Hole in Paris

August 26, 2010 by Andrea 3 Comments

Just got back from seeing the Courtney Love / Hole concert here in Paris. Surprisingly, it was great and I’m glad I postponed my holiday so I could go. I had a spare ticket which I tried giving away but it seems everyone I know hates Hole and Ms Love. In the end I sold it to a scalper for 10 euros, making a 35 euro loss. I guess I shouldn’t give up my day job.

It was more or less a best-of Hole with a couple of covers thrown including a cover of Pearl Jam’s Jeremy. She said that Kurt had always claimed to hate them and that song but when she was 8 months pregnant she was listening to it and he admitted he loved the song. Who knows…

The venue, the Bataclan, was great. Small, intimate, and a great sound but omg, it was bloody hot. Like 50 degrees, can barely breath hot. Reminded me of one time at the Zenith when I just about died from the heat.

I recorded most of the songs but being the super intelligent person that I am, I accidently deleted most of them and those that I didn’t were partially corrupted. FML

Filed Under: General Tagged With: bataclan, concerts, music, paris

€29 Flights from Paris

August 24, 2010 by Andrea Leave a Comment

If you live in Paris or Nice, Air Berlin have a special on for today and tomorrow where you can book flights for €29 only, no extra fees. Flights are to Berlin, Dusseldorf, and Vienna and you must fly between October and December. These are bargain flights, not to be missed if you want to go away later in the year. They had this same special on a couple of months ago and I booked flights to Vienna and Berlin.

Vueling have some fairly cheap flights available now too. Fly to Rome or various Spanish cities from €40 all inclusive.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: cheap, flights, Travel

Panda Fail

August 24, 2010 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Filed Under: General Tagged With: fail, panda, photos

No Baggage Challenge

August 24, 2010 by Andrea Leave a Comment

I’ve been a fan of Rolf Potts since I watched a video where he discusses vagabonding and long term travel. I’ve downloaded his book, Vagabonding, onto my Kindle and am looking forward to reading that while lying on a beach in Dubrovnik later this week.

Rolf’s latest adventure is the No Baggage Challenge. He is going to travel around the world in 6 weeks, without a single piece of luggage. He’ll be carrying a few toiletries and a change of clothes in the pockets of his jacket and cargo pants. I suppose the idea is that without any luggage, he can just focus on the travel experience and not anything else. I think it’s a fun idea and wish I was game enough to do it.

I think he’s in Paris now so it’ll be interesting to see what he does here on his quick visit.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: rolf potts, Travel, vagabond, vagabonding

Parc des Buttes Chaumont

August 22, 2010 by Andrea 9 Comments

Yesterday was my first visit to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in the 19th. I haven’t spent much time in the 19th so I was lucky to have Karin and Paul show me around and take me out for a drink at the Rosa Bonheur. It’s a man made park with a pretty lake and waterfall and from the temple at the top of the cliff you get great views of the Sacre Coeur and the 19th. This is a great picnic spot and hopefully I’ll make it back so I can get some better photos.

Filed Under: France Tagged With: 19th, France, paris, parks

Orly

August 19, 2010 by Andrea Leave a Comment

It’s not often I leave a movie half way through but I had to with Orly.

Amidst the impersonal hubbub of Paris’ Orly Airport, strangers meet, secrets are revealed, and sudden intimacies develop in this beautifully observed mosaic of lives in transit.

I don’t know if the volume was too low or the background noise was too high but I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Plus the actors, in particular Bruno Todeschini, seemed to mumble all their lines! Maybe it was his Swiss accent (does he have a Swiss accent? lol), I don’t know. All I know is that I couldn’t follow what they were saying and I was feeling particularly impatient, so I left. I thought it was going to be a good movie too, but it seemed like a bit of a snore to me.

Movie #: 28

Filed Under: Movies Tagged With: French cinema, Movies

Ce Que Je Veux de Plus

August 19, 2010 by Andrea 1 Comment

Ce Que Je Veux de Plus

Why are there so many movies about infidelity? Is this what goes on in the real world?

I’m always fascinated by this kind of movie, knowing it can only end badly. But love and attraction are strange phenomenon which are hard to resist. Do you stick with your nice, caring partner or leave for passionate love?

I really enjoyed this Italian film even though it was a bit slow at the beginning and ended up being quite sad.

Movie #: 27

Filed Under: Movies Tagged With: Italian cinema, Movies

Donne Moi Ta Main

August 12, 2010 by Andrea 2 Comments

Donne-Moi Ta Main (Leap Year) definitely ranks amongst the worst movies of the year. I only saw it because it was the only movie playing when I got to the cinema. I thought it would be ok as a ‘pass the time’ kinda movie but it was shockingly bad. The plot makes no sense whatsoever and everything about it was ridiculous. It wasn’t even funny.

Movie #: 26

Filed Under: Movies Tagged With: American cinema, Movies