Carney

The song is sexy and Reeve has a super sexy voice, so much so that I'll forgive the fact that he is dating a Veronica. Plus, he played the younger version of Ethan Hawke's character in Snow Falling on Cedars!

[image via cinemovies]

Hand sanitiser? Oh I didn't see your scrubs, didn't realise you were going in to perform a delicate operation.

Went to the chemist today and saw a sign that got my blood boiling. It basically said (roughly translated) 'use this hand sanitiser to prevent the spread the H1M1 virus'. This is completely bullshit and just preying on people's ignorance and misinformation about bacteria, viruses and diseases. First of all, hand sanitiser kills bacteria, it cannot, and does not, kill viruses. And what is H1NI? A virus. I don't know why people feel the need to use hand sanitiser every two minutes. People need to stop and realise that we have survived for millenia without ever needing hand sanitiser. Things like hand sanitiser and the overuse of antibiotics just promotes the development and proliferation of superbugs, because only those bugs that survive the onslaught will multiply, creating super resistant bacteria that many of the best antibiotics cannot kill. This whole super clean, disinfected world we now live in also promotes things like allergies (that's a whole other story right there) and serious infections, since our immune systems are so weak and unused to foreign invasion that the smallest infection can be serious.

So do me, yourself, and the world a favour and throw out the hand sanitisers. All it does is dehydrate your hands and cost you a fortune.

Season 4 now plz, kthnxbi

Finally finished watching all 3 seasons of Mad Men. I can't figure out if I'm actually attracted to Jon Hamm or only when he's Don Draper.

Also, Vincent Kartheiser has the most beautiful hands ever.

And just for shits and giggles:



[images via ontd and amctv]

This looks shiteous

Nobody in their right mind would choose Chris Egan over Gael Garcia Bernal.

Birds and Balenciaga

The pigeons in this city are rather more rotund than their Australian cousins. They must be eating the food that the women here aren't.

I spied some Balenciaga shoes in le Bon Marché.

Yet more shopping...

Basically have not stopped shopping since I've been in Paris but have not purchased much as yet. Got a cropped chunky knit sweater from H&M and a sweet pair of corduroy jodphur trousers from Zara. Tried on a gorgeous leather jacket from Mango but they did not have my size. I'm going to go to all the Mango stores in paris to see if I can track one down that fits. Saw the sickest, softest, cotton motorcycle jacket from BCBG Max Azria, am contemplating splurging on it.

I also have a (sort of) funny story. My Yves Saint Laurent Besace bag used to set off the security checks in every store, both in Australia and here in Paris. I was stopped by the security guard in Printemps and I explained to him that I suspected that there was something inside the bag which was doing it. He very nicely took me to some luxury bag SA's nearby who helped me to try to figure out the problem. As they were looking for the culprit, they were giving my bag a good ol' feel up and exclaiming in French at the quality of it. All the while I am looking on, feeling a mixture of amusement and embarassment that there was a half eaten Twix bar inside my bag. They eventually found the little tag and thanked me at the end, assumedly for me letting them feel my bag? Whatever, I'm just glad they were nice to me.

Random thoughts and photos of the city of lights

Here is what I've noticed:
-There are dogs everywhere, including on the metro and the owners do not clean up after them. This makes for some digusting Parisian streets; thank god for the rain to (sort of) wash it away.
-Parisian people aren't unfriendly, probably just misunderstood. Other that my little confrontation with the landlord, most Parisians I find are nice people but don't necessarily like talking to strangers. So I guess don't expect the kind of initial friendliness you get in say, anglosaxon countries.
-The women here do like heels but nothing particularly high for day to day wear, mostly just 2 or 3 inch chunky heeled boots seem to be the uniform during winter.
-The high schoolers here are pretty much just as annoying as anywhere else and the girls seem to wear as much makeup as anywhere else too. They seem to snap out of it when they get older thought since the women in their 20's and up like the au natural look.
-It really is the city of love with lots of couples necking in public, even (or especially) the middle aged ones.
-I don't find Paris particularly expensive although many I talk to do. I think groceries are actually significantly cheaper than in Australia but services or eating out at restaurants and cafes may tend to be more expensive. The shopping here is brilliant/dangerous for me. I don't want to be stuck with beautiful clothes but not be able to pay rent (which is sky high).
-The champs-elysees is full of tourists and people selling little Eiffel Tower statues and keyrings.
-The metro is generally awesome but some of the stations have a distinct smell of urine.
Here are some ugly happy snaps FYT: I'm the one giving my best stupid grin...

Strolling the avenue

Laura and I went decided to go to the Champs Elysées to check out the sales and buy our sim cards from the Virgin Megastore. It was my first time on the Champs and it did not disappoint. Other than the Virgin Megastore (which did live up to its name) we also went into Zara and Sephora on the famous avenue. I also spotted the Vuitton flagship so I couldn't resist taking a snap. After that we went on the (sort of) parallel Boulevard Haussmann where (IMHO) there are even better stores. I took snaps outside Printemps and we went into Galeries Lafayette. I could not resist taking look at the Balenciaga bags, even though I will wait until I get to London to purchase mine. And yes, I did also grope them a little (the bags not the SA's). Also was rather excited that the Balenciaga fragrance has been released and I believe France was the first place to get it. I took a card and boy, it did not disappoint me at all. Yes, I am biased because I have an almost obsessive love for Balenciaga and anything Nicolas Ghesquière does, but my olfactories were genuinely aroused by this scent. I think my euros are in trouble. Will probably purchase later, within 3 months of my departure, so that I get a VAT refund. Also checked out H&M and Mango. Was rather disappointed not to find the two items I really coveted from the F/W collection which was the pirate blouse and the black and white printed dress that Sasha P wore in the ads :(. Did not end up buying anything except Chocolate biscuits and sweets from Franprix. Without further ado, my poorly shot happy snaps:

The view outside Printemps. The exterior seems to be more impressive that GL's but I can't speak for the interior since I did not have time to go inside

Nearly neglected to mention that it was first day at Sciences Po today, we had a nice welcome thing and met some of the people who dealt with the international students. Everyone was friendly and obliging etc and I can already tell it will be a really great study and social environment for me to be in.

Update

My camarade de chambre L and I have decided to stalk the upcoming Paris men's F/W10 shows because we want to and we can, photos will follow if I spot anyone worth photographing (fingers crossed for at least some of the French Success army). Went to Tang Frères (the giant Asian supermarket in the 13th) today and stocked up on food. Arms and shoulders are now ridiculously tired from carrying it all home. First day at Sciences Po tomorrow but it's only the welcome programme/orientation so it should be good fun.

Je suis arrivée

Have finally touched down in Paris after having survived a couple of miserable plane trips. When I get here, my landlord decides to act like the stereotypical Parisienne, not letting me have the flat until I pay her the full amount for the month's rent plus all the bond. We had already paid her half the rent and I could pay the full amount for bond, only reason I could not give her the rest was because the money that I transferred over specifically to pay her the remaining 600 euros had not arrived. Even through our communication she never stated that she needed the full amount upfront; rather, she had told me that she preferred it so that she would not have to come the next day (since I asked if my roommate could pay her the rest when she arrives the following day). I even offered to wire the remaining money into her account so that she would not have to make another trip. But no, she gave me her best bitch face and flatly refused. People had warned me about Parisians, including other Parisians, but I always thought that they were just misunderstood. Let's hope the other people of this fair city are not all like Bitchface Landlady. /RANT

Thoughts

Had dinner by the river near my house. Excuse the shitastic lighting of the photos. Arm is paining me after getting the ~H1M1 (happy, WHO?) vaccine. My ears have taken a fancy to the new Vampire Weekend album.

Do want.

[image from ebay]

Replica Dillon Panthers T-Shirt. Maybe Riggins will lend me his...

Just for lolz

[image via ontd]

¿Dónde la Playa?

Went to Cottesloe beach today and got blasted by what felt like a mini sandstorm. If I was a pokemon I would have lost a lot of HP [/nerd comment]. Got rather lost trying to locate Stirling Highway after leaving. It took a while before I swallowed my pride and consulted the street directory, during which time we got more lost.

And happy (Gregorian calendar) new year!