fahrenheit nine one one

Last night, we saw Fahrenheit 9/11 for the first time on the cable and I have this to say to Michael Moore - "Well done!". After 2 hours of intent watching, it further fuelled my dislike and ire towards Bush and his cronies and brought sympathy to innocent loss lives. The world has (really) been had.

Even if we caught the movie 2 years after its release, I'm glad I saw it. Go watch it if you haven't already.

oh, lame saint!

After two weeks of back-breaking, neck-aching, eyes-squinting endeavour, we've finally finished assembling the puzzle of chère Mona Lisa. She has been framed up and happily sitting in a corner with her eternal smile beaming on us. We're gonna have to tuck her away pretty soon though, given the limited space we have here.. and living in a rooftop studio doesn't leave us with a lot of straight walls for such a massive frame. I said massive.. well it's a 68 x 48 cm puzzle and that's huge enough. So she'll be joining Monet's Water Lily puzzle of the same size in the 'frame section'. Well there's actually a total of 999 puzzle pieces instead of 1000 due to technical reason.


Oh those who've read The Da Vinci Code would know what the title of this entry's all about.. but if you've figured it out without reading the book, then give yourself a pat on the back :)

[chère=dear]

et alors...

I thought I'd write something to mark the end of the month. So nothing much has happened since my last post. Well the summer vacation is reeeally over now, with students going back to school the following week.. and most working adults must be filing in for work by now after weeks of absence.

This summer wasn't that summery, in terms of weather/temperature likeness. Unlike the previous years, we had an exceptionally blazing heat wave in the early weeks of summer this time around.. then a juggle between sun and rain.. followed by a spell of grey, stormy weather with a wavering burst of sunshine in between. The temperature hovers around 20°C, a great drop from the normal summer weather.

We still have a few weeks of summer to go and the thick blanket is already out. Looks like we're gonna have to turn on the heater earlier than expected.

back to routine

Our summer vacation ended on a relaxing note. We spent the second half of the vacation at my in-laws, visiting relatives and lazying around most of the time.. though hubby did some works around the house. Much less activities, a contrast to the first half of our vacation but a good one nonetheless.

Our next long vacation would be in October, destination Singapore (yes!). That, we can't wait.. but it won't be long now.

vacances à paris

I love Paris in the spring time, I love Paris in the fall,

I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles, I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles...

I love Paris every moment, Every moment of the year, I love Paris, why oh why do I love Paris,

Because my love is here...

...and so the song goes.

Well I do love Paris and we just spent 5 glorious, fun-filled days in the city of lights. Although the weather wasn't that cheery for the most part, it didn't in any way mar the first half of our summer vacation, even if the temperature at times corresponded to that of autumn. It was my third real visit to Paris and it brought back good memories from my previous trips.

We went to places we haven't been to before, like the Versailles castle, Parc Astérix.. as well as to familiar places like the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées, Eiffel Tower.. and I finally got to see Auguste Rodin's works as I missed it on the previous visits. Well I can still remember the streets I've trodden like the back of my hand.

I believe the best way to discover a city (or any place for that matter) is on foot.. and for that, a reliable comfy pair of shoes is recommended. I remember walking kilometres at a stretch during my first trips to Europe. You'll discover interesting nooks and crannies and can really get the feel of how the people live there. That's how we stumbled upon the red zone in Paris during the previous visit. But this time though, we made full use of the metro (MRT equivalent minus the cleanliness). The only precaution when you walk the streets of Paris is to watch your step so as not to sink your foot in dog poo... Parisians love their furry creatures but most hate to clean up after them. Oh and another thing to be wary of is the deft fingers of the pickpockets.. I had a couple of incidences with them in the past.

The Louvre is as magnificent as I remembered it. We went on the first Sunday of the month, so entry was free but what we didn't expect was the snaking queue that spilled out onto the busy street. We stood in line for one and a half our before entering the museum. The place was thick with crowd - mostly tourists... and the top crowd puller has to be the masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci, La Joconde.. or more famously known as Mona Lisa. While you're allowed to photograph around the museum, some places restrict documenting the works in any form whatsoever.. and one of the places is the hall where the Mona Lisa sits. Well the rule of thumb when one goes to a museum is not to touch any of the displayed works and even if photography is allowed, the use of flash should be avoided.

The Louvre houses a staggering number of masterpieces and it's simply impossible to truly enjoy each and every one of them in a single day but like most tourists, we managed a quick glance on most of the works and lingered on some others a bit more. I'm contented to have been up close to admire the work of my favourite Impressionist artist, Claude Monet.

We left the Louvre with a 1000 pieces puzzle of Mona Lisa and I finally got hold of the much talked about novel, The Da Vinci Code.. and these two newly acquired items will surely keep me occupied for a while.

I've lost count of the number of castles I've visited since I moved here but the Versailles tops the previous ones hands down with its immensity and majestic grandeur. You can lose yourself in its impecabbly manicured vast garden.. it was simply breathtaking. We spent the whole day there and even that won't be enough for a thorough visitor.

Parc Astérix is a theme amusement park, based on the comic Astérix. Like Disneyland Paris, it has numerous attractions catered to both children and adults. We had lots of fun there, taken some adrenalin rushing, heart thumping rides.. though the afternoon rain dampened our visit a little.

Be it the arts, culture, fun, shopping.. Paris has everything to offer everyone. It is a truly beautiful city (if you can ignore the occasional litter, dog poo and the sometimes arrogant Parisians).. but no place is truly perfect. It's a romantic city alright, especially by night and what can be more romantic than having a candlelight dinner in a charming Parisian restaurant, accompanied by an accordian basker playing Edith Piaf's La Vie En Rose..

Speaking of dining, we finally had a taste of pure fine dining when we went to this trendy chic restaurant that was transpired as a byproduct of a tv programme. It's owned by Cyril Lignac, the IN young chef du jour. He first appeared on tv through a programme about a chef (himself) coaching clueless young adults into becoming top chefs and finally employing them in his spanking new restaurant. It's a carbon copy of Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Kitchen".

And so we had a marvellous time in Paris, even if I've collected a few blisters on my feet and some leg cramps (due to excessive walking).. it's well worth it.

Until we meet again, my dear Pareee.....

Our trip in still form: VACANCES A PARIS

(do excuse the sometimes blur photos)

puppetry at its best

Of the few French programmes that I enjoy watching, one of them has to be the puppet show called Les Guignols de l'Info. It's not a kiddy puppet show you might have in mind but an adult-infused satirical news puppet that generally parody the French politics. They occasionally parody the international events as well, often concerning terrorism, and the US foreign policy in general. These spoofs on international events are usually presented in an anti-Bush manner, heavily criticizing his foreign policy as brutal and destructive.

Jacques Chirac with his team of government officials

Les Guignols is broadcasted every weeknight at 8 pm and the show always begin with the line "Vous croyez encore ce qu'on vous dit à la télévision, bonsoir." ("You still believe what you are told on television, good evening.") As in any news on tv, the show has its own resident anchor named PPD, a caricature of Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, also known affectionately as 'PPDA', a well-known news anchor on TF1 who coincidentially presents the news on the 8 pm slot.

The characters in Les Guignols are either inspired by real personalities of the political, economical and artistic worlds or else are fictional.

Jacques Chirac is one of the main characters and he is often portrayed as a beer-guzzling, impulsive, incompetent liar who is pilfering public money, and yet comes off as charming, charismatic and cool.

George W. Bush's character is an idiot who is only able to say a couple of words like "yeah!", "America" and "papa", sometimes more when he plays parrot. He is a child, playing with cowboys' dolls, small rockets or even nuclear weapons. Every character of the show treats him as a mentally retarded man, and everybody agrees that he is "bloody stupid", and that it's the reason why he is a good American president (easy to manipulate).

Mr Sylvestre is a fictional character based on the actor Sylvester Stalone and he plays the ugly American and also the archetype of greedy multinationals and superpowers. Mr Sylvestre uses "beuuhharr" as a greeting, a reference to Rambo, the character he was created for. Mr Sylvestre and his clones (blonde, dark, with glasses, beard, etc.) is portrayed as very smart.

These are just a few of the many characters portrayed on Les Guignols.

I personally find the show rather entertaining with the puppets mocking different well-known personalities and putting fun to an otherwise serious or boring situation but sometimes they can overdo it to the point that it borders on rude. Although it's not a totally serious show, most of the observers agree that it has a significant impact on the French opinion. And behind the funny jokes on the US government lies the basic image that most Europeans and at first French, have of the president and his administration.

Click on the play button to view the "We Are The World" parody entitled "We Fuck The World":

indian beauty

Last night was the second consecutive Sunday both of us watched a Hindi movie here. We saw it on the cable travel channel.. as the channel is celebrating 'Indian Summer', they have a line-up of programmes covering the Indian culture including travels, culinary, movies. If last week we saw Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, last night was Mohabbatein... shown in its original version with French subtitles. Watching those movies brought me closer to home somehow.

Well it was a first for my hubby and it turns out that he enjoyed watching them although he finds it kinda kitschy at first. So I've introduced him to the world of Bollywood and he's mesmerized by the Indian beauty alright.. especially the feminine kind.. ah, men...