Paris as I like it...

A rare day "off" during the week with a visit to the Courbet expo (all delightful: portraits, nudes, hunt scenes - I loved it all except for his seascapes). Followed with a late lunch at a nearby bistro, leWeekend and then a stop at Fauchon's.

20,000 feux sous Montmartre

Finally feeling a bit better after that nasty cold that got hold of me last week ... so heading up to Denis' place in Montmartre this evening - in the photos a view of rue des Abbesses which is nicely decorated for the holidays.

Révolution Corse

Vous pouvez regarder la vidéo du JT de TF1 sur la Révolution Corse, ici : http://videos. tf1.fr/infos/ media/jt/ 0,,3648367, 00-revolution- corse-consacre- pascal-paoli- .html

Death of French Culture?

Today I came across the TIME article (Europe Edition) and the various replies it has elicited.

The best insight I read was the following witty equation concerning USAmericans' (not all, of course) view of French culture ... "if it could be reduced to an algebraic formula, it would be: De Gaulle + Sartre + baguette + Sophie Marceau's breasts = the culture of France".

Me? I can't decide between going out for dinner (cheeseburger) or ordering in (pizza) ... in either case a nice glass of rouge!

Let me know what you think ... and if you come up with your own formulation.

Oh, if you need some insipiration here's a quick graphic I just put together:

Bob ... the ChangeMaster

Just a quick test (with my current work project) of one of hundreds of "generators", this one is the "Bob Dylan Message Generator". If you want to see more of them go to: generatorblog.blogspot.com or maheanuu.free.fr ... good generating!

Concierto y Practica ... Juanca

Tonight Juan Carlos, our dear friend, is playing at La Fonderie (15 rue Basfroi, 75011 - Métro Voltaire. We'll be there with Florence and Alain (but ¡Caramba! unfortunatley not Christine who filmed Juanca last time).
Come on by if superb superb music from Argentina is your cuppa.

UPDATE: Post-concert notes ... it was more than superb! Juanca was joined by Rudi Flores, a magnificent guitarist, and together they took us all on a musical voyage of La Plata.

¿Cuánto vale mi blog?

Dear Readers:

Below (per Technocrati ranking) is the value of this blog. Help! I am sure it is worth more to ME (not all can be reduced to money) and I want to know that it has some value for you (who stop here now and then). So ... please leave your comments to encourage me to continue (and tell me what else I should be adding). Thanks.

Este blog vale

€ 34.83

(US$ 24.53)

Ranking: 4446976

Tasar mi blog

and Cubo Rojo

My goatee...

I've had a fairly packed and busy November hence the lack of posts here. Seems like the only personal item I can, quickly, report here is my growing of a goatee ... I'll post a photo in a week or so since, for now, it looks a tad ratty.









For info the month has seen a heavy workload with the ChangeMasters project, the 10 days of transports strikes (which really made it difficult to get about), plus visits from near-family, friends and (future) clients from Puerto Rico, Washington DC, Seattle (ish) and southern France.

Juanca

Just like last September 21 ... more of us though (8 to 9) - we're reserved a table tonight so if any of you want to come just alert me.

How much do you earn?

Today I came across this site http://probasis.ru/en_bablo that purports to show you how much you earn interactively and real-time "as you look at this page you have earned" (and also posts per day, per hour, per minute, and even per second ... I don't actually "earn anything per second ... or rather it must be fractional cents for me!)

Take a look and pst here what you think ... a nice way to get our focus off of money actually and on to results ;-)

La Toussaint

How far will you go to make your dreams come true?

Tonight we joined Denis, Hélios and Regina at Studio 28 for the avant-première of Woody Allen's latest film, Cassandra's Dream. If you don't have an answer to the question above then go see this movie ... and it's OK if you laugh ;-)

Incidentally, this was my first time to Studio 28 and it is quite a nice neighborhood cinema with very good champagne available at their bar. If you are in Paris and have never been I certainly suggest you stop by. Cheers!

Gui back in town ;-)

A nice surprise to see Gui back in town (and we're all having dinner together later). He was nice enough to gift us with another of his CDs, this one is "Live at Montreux" - one of his more ambitious outing ... and we love it!

You can listen to excepts here.

Paris ... jazzy

Some Paris strolling this afternoon and then joining Evelyne at the Jazz Cartoon cabaret to hear her new friend's warblings. Come on by if you're free ;-)

Lyon in music

I got a ride down to Lyon with Jean-Nöel yesterday since there is a massive, nationwide train strike since last night until mid-day tomorrow. I am teaching all day tomorrow at the IAE and, hopefully, my 8pm train back to Paris will be operating.

Tonight Bizet's "Les 8 mouvements de l'Arlésienne" (the music of the melodrama based on Daudet's short story in the book at left) performed by l'Orchestre de Lyon 3 right here on campus.

Wine Harvest Fireworks

I flew back from Toulouse tonight and then we went up to Montmartre to see our Brazilian friends and lucked out to see (up real close and personal) the annual fireworks for "la fête des vendanges" from Hélios' apartment (just below on the east side of Sacre Coeur - right side of the photo, just where you see the two lights).

Nuit Blanche N° 6

Tonight, from dusk until dawn tomorrow, the sixth annual "White Night" in Paris with over 150 artists with installations, performances, etc. all around town (new this year: a more "centralized" trajectory that follows the Métro line 14).

I know many friends will be out there wandering about all night - I, myself, will probably start around 8:30pm when they "set fire" to the Tuileries.

Let me know, dear Readers, if you plan to be there (for those far away you can participate, too ... via Second Life, just teleport your avatar to "Second Night"). So, see you there ... or there!

UPDATE: I went with Odile's sister to see the "2,000 points of lights" that were set along the central alley of the Tuileries Gardens. Really magique! Afterwards we walked to the Louvre, open free until almost midnight, and quite suprisingly fairly devoid of crowds, to admire the Mona Lisa and other works of the Italian artists of the period. Afterwards a nice dinner nearby at the Saint Honoré Café (with the French rugby win for dessert).

Juanca does his stuff!

Tonight our fine friend Juan Carlos Ross sings and plays guitar (Latin American music) from 9pm at « La Parrilla » located at 21 ter, rue Voltaire 75011 Paris. We'll be there early chowing down on the excellent Argentine steaks so, if you're free, think about joining us. Hasta pronto!

Couch-to-5K ... then 5K to ???

I've come to the end of my eight weeks of the Couch-to-5K Running Plan. I haven't lost a ton of weight (but my records show that since July 17, when I started, I have since shed about one and a half kilos or 3.3 lbs) but I do feel more energy and, overall, better and more positive (thank you endorphins).

Anyway, what I'm asking you, dear Reader, is to give me your advice, insights, ideas on how to continue! Just add your comments (plus links to useful info) and I will be grateful (and will think of YOU when I run). Thanks, Gracias, Merci.

100% Myriam

Unlike yesterday's expo tonight we have the vernissage of Myriam's retrospective at the FIAP in Paris with the opening in music tonight - Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 - around 7pm.

Paintings, drawings and stain-glass works - over 70 different items - so feel free to come if you are in town (even if we missed sending you an invite) ... just ask for me at the door ("José sent me").

UPDATE: A rollicking fun time post-expo at Raspail where a highly diverse group (French, Swiss, Brazilian, Argentine, American, German ... ane one Puerto Rican) shared a wonderful time together.