art in unlikely places. With no "one percent for art" imperative,
they've still found ways to make otherwise ugly or boring sights
interesting and more attractive. That being said, sometimes it's hard
to tell when the French are being avant-garde or you're just in the
ghetto.
Metro stations are a particular target of interesting compositions. My
favorite by far is the Arts-et-Metiers station, which has a Jules
Verne-inspired 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea theme. When you pull into
the station you immediately feel like you are inside a submarine! The
copper paneled walls have portholes looking out at "the ocean", and
even a portrait of Captain Nemo. There are loudspeakers that play a
soundtrack of drippy submarine noises and occasional shouted orders to
"Deep dive!" to avoid a giant squid. It's pretty surreal when you see
it.
Another station, somewhat less appealing, is covered floor-to-ceiling
with state sponsored graffiti: colorful, unintelligible and very in-
your-face. The theme is "Urban Expression."
A few stops past that I saw another interesting exhibition. The
interior of the station was covered in exposed Sheetrock, with pipes
and hoses popping out of the walls and weaving in and out of the
floors. I looked around for the exhibit description, and to figure out
the theme, and I found it on an opposite wall: "Please excuse the
inconvenience as we remodel this station to serve you better." Shows
what I know about art.
I'm also really enjoying the bizarre world of translated American
movie titles. Some of them make sense: "Le Panther Rose" and "Le
Legend de Despereaux" seem like pretty literal translations when I
walk past the movie posters on the street outside the theater. Some of
them are less literal, like "He's Just Not That Into You," which I saw
yesterday, and which in French was called "That Which Men Think." A
bit more philosophical, no? The comedy "Bride Wars" is instead called
"Best Enemies." But my favorite translation by far was one I saw in a
discount DVD store last week for the latest Die Hard movie. What in
the US was called "Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard", in French was
called "Die Hard 4: Return to Hell."
Yeah. No clue.
But it's little things like this that constantly make me laugh as I
look at life reflected in a fun-house mirror.
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