Best Superbowl commercial ever!

No it wasn't the Bud Light beer house commercial, or one of the e-trade talking baby commercials. We have neither Bud Light nor E-trade in France, and therefore no need to show advertisements from either of them. In fact, not one of the commercials that you (you in the U.S.) saw during the Superbowl was even shown here.

This commercial--the best one ever--was actually a commercial that I have seen before in the U.S., and while the commercials are entertaining it was not the content of the commercial that so impressed me, but the product the commercial was advertising. I first thought that maybe the French re-broadcasters had made an editing error and forgot to edit out this commercial for something I have been solely missing, but it was no error and my life will soon be more complete (again).

No it wasn't a commercial for Dr. Pepper or Taco Bell or Maui Sweet Onion chips, but something more essential to a happy life.

Duh duh duh. Duh duh duh.

Sportscenter! The best show on American TV, and probably the show most watched at the Stradley home when we lived in the states. I have cable tv solely for one channel--ESPN America (the oddly named version of ESPN we get in France), and while this channel is the only option for enjoying American sports in France, it is not the same EPSN you get in the U.S. The most important difference being NO SPORTSCENTER!

Well my suffering ends in just a few short weeks. Starting March 1st, EPSN America will begin showing the best show in sports and I will be just a little bit closer to heaven.

I leave you with a shot of the good old days when Dan Patrick was still with ESPN and before Keith Olbermann became a pompous, bizzaro-world-Bill-O'Reilly, jackass.

Nice mustache Keith!

Absinthe

The Absinthe Drinker by Viktor Oliva

Absinthe is an alcohol distilled from the flowers and leaves of the wormwood plant. It is a pretty potent beverage, and it has been rumored to have hallucinogenic properties and to make people crazy™ (like Vincent Van Gogh who was very fond of the stuff and died in an insane asylum). Due to these rumors, it is illegal in many countries, including the United States, but became legal again in France about 20 years ago and it seems to be quite popular here. It is sometimes called La Fée Verte (the green fairy) because of the purported psychoactive powers and the normally green color of the drink.

Going our with friends and colleagues in Lyon, absinthe frequently ends up in front of me at some point in the night. I rarely order it, but last night I found myself at a bar that seemingly specialized in stuff, aptly named La Fée Verte so I ordered one glass, and somehow ended up with 3.

Absinthe tastes a bit like licorice, and feels a bit like kerosene in your stomach. It is usually served with added sugar, either caramelized around the edge of the class or just as a big sugar cube in the middle of the drink, and is often also served on fire. I am still undecided about whether or not I like this drink, but at least I didn't burn myself this time.

I do not really understand why bars, or restaurants, like to serve things on fire. Obviously the fire needs to be extinguished before it can be consumed, and absinthe is served cold, so the fire doesn't add much to the drink. I suppose it helps to caramelize the sugar or something.

The first time I had absinthe I was at a pub with a friend watching some American Football and drinking some Irish beers when the bartender came over with 3 glasses of the devil's brew. He set one in front of me, one in front of my friend, and the other in front of himself and lit them all on fire. He then gave a brief description of the drink and how you are supposed to drink and then gave us a demonstration. With the glass flaming in front of him, he slammed his hand palm down on the glass, which cuts off the oxygen supply to the fire and quickly extinguishes it. When the fire burns off the last of its oxygen, it creates an air pressure difference and the suction causes the glass to stick to the palm of your hand. You then lift your hand up with the glass stuck to the bottom of it, and slam it back down on the table (lightly) which I guess mixes up the drink a bit and releases it from the bottom of your hand. Then it's bottom's up.

This was all pretty cool, but the entire time this guy was giving his speech and demonstration, my glass was still on fire (my buddy's fire had gone out), so as fire does, it had done a good job of heating up the sides of the glass. The bartender reignited the fire on my friend's glass, and then following his instructions we both slammed our palms on the glass, lifted it up and slammed it down again. This went well for my friend with the newly started fire, but as I slammed my palm on my glass I now had an extremely hot glass stuck to the bottom of my palm and after slamming it back down, I had a nice circular blister on my palm for a week.

So last night when the absinthe came out on fire, the first thing I did was blow it out, and slowly mix my drink with a spoon. I'll leave the manly fire extinguishing to the guys with a higher pain tolerance than me.

I have to say thanks to all the people I went out with last night (I am sure they all read this :-)). There were 7 of us, and we consumed a decent quantity of alcohol, and I think I only paid for 2 drinks! French people are quick on the credit card when it comes to paying for their friends, so I am sure I owe 6 other people a few rounds. Next time is on me.

Oh, and it is a proven fact that drinking absinthe greatly improves one's ability to speak French.

Another trip to Paris

Paris, Texas that is. Actually, despite living nearly 18 years of my life in Texas and having family there, I had never been to this Paris before. If any of you have been to Paris, TX, this probably comes as no surprise to you as the above be-hatted replica of the Eiffel Tower is about the only thing to see there.


The other Paris has a bit more stuff to do, and a slightly bigger, and original, Eiffel tower but I think the cowboy hat makes the difference. Maybe we can stick a beret or a scarf on the one in France.

Slowly making its way here

Taco Bell has recently opened a store in a shopping mall in Madrid! It is currently the only Taco Bell in Europe (outside of US military based), but I have heard they plan to open a few more in Spain and then open a couple in England.

I doubt they will ever make it to France. Other than McDonald's and Subway, American fast food has really struggled in France. We got a couple KFCs (one near Lyon), and a handful of Pizza Hut's and Domino's Pizzas, but that's about it. Burger King made a valiant effort to survive in France, but it didn't make it, and Coke has nearly kicked Pepsi out of the country :-(

I've never been much of a fast food fan, and in fact before moving to France I couldn't tell you the last time I ate McDonald's, but I do love Taco Bell (it's cheap, it's vegetarian friendly, they serve Mountain Dew, and it's surprisingly healthy compared to most other fast food), so I would love to see a Taco Bell open up in Lyon.

One can always dream...

Venice

Venice is the Las Vegas of Italy. Not in the number of casinos or strip clubs, but in that it only exists to attract tourists. While Vegas was created pretty much just for this purpose, Venice has slowly devolved into it. The one time capitol of the Latin Empire (after sacking Constantinople), it is now the capitol of over-priced food and souvenir shops. Don't get me wrong, Venice is cool, it just feels a little like Disneyland.

Venice is a collection of a couple hundred islands in the marshes off the north-eastern Italian coast, connected by bridges over the 100s of canals the city is famous for. There are no motor vehicles on the islands, so all transportation is by boat, gondola, or a new pair of Nikes. The architecture in some parts of the city dates back to the 12th century, and everything is quite well preserved. It is certainly a very picturesque city.



Venice is also dripping in history. Like all European cities, it has an old church or two, but it also has amazingly preserved palaces, ancient hospitals, tons of shops selling masks and clothing from the height of Venetian power, and a remarkable number of concerts and plays for such a small place. George and I caught a really cool show of people in period dress performing music pieces from various Italian operas.



As you have probably also heard, Venice is sinking. Not metaphorically like the USA or Dubai currently are, but actually, literally sinking. Everyday a little bit more water flows into the city during high tide, and they city is always trying to figure out how to prop the city up a bit longer. The main tourist area of Piazza San Marco is actually criss-crossed with elevated walk-ways to keep the footsies dry, and on our trip to check the area out early one morning (right around high-tide), we made use of them ourselves. Even the Saint Mark's Basilica itself was under assault by the rising tides.

Global Warming

The inside of the church is pretty cool too, but for some reason they don't let you take pictures inside of Saint Mark's Basilica, and the couple I sneaked when security wasn't looking didn't turn out so great, so here is a picture of the nearly as cool church next door.



Everyone should definitely visit Venice at least once in their life, probably best before it is underwater. To see more pics of Venezia, click here.

Lily Allen has a potty mouth

One of the things I like about French TV, other than the nearly complete lack of commercials, is that it is totally uncensored. Movies are shown in their original format, with their original dialog (except when only the French-dubbed version is available), and with their original content and length. In the US, only the expensive pay cable channels like HBO or Showtime show unedited movies, and all the other channels (even the cable channels) edit the movies for language, nudity, sometimes violence, and even to shorten the movie to fit in the designated time slot!

Like French TV, French radio is also not censored, and this song is quite popular. Personally, I am not offended by "bad" words. I do not use them often, but their use doesn't bother me and in fact seem natural in certain situations. But, like most Americans I think, I have been brought up to recognize the taboo of them. A group of construction workers standing around a job site my cuss like sailors, but if an old women or child walks up, they immediately switch to more accepted language. I think I am the same way. Cussing in certain situations just seem weird to me.

Lily Allen is an English pop/alternative singer whose latest single, F*ck You (excuse my French), is quite popular in France (and most of Europe). For the most part the lyrics are very tame, but the oft-repeated chorus contains many uses of the F word. Or more accurately, like most choruses, just repetitions of the same single use of the word (which you can probably guess from the title of the song).

Perhaps the most Surreal example of this for me, was when George and I were in Rome, Italy. It was our last day in Italy and we decided to go to the grocery store to buy some pastas and sauces to take back to France with us. It was a pretty normal grocery store--a few kids, a couple old ladies, and a few other random people picking up the necessities. As we were deciding how much we could stuff in our luggage, Lily Allen's new hit came on the radio, and the middle-aged Italian guy working behind the deli counter was apparently quite the fan. He was humming and dancing and chopping his meat and when the chorus came around, he burst into song--F*ck You. F*ck you very, very muuuuch. The old lady buying meat from him didn't seem to mind.

You can hear the song here--uncensored of course. Or a censored version here.

I should clarify that all French TV shows are rated (like in the US) and shows rated not suitable for children can only be shown after a certain hour, and all TVs/cable boxes have the ability to block certain channels and/or programs. I guess the difference is that the decisions are left to individuals, not enforced by some government agency.

Happy Thanksgiving

November 14th was Thanksgiving Day in France. Not having any family here in France, George and I decided to celebrate Turkey Day with 100 of our closest friends. Not having 100 friends, we settled for about 15 friends and 85 strangers.

Thanksgiving is not, of course, a French holiday, but it is not, as some people think, a purely American festival either. Thanksgiving is a relatively big holiday in Canada too, complete with a Canadian Football League doubleheader just like the NFL doubleheader we get every Turkey Day in the US. While American Thanksgiving is always on the last Thursday in November, Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. French Thanksgiving, being celebrated mostly by American and Canadian expats, is therefore celebrated on November 14th (or any available weekend in between the two holidays from the homeland).

Of the 100 people at the dinner, I would say 35-40 where American, 5 or 6 Canadians, 1 Australian, 1 Venezuelan, a couple Chinese people, and the rest French. The food was mostly traditional American food, with a couple french appetizers mixed in for variety, and of course a huge amount of wine (although we did have wine in a box, which always seemed particularly American to me). The food was really good, particularly the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie, both of which are hard to find in France.

George and I made deviled eggs, which I had always assumed was a very American food. Turns out deviled eggs are actually from Italy, and are not uncommon in France, so to make mine more American, I added some Heinz Sweet Relish that I bought while I was in Hong Kong a few months ago, since relish does not exist in France.

The conversation was good too. We met a few more couples around our age, a few more Americans, and got to discuss the difficulties of watching American sports live in France with all the technical and time-zone related problems that entails.

All in all a good night. After getting lost trying to walk home, George and I ran into one of the couples from the dinner and ending up going out for more drinks and discussions of Michael Jackson lyrics, finding vegetarian food in Lyon, and other important topics.