Yellow Vests: fighting Society's Reboot

The Yellow Vests, Gilets Jaunes, have taken Paris by storm. Yellow protective vests, mandated by the French government for all drivers, have become the symbol of dissatisfied French citizens. The protesters, many of them from rural areas or districts far removed from the central city, feel abandoned by President Emmanuel Macron and the ruling elites. 

Macron has goals to protect the environment and imposed a gasoline tax. That decision stirred Yellow Vest protests and rioting in the streets of Paris. The workers cannot afford to live in central Paris where mass transit is easily available. They drive cars, burn gas and feel the pain of a fuel tax hike imposed by Macron. The Yellow Vests took to the streets and the fuel tax quickly disappeared.

The consistent theme is that people outside the urban centers are taking action to be included in the new social contract.

Sound familiar? Look at England. Britain had their Brexit partisans, those determined to remove England from the European Union. The Brits outside of London got Brexit passed and they too seemed to feel they were getting shafted by the new social contract.

In the USA we have the Trump base who shocked the world by getting Donald Trump elected. They express a desire to return America to its days of heavy manufacturing. That day seems to have passed. Industry has moved to the Third World and may soon move entirely to AI, artificial intelligence… the dreaded robot society.

The new social contract is an elusive concept. The consistencies between these movements is twofold:

1)  A nostalgic longing for past conditions. 

Belgium protestors were heard chanting something like “We don’t want to change.” Perhaps this was a longing for the days before the big demographic change. Immigration to European countries from Third World countries threatens the status quo. The vaunted charms of the European lifestyle seem under assault.

2)  A desire to survive the technological revolution and the resulting society re-boot. 

The rich get richer. The educated have enough computer mastery to sustain themselves and even flourish with their programming skills. The robots get jobs once held by the blue collar folks. 

Protestors realize there is a re-organization of society taking place. They don’t want to be left broke, cold and devoid of the wine, cheese and pub life that makes for an enjoyable life, European style. 

Can’t say that I blame them.

Winter Olympics: must-see TV

NBC paid $963 million for the rights to air the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, a 24 percent jump over the $775 million it paid for the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Still, NBC has already made much of that back, selling more than $900 million in ad sales for the recent Winter games, a record according to the network.

The Winter Olympic Games got started in 1924. The Winter Olympics now alternates every two years with the Summer Olympics.

In 1896 Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the Modern Olympic Games. Coubertin, a French aristocrat with lofty, idealistic goals introduced the Olympic motto: "Citius, Altius, Fortius," Swifter, Higher, Stronger. Coubertin created the Olympics in three acts. The Opening Ceremony provides a festive Act I, Act II is the sports competition, and Act III concludes the show with the marathon race and  Closing Ceremony. 

Miguel de Moragas Spa, Nancy K. Rivenburgh and James K. Larson directed a research project on the role of television in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Television in the Olympics. Their work provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Olympics as a television show for the global audience.

The 1992 Olympic visuals emanated from state-of-the-art studios, four control rooms located within the stadium in the case of Barcelona, coordinating the output of dozens of cameras. The rich visual output got matched with a pre-produced musical soundtrack and the richly nuanced broadcasters commentary.

The Barcelona hosts compiled an extensive reference manual to assist broadcasters, supplying pertinent information Olympics and the host city. Broadcasters have great leeway on whether to use the official data or to meet the expectations of their particular viewing audience.

The Moragas Spa group noticed broadcasters adopt different personas move deftly from formal to informal tones of reportage. Olympic commentators present themselves as both insiders with valuable knowledge to share and alternately as “the humble observer of history, awed and lucky to be present.” (Moragas Spa 106).

The Moragas Spa group offered the example of the NBC reporters adopting an informal, playful style as the French team entered the stadium during the athletes’ parade at the Opening Ceremony. The American announcers waxed eloquent on the French record of success in the sport of fencing and added a lighthearted literary reference to Alexander Dumas, the creator of The Three Musketeers” … The broadcasters added  “and we’re told that the French, while they may not win the most medals, will, as always, live well. They brought their own wine to Barcelona.” (Moragas Spa 110)

The Moragas Spa team observed the broadcasters’ ability to adapt four distinct voices or perspetives:

1)    They used a mixed narrative model, the primary interpretive style was that of the ‘televised show’ with a supposedly knowledgeable, often well known host presenting him or herself as integral to experiencing the ceremony.

2)    NBC adopted an extremely colloquial tone for references to North American athletes.

3)    NBC announcers adopted a style more in line with news bulletins than with sports programs for commentaries on the athletes’ parade.

4)    The narrative voice adopted a mix between a historical report and the chronicle of events for describing the culture and political identity of the host city (Barcelona). (Moragas Spa 111)

The 1972 Munich games resulted in a remarkable exception to clichéd Olympic reporting. Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic Village and took Israeli athletes hostage, the beginning of the terrible tragedy that unfolded over the next day. Jim McKay’s powerful moment-by-moment commentary form the broadcast booth of the 1972 Munich games. McKay, the ABC broadcaster, worked with exceptional skill and sensitivity. He covered the horrifying events like a seasoned newsman asked to function under the most difficult circumstances. McKay’s calm, dignified and intelligent work underlined the Olympic broadcaster as both news reporter and sports analyst.

Camera shots enhance the Olympic television narrative. Shots vary.  The CU, close-up shot offers detail and emotional expression The MS, medium shot, is a appropriate shot when viewing the dignitaries. The 1992 Barcelona Olympics employed personality shots of the entourage of Olympic insiders. A view of King Juan Carlos as a symbol of Spain proved popular: “the image of the King of Spain (Juan Carlos I) was interpreted on nearly every television station around the world as a popular and accessible image.” (Moragas Spa 119)

I was traveling in Spain during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Crowds gathered around television sets whenever Spain’s basketball team faced an international opponent. Spaniards celebrated with Rafael Nadal’s gold medal in tennis, a first for Spain, and cheered mightily for their participants in cycling and canoe/kayak where they had several medal winners.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin established an Olympics paradigm, motivated by lofty principles of health, education and world peace. Coubertin made sound entertainment choices as well. Coubertin's Olympic themes will resonate across the television airwaves for the next 17 days in South Korea.

Somewhere in the Olympics saga stands the increasing commercialization of the Games, dispiriting episodes of International Olympic Committee officials taking bribes, and the persistent use of illegal, performance enhancing drugs. Asian countries have indicated enthusiasm for hosting the Games despite the immense cost for any country taking on that role. Those are all discussions for another day. 

Meanwhile.... enjoy the 2018 Winter Olympic Games!

My Starbucks Obsession

I don't feel loyalty to too many corporations. I like driving my 2004 Lexus sedan with 164,000 miles on it.

Food is important. I buy healthy food at the Whole Foods Market. As far as beer and tortilla chips-- no preference really.

As far as fashion, I find most of the great brands get the job done-- Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger make quality clothes. I came across a French company that makes shirts-- Marithe and Francois Girbaud-- by finding fantastic used shirts at Thrift Shops. Just went to the girbaud.com website and see the new clothes cost 200 Euros and more!

I've had good luck with Rockport shoes. I worked as a waiter for many years and the Rockports provided good foot support. Never buy second hand shoes!

And, like almost everybody else, I'm a fan of Apple products. I'm typing on a MacBook laptop. My phone is a Samsung.

Guess I have more brand loyalty than I realized. Nobody  really functions in this world without turning to corporations for survival-- food, clothes and entertainment. That's the West anyway.

We have everything at our fingertips. Just admit it. Life is good even with Trump in office.

But Starbucks stands out for me-- my coffee shop of choice, even with all the excellent cafes in my neighborhood.

The reasons I like Starbucks:

1) Good coffee
2) Made precisely so almost always perfect on the espresso drinks
3) Comfortable setting-- high ceilings and naturally well-lit with big windows always part of the architecture.
4) Starbucks Gold Card. My adding cash to my gold card I somehow don't notice the cost of my coffee drinks. It's a poor man's Gold Card but you do earn some free coffee drinks along the way.
5) Like the mermaid logo-- not sure why this adds to the experience?
6) Like the lingo-- tall, grande, vente for small, medium and large drinks.
7) Rest, read, restore, recuperate-- Starbucks is a corporation that will provide you a comfortable place to sit and read or to converse with a friend.

The key to my Starbucks loyalty has to be #7--

Despite their large volume of business, Starbucks customers move in-and-out, and room exists for people to sit down, read the newspaper, study the contents of their cellphone, or share conversation and conviviality with a friend.

The Super Bowl ads will use all manner of cleverness to attract me to their product.  Maybe Starbucks will have an ad? I hear they cost $7 million dollars for a 30 second spot.

Sure I'm set in my ways. And Starbucks is at the top of my list.

Pierre de Coubertin: creator of the Modern Olympics

Coubertin’s Mosaic

In 1896, Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the Modern Olympic Games. The Olympic motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius," meaning Swifter, Higher, Stronger, was borrowed by Coubertin from Father Henri Martin Dideon, the headmaster of Arcueil College in Paris, in a speech given to describe the great achievements of the athletes at his school. Another informal motto used by Coubertin came from a sermon made by the Bishop of Pennsylvania during the 1908 London Games: "The most important thing is not to win but to take part!" (Wikipedia website, Olympic Symbols) 

The Latin motto with its comparative adjectives pushing insistently for more of everything translates unusually well to the Postmodern Olympics—faster moving storylines, more thrilling video, and a firmer hold over the audience across the communications ether—seems apt as a slogan and business plan for the electronic version of the  Olympic Games as we know them today. The TV Olympics strives for more viewers, more expensive commercial time, and greater visibility for the host city. Coubertin, an educator at his essence, studied the educational systems of Britain and America and their emphasis on physical culture and games with the goal of reforming the rigid French pedagogy. Coubertin switched his attention from reforming the French educational system to creating the Modern Olympics but retained the same high-mindedness idealism for his new pursuit.

Coubertin was so closely identified with reviving the Olympics that he was president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1896-1925 and made Honorary President upon his retirement. Upon his death, Coubertin’s heart was interred in a marble monument at Olympia commemorating him as father of the Modern Olympics. The dramatic gesture of placing Coubertin’s heart in Olympia possesses religious overtones. Coubertin's passion for developing an improbable dream into a  quadrennial international gathering resulted in a grand achievement, one of enormous social and political relevance. The addition of a Winter Olympic Games, starting in 1924, made the Olympics a biennial event

The Olympic Games, primarily a television experience since the 1950s, corrals the viewers at home in a digitized, massaged and manipulated format, the ultimate expression of the television director’s art. Coubertin’s egalitarian Olympic message somehow survives and reflects Coubertin talent for pragmatism. Coubertin’s enduring optimism against triumphed over the resistance to the Modern Games. The Olympic paradigm, established by Coubertin, with its lofty principles of health, education and world peace, hopefully continues despite the commercialization of the Games.

Coubertin established a mosaic-like structure for the Games and fully understood the importance of symbolism, particularly in the choice of Athens as a first locale for the Modern Olympics. The Modern Olympics had a surprisingly auspicious start in Athens, Coubertin having gained the endorsement of the Greek royal family and the citizens. The Greeks rallied with some of the enthusiasm that characterizes the joyfulness of the host city to the present day. Interestingly, 1896 Athens greeted the event with a flair for symbolism not usually associated with sports events. Homes were decorated with colorful streamers and banners indicated the letters O.A., the Greek initials for Olympic Games, and the numbers 776 B.C. and 1896 A.D., the dates indicating the beginning year for ancient Games and for the new Modern Olympics. (MacAloon 208) Symbolism and a sense of historic grandeur would accompany later Olympic gatherings and reflect Coubertin’s desire for establishing more than a sports competition.

The Opening Ceremony, full of a theatrical grandeur not associated with sports competition, showed a marketer’s instincts for symbolism and drama. The Opening Ceremony provides a festive Act I, followed by Act II and the sports competition and Act III completion with the marathon race and  Closing Ceremony. Coubertin’s Act II inspiration was to take advantage of the luster of history and with “Athletics” events, the term for the track and field events connected to the ancient Games and expand the number and variety of events to include swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, shooting,  and tennis. The increased palette of sports guaranteed a wide public appeal, not to mention the likelihood of a wider spectrum of winners from the 14 participating nations.

American athletes succeeded mightily at the first Modern Olympic but the Games reached a crescendo of success when a finally a Greek athlete, Spiridon Louis, crossed the finish line as winner. Louis was triumphant in the marathon, the event possessing the most symbolic import for Greeks and every host city needs a hero to call their own. First and second place winner were awarded silver medals, and an olive branch and laurel branch respectively. The awarding of medals occurred at the end of the 1896 Games and provided an exciting Act III finale to go along with the Closing Ceremony. Coubertin had created a template for an Olympics dense with tradition, symbolism and drama that lasts to the current day. (Official Souvenir Program, Centennial Olympic Games)

Leaving Paris: Immigrants and Refugees 7/5/17

We decided to venture to the Paris streets for a short final stroll since text communication had improved with Henry the Driver. 

Henry showed up as promised, dressed professionally and offering a cheerful smile. A native of Sri Lanka, Henry knew his business and offered a van easily capable of handling passengers and their bags. We met him by happenstance upon arriving in Paris on June 6th. We liked Henry’s service, clean car and warm presence so much we all would eventually return to the airport with his assistance on the way back to the United States. I figured we would retrace the route in the opposite direction and Henry would usher us out of Paris. Turns out he provided much more.

Henry took us through the neighborhoods of Paris we had never seen, pointed out a South Asian neighborhood where he said Tamil guerrillas laundered money from human trafficking and the drug trade. Some of the guerrillas died and their businesses went up for sale and deeply discounted prices. He said “you could buy a business for 250,ooo euros,” if you knew the right people.

Henry had an amazing eye for identifying the Asian nationalities populating the neighborhood. “See those 5 guys. They are from Syria or Afghanistan.” Henry arrived in Paris 30 years earlier and witnessed the change in attitude of the French toward refugees and immigrant. “They wanted us then—to do the jobs.” The situation had worsened since then. Henry sympathized with the difficulties of the more recent arrivals.

Henry demonstrated the same skill for distinguishing African nationalities. Reed asked about a middle-aged African lady walking down the street in a colorful long dress, head wrapped in an equally colorful turban. “She’s from Sudan. I can tell by the dress.” A very dark-skinned young man, handsome and slender, spoke into a cellphone. “He’s from Sierra Leone.” Henry’s skills resembled a trained FBI profiler. His line of work explained the talent. “I drive a cab, I get to know everyone.”

Henry revealed a good heart, he had a nice compassion for the refugees, almost all young men. He showed us tents clumped on city streets, adjacent to the highway. Lines of blue tents spoke of a hard knocks life. The marginal people were living on the literal margins of society, sleeping on cement just a few feet from the passing cars. Only a strong young man could survive these conditions I thought silently. “We are all just people,” Henry said. He added that he gives money to help others.

Henry told us how fortunate he feels to have raised two children in France. His daughter achieved a college degree and makes a good living in the medical field. He approved of her boyfriend, a volleyball coach, “a charming fellow.” Henry’s son lacked the daughter’s ambition. Henry’s phone call to his wife centered on the son’s upcoming exams and whether or not the boy had studied sufficiently. Henry’s story had the familiar sound of an American immigrant success story. Henry and his wife urged their children to study diligently and the next generation moves into the professions and a better life than the parents.

We felt appreciative of the tour of Paris provided by our driver. Henry showed us more in a 20 minute foray through Parisian immigrant neighborhoods about how the “other half” lives than we had learned in a week as tourists in the Marais district.

Maybe we learned something from our contact with the locals, after all. If so, Rick Steves would have been proud of us.

travel day-- 7/5/17

Château Chenonceau 7/3/17

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                            Amboise

Today was Chateâu Day, meaning we saw two chateaus of the Amboise/Loire Valley region. But that is not the correct way to write two chateaus in the French language. More on that spelling issue... further down the road.

We rented a car at the urging of Gloria, our host at La Vieux Manoir, our gloriously beautiful bed and breakfast, recommended by Rick Steves, of course (pun here... Gloria-- gloriously). This bed and breakfast gets high grades and is recommended to all—by us, John and Reed, the Americano travelers from Texas. It cost some euros but well worth the indulgence. Here’s the link:

https://le-vieux-manoir.com

We left our B&B on foot and headed towards a road named Charles DeGaulle. We were looking for DeSir, a Renault dealership. Not confident of our directions we stopped for assistance at the Office of Tourism. We departed again on a 2.5 mile jaunt, but with slightly more confidence in our hiking plan.

Reed rented the car and paid about 69 euros for a one day rental. We started hesitantly in the car with its manual transmission. The erratic design of Amboise streets, with architecture inherited from the Middle Ages, proved a challenge. Two-way streets suddenly became one lane roads and occasionally we bumped up against a one-way street from the wrong direction. I pulled out Google maps and the charge unfortunately started the day at 50-60% charged, my biggest cellphone lapse of the entire trip. We would need Google maps every step of the way on Chateau Day.

Another slight problem, we had not learned put the gear shift in “Reverse” gear. This proved to be a tenacious problem, getting more annoying as the day wore on—and only fully resolved at day’s end when we tried to pull into La Vieux Manoir and got wedged in the entryway. Bob, husband of Gloria, pointed out a little ring on the stick shift that had to be lifted to move the car backwards. We had asked a blonde-haired guy in the Chenonceau parking lot, our first chateau, to explain the reverse gear and he pulled hard on the thing and made it work—but failed to add that little bit of instruction concerning the ring to be lifted. Not a natural teacher the blonde-haired guy.

Chenonceau had an uplifting quality. Not sure if this castle is used as the Walt Disney logo but it had the magic kingdom quality—but these kingdom’s were authentic, not the Disney ersatz recreation. The graceful castle even crosses the entire expanse of the Cher river! The castle stands alone, an organic whole when viewed from a distance, like a sculpture in stone. And exciting to see it is surrounded by a moat, a moat wide enough to provide an effective defense against enemies.

Crowds throng the estate around Chenonceau and the sprawling grounds can barely handle the tourist horde. Somehow Chenonceau handles the crowds and offers a magnificent experience, aesthetic and educational, a powerful history of kings, mistresses, Catherine de Medici included, cause you got add some Italian drama, and then you add George Sand, a female French novelist with a male nom de plume. George Sand had family connection to the aristocratic family granted management rights for the castle. A gallery, included on the portion of the castle that crossed the river Cher, explained the history of Chenonceau in lucid terms.

I felt  my blood sugar waning and realized I had only eaten a croissant and cup of coffee before we started on our lengthy walk to the car rental, followed by the drive through the French countryside, delightful sunflower fields to behold, with flowers bunched tightly for hundreds of yards, following the sun with their faces, a very anthropomorphic ability the flowers have and you start to imagine human faces in their yellow leaves, a Van Gogh painting come to life. In the middle of admiring Chenonceau castle I suddenly felt thirst and exhaustion. Reed finished his tour of the chateau. I waited out front and came across the Bob and Jo, the New Hampshire couple from our bed and breakfast, along with Bob’s brother, who became a French citizen, and sister-in-law as the foursome exited the castle. My physiological needs got met when we found a few decent French baguette sandwiches, almost always available to save the day in these travel situations, and a large bottle of water.

Our day’s journey continued to Loches chateau, a great recommendation from Gloria, and slightly off the trail of favorite chateaus for tourists. The blonde-haired guy didn’t solve our problem of how to put the Renault in reverse in the Chenonceau parking lot but we plunged down the road like Don Quijote and Sancho Panza on our medieval quest. Loches had a more military feel and commanded an amazing view of the valley below, clearly a superior vantage point above any approaching enemies. Our enemy, the loss of battery power on my Samsung phone, threatened our bourgeois comfort as I needed the thing to navigate us around the highways, byways and traffic circles, one of them it seemed every few miles, to our next destination. Meanwhile we don’t want to stop any place that requires putting the car in reverse.

We saw Loches chateau above us as we pulled into town without ascertaining the exact entrance to the amazing citadel. As a result we traversed the entire backside of the massive walls of the castle. Much of the walk was shaded. I obsessed about how we would find our way back from Loches to Amboise but tried to recall a day before cellphones to calm myself. I enjoyed the backside excursion around Loches almost as much as any aspect of the day. We could feel the dimensions of the Loches because we circled the whole thing. At times the walk had an unnerving element because it felt like we were lost.

Reed’s term for those moments of extreme panic are “white knuckle moments,” referring to when you are gripping a steering wheel in terror. He may have been anticipating our drive home, very amateurish in our European driving, and meant “white knuckle” in the literal sense. We had a few of those on the drive home that evening but credit Bob with get us through the portals of our bed and breakfast. But back to Loches…

Once inside the fortress we climbed several staircases to a dungeon high atop the building. An ally of Joan of Arc was kept there, his confinement in a stone-lined room with a view. They called it medieval for a reason—and it wasn’t a synonym for comfortable living.

We felt grateful to Gloria and Bob for pushing us visit these grand chateux. Oh, and chateux is the French plural for chateau. I’ve been waiting all essay to add that groovy spelling—and, of course, both chateau and chateaux have the exact same pronunciation. Vive la France!

1 château + 1 château= 2 châteaux …

travel day—7/3/17