The Garden of the Dragon is just one of the big attractions that the futuristic science city of the Parc de la Villette (http://www.cite-sciences.fr/fr/cite-des-sciences/) offers for children, located a tad disconcertingly in remote times to come such as the end of ’2001: A Space Odyssey’. The fantastic and colossal slide in the shape of the legendary mythological monster is there to attract attention with its fabulous places such as the Wind Garden and the Dunes Garden, the Garden of Islands, the Bamboo Garden, the Mirror Garden and the unforgettable argonaut submarine.

Inside the city of science and industry at the Parc de la Villette there’s still another city for children, designed and planned to help them discover and unfold the world that surrounds them, a highly technological world in this case, thanks to a broad activity programme.

Another of the favourite places for children s the visionary, industrialist and colourful architecture of the Centre d’Art Pompidou, that also has a wide, varied and highly stimulating range of activities for the younger ones.

It’s in some way unavoidable that one of the favourite parts of the museum is its exterior, not only in virtue of the imaginative and evocative architecture of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano but especially the famous source of mobile polychrome machine structures of the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, one of the main representatives of the so called kinetic art and dada metamechanic, known by the name of Stravinsky Fountain or the Automaton Fountain.

Less so mechanically automaton, although it does have a bit of that ambiguous nature, and perhaps more so metallic colossus is the famous Eiffel Tower, despite being received in 1889 with highly derogatory comments by most Parisians, among them the reputable artists of the time. For a long time it has been one of the world’s most visited monuments and also a children’s favourite, since they enjoy the impressive views that its nearly 1000ft offer just as much or even more than the adults. So much so that the tower itself organizes special children tours that have been very successful.

Despite the predilection that the surrealists had for it (or even because of precisely that, that in the child’s world, the unconscious happily free flows) the Grevin wax museum is another place where to spend a nice time with the children, because there they’ll find, in its unforgettable planet, a figure of the Little Prince accompanied by the fox and the rose, modeled especially by Stéphane Barret, using 3D technology.

Paul Oilzum

And for the comic book lovers, how could they miss a visit to the most famous and ancient French character at Parc Asterix, the second biggest theme park in France that will delight children and adults when they rent apartments in Paris

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Many bands have immediate success, reaching the mainstream and managing to get so many fans in a matter of months. That’s what happened to the guys from “The Rifles”, band that was founded in 2004 and with the release of its first album, quickly became famous thanks to exceptional songs like “Peace & Quiet”, “When I’m Alone” or “local Boy” among others.

Their debut album, launched in 2006, was called “No Love Lost”, followed by “Great Escape” in 2009 and finally “Freedom Run” which was presented in September 2011. Their latest album is the reason why the group is on tour around the world. With concerts in every corner of “The Rifles” play all their new songs for the delight of their fans.

Currently the band’s members are: Joel Stoker on vocals and guitar, Luke Crowther also on vocals and guitar, Lee Burgess on bass, Kenton Shinn on drums and percussion in general and Dean Mumforn on keyboards. They are the ones who, with three albums, managed to form a powerful band with their unique rhythms, make their fans dance every time they play their music.

The Rifles was founded by Joel Stoker and Luke Crowther when they went the Redbridge College in 2003. They attended an Oasis concert at Knebworth and inspired by them, they decided to created their own band. The rest is history.

More information: http://www.songkick.com/concerts/10459323-rifles-at-la-boule-noire

La Boule Noire: 120 Boulevard Rochechouart, 75018 Paris, France

MiLK

The group arrives in Paris on the 15th of February, to offer a concert at La Boule Noire. All those who want to enjoy one of the most important cities in the world with some of the best museums, monuments and parks, as well as The Rifles’ concert, should to rent apartments in Paris

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Translated by: Hans
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On July 2012 the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris will showcase the work of the Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico. The show is centered on the donation made by Isabel de Chirico, widow of the painter, to the city of Paris and is part of the recognition of the city towards the artist.

This exhibition is one of the largest retrospectives on the work of Chirico and is organized by themes and styles to enhance his  extraordinary work. Organized in 30 paintings, 20 drawings and 11 sculptures representing the main stages of the painter. These include a series of self portraits that  include Elizabeth and a nude of her. There are also still life and horses in the sea.

Giorgio de Chirico was born in Volos, Greece in 1888. The son of Italian parents, he studied in Athens and then moved to Germany to study at the Munich Art Academy, where he was impregnated with the philosophy of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and others who raised the banner of metaphysical thought. On his return to Italy in 1909, he began to produce his first metaphysical paintings , an example is The Enigma of an Autumn Afternoon.

His metaphysical gaze on aesthetics led him to be fascinated with Turin and its architecture. He then moved and lived in Paris, then he joined the army in 1915 during the First World War. During all the period preceding the military and the war his work was strongly metaphysical, creating the scuola metaphysics current. His paintings are notable for the management of somber colors and themes, prompting an overwhelming feeling that will dominate his imagination.

After the war there is a change and dummies urban landscapes, objects, in an interesting sequence of dismemberment of objects begin to appear. Colors will be strongly influenced by his Mediterranean spirit.

Many intellectuals praised the surrealist work of De Chirico, one of them was Guillaume Apollinaire who connected him with surrealists, causing such a stir that he definitely influenced Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, René Magritte and Salvador Dalí.

Even though Chirico abandoned the metaphysical style early to join other schools, including realism, he is still recognized by critics as metaphysical painter. In 1911, strongly influenced by the light projected by the city of Paris, he  began to produce works based on representations of urban spaces where  new perceptions of architectural designs will dominate. This new aesthetic look will add timeless representations without specific context, and the juxtapositions of works on construction, something very typical of surrealism.

De Chirico is an avant-garde painter, who also introduced the concept of imperfection as part of the work and of all human action. In 1925 he published the novel Hedbdómero, the metaphysical.

For more information http://www.mam.paris.fr/fr/expositions/presentation-du-legs-isabella-pakszwer-de-chirico

Nancy Guzman

Days to dream and to start the year in apartments in Paris so rent in time and enjoy all the wonders that this city has to offer.

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Translated by: Marc
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Alternative music and Indie rock are booming and many of the bands that started playing for a few dozen people, now are traveling the world with thousands of fans. One of these bands is Nada Surf, which makes more than interesting music, represented in the perfection efforts by Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca and Ira Elliot.

The band was founded in 1992 and released its first studio 1996 under the name “High / Low”. In 2012, they completed having more than 20 years together and for that reason they are touring around the world to play their best songs, as well as presenting “The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy” , their seventh album, which will be released this month.

Nada Surf was created thanks to Caws and Lorca, who met at the French School in New York, place where the band is from, and chose that name because, according to its own members, it is a very existentialist meaning, referring to surf in your mind and being lost inside your own head. Why did they decide to make a band? Because the only time that could meet and have a fun was when they played, composed and met their fans.

The group is touring around the world and offering concerts in different places. On the 14^th of, they will come to the city of love to perform at Le Bataclan and present to all their fans, their latest production in Paris.

More information: http://bataclan.fnacspectacles.com/place-spectacle/manifestation/Pop-rock-Folk-NADA-SURF-BANAD.htm

Le Bataclan, 50 Boulevard Voltaire, 75011 Paris, France

MiLK

If you want to get to know one of the most beautiful cities around the world, full of art, parks, delicious food and fun bars, all you have to do is renting apartments in Paris and enjoy not only Nada Surf, but also this great city.

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Translated by: Hans
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It’s not easy to argue that Zazie is one of the most singular and interesting cases in the French commercial music scene in the last few decades. She will be playing a highly-awaited concert on the 10th of February on the outskirts of Paris, at the Espace Jacques Prevert http://www.infoconcert.com/salle/espace-jacques-prevert-a-aulnay-9165/concerts.html in the town of Aulnay-sous-Bois, 9 miles from the centre of the French capital.

Née Isabelle de Truchis de Varennes in 1964 -her artistic name is a tribute to the protagonist of ‘Zazie in the Metro’, the masterpiece of the surrealist writer Raymond Queneau, who was an oustanding member of the High Pataphysical Studies College. His novel made him known to the large public and was majestically adapted to the big screen by Louis Malle a few years after its publication in 1959-, Zazie had a complete formation in music, which her mother was a teacher of, and thus developed a very important role since she was a child. During that time, not only did she study the violin, piano and guitar but also learned how to love the classics of the French ‘chanson’, such as Barbara, Jacques Brel or Georges Brassen, who somehow shaped her early start as a songwriter.

Despite that, until 1993, the year of the huge success of her single ‘Sucré Sale’, which made her a deserved winner of the award of Best French Song of that year, Zazie was better known as a model (hence the photographs from her album ‘Made in Love’ were made by Mondino) than a singer. This fact throws her into the same category as Ana Karina, Jane Birkin (for who Zazie wrote a song in 1999), Vanessa Paradis or Carla Bruni, in a long French tradition of models who became shining pop stars.

With a degree in pyschotherapy, she, together with the aforementioned growth, especially on the lyrical level, of new French singing figures, her interest in the work of Peter Gabriel and the so called World Music (following the footsteps of the British singer, who was her first mentor, she recorded her first albums in a cave) were her biggest influences. However, in 2004, with her album ‘Rodeo’, she began to show a certain turn towards electronic music.

Despite being one of the most successful French artists in her country, Zazie’s career has not been lacking controversy, especially regarding her songs with a homoerotic male content. The most famous controversy was regarding ‘Un point c’est toi’, the screening of its video, which immediately became one of the most viewed in France during the 90s, nearly vetoed a TV channel in Canada.

Paul Oilzum

Zazie is one of the biggest figures of French commercial music from the last twenty years. her concerts are always an event whose value goes beyond the musical one to fully enter the sociologic sphere. Check it out if you rent apartments in Paris during those dates.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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In the late Middle Ages, the only ways to access the Île de la Cité in Paris, the 1st Arrondissement of the current French capital, were two bridges that were guarded by two headframes. The northern one was the biggest and was the most outstanding one due to its square shape and, according to all chronicles, to its spectral towers. This headframe went through successive and gruesome metamorphosis thanks to which it would become the headquarters of the Paris provost. It possessed one of the most feared prisons by Parisians, which had terrifying torture chambers that worsened the unfortunate reputation of the building. This reputation grew ominously until its final destruction in 1808 by Napoleon’s orders.

To those who lived through that period they would have struggled to believe that on that same piece of land, approximately fifty years later, the incredibly beautiful Théâtre du Châtelet, as a tribute to the historical initial headframe. Dedicated entirely to music, it’s a building of harmonious beauty of Palladian inspiration designed by the architect Gabriel Davioud. It was part of the urban reform plans impulsed by Baron Haussmann that were to radically transform the aspect of the city, with the aim to favour the free flow of goods demanded by the capitalist society and, also, stop the formation of barricades in potential future revolutions.

Its attractive interior isn’t just the annual stage for the awards ceremony of the prestigious César Awards of French film, but also the witness of some of the most decisive moments in artistic, scenic and musical avant-gardes in the first two decades of the 20th century, such as the representations of the Russian ballets of Diaghilev and the premieres of plays such as ‘Petrouchka’ by Stravinsky and ‘Parade’ by Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, with the costumes and scenography by Picasso.

Equally avant-gardist was the appearance in 1959 of the great surrealist novel ‘Zazie in the Metro’ (that tells the story of the adventures of girl from outside Paris who eludes the supervision of adults during two days to explore with unsuspected limits the possibilities of the city and the language) by the writer Raymond Queneau, an oustanding member of the High Pataphysical Studies College in Paris and co-founder of the legendary Oulipo Workshop of Potential Literature. The musical adaptation of the novel will be staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet only on the 5th of February.

However, it is the concerts that the living legend of French song Juliette Gréco -who is presenting her new album ‘Ça se traverse et c’est beau’- at the Châtelet from the 6th to the 8th of February that will be the highlight of the theatre’s monthly programme http://www.chatelet-theatre.com/2011-2012/juliette-greco,639

Paul Oilzum

The stage at the Châtelet is one of the few that lives up to the expectations of Gréco and Queneau, both an essential part of the 20th century French history and culture. Come to see them both when you rent apartments in Paris

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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They say that on a night from the beginning of the 1960s, Orson Welles was looking for, from the observation point of the windows of his room in Hôtel Meurice, help or consolation from the moon. He’d been scrupulously designing for months to get the visual effect he wished that was needed for the decoration of the story of his adaptation of Kafka’s ‘The Trial’ and he’d just received the news that there were no funds to build it.

Maybe in tears, he then seemed to see not one but two full moons, but then he realized that those shapes belonged to two faces of the clock of the abandoned train station of Orsay, built in 1900, where he went to quickly obeying its call. There he found, after walking through its doors close to 4am, everything that he needed to make the film, the world of Kafka intact: the lawyer offices, the justice tribunals, the interminable corridors in an architectonic style, later defined by him as Jules Verne-esque modernist, that could not go better with the aesthetic of the Czech writer.

But he then discovered something more important. He had the feeling that if the station was such a beautiful place to photograph, it was mostly due to the fact that it was full of pain and sadness, the type of pain and sadness that accumulates in a place where people wait, and ‘The Trial’ was above all a book about waiting. Waiting for someone to put a stamp on a paper wasn’t much more different than waiting for a train, with all the angst and tragedy that it could have if, for example, as it was Orsay’s case, trains were sent from there to Nazi concentration camps -the same people who had ordered to burn all of Kafka’s books.

Since the 1st of December 1986, the Gare d’Orsay became a museum http://www.musee-orsay.fr/ dedicated to 19th century plastic arts, whose strong point is its astounding impressionist painting collection, which makes it into one of the city’s main tourist attractives.

To commemorate its 25th anniversary, an extraordinary restoration work on the building has just been completed that, as well as adding new rooms and an impressive cafeteria designed by Humberto and Fernando Campana, which is a total revolution -based on the use of the latest electric lights that reproduce solar light on a special grey colour for the walls that acquire red or green tones according to the light- in the way of exhibiting the paintings, whose colours have been enhanced to an unsuspected and fabulous extreme.

Paul Oilzum

The transformation is magnificent, almost magical. The new colours and illumination create an intimate atmosphere that Guy Cogéval, the museum’s director, has described as the palpitating heart of all galleries. You might want to see it for yourself when you rent apartments in Paris

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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In the adorable ‘La chanson des fortifs’, Fréhel reflected on the passing of time and asked herself what had happened to things like the old songs of the popular artist Aristide Bruand, contemporary of the first era of the Moulin Rouge, who was immortalized, just like the legendary place in the posters of his friend Toulouse-Lautrec, the graphic reporter par excellence of this paradoxical and fascinating decadent period of the end of the century and the Belle Epoque.

Fréhel herself, the great start of the generation after Bruand, predicted the inevitable disappearance of all the components of that extraordinary Parisian era, whose atmosphere completely captivated Marcel Proust in an infinite book that contemplated, among other things, the birth of film, the first apotheosis of industrial design, the arrival of the automobile, sports and other forms of worship to speed, everything Japanese, theosophy, the avant-gardes, impressionist music and the aesthetic triumph of the Russian ballets by Diaghilev. Also, with the fascinating flora, wildlife and imaginary teratology suggested by the metro entrances designed by Grimard, the transformation of the city surface into a landscape full of terrible and magical accesses to the unknown, conformed the ideal scenario for an urban pataphysical and surrealist adventure.

Mentioning other elements, Fréhel’s song announced the inevitable disappearance of all of these things but, also, of all the heroes, objects and fashions that came after them, including of course her own, while she offered the consolation that even though time brings even the strongest and most solid constructions down, there would always be songs -Averroes, according to Borges, offered, decades later, a bigger consolation for the pain due to the essential impermanence of things, relying upon that “time, who strips the fortresses, enriches the verses”.

Despite everything, the legendary Moulin Rouge (http://www.moulinrouge.fr/index_gb.php#/histoire/) is still going today, 120 years after its opening, and it’s still the main responsible, together with the other cabarets in the Butte Montmartre district, of the attractive growth with forbidden fruit flavour of the district. Despite this, however, the expectancies created in 1891 by the construction of the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur foresaw a much more merciful attraction for this area of the north of Paris that would be so decisive in the history of contemporary art. Perhaps the perpetual tension between heaven and hell has never been staged with more elegance, beauty and precision.

In the 1960s it revitalized and reached the point of regaining all of its splendor as a music-hall temple. Few things are comparable as dining in the Moulin Rouge (five different menus to choose from with champagne, of course) while you attend one of the best cabaret shows in the world, and a can-can show included, of course.

Paul Oilzum

This would mean occupying a seat in one of the most fabulously evocative interiors of the Belle Epoque in a city that felt, during that period of time, the centre of the world. When you rent apartments in Paris few plans will be more seductively appealing.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Arctic Monkeys, a band formed in Sheffield, England in 2002. This band, which for some time was the star of the MTV, is now launching its fourth album and is embarking on a new tour to promote it. The album is called “Suck it and see’, which keeps the band’s music style, while using direct language, critical, with humor and for some people “rather rude” characteristic of the Arctic Monkeys.

The band’s debut album was released in 2006 under the name “Whatever people say I am, tha` s what I `m not”, with which they made it to number one in the chart single UK lists and sold more copies than any other band, at that time, during the first week of album sales. Their sound was a casual Indie that brought a booming success, which quickly took them to the top of the charts and world fame, receiving awards and going up to the roof. The group’s second album in 2007, “Favourite worst nightmare” continued increasing the fame of the Arctic Monkeys, leading them to win the award for Best British Album at the Brit Awards 2008.

No doubt the Artics Monkeys should be one of the fastest bands that made it to the top charts and produce the most sales, the good thing is that they have managed to keep their reputation and have not declined on the way, which usually occurs when fame comes so soon. The truth is, they have not been resting on their laurels and have released four albums, the last one in 2011, with which they come to Paris on the 31^st of January. The concert will be held at the Casino de Paris at 19:30 hrs. Check the prices and general information about the concert in the following link:

http://concertful.com/concert/arctic-monkeys/paris_27686

Luz Obscura

A trip to Paris is always a pleasure, at any time of year, even more if you add a good concert on the way. Rent apartments in Paris and do not miss the Arctic Monkeys concert on the 31st of January.

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Translated by: Hans
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One of the earliest examples we have of a criminal writer is the provocative fifteenth-century French writer, François Villon, who was also the precursor of other cursed writers like Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Verlaine. He spent long periods in prison and was saved from the death penalty in exile. He surrounded himself with the criminal underworld of that time, thieves, murderers, swindlers.

Following the French we have Jean Genet, who rebelled against the society of the time by making crime his religion. He began his first tour to jail when it was only a teenager but already a real thief. Hobo, beggar, male prostitute and openly gay, he is also recognized as one of the best writers of the twentieth century.

The Marxist philosopher from French Algeria, Louis Althusser was diagnosed with manic depression, spending long periods in psychiatric hospitals. He strangled his wife, apparently in a frenzy of madness. Due to the intervention of certain leftist intellectuals he was never sent to jail.

One of the best-known criminal writers is William S. Burroughs, who was a recognized member of the Beat generation, despite his wild character and his countercultural that made him impossible to be classified as an author. Polydrug abuser, but not only addicted to drugs, but to guns, sex, and pedophiles hobbies. He never regretted nor apologized for his crimes. He killed his wife Joan Vollmer by shooting her in the head, in what appears to a drunken simulation of William Tell.

The English writer Anne Perry (Juliet Hulme) planned and executed, along with her friend Pauline, the murder of her mother. She was 16. They killed her mother after hitting 45 times her head with a brick. The young age saved them from being convicted. Juliet changed her name when he moved to the U.S. and turned a crime novels writer.

The French Maurice Sachs was a scammer, thief and known seducer of both sexes. He ended up being a member of Gestapo and according to gossip, it is known that he was lynched and his body, thrown as food for hungry dogs.

Another completely different example is the American prisoner Jack Henry Abbott, who was convicted of murder. While in prison he wrote a letter to the writer Norman Mailer, offering his help to understand how violence was brewed in the U.S. prisons. Mailer wrote “The Executioner’s Song”, which tells the story of an inmate fighting of a man to avoid his death sentence. Mailer was amazed by Abbott`s lucidity and helped him to publish his book “In the Belly of the Beast” and to reduce his sentence. Few weeks after his was released, he killed a waiter stabbing a knife into his chest. He returned to prison and ended up committing suicide in his cell.

The list of criminal writers is much longer, other famous writers fascinated with the art of crime were: Jack Black, Chester Himes, Hugh Collins, Krystian Bala, Álvaro Mutis, Segiusz Piasecki, Alfonso Vidal and José León Sánchez among others.

We have evidence of all their crimes through their own books.

Ara

Paris is a city of literature, in which many literary geniuses of the last century have developed. Rent apartments in Paris and enjoy this city home to the literature.

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Translated by: Hans
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