Project 365 - Week 1

I've started a new project on Flickr, a 365 project, a picture a day about me, my activities.
I'll summarize each week in this blog:

A bit of web-surfing, comic reading, only 4 day in Ireland.
Here's the URL of the set:

• Project 365 SlideShow
• Christophe Flickr 365 project Set

10 movies I think frequently

Ten movies I think of, frequently, those images fill my mind.

Chung King Express (Wong Kar Wai - 1994)
No point of telling the stories of that movie, you just have to let the images drawn you. I prefer the second story with Faye, how can a man not fall in love with her ? Even if she's a little bit crazy.

Bringing up baby (Howard Hawks - 1938 )
Another strong woman (this time its Katharine Hepburn ) storming into the life of a nice old chap, with some devastating effects ( and love not being the least).

Moonfleet (Fritz Lang - 1955)
Another classic movie from Hollywood ( I should probably thanks Eddy Mitchell and his TV show "La dernière séance" to have me discovered those movies ), the photography is absolutely fantastic, in a very gothic atmosphere, all the scene with the young Mohune deeply impressed me (and still today).

La Jetee (Chris Marker - 1962)
A short movie, all created with still images and a voice over. The story is trong and is at the origin of a remake by Terry Gilliam: Twelve Monkeys.
I miss seeing short movies ( if you go in Clermont-Ferrand in february, you should drop by the international short festival, to see thousands of them).

Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull - 1972)
An ecological tale in space, by the man responsible of special effects in "2001", and "Blade Runner". I like the image, of giant domes containing forest, deriving through space.

Monster Inc (Peter Docter - 2001)
Pixar... oh pixar, I love their movies. It's not about the techniques, the fabulous things they can achieve with computers, it's more the fact that all those prowess are based and for the story. Pixar movies have a real strength in very good story-telling, and everything in the making come in support of that.

Joe's appartment (J.Payson - 1996)
A MTV movie, actually its a musical, about singing cockroaches.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (J.SHarman - 1975)
One day I might come disguise as Franck N'Furter...
Don't dream it, be it

Santa Sangre (A.Jodorowsky - 1989)
What a shock when i saw this movie, the first time. From the elephant death, till the puppet son, this movie is full of (somewhat disturbing) invention.

My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki - 1988 )
Another shock, but of marvelous amazement, every time i walk in a forest i wonder which wonderful creatures are there in hidding.

Ten TV series which influences my childhood

Here the ten TV series who influenced my childhood, for bad or good.

• Litllest Hobo (French Title "Le Vagabond")
  
  There was some sadness, about the story of this dog, which kept leaving at the end of each episode... I wonder if he ever found his family, if he ever settle down.
  And a great lesson for life: every stop i make, i'll make a new friend.
• Punky Brewster
  Another seemingly sad story (a child abandoned by her mother in a mall), but it ends happily. I whish my parent would have let me paint my bedroom like she did, or even let me have the doghouse in my bedroom...
• Magnum PI
  Aaaah ... magnum... when i was 7, this is the way i imagined my life when i would be older, hawaian shirt, moustache, and sea kayak (not much facination for the car though, i'd prefer the 2 dogs zeus and appollo). Today I am almost there... Not.
• Mac Gyver
  One of the rare TV series, I watched with my father, the game was to see if MacGyver tricks were plausible, most of them are theorically right, but not really practicable... if you have Discovery Channel, I encourage you to look at the Mythbuster episode dedicated to Angus McGyver.
  
• Code Quantum
  One of the 2 TV series, I've seen all the episodes (with McGyver), a total nonsense scientifically speaking (unless soul exist). I love the episodes about Kennedy Assassination or about Al first wife. The final episode was also quite mystical, with a great Bruce McGill (yep the mythical Jack Dalton in MacGyver) as a god-like bartender.
• Silver Spoon
  Totally the opposite of punky brewster, though his mother does not take much care of him... on the other hand Erin Gray is a dream step-mother
• Buck Rogers
  It was not so much, the space action (i've seen some episode again recently, and was a bit disapointed by the action in space, BattleStar Galactica was much better for the battles in space, and the look of the spaceship and uniform), but the robot twiki is gas ... bidibidi ...bidi bidi.
  Off course there is Erin Gray (she appeared in 3 series in this list), absolutely beutiful, but in one episode Arnold (Gary Coleman from Diff'rent Strokes - Arnold & Willy) confront twiki.
  
• Whiz kids (in French "Les Petits Génies" )
  May be the origin of my fascination for computer, it looks ridiculous to see what they were doing at the time (stopping a plane ..etc), but at the same time it kinda predicted what we are seeing today with the web


• The A-team
  Guilty pleasure, but how could you resist to that when you were 10 years old... You have a problem, let's weld some metal shield on a car and make it a tank, take your weapon and fire ... amazingly nobody ever gets hurt in the series, nobody die. It was also a yerribly mysogynic show
  10 years later we discovered this parody by Benny Hill:
  


• The Fall guy
  Colt ... how many TV series did Lee Majors stars in my youth ? Part-time bounty hunter, part-time stuntman seemed an intersting career perspective at the time

To finish a special mention to Fraggle Rocks, for some reason, i did not watch much of it during my childhood, but even today it's a pleasure to discover a replay on the tv screen:

Entrez dans la danse, les ennuis n'ont pas de chance

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On a completely different subject:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turn 60, today 10th of december.
Blog Bonne Nouvelle 60 years

2008 Top 10 Things

The Time is publishing it's top 10 of evrything for 2008: Time Special Top 10 2008, so here's my personal top 10 for 2008

• ASM 9th french rugby union championship final. Against Toulouse, even if it was not the result expected, Auvergne is still lookking to win the Brennus. Actually if Clermont win against Munster next saturday, this might replace that entry.

• Radiohead "In Rainbows" in Dublin
  An excellent new album, distributed freely through the web (i know it's actually 2007).
  
  And on the top of that, i've seen them in a fabulous concert in Dublin, dreamy from the start with a double rainbow welcoming the group in Marlay Park.
  

• Wall-ee
  The last pixar marvel, absolutely enchanting, in particular the silent 1st part of the movie.
  

• US presidential campaign
  From Hilary raise, to Obama victory... it has been a quite exciting and over-publicized campaign. Change could not come at a best time ( or at a worst ? ).
  

• Bertie Ahern stepping down.
  Fascinating, a great political figure, which shape today's ireland, a finance minister who does not have a bank account (how did he get paid ? in cash ), a man who lead the peace process. He had an incredibly long career in Irish Politics, which is contrasting, when you compare to the american system: Obama political career only started 4-5 years ago, while Bertie started in his 20's... France is unfortunately no different.
  With all the afairs, he also did a lot for the raise of Irish stand up comedian.
  

• Large Hardron Collider almost start up
  The Large Hardron Collider, building is finished, and experiment will be able to start. A particular feeling about that news, as lots of my teachers in Clermont University worked ( and are still working ) on that project.
  

• Munster-All Blacks in Thomond Park
  What a game, makes you proud of living in Limerick.
  Everything, from the Munster haka to finsh was exceptional that night.
  

• Lisa Hannigan "Sea Saw"
  Some interesting things happen this year in music, from Portishead latest addition "Third" to MGMT "Kids", but i have a tender preference for Lisa Hannigan first album, and not only for her live show in UL.
  

• Basking Sharks in Kerry
  The first time, I saw so huge animals in the sea... I know it's not a big news, and they are quite frequent on the Irish Coast, but it's in my top ten...
  
  Next year I'll try to get closer, bigger picture of them.
  

• Crunch....
  This growth rate seems unreal, and crazy for most part of the year, and now it's gone, in less time than it takes to write it. How artificial has been our occidental capitalistic lifes ? We'll see if 2009 brings better alternatives

[FR] 10 Dessins animés qui m'ont marqué

Les 10 dessins animés qui m'ont le plus marqué dans mon enfance:

• Rémi sans Famille
  Je reste encore aujourd'hui traumatisé par la série d'épisode ou les animaux meurent un par un.
  

• Galaxy Express 999
  De nouveau une série trés sombre, qui débute par l'assassinat de la mère du héros lors d'une partie de chasse, peuplé d'humains en quête d'immotralité et de perfection via la robotisation de leur corps. Réalisée par le même créateur de la série Albator, un autre dessin animé marquant de ma jeunesse, c'est le même univers désespéré. J'ai depuis abandonné l'idée de devenir un pirate, et d'avoir une cicatrice sur la joue ( un peu a la Joffrey d'Angélique )
  

• Les Mystèrieuses cités d'or
  Une fantastique série ( depuis des années, ils annoncent une suite, peut-être sur grand écrans ) de Jean Chalopin (créateur de l'Inspecteur Gadget entre autres). J'adore l'ambiguité de certains personnages (en particulier Mendoza_, et je restais faciné par le petit documentaire a la fin de chaque épisode.
  

• Les Mondes Engloutis
  Trés trés étrange série, sur un monde au centre de la terre qui a oublié ses origines
  

• Dare Dare Motus (Danger Mouse)
  Comment ne pas adorer un série dont le héros est une souris blanche borgne, j'ai récemment redécouvert la série dans sa version anglaise originale, c'est a mourir de rire.
  

• Cobra
  Ca y est je me suis fais a l'idée que je n'aurais pas un bras-canon pour Noël.
  De nouveau la série a des cotés assez sombre et adulte, qui sont surprenants pour une série pour enfants.
  

• Cat's Eyes
  Avec ses trois filles sublimes ( au niveau filles subblimes cela se rapprochent de Cobra ), je crois que j'étais amoureux de célia.
  

• Nils Olgersen et les oies sauvages
  Excellent histoire, même si je ne me souviens plus des détails et de pourquoi Nils se retrouve réduis a cette taille.
  

• Candy et Lady Oscar
  Ce qu'on peut appeller "guilty pleasures", je n'ai aucune idée de l'histoire de Candy (si si sérieusement), je me souviens juste que les gens étais trés méchant avec elle (mais alors trés trés méchant, si bien qu'enfait je n'aimais pas regarder ce dessin animé). Lady Oscar m'a aussi marqué, je ne sais pas trop pourquoi, j'ai juste cette image trés forte de longs cheveux blonds flamboyants, sur un uniforme militaire blanc.
  

• L'Empire des cinq
  Plus que les robots, je reste marque par les différents sites qu'ils visitents au cours de leur combat, en particulier StoneHenge.
  
  Je me dois de rajouter quelques séries suplémetaires:
  

• Pole Position
  Juste pour les voitures qui sortent d'un camion ( l'un de mes jouets favoris etaient un camion qui permettais justement cela )
  

• Sherlock Hound
  L'une des meilleures adaptations de Sherlock Holmes, avec "Private Life of S.H" de Billy Wilder (1970) et les interprétation de Jeremy Brett, même si c'est une adaptation trés trés libre. Réalisé en partie par Hayao Miyazaki, la série a un attrait tout particulier avec la délicieuse Ms Hudson.
  

Et pour finir la définition du bonheur par maitre Vitalis:

Le bonheur
Uploaded by gerald_helios

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Reeling the years (08)

I am stealing an idea from some French blogs (Fabienne and Olivier who started the thing ).

The idea is very simple and based on a simple question: Where was i 5 years ago, 10, 15 ...etc ?
So let's go back in time by 5 years leap...


1978
I am 2 years old, living with my parents and my grandad in a small village in Auvergne, France near the river Allier.
According to the pictures taken by my dad, i've got a brilliant future in construction or maybe woodworking.

May be i should have gone this road... because the shed we were building is still there.

1983
Still living in Auvergne, we move to a different house in the same village ( i've calculated that my father moved at least 6 times in his life without actually leaving the village ).


The familly got bigger, with th addition of my brother.
I am also starting going to school in Hauterive.
This is also the year, my first computer began to be sold: Alice (8kb RAM, no hard drive...), first contact with informatic which would become predominant in my professional career and also the comic artist called Moebius which made the packaging illustration.

1988
Moving to junior School, in St Yorrre "ca va fort", and also moved to the best computer in the world the Amstrad CPC 464. Yeah I know, from now on I am and will be a geek.

1993
High school, I am in scientific section (is it a surprise ?) and have strangely terribly low notes in my favourite subject: physic. May be i was distracted by girls...

1998
I am in Clermont Ferrand, still in Auvergne, student in Blaise Pascal University.
And guess what, I am studiying physics.
I've started taking interest interest in photography with an old argentic canon (an old T60).

This is also there, I felt deeply in love with cinema, mainly because of the International Short Film Festival.

2003
I've moved to Grenoble at the end of my master to (finally) start working in a small company but on the winter of that year, I was actually on a mission in Milano Italy.

My first real taste of expatriation, I did not stay long enough to be able to speak Italian fluently but it was 4 great months, with some disturbing discovery. I actually discovered that italian girls have the same taste for decorating their bedroom as my 12 year old cousin (except one room was red and black while the other was white and blue ).



2008
I am in Ireland, on the west coast, since 2005.
Enjoying a lot of scubadiving and a bit of guiness.

[FR] Nos Enfants...

un documentaire francais sur la nourriture, les dangers de l'agriculture industrielle reposant sur les produits chimiques.



Le website du film:
http://www.nosenfantsnousaccuseront-lefilm.com/

A ecouter en particulier, le podacst de Serge Orru a l'univeriste de la terre 2008:
http://www.actus-durables.fr/2008/11/podcast-de-serge-orru-a-luniversite-de-la-terre-2008/