The view from my window (via Photomerge)

Talking of the view from my window (see below) I got wise to the Photomerge function in Photoshop thanks to the ever-funny "You Suck At Photoshop" (episode #17).

After taking around 20 photos from my window, the program put them altogether automatically! Must try with some views of Paris to see what happens...

My near-naked neighbour - the fantasy stops here

I've mentioned my near-naked neighbour before. Just opposite my living room window, he parades about in only boxer shorts in hot weather, freezing weather, any weather. He's good looking, has lovely muscles, a great tan... and the voice of a ladyboy hairdresser.

With steely nerve and concentration, I've managed to ignore the voice and just concentrate on the looks, body and tan. I even steal a photo of him from time to time. Like this one from Saturday, when he came back from a couple of weeks away and decided to clean his windows...

It's pretty hazy, but I was hiding behind the bookshelves and the windows were closed.

Anyway, Saturday night he had some friends round and at around midnight he put a DVD of a rock concert on his overlarge flatscreen TV and turned the sound up to 11. The concert was by Johnny Hallyday, perhaps the most un-hip artist that France has to offer. Now 65 years old, Johnny screeches out (I mean really bellows) lowest common denominator rock, has had multiple operations on his face to give him trout lips and slanty eyes, and has a wife over thirty years younger than him. Looking at him is scary, listening to him is torture.

To top it all, the whole apartment sung in unison as loud as possible, united in a beautiful moment of horrifying bad taste.

So, it's decided; my hot neighbour isn't hot any more. At all. Well, perhaps still a bit.

The drums

photo by Matthieu :: giik.net/blog used under cc licence

I'm always going on about how music was better back in the early nineties. There's little contemporary club stuff that I like to listen to. Have I become the clubbing equivalent of my parents, doomed to listen to - and love - the same Chris de Burgh album for all eternity? I've thought about it a lot, and the answer is... NO! Music, or at least club music, was better back then. Less cynically commercial, less tailored to trigger the various effects of certain drugs. Less ridiculously hard and fast. It wasn't a completely innocent time, but it was more creative, positive, melodic...

Melody is all well and fine, but what about a good pounding beat? Going through my CD-singles, it struck me that a lot of people managed to make good club tracks without much melody at all. Practically all they needed was... the drums.

Here's my quick selection of highlights:

1. The Mod Wheel "Jungle Drums (Tom Middleton 3D dub)"
I remember when this came out. It was everywhere thanks to its clever filters, great breakdown and monkeys!
2. Blue Boy "Remember Me (Sub dub)"
This wasn't the mix heard in all the clubs, in fact there's not much of the original in there at all... which is a good thing. I got really sick of that song, but I love this mix by Matthias 'Matty' Heilbronn.
3. Brothers' Vibe "Rain Forest"
This was an underground tribal track by Tony Rodriguez that I heard played by DJ Freddy at the legendary Scream nights in Paris. Very simple, very effective.
4. Dave Lee "Mucho Macho (Joey Negro dubbed drums Fist extension)"
Just to prove me wrong, this is a new one! Dave Lee manages to keep the energy going with only the simplest of elements, and I've extended his version slightly to extend the pleasure.

Click on each track to download it separately, or go straight to the Mediafire folder containing them all by clicking here.

Orgasm for my inner nerd

I have this love-hate relationship with What Hi-Fi magazine. I love me a bit of surround sound, but their magazine is just too detailed for me, and their reviews invariably come down to 'you get what you pay for'.

However this time of year is when I get a little excited, even for them: it's Awards time, and I need (as in 'yearn', 'ache for') some new technology.

And this year, God bless 'em, they have given the Product of the Year Award to the TV I had my eye on! The Sony 40W4500 (their review here). And it's not too expensive! But I'm broke... Hopefully, I'll have save up enough by Xmas.

You can get your own nerdgasm here (and find out who's won while you're at it).

The site's a bit of a hoot too, as their journalists deliver deadpan reviews that probably read a lot better than they sound out loud. For example, the Denon D-M37DAB CD system "has the feel of something that will still be around with the cockroaches should that nuclear bomb be dropped." I didn't really laugh.

Nuit Blanche 2008 in Paris

Am trying to get into more regular blogging mode now that certain things are calming down here.

Managed to get out for a quick visit of Paris' "White Night" event yesterday, with artistic installations and happenings all through the city, all through the night. This year there were a lot of light-based events and a lot happening around the city's main train stations.

We were too tired and too (mildly) ill to go very far or queue anywhere, so we just managed to catch the lightshow and ephemeral bamboo garden at the Maison de l'Architecture, and the projections opposite the Gare de l'Est. My initial reaction was that this was just a gimmick - thick coloured paint being poured down glass and accompanied by live music - but it was very quickly mesmerising. Here's my little film as proof...