Sexy like a raincoat.

The weekends keep coming at me like a soft kick in the gut--I could avoid them, but they're the only action I see.
Sebastien and I spent  last Friday enjoying the gardens at Versailles. It was predictably beautiful. Puffy white clouds sailed by us like free-form poems, aloft in a sky of pure blue jazz. Every now and then there was a breeze and it would cool the sweat beneath my hair, making me close my eyes in quiet appreciation.

Did anyone vomit after reading that? I hate when anyone uses "poem" or "jazz" in figurative language. You can find fresher images in a dumpster.
moving on. Fun photos, right?
Welcome to Paris' Indian Summer. Also known as the summer Paris forgot to include. Much as I love the sunshine and the short skirts, I could wear the fall like a cloak, special and singularly mine.  But it's all the rage, these days. And I'd have to take it off sometime.
Especially with all these vide greniers sales going on this time of year. It literally means empty your attic, and people sell amazing retro clothing, furniture and records for realistic prices. I bought a skirt, jacket, shirt and boots for 13 euros!
A hundred lesbians died on the cross of flannel envy when I made it clear that my shirt couldn't be bought.
I want to go back to the sidewalk sales this weekend but we'll have to see what I have time for...
We'll have a lot on our nerdy little plate as Sebastien is play-testing the game he has been working on. (More on that, next time)
Plus  I should start saving money for when Claudia comes to visit. We've been talking about going to London for the weekend when she comes through.
Claudia is my super cool friend from Canada. She and I met in New Orleans, where we worked on the cleanup after the storm. A lot of her radical friends gave her shit for going way down south to help out the 'mericans but it's like she told them...

She came to our wedding, much to everyone's pleasure, and a year before that, she met up with me in Paris durring my first visit to France. We spent two weeks traveling together, hanging out in the south and generally making a mess.

People loved us.

Sometimes you have those friends that you talk about seeing again and never do, like--you should totally come visit sometime! And they're like--yeah, I totally should. And they don't.  Ever.
Boo.
But Claudia isn't one of them. I'm hoping my luck will hold too, because a good friend of mine is leaving Paris for basically ever. She's a mega talented musician who's been living here for two years, working on her Master's. Plus she makes a bomb curry. Sigh, it's never easy parting ways, but the parting doesn't have to be as bad as this song is good:

Or as creepy as that video is creepy. I think he sings well, but he's all painty and pathetic in this vid. Plus, his chest hair is weird.

Ah well, guess I'll be seeing you later sports fans, I've got applications to submit ;)

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Autumn is for Erins

Basically homeboys, Fall is without a doubt my favorite season. If you had a time machine, my yesteryears would find me traipsing around corn mazes, carving pumpkins and eating apple butter. There were farmer's markets, long walks in the woods, Dim sum runs on Sundays and double tall pumpkin spice lattes spilling down my scarfs.
Things are different in France. The only Fall holiday they boast is All Saints Day...and it's kinda dead as holidays go. To be fair, I know of a Starbucks but I would never go there. The prices are outrages and I'd rather support local business. I'm not sure there will even be pumpkins to buy, let alone pumpkin pies.
Le sigh
I know it's back to school and everything, but I've started thinking Americans like the autumn so much because it was a large part of our nation's early heritage.

  But the colors of the leaves aren't the only ones to morph. Here in Paris, where the absence of trees is notable, it has been the store windows which have alerted me to the changing of the seasonal guard.  Thankfully, I adore boots and leather and I just love layers and lace. I admit that I've long thought gold was super tacky, but when paired with black the contrast can be every bit as classy as the mags always made them seem.
So here are a few of my fall choices. I either own pieces like them or am disregarding the females long enough to acquire the currency necessary for their acquisition.

Like anything that you see? Got anything in your closet that would turn my head? If you'd like to play with this app, go to polyvoreimg. And be sure to thank Angie, because it was her pirate day post that got me on this train.

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KROD

Did I ever tell you about a road trip I took with some of my college besties to Dollywood? Well, After seeing Jes' video submission for the Karaoke Ring of Death, you may ask me more about it...
If you feel like checking out my drunken video, head over to Struggling Twenty Something. (Totally do it, too. Because I have a very special guest blogger accompanying me!)
But don't forget to show Jes some love, things just sort of fell apart with her future husband, so you know...

Hey this is Jes, and when I am not failing German class, acting crazy in photo class, and wiping dirty butts, I write at a pretty famous blog called Jes Getting Started. Oh you havent heard of it before? Pfft. Since I do a pretty good explanation of why I picked the song I did in my video, I figure maybe I should explain a little bit about my video in general. Have you ever seen one of my raw, uncut emotional break down video blogs? Yeah, so maybe I keep them that way on purpose or it could have to do with the fact that I have zero editing skills. But hazah! I got a new laptop with a web cam, that kind of makes it sound like Darth Vader is chilling in the next room, and some very basic video editing software. My video ended up being filmed in two parts. First my intro, which was done Saturday night pre any adult fun, but yet still makes me seem hyper and just a tiny bit off my rocker. And then the second part of my video where I am clearly hung over and heart broken over losing my future husband in a bar to a girl possibly name Joleen.

Karaoke - Soundtracks from Jes Getting Started on Vimeo.

Ok, that was great! Although it begs the question...have you ever heard a nice song about a lady named Jolene? Note to self...skip that name pour le bebe. Make sure you check out all the other posts, we've got a lot of tallent out here tonight!

You have read this article 20sb / blog swap / Karaoke / KROD with the title September 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://trendcelebrity2014.blogspot.com/2011/09/krod.html. Thanks!

The Water Castle Gang

I live close to a metro in Paris who's given nomen translates to the metro, "Water Castle." Sounds rather more magnanimous than it English equivalent:  water tower, if you ask me. But even though it's not the most high brow arrondissement,  living near the metro Water Castle totally makes me feel like, on my commute home from work a bar, I might be in for a little gate-sieging.  I mention this only as a means to mention the reoccurring parties we've been throwing at our colocation.

We've had some turnover here at our
flat but we're back up to 9, and as soon as we were, we had a monster party to commemorate it. That's right friends, I am reporting to you live from the aftermath of the third installment of the water castle party. And this one was our biggest yet. We had over 10 nationalities represented and 40 guests all told.

A few highlights: As some of you already know that blond blogger babe from Sweeney Says has recently moved to Paris and thanks to the magics of facebook and twitter, showed up with some new friends from her grad program to our house party!!!1!1!!!!111!!!ONE. So that was awesome. You've all doubtlessly met people from the internet before so you may be expecting that our encounter would be awkward, but really the only thing that was weird for me was the hello. And not because, "oh hi--you're from the internet please don't dump my body in the river," but because we're in Paris...and I'm used to giving cheek kisses...and it's always a really weird with Americans...especially recent Parisian converts.
Worse comes to worse you just hug it out...
I heard somewhere that you can tell a person our age is American IF they know the Fresh Prince of Bell Air theme song...and boy did we ever...

And so I guess that's how I kicked off my day of never-forgetting. Now I've ranted plenty on other people's blogs and I promised myself I wouldn't do a september 11th post but I have to say I am fed up and ashamed of the way the occidental world is framing this event. Somebody's mother compared it to the holocaust on Facebook, called me a "fucking idiot" and said that she had to leave the thread because she was becoming too emotionally involved. I told her she should leave the thread to do a numbers check. But before you think I'm a total unpatrotic asshat I ask you to consider two things:

1. I know all the words to the fresh prince of bell air theme song
2. I still consider 9/11 a tragedy.

However, from a more global perspective it's not the first event of it's kind nor will it be the last. And it's just the sort of arrogance that the media coverage perpetuated which has allowed and even fostered an environment where America's enemies feel justified taking such extreme actions. We do not exist in a vacuums and they didn't attack us because they hate freedom. /Rant

                                                

Game on.

Here are a few images from the night's festivities...

Damn, I kinda feel like these are food pictures...you know what I mean? Like when someone posts a meal they've made and they're extra proud but you look at it and go---that's just piles of stuff on a plate, what's the BFD? Well my first thought is to crame more images of my culinary masterpieces down your throat. Here comes the plane.........mmmmmmmrrrrrrwaaaaaaarrhw!

I'll also bring up the fact that Sebastien had to get up for work at seven and it our flat wasn't at a sleeping volume until around 5:30. But if that doesn't work, I'll focus on the aftermath. All of our dishes were dirty or broken. The kitchen floor looked like someone gave it a creative bath in Wiskey, wine and beer and there were plates of cheese residue everywhere.

Really? who puts their cigarettes out in a measuring cup?!  What, do you hate cookies or something?

I am a drunk fuck and I violently oppose the birth of new cookies

Sometimes after a really killer party you might be tempted to say "I'm never going to drink again"--in-between bouts of throwing up small amounts of water and wishing you were dead, that is. But after a party like this, I walked to the kitchen to make Seba his breakfast and as I was clearing a spot of him so he could he sit down to eat, I heard myself thinking--  I never wanted to host a party again. Now, much like the I-never-want to-drink-again pledge, I really meant-- ok, this is the last big blast for awhile. But hours later when I and a friend started collecting the trash and finding countertops and tables secreted beneath, one of my new coloc came awoke to the sound of glass on glass and joined us in the kitchen. Not only did he help us get things squared away, he then cooked us brunch, with fresh squeezed orange juice and everything! 

And so in conclusion: I'll remind myself and others, as with any territorial beast, at times tribal living offends my senses and sensibilities. 

But then you have a party like this, that ends in a clean up like that--and not only is my sense of community revitalized but my faith in my fellow flatmates is restored. It's a roller coaster; we can't always have good days, but in the end, it's all love.

Well, love, panna cotta and rock and roll, atanyrate. 

You have read this article coloc / Game on / Paris / party / Sweeney Says / Water Castle / Waynes World with the title September 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://trendcelebrity2014.blogspot.com/2011/09/the-water-castle-gang.html. Thanks!

Google + Is it right for you?

Why I started using Google +

Yeah, but I mean, it wasn't that expensive. 

Some people come late to sex, still others come late to school. The only time I am ever late for anything is when I plan to be. I self identify as a geek. Not so much a nerd, because my number sense is a multiple of 'meh' divided by haven't I tested out of this yet?, and not a dork either, specifically because my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. I mean, I could teach you, but...

Now when we're talking devices, the savvy geek always waits for the 2.0, maybe even the 4.0, to end up on Newegg or Priceminister. The spendy geek, by contrast, ends up with a device two sizes un-chique.

However, if we're talking applications, all geeks are expected to be on the Beta. It's not  a matter of pride, it's a force of habit. Not on Pottermore yet? Well, I guess I don't hold it against you...

 Jokes aside, Google plus offers some features both in privacy and organization that Facebook can not. It also borrows some fun elements that we've come to associate with Twitter and Skype, managing to wrap them all up into a pleasurable user experience that still has the power of exclusivity working for it, the way Facebook no longer does.

How I chose to organize my circles:
Circles are comprable to "groups" on Facebook in that you can close off information shared there from other users. On Facebook, this is a useful distinction if you only want to share something with your flatmates, or just people who went to your university, but on Google plus, that is the only way to share.
When you first open your account you have a few circles already lined up for you that you can add or remove persons from them.

The four circles that G+ sets as defaults are Friends, Family, Acquaintances and Following. I think the scale they are working with is one based on level of intimacy. But the family circle in my life is made redundant by the accountancies as both groups would likely object to the same sorts or articles, videos, images and language. Furthermore, following implies a non-congruency in our relationship and would therefor be reserved for celebrities.

Sadly, although it got all my irony amplifiers turned up to 11 to have Tom from Myspace in my circles, it so happens that celebrities have much too large an output for any of my other friends to show up in my feeds. Sorry Ms Day, for the record, I did want to date your avatar.
I took the organizing of my circles very seriously and when it belatedly occurred to me that "How could I not?" was the all catching receptacle for family and the uptight AND coworkers, I was more than just a wee bit smug.
I've seen a lot images on the net with derisive titles for circles but I don't need more than one group of people I don't want to talk to. In fact, most of the people, like my boss or my mom, that I will have to add out of politeness haven't even migrated yet. Considering that Dante had seven circles of Hell, I'm feeling pretty good about having narrowed it down to one.

I've been a user for some months now and I'm still uncovering functions and menus. The visual aspects of the user experience are well crafted.  On Facebook, making chat lists was a tedious process for me. The fact that many of the lists had to be compiled retroactively, coupled with the fact that they keep changing the parameters for chat, only added to its uselessness. About the only solid implementation I was pleased to encounter was group-only chat. This is a feature I've often-times used with my flatmates, but it is restricted to text-only at this point, so it's a better competitor for Gchat and AIM than Hangouts, FaceTime, Huddle or Skype.

Why Hangouts could put Skype out of business:

It's great to be a niche function, but multi-tasking is the surer path to longevity. I've used Hangouts a few times and been very satisfied with the results. By contrast, as Skype's popularity has grown, I've had more dropped calls and even more garbled conversation or lag in video. 

Beyond that, Skype still expects us to pay for group-chat when Google Plus has an exceptional platform, free of charge. Skype clearly isn't showing the adaptability that Facebook is, or the niche appeal that Twitter provides. This factor, ahead of any other, is the one reason I am likely to see my relatives migrating to Google Plus in the near future. And don't worry, Grandma--there is a games tab waiting. ;)
Why I still maintain my Facebook:
Google Plus, for all of its wonders, doesn't have enough going on for me socially yet. My pictures, videos and almost everyone I stalk are all still on Facebook. If you are facing the same dilemma, head on over to this Life Hacker article to learn how to migrate your videos, pictures, and how to update both profiles at once!
Predictions for future social networking:

There is no question that Facebook is still the leader on the board and they've shown fluency in reacting to and incorporating innovations, but there is something about newness that users like. When Facebook finished its cycle as a University-only site, there were users who swore to log out forever. Chances are they've changed their tune. We want to be connected. We want to be informed. We want an easy way to stay in touch with cool people we meet on vacation. Facebook is still that site. 

Competition is good. A lot of people are looking at Google Plus as just one more site they will have to manage. But I see it as a way to keep Facebook, or any of its serious competitors, fresh and innovative. Competition will ultimately lead to users getting more of the features we want--such as easier to navigate privacy options and greater transparency in ownership of the information shared. And so I leave you with this:

At bare minimum it's good news. Your move, Facebook.

You have read this article Circles / Google Plus / Laughing Squid Links / Life Hacker / Myspace / Pottermore / Skype / The Guild / The Oatmeal / Twitter with the title September 2011. You can bookmark this page URL http://trendcelebrity2014.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-is-it-right-for-you.html. Thanks!