Day Twenty Six - Au Revoir

On my last day in Paris I...

Went and had breakfast with Tui. We had croissants and chocolat chauds and strolled along the Seine.


Tui posing...I asked her to.


Beautiful view of the Seine.

I went shopping around the Rambuteau and met Ingaborg at the markets at Barbes Rochereau. She helped me shop at the touristy stores near the Sacre Coeur.


Lots of people in town today! Really hot too!

I went to a terrible show! Dancey meaningful crap. Totally boring. Free tickets thanks to Fauv but we all wished we'd never gone!

Went to dinner at Anders' house where we ate lasagne and greek salad and Norwegian sweet bread. Then played silly drinking games without really drinking and generally had a nice time together.


Ingeborg saying goodbye.


Three things I am going to do when I return to New Zealand that Paris can be blamed for:

1) Have a beer after class everyday. It's a great way to finish the day and very social too!

2) Kiss every class member on both cheeks at the beginning of the day. We did this at the start of Movement everyday. I expect to get punched by Suli.

3) Always go on stage/to rehearsal/to class with the aim to have fun and enjoy myself. Why wouldn't I?


Au revoir Paris. I have fallen in love with you and will return soon. xxx

Day Twenty Five - Final Day Of Character Workshop

I had a very restless night last night. Panicking over today's 'showing' and the fact that I don't have anything good prepared. Which is silly I know, but I guess is part of the internal process Gaulier expects us to go through, and it is good for our learning to see how we come through in these times.

This morning I went to the Luxemborg Gardens for a stroll.


Luxemborg Gardens.

I spoke to Cherie on the phone which was really nice, and I planned out something I would do solo for the showing if Julie and I couldn't come up with something when we met at 12pm. I decided I would try the 'Maestro stop the music!' exercise again because the last time I tried it I got killed in 2 seconds. Also because I have a hunch that my strengths may be in tragedy rather than comedy. I met Lib on the train and we had a good chat about Le Jeu and the use of games in Philippe's work. I asked her how Julie and I could try it out today in a scene, and she suggested we play a simple scenario - a blind date - and play three games within the scene: 1) looking for eachother 2) checking eachother out 3) meeting and deciding whether we want to go home together. These are simple playable games. It's kind of like splitting a scene up into units of action, but that is predominantly an individual actor's approach. Splitting into units of games is great because it includes other actors and or the audience. The idea of playing several games in a scene make the idea of improvising much less scary and much more fun, in my point of view.

When I met Julie at school she had also spoke to somebody on the train and pitched the idea that we play a scene in which I am a genie (my character does look like a genie) and Julie's character asks for three wishes. I said 'yes!' and we got to working out a structure. I called on Lib for help in defining the games we could play. We decided on 1) the game of finding the genie (basically hide and seek) 2) the game of persuading the genie to grant the wishes 3) the game of receiving the wishes. Perfect! We then went and tried it out a few times, and decided on a few givens. One was that the 1st wish would be 'I want to be beautiful' in which I would slap her (yes really slap her) to achieve. This was Julie's idea and was meant to be a joke commenting on what Philippe had done with Julie a few days earlier - he got Ingaborg to slap Julie which eventually resulted in Julie dropping her acting habits and just being there with the audience...showing her beauty.

Today the energy of the class was definitely different - nervous, excited, a tad manic! Philippe was dressed up nice, the second years were in attendance, and some guests (ex-pupils I think) were also there. Funnily enough by the time class had started my nerves had basically gone and instead I was focussing on just really enjoying my last day of class. I had written 'Play Your Heart Out' on my hand which really helped me get in the right place for the day. (Thanks Cherie). Some performances were brilliant (Adriano's 'strong black woman' stuck on a raft with camp husband and geeky son was fabulous) and some were boring and were the performers were killed, as usual. Julie and I got up fourth. I went up with the aim to have fun, play, and try and to be light. To my joy and relief the scene was a hit! The audience were laughing their heads off. I was in a great zone - lots of pleasure, I was light, and I was playful, and Julie and I had great complicite. The scene went great until we passed the first wish (everybody loved the slap joke by the way - I was nervous that this would come across as an idea but it didn't, it was fun) when our complicite started to shake and the audience started to get bored. The audience clicks their tongues when they get bored at Ecole Philippe Gaulier - quite a scary sound! However we stayed in it, sensed the flop, and exited the stage ending the scene well. The audience still loved us. Feedback for me: "Lot's of pleasure. Good fun. You were light - this a good lesson for you to take away". So that was a fantastic way to end the workshop for me! I was lucky to end on a high note feeling good, and what I did today was a good step for me, but I know that being bad is just as valid as being good. And that being bad is where the learning is most extreme, and where we all are most of the time!

Notes:

• Note to self: Often on my last day of class or last night of performance I tell myself just to go out and have fun...and I have the best time and perform very well. This says something, doesn't it Guy?

• "What did you do to make us dream around your character?"

• "If you don't do anything to be beautiful as your character, you don't do your job."

• Lib drinking wine - "if you're character drinks like this [with delicacy and class, in her slutty alcoholic costume]...I dream. If you drink it like Diet Coke then you underline and we stay stuck. No surprise."

• "When an idiot understands the show, it's bad. Theatre is for people who like to dream around things."

And so the course has come to an end. I have had the most amazing experience, working with incredibly talented people from all over the world, and with Philippe Gaulier. I have learnt so much - about enjoying myself on stage!, about playing, about being light, about listening, about what it really means to be present on stage. There are things that I am still sitting with (most things really) but I know that there are definitely changes happening within me as a performer and as a person which I am very excited about. It's sad saying goodbye to everybody after making thirty five new friends, but after this experience I feel almost certain that I will return to do at least another workshop at the school, if not the whole first year - so I will see people again I'm sure.


Eddie (Richard) and Shane (Adriano).


Unique (Fauv), Graeme (Trygvi) and Gerta (Jamie).


Monsier Gaulier.


After class I went to the Tibetan restaurant with Mark, Lib and Oli before saying goodbye. Then went to dance the night away at a club called Alimentation Generale. It was so packed, you had to squeeze through a sea of people to get anywhere!

Day Twenty Four - "Your Pleasure Leads The Character"

This morning I went to the Musee Rodin! It was very small - which was great because I only had an hour to spare. His sculptures are stunning. Quite rough/bumpy in texture (I liked to feel them) and they seemed to me to really capture human emotion.


The Thinker.


The Kiss.


I loved the absolute need of this figure.


I liked the gentleness of this sculpture.

In class today two pairs showed their prepared scenes. The first by Fabricio and Judith was painful. No pleasure or complicite. They were falling back on things that had worked once but don't anymore. The second was by Oli and Ingaborg. It was delightful! They played wonderfully subtlely, allowing the story to develop over time. And when the game was obvious, they played it with immense pleasure!


The lettuce and whipped cream sandwich they enjoyed together!

After the two showings he then got three of us at a time to go up on stage, ready to be executed. The gunman called "Ready! Aim! Fire!" On "aim" we had to do something to save our lives. I tried several times and each time got shot. Too much. Too little. It was hilarious though. Everybody got shot! What Philippe said after was that we need at that moment to show our beauty. And when the gunman sees our beauty he stops to take it in. But nobody really hit this. Maybe two people did for one second, then BAM!

After the mass killing of the entire class Philippe set up a new improvisation that helped to answer my question about entering not knowing anything. He said we need to think before going on: "No problem. I know what happens in this play. Everything is okay". We have to pretend this, and have pleasure pretending this. This is like a plumber entering a room full of water. "No problem. I know what to do". Or a teacher: "I know what I am going to teach today". I got up several times and each time was bad. "Did you think no problem?" No. Well I did but I didn't believe myself. Or trust myself. I don't find entrances too hard when somebody else is already on stage, but I find entering a bare stage incredibly scary and difficult. The first time entered alone, hoping something would come, but I ended up going and sitting at the table. Which was boring and a bad choice. But what do you do? It seemed that everybody that came on first went to the telephone, and called somebody so they would have somebody to play with. What else can you do? Unlimited things. But it's scary. I think commitment is important.

• "Some people think this place is a brothel...It is not a brothel!"

• When in solo - you always listen to your audience (and by listening you learn how to play tonight), and you always have complicite with your props/set.

• If you are not happy on stage you are not an actor. What do you do? Study pharmacy. Have complicite with aspirin.

• "You can't be too heavy. You want too much." Philippe gave the example of being invited to dinner at a friends house and they announce at the end of the night their son will play piano for you. But when he plays he is playing more so that you think 'wow he plays piano' rather than having genuine fun with you.

• "You lose one millimetre of height...ugh! Not an actor anymore."

• We start not to love you when the actor starts to play the character.

• This workshop is to say your pleasure leads the character.

• If you feel boring, why do you stay? You have to feel the audience - ooh la la - I am bad. I will come back later.

After class I felt quite upset with myself. A minor crisis I guess. I think when I can't get something right straight away I am too hard on myself. I also got quite worried about tomorrow's showing because Juli and I still haven't managed to put anything together and I definitely want to try something tomorrow. I guess I feel pressure to suddenly be perfect on my last day, which is ridiculous. I've decided to try the exercise "Maestro! Stop the music!" again as a solo 'showing' if we don't whip something up tomorrow, because I want to give that exercise another go and it's something. I feel bad for not having something prepared, but it didn't really work out. But we'll see. I need to relax and just play tomorrow. Who care's if it's terrible and I get killed? I just need to go out with the aim of enjoying myself.

After class I went to see a show at Theatre des Abbesses called 'Oper Opis'.




A moving stage which can pitch and roll is the unsteady base on which Martin Zimmermann and Dimitri de Perrot, together with five circus artists, give shape and energy to a burlesque type of theatre. It is a medley of countless pictures and sounds, where acrobatic virtuosity, far from being an end in itself, opens onto a world of fantasy for our senses.

It was a mix of dance theatre and circus with a moving stage (it was unbalanced and when a performer went to one side the whole stage would tilt) and a live DJ making sounds that complimented the performers. It was cool for a while, but it got quite visually hectic for me. There was lots going on at one time, so I switched off and lost interest. But after four curtain calls I'd say the majority in the audience loved it! Afterwards I went back to my new local - Le Refuge - for a repeat of last night's awesome meal. Yum.

Day Twenty Three - "It's Much Better To Be Bad Than To Be Average. Or To Trick People Into Thinking You're Good"

My stomach feels better today! Phew! I had a dramatic evening last night. Oliver buzzed me at 1.30am in the morning, which was highly annoying, and then turned on the TV and when I asked him to please turn it off he refused. We eventually got into a loud fight, but his arrogance is very difficult to defeat, and after he threatened me ("don't mess with me man, don't mess with me") I gave up, jammed some ear-plugs in my ears and grumpily went to sleep. And I slept in until 10am, which I totally needed, because for the last month I've been living on about 7 hours sleep per night.

Headed to school early today to meet with Juli and work on a scene for us to show on Friday. It's difficult because neither of us have worked together much, and Juli's English is limited so we have language issues. But anyway, we decided maybe it would be interesting if we ran a fortune telling business, and Remko's character (the granny I punched up yesterday) comes in to have her fortune told, and then our fraudulent practises are revealed. It's something we can play with at least. I feel a bit nervous about this, because we're not very organised, but I'm trying to stay cool about it and go with the flow (i.e. not worry about success or failure).

Philippe started the day by taking a photo of each of our characters, then he introduced today's exercise by saying with a chuckle: "I was a genius with this exercise only once in my life". We were to go up on stage (either by ourselves or with our families) and start a scene without knowing anything about the situation, and when it starts to flop a writer (who had previously nominated themselves) would offer a suggestion to keep the scene going. "The writer makes a suggestion when you are pedalling in the Sauerkraut."


Sauerkraut.

It is hard to be the writer! Adriano had the trouble of too much action. Trygvi had the issue of his suggestions ("a storm comes, the windows keep opening") overshadowing his actor. I tried to be the writer for Mark. Mark came on as his elderly woman character and sat by the telephone, as if waiting for a call. I said "the phone rings, it is Pedro's character". The scene eventually led to them meeting, and because I'd asked for Mark to put some music on, dancing together. But the scene got ended quickly because it got bad. We didn't get any feedback. And I'm not sure exactly what I should have done. I guess more conflict?

I'd been getting nervous today because I started worrying about entrances. I don't like going on stage not knowing what to do. I understand about not having an 'idea' - as if you've planned out the whole scene. But I think you need something to bring on. I spoke to Lib about this, who had done 'Le Jeu' (apparently the foundations of Gaulier's teaching) and she said in Le Jeu they learnt that the aim of an entrance is to come on and be loved. Do do something - enter with a proposition (e.g. the dinner is burning), but don't have an idea. Come on with a game, take space, and be loved.

I asked Philippe 'what does a good entrance need?' at question time at the end of class and he said you need to "come on with something special". He then described the feeling of being a star; waiting in your dressing room whilst the audience is buzzing in the theatre; and a runner comes and tells you it is your time to come on when you are ready; and then you are guided through backstage ("watch out for the cabling on the ground"); and then a door is opened for you and BAM you enter on stage to applause. The audience had been waiting for you and loves you. After the Bravo! all your fear disappears and you go on to play your scene. He also said that you must enter as yourself. King Lear is dead, but the actor is not. Let the audience see you, and know that you are about to play a wonderful character, then start the play.

Afterwards I asked him in private about my fear of not knowing what to do when I enter on stage, and he said to ask the question tomorrow whilst I am on stage. He said it is too abstract to talk about it. I need to do it.

After the mid-class break we all had to swap costumes with somebody else, and then come on stage as our borrowed character and imitate what the original actor does with it. I dressed as Jamie's wonderful Gerta character. I came on running waving goodbye to Graham (my husband) then started taking a fitness class with the audience. This was stupid! I was really annoyed with myself afterwards. I was too busy trying to make a good entrance but forgot about everything like lightness, subtlety, complicite, game etc. I was far too heavy and not sensitive at all. This highlights for me my tendencies under pressure. I need to learn to control these. Philippe said "you have to be careful - it's not easy imitating a good character." A few people groaned in the audience realising they had tough acts to follow!

• Trygvi was great in this exercise as Megan's Marilyn (a fairly unformed character with not much to work with). He made it work by playing Megan struggling with her character. It was fantastic! Trygvi is great because he is playing all the time. And because of this there is no fear, just fun.
  

• It's great when actors really see the audience and play with them. This is where the sensitivity is. Feeling out. I am still afraid of and avoid the audience

• "You have to want to have a scene. Otherwise pass it on because you're breaking my balls."

• "Every entrance is to create a conflict. When the conflict resolves...ah! We need a new conflict. At the end, when everything is balanced...poff! The curtain drops. Not a second too soon. Not a second too late."

• "If I imitate one person I can discover many good things for myself."

• "It's much better to be bad than to be average. Or to trick people into thinking you're good."

• Movement: I need to tuck in my pelvis (don't stick my bum out) or else I have no strength or stability!

• Talking to Remko at Chiquitos: "Complicite is like having a third eye in which you constantly watch your partner with to see if they are happy. And you always do things to make your partner shine."
  

After class Mark and I went in search of a hearty (and inexpensive) meal for dinner. After walking around Montmartre for ages we finally found 'Le Refuge'. I was happy we went here because the man that runs the place is the guy that helped me to find my apartment the first night I stayed in Paris. The pub is right opposite my local metro.


The Refuge. A real local inn.


The hearty meal I was hoping for. Peppered rump steak with salad and potatoes. 11 euros.

On the RER Mark and I spoke about the workshop, and he opened up to me saying that he found it difficult to work with me and this is partly why he changed character and we were no longer partners. He said that he felt attacked by me in the improvisations. I guess he felt challenged by my attempts to make fun of, or make a game out of our difficulties to work with eachother on stage. It's interesting because I was feeling the same about him as a scene partner. He said that some actors just have better complicite with some actors than others, but I don't really buy that. I mean I do, but I was enjoying the struggle to find how to play with him. He also said that I am an ambitious actor and perhaps this ambition comes out as aggression. I can understand that. I'm not offended. I'm learning. It's good.

Starting to think about London now... Mark told me apparently there are loads of free theatre tickets for under 26yr olds. It's true! Check out http://www.anightlessordinary.org.uk/
Very exciting!

Day Twenty Two - Don't Eat Pasta From Viagio!

I woke up feeling sick as ever this morning and forced myself to throw up - I had some dodgy pasta for dinner last night and was feeling ill when I went to bed. I felt sick all day, and still do now.

However, I got up and went to the David LaChapelle exhibition at the Monnaie de Paris. He does these amazing photographs, which are created rather than caught in the moment. They were very colourful (some had changing lights), reflect a lot of pop culture, and tend to comment on today's materialistic society.

There was no photography allowed inside but here are some pictures off the internet of some of the stuff I saw:











I didn't go to Movement class today because I absolutely did not feel up to doing handstands and forward rolls with the state of my stomach. But I went to improvisation with Thomas. We started with a quick warmup in which our characters were to have a swearing/slapping/punching fight with another character. I had a punch up with Remko's Granny character. It was brilliant!

Today Thomas asked us to come up with situations for improvisations. This helps us see how to write, which is what we've been asked to do for the final two days of the workshop - write a scene for some characters to play. I'm getting unnecessarily worried about this because I'm not organised, but Thomas just said to make a little scene that shows our characters, which seems achievable.

One suggested situation was a blind date at a restaurant that hadn't had a customer for 3 weeks. Another was a family on stranded on boat who haven't eaten for ten days (they ate the child). And the one that I was in was set at the Queens garden where four workers (low low down) for the Queen were invited to a party, and every character had to assume that all the other characters were part of the royal family, rather than workers. So we were playing Misunderstandings. I didn't do so well today. I didn't get killed (because Thomas isn't like that) but if Philippe were there I definitely would have! Thomas gave me the feedback: "your character is too comfortable in this situation. It's as if he's playing a host. He needs to be much less comfortable." Agreed.

• "Need to have a sense of the boundaries of the space. Otherwise we lose you."(Thomas is big on space - he trained at Le Coq).

• Don't keep the things that worked once but now don't work. You have to be sensitive to this.

• When you find things that work don't stick to them too much or else they lose the spark that makes them resonate with the audience.

• I'm having trouble with entrances. I need to come on with something (anything!) right away rather than dribbling onto the stage.

In other news...everyone's favourite roommate Oliver is back...along with his rubbish all over the apartment. AND I just got a txt from Elouise saying 'Rent per month is 720 euro [I agreed to and have paid 480 euro] plus 60 for water/electricity plus 40 for internet. I cant lose money. I wish that Oli and you get on well.' If she thinks I am going to pay for all that (or any of it) she has got to be kidding. I'm just going to ignore that for now, but if things get ugly then I will go to the NZ Embassy (because now things are actually really wrong) or leave.

Day Twenty One - "When You Think You Break The Balls Of Everybody...You SHUT UP!"

I slept in this morning, rushed to the laundromat to do my weeks washing, and then sat anxiously waiting for it to finish as the time I needed to leave to make it to school fast approached. But I made it to school so all was well!

I had a good day in class today. Not that I was amazingly successful - I had good moments and bad - but I felt more relaxed and willing to jump up on stage without any fear, which was great. Philippe set the scenario in which a family is at home doing their thing, and two policemen enter because a crime has been committed by one member of the family. I jumped up when Pedro went up (who brought in a new character today which we all immediately fell in love with - I wanted to work with him because he looked like he could be my son or my brother) and we did a scene in which Pedro and I were drug dealers. When I entered I didn't bring in anything new, and the scene already began to flop. By the time the police entered it was too late and the scene was ended. I thought I would have fun playing with Pedro's new character, which I did, but I had no complicite and made a bad entrance. Flop flop flop.

I got up a second time with Juli as my partner. When I entered Juli was flipping over her tarot cards. I had fun with my character making fun of her and her tarot cards. Juli and I had good complicite and were being light together. When the police arrived things started to flop. I could have helped avoid this by having more of an opinion of the police. I kind of just invited them in happily, but that felt right for my character at the time. Feedback: "You talk too much. But okay. Not horrible."

Notes:

• After Alex's rough day on Friday, he came back fresh with a new character outfit. Up on stage he was "not excellent" and wanted "too much". After this feedback he started to play a bit which was more positive. Philippe got him to play with the flop around his body and share this with the audience.

• "Aggressiveness doesn't belong on the stage. You can pretend to be aggressive, but the real thing does not belong on the stage."

• "How many times did you think 'Ah! Perhaps it will soon be my turn to have my scene, to be in major, and be the star of the show for fifteen minutes?"

• "When you think you break the balls of everybody...you SHUT UP!"

• When you enter you have to be in major, and you have to change the situation.

• I need to seriously work on my posture. I sit slouched in class which makes it harder for me to be tall as a performer. I need to be tall all of the time! I am tall!

• Noticed my nerves aren't bad at all today. Just daring to discover.

• "You have to be a large tall actor [Irene]. Not this little girl."

• "We need to see the humanity of the actor beneath the character. You must show your beautiful humanity. We see an image, but where are you? Where is the humanity of this actor?"

After class a group of us headed at Saint Michel to go and see the David La Chapelle exhibition that's been advertised around the city for a while. We arrived at 8pm and there was a huge line (the exhibition closed at 10pm). So we flagged it and instead went for a drink.


A group of us on the RER heading to the exhibition.


'Le Conti' - The bar we were at. 6.80 euros for a beer. Ridiculous!


Angela, Trygvi (note his reflection in the mirror) and Adriano.


Jamie (from Australia) and Pedro (from Portugal).

Day Twenty - Chateau de Versailles And A Primary School Reunion

Caught the RER C to Chateau de Versailles today! It was beautiful! Very grand and lavish. When I am rich and famous I want giant paintings on my ceilings, a sculpture of my bust, and a really big garden!


Approaching the palace.


The front gate.


The chapel.


There were lots of sculptures of royal figures and famous artists down the hallways.


The ceiling in one of the rooms. This painting features Hercules.


One of the bedrooms. You've got to be kidding!


The Hall of Mirrors.


Me listening to the audio-guide. The guy behind me thinks I am a spy and is on to me.


Me trying to make my own ipod style ad featuring the audio-guide. Don't ask how I managed to take this photo.


This organ reminded me of Disney's 'Beauty and The Beast'. I definitely see a face.


After a few hours of walking around the Chateau, I decided to take the train (it was really a car towing compartments like they do at the zoo) on a tour through the gardens.


Looking back at the palace from the Grand Canal.


I really liked this picture. It's very 'The Secret Garden'. Who is she looking at? Is it a monster? Perhaps it's a friendly monster.


Me looking like a dork in front of the huge gardens! 800 hectares!

After a day at Versailles I went to metro Etienne Marcel and met Anja Harrison, a lovely girl who was in my class at primary school. It turns out she was in my class at Kindergarten too!


Anja.

We went to a funky little cafe called 'Le Cafe' which had random items (like ice-skates) stuck to the walls. We shared a carafe of red wine and caught up on ten years of life. She is studying fashion design in Paris at the moment. It was really neat talking about life at primary school and what everybody has done. I hardly remember anyone!

A really great day. Only one more week in Paris to go...I don't want to leave!

Day Nineteen - Musee D'Orsay And Safe Mode

Today I forced myself to wake up after six hours sleep and headed to the Musee d'Orsay - best known for its collection of impressionist masterpieces.


Outside the Musee d'Orsay.


Inside was wonderfully open. It used to be a railway station. The Gare d'Orsay.


'Chasse aux Lions' by Eugene Delacroix.


I really liked this playful sculpture.


This painting depicts a room full of women. Very beautiful.


I love the epic nature of this painting.


'Le dejeuner sur l'herb' by Manet. I really liked the Manets.


'Femme dans un clos' by Camille Pissario.


This painting reminded me of Cherie. Red head. Tea pot.


I think this by Pierre-August Renoir.


Another Manet. I love his bold style. And the look on her face.


'Mademoiselle Dihau au piano' by Edgar Degas. For Dad.


I avoided sneezing on this painting after seeing what happened to Mr Bean.


A close up of a section of a painting by Pissaro. This dabbing look seems to be a feature of the impressionist paintings. Although I don't really know.


'La guinguette' by Vincent van Gogh.


A classic Van Gogh.


Van Gogh was my favourite. I love his thick bolts of colour!


'Le Christ aux limbes' by Paul Cezanne.


I loved the sharpness of this work.



'La danse au Moulin-Rouge ou La Goulue et Valentin le desosse' by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.


Another cool painting by Toulouse-Lautrec.


There was a neat little exhibition on the 'Theatre du Chat Noir' which made shadow-puppet shows that were improvised by a skillful narrator.


Great shadow puppets.


More great shadow puppets.


An awesome glamourous room. There were a few school groups in here and the vibe was a bit over excited.


A visual of the vibe.

After a few wonderful hours at the Musee d'Orsay I strolled along the Seine before heading back to my apartment to meet Anders who had agreed to have a look at my computer. After trying various things we concluded that the only way to use the computer is to start it up in 'safe mode'. To do this you push F8 at start-up. You get a very basic version of Windows which omits a lot of features. But it works!


This guy made me think of Tim.


After virus-hunting Anders and I went to the cafe where 'Amelie' was filmed.


It has a great quirky feeling about it. Like a weird American milkshake bar.


A 'Crazy Amelie' cocktail. And crazy Anders.