dan deacon - bromst

if you happen to find yourself in the music section of any store, and you happen to be in the rock, alternative, indie, new age, or progressive part of that section, and you happen to come across the Ds within that part, and you happen to stumble upon the dan deacon selection, and the selection happens to include his new album, Bromst... BUY IT!

or you can just find it online. one of my 2009 favs so far. this guy likes to play with layering sounds and really cool/different melodies.

cheers, jhabra

11 days and counting...

so last weekend i went to champagne, the region northeast of paris. there, the birthplace of that oh so delicious sparkling alcoholic drink, hundreds of vineyards line the countryside of rolling hills. it was a well deserved break from all the concrete and stale air trapped by the most glorious city on earth. our group toured 2 vineyards, including the 10 kilometer underground caves where they house hundreds of thousands of bottles of champagne. these caves go on forever. it was unbelievable. the woman who gave us the tour explained all the different sizes of bottle they make (including the biggest which holds 15 liters of bubbly goodness... wow). 

every few days, the companies have 3, three, 1 + 1 + 1, bottle specialists who turn the hundreds of thousands of bottles ever so slightly to gradually remove white sediment from the neck of every bottle. to do a rack of 30 bottles, it takes the worker just under 30 seconds! at the end of the process, there is still a little sediment remaining, so they run it through this machine that literally blows off the metal top of the bottle, which carries the white sediment with it. slowed down, it looks like the bottle is spitting. after, they add a little sugar and a some other secret concoction to the champagne.

after an afternoon of tasting, we went to this giant grocery store in the middle of Reims. this place is huge... bigger than most Super Targets and Wal-Marts that i have been to. our director purchased over 500 euros worth of food for a picnic. we went to this little town on the top of a hill overlooking this giant valley riddled with grape plants. it was a sunny afternoon, low fifties... an absolutely perfect idea. we all had a nice little lunch, a photo shoot, a walk, and a bathroom break. then it was back on the bus to return to paris.

i have to say, leaving the city for a day and spending it in the countryside was a little refreshing.

cheers, jhabra

checking in

hey everybooty, i'm just checking in. not many super exciting events have occurred the past couple days. but now even as i'm typing this, i remember some things. the other day, i was walking in the marais with robyn, suzy, and anna to go get some falafel... typical sunday. anywho, we stumble upon a brazilian parade! what struck me most was the syncopation of their music. the drums were just so freaking powerful, deep, and resonant... just how i like em. after the few hundred of them passed, all dressed in bright yellow and green and sporting brazil's flag, we ate the greatest falafel in the world (in my opinion of course). the restaurant is located on rue des rosiers in the 4th arrondissement. it's famous for its falafel, shawarma, and lenny kravitz appearances. oh yeah, and it's run by all jews. delicious.

on monday, i was invited to go to a wine tasting from 11 am - 8 pm. it took place at hotel saint-james & albany on rue de rivoli, right across the street from the louvre. this place was unbelievable. my friend melis invited me (yes, her given name is melis, not melissa, get over it). anyway, she's really cool, she's from turkey and speaks turkish and english as well as pretty-good broken french. we entered the first of two very big rooms. we were handed a wine glass and were just told to browse and drink until our hearts were content. i tried some delicious reds, some very crisp whites, and a champagne that made me cough a little because of it's hyper-carbonation. but the most notable tasting experience was a red worth 130 euro. out of this world. i'm not really sure how to describe it, but it was pretty much perfect; i'm sure the sommeliers there thought it was garbage though.

in addition to the wine, there was a giant buffet of cheeses. come 6 o'clock, we started to get rather hungry. we grabbed a few pieces of the freshly cut bread and a cheese steward gave us each 4 huge different cuts of cheese. we went back for seconds...

cheers, jhabra

congratulations martin brodeur

as the title suggests... congrats to martin brodeur of the new jersey devils for surpassing the all time winningest goalie in NHL history, patrick roy. he did it last night in his home town of motreal, quebec against the canadiens. patrick roy was present along with brodeur's father and brother, snapping pictures to capture a momentous occasion in hockey history.

check out the video on nhl.com; it's pretty neato.

omgomgomgomgomg

go to www.enjoyincubus.com

uh huh...?

so i was sitting in grammar class today, looking out the window (i can see the eiffel tower perfectly from where i have class by the way; it's just a few blocks away). all of a sudden, i hear an unfamiliar sound: a bird chirping. it has been so long since i've heard such a noise that it didn't register in my brain, and i actually had to logically deduce what was making the noise. i've been surrounded by concrete and rats with wings for so long that i have forgotten the chirp of a bird. just a solemn reminder of how secluded a big city is from the rest of the world... spring is approaching.

cheers, jhabra

connard!

so today was the first of my days teaching english to a group of middle and high schoolers. it's a group of about 15 boys, the youngest being 9 and the oldest being 15. they know a lot of english. enough that we were able to talk about their favorite movies, their favorite sports teams and players, as well as their hobbies. one of the 12 year olds mentioned music to be his favorite "thing." he said to me, "tu connais la justice?" almost immediately i replied, "oui bien sur, je le connais." and he, flipped, a, shit. "oh la la, connard!!! putain de merde (almost every french curse word you could imagine was combined into this long tirade about how he wants to be like Xavier and make music like the duo) tu le connais! j'aime bien la justice." he kept saying it over and over and over again. he even broke out in song, "We. Are. Your. Friends. You'll. Never. Be. Alone. Again. C'mon!" it was very cute. i then told him to repeat what he said in english and to write it on the blackboard hahaha. he looked at me, sat down, and said, "non, je ne peux pas le faire." the whole class laughed, including the wide-eyed 13 year old.

at another point, the 9 year old, jean-alexandre, had a nose bleed. he was playing with an empty tuna can, which actually didn't cut the inside of his nose??? i didn't really understand what happened. one of the 15 year olds told him he shouldn't play with the tops because they're sharp and that's what cut him. but the principal said he is just prone to nose bleeds. all i know is that when his eyes started to tear, i immediately ran to the bathroom to grab some towels and told him to push as hard as he could. some kids gave him candy. it stopped him from crying and he took care of himself!

i'm really excited to work with these kids, despite their occasional rowdiness. i feel as if i'm going to learn more french from them than they will learn english from me. for example, one of them won't know a word in english, then ask me what it is in french. if i don't know the french word, one of the other students will probably know it, then we both learned something new. if not, we have a dictionary.

cheers, jhabra

oh la la

it's fashion week in paris! i don't really care, but i do have a little story to share with you. will and i were taking a stroll in the tuilerie gardens when we came across the giant white tents with all the runways in them and display areas. as we got on the metro, i noticed this really cute petite woman struggling to get her bag through the turnstyle. so like the natural gentleman i am, i went over and helped her. she thanked me in probably the most adorable british accent. she was also very surprised that i spoke english and asked me what i'm doing in paris, how i like it, and such. i asked her the same. she told me she was only here for the day and that she absolutely loves it and is super jealous that i am here a whole semester. she also told me she was in paris for the fashion week to model handbags. i don't really remember for whom or even what her name is, but i did make it a point to ask how to get into the shows. she said, "all you have to do is ask to volunteer, if they have room for you, you get in for free." score.

cheers, jhabra

new stuff

it has been a while since i've talked about music...

the new Wavves album, "Wavvves", just came out a few days ago, i'm pretty excited to listen to it. it has consistently pumped out positive ratings all over the place. find a copy if you have the opportunity.

i've been listening to George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" lately. it takes some getting used to, but like most solo Beatle stuff, it's awesome. "hear me lord" is my favorite.

anyone up for some funky and soulful R&B??? The Foreign Exchange's new album, "Leave It All Behind", is not something to overlook. even if it's not your style as it was for me, you will find yourself consistently nodding your head and making a fool of yourself on the metro while listening to their grooves.

the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs is unreal.

jazz? Bill Evans and Jim Hall's "Intermodulation". probably one of my favorite jazz records of all time behind Miles' "Kind Of Blue" and Hubbard's "Red Clay".

cheers, jhabra

sorry sorry sorry

so this past weekend i was in provence. we traveled to aix, cassis, marseille, avignon, and a few other small towns along the coast. the whole lot of us, our entire API group, woke up at like 430 to catch the 715 TGV high speed train from Gare de Lyon to Provence. if you look on a map, it's a pretty freaking far distance, but the TGV is one of the fastest passenger trains in the world. we hit provence in a little under three hours. our program director was telling us about how texas was in a bidding war with some german company to acquire the schematics and the technology. i'm pretty sure texas lost, but it's okay because they'll never win again. i slept for most of the way, as did most of the other people on the train. but when we exited, it was a beautiful 60 degrees and sunny! our hotel was situated right in the middle of aix, just a few streets from the city center/the giant fountain roundabout.

we all got off the bus and immediately were hungry. we went to this great restaurant on the main street. it cost a pretty penny, but was totally worth it to eat delicious seafood, to have a few drinks, and to soak in the mediterranean lifestyle. i got this salmon pasta thing, t'was delicious. we spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Cezanne's house and chilling in his garden. the tour guide was telling us about how everything in his workshop is original. it was pretty wild to see his old, used paintbrushes and isle... etc. that night we didn't do much because we were all just fatigued to the bone.

the next day we went to marseille. oh... ma... lordy... batman...! it's absolutely beautiful. even the awkward smells that protrude from the streets and bay have a sort of delightful charm to them. we took a walking tour of the city... monuments and such. but we ended right on top of the notre dame church, which the people that live there call "mommy." i don't know why, people are just crazy. regardless, it is an absolutely beautiful church. there is a giant gold statue of mary holding jesus at the way top overlooking the entire port. the inside is very colorful, full of religious symbols, ornate sculptures, paintings, and beautiful stained glass.

then came the best part. we got free lunch. our directors brought us to this restaurant right on the med sea. their specialty is mussels... stuffed mussels. so freaking delicious. i could eat them for the rest of my life if i wanted to. we were a group of about 40 people. drew, will, and i, three of the four people with penises on our trip, sat at the edge of a table and made it abundantly clear to the rest of our group that those who did not like mussels could more than generously pass them to us. after calculating our piggishness, we amassed three full plates of mussels each. yeah...

the views in marseille are to die for. castles and mansions protruding off of cliffs, hotels that look like beachside resorts in miami, beautiful white sandy beaches... i can't describe it. pictures will be up soon.

we then went to cassis, a beautiful tiny, seaside, port town. we didn't spend much time there. but it was beautiful. the decent to the beach was quite effortless, but the trek back up took almost three times as long. there was also this mass meeting of motorcycle riders who had just arrived from their weekend rides. i spotted a few ducattis, BMWs, triumphs, etc...

the next day was pretty hectic. we had to catch the train around 5:30 and had a full day planned. we first went to this old castle somewhere in the middle of nowhere. i had been there before, with mrs. ellsley and my high school french class... major deja vu. 

we then went to avignon, a walled in city where, on sunday, happiness goes to die. this town was dead, absolutely dead. we visited the palais des pap and got a bite to eat. we pretty much just walked around the entire time, taking side roads and alleyways in hopes of discovering the city. the pont d'avignon is nothing special. we dubbed it a bridge to nowhere.

cheers, jhabra