Heat wave

For those of you envying the fact that I'm living in Paris right now, stop.

Its 83 degrees outside, and there is no air conditioning - anywhere.

The train workers are on strike, so no one can leave town.

The metro is hell. You wait, sweating, on the platform for the doors to open - when they do, your body is suddenly engulfed in a blast of hot air. It is ungodly.

I have already taken two showers in the past 5 hours in an attempt to cool off, and last night I went to bed with a cooler pack from the freezer.

Last time this happened, nearly 15 thousand people died.

"Springtime in Paris" indeed.

How was Cannes?

I just got back last night from Cannes, where I was attending the 2009 Film Festival.

*What?!*

Yep, I got myself invited to Cannes. Decided it would be a cool thing to do while spending a year in France, did my research, wrote my letter, and ended up with a "Cinéphile" Accreditation, which gave me access to certain screenings in the Palais des Festivals, as well as films associated with the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Director's Fortnight) and special séances at theaters around Cannes and in nearby La Bocca. All of which cost me 0€ - well, 55 centimes if you count the postage on the letter of my demande d'accrédidation.

So what is Cannes like?

I selfishly did not bring my camera - it would've been a nuisance to carry around and was not permitted in the Palais for screenings, so... the best image I could find of the tapis rouge is from several years ago (see below). It is a fucking big red carpet and you have to appreciate the ability of starlets to walk it, in high heels and long gowns, blinded by the flashbulbs of several hundred photographers, without stumbling. Chalk it up to nerves and the motivating horror of bad publicity.


(I, on the other hand, did stumble and take a spill on my way home from an evening screening. Damn shoes. My knee got pretty torn up, but is healing nicely due to magical French pommade cicatrisant - literally, healing cream).

The Palais contains several theaters, the main ones being the Grand Théâtre Lumière where the Gala-black tie-premier screenings take place every night (I never did manage to get a last-minute ticket into one of these), the Salle Debussy in which premiers the films from the selection Un Certain Regard (I saw two films there, Eyes Wide Open and Dogtooth), and the Salle du Soixantième (where I attended the premier of a restored version of Godard's Pierrot le Fou, with actress Anna Karina in attendance).

The festivities spill out from the palace eastward along La Croissette, with its grand hotels, designer boutiques, and exclusive clubs set up in tents along the beachfront.



Also along la Croissette are large theaters like the Palais Stéphanie (where I saw Ne Change Rien, and I Love You Philip Morris - Jim Carrey being in attendance at the latter).

In short, during my six days in Cannes I viewed 13 films/documentaries (Wake in Fright, Ne Change Rien, Rideau de Sucre, Pierrot le Fou, Images from the Playground, Redes, Pietro Germi Il Bravo Il Bello Il Cattivo, Signore e Signori, Taking Woodstock, Dogtooth, I Love You Philip Morris, Les Beaux Gosses, Eyes Wide Open), made red carpet sightings of Isabelle Huppert, Penelope Cruz, Pedro Almodovar, Quentin Tarantino, Tilda Swinton, Ang Lee, Demetri Martin, Anna Karina, Jim Carrey, and Juliette Binoche, crashed a party on the luxury yacht Insignia, ate 17 scoops of ice cream, and went swimming twice in the Mediterranean.

How was Cannes? It was fantastic.

Versailles, Wet and Wondrous

Today I finally made it out to Versailles (yes, for the first time... yes, it's only 30 minutes outside of Paris... yes, the train ride only costs about $6 round trip. But believe me, the crowds are horrid).

Despite typical French organizational inefficiency and some intermittent rain, I managed to have a good time. The Grandes Eaux Musicales has started for the year, which meant that I got to experience the famous fountains in all their 17th century, cutting-edge-hydraulics glory. Having seen them in action, I can say that it's not worth visiting the gardens at any other time of year.

There were some pleasant surprises, for instance the feral cat with whom I shared my lunch at the base of the Latone fountain.


Also the Jardin du Roi, which reminded me of a Charleston Plantation with it's azaleas in full bloom. And the sheep! There is a large flock in the field adjacent to the Domaine de Marie Antoinette - I was so pleasantly surprised to see them that, in my delight, I gave a little cry of "Moutons!"(luckily, no one seemed to have heard me).

Of course I took hundreds of photos, and couldn't narrow it down - so here's a lengthy slide show from the excursion. Note: if you receive my blog posts by email, please go to the website in order to see my photos.