castalie | Entries tagged with rl: france

So there's been a bit of unrest in France lately due to the government's plan to overhaul labour laws; in my university students are actively engaged in the protests and yesterday there were rumours about them upping the ante and doing a blockade within the university walls. It has been done before. This time, though, due to security measures, TPTB decided that they would close the university. So we received a text pretty late last night telling us not to bother setting our alarms and to stay in bed in the morning instead. Well, that's how I read it, in any case ;) So I worked from home today. In case anyone is worried, I handled the situation just fine ;)

Fastforward to this evening when a mail was sent from the dean's office; turns out a hundred protesters broke into the university and caused some damage. The police was sent. It was a mess. We'll see the damage once we're allowed back there.

I also had a Skype appointment with my thesis advisor and can now officially start the heavy work on aforemetioned thesis (it was high time!).

So that was an interesting day.

Although, the one event that has been on my mind all day definitely has nothing do with work or my thesis or whatnot. All I can think about is Daredevil coming back tomorrow (ha, today even as it's past midnight). My excitement is off the charts, you guys, don't even think of trying to measure it!

So tomorrow, as soon as I'm back home, I'll plant myself in front of the telly, get on Netflix and proceed to have All The Feelings. Oh, I cannot wait ♥

To distract me and help with the wait, I'll take a little break from my Captive Prince fic reading (which is going splendidly, btw!) and read some DD fic (which, admittedly, doesn't make such a difference from any other normal day, so what?). I'll make a valiant effort not to count the hours ;)

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/779981.html

We woke up to the news of the French police launching an assault on some terrorists staying in St Denis (parisian suburbs) this morning. I've seen some people talk about a new shooting in Paris, this is not exactly accurate; it was the police and military attacking the terrorists (although, obviously, they riposted and, yes, explosions and shootings ensued but it wasn't another attack, is what I mean).

They've closed the whole neighbourhood and, as luck would have it, my sister had to be at her university today, right in the city, of course. She heard about the news upon arriving there so couldn't go back (you'd think they would warn their students via text messages or what not, you'd be wrong). There's nothing to be worried about as far as she's concerned as the raid happened elsewhere in the city but, you know, she's physically at her uni around four days a year (she studies online) and they had to pick that week to organise their seminar, talk about timing! Anyway, she's with some of her friends in one of the café on campus, waiting for the authorities to let them leave (obviously all classes have been cancelled). [ETA: she's on her way home as of right now]

This week is all kinds of weird but i'm thinking things are going to calm down from now on? I'll go back to my regular posts very soon \o/

Anyway. This isn't what I meant to talk about. I wanted to share some pictures with you. Yesterday after work, Angélique and I went to the Champ de Mars to wait for the Eiffel tower to "don" her new (temporary) colours. She (I can't help but think of her in English as we do in French, as a 'she') was absolutely beautiful. It was quite moving, as you can imagine. I thought you might enjoy seeing her as well. ( A couple of pictures behind the cut )

Also, thank you, flist, for listening and humouring me after my last entry. I think I needed to vent and your responses were incredibly sweet *hugs*

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/775178.html

The days following a terrorist attack are so odd... especially when said attacks have occurred after a weekend, maybe. There's this sort of dissonance between RL life (going back to work, resuming your usual activities) and the feeling that RL has been suspended for a while. The country is still in shock and still trying to make sense of what happened and, at the same time, the country is resuming its everyday life... except your mind is still on the victims and the madness that happened just 48 hours ago. This morning I couldn't help thinking of those 129 people who would never go back to work, would never go back to class, would never start a new week. What about the 350 wounded, the 80 whose lives still hang in the balance? What about those who survived, physically unscathed but forever changed?

At noon today a minute of silence was held everywhere in France (and across Europe as well?), we all gathered in the courtyard of our university and after the speech, they gave the names of the students from our university who had been killed. There were two of them, Vincent and Valeria. It was to be expected, many Parisian universities have lost one of their own over the weekend - teachers, staff or students - but it was still... odd. The world is a much smaller place than you'd think; all day I've been in contact with people who knew someone who lost someone during the attacks. I guess when you attack such "common" locations, there's a familiarity that makes things so much more difficult. You know those places, you've been there or your family, your friends. There's no real distance between you and the "crime scenes", I guess. If that makes sense.

And we're thinking of the aftermath... people are angry, sad, worried. I've had a sort of heated argument with some of my cousins on Sunday, they were saying we should cancel our outings in the upcoming weeks, maybe the upcoming months, my aunt was ranting about "not playing heroes, we're not living in a comic book" and I kept thinking, this is it, it's starting.... How is going to the restaurant being a hero? Should we just stay home from now on? For how long? Being smart is one thing, ok, but how can you be smart and careful when just living your life? Taking public transport, going to the cinema, to a restaurant, to a fucking concert! GD and I were supposed to see Years and Years tonight at the Casino de Paris but the gig has been cancelled... are we supposed to stop going to concerts altogether? Go back in ten months? Charlie Hebdo was ten months ago, how can you predict anything?

The Christmas season is upon us... that time of the year when crowds gather in malls and shops, in the streets, when people go to even more shows, spend an afternoon at the Christmas markets, enjoy a couple of hours at the Galeries Lafayette to see the window displays, should we be afraid? Not go? Is going being stupid? Will it be our fault if something happens to us then?

I also know we shouldn't even have this type of conversation so soon after the facts, I really do. We're reacting emotionally not rationally. I'm also sorry about all this, which is clearly the kind of discourse only privileged people would have. I keep thinking of those people who live in a country where those attacks happen on a regular basis, who live in a country at war, where fear is just part of their lives. But that's it, we're not used to it, we're lucky and privileged, we live our lives unaware of that kind of threat and thing is, 2015 has been a reminder that such is not the case everywhere and, yeah, it sucks.

I think I'll end this entry with this absolutely brilliant video of John Oliver sharing his feelings over the attacks and sending a message to terrorists: Fuck you assholes. Thank you, sir.

(I promise I'll try not to ramble too much here and spam you with disturbing content, or egoistical entries, but I think I just need to let go of some feelings right now...)

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/775013.html

It doesn't seem that long since I posted about the Charlie Hebdo killing and the ones that followed right after...and here I am again today, ten months later, to comment on the abject, surreal and so horrifying events that occurred last night in Paris.

I'm spending the weekend with the FP in Tours, away from Paris, and we just could not believe what was happening. Absolutely could not. It still doesn't seem real today. We've been glued to our phones and laptops all night (Rosie doesn't have a tv), texting family and friends making sure everyone was safe. They were. Thank God.

(I didn't know about this feature but FB activated a "safety check" notification, meaning people located in the affected area could “mark themselves safe,” which sent an alert to friends and followers. Hopefully it's not something they'll have to enable again anytime soon...)

Our thoughts go to the ones who lost a family member, a friend in the attacks.

We're still in shock and trying to make sense of a completely senseless act. To think some people live like that every day of their lives...

President Hollande has declared a state of emergency, events have been cancelled, public places closed (museums, many - all? - cinemas, malls etc.). We're entering a three-day national mourning...

Btw, make sure you're looking for the sources of the articles you'll be linked to or the pictures you'll be seeing; I've been seeing a picture of a Parisian crowd with "Not afraid" cards that was said to have been taken last night. It wasn't. It was taken last January. First, no-one was in the state of mind to organise such a gathering (even spontaneous), everyone was glued to their screens following the events and trying to understand what was happening, second, state of emergency means there's no gathering allowed for the time being.

Anyway, this isn't the point of this. The point of this is, last night was horrifying and sad. Let's all take a moment to be grateful for our loved ones, safe and sound around us *hugs*

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/774709.html

If you find yourself in the vicinity of the St Michel neighbourhood tomorrow, you might want to wait around as something pretty big is happening there, to be more precise at what we call the montagne Sainte-Geneviève; four Resistance members are going to be interred at the Panthéon (they'll reopen the monument right after the ceremony). The reason why this is a huge deal to me (and to many others) is the fact that among those four resistants are two women. Which, obviously, is a huge deal because a) too often it feels like women are forgotten when talking about the Resistance (what a shocker, I know) and b) there are so very few women interred at the Panthéon (like, Marie Curie and Sophie Berthelot? That's two women for, what, seventy men? No comment).

So yes it is so important, essential even, that next to Pierre Brossolette and Jean Zay are Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion, two ladies who joined the Resistance during WWII, survived concentration camps and whose friendship was born there and apparently lasted till the end of their lives. Somehow, to have them join the Panthéon together is even more beautiful.

Anyway. Tomorrow is my birthday and we'll celebrate it in the evening at my parents' so I won't be able to go but I'll make sure to visit the Panthéon sometime in the next months.

Btw, I don't know if it'll interest you or gross you out but, ok, if you wan to be technical only Jean Zay's remains will be buried at the Panthéon, as such. The three other coffins will be more or less empty; Pierre Brossolette's will contain his ashes as the man was cremated at the Père Lachaise, as for Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion, at the request of their families, their bodies will remain where they were originally buried so their coffins will contain a bit of soil from their respective burial sites. It's not common per se, but not unheard of.

ETA: fun fact (and good timing), Cookie is there at the moment for work and she just sent a video of the rehearsal; even better yet, she filmed just when they were playing the Chant des Partisans which is a favourite song of mine, although it always makes me cry

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/770643.html

I meant to update last Sunday but I felt so high from what I'd experienced that I thought it might be a good idea to wait a little till I was back on Earth. I wasn't expecting to wait almost a whole week but you know how it is... Of course, after a whole week, I feel like I've said all I had to say about last Sunday, so I won't talk (write?) your ears off, promise ;) It's just that l had such an amazing experience at the Marche Républicaine that was organised after last week's attacks that I wanted to record it on my LJ as well as my little planner (that is already bursting from all the journal pieces that I've cut and put inside, poor little thing).

To be honest, I wasn't that keen on joining the march, at first. I'd already gone to the vigil and I felt that aforementioned march would be too political for my taste. Especially with the news that international leaders would join in; I feared there would be a fair amount of hypocrisy in the air because of this. In the end, I decided that I would see past it all and just join all the citizens that wanted to rally and unite, not because of politics (although I know politics is never far away) but because it was important to them to go in the street and basically express their feelings over what had happened the previous days. Again, I'm aware of the controversy of taking the street after 17 people have been killed when no-one really says anything when hundreds, when thousands in other countries are for the same reasons (or even other reasons). I'm just saying it was important to us to be there, it was important to me, and I feel that one shouldn't try to shame or ridicule people whose only goal was to gather in peace to express their shock and sadness over a shocking and sad event.

Anyway, all that to say, I abandoned the FP who I was supposed to meet for our annual New Year Afternoon Tea to join the March and I do no regret it, it was amazing. I'd never seen so many people in my whole life, it was this endless line of people, felt like it would never stop.

They'd closed many stops on the metro line I took to go to République (the starting point of the march) so I, and many others, stopped a bit further way, which means we had to first reach République, which wasn't an easy feat as it was so packed that it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. It's basically a twenty-minute walk on a normal day. Sometimes you just couldn't walk at all and just stood there, taking with people around you, applauding, singing...

It wasn't just the street, the pavement was packed with people participating in the march but unable to get on the actual street as it was just impossible to add another human being there sometimes. We would go online on our smartphones and follow the news via Twitter and I remember showing some of the pics I'll show you below to people around me and we were all "ok, I guess, we're not going to make it to Nation, after all, right? Not till 9.00PM at least." We joked that if we made it to République, it would be our own victory, but when we finally made it, we just kept going.

It was so calm, so peaceful. More than one million people marched in the street of Paris (we were more than 3 millions all over the country) but it remained peaceful, which is something to be grateful for. With so many people, it could have turned aggressive or violent quite fast, especially as emotions were so high but it never did and nothing spoilt the event.

Let me tell you how incredible it is to be in the middle of such a crowd. To sing with them, to hear all those voices at the same time. Damn. I recorded one of the times when we sang La Marseillaise and ooooh goosebumps! It was something; you would hear this sort of wave coming from ahead of you, an indistinct sound at first, then as it came closer you would hear what it was, either "Je suis Charlie" ou "Charlie n'est pas mort" and other slogans or La Marseillaise etc. then it reached you, you joined, and you could hear the words/song keep going behind you.

A couple of pics (not mine) that should give you an idea of how many people were present. It was like that in every city where the March was organised. It was the first time since the Libération in 1944 that so many people took the streets. ( Stunning, isn't it? )

So, yes, that was amazing. I'm so glad I went. It was a wonderful experience, even if the reasons behind it was so incredibly wrong. At least, it led people to this moment of unity, it has to count for something.

Incidentally, when the people involved in the Manif Pour Tous, the homophobic march against same-sex wedding, did their own two years ago, they kept bragging about the huge crowds and telling the media that a million people had taken the streets. Obviously no-one believed them but that was their figures and they stuck by it. Well, now that we actually saw what a million people taking the streets really look like, let me tell you we had a good laugh at their expense ;)

Anyway, that was how I spent my Sunday.

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/767244.html

Apologies to the French among my flist who might want a break from the whole madness that has been life in Paris the past few days but I'm still thinking of Charlie Hebdo and the aftermath, especially as yesterday was another day of pure insanity. It was a very tense, emotional day... I know I'm (we are) speaking from a privilege point of view, as in I'm lucky enough to live in a country when things like that do not happen, which also means it is all the more shocking for us when they do. I have made my peace with the fact I have so many feelings about events that are not impacting me personally; I've talked to many family members and friends and from what I'm hearing/seeing, everyone has been shaken up, so I'm just accepting that this is how I feel for the moment.

When I said that people were riveted to their screens on Wednesday after the Charlie Hedbo shooting, it was nothing, I think, compared to yesterday when Paris and Ile-de-France had to deal with two hostage situations, simultaneously. Both linked to the shooting since the ones responsible were the brothers and another man who was linked to them. What made it so incredibly tense was that, as usual in this day and age, we basically followed the whole thing live. For bad or good, the media just makes you part of the events.

At least it's over now. It is sad that, in the end, the different shootings put the death toll at 17 people overall (iirc).

The city is still in mourning and you can see many memorial signs everywhere, from the Arc de Triomphe to people wearing Je suis Charlie badges here and there. Even though we'll remember that first week of 2015, very soon we'll go back to our lives, contrary to those who lost a family member, a friend, a co-worker during the attacks, contrary to those who did survive said attacks. Now though everyone seems to be united in their "national grief" and shock, and although it is sad to think that people seem to really only rally when strategy strikes, I can't deny it is still a powerful and beautiful thing to witness. At least it is possible.

Speaking of which, Cookie and I were able to go to République on thursday night. ( Couple of pictures of the vigil/gathering behind the cut )

If you're used to going to gatherings and marches, you'll know how powerful those can be. As far as I'm concerned, it's still a novelty; I very rarely join them - almost never, actually - and it was very moving to be there and sing and hold signs with so many people.

So many cartoonists have paid tribute to the victims with their cartoons the past two days but other artists joined as well, using their own media including Grand Corps Malade and JB Bullet, whose songs are both gorgeous. To be precise, Bullet's is a cover (well, he used the tune but he created the lyrics), Grand Corps Malade is a brand new song.

Now though, if only we could prevent certain political parties from using the shooting to make a stand. But that's another story altogether.

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/767190.html

So I started writing an entry not long after I posted my last one but in light of what happened in Paris yesterday, it felt a bit inappropriate to go into fannish and mundane talks.

Yesterday has been so odd, you guys. Internet and social media always add another dimension to events like what happened at the office of Charlie Heddo. Because you follow everything live, you follow things as they happen. And it did feel like everyone was riveted to their screens all day, following by the minute what was happening and trying to make sense of a senseless act. My family has a Whatsapp group where we exchange daily about just about everything that happens in our lives and since yesterday we've been in a messaging frenzy. Especially as one of my cousins is in the Gendarmerie nationale.

As I said yesterday, I know, rationally, that there have been worse attacks in the past. In a world when men can break into a school and shoot hundred of kids, you can just expect everything. But I suppose proximity makes everything more painful somehow (and how egoistical is this, really? But such is life) and the fact that the shooting happened literally in the same city where I work, at the office of a magazine we all know in France (although I've never been a reader of Charlie Hebdo, and will not start now) just made it all the more shocking. And the reason behind the attack, so incredibly senseless, insane... how could it come to this?

Also, one of the casualties was part of my childhood (and the childhood of most of my generation) as Cabu was the cartoonist of one of the most (if not the most) famous (and beloved) French childhood program in the 80/90s. We were all "not 'our' Cabu", surely? It shouldn't make a difference, should it? Again, somehow, it does. But more than this, it is the whole idea behind the crime that shocked and outraged people.

I worked till past 8.00PM yesterday and couldn't really go to Place de la République for the vigil but my parents went in our stead and it felt a little bit like we were with them. I love that they went together. I'll try to go tonight after work. Behind the cut a little collage of the three pics they took ( the three pics they took )

Here's another one, from twitter this time, that should give you an idea of how many people gathered at République yesterday.

Today has been declared a national day of mourning and people have been paying tributes to the victims (all of them, incuding the policemen), everyone hold a minute of silence at noon, the bells of Notre Dame tolled in mourning, subway drivers stopped their trains, tonight the Eiffel Tower will switch off lights as well. It is so odd seeing a country in mourning.

And there was this other shooting this morning, which is keeping everyone in suspense because apparently it is not linked to yesterday's event but another policeman (policewoman, in this case) was killed and there's a manhunt and what the hell is going on? The world is crazy. Not a surprise. Nothing new, but still...

Anyway. Yesterday was odd. And sad. Needed to let that out.

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/766828.html

I don't know if you heard but our Marriage and Adoption For All bill officially became law on Friday \o/ The very first same-sex wedding is set for next week and though I want to congratulate Vincent and Bruno for being the first gay couple to say "Yes" in France, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes; I'd be afraid that some far-right and/or catholic nut jobs (note that I'm not saying all Catholics are nut jobs - I'm Catholic myself, after all - I'm merely talking about those nut jobs who happen to be Catholics and who have been marching and protesting and spurting hurtful things since the bill was announced) decide to disrupt the ceremony. Those homophobic assholes even have their very own "martyr" now (trigger warning: suicide talk in the article), this is sure to make some of them even more determined to, sadly, keep being assholes. I truly hope that if they do disrupt wedding ceremonies, measures will be taken against them.

Onto much lighter news. I spent most of my three-day weekend at

french_hobbit's new place with

moimoietmoi. A little weekend away from Paris is always so lovely. And our FP weekends are always so cozy ♥ The weather was rotten so we mostly kept indoors, though we did brave the rain and the cold to have lunch outside and to do some shopping on Saturday. Apart from this little outing we basically stayed at home and watched tv. More precisely, Person of Interest. It wasn't even planned, promise! It's just that Rosie fell hard for the show after I constantly talked about it and SAM was all "yeah, no, I tried two episodes but couldn't get into it", which prompted us to wax poetry about the show and the plot and the characters and at one point SAM made the mistake of saying that, yes, we were quite convincing and maybe she could try it again if we chose the right episodes to show her. So we selected "Judgement" and "Super" (obviously we also showed her the last scene of "Number Crunch" to go with the latter). Turns out she did enjoy them #Success So we decided to go back to the beginning and start from the pilot. At the end of the weekend, SAM (and we) had watched 11 episodes of season 1 \o/

Speaking of POI, I'm always curious about the flashbacks, especially as the timeline seems to change from season 1 to season 2 - or at least, there's a change at some point, even if it happens halfway through season 1. The timeline first goes to 2012 then later on you can see it goes as far as 2016... you have to wonder whether this was done on a whim (in a show that doesn't seem to be keen on "whimsical") or if it does have a significance. And, since JJ Abrams isn't far from the wheel, could we, at one point, get scenes from the future, do you think?

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/748261.html

Finally, I say, the French parliament has approved a bill legalising same-sex marriage and adoption, following a divisive public debate. It happened a couple of hours ago. After months of debates and marches in the streets and some of the most idiotic and offensive comments ever made by the opponents, the Assemblée Nationale finally approved the bill! Final step with the Conseil Constitutionnel mid-may but the first weddings should occur this Summer, maybe in June? ♥ ♥

I'm trying not to think about the "arguments" made by the opponents and trying to forget about the ridiculous actions of some of the most extremists of them and focusing on the fact that we finally did it! One of my cousins is pregnant and should give birth around November; this will be the first child in our family to grow up in a country where same-sex partners are allowed to marry. How incredible is this?

Today has been a long day at work (early start - though I know some of you are used to start even earlier than 7.30AM and, btw? I feel for you!) but I feel like I'm a bit high from the news right now and quite awake ;) We'll see how long it lasts before I crash lol Especially as I only slept five hours last night. So, on the one hand, this wasn't the most brilliant idea, on the other, guys! I managed to stay up past midnight! It hadn't happened for, like, a month.

PS: in case people are worried I'm posting an entry without even the slightest mention of Person of Interest, never fear, here comes the PoI part of my entry ! So I've spent a whole evening yesterday with no PoI episode but I wasn't ready to let it go entirely so I turned to vids. So far, my favourites are (of course)

talitha78's Finch/Reese vid, which I've already recc'ed, and this other one, which is a little ode to Reese, in his kick-ass, bad-ass, ninja and hurty glory - what's not to love ;) I need me a little ode to Finch now. Actually, I'll take all your recs, if you happen to have some ;)

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/746600.html

I'd taken the day off today but it was far from being an idle one. I went to the library to work on my thesis in the morning - yes, I am in fact still working on it ;) - followed by lunch with a friend. I then decided to study in a more relaxed atmosphere in the afternoon so headed to work some more in a Starbucks nearby - well one of the Starbucks nearby - before rushing to

greedy_dancer's place to watch the Assemblée Nationale live feed with her because today was a Very Special day indeed. It was the show finale! Or maybe just the season finale, depending on how it goes with the Senate. Still, finale! Today was the actual vote! The one that would determine once and for all whether the Assemblée backed the law or not. Between you and me, it was a done deal but still, as long as it's not official...

It was a very moving moment! I really enjoyed the speeches made by the party representatives as a sort of summary of their positions and opinions on the subject. Well, except for Mariton, obviously, member extraordinaire of the Opposition, whose speech made GD and I yell many times - which was par for the course, admittedly. But the others, the others were very touching and/or passionate (you go, M. Tourret!) We might have shed a tear or two, even! I blame Sergio Coronado, he's the one that started making me cry. Damn you, Sergio, damn you!

Then they voted and lo! It passed, by 329 to 229. You know how fans can get invested in a tv show, well, I let you imagine how invested GD and I were in this particular "tv show" lol I'm so happy I followed it every day, it was enlightening. Very frustrating sometimes because some of the things I heard from the Opposition were just so offensive. Ridiculous and idiotic, without a doubt, but so very offensive too. But then there would be Christiane Taubira and Marie-George Buffet (who was christened Buffet Vampire Slayer on Twitter lol) and Erwann Binet and Sergio Coronado and all those people who were fighting so fiercely for a cause they believed in, who were fighting for my, our rights, and, man, it was heartwarming ♥

( Btw, my #TeamTaubira shirt was waiting for me when I got home! )

Anyway, season 1 is done with. Now onto the Senate! Let's hope they back the measure without any modifications so that we can get on with it. We were told we could expect the first gay weddings by June - PTB, don't let us down now, not when we're so close!

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/741790.html

Arrow 1x13 has been watched! Only three days after it aired (+1),

x_erikah_x, please tell me it's a reasonable delay? ;)

I'm afraid Dig and Ollie still have a long and difficult road ahead of them before they can start with the "and they lived happily ever after" part of their story. Obviously, before Diggle can propose to Oliver, he'll have to solve his issues with his future mother-in-law and help Oliver get over his own mommy issues. Not an easy task. But if they want a chance at a life together filled with many joys and bad guys to shoot at, they have no choice. Good luck, guys! I can just imagine their future family reunions, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays. ( spoilery spoilers )

Yeah, could be interesting!

( Quick comments about the episode )

( Here be a little squeeing over the extended promo for next week's episode )

Good thing I still have my Arrow RomCom at the moment because my Assemblée Nationale soap is over; they did examine all the remaining articles and amendments on Friday night (I had to give up around 2.30AM because I was falling asleep on my laptop - I think

greedy_dancer went to bed around 4.00AM and they were still at it). I did miss it last night, especially as I suffered from a litte bout of insomnia till past 3.00AM, it would have been helpful.

Speaking of the debate, GD RT'ed a fantastic video about Christiane Taubira, our Minister of Justice, the woman who had the leading part in the debate. I wish there were a translation of her quotes here - or I wish I could do it myself but I'd be afraid not to render her intelligence, wit, fierceness and sarcasm well enough - but if you speak/understand French or if you like foreign languages or if you're just curious about the woman I've been squeeing over the past week, I invite you to take five minutes to watch that little best of (I can only imagine how difficult a task it must have been to select those few moments) and get a sample of that woman's awesomeness. In that video she's alternatively moving and assertive, sweet and fierce, and always so incredibly clever and classy. I'm such a fan, really ♥ Five minutes of Christiane Taubira. Can't wait for my #TeamTaubira tshirt to be delivered. I ordered an orange one, GD a green one. Nice :-)

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/741391.html

Waiting with bated breath for the newest session of the Assemblée Nationale to start at 10.00PM (ETA: heee, it started! Hello, M. Bartolone, hello! ♥) I was even more excited than usual about tonight's episode because some spoilers have leaked over the afternoon - via a couple of BNFs, including an active LGBT twitter account - saying that the debate might end sooner than expected and I actually thought - extremely naively, I admit - that it might mean that they were going to air the show finale earlier than planned, ie that the Final vote was going to happen. Of course that is not how it works, though it does mean (M. Bartolone insisted on it when he opened the session) that they are going to try and go through the last three articles, meaning going through ALL THE REMAINING AMENDMENTS, in one last sitting so that they're done with that part of the process. Then, as planned, everyone will wait for February, 12th for the official vote to take place.

Speaking of the ending of the season/show,

yami_tai was asking me earlier over Whatsapp what I was going to do without my daily fix. Valid question, yes, I'll miss directAN (except for how it means we'll be done with that part of the narrative) but I should be fine for a little while because there's a spin-off in the works! Let's not forget that after the Assemblée Nationale, the bill will be sent to the Senate for a new reading - hopefully the last one - with "experts" (association representatives, lawyers but also sociologists, philosophers, anthropologists etc.) being invited to discuss the issue and give their opinions.

TPTB already announced that those hearings will be either aired live or made available on-line later on. Wait, turns out I'm already behind the spin-off as it already started two days ago; the the first three hearings already happened. That new show will last till the end of February. I wonder if it'll be as popular as the original??

If the Senate adopts the text as is, then it's All Good. If they don't, it means the shuttle between the two Houses starts; the modified bill is sent back to the National Assembly for another reading (in fannish term, we get a season 2) before it goes back to the Senate for the same thing. Let's hope it won't come to that.

Also, omg! I haven't watched the latest Arrow yet! If you have, you can spoil me, did Diggle and Oliver elope and got married in secret? :p

[ETA: hey, I missed a session adjournment because I was talking to my dad! What happened, was there a fight or did they just take a break? *looks for reviews*

ETA2: hahaha, I pimped the debate to my dad and told him about some of the "twists" and he decided to give it a try, he's now watching it on tv #NewFanInThemaking?]

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/741170.html

I guess it had to happen, I'm already behind WhiCo (one episode only) and Spartacus (the two episodes that have aired so far). I've only managed to keep up with my favourite RomCom of the moment, namely Arrow - incidentally, latest episode has been downloaded before I left for work this morning, go me \o/

I blame the National Assembly, it is totally their fault for pulling me in for a couple of hours every night! Imagine being a fan of a show that airs every single day of the week and basically lasts all day, including well into the night (I went to sleep past 2.00AM a couple of times because they were still on and I didn't want to miss anything). I'm not the only one, btw, they've even written an article about us addicts/fans of the debate (it's in French, sorry). Just realised that on that same website is another article that likens Mariton to a troll. Spoilers, he truly is. Well, basically the opposition, as a whole, is a troll, so.

I've been getting a bit frustrated recently, though - apart from the fact that the arguments from the opposition are getting more and more annoying to listen to - because I've missed, like, three twists, meaning I've missed three big fights between the two groups. Speaking of, something funny happened yesterday as M. Bartolone had to adjourn the sitting for a couple of minutes so that everyone could calm down after someone from the opposition earned himself some Godwin points (again); they forgot to cut off the mics, meaning we had some behind the scenes! Twas even better than those sneak peeks we get from tv shows now and then ;-)

Oh, and a new character was introduced yesterday (new as in, we'd never seen him in any of the episodes before, but we all know of him) namely Jean Lasalle. From the look of it, he got the comic relief part when they picked the cast. He seemed to be there totally by accident; he made everyone laugh, though, which relaxed the atmosphere so that was a win. Well done, M. Lasalle!

There's even a sort of fourth wall/meta thing going on because, obviously, deputies are aware that People Out There watch them and so they go on-line afterwards (or even during) the session to have a look at what has been written/tweeted about them. Then, just like in SPN, they use that knowledge during the show and go as far as quote articles/tweets to rant and point out how much they're oppressed (again, the opposition).

Oh, and we now have a Députés bingo card! As well as TeamTaubira shirts. Speaking of her, a campaign was organised to raise money to send her a big bouquet of roses for Valentine's Day - the rest of the money will be sent to an LGBT association that fights against homophobia. How awesome is that fandom, right? ;-)

What's missing, imho, is a "Previously On" before each new session. I mean, we can't follow the whole thing all day and when we go back to it, we don't always understand why Sergio Coronado seems so angry or why Mariton looks so much more constipated than usual etc. etc.

Internet hasn't let us down so far, mind you, and we do get Best Of - or Worst Of, as the case may be - fanvids or, you know, professional articles to sum up the last disrespectful commentaries that were shared in the hémicycle.

Oh, and did you see, the UK is on verge of gay marriage, as well! It's like there's an English version of our show airing at the same time ;) Fingers crossed that everything works out for you, mates! #FingersCrossed

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/740961.html

Argh, my brand new favourite reality tv show is on hiatus till further notice tonight! In other words, the live stream of the National Assembly debates (about Marriage Equality) has been suspended because deputies were about to jump at one another's throat. I thought the episode was rather dull tonight until this twist happened and, once again, I was pulled in.

And I am not trying to trivialise the debates, it truly feels like witnessing a part of our history being written right in front of our eyes (for the record, the first article of the bill, which was the most important one as it is the one that allows same-sex marriage has been adopted Saturday by 249 to 97) but it's actually the first time I watch an Assemblée Nationale debate and it's fascinating! Incidentally, it's also very similar to a tv show; you have the protagonists (pro-equality-for-all, led by one of the main characters, Christiane Taubira, minister of Justice) and the antagonists (ie the opposition, led by the villain Christian Jacob) both companies are on a quest, and you follow their journey and see them fight.

My favourite is, of course, Christiane Taubira, who's brilliant, compassionate, passionate, fierce and prone to sarcasm #TeamTaubira Her and her gang are trying to bring justice and equality to all of us but she has to face Christian Jacob and his pals, who are there to keep us "in our place". The exchanges between both clans are priceless; you cringe whenever someone from the opposition gets to the mic and want to squee whenever someone from the pro-clan gets their turn. You have those secondary characters who happen to be as awesome as the main ones, I'm thinking of Claude Bartolone, president of the Assemblée Nationale who doesn't take part in the debate but whose task is to handle the deputies, make sure everyone has the opportunity to say what they want, to calm people when things are heating up and to just tell everyone off when they're pushing it. He's always doing it with a smile and a "come on, M. Mariton, be a dear and let your colleague speak, will you?" (Mariton is another of the characters).

And let's not forget the dialogues! The dialogues are so incredible - either because they're almost impossibly stupid (omg, some of the things the opposition is sprouting, just unbelievable o_O) or because they're just brilliant (you go, Mme Taubira! You tell 'em, M. Binnet!). You also have some phrases that come with every episode, which turned cultish is no time, like the "rappel au règlement" line, for instance.

And amidst the noise and the gazillion amendments that a gazillion deputies are defending, you never forget the arc, the main plot that will, if everything goes according to plan (and among other things), allow you and your girlfriend to decide whether or not to get married in the near future. Not to say we will but at least we'll be able to decide.

All that to say, favourite reality tv show of the moment ;)

Case in point. ( That was my browser history before - this is my browser history now )

( That was my daily tv fix before (kinky cap taken from this week episode of Arrow) - this is my daily tv fix now )

Crossposts: http://castalie.livejournal.com/740612.html

Work is deader than dead today - I knew it wouldn't be particularly busy (Friday after bank holiday? In July, even? Slim chance of that) but I thought a couple of my co-workers would be there, except it's past 10.00AM and I'm still the only one present so maybe they took the day off, after all. I wish I hadn't given mine back, btw, but there you go. At least it's all quiet.

Speaking of bank holiday, I had a lovely day. Very relaxing. We slept in, I lazed around in bed while Cookie watched the Défilé - our traditional military parade - and then we went our separate ways; she met with her mates to see HP7 and I spent the afternoon at my sister's. Emma is - so far, at least - a quiet baby and Chiara seems completely smitten with her, it's the cutest thing. We had waffles and Nutella for our little afternoon tea, I talked with my sister, played with my goddaughter, hold my niece, it was just very relaxing :-)

Back to the Défilé. Every year, an army is invited as "guest star". This year, it was the Overseas Territories, and the French Polynesia troop made quite an impression, especially when they performed the Haka. In case you'd like to see it, it's here. Oh, and someone posted the the fireworks under the Eiffel Tower in its entirety; the theme was musicals.

Fannish wise, we're caught up on both White Collar and True Blood. I really enjoyed both episodes, ( White Collar first ). And then ( onto True Blood ) [ETA: Damn. I apparently screwed up the cut for TB and I only just noticed, sorry!]

Apart from that, I've downloaded the premiere of Falling Skies and Alphas. I'm not expecting much of either of them, much less Alphas - an American show about superheroes? Chances are it won't be Misfits - but I never expect much of Summer shows except for them to pass the time, so. Besides, I have White Collar and True Blood for the good stuff. No, wait, there's another show I'd like to give a go that seemed cool, Franklin & Bash. Just need to find a download.

This post is not, I repeat, not about XMFC (which I possibly saw for the eighth time on Thursday night - my BIL threatened to send both Cookie and me to X-Men Addict Anonymous), not about how I'm still fascinated by Charle's view of life and his love and respect for life or how I'm still enamoured with the relationship between Erik and him, nor it is about how every single scene they share together still fills me with glee or how I still love the bond between Raven and Charles. This post is not about that all.

Instead I'll talk about my Saturday, which was nice. I didn't work on my thesis as much as I would have liked but I still managed a couple of hours so all wasn't lost. Plus I have all of tomorrow plus Monday (which I have off) to catch up, I'm still on schedule. While I was studying, Cookie worked on the drawings she's been commissioned for work.

When we were done, we caught up on White Collar - "Dentist of Detroit" was pretty fun, though I wish we'd had a little follow-up to ( that little scene I'll talk about behind a cut ) All that to say, I'm still into White Collar and curious as to where Jeff Eastin is leading us.

We also watched the season premiere of True Blood - I missed that show so much! - and I'm afraid I only have one comment to make, namely not enough Eric! I know, not exactly the most detailed review, I'm sorry. But there really wasn't enough Eric. Or Pam.

Then earlier we decided to be very dietetic and baked cupcakes (banana with ganache frosting and banana with roasted chestnust frosting) which we had for dinner with milky tea. Delicious.

And a couple of pics behind the cut - I saw my best friend Sandrine and my nephew after work on Friday and we spent the evening together and because Lucas had never seen the Eiffel Tower, we decided to take him there. I'm afraid he was more impressed by the carousel next to it than by the Dame de Fer but Sandrine and I aren't five years old so we could appreciate her the way she deserves, even though it wasn't our first time. I took a couple of pics with my Blackberry, if you're interested. ( La Tour Eiffel ).

Must go now, Cookie just put on State of Play :-)

Going to and coming from work is epic these days! First, there's the strike which means you'll wait for an hour to get a train in which you won't be able to get because it's already packed. Then yesterday there was a technical problem with a train stuck in a tunnel, thus preventing all other trains to reach their destination (it took me two hours and half to get home - it felt much longer) and this morning there was yet a new message (I wonder how many of them they have?) related to aforementioned strike telling us there was no trains going to and coming from Paris because of the "invasion of a signal box" (signal box? I'm not sure this is the correct translation, sorry) and there were no trains circulating until further notice. Right. So I came back and I'm working from home today. Not that you'd not know with me writing this, but I'm on my lunch break, ha!

The situation at work is also interesting since the students started doing blockades yesterday. I've been in contact with my co-workers and they're doing it again today. The staff is allowed to get in but not the students. I don't know how long it'll last. The French love blockades, there's another one going on at the moment, ie fuel blockade which is a bit of a nightmare for people with a car because some of them can't drive anymore. And it's not as if they could use public transports easily, so that's a bit of a problem.

Having said, France isn't on the verge of collapsing, no matter what some foreign media are implying. We're not about to reenact Mad Max here yet, promise :-)

Since I'm boring you all with a RL entry, I'll add some more Mouse-centric news. First, as it happens, my girlfriend and I will live together a bit sooner than we'd planned to, so in December she'll be officially moving in ♥ We've started moving some of her stuff, moving some furniture around, buying new furniture and all, and by January she'll officially be the new inhabitant of the flat. Her and her cat. That part should be interesting since I've never had a cat in my whole life - nor ever thought of having one. Omg, I'm gonna be a step-mother! So, yeah, that should be interesting lol Expect some Cat-entries on my part in the near future :-p

And not related to the move but related to, like, our life, we also booked a little weekend in London for the end of January so YAY LONDON! I've missed going there so much, I can't wait to visit the city again :-)

All good things come to those that wait, or how after, what ten years? I'll finally go and see a real Christmas Market!

For the past ten years we (meaning the family) have been Big Top-working every weekend in November-December, thus making it impossible for us to go to any of the wonderful Christmas markets that are part of the Christmas tradition. But this year is different and we'll have a free weekend so we decided to go for it and it's done! Our rooms are booked! We picked the one in Colmar and I cannot wait *bounce*

And now, for something different (though keeping with the French theme of the entry) a little chattering in French, because it's about a French guy that no-one would care about but the French and, even that, only people under a certain age.

Je sais pas trop ce qui passe en ce moment, mais on dirait que quelqu'un a décidé de s'acharner sur nos "icônes" d'adolescents ! D'abord Michael Jackson, ensuite Patrick Swayze et maintenant l'un des 2B3 ! Moi, les boys' band, j'ai jamais été fan, que ce soit les 2B3, Alliage ou G-Squad, et si je connais leurs noms c'est que a) quand ta meilleure amie et ta frangine sont accro, forcément, tu connais tout par osmose et autant vous dire que j'en ai bouffé du boys' band avec elles ! et b) j'ai pas vécu "sous une pierre" quand j'étais au collège donc bon, sans être fan, je peux pas nier qu'ils ont fait partie du paysage médiatique des années 90 ; d'où mon "ah bah merde alors" quand j'ai appris la nouvelle sur Twitter. Et puis mourir à 35 ans, c'est beaucoup trop jeune...

Si demain Hélène Rollès passe l'arme à gauche, je sais pas comment je vais annoncer la nouvelle à ma soeur, je vous le dis !

PS : je viens d'avoir ma soeur au téléphone, justement, et elle m'a annoncé (comme ça, sans me prévenir) que René, des Musclés, était mort aussi ! Décidément...

ETA: Omg! I have just discovered, the Chuck Lorre Production Vanity Cards! I mean, I'm at episode 2x17 of The Big Bang Theory and I've just discovered they did this! Note to self: stick to the very last nanosecond of closing credits from now on! You never know what little gem you can discover.

The pope is in Paris at the moment (today and tomorrow, then he'll go to Lourdes to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Apparition of the Virgin there - well, in Massabielle, same thing - and here ends your French trivia for the day) and, not to sound inappropriate or anything, but it was hell!

Some stations were closed and when they weren't, streets were, and if they weren't, then there were so many people that it was just impossible to walk. And, of course, I had to be in St Michel to replace Admin-in-Chief who couldn't attend a reunion at the Sorbonne. Which, actually, the meeting? Was a load of fun. Who would have thought that Big Name University People had such a great sense of humour?

Friday 12 also means it's a week exactly till new SPN for the Downloaders Among Us, whee! I'm officially starting the countdown, because a week is nothing. I'm going to be vibrating all of Thursday, I just know it! And then on Friday I'd better not have anything unexpected happen at work because I don't wanna be held hostage and have to stay longer than planned.

This is exactly what happened yesterday, incidentally. I stayed an hour longer to help SexyGeeky Girl. Then - of course - RERs were all messed up - not the pope's fault, this time - and then they changed the destination of the train I did take, meaning I found myself far, far away from Choisy. I thought I just hadn't paid attention but a bunch of guys were in the same predicament, so I think they just didn't announce the change of direction. So I was home at 7.45 PM instead of 6.00 PM. Nothing too traumatising per se, but I had a hectic day at work and just couldn't wait to be home. That is, at the parental unit's 'cause I'd planned on paying a little visit to my mom.

Yeah, no, no need to tell me, the excitement of my life sometimes, it's barely bearable. I know.

Oh and unrelated but I have a facebook account now. I gave in to peer pressure; that is, the pressure of my friends from the Sorbonne. They told me they'd created a group just for 'us' and I couldn't bear the thought of not really be part of the 'us' so I sorta created my account. They were thrilled. At least it's easy to make them happy :-)

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Her Life is a WIP

You Don't Go to Hell for a Being a Lesbian or a Slasher. Only for Being Lame

Entries tagged with rl: france

Sous les pavés...

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J'ai la tête ailleurs

Fluctuat nec mergitur

French trivia :)

What I did last Sunday

Si tu t'demandes où est Charlie...

Je suis Charlie

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FINALLY!

"L'Assemblée Nationale a adopté" <3

Lose the bow, Merida <3

Show finale?

TeamTaubira

Rappel au règlement !

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Of strikes and girls in love

Icônes de notre adolescence en danger...

Benoît XVI iz in ur city, messing up with ur public transport.

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January 2023

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