In the garden of the Rodin museum at night.

After 12 years of restoration, they've reopened the Grand Palais, a massive exhibition hall built for the 1900 World Fair. It's abso-friggin-huge. And totally Jules Verne retro-future zeppelin-hangar cool. A glass cathedral.

Only in Paris could a humble donut get classy store-front presentation like this.

If your eye could see into a second so that it was half-an-hour long, this is what falling water would be. Liquid ice.

Water Wall

Eiffel Annunciation

On the Optical Conductivity of Lemons

The common goldfish and the Aquatic Red Canary can cohabit happily as long as the aquarium is 30 gallons or larger to provide flying room.

The hacky sack was believed extinct after the population boom and subsequent die-off of the 1980s. However, a small but thriving population has recently been reported in France. This image represents the first photographic evidence of a hacky sack (circled in white) in the wild in over 15 years. Note that the symbiotic relationship with white males, in which the men jump around like idiots in an effort to keep the sack in airborne motion, remains intact.

This weekend it was the Journees de Patrimoine, during which the powers that be open up a number of buildings that are normally closed to the public. This is the main "Conference Hall" of the palace of the Senate (the building you see in the background in pics of the Luxembourg Gardens). The great thing is that they actually use this place for meetings! It's not just window dressing for tourists! How bad-ass is that? Like, "We'll meet in the Conference Hall."

"Oh, the one downstairs with the simulated wood grain table and the generic sunset print on the wall?"

"No, the one that blinds you with gold leaf so that you can barely see the original Delacroix painting in the dome fifty feet above your head."

"Oh, right, that one."

Bonus Monday Sidewalk Graffiti: "It's a Quarter to Orwell"

I went to this "artists in residence" place on Saturday. This stairwell was the most interesting piece of art in evidence.

'Can I get a lift out of this window? I'm going wherever you're going. Anywhere but here. They don't even give me shoes on this gig. My hair's all gone from the stress. C'mon, seriously, guys. Anyone?'

Harry and Vince had never been cut out for the clown business, not the way it was now, with kids' birthday parties and everyone wanting balloon animals. They drew their inspiration from an older, darker tradition of clowning. After a while, it just wasn't worth the hassle. Opening the bar was the best thing they'd ever done.

fall romance

This bug has taken up residence in our flower box. He doesn't seem to eat anything, just hangs around. Maybe pondering.

Nightwatch on the royal trees.

America's September 11th. As we remember the dead, let us remember that we live in a world full of death. Let us remember our humanity, and the humanity of the world.


original image used without permission

The lion of Concorde

Fountain spray.

Years of careful scheming had come to this. The keys were in his claws. Rocky's heart pounded. As soon as his captor turned away, he'd fire up the bike and make his break. One mad burn down the coast and across the border into Mexico, where freedom waited.

art and audience 2

Stop, drop, and roll, or wave 'em like you just don't care. As you wish.

art and audience

Dali sez: WATCH OUT FOR PAINTING. Pompidou Center graffiti.

Can a little boy in a wheelchair be erased from this world in the interests of Good Composition? The answer, I'm afraid, is 'Yes.'

The rent on the penthouse was obscene, but the fact that Stephen was able to look down his nose at the neighbors was priceless.