Monday, March 12, 2012

Speaking of spectacles...

"Parisians marvel at spectacle of U.S. election race" reads the headline, but getting into the body of the article, what I'm mostly marveling at is the gushings of the writer, a left-coast SWPL by the name of Pamela Poole, so smitten with the City of Lights and Curbside Pissoirs and its oh-so-chic denizens that she's practically humping its leg.

Watching a Californian desperate to ingratiate herself with Parisians is a bizarre spectacle in its own right, akin to seeing a tanned and blonde varsity cheerleader standing by the table full of pimply, bespectacled D&D nerds and nervously asking "Is this seat taken?"

18 comments:

Frank W. James said...

This is strange. I just read this post while sitting in the Charles de Gaulle airport in, of all places, PARIS!

Sometimes life gets freaky...

All The Best,
Frank W. James

Joe in PNG said...

Paris is so like 1920's. Getting hip by hitting Paris is a bit like going to Seattle to make it big in that grunge music thingy.

Joseph said...

she's practically humping its leg.

Hey, humping a poodle's leg isn't easy, er, so I've been told.

greg said...

Wait a minute...trying to impress the cheerleaders was the only reason I played D&D!!!

Onbekend said...

I don't get it.

California is a statist hell where all the worst qualities of Europe and the US are combined.

Paris - has some couple of hundreds of thousands of stupid ragheads, otherwise, it is a quite orderly if expensive capital city. You're safe as long as you stay in white districts.

Is the same not true about L.A.?

staghounds said...

Hold hard now, Paris has pretty art and Berthillon!

Angus McThag said...

Playing DnD doesn't attract chicks?

Crap!

Where were you thirty years ago?

I could have made something of my life!

BobG said...

Poole seems to value French opinion a lot more than I do, it seems.

Borepatch said...

Sadly, coastal Progressives swooning over Paris is so common as to be banal.

The "Act like you've been here before" rule should be invoked on her article.

And I like Paris just fine, although I'm not much interested in the political opinions of folks who almost elected Jean Le Pen President of the 5th Republic, not so very long ago.

og said...

See, if the left on the coasts can just learn to surrender like the French, they can pick someone to surrender to, when the shit hits the fan, so when someone else comes in and actually uses the resources they are so anxious NOT to use, they can blame it on those evil Germans - er, conquerors.

Is the shiny side supposed to go in, or out?

Anonymous said...

Just to be sure I've got this right, we have a left coast idjit who doesn't have any clue about French politics or the French, talk to French leftists who don't have any understanding of the US and that amounts to an article?

It probably should have been titled, "I like your navel better than mine".

Terry

NotClauswitz said...

Parisians are almost as bad as NewYawkers for finding effortless self-value without any actual exercise -- but who else is gonna plant the trees so the Germans (Or and Islamic restauranteur serving Moroccan chicken in an authentic tagine) can march in the shade but a green-swooning Lefty tree-hugger from Berkeley?

Rob Reed said...

Two gaming references in two posts? "bespectaled D&D nerds" anyone can say, but "failed his sanity check" is kinda obscure.

Makes me want to know more about High School age Tam...

Trebor ('cause that's my Geek name...)

MSgt B said...

Wow,

You're on a roll today, Tam.

Rob said...

Oh, god. Do NOT read the comments to that article. I haven't seen so much stupid in one place since the last White House press conference.

Broken Andy said...

I'm gonna be in Paris in a couple of weeks, and I'm so not looking for to it. Been there many times before and I don't hate it, but I fail to see how it is anything other than just another big city. Most of the big cities in Europe have lost their uniqueness over the years. Same shopping, slightly different cuisine to be found, and differing sights with the same mind-crushing crowds full of pick-pockets. You want old world charm and French appeal, Quebec is actually quite nice and much closer.

staghounds said...

Berthillon, Broken Andy. Try the French Toast and do not miss the Pear Sorbet.

NotClauswitz said...

Oh yeh Broken Andy, pick-pockets! I had almost forgotten about them. And Gypsies. There's an entire street-level population of generational, professional thieves that we seem to be lacking here except among our Political Class.