Richard Avedon (1946-2004)--hommage to the american photographer

If you are interested in photography then this is the post for you:

Today I went to the museum in Paris near the Tuileries called the Jeu de Paume. The current exhibit is that of Richard Avedon, an amazing photographer. He almost defines the meaning of a portrait. I wandered though the exposition impressed by the emotion and the power captured through his images. He has done series of photography from fashion photography in 1950's Paris to the intense portraits of his In the American West series where he traveled to over 15 states in the western United States taking portraits of ordinary people. He has done portraits of some of the most world renknowned artists, musicians, actors, writers and models to some of the most normal ordinary people in midwestern America.

He is famous for the idea of taking a portrait on a blank, white background. It shows the gritty-ness of the person and there is no gray area...nothing to hide. He allows the subject to have a relationship with the photographer and the viewer. He also makes it known that he is NOT trying to capture an in depth part of the person. He is in fact capturing the surface and a small piece of that person's personality of state of being in that moment. In most of the portraits the person is staring straight at you making it very intense. I found that as I was walking through the exhibit my adrenalin increased and each photo I looked at made me feel like I had a connection for small instant with the subject. If you can't tell, I LOVED the exhibit and if you are in Paris you should go to the Jeu de Paume soon because the exhibit is over in a few days.


::::sigh:::: if only I was amazing artist.

New Name New Game

dear bloggers,

I decided to change the name of my blog because I thought "Paris, je t'aime" was too cliché...and it was getting on my nerves..heee SO the new name is "Paris Fast Food" appropriately named after this song I like called "Sénégal Fast Food" by Amadou & Mariam.

So today is Thursday and I have nothing to do. Yesterday I spent like 3 hours at the MICEFA trying to get registered for Paris 8...pain in the ass. Hopefully, everything is worked out..we all know how wonderfully on top of things the MICEFA is. I have to get in contact with someone from the Lycée where I am working..I have no idea how to do that since I have no e-mail address nor phone number for this school. I may have to truck down there in person....fun fun fun.

The week so far has been pretty uneventful. Tuesday night a few of us went to a play that Jérôme's friend David is in. It was actually 3 short plays..one right after the other...it was probably one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. It was definitely worth it though, I got to see 2 naked people....very Harry Potter....who doesnt love seeing naked people anyway?
Last night I went to a Moroccan restaurant and ate some bomb coucous and my favorite patisseries (pastries) with the almond paté..mm yum yum.

AND tonight, I may either be going to the opera Carmen or to the Centre Pompidou since it is the nocturne. I would love to see that opera though. Next weekend is the Nuit Blanche...I'm pumped...I'm going to try and find the program for the night and see what cool shinnanigans we'll be able to pull next saturday.

Last but definitely not least...Deven Green wrote a comment on my blog!!
so everyone go to her YouTube site: HOOT* <----- this is the link


ciao kiddies

skullcandy

so i would like to start off by saying sorry to those who ready my blog and found that the link in my last entry did not work...because for some reason ALL of the Deven Green videos on YouTube are now gone...forever apparently which is really unfortunate. DESOLÉE everyone.

so in other news:
Last weekend we had out first group "excursion" to Normandy, which is in northern France. We visited a seaside town called Saint Malo on Saturday and explored the old fortress and ate delicious crèpes and drank equally delicious apple cider. Jérôme bought me a present while we were there...a gigantic set of hot pink headphones that look like this:

Even though they are extremely large, I think they're really cool, and they have great sound quality.

After our little journée in Saint Malo we went to our hotel near Mont Saint Michel and had a big group dinner followed by a like 3 hour long game of movie sherrades...which was hilarious espescially since our director played with us.

Yesterday we spent the day at Mont Saint Michel, and amazing island in Normandy that is famous for it's huge Abbey at the top. The island is basically a hill and everything leads up to the Abbey...and it's absolutely beautiful. I went last year, but I'm very happy that I got to see it again.
We had a tour guide show us through the village and also through the entire Abbey whichw as nice since we didn't get to have a tour guide last year. It was even better because he spoke with a british accent reminescent of Monty Python and he was wearing sandals with socks. We ate lunch at this fancy senior citizens restaraunt with an amazing view. On our way back to Paris we stopped and visited a cider making factory and learned how they make the famous French apple cider. I bought 6 bottles and 2 bottles of their apple juice! All in all the trip was a success, I had a lot of fun and became closer to some of the people in the group.











I am in desperate need of a frido, I still can only buy non-perishable food because my frigo is in Combreaux. Hopefully this weekend we will be making a trip there to pick up all my kitchen items. I think on Wednesday I am going to sign up for my classes at Paris 8...there are so many cool art classes I can take..I have to decide, but there is a Bande Dessinées studio class...which would be really cool. Okay off au lit.....à plus

Right now there are girls catfighting in the hallway....oh dorm life.

photo op + deven green

Finally! here are some of the pictures from the Martina Topley-Bird concert! It was in this club somewhere near Père Lachaise, but I forget the name. Jérôme dragged me through the crowd of people and we stood front and center, it was awesome. It was a 2 person band including her and her drummer...who was awesome and played all these crazy instruments. Afterwards, we went and got some Indian food nearby:::::overall good night::::::






Now for what everyone has been waiting for! Pictures of my new tattoo!! Here they are folks, ENJOY:):):)





There it is, a crazy colored star...it's on my upper inner thigh. I dont know if a lot of people will like it, but I love it...and thats what matters. The artist was so funny...he lets his like 5 year old sun give him tattoos..so he has these random scribble tattoos on his body. I guess their not really into body conservation.

Now for the rest of the week:

I havent updated in a couple days, sorry. Last night I went to an art gallery near Les Halles called Gallery Kennory Kim and the current exposition is called Patrick Jannin "Sacre & Massacre"....the art was pretty interesting..a blend of 1950's big eyed girls and german expressionism, but definitely that underworld feel and style. The art, I believe, was mostly about sexuality and whether most of our sexual desires are considered "faux pas"....anyway it was graphic and interesting. I would like to go back and see what the next exhibit will be like.

Today, I am going to the Musée Maillol to check it out since I could possibly maybe hopefully have an internship there at some point. Right now their main exhibit is a contemporary chinese artist...i forget the name.

Tomorrow we are heading to Mont Saint Michel for the weekend so there probably wont be any new updates until I get back. We're leaving at like 7am by Denefert..like last time. Fortunately this time we are just staying at Mont Saint Michel, so there wont be that 293357 hours in the bus thing. Anyway, I'm excited to go back and get me some crèpes and cider.

My latest YouTube discovery....this might have to be a weekly theme. The other day I happened to stumble upon a comedian who does comedy parodies on YouTube named Deven Green.....hilarious. Here is my favorite one and y'all can let me know what you think...

I think you'll laugh.

life on the velib'

hey people
weekend update:




velib is the best invention ever...i am now a lover of bike riding. i can explore the city and get exercise while i'm doing it. unfortunately, the weather in paree is about to get very chilly...so riding a velib isnt as wonderful, but still great...espescially if the metro is closed. it's also cheap...26euros for a year of unlimited use..and the bike stations are all around the city. i advise anyone who is planning on getting a french bank account or already has one to get a velib...it helps the environment, gives you extra exercise and allows you to see paris outside of the metro.

on Friday i rode my bike from saint-michel all the way up past gare du nord. it was wonderful. i love that it is turning into fall and the days are sunny and the air is crisp. i rode my bike to chez jerome and got the tickets for the Martina Topley-Bird concert, which by the way was awesome. It was near pere lachaise and it was this bar/lounge/club...the vibes were pretty chill AND dum dum dum..i got front row and center to watch the show. She was amazing, and her backup man/drummer was equally as amazing. i'll post pics when i am not too lazy to upload them.

saturday i slept in pretty late then went to jerome's dad's place and met his uncle from the states...we did the norm and ate so much that we had to fall asleep afterwards...après le dejeuner, we walked from gare du lyon to bercy and saw some stupid adam sandler movie...so not really much to report there.

sunday.
i ended up going bowling with jerome's family and then meeting some of my friends to see yet ANOTHER movie...see, it's la rentrée du ciné so movies are only 3 euros..i figure i can deal with that. except this movie was completely and utterly disturbing and gross...il s'appelle Martyrs...and let me just say...BIZARRE.

so i spent most of the weekend riding my velib around the city, i tried not to utilize the metro that much since we have been blessed with nice weather these past few days. i am still amazed that i live here in this beautiful city, i wonder if i'll ever get sick of it?

so is everyone ready for my surprise???????

drum rollllllllllllllllllllllll

I GOT A NEW TATTOO!! today, near Bastille...for my birthday. I have yet to take pictures BUT no worries, probably tomorrow there will be some photos....anway..pictures to come.

here is the artist who made my nouveau tatuage....his work is very "nightmare before christmas"...but i just got a star.

tomorrow i have my first class of the year, yay. afterwards i think i may head to pompidou or petit palais to start my museum visits...i've been in paris for a week and haven't gone to a single museum (shame shame)

anyway, tune in later to see some pictures of the new ink and the concert:):):)

à plus

le premier jour du reste de ta vie

okay so last night i returned to my con artist ways and snuck into my first french movie of the year. it was appropriately called "Le premier jour du reste de ta vie" (the first day of the rest of your life)..appropriate in the fact that ALL french movies seem to have unecessarily long titles AND they are always about the same things....love relationships and the complexity of human relationships....it's an interesting topic, but i do like a little variety once in a while. I must say though that I was pleasantly surprised by this one...it was very well done and it hit home. I am also proud to say that I can watch a french movie now without subtitles and understand pretty much everything..even the jokes..

Today, today, today I am going to get some errands finished that I haven't gotten done in my few days here...I have to run to the Monoprix and go to Jérôme's apartment to get the tickets for the concert tonight! (yay!) Although it is sort of a pain since he lives on the opposite end of the city...mais c'est pas grâve..

I don't really know what I am going to do for the next 3 weeks...i don't start school nor work until October...well I do have one class, the director's course once a week...but other than that I'm home free...premium museum and exploration time. (AND blog updating time)

**on an exciting note** I may be getting an internship at the Musée Maillol here in Paris..I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I know someone with a VERY good contact who is willing to talk to them for me and even set up a meeting....it would be amazing even if I could just do a volunteer internship a couple times a week.

En Fin...la rentrée

Hey folks,

It is now the "rentrée" in Paris, basically when all the vrais parisians return from their month long vacations in August. I just got to Paris on Monday night. I spent the last week in southern France--a place called Le Brusc near Toulon. It was a great week spent with basking in the sun, swimming, reading and eating good food while drinking "amouresques" ( a mixture of Pastis and amaretto syrup, super yummy) So anyway, I got a nice tan and now I'm back in rainy Paree so it can fade away. But I'm happy to be back. It feels more like home this time returning..there is that excitememnt of being in Paris but this time I actually feel like I LIVE here...I feel comfortable and I know all of the strings...I'm not at square one like the rest of the group which is nice I guess.

here are some pics from my mini vaca...



Today I am doing normal person things like buying shampoo and trash can liners...nothing too shnazzy. Tomorrow though, I am attending a free concert featuring........

Martina Topley-Bird!!! and other french indie-ish artists... her music is pretty chill, so check her out if you would like.

So everyone..my birthday was on this past Sunday and I am now 22 big years old! C'est fou....
.....and I will have a surprise to show everyone next week...hehe so keep on checking up on me.