The Ritz Hotel - I went in to have a look and quickly got turned away. I should have pretended I was staying there, or was thinking of staying there, or had a friend in the restaurant who was staying there. But even then I doubt any of those options would have worked. Oh well. It looked flash inside!
This summer...Lion VS Crocodile.
I thought it was funny that the guy about to kill this man-beast has a pigeon on his head.
A wonderfully buxom woman.
Me looking triumphant in front of the Arc de Triomphe. The guy on the left looks very trumphant!
The never-ending spiral staircase to the top of the Arc.
Inside there were lots of high-tech displays including this screen with a live video-feed of underneith the Arc.
The view from the top was fantastic! Better than the Eiffel Tower in my opinion, because it was less high which meant the fog/smog didn't get in the way, and there was nothing in the middle to climb around which meant an instant 360 degree view. From the top I could clearly see the Sacre Coeur and realised that my apartment is on the only hill in Paris!
In movement today Thomas got us to get a wooden pole each and put it underneith a yoga mat and then lie on the mat with the pole along our spine. This was slightly painful at first but after a while you start to relax and end up relaxing all of your muscles on either side of your spine. It's also a really good way of noting your habitual posture. The aim is to have all of your spine touching the pole. When I didn't think about it I had a slight arc in my lower back - I poke my bum out!
In class today Philippe asked for seven couples to go on stage, and when the music stopped and it was your couples turn, your characters were to pretend to be in a Hollywood movie and say A) "You have the most beautiful eyes" and B) "...Kiss me". Juli (who seems to be my new partner) and I were up first. We did a stereotypical kind of thing and then got into this slow tongue-wagging approach to a kiss, which was kind of funny, but not really Hollywood. Philippe said "is this Hollywood? Or bla bla bla?" It was decided that we were "Bollywood" and then "GOODBYE". I was too heavy. Philippe later said you need complicite and fun. You need to look at your partner enough before starting to know how to play with him/her.
There was the option to go up again later in the class, which Juli and I took. The Hollywood moment went on forever, because I hadn't heard that Philippe had said that this time around Juli would be the one saying "you have the most beautiful eyes" (usually the man's line). So I was saying "you have the most beautiful eyes" and so was Juli (in french). She was replying to me quite agressively, I suppose saying "no you have the most beautiful eyes". So I got a bit lost in translation, and then scene became us fighting to say "you have the most beautiful eyes" until eventually Juli grabbed my head and tried to force a kiss. I backed away (playing afraid of my monster wife) and then after the kiss I played dizzy and confused, which Philippe liked. Again - where is the pleasure?
- Adriano drew his Hollywood answer out. "You are an idiot in a good way".
- It's great when an actor stays in character after their scene has been ended and plays/interacts with Philippe. We see another side of the character and are aware of 'the game'.
- Philippe sometimes makes jokes like "this exercise is to pick the best of the class". This is great for me to hear because it helps me remember that I'm not here to prove anything but that I am here to play.
- Philippe got Fabricio (in a flirty woman's outfit) and Judith (in a moustached plumbers outfit) to swap costumes and then to come on stage and imitate eachother. The result was huge pleasure and freedom, lots of fun and no fear!
- Philippe also got Alex and Jamie to swap outfits. Alex has been continually getting killed with his tight-dressed woman character, and Jamie has been continually doing really well in her Nike-onesy wearing South African mum character. When Jamie came on stage (as Alex) we loved her. She played Alex and his nervous reactions really well, and she was having lots of fun. Philippe yelled at Alex (played by Jamie) and said for three weeks he has continually been boring, and still hasn't found a good costume. Jamie reacted superbly with a lot of pleasure. When it came to to the real Alex coming on (as Jamie) it was disappointing to find that he did not find the pleasure in imitating somebody else. He was obviously nervous and was more concerned with his bad South African accent than having fun playing with Jamie's character. I know I would have had a ball as her character! Philippe then asked me: "Do you like Alex's character played by Alex or Jamie the best?" A) Jamie. And then "Do you like Jamie's character played byAlex or Jamie the best?" A) Jamie. I felt terrible answering this question. I felt like I'd given the wrong answer and people were scorning at me. But I hadn't. I said what everyone was thinking. The lesson: No matter what character, we love the actor who has the most pleasure.
- "We have to see the spirit and the fun of the actor".
- When nobody plays Major or Minor it's a mess!
- "Everything works when it is not true. Or true through a game." If Juli really did want to kiss me then it would not have been fun. The fun and spirit of the game leads the actor.
- "Was I happy with teaching the class this week? Yes. It was fantastic. So happy."
After class I went to Oli's place to quickly download anti-virus software onto my USB in the hopes that it would fix my apartment's completely unusable computer. I did a virus scan and it found dozens of viruses! But still didn't fix it. :(
We then went to a bar called Les Disquaires to party with classmates.
Tonight's agenda.
Oli and I got chinese takeaways for dinner from Montparnasse.
A very innovative busker on the metro - puppet show with music and lighting. I gave him money. He made the effort!
Les Disquaires was more of a club than a bar, and had several DJs playing dance music. There were only a few members of the class there, but it was still fun. We danced until the club closed (at 2am) then went searching for an open bar. We ended up staying out until 5.30am (Oli and I left for his place when the metros opened again). I would have loved to have gone home around 3am however because I don't have a key to the main entrance to my apartment anymore I chose not to go home and buzz people at the early hours of the morning. Before going out to party I was very angry about my apartment key situation and how Elouise hasn't helped at all and how the computer has completely bombed - I got pretty worked up! I was considering going to her place on Sunday and demanding my money back for my final week in Paris and moving somewhere else. However after having a beer or two I decided to try and be more cool about the situation and less typically-stressy Guy. I figured that most nights during the week I get home at an hour suitable to buzz people to let me in, and that attempting to get my money back could just cause unneccessary chaos. So I have decided to just deal with it. Which feels quite good. Just going with the flow...
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