Obama, Fall, Customer Service & Water Salad

This week I attended a Barack Obama campaign event, held at the home of a long-time Democrats Abroad supporter.

The event was pretty much a cheerleading and organizing session and included a call-in by Democratic Senate candidate from North Carolina Kay Hagan (she's running against Elizabeth Dole).


Not much of substance really happened but what was most notable was the number of people in attendance and the enthusiasm of the group. In a recently-released survey here, 93%(!) of French people said they supported Obama in the upcoming election.

Fall has arrived in full force here ... the leaves are falling, the nights are cold and the big coats and scarves are coming out.


I've been going on morning walks in the Luxembourg Gardens and have been reminded how beautiful it is this time of year - especially how colorful it is (and that includes the characters hanging out there!)


This week also brought another less-expected change ... good customer service. In unprecedented fashion (at least for me), both my new banker and a random insurance guy were ridiculously nice, patient, efficient and even almost fun with me during my dreaded appointments with them this week. My banker, who looks a bit like a French version of one of the nerd characters from the movie "Porky's", took a meeting with me without a previous appointment, typed a letter that I needed from him real-time and made a reasonable attempt to explain French taxes to me. He spent over an hour with me, which was probably more than the cumulative time all my previous bankers had spent with me. The random insurance guy, who I went to for a quote, was hysterical, calling his company "communist" (it's a mutual), responding with "so you don't do anything really" when I told him I was a photographer, and saying "on s'en fout" (meaning, in a very familiar, casual way, "we don't give a damn) about me being covered when I travel in the US. I write a lot of negative stuff about French service in this blog so it's only fair that I mention it when miracles like this week happen.

Speaking of miracles, I may have discovered the latest miracle product. It's called Water Salad and can be described this way:


“Water Salad” is a “meal in a can” and belongs to the “near water” category. It is a light reddish colour, almost transparent and contains tomato extract as both a natural vegetable colorant and as a nutrient. “Water Salad” takes advantage of the marketing value of tomato extract by claiming on the bottle label that lycopene is “reported to control active oxygen.” Madness.

There's really not much I enjoy more than Japanese marketing, products and their commercials, like THIS ONE featuring our beloved governor.

Some photos of the week ...

Jardin Luxembourg
Parc Montsouris
I think he re-animated from the statue but only made it a few steps

NBA in Paris, Nobel Prizes and Chaos

The NBA came to Paris this week and although preseason basketball is not normally a big deal, when the game is played in Paris, it gets more attention.

Celebrities such as Lenny Kravitz, Ahmad Rashad, Darryl Dawkins and several famous French athletes were in attendance. And although the game didn't count for much, it was fun watching Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter up close.

To see some images from the game, CLICK HERE.

The French had a good week on the Nobel prize front. Two French scientist were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine and another Frenchman won the Nobel Prize for literature. I got to go to the Elysee Palace to photograph the winners meeting with President Sarkozy. They seemed pretty damn happy.

The main thing people keep asking me about here these days is "what the hell is going on the US financial markets?" Anyone have any idea what I can tell them?

Some photos of the week:

Dodger Nomar Garciaparra
Jail for bad leaves?
New form of English?
Things not often seen in supermarket lines

One more week without a posting ... I'll be back next week

Yet another week without a posting ... hopefully be back next week!

Sorry ... no post this week

Deauville and Coldplay ...

This week I spent a few days in Normandie in the city of Deauville to photograph the American Film Festival that takes place there every September.


This was the 34th year for the festival and compared to years past, it was pretty low key. I only stayed for a few days of the festival, which included appearances by Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Arnold among various French personalities.


To see more photos from the festival, CLICK HERE.

But clearly the highlight of the week took place back in Paris ... Coldplay in concert. Truly spectacular.


Some photos of the week:

Chris Martin of Coldplay
New form of transportation
Amazing Thai spring rolls - Au Petit Thai

The highlight of this week was my visit to a unique Italian restaurant recommended by a friend. The place is called L’Osteria del Gobo and it's located in the 9th arrondissement (district).


When you walk in, a nice older Italian man greets you and seats you and before you know what's happening, dishes start appearing on your table. Delicious dishes, mostly vegetarian, keep arriving and arriving. When you're done eating, the man kindly informs you of what pasta he's made that day and when it arrives, although you're pretty much full from all the veggies, you find a place in your stomach for it.


But what makes the place unique is the man himself. Every 30 minutes or so, he puts on some opera music and passionately belts out some Andrea Bocelli or Pavarotti. He grabbed a man dining by himself and together they sang. This is not one of those places with professional opera singers who perform some hourly routine - it's not dinner theatre. It's just an older Italian man who loves opera and from time to time during each evening, he busts out a few unchoreographed minutes worth of his favorites.


The place is beautifully decorated, comfortable and welcoming. Add in the fact that it's reasonably priced (16 euros for the antipasti and the pasta) and it makes my list of restaurants I'd recommend to friends visiting Paris.

On a whim of one of my friends, I visited the gold dome of Invalides for the first time. Built in the 17th century, the complex hosts a military museum, military hospital and cathedral.


But its claim to fame is that the tomb of Napoleon, along with those of his two brothers Joseph and Jerome, and his son (somehow named Napoleon Napoleon) are on display there. Frankly I didn't find it very exciting but my press pass got me in for free so it was almost worth it.

Now to politics; check out this article:

Associated Press
Sep 3, 10:48 PM (ET)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of students at his former mosque that Iran sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from Allah."

In a recent address, the Iranian leader also urged the students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline, calling it "Allah's will." Khamenei asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that his eldest son, Mohammed, was expected to go there.

"I am sending them out on a task that is from Allah," he said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is Allah's plan."

Khamenei told graduating students of the mosque's religious school, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Allah throughout Iran, he said, he'd work to implement Allah's will from the leader's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring natural gas to new markets. "Allah's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," he said.

"I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our soldiers have their cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our schools are funded," he added. "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Iran's heart isn't right with Allah."

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In fact, this article is real except that I changed a couple of words. It's not a speech from Khamenei but in fact a speech from a few months ago from Sarah Palin. I substituted Khamenei's name for hers, the word mosque for church, the word Allah for God and Mohammed for her son's name (Track!). The rest is the actual text from the Associated Press article. Just ask yourself how you would feel if you heard a speech like this from a politician from another country.

And for my favorite news story of the week:

Man Attempts To Amputate Own Arm In Denny's

MODESTO - Modesto police say a local man who tried to cut off his own arm at a Denny's restaurant thought he had injected air into one of his veins while shooting cocaine and would die unless he took drastic action.

The man, identified by police as Michael Lasiter, 33, rushed into the restaurant on Friday night and started stabbing himself in the right arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a customer's table, police say. When that knife didn't work, Lasiter allegedly took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Lasiter, who was arrested and taken to a local hospital with severe cuts, told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection, says Modesto police Sgt. Brian Findlen.

The Denny's closed for the night after the incident.

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Finally, some photos of the week:

Custodian at Les Invalides
Woman works on the tiles surrounding Napoleon's tomb