possibly even better than orangina.

so this week i had no class, so I watched a lot of movies.

MARDI: Cloverfield
MERCREDI: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (French), Frenzy (dubbed)
JEUDI: Les demoiselles de Rochefort (French)
VENDREDI: There Will Be Blood

more on the movies later. but first off, my love song to french multiplexes.

^^^this is where i saw 'there will be blood' today, the gaumont parnasse. the lobby and hallways were painted cute bright colors and lit with quirky neon lights. and i love this 'sketched-on' wall. note also that they give you real couches to sit on while you wait to get in.

<<< later, when i settled into my high-backed and comfy (and CLEAN) seat i noticed these little light-shapes on the darkened screen. cute, no? the little petal-shapes echo the embroidered design on the seat backs and the multicolored lamps on the walls. and the gaumont parnasse isn't even one of the nicer multiplexes in paris. i've been to several that were just as cute. stephan told me on leaving paris that 'i wish i'd realized earlier that what i really wanted to do in paris is see two movies per day.' at the time, i thought he was nuts, but i'm really beginning to see the appeal.


OTHER COOL THINGS

>>> the police recently discovered a secret underground movie theater in an unexplored part of the parisian catacombs. apparently it was run by a secret society. a secret society that apparently outsourced its security to kevin macallister.

Behind that, a tunnel held a desk and a closed-circuit TV camera set to automatically record images of anyone passing. The mechanism also triggered a tape of dogs barking, "clearly designed to frighten people off," the spokesman said.

harry and marv would never have gotten past that one.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/08/filmnews.france

>>> Also, Business Week weighs in on why french multiplexes suck less than their american counterparts:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2002/nf20021011_8583.htm

>>> other people's lists of top movie theaters. note that i'm this impressed, and i've never been to any of the ones on either list.
http://gridskipper.com/travel/paris/first+date-movie-theaters-in-paris-278486.php
http://goparis.about.com/od/sightsattractions/tp/ParisCelluloid.htm