{"id":573,"date":"2004-10-08T02:14:50","date_gmt":"2004-10-08T00:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unknowngenius.com\/blog\/archives\/2004\/10\/08\/wine-brie-and-blogs\/"},"modified":"2006-01-28T18:08:23","modified_gmt":"2006-01-28T17:08:23","slug":"wine-brie-and-blogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unknowngenius.com\/blog\/archives\/2004\/10\/08\/wine-brie-and-blogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Wine, Brie and Blogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will I come out as an insensitive cold-hearted bastard if I publicly lament here the fact that all things interesting<\/a> and exciting<\/a> only happen in Japan when I’m not there, stuck six thousands miles away, in a city where major earthquakes, flood and other cool natural disasters are about as likely as a shred of human soul mistakenly finding its way into Dick Cheney’s corpse…<\/p>\n

On that count, Paris is quite boring.<\/p>\n

I am told the floods of yore, when the as-of-then-undomesticated Seine river expanded its bank to all surrounding neighbourhoods, were a vision of surrealistic awe. What with the people, bank clerks and congressmen alike, having to swim their way back from work, French baguette in one hand, cigarette in the other and beret on top.<\/p>\n

OK, perhaps the congressmen didn’t have to go freestyle swimming, but surely there couldn’t be enough boats for everybody…<\/p>\n

Nowadays, an intricate networks of dams and river locks tightly regulates the flow of water crossing the city and robs us of the slightest chance to ever experience such level of entertainment. I don’ t know about you, but as for me: the thought of waking up to five feet of water… cars, rubbish, dog shit, dogs, dog owners and every other natural parasite of the Parisian street: all washed away by one single efficient tidal wave… I think it would be totally worth going and blowing a few strategic dams next time it rains a bit much…<\/p>\n

In other news, I have been busy making the best of my few free days here (leaving for Spain this week-end, then Moscow and at long last back home in Tokyo, next week)… <\/p>\n

You know, the usual: catching a few French movies in the catacombs<\/a>, throwing parties on the neighbours’ roof<\/a>, snorting coke off hooker tits, sex orgies, S&M dungeons, gerbils, all that…<\/p>\n

To be honest, I’m not quite sure about the last part, but there was definitely something along that line<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I do<\/i> remember a cave, people speaking in tongues, important quantities of alcohol and lots of casual sex (ok, the sex part was very subdued, but I’m sure things were happening in the backroom). Some people tried to pitch this thing as a French “blogger meetup” (un meetup de bloggers<\/i>), but I know better: there wasn’t a single laptop on the tables and nobody was busy sharing pictures and fascinating insights on the dietary habits of their pet… obviously not a real blogger crowd.<\/p>\n

Anyway, it’s all a bit hazy as I said…
\nHier, j’ai fait ma contribution au rapprochement des masses blogueuses internationales.<\/p>\n

\u00c0 ma liste de r\u00e9union geek en tout genre et tout endroit, je peux d\u00e9sormais ajouter le 5\u00e8me congr\u00e8s international fran\u00e7ais des bloggers parisiens… ou quelque chose de ce genre<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Des gens tous forts sympathiques, m\u00eame si l’essentiel de mes discussions avec la plupart des personnes pr\u00e9sentes s’est r\u00e9sum\u00e9 \u00e0 des dialogues du type:<\/p>\n

– Bonjour.
\n– Bonjour.
\n– C’est quoi ton blog?
\n– Ben, euh… J’\u00e9cris pas vraiment en fran\u00e7ais en fait. Et toi?
\n– [ins\u00e9rer blog fran\u00e7ais populaire]
\n– Ah, euh… cool… en fait je connais pas beaucoup les blogs fran\u00e7ais, mais, heu, c’est pas personel, hein…\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fort heureusement, je ne me suis pas laiss\u00e9 arr\u00eat\u00e9 par ces quelques obstacles culturels, et j’ai pu faire montre de ma compl\u00e8te, quoique convaincante, incomp\u00e9tence sur des sujets aussi originaux et vari\u00e9s que:<\/p>\n