NRJ Music Awards.
So where shall I begin? OK, first let's talk about this weekend. So, this is officially my last week of work here at NAKeD. Yey! I am completely ready to take a break and do a little exploring. But to wrap up the 3 months that I have been working with them, we are going to Cannes for the NRJ Music Awards. They are just like the MTV Awards but these are produced entirely in France. They will have about 10 performers ranging from Amy Winehouse to Rhianna to Mika... It should be a pretty cool show. But am not going down just to partake in the festivities. We actually produced all the graphics for the entire show. So we are heading down on Thursday to test the graphics on this huge screen and make any last minute changes that may need to occur. But our hard work will be well rewarded because not only do we get to attend the award show but my company is throwing an after party for the entire production with invites extending to all the hosts and performers. The producer (Jacques) just told me last week that they ordered 1200 bottles of champagne for the soirée! I think it will be an "OK" time... LOL...
Here is a video of one of the performers, MIKA:
Bonne Année!
OK, I suppose the time has come to discuss the New Year's Eve party here in Paris. For the most part the French like to party just as hard as anyone else on this night. But here are some details that stood out to me as a little different from my normal festivities.
OK, so what I ended up doing was heading to a house party with Danielle in the south of Paris. When we arrived there were about 10 people, half spoke English the other half spoke French. Usually, I end up drinking beer and shots on New Year's with a touch of champers for good measure. Apparently, in France, you drink wine and champers all night. Oh man, we are in for a long ride... As far as food is concerned, there was Fois Gras which is a paté made from duck liver. You eat it by smearing some on a small slice of toast. Very very good but somewhat unethically made... I will let you do your own research on that here.
Also, they had another dish which wasn't the most visually appealing but tasted like a bit of heaven. It was called Parmentier de Canard which is little pieces of duck pulled from the bone and mixed with puréed potatoes. Mmmmmmm! I can taste them now.
The music was interesting. It was a mixture of old French and American classics. Very cool because everyone that was French would bust out all the lyrics when their songs came on, and vise versa. Overall, it was a good mix and a fresh change.
Here is a sample of my friend's singing some French song on another night:
When that special hour finally came, there was a big difference than what we usually do in the States. Instead of every one having a "date" for the night and then making face with them at midnight, the French have a different way. When the hour struck, we all went around the room giving bisous (the kisses on both cheeks) to basically everyone and wished them a Bonne Année (Happy New Year). I actually liked this tradition very much. Seemed like a good way to meet everyone you didn't know very quickly. Lol... Also, at that moment is is normal to throw these little balls around the room. They are like the size of marbles and made of something a bit heavier than foam. But imagine hundreds of them coming from all directions. It was like an indoor snowball fight with miniature snowballs. (What a horrible analogy that was.) After it was all said and done, I had a great time at the party and really enjoyed my new way of celebrating the new year.
After the party, the Metro was supposed to be open all night, but for some reason it was closed. Me and Dee were lucky enough to catch a cab right away, but our friends were not so lucky. Check out this video of their adventure home on the Velib (the local bikes that cost 1 euro a ride):
The next day 8 of us met up to have on last night together before it was time to return to the States. It was nice. We had a chance to sit around and talk and learn a bit more about each other. Now if you remember from the last post, I introduced you to Peter (the Canadian Rocket Scientist from LA). Anyway, he told us about his brother and how he ended up where he is today. He is a Sommelier (highest level wine producer) who lives in Bordeaux since 4 years ago. Apparently, while living in Canada, he met a French woman, fell deeply in love and then was married. After that they moved to Bordeaux, France and bought a castle-like house. He furthered his interest in agriculture by getting into wine production. And after just 4 short years, he is almost at the top of the game. To me, that is a very impressive story. It says to me that no matter what you are doing right now, you can be in a completely different, better lifestyle in a very short time period. That idea makes me happy...
The night went on and we carried on story after story about our childhoods and drank delicious wine produced by Peter's brother. Then it happened... I brought my guitar to help liven up the party, but when Peter got control of it, things got a bit lively. Check out this vid of a song he sang about me, the Sexodrome and plenty of other good things:
I have a few more blogs written already but I am gonna wait to post them... Come back soon... :)
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