way that is now the norm on this here Internet: the new Arcade Fire album, due for release on March 6, was leaked yesterday. Therefore I will start things off with a bang, and talk about this quirky fantastic band from Montreal.
Started by a husband and wife duo in 2003 and composed of seven members with additional musicians during tours, the band quickly gained exposure in the indie world through their frenetic live performances, which showcased the group's affinity for instruments not traditionally part of the rock canon, such as violins, xylophones and, um, helmets. Having seen them live I can attest to the extraordinary positive energy one feels while attending an AF concert, and can only hope I'll have the opportunity to see them again. At its apex it feels like you're witnessing an out-of-control orchestra, except everything makes sense, sonically. The buzz that was established during these gigs was confirmed with the North American release of their debut album, Funeral, in late 2004. Thematically devoted to death, this album nonetheless captured the imagination of many a-bloggers and music fans with its ingenious lyrics, epic hooks and bombastic yet sorrowful harmonies. The album benefited from a major buzz campaign and eager reviews in most of the major music magazines, from NME to Spin, and with the added benefit of continuous touring, the band made itself tons of fans in a hurry, among which many famous ones such as David Bowie or U2, for which AF opened 3 shows on their 2005 Vertigo tour.
So of course in such a case there is mucho excitement for the sophomore release, a step which is often a big stumbling point for many indie bands. Well I am glad to report that it seems that, musically at least, the Arcade Fire have sidestepped that obstacle. There are some elements new to the AF universe, like the stately organ used on "My Body Is A Cage" or the banjo on "Keep The Car Running", but the most important thing, the one that has enamored this band to so many people around the world, utter and true emotion, is still there. I'm sure that I'll be listening to this record for the coming weeks, dissecting it the same way as I dissected its predecessor, and my opinion will deepen, from an overall feeling of satisfaction to a detailed impression of each song. For now I can say that 2007, with this release but also that of The Shins and Bloc Party's albums (who were both leaked a few months back), promises to be a great year on the rock front.

Offical site for the new album
Offical site for the band
The band's myspace (with a song from the album, Black Mirror)

ch-ch-changes

having lived in Paris pretty much non-stop for almost ten years now, I made the decision at the end of last year to move abroad. I grew up in many different countries, from Asia to North America, and moving around is definitely something I got used to. And since I felt like professionally I'd achieved what I wanted when I joined my company (for my first post-graduation job) more than 3 years ago, the moment definitely was right for a move.
Although technically I am of French nationality, due to all the traveling we did when I was a kid, I've acquired a culture that is very much of the English-speaking variety. From US sports, TV shows and music to British literature, as well as the fact that I think mostly in English, I've always felt sort of an outsider since coming back to France when it came to common experiences. Of course living here 10 years has enabled me to learn a lot about the country, its citizens (my compatriots), but I never felt as if I was really where I belonged, hence the title of this blog. Don't get me wrong, I love Paris to death, as well as the other regions like Brittany that I've been lucky enough to travel to, and I'm glad to be near most of my family (especially since my parents are now back to living in Paris after more than 20 years abroad), but deep down I always knew I wasn't here for the long haul.
After looking at Canada for a few weeks, I then settled on the UK, in part because I know and like that country, and also because I felt that it wouldn't be too hard to find a job there. Thus my decision was made and I gave my resignation to HR in late October. I gave them the typical three months' notice, so that I could organize my departure, and, hopefully, start looking for a job.
Well I'm now getting close to the big day, and although I've barely started my job hunt (on account of having much more stuff to do at work than I'd anticipated I would), I've done almost all of the things I had to do before leaving. You know, canceling subscriptions, saying "bye" to people and all that jazz. So in a way this is kind of an adventure for me since I'll be moving abroad without employment, but I'm confident that with my experience and background I'll find something under two months. In any event I've been careful to set aside some dough (with help from the 'rents as well) to make sure I have more than 1 month's expenses on hand. So no job at Starbucks for me, at least I hope not :)
I have to say all of this, from preparing the move, to looking at possible apartments and thinking about what job I want to look for, is terribly exciting and the best possible cure for any sort of restlessness I might've felt during the second part of 2006. I feel like London is a great destination for me, be it on a professional or personal level, and I cannot wait to be there.
So with eleven days to spare before I board the Eurostar, I'm busy finishing up what needs finishing up, listening to the Libertines, and generally enjoying all the greatness that Paris has to offer. Of course I'll be back here pretty soon, if only to vote in the upcoming Presidential elections, but it'll be as a Londoner. As the brits say, brilliant !

make money money, go shopping

the winter sale period started this past Wednesday, apparently with a bang as many stores reported record sales after what most considered a very weak few months for them. My current shopping list being pretty much empty, I was thinking I'd get out of this year's sale without too much damage to the ol' bank account. So of course I ended up buying a bunch of things this Saturday, mostly due to hanging out for an hour or so in the 6e on my way to my parents. Rookie mistake, I know.
The "final" booty ?

• a pair of Campers
• a sweater from Muji
• a Fred Perry polo

Thankfully this sort of thing doesn't happen too often. I couldn't fathom being a fashion-addict, the type who goes to clothing stores every week and for whom the current sales period is like
the Superbowl. There's enough of them in Paris as it is, and that's fine with me.

jammed

so apparently everyone had taken last week off, because this week has been a sardines-fest on the commute. From the line 4 to the RER C, this has been a pretty good reminder how rush hour can suck, and commuters' attitude even more. And that's with nary a strike in sight, although that shouldn't be too long, what with the always-fun debate on pensions being put back on the news front-burner today. Of course morning commutes are never fun in big cities, it's just weird to see so many people go away and come back from vacation at the same time, I've never got used to it. I've done rush hour in London and in NYC, and they're often worse than Paris in terms of commuter volume, however the number of people is pretty constant, save from a few special days per year. RTTs, paid holidays, not living to work but working to live, all that stuff is great, but sometimes you wonder about the long-term prospects of the French economy in a country where so many people are away so often.

a new era

yesterday was the annual Keynote presentation at the Macworld trade expo, done as always by Apple's iconic CEO, Steve Jobs. There had been rumors swirling around for a while now, as this Keynote is usually the event where the company introduces its new products. Last year it was the Intel iMac and the Macbook Pro, this year the expectations were once again sky-high, with a very clear focus (as seen on the main rumor sites) during the past months on the supposed Apple phone, pre-dubbed the iPhone.

Well for once everyone was right on at least one rumor: the iPhone is now a reality, and it will be released in the US in june, in Europe in Q4 06 and in Asia in 2008. The thing sounds amazing, combining a widescreen iPod (with video capabilities) with traditional phone and Internet features. All this with a multi-touch navigation system, meaning you won't need a small keyboard or stylus. For people like me who've been waiting for a phone that would be a suitable replacement for their MP3 player, this is it. Of course it's not cheap, with the 4 GB model selling for $499 and the 8GB for $599, but considering how jam-packed the thing is, that price doesn't sound too outrageous, especially considering nothing like it exists on the market.

And the best news out of all this ? My Apple stock shot up like a rocket, gaining more than 8% on the day, to $92.57. Although I'm going to sell pretty soon, in preparation for my move abroad, this is great news.

nochas

back when I was a kid, Sunday night was one of my least favorite times of the week, seeing as it meant going back to school soon. I don't know if you've noticed but when you're little, time seems to go by much slower. When the weekend started, it seemed like vacation to me, as if the next Monday was very faraway. But come Sunday night, I always had a hard time getting to sleep, even if I felt perfectly relaxed. Over time I got past this weird hang-up, in part because, well, time just seems to go by much faster when you get older.
Unfortunately I had a flashback to those times last night as I had a heck of a time falling asleep, even if I felt pretty tired when I went to bed. I blame it on the fact that I had got 2 great nights of at least 9-hour sleep that weekend, but I'm also sure that this is an example of how the irrational fears we have as youngsters never truly go away. Since I've never seen a shrink (and don't plan to in the near future), I never have very good explanations for such things. Or interpretation, because I'm guessing there never is never a true explanation for matters of the psyche. I guess the next best thing is just writing about it on the internet.

soundtrack : Azure Ray - Sleep

everyone else is doing it

apparently I can't call myself a blogger (not that I do that stuff) unless I post a top-ten list of 2006 of some sort, so here goes, my 10 favorite movies from the year :

1. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
a bleak dystopian film that somehow manages to be the most current major film released this year despite being set 30+ years in the future, this would deserve a top-3 finish from a technical standpoint alone (see: the amazing tracking shots). But there's also some terrific acting, starting with Clive "the man" Owen and Michael "no less the man" Caine, all the way to the smallest supporting roles, and a tremendous spirit throughout the movie that had me more inspired than I've felt in a long while.

2. Half-Nelson (Ryan Fleck)
not an "easy" film by any means, this featured the best acting performance I saw this year in Ryan Gosling's phenomenal portrayal of a drug-addicted schoolteacher.

3. The Departed (Martin Scorcese)
Marty's back baby! Whisky for everyone, on me. Oh, and LEO! is now officially a man.

4.Babel (Alexandro Inarritu)
a very ambitious take on the bonds human forms with their kin and others, I thought this was the best out of Inarritu's trilogy, after Amores Perros and 21 Grams. And I definitely love those movies.

5.The Puffy Chair (The Duplass Brothers)
a very good relationship movie, which in itself is no small feat, considering all the stinkers that genre has seen. The actors feel really real, as opposed to movie real (yes, a lot of people do say dude very often, I know I do), with great, assured directing.

6. The New World (Terrence Malick)
as a huge fan of Malick's dreamy visuals, I'm not one to be bothered by the length his last two movies have had. No one shows the inner life of humans through shots of nature like this guy, and the last 10 minutes of the film were a perfect illustration. I am not afraid to say this moved me quite a bit.

7. United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
not that I feel that it isn't too soon for a major movie picture about 9/11, but if there's gotta be one, this is it. I was at the edge of my seat for pretty much the entire thing, dreading what was about to come up, but completely unable to look away. People who say this is just another "rah-rah we will win" completely missed the point IMO. This movie showed what 9/11 revealed before all the rethoric and politics took over : people are capable of as much courage as stupidity and ignorance. It's not important to talk about them as heroes or martyrs, as those are labels that have been so branded about they've almost lost their meaning. No, these are simply people who tried to do what they thought was right at the time.

8.Inside Man (Spike Lee)
great directing by Spike Lee, to show us that this man really can do a great film when he wants to (and hasn't written the script).

9.The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Ken Loach)
Ken Loach hasn't lost his activist touch, and thankfully he keeps finding subjects that motivate him, but also great actors (Cillian Murphy, one word: wow)

10.The Science of Sleep (Michel Gondry)
cute story, and great visuals, but I still wish Gondry would let the writing to others

cos this is the new year

the funny thing about New Year's Eve celebrations is how many people complain about it. One of the gripes I've heard the most this year is how it's a "forced celebration". I guess when you know the date of a party in advance, it makes the party "forced", and thus sucks the fun out of it. Since that's how pretty much 99% of parties happen, I guess we should boycott all of them and see what gives.

I'm not saying NYE is the best party of the year, it rarely is. But it also one of the rare nights of the year when most people seem happy, and it's often a good opportunity to meet new folks. In my experience the best way to enjoy the event is to not put too much thought into its preparation. This year I was in London and went to a black-themed party (everyone dressed in said color) and it was good fun. Not the best party of the year, but good (sorta) drunken fun. And I didn't even have a hangover the following morning. Really, what more could you want ?

politics as usual

without getting into what my beliefs in the matter are, I have to say that I've been really enjoying all politics-related discussions lately. I've been with my extended family for a day now (for the annual xmas shebang) and every meal has featured at least one talk on the upcoming presidential election and the various themes that have been broached by the candidates.
As a true believer in the importance of voting (basically, if you don't do it, you're voiceless, however futile your vote might seem), I've enjoyed the act of voting since turning 18, but I guess it really took the 2007 presidential vote for me to get into all of the debates. What I enjoy most about these talks isn't necessarily getting my viewpoint across, though I do try to do that too, but mostly hearing the variety of opinions around the table. My family tends to be more on the intellectual side of things, so it's interesting to listen to what they've got to say about one candidate or the other. Even if the general prognosis isn't very good, the debates still tend to be pretty lively.
Living and traveling abroad, I've often had these discussions with locals, but it seems to me French people have a special talent when it comes to talking about the subject of politics by being both down on the idea and very into the ideas being exchanged. When I was younger I used to shun such talks, preferring to discourse about music or movies, but now I find I love to discuss politics or the economy with friends or family. One part of this change comes from having a job, paying taxes and generally considering myself a producing member of society, but another is definitely from having the right people to talk to. After all, if all you're able to discuss are the talking points you hear repeated ad nauseam on TV, the discussion probably won't go too far. Of course I'm still more inclined to want to talk about Terrence Malick's genius or how Midlake are the closest thing to Fleetwood Mac these days, but a little dollop of "grown-up" subjects is now an acquired taste for me.

long road

can't really believe it, but I'm on holiday as of tonight, until Jan. 3. Looking forward to spending xmas with the extended family, and New Year's in London at a friend's.
But for now the only objective is...sleep
nighty night

just breathe

according to a study published yesterday by Airparif (the official department in charge of monitoring air pollution in the Ile de France region), said pollution has decreased 32% in Paris since 2002. Combined with the launch of the much-ballyhooed tramway last weekend, this is another sign for backers of Paris' current mayoral team that their policies are starting to work and are the right way to go.
But it does not take more than a cursory analysis to realize that this impressive figure is actually the result of factors wholly different than local politics: broken down, this 32% figure is in fact composed of 26% due to car technological advances, and the rest, i.e. 6%, to the reduction of traffic in the city. Viewed thus, the evolution clearly doesn't seem that imposing, especially considering all the hullabaloo that was made around the introduction of bus corridors and how much they were supposed to reduce the number of cars driving around Paris, and thus, air pollution caused by the nitrogen oxide released by them. As the study points out, even though the amount of car traffic has decreased as hoped, the number of small vehicles like scooters, as well as delivery vans, has increased.
So overall, an effective 6% decline might not signal to a great policy, but I'm glad that this mayor and his team have been trying to change things (even if they have at times seemed a bit overeager on the roadwork aspect of things - see the horror that still is Boulevard Magenta, almost three years after work started). There's more and more talk of introducing a congestion tax in Paris, kind of like London has done, and that might be a good idea. But for now, I hope the city will stay the course on its current policy of trying to develop public transportation while still accommodating car owners who live in Paris (such as by providing cheap residential parking).

for more : Parisist

blogging is fun

wow, the Christmas break is just two weeks away, and I haven't blogged in a whiiile. Where does the time go, exactly ? And with a busy start of 2007 planned for me, I better start taking better blogging habits, like, right now.
Among the recent subjects of interest to me I'd like to address here:

• The Departed
• France 24
• The Waterboys
• proper apparel for running in the cold
• and of course, my year-end top 10 lists

let's see how many of these subjects I manage to post about. Not holding your breath ? Yeah, me neither

the name game

"what's in a name ?" asked that guy who wrote that movie starring LEO!. I believe there was some stuff after that too (something about a rose), but alas my Cliff Notes memory can't seem to unearth what that might be. Our name is our official label, something to be used by parents, teachers and customs officials alike. Not the most personalized feature for most of us, unless you have the unfortunate fortune of being named ESPN or some other idea that even a strung-out Bobby Brown would find ludicrious.

This is were nicknames come in. Whoever invented the concept was a true genius, a real mensch. Think about it, it probably goes back to some caveman, hanging out with his crew around a campfire, having a hard time pronouncing his buddy Harghjrusnf's name and proclaming "dude eff that, from now on I'm calling you Har". Thanks to that guy, we now have to deal with even more things to stuff in our incredibly-packed braincells. And that's not even counting the various "internet names" (rockchick84, pizzaisgood72...) that are now a part of our various identities, physical or virtual.

Nicknames are mostly a good thing. Even if it might sound a bit mean, like say, booger, it's something used by people out of love and affection. Sure, dictators have them too, but even for them it makes them sound better than their regular name. I mean, the Butcher of Baghdad isn't too cuddly, but it does sound pretty badass. So nicknames, generally a good thing.

Personally I never had too many of them. I've got a pretty organic one (matt, short for the longer version of matt) that has taken hold since living in the US, and a more recent one (lematt, you know, like Le Royal Cheese). But one thing that I've realized is that who uses that nickname is something I pay attention to. For some reason it sort of makes me feel weird when someone I don't consider a friend (or part of family) uses it. Sure, I don't mention it when it happens, but I've noticed that it kind of cools the familiarization process, as if it were too soon (?), as if they didn't have the right to do so. Which is completely and utterly stupid, I know, but apparently that's how my mind works. What makes it even more odd is that matt is pretty much my handle online, in one form or another. So I don't care if some stranger writing from Des Moines, Iowa calls me Matt, but if it's simply a real-world acquaintance, someone I don't have too much in common with and do not consider myself friends with I'll make a mental note of it. Granted this doesn't happen very often, since I tend to hang out with friends mostly, and become friends with theirs, but there's been a small number of occasions that have made me wonder about this phenomenon.

In a way I would sort of like to not care at all when it happens, because I'm generally very laid-back about most things in life. Actually i've been accused of being too laid-back at times, and definitely never of being too tense/stressed. But overall I don't really care about being that way. Each person's brain works in peculiar ways, and if this is the worst mine can come up with, I'll take it. Plus being called lematt by some random acquaintance sure beats being called the butcher of baghdad by pretty much the entire world.

shoe-in

apparently shoe sizes are now as random as celebrity baby names (fun fact of the year: Jason Lee's kid is named Pilot Inspektor. Yes, Pilot Inspektor. The fact that it is based in part on a Granddaddy song does not even begin to redeem this horrible decision, even in bizzaro hipster world). Usually a size 44 person, this weekend I went to the Alter Mundi store (Google maps), which sells environment-friendly and fair-trade products, to find a gift for some newly-wed friends, and ended up buying myself some Veja trainers, size 42. Never before had I bought shoes in a size below 43 1/2, but whatever works I guess. The funny thing is I recently bought another pair of trainers which are size 45 and both pairs are pretty much the same size, give or take half an inch.

If you haven't heard of them, Veja is a young French brand which makes its shoes in Brazil using local producers according to fair-trade principles. Their sneakers are beginning to be more and more popular on the streets of Paris, which is a good thing because it might mean that other brands will follow suit and design fashionable ethical apparel or shoes.

Their first models were textile-based, kind of like low-cut Converse, and they've just released a leather shoe, which felt so comfy and light that I decided to purchase a pair on the spot. Since my Onitsuka Tigers are about to give their last breath, I felt these would be a worthy successor.

But without a doubt, the real highlight of my weekend was watching the amazing Half Nelson. Featuring extraordinary performances by Ryan Gosling (best young actor working today) and Shareeka Epps, as well as the always-perfect music of Broken Social Scene, this movie definitely warrants itself a whole post. The director, Ryan Fleck, manages to look at a tough yet cliche-burdened subject like drug addiction in a refreshing and engaging manager, and the whole thing left me quite moved. Still not better than Children of Men, but I've definitely found my 2nd favorite movie this year. Two movies which I will probably own on DVD when they come out, something I hadn't done for recent flicks since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I guess that's why you should always wait until the very end of the year to make up your annual top 10 lists.

a real tragedy

when it comes to comedy, I'm a pretty basic guy. Being a child of the 80s, weaned on American pop culture, it was all about Eddie Murphy (remember when he used to be funny, nay hilarious ?), Bill Murray or Steve Martin. Some slapstick humore, a touch of witticism with funny faces and TA-DA, you've got comedy gold. Of course it's all about personal taste when it comes to humor, taste which is generally molded during one's childhood (it's probably why I don't find Les Bronzés that funny, although I did love Le Pere Noel Est Une Ordure), but those types of movies, like Caddyshack or The Jerk, are at the apex of the genre to me.

However recently I've noticed a noticeable dearth of good comedies. Hollywood still cranks them out faster than a cheetah on steroids, but mostly they're hit-and-miss : some chuckles here and there, but a lot of blanks in between. In the past few years I really enjoyed two comedies: Old School (which is genius) and Elf. The fact that both star comedy savant Will Ferrell is certainly no stranger to that. Good comedies aren't merely about good writing and wacky situations, though those certainly help, but principally great characters. The other so-called comedy blockbusters I've seen (40 Year Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, The Break Up, have all failed to wow me, often because I'm tired of comedies trying to be romantic comedies at the same time. Last I checked girls enjoy laughing (a fact that represents 95% of my flirting "technique"), and do not need to have those cheesy romance elements to enjoy a comedy.

But this grim outlook on the state of comedies could very well change this week, all due to one heroic undertaking: the release of Borat, the movie (subtitle: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazhakstan). It tells the tale of the eponymous character, a Khazak journalist intent on traveling through the US of A to find out more about the country and teach them about his. Needless to say, hi-jinks WILL ensue. It's filmed as a documentary, and is based on the character created by Sacha Baron Cohen for his TV show. I'm just saying this in case my 5 daily readers are the ones that might've never heard of the guy, so incessant has been the hype. Which it should, based on stunts like this. I've enjoyed his TV skits for a while now, and I'm overjoyed to know that very soon (tonight, actually) I'll be enjoying 86 glorious minutes of the man who brought "sexy time explosion" into the common lexicon.

that's hot (c) Paris

because we can't always talk about politics, I give you....(LOUD MOVIE TRAILER GUY VOICE) a website about dogs dressed as bumblebees.
The internet just keeps getting awesomer every day. Matter of fact, if I have a son, I may have to name him that. And if it's a girl, Internette.

little thoughts

the Internet, it sure does move fast doesn't it ? One minute it's all about Brad and Jen, the next global warming. If you sleep too much, i.e. do not open your RSS newsreader often enough, you're bound to feel a little behind the times.

Music is one of the areas that's been at the forefront of Internet evolution, from the early-days FTP servers to the first incarnation of Napster (R.I.P.), then on to Wifi MP3 players and online personalized radio streams. One such development has been the leak of albums before their official release date. Nowadays it is very rare for an album to not appear online at least a few weeks before it's scheduled to hit stores (both virtual and physical). It's got to be maddening for artists and their labels, but it's not a trend I see slowing down anytime soon. Not to sound too USA Today-ish here, but this has some good sides and some bad ones. The bad thing is all the effort the bands/artists go through to record the best possible product, from the quality of the sound mix, to the selection of proper tracks, are sort of in vain when a copy that often isn't the final version pops up on the peer-to-peer networks. The good thing is this advance availability can increase awareness for this release and actually lead to more people buying the album when it comes out. The reason for that being that once prominent music blogs start talking about an upcoming record that people have heard and can comment on, it creates a publicity buzz that no ad campaign can truly generate.

Case in point: the second Bloc Party album. BP is part of the recent post-punk movement, that has seen tremendous success for bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Maximo Park and Arctic Monkeys. Bloc Party's released their first album, Silent Alarm, in 2005 and quickly established themselves at the forefront of this new subgenre. The urgent guitars and piercing drums that made you want to dance were there, but they also seemed to be interested in matters of the modern world. Sure, most of their songs could be contrived to be about that universal subject that is love, but from reading interviews and trying to decipher lyrics, it also sounded as if this band thought about weightier things (for instance one of the songs on FA is called Price of Gas) . Thus their second one, due for release in February 2007, was eagerly awaited by a lot of people, myself included.

Cue this past Sunday, when word got out on music message boards and other mp3 blogs (like Stereogum) that the new BP album had leaked. Of course I hopped on my favorite download train rightaway and added the album to my iTunes library. My principle when it comes to downloading albums is: if I like, I buy. Downloading an album, to me, is just a more elaborate way to sample it than hearing it in a record store or on the radio. When I don't like I trash it, and if I do, I'll buy it (more or less promptly, but I generally get around to it). Well, it looks like I'll have to set aside 10 pounds from my February budget, because this album is really good. Like, gets better after each listen good. By yesterday I had already raved about it to pretty much every friend I talked to. Out of 11 songs there's maybe 2 I don't enjoy too much, and even these I don't skip over. Bloc Party aren't one of my favorite bands, but they might join that ellusive status with this album.

Do I think it's normal that I can listen to an album that's only due to be commercialized in 2 months ? No, not really, but that's the way things have been for a while now, and as long as it stays out of the mainstream, I don't think it will change. For now it's still just something for music geeks like myself to get excited over on Internet message boards and blogs. It might affect sales in a small way, but I suspect most people that download instead of buying weren't necessarily going to buy the CD anyway. Of course in a world where there's such a dichotomy between laws (in some countries it's illegal to even rip your own CDs to your computer) and the common practices such as the one described in this post, there's bound to be a lot of gray areas. And I'm not a black and white person.

president ! president !

with all the burgeoning talk of the upcoming 2007 presidential election in France, I thought I'd ease myself into a political frame of mind by watching the recent France 2 documentary about Jacques Chirac. It was the talk of the town when it was shown in late October (seriously, I participated in multiple talks about it. in bars. on a Friday night), and I felt it would give me some insight into a very complex public figure. To people my age it might seem like the guy's been there forever, and this doc does nothing to dispel the notion. Presented in two parts, one focusing on the pre-1975 years (title: "the young wolf"), the other on the period since then ("the old lion"), the object of this program was to present a complete view on Chirac's accomplishments, bungles, and overall evolution. Chirac's been a part of French political life for so long (basically since the early 50s), it's quite fascinating to see how much his staying power has owed not only to his personal ambition but also to back-room wheeling and dealing on his part by different party elders.

The major impression I got after watching the whole thing was that although the current president of France has become somewhat of a caricature today, he has been one of the more impressive figures of the last 50 years in French politics. Apart from Francois Mitterand, who had his share of shady dealings, I don't know of anyone who has managed to adapt to ever-changing conditions yet remain true to his basic commitment to serving his country. I do not mean this particularly as a compliment, but simply because that's the feeling I get from everything I've read/hear/seen about him. You definitely get the impression that corruption was never far from the surface, especially during his years as mayor of Paris in the 80s and 90s, but looking at his entire work gives a more nuanced view. After all, he did do some good things like create the national unemployment agency ANPE (now the epitome of bureaucratic slowness, but a really good idea all the same), and apart from a single incident has always made it clear that he was completely against the extreme-right Front National party, something a few of his right-wing peers have not always been willing to do in tight election situations.

But since the last 20 years of his career have been marred by so many scandals and alleged corruption stories, the global view of his career has been marred, perhaps definitely. I don't particularly like him, but after watching this documentary I definitely kind of respect and understand what he's experienced a lot more than before. Yes he is stiff, yes he is a bit too loyal, but those character traits have mostly gotten worse as the years have gone on. I still would like him to face a real inquiry into what exactly his role was in those property scandals that happened while he was mayor of Paris, but I don't believe he was corrupted in the sense of increasing his personal wealth point of view, at least not more than anyone in that position would. While that doesn't make it excusable, that view is a bit more subdued than the ultra-shady and super-controlling figure that he has been portrayed as. Also, he gets criticized a lot for not doing much since becoming president, but if people agreed with the work of his prime ministers they wouldn't care about that. In France a president is mostly there for show, and the shaking of hands (of foreign dignitaries, old people and children), an activity at which Chirac seems to be especially good at, and fond of. So if you had to criticize him as president it would be mostly for picking his government heads too much based on his personal appreciation of them and not necessarily on their merits.

Of course it is quite probable that the real truth will never emerge, since that is the way things go when it comes to French politics. In that sense it was a pleasant surprise to see that this documentary was shown on a public channel, in prime-time. Programs like this are part of a healthy discourse on the role and work of our politicians, and though I wouldn't want to watch them too often (The Life and Times of Jack Lang, anyone ?), I'm glad they're made and not relegated to the late-night time slots.

oh my darling

as much as winter gets a bad rap for the -admittedly not that- cold climate it brings, one of the awesomely great things about it is being able to buy good clementines in pretty much any halfway decent grocery store. That fruit is like a gift from the gods, plus it only contains 30 calories per: everybody wins !
It's gotten to the point where I almost understand those people that gave some out at Halloween. Almost, I said.

recap

some of the highlights of the past week :
- put my current job tasks on hold for 5 days while I led a training session for new hires at my company. It was fun, tiring at first, but by the end of the week I'd got the hang of it, and I was almost sad to see it end
- saw Sufjan Stevens in concert at the Bataclan. Had my puny little mind blown away, and didn't even regret not bringing my camera, since I'm sure the memories will stay with me for a long long time. The first song of the encore, Concerning the UFO blabla, touched me to the very core. Those first few piano notes....aaaaahhhh
- went running and confirmed that yes, running in the cold ain't fun. But coming home after having run in the cold is one of the most satisfying feelings you can have
- had a great family dinner for my grandma. It was a surprise for her and it was awesome
- got back into communicating via Messenger. Boy it's been a while since I've heard that chime, it sure brings back memories. I know you can do video messenging nowadays, but for some reason it doesn't feel necessary
- spent a good 3 hours walking from Republique to the general vicinity of the Marais (rue des Francs Bourgeois et al). It's simply one of the only neighborhoods of Paris that's fun to walk around in on Sundays, especially if you're not set on going someplace in particular. It's also a great place to stop for a spot of tea, as you are wont to do on such days. Went past a Thai restaurant (Thai Spices ?) that looks great, I'm going to have to find an excuse to go there soon

Overall a pretty good week