Keeping that promise

Okay, much as I would love to post my banana thingy (ahurrr) and go to bed, I said I'd put December in the next post, which is now this one. So let's talk about December in Paris and try to avoid pretending that you want to talk about other things. And there comes in that famous second-person blogging. Great. I'm already starting to write like things I don't like. And there goes my vocabulary.

Okay, break time for a bit. Gonna clear out the head a bit.

Okay, a bit of Metalocalypse and conversation and no music helped out. Now then, December.

After the wine expo, it was basically December. Funny how it works out that shortly after the last weekend in November, December comes.

Okay that rhythm sucks. I'ma go brush my teeth so I don't eat any more of that banana business that is so delicious.

Now let's do this.

So December! It, um.

It snowed? A lot?

Nah, I kid. It snowed, but plenty more happened, or so I think, but I'll leave all that business for the philosophers and GOOD LORD I NEED THIS RHYTHM TO GET BETTER. GROOVE- COME BACK.

Dear Reader will help. It often does.

Maybe it did. Let's find out...

Okay, so December was actually pretty uneventful in Paris, though I was admittedly only in Paris for like 3 weeks in December, and a lot of that was Christmas, which will be covered later, because that's the way Gerry wants it. And while we must confound Gerry at every term, I'm going to go with his wisdom in this case.

So yeah, Paris started out with free museum day! The first Sunday of a month, pretty much every museum in France is free for everyone (excluding some private exhibitions and such, but who cares about those). Before that, I think there was also a visit with Grace and one of her absolute brats darling little children that she so lovingly cares for as an au pair to the Science museum for an expo on Science Fiction. All these pictures are on the Picasa, which once again is http://picasaweb.google.com/rbcameron3, and the specific photos from that should be under Museums and Expositions. Of particular note are the photos putting posters for Soylent Green and Zardoz next to each other, because we all know that an iconic movie with Charlton Heston has the same cultural impact and relevance as a crappy movie with a balding Sean Connery sporting a ponytail and a diaper. It also identified Ghost in the Shell as an example of urban decay but not for their stuff on cyborgs and robotics. It also also misidentified Zuckuss' mask as that of 4-LOM, which is just absurd, right? Who's with me on this? But it was still an impressive exhibit, so I'll forgive it these snafus, for I am a magnanimous blogger who will certainly smack the bajeepers out of you if you wrong him so help him Blog. Or something that makes more sense. Still finding that groove.

Anyhoo, museum day got off to a decent start as I went to the Musée d'Orsay and found this:

Yeah. Look at that line. Really drink it in. Get a nice feel for the heft of it. Thankfully, the line moved pretty quickly and I was in the museum soon enough. I made it through pretty much all of the permanent collection that was there (a bunch of Monets are at an exhibition elsewhere in Paris that I still need to get to), save a couple of rooms, and got to see the exhibition on Gérôme.

But Rob, you may be saying, forgetting that quotation marks might be useful in a text based format to indicate that you're talking and aren't just the blogger being a pompous ass (shame on you for even considering giving other readers that impression), who's this Gérôme fellow? I hear he's the guy, but I wanna be the guy too!

Well, he's a dude. He painted and sculpted some stuff in the late 19th century, including some pretty impressively photorealistic paintings. A lot of his stuff was a bit more historical/orientalist, and he definitely had a tendency to go with lots of anachronisms in his paintings, but the end result was still pretty nice.

After Orsay, I headed on over to meet Grace at Musée Rodin. I'd already seen Rodin- oh, also, you can't take pictures in Orsay, so that's why there aren't any- so I just sorta tagged along so she could see it, but I got some nice pictures anyway.

AND HERE THEY COME NOW!

Starring The Gates of Hell!

Also featuring SassyPants Hugo and his amazing heads, able to undress you with their eyes at 50 feet!

And introducing, Obligatory Shot of The Thinker!

And after all that (since the indoor part required money and I was having none of it), Grace and I met up with Olivia (another assistant from up North AKA Utah, because I have no sense of geography, but she went to Haverford, so you can't blame me for thinking, right? Okay, fine, blame me, it was a silly mistake to make and wasn't too just) to go to the Centre Pompidou.

There, we said the word tubes far too many times. It was glorious. Those were the halcyon days, riding on the escalators that would shake violently if you grabbed the handrails, moving through the tubes at breakneck speeds of 3 mph, seeing Paris from within tubes, like some sort of cheap imitation Jacques Cousteau but without the super-poetic narration, but dangit I'm trying here, but it's too fun to say tubes (and you have no idea how hard I had to fight to keep from saying "tube fun to say tubes," such is the allure of tubes).

Tubes.

Tubes tubes tubes tubes tubes tubes.

Okay, there we tubes.

I mean, there we go.

Anyhoo, Centre Pompidou has a lot of the contemporary art stuff. Not terrible, but as contemporary art can be, some of it is a bit "Huh?"

For example (before I get into the few pictures I have from there), there was the colonoscopy video playing on the floor. Or "Barbe bleu," based on the Perrault story but with an all-female cast and lots of very "Modern independent art film" choices for camera angles and dialogue. I just remember, "Would you love me, even with this beard?" Which I assume was supposed to be very vaginal and would lead to the art being lauded in some circles. Also there was some string that got cut, which, hey, umbilical cord. Hooray for subtlety I guess? Or just straight up incomprehensibility or unwatchability, as I walked out midway through and kinda stumbled back in later. But enough about my discomfort with the female form.

And onto pictures!

So first, we have a lovely lightbulb dress. It's wonderful, isn't it? I think it was in the feminist art section, which is where most of what we saw was, so groovy. I don't quite understand it- maybe something about the objectification of women by the fashion industry and their not caring about their comfort with what they wear? But then, I don't think they really got the point, since this dress would totally be able to pass on a runway I think. Ah well. I'll just go with it. It's not terrible looking on a stand I guess? Probably wouldn't want to approach someone actually wearing it. Why yes, I am just trying to pad for some space so there's not a huge blank space between the end of this business next to the picture and the start of the next one. Thank you for noticing. Do you come here often? Haven't seen you around much before- you should come by more! Bring your friends, too- they always help things.

My God- I think my blog just became as bitter and unsuccessfully ironic as that sculpture.

And onto a more interesting sculpture! Of course, I didn't take down names on these guys, because that would make way too much sense! But I like to call this one "Make 'Em Laugh." Some of you know why- you can explain to the class

Hint: It has to do with the mannequins and a song. Go to Youtube.

And while I really wanted to do that banana thing tonight, I'm exhausted and need to meet Susan II tomorrow (a cousin who's an English prof at Franklin College and is taking a group to France right now). Also I'm apparently scary when I'm tired. To which I say...

Ummm...

Nuh uh.