Beth Arnold

Letter From Paris: A Season for Festivals

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

---(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll)

And so it is time to talk of summer in France as the season for festivals.  From tiny villages like Conflans-sur-Anille where the Lone Wolf and I just witnessed a wonderful fireworks display, to Saint-Tropez where I marched in the parade of the Fête de la Bravade (how I loved it!), to Paris where our yearly Paris Plage has just begun.  (See my Paris Plage piece from last year here.)  It is the time of year for people to take lazier days, relax in the sunshine, breathe some fresh air, and for the arts to be celebrated outdoors with music, theater, dance, regional food and drink, and any other artistic endeavor you can think of.

We all get lessons in joie de vivre that have evolved through the history of France when we partake of the rich culture here.  Is it merrier in summer?  The answer is simply, yes.  Citizens and visitors alike are in holiday moods, and this is part of the summer charm one finds from north to south.  For me, it has always been impressive that every village provides cultural opportunities for its citizens as well as tourists who might be passing through, whether to watch a flamenco performance or to peruse the local museum.

What would we find in the U.S.?  Not that.  The closest thing we have to compare to these yearly fêtes are our County Fairs.  I haven't made it to one in years, though the Independence County Fairs in Batesville, Arkansas, are almost mythological in my memory.  We celebrated our local life and the men and women who lived it.  We rode carnival rides and ate cotton candy.  We ogled the prize-winning cakes and admired the livestock. 

Letter From Paris: An Education

Cover of An Education

A few months ago, the Lone Wolf and I hightailed it to the cinema to see the film An Education.   In case you haven't seen it, the movie is a coming-of-age story--the autobiographical memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber who has quite a good story to tell.

We were knocked out by it.  We loved the way the film was shot.  The period of 1961 England was captured as pure charm as were the performances of the perfect cast (as far as I was concerned), including Carey Mulligan who stole the show.  Watch out world.  A new Audrey Hepburn has arrived.  Ms. Mulligan is dripping with star-power.

When the film began, Mulligan was a schoolgirl, working extremely hard so she could get into Oxford.  By the end of the picture, her school work was hardly the education that she had received.

I recently watched a very funny and visionary TED talk of Sir Ken Robinson, who believes that we're educating people out of their creativity.  Robinson referred to this crisis of human resources as our "second climate crisis" and asserted that we needed to address it with the same urgency as global warming. 

Letter From Paris: It's Safe to Come Home Now

Crossposted at the HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

By guest columnist Carla Chanel, an American actress and writer who recently returned to Ventura, California, after living in Paris for the last four years.

I asked friend Carla Chanel to report on what it has been like for her to return home to the USA after her expat life in Paris.  Here's what she said:

My friend's email written a day after the Presidential election was short and to the point. "It's safe to come home now." 

A touch of bleeding heart liberal humor but nevertheless fitting.

As expatriates living in France for several years, we had seen Barack Obama become a sign of change not just for our nation but for the international community as well. The shops along the tourist-driven streets of Paris were filled with Obama tee-shirts. His face was on the cover of every magazine.  His name was part of every café conversation.

Letter From Paris: Diesel and Their Stupid Campaign

Image via Wikipedia

It was a holiday weekend (which accounts for just about the whole month of May), and the Lone Wolf and I were headed out to see Iron Man 2.  Why not, we said.  We had so much fun at the first Iron Man --good acting, big fun, a script I would have been thrilled to have written, and great special effects--that we happily would sit through another. 

Ladies, isn't Robert Downey Jr. pretty much always dreamy?!  You men like him, too, and why wouldn't you?  (I'm leaving out that horrible Tropic Thunder which should never have seen the light of day, even if he gave an Oscar-nominating performance.)

So L.W. and I are padding our way along the rue Montmartre to cross rue Etienne Marcel and head on over to Les Halles, when I spot one of the worst advertising campaigns I've seen in ages.  It happens to be under-thought by Diesel.  The brand has been renovating its store and put the revolting message billboards up to hide the work as well as (theoretically) to tantalize the passers-by.

This is a perfect example of the dumbing down of our culture.  No doubt the point for Diesel was to be uber cool.  Well, they missed their mark by the whole city (in its density and complexity) of Paris.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.  Diesel has created an ad campaign enticing people to "Be Stupid."

Exhibit A

Letter From Paris: On Location--Galerie Vero-Dodat 2

Yes, I had to return to the scene of the aesthetic at the Galerie Vero-Dodat (pictured on right) in Paris's 1st Arrondissement.  The images were too good--too luscious in art and style to keep from you.  (If you happened to miss the previous Vero-Dodat blog, click here.)

These are the windows of an art gallery on the left side of the passage, if one has entered from the rue Croix des Petits Champs.  It was showing decorative arts--as in these chairs--and sexy sophisticated images, one of which you'll find below.

Art & Chairs (with reflection of floor) in the Galerie Vero-Dodat  (Above)

Letter From Paris: Do You Feel The Shift?

Check out this trailer for an interesting film that's being made called The Shift:

For those who live in Paris, Moscow, New York, Sydney, London--all points around the globe--is the energy changing?  Yes or no...Do you feel the shift? 

Please let me know with your comments!

                                                        ---Beth Arnold in Paris

Letter From Paris: A Paris Valentine

Image via Wikipedia

Valentine's Day is taking hold in Paris.  A few Parisian Valentines I've seen around town:

 

Le Vin & l'Amour at BHV with roses and chocolates

Letter From Paris: Saints and Girls, Superlove for All

Image via Wikipedia

"Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gunna beat them Saints?"

I must congratulate the city of New Orleans and their Super-Bowl-winning Saints! (And for a little interesting history about their chant above, click here.)  Little ole me, who doesn't give a whit about sports, was rooting for you. 

What a beacon of hope the Saints have been to New Orleans...to everyone who lives in or loves this ravaged American city.  The Saints have focused the world's attention on their hometown, and their victory ensures new funds and energy will be poured into this city's regeneration.  We might as well just say this out loud, New Orleans is Paris South.  Both the French and Americans adore it.

(If you haven't seen Clint Eastwood's Invictus, go now.  The story of the South African rugby team making its countrymen proud and bringing them together in hope and the promise of a better future closely resembles what the Saints have just done for NOLA.  I didn't think I would like the film, and I was wowed.)

I see the Saints' Super Bowl win as a love letter to New Orleans, which couldn't be more appropriate a week from Valentine's Day!

Playwright Eve Ensler, best known for The Vagina Monologues, presented her own love letter to New Orleans two years ago.  (Men and boys, no clicking away.  This post is definitely meant for you, too.  If you're heterosexual, we know you love vaginas.  And if you're not, we know you love the package surrounding it.)

In iWorld

Crossposted at HuffingtonPost.  Comments not included here.

The promise of yet another fab Apple product in our iLives--the iPad--reminded me of this photo I took in Athens:

I am a huge Apple fan--but couldn't resist taking a snapshot of this T-shirt hanging outside a kitsch tourist shop in the Plaka.

                                                               ---Beth Arnold in Paris

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Letter From Paris: Crime As Justice

Image via Wikipedia

I can't nail down the reason.  But returning to Paris after the holidays has seemed tougher this year.  Can't seem to get enough sleep.   I am tired and feel confused about this and that.

I have been dazzled by the "energy" predictions for the year coming up, so where is my mojo?  That it's to be a year for transformation definitely rings my bell anytime, but is it more true now?  I don't know.  Yes, I love change, but sometimes I hate it.  Don't we all?  What's wrong with that?

Even letting my inner murderer out by watching Dexter, which is ever so satisfying, hasn't given me the lift that I'd like.  Daughter Bret is thrilled today that actor Michael C. Hall won the Golden Globe for his Robin Hood as serial killer performance.  I can happily go along with that, even though Dex didn't get to a couple of the show's 1st season characters that the Lone Wolf and I thought deserved chopping up.  Crime-As-Justice is a theme that American television seems to be handling very well.  How about you, Life, is that what you're brewing up for the next year?

Can it be that I haven't quite adjusted to my new neighborhood yet? 

Well, yes in fact I think that's part of it.  So along with the gratitude of the day that I'll choose, another of my New Year's plans is to get out more and explore my hood.  What is it like living on the edge of Paris?  I want to find Edith Piaf's trail and discover the artists and artisans who inhabit these hilly spaces.  I will meet more of my neighbors in Pere Lachaise.  I will get more exercise and computer a little less!

But in the meantime...Paris.  Here are some winter images on my return to my favorite city in the world:

 Gallery Vivienne in the 2nd Arrondissement, one of my favorite spots