moi, toi et tous les autres

Beginning last week, and lasting for 5 brief days, the Paris metro system was covered in pink posters for "Moi, Toi et tous les autres" and the big gray eyes of Miranda July kept staring at me as I rode the trains. It's wierd to have worked on a film that makes it all the way to france, to the point where I overhear conversations in a bookstore of girls who had seen, and loved, the film. I guess that's what makes the film industry so hard to get into- it's so massive that making a successful feature is like launching a multinational....fortunately for me, I'm not quite understaking the task (yet).

After wandering around Paris looking for an internet cafe I just decided to open my laptop on a bench and see if wifi worked- viola! Not many people apparantely bother to protect their networks so there is free wifi at my disposition. Tres cool.

This week I showed up unannounced to visit La Femis, one of France's most prestigious film schools. To get in, you have to pass a series of 3 exams, covering everything from physics to chemistry to film analysis, and be under 26. But once you're in, it's like the gates of heaven open. There facilities, of which I took a self-guided tour, are pretty incredible. Students get free tuition, film, equipment, processing, money for their thesis films, yada yada...
To me it's kind of like announcing that San Francisco city hall has decided to give everyone a free 2-bedroom with a view of the golden gate. Incredible.

I also got a chance last night to check out a short film screening, La Saison Du Court. I've been to a lot of film screenings in the u.s. and to movies in Paris, but never to anything like this. For 6 euros you not only get to see a pleasant selection of about 15 decent short films (mostly recent french but also a 1924 hollywood film and a couple of older animations) but there was this very odd and humourous entertainment team with clowns, a magician who performed possilby the worst card trick I've ever seen, a "light show" between every film, music, and the crowning moment, when they presented a medal (complete with velvet pillow, girl with flag, another girl in uniform) to the audience member who had attended the most faithfully. They managed to turn an ordinary little film screening into a very amusing spectacle.

okay, c'est tout! Paris amazes and inspires....but I do miss San Francisco!

la vie parisienne

Things feel like they are rapidly changing here, as I adjust a little more everyday to la vie parisienne... I started having dreams in (poorly spoken) French. Yesterday I moved out of student housing and into the most charming (but very temporary) apartment in the 12th. I have a view of gray rooftops and, for the moment, blue sky. I discovered the bois de vincennes and went running around the lake there which reminded me of my beloved Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis.

After my first night alone in my own place I feel the desperate urgency to be a filmmaker. This is why I am here. Paris inspires me everyday. There are a million cinematic details everywhere I look. The tiles on the roofs, the signs on the bakery, the children tearing down the sidewalk on their red tricycles...I think I'll try and sneak out on a photo shoot this afternoon after I finish my class paper.

I went to a party with a wonderful group of frenchies, mostly graduate students and scientists. It was pretty shockingly different than the American dinner parties I'm used to. Tons of extremely boisterous singing, extremely crass sexual humor, and extremely high quality food were served up. Followed by a bar that reminded me of some weird late night TNT dubbed german movie of the week...replete with drunken dutch bartenders, stripping repressed young bankers, and infinite repeats of the worst dance music of all time (a mix of the grease soundtrack, MC Hammer, and 60's french tunes) played in completely random order off one of those tv-style mini-jukeboxes. The night was weird, fun and (unfortunately) very smoky. I doubt the california no-smoking bars will ever make it here.

cuisine/cuisine

Oh la la, je mange trop!

I celebrated my birthday by basically eating way too much, which is I guess the more mature version of drinking way too much.

Food in Paris is for the most part very good and seemingly very focused on cheese. For lunch, I ordered a salad "à la fromage" which was essentially a pound of various different cheeses, all white and delicious, with a few pieces of lettuce and tomato as garnish.

My lovely family took me to a lovely dinner at one of my favorite cafes in the bastille where we dined on eggplant carpaccio, salmon with a creamy anise sauce, green beans, fettucine, red wine (served cold?) and melted-in-the middle chocolate cake....mmmm.

So, in relation to food all is going well...except for writing an essay in French about food. For class we were assigned to compare American and French cuisine. Apparentlyy, I completely misunderstood because the teacher, who is French, insisted that American cuisine meant sweet potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce, creamed corn and meatloaf and I was totally off base by saying American cuisine was really an amalgamation ofEuropeann andAsiann influences....Alas, she must only eat snails and frogs every day.

piscine piscine

Salut!

Today I went on my first swim in Paris. It was more or less madness. I was delighted to learn that Paris has 35 public pools, and so I rushed to the nearest one, 2.6 Euros in hand, and dove in. Me and everyone else in Paris.
I counted 15 people in my lane, standard size pool, standard width lane. People were sort of swimming around the same pace, but every once in a while the person in front would just stop. The ends of the lanes were "social areas" featuring numerous couples making out and people taking leisurely rests between each lap.
After a while I realized it was just like driving in LA, you get used to the traffic and then just go with the flow.
The absolute coolest thing was the lockers in the locker room that looked like candy jars and magically spun round to open and lock with freshly-created personal codes.

Attention les mecs! You are REQUIRED to wear a speedo, no shorts for boys.
Attention les filles! The men have an extremely clear view of the ladies shower area, I advise you keep that suit on.

I'm really looking forward to exploring the other pools of Paris. Apparantly they have a few 33 meter pools which sounds cool, and a solarium too. Tonight I'm going to see "Les Poupees Russes"

A bientot!

Oui, je sais, je sais...

It has been so long since my last post that you probably thought I'd forgotten all about you, dear reader (do you exist?)...well, I have not. I am in Paris!

I moved here 3 days ago and things are changing fast.

I have an apartment! It doesn't start for a month so I'm stuck in a dormitory, which isn't too bad except a bit noisy and youthful. I should met some neighbors I suppose.

Paris is bursting with film at it's seams.
For example, at University of Paris 3 there is a cineclub that shows 2 different films every day all year! Projected on real film!!! and you can go to all of them for 30 euros for the whole year.

I can feel the cinema culture bubbling around me and it is inspiring.
I'm going to email some folks and try to get some filmic amies vite.

A bientôt!