Tuesday, November 06, 2007

back from paris-bordeaux-paris: post1 (Paris)



I had a great time, but I am so happy to be back home... For some reason travelling becomes increasingly more difficult and exhausting for me. getting old? writing phd? having seen too much in too little time? who knows... probably a combination of all.


In Paris,

1. I've visited the Panthéon , idly watched Foucault's Pendulum, visited the graves of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire (and had a scared look at Marie Curie's grave too but I was not sure if she was still radioactive so I moved away quickly)

2. I've seen Emma, and


3. I've been to an Archimboldo exhibition: Archimboldo used to be one of my favourite artists when I was a teenager and was painting for the first time. I never knew he was so famous in Austria (where the collection came from) and in France (where there was a 1.5-hour que in front of Musée du Luxembourg.





While seeing Emma was the best part of it all, I really appreciated the sunny weather, Sander's presence and the complexity and grandeur of Paris for once...

And finally, I've seen a very good movie: This Is England. (trailer)
The film highlights the irony that although the skinhead subculture was partly based on elements of black culture (especially Jamaican ska and reggae music), a large faction of the subculture was adopted by white power groups such as the National Front. The story focuses on young Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), who, following bullying at school, falls in with a bunch of likeable skinheads. The new-found freedom and social acceptance he finds is short-lived, and takes a much darker turn when National Front member Combo returns from prison and reasserts his leadership, which splits the group in two. What follows is an often disturbing view of 1980s England offset by the ramifications of the Falklands War and the rise of white nationalism.


ON BBC - The Guardian

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