A zombie-free campus & a French film

Happy Monday! (If I fake enthusiasm, maybe I'll begin to feel it?) There is no song today because I wanted to post about other things.

First, in the war between humans and zombies on my college campus, the humans won! Hooray! One of my friends who played the game and managed to stay human until the end informed me that the humans won by detonating a cookie bomb that made all the zombies human again. A campus-wide e-mail announced their victory and explained what a cookie bomb is:

The eight-day saga finally ended Wednesday afternoon when a brave group of Human Resistance fighters were able to construct a Zombie Virus Cure Bomb using ingredients that they had to gather from around campus. (When combined, the cure’s ingredients doubled as a recipe for chocolate chip cookies… Who knew, right?)


Despite suffering key personnel losses at the hands of a fierce zombie contingent, sixteen Resistance members were still able to hold off long enough to detonate the Cure Bomb, sending the Zombie Virus Cure into the air . . . and turning everyone immediately (and hopefully permanently) back into a human. Breathe a sigh of relief, campus – no Zombie Apocalypse this year!

I miss the spontaneous Nerf gun fights in between classes, but I'm glad the paranoia is over. Some people got really, really into it. Zombie patrols outside dorms made it difficult for humans to sneak out to the cafeteria for supper. One of my friends who was playing explained that it was hardest on the underclassmen, who had to go to the caf (because they're required to have meal plans), but that they should have stocked up before the game...just like in a real zombie apocalpyse. She said this with a straight face.

I also miss seeing this on the bulletin board by Student Development near the coffee shop:

Risk of Zombie Attack: High

But I'll get over it. There was a Zombie-Human Peace Fire on Friday night that was advertised as:
S’mores. Campfire songs. Conflict resolution. I didn't make it, but it sounds like it was a good opportunity for both sides to make up and move on.

Aaaand second, I spent part of my Saturday afternoon at a mandatory film event for French class. We watched Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis, which is translated as Welcome to the Sticks. I'm not sure why; there's nothing about sticks in this movie. But it is funny. Here's the UK trailer:

My French prof is from Belgium, and she explained that Shtis is a dialect in the north of France. She's from southern Belgium--not too far from the part of France that speaks Shtis--so she understands it. Apparently they turn a lot of "s" sounds into "sh." This film reminds me of New in Town (trailer below), but...funnier.

Wishing you a Marvelous Monday,

Versailles + the Wonders of Google Art Project: Paris Part Cinq

One of the last things I did near Paris was visit Versailles, which I recommend doing at least once if you happen to be in France because it is PRETTY:

The Hall of Mirrors

One could say it's almost too pretty, though. There was so much silk and gilding and decoration of all sorts that I felt like I was attempting to appreciate a too-sugary dessert. I may have said that about the Opera, too.

But you don't have to take my word or my pictures for it. Art Project, powered by Google, is a fantastic new website that allows people to explore museums around the world. One of the available museums is the Palace of Versailles. Go visit Google Art Project and make your own virtual way through its decadent rooms. Visit the Hall of Mirrors and stop in Marie Antoinette's bedroom. Stop in Louis XVI's, too. They both have feathers on top of their beds. I found them humorous in person.

I also found some of the greenery in the garden funny:

Humorous Topiaries.

A nude statue holding her hand out and pleading for some clothes.

Versailles is beautiful, ridiculous, and interesting. I had a couple Art History geek moments; there's a bust of Louis XIV by Bernini and a portrait of Marie Antoinette by Vigee-Lebrun, a female painter. You'll see them if you take the Google tour. I also wondered how the people who lived and worked in the palace in the eighteenth century thought of all the decorations as I explored the palace. I wondered what it was like to be in the palace when the French Revolution was beginning, specifically when a bunch of peasant women marched on Versailles and made the royal family move to Paris. If you're unfamiliar with that story, John Green made a very informative series of videos on the French Revolution, starting with this one:



And if Google Art Project doesn't satisfy your desire to explore Versailles from afar I recommend watching the movie Marie Antoinette. Much of it was filmed in Versailles. I watched it a couple years ago and I watched it again when I came back so I could have fun recognizing all the rooms.

Staci, Becca, Me, and Jaimie in front of Versailles. Check out how shiny the palace is--the gates and roof are gilded with real gold.

And since you asked, Myrna, my camera is a Samsung SL620. It's small, red, and does most things that I want it to except take non-blurry indoor pictures sans flash. But I suppose that's asking for the moon anyway. I bought it in the summer of 2009 in preparation for my January 2010 trip to Italy because I broke my old Canon Powershot doing this project for Intro to Design during my first semester of college:

(You have to pretend those bits of carpet around the piece aren't there...)

I was attempting to take a picture of the circular opening of a traffic cone when I dropped my camera onto a sidewalk. It still takes pictures but the lens protector won't close and I have to be super careful with it to keep the lens safe. I didn't want to be super careful when taking pictures in Italy so I bought a new camera.

Up next in this travel series is the Musee D'Orsay and a night to train to Barcelona!

Book Review: Foreign Tongue by Vanina Marsot

Release Date: April 2009
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Age Group: Adult
Pages: 384

Source: My local library.

Summary:

Paris, the storybook capital of romance—of strolls down cobblestone streets and kisses by the Seine—may not be the ideal location to mend a wounded heart. But pragmatic professional writer Anna, who has been unlucky in love in L.A., has come here with keys to her aunt's empty apartment. Bilingual and blessed with dual citizenship, she seeks solace in the delectable pastries, in the company of old friends, and in her exciting new job: translating a mysterious, erotic French novel by an anonymous author.

Intrigued by the story, and drawn in by the mystery behind the book, Anna soon finds herself among the city's literati—and in the arms of an alluring Parisian—as she resolves to explore who she is . . . in both cultures. (From Harper Collins)
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Vanina Marsot’s novel Foreign Tongue: a Novel of Life and Love in Paris tells the story of Anna, a half-French and half-American freelance writer. Anna believes she’s found The One when she meets Timothy, but in less than six months she discovers that Timothy is involved with other women. Anna walks away from the relationship. Unfortunately, Timothy is difficult to get over because, in Anna’s words, “Timothy became famous. Magazine-cover famous. Pop-culture famous." So Anna flees L.A. for Paris. Luckily—miraculously, really—Anna speaks French and has an aunt willing to lend her an apartment in Paris, rent-free.

Anna explores Paris for awhile and reconnects with her European friends but eventually needs something to do. She is also fired from her freelance job at an American PR firm after a change in management, and she needs money. Anna is browsing through the used books at Shakespeare & Company when she notices a job posting for a translator for an exotic novel at Editions Laveau. Anna hurries to Editions Laveau. Monsieur Laveau is a crotchety old man, and he is quietly amused that Anna misread the job posting: Laveau is looking for someone to translate an erotic novel, not an exotic one. Anna takes the job anyway. Later, while waiting for another chapter to translate at Laveau’s office, Anna meets Olivier. Olivier is a handsome Frenchman. He’s also an actor, just like Timothy. Anna starts a relationship with Olivier but cultural differences complicate their relationship.

I enjoyed this book. The plot moves quickly; Anna is in Paris by page seven. The novel Anna translates also acts as a story within a story. The novel, by an anonymous author, tells the story of one Frenchman’s “great love." Jean-Marc, the first-person narrator, is initially repelling. He keeps two girlfriends, one boring and public and one fiery and secret. The secret one, Eve, is his "great love." Their relationship begins as a sexual one and the love scenes are (uncomfortably) anatomically accurate and odd.

(A little warning, reader-to-reader: this novel is labeled adult fiction for a reason.)

Anna’s world is a little steamy, too: a friend takes her to a Parisian sex club and Anna and Olivier share several intimate scenes. Jean-Marc’s story becomes more readable, however, as he falls in love with Eve and becomes heartbroken when she leaves him, while Anna’s relationship with Olivier mirrors one of the cultural differences remarked on by Anna when she sees a couple kiss in a café. Anna explains that the French “kiss in public, and I mean big, wet, sexy kisses. People of all ages do it, and no one yells ‘Get a room!’ If you don’t like it, you can lump it, or look the other way."

I read Foreign Tongue before visiting France this January, and I noticed this profusion of PDA in Paris.
 
Beyond the plot and cultural dimensions of Foreign Tongue, the novel is largely about language. Marsot discusses the craft of storytelling through Anna from page one, beginning, “I could start like this, third-person omniscient: ‘She chucked it all and moved to Paris.’ . . . . Or no dodge-and-weave, no embroidery, no third-person, no all-knowing voice: I left.” Marsot also peppers her prose with French conversations, and she does not always provide a translation. One does not need much French to follow the story but knowing none would have frustrated me. I would have been on Google Translate at every other page.

 Foreign Tongue is steeped in French language, culture, and Parisian scenery. I recommend it to readers looking for a fun yet realistic romance as well as anyone who is interested in linguistics, writing, travel, and--of course--Paris.