The french work ethic…slanderous remarks

Although my last post may appear to only have been posted an hour or two ago it was in fact posted two days ago…just on the wrong page. Therefore this post within such close proximity is completely justified.

Murakami

I was talking about Takashi Murakami’s art and the display at Chateau Versailles in my last post. In case you didn’t notice Murakami’s art, uh, stands out when compared to you’re everyday Versailles extravagance. Versailles without a doubt has to be the most ostentatious place ever built. I think the modern day equivalent would be Obama bedazzling the entire White House (similar to the way Lil Wayne bedazzled those sneakers to the right), building an addition in preparation for his 12 year old daughter’s eventual wedding,hiring Rob Blagoyevich as his chamber maid and then building Michelle a small farm where the Pentagon used to be so she can grow potatoes on the weekend. OK, I’ll claim defeat on this one, Versailles doesn’t exactly translate well into the 21’st century.

Back to Murakami’s art. While walking the halls of  Versailles trying to look inconspicuous among the hoards of  digital camera wielding foreigners ( a party to which I unfortunately belong . Someone had to take the photo) I was asked a question. ” Hey dude, this art…like wasn’t here right? It’s got to be newer.”   Now I wont name names but this person was referring to the Murakami art which was installed a month or so ago and was apparently having difficulty understanding why it looked so…different.  I didn’t say anything, I just tried to pretend it didn’t happen. But for the record: No man, Louis the IV wasn’t a huge fan of Murakami’s. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t even commissioned until like…Louis XVI.

In case you haven’t heard about the strikes ( The french are up in arms because Sarkozy wants to move the  retirement age back to 62. Retire is a relative term in Paris defined by a worker going from a 6hour work week to a 0hour work week.) since arriving here September 6th I have witnessed three different strikes, two by the transit workers the last over the retirement age.  Below and to the right you can see a picture of a man  forcefully protesting the government. Although we were warned that the strikes could potentially slow our morning commutes I had no problem using the metro during either of the transit strikes. In fact one of the strikes just turned out to be a rather large block party. If you’re gonna strike you might as well have a good time.

I call it the"Frenchman at work"

That is all. The french seem to enjoy the Jonas Brothers…Shia LaBeouf was on the cover of DirectSoir…Michael Buble is on his way.  America is everywhere.

Rod

I'm hosting a caption contest for this guy.