Sense and sensuality.
Yesterday, I didn’t really want to blog about Garfieldd, again.
If there hadn’t been urgent news to report, I might have linked to Flying Spaghetti Monster erotica (via Pharyngula)—not really work safe, a bit disturbing, hopefully consensual, but if so, then rather funny, too. But still, is the FSM trying for a divine human descendant on earth or what? “The Passion of The Pastafarian” ... no, I don’t think so. That’s too much to, er, stomach.
Or I might have written about touristy things. As a resident of ten years, I haven’t seen Paris through a tourist’s eye for a long time. But once in a while some event brings back bits and pieces than should go into a manual of the French capital, written for the (foreign) visitor.
Like the how to avoid keeping your nose glued to the map (and thereby missing three quarters of the atmosphere): Just put it away. You can’t get lost in Paris if you know one single phrase in French, which is “Excusez-moi, le métro, s’il vous plaît ?” Wander around for a few hours, hop on a bus—as long as you’re inside the city limits, and you’d notice when you cross them, you’re always within a short walk of an underground station.
Or where to meet up—métro station exits are bad, because there might be several of them, at quite a distance from each other. Bridges are normally good, but in the winter (or, for that matter, when it’s rainy), you’ll be exposed to the elements. Surprising how much harsher the cold can be in the middle of even a short bridge over the Seine than at either end. If you’re five minutes early for your meet-up, it’ll bite your toes off.
This random thought is of course totally unrelated to the current weather. Which is rather on the cold side, as winters in Paris go. This Saturday looks like yet another chilly, grey, even slightly foggy day.
And I’ve been trying my best to stave off the onslaught of a head cold. With hot chocolate while out and lots of fruit and vegetables at home. Plus music, reading, watching videos.
I’ve been looking for relaxing pleasures while sorting through my desktop computer’s hard disks. Amazing finds, like my collection of music videos. The Placebo & David Bowie video of Without You I’m Nothing was a nice rediscovery. Brian Molko’s gender bending, the musicians’ interaction brimming with sensuality—including those between Bowie and the bassist Stefan Olsdal, if you look closely.
Oh, the title? That’s the German translation of the title of the 1995 film after Jane Austen’s novel—Sinn und Sinnlichkeit—translated back to English. Traditionally, Sense and Sensibility, the book title, is translated as Verstand und Gefühl, i.e. “reason and emotion”. Not an easy thing to translate. Those psycho-cognitive categories just don’t overlap. But at least they exist, for they are the essence of what makes us human.