But I'm using my whole ass!

oy, back to the grind. Spent the better part of Friday and yesterday at the library. Friday was a compfy cozy experience while yesterday I was digging in the basement of the Sloan library looking at forty year old issues of Business Week magazine. It was really kinda creepy. You have to take an incredibly ancient elevator (no stairs?) with a crank door to get to the bound periodicals. The room is somewhat dim as half the lights seemed to be burned out. Several rows of the stacks were covered with plastic sheets. It was pretty fucked up. I sat with my back to the wall so I wouldn't be surprised by anything. I still jumped about a mile when the librarian came to tell me they were closing. My hands smelled like moldy paper afterward., blech!
C and I watched the Celluloid Closet on Logo. Oddly enough I had never seen it. I have read the book but never been interested in the film. It was quite interesting. I feel like I am out of the loop on Queer cinema since I stopped programming for the Boston Gay/Lez film festival. I hope to get back into it this spring. I am helping my friend A put together this years fest. She took over last year when I left for grad school. I am also giving a paper on LGBT film festivals at a conference this spring. So, while queer cinema is no longer an academic (or career) interest I hope to maintain some involvement. A lot of this is just ego on my part. I can't stand anyone doing queer cinema in Boston without me. I guess that's what happens when you run a gay film fest for five years!
I am off to the library again today. I think I'll hit the Harvard libraries. While they are farther, they are infinitely more comfortable. And because their security is so tight you can actually go to the bathroom without having to take all of your crap with you!

I'm starting to miss Paris...I should have played Powerball. Then I would be able to fully enjoy the life of a dilettante!
When does my trust fund kick in?

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Paris...to the end!

okay, I feel like I should wrap up the rest of the Paris trip so I can get back to complaining about the real world.
We woke up Sunday morning a bit hungover. Discovered a great Cafe on the block behind the hotel. I wish we had found it the day we arrived because it was great and convenient. Had a coffee and pastry then headed off to the Eiffel Tower. It was much bigger than I expected. More ornate as well. We didn't go up. The lines were really long and C doesn't do well with heights. We crossed the river and headed to the Museum of Modern Art. We decided to stop at the Palais de Tokyo which is actually part of the Modern Art museum. Well, they are physically connected. The line to get into the Modern was down the block and there was no line at the Tokyo Palace. So we went there. It was having a really great show of contemporary French artists. Some amazing work. I'll post a couple of pictures.
From here we did the tourist thing and headed to the Arc de Triomph. Nice but way too many pushy Chinese tourist taking pictures. We headed down the Champs Elysee back towards the centre of town. It was incredibly crowded and ugly. not what I expected. I was glad to be smoking so I could push people out of my way with a burning cigarette.
We headed to the Jau de Paume museum of contemporary art. It used to be Napoleon's tennis courts. Now it displays video and photography. Saw the Ed Rusche show. It was pretty interesting. Work I had heard about but never seen. good stuff.
We were to have dinner with a professor of mine who was spending his sabatical in Paris so we headed to the hotel to change and get cleaned up.
We met at a gay restaurant in the Marais. it is called Aux Trois Petits Cochons. The food was un-fuckin-believable. The snippy gay-boy waiter kept giving me attitude because I was speaking English. I couldn't tell if it was his way of flirting or just being a prick. Anyway we had a great time and headed back across the river a little drunk. Fell Asleep watching TV.
Finally Monday, our last full day in Paris. This was to be our shopping day. We headed out after a coffee at the cafe down the street. We did a bit of gallery hopping. Walked through the Ecole de Beaux Arts. Went off to C's favorite chapel in Paris to see the stained glass windows. I have to admit that they were stunning. Pics to follow.
Did some window shopping and had lunch at this pizza place near the cathedral of St. Eustace. Basically spent the day wandering around. Went by the Paris opera and took some photos. Ended up at Harry's New York Bar. I had the best manhatten I have ever drank. So good in fact that I had three! Some drunk American at the bar told me I looked like Armand Assante. I'm not sure if that is a good thing.
We stumbled back across the river and ended up at our Irish pub. Dranks some more. A couple of hours later we decide to head towards the hotel and food. We stop and eat at the Cafe Deux Magot where Sarte, Camus and other famous smarty pants French people used to hang out. I had the best ham, egg and cheese sandwich I have ever had in my life.
I stole a menu and an ashtray. I have no idea why, I was hammered by this point.
Next stop...hotel and bed. well first we had our very last nightcap at the hotel bar.
Tuesday: hungover, airport, shitty plane food. I proceed to get very, very sick. I spend the next three days in bed.
blech.
It was so worth it. Good fuckin times.

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Paris pics from day 3

pics from day three.

Paris, day 3

Saturday morning begins with our wake up call at the proper time. We figured out how to do it automatically through the phone system thereby eliminating any human error. We are up and out by 11. We stop off at a wonderful patisserie for breakfast, then a cafe on St. Germain for cafe and cigarettes. By this time I am chain smoking like a mutha fucker.
hmmmm cigarettes.
We decide to follow the Seine down to the Latin Quarter and hit the shops of Ile St. Louis. We stop off at the Musee D'Orsey because we are walking by it and there aren't any lines. I really had no desire to go to this museum. Working at the MFA gave me plenty of opportunity to see impressionist paintings. The building, however, is what won me over. It is truly worth the price of admission. It is the old train station with a cavernous barrel vaulted ceiling. And I will admit to seeing work that I otherwise wouldn't have. Manet's Olympia, lots of great Lautrec's that were phenomenal and a very gay painting of Jesus and the apostles which was "supposed" to be Plato, yea right. I'll post a photo of it and you guys can be the judge of that one. It took us an hour and a half to get through it. We stopped and had lunch at a Canadian themed pub. They had an Ontario radio station playing with hockey on the televions. Lunch was very mediocre but we had beers which helped.
We decided to head over to Notre Dame. Walked through and was suitably impressed. The Catholic in me forced my hand and I gave some change to the nun sitting by the door. C was pissed at me for that one.
We moved on to the Ile St. Louis. This turned out to be my favorite part of the city. It is like Beacon Hill on an island two hundred years before the yuppies moved in. Lots of cheese shops, butcheries, and art galleries. I'll post a couple of photos.
From there to the Institute of Arab culture and through the Latin quarter to the Pantheon and the Sorbonne. We then walked down to the Luxembourg gardens and back up the Rue de Bac to our hotel to rest tired bodies before hunting for dinner.
Dinner was another trek. Back across the river towards the Place de Concorde. We were on the hunt for a place to have cocktails before dinner. No luck. We eventually ended up over by the Hotel Normandie across from the Louvre. We had dinner at a place called the Cafe de Montegrosso. It was an Italian restaurant. We sneaked in without reservations much to the Matre de's consternation. Shortly after we sat the place filled up and he bagan turning people away. The place was fabulous. Food was amazing. Service, not so much. I was lucky to have the wall seat which offered up much in the way of people watching.
We headed back to the hotel satiated and a bit drunk. Finished the night at the hotel bar.

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More of day 2

Paris pics, Days 1 & 2

I just wanted to put up some photos of our adventures on Thurs & Fri.

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Paris...briefly Part 1

okay, here is the travel report. I'll make it succinct for the benefit of all of us.

Day 1.
Arrive at 6 am, in cab by 6:30, sit in early morning traffic for the next 45 minutes.
Get to the hotel and huzzah! our room is ready. we go up and crash for a few hours.
Get up around noon and head to the right bank.
Lunch: little smoke filled cafe in Les Halles. I have a french ham and cheese sandwich with a side of cigarette smoke and a 4 euro Coke. reminder to never order soda in a restaurant in France.
We head to the Pompidou and spend a few hours wandering the Big Bang Show. We see the Bill Viola piece "Five Angels of the Millenium." it is amazing as I expected.
We spend the next few hours wandering the right bank before heading back to the hotel.
Dinner: Le Bistro De Paris. Fucking fabulous restaurant. Right out of a French photograph. Old school waiters in black and white, escargo, etc...Escargo, hmmm. I had two. not so much. a little chewy for me. but my roast chicken was kick ass and we finished it off with a creme brule. I have my first French cigarette. It tastes sooooo good!
ended the night with drinks at the hotel bar.

Day 2.
The hotel programs our wake-up call wrong and we get it at 7am instead of the 9:30 we asked for. We proceed to fall asleep and don't wake up until 10:30. A little hung-over.
We head over to the Louvre area for lunch. we decide to treat ourselves and go to the the Buddha Bar. The Buddha Bar is supposedly this trendy hip expensive place in the midst of all of the couture shops. It sits behind the Hotel Crillion. It was pretty amazing. we were afraid it would be packed with tourists but it was all business peeps. Best of all, no Americans. Except for us. We are seated at a centre table right at the base of the stairs to the dining room. We can see everyone as they enter, and judge them accordingly. I spot my first French mullet. It was not pretty. The guy was wrestler big with a mullet to match. It was a sight to behold. Food was good too but I regretted not getting sushi. The sushi display was amazing. They also had the best spring rolls I have ever had! I ended up getting a stirfry beef thing. We left two hours later and a hundred Euros lighter.
We proceed to the Swatch shop because we realise that neither of us has an idea how to gauge what the time is. C buys a watch. I try to convince him to purchase the Mona Lisa Swatch but he is having none of that. He doesn't have a sense of humour. I am tempted by a Tin Tin watch.
We window shop our way to the Louvre.By the way January and February are the best times to shop in Paris. Everything is on sale, everywhere! We hadn't planned on shopping so I restrain myself but next winter...look out bitches we'll be back!

Back to the Louvre: I am about to test my Museum wandering skills. It is 3 in the afternoon and they close at 6. Can we see enough in three hours? It is a challenge I rise to! Luckily most of the galleries I am interested in are closed. That would be the ancient Egyptian relics. I'm a little pissed but it does make our jaunt much quicker. I am transfixed by the David's. I have studied French classical painting a bit in art history classes but to see them in person was un-fuckin-believable.
We manage to cover a lot of ground before they start kicking people out.
We head to the left bank and look for a bar. We end up at this American/Canadian/Australian themed bar simply because we have to pee. They don't have Guinness but a reasonable alternative. It is fucking freezing in this place. No heat. We have one beer and head out in search of dinner. We stop off and have a few beers at this random Irish bar with a giant Guinness mounted out in front.
Dinner: Chez Gandhi. An Indian restaurant in Paris. I just thought the name was funny. Food was good though. I had the Vindaloo which was not nearly hot enough for me.
I should point out here that by this time (late night Friday) almost noone has spoken English to us. C and I are having to make due with pidgeon French. Its amazing just how far one can get with "yes," "no," "thank you," and "please."
We make last call at the hotel bar. As it is Friday night the Americans have begun arriving at the hotel. There are a couple of extremely messy women, I think from New Jersey or Long Island, very loud and drunk in the bar. They bum cigarettes from us because they don't want to buy a 10 euro pack from the hotel.
More to come.


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home again, home again

we are back from Paris. I had quite a lot to blog about but I proceeded to get violently ill late last night. Being trapped on a plane with a bunch of oldy American tourists probably did my immune system in. I refuse to believe it was the fact that I spent the past 6 days eating and drinking fancy French food.
I'll be back later to post my museum/restaurant report.

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