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	Julien Prunet

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Novembre 27, 2002

Sorry for the silence and for not answering e-mails: our modem just melted and we're waiting for a replacement tonight or tomorrow. UPDATE: as of Saturday, still no modem and a lot of anger building toward Earthlink and the modem manufacturer, Arescom.

posted by on 03:01 du soir | link

Novembre 26, 2002

My favourite internet radio Soma FM appears to be back! (Via Fimoculous)

posted by on 03:31 du soir | link

Check this merde out: What a convenient everybody-strikefest today in France (Truckers! Airports! The public sector!), to force me to take a little break -- I called one of the radio stations I work for, to send a report I’d sweated on for hours, just to be told they’re on strike too…

So let me make whoopee of France’s relentless esprit de grève by running a little Q & A with one of our new favourite bloggers, a harsh critic of my country of birth: Bill, an American living in Paris (or as he puts it, “more than 20 years behind enemy lines”), and author of the bilingual blog Merde in France, which features occasional input from a mysterious sidekick, The Dissident Frogman. If you have any interest in France, Bill’s blog will make you cheer and hiss and want to check it out every day. Not to try to compete with Dawn Olsen and her kinky IM interviews with blogging celebrities, I just wanted to learn a little bit more about the Brooklyn-born-and-raised Bill, and was glad he kindly got back to me:

Bill, I notice that, like my beloved grandmother, you still call the third French public television station in France "FR3", even though it changed its name to "France 3" in 1992. Which makes me want to ask: for how long have you been in France?? Since World War II? Shall we thank you for not speaking German?

Ich ein un Parigot! I arrived in Paris sometime after the Germans did. 1981 to be exact (not long after Mitterand's election). I spoke no French whatsoever at the time and started studying French as a second language at the Sorbonne. It's true however, that there are plenty of little signs like that that show how long I've been over here. So you see that I share a good deal of 'collective consciousness' with the French.

Are you really American or do you have French citizenship by now? Or both?

I am an American citizen.

I've refused French citizenship on two occasions. While I enjoy living in Paris, I would never accept the nationality of a country whose ideology I oppose and I do not believe that the word 'ideology' is overused in this context.

If you can disclose juicy details for your new fans, how did you end up in France? And how do you write French so well? I've met Americans (including this American photographer of Marilyn Monroe who married in France and lived there for two decades) who still cannot speak this well. Did you have specific motivations? (Amour, art etc.)

I wound up in France with a student group for linguistic studies. A lot of people in the group thought that speaking bad French among Americans was the way to learn so I broke off from the group early on and stayed close to the street..

Reading is important. I devour as much as I can of the French press. However, I do that purely for linguistic reasons because there is very little of it that I find informative.

As far as studies are concerned, after learning enough French to be a functional Parisian, I did a BTS (Sort of a credential-degree -- eds) in 'Commercial Translation and Business Interpretation' by correspondance and then managed to successfully pass the admissions test for Science Po. (One of France’s famous ‘elite universities’) Only 11% were accepted the year I took it. The 4 hour written essay was on the future of the French pension system so you see that even 13 years ago everyone was talking about and nobody was doing anything about it.

I did not actually attend Sciences-Po afterwards because I could not afford to be a full-time student. I studied computing at night school for a while (at the CNAM).

Your site is named after the song "Merde in France" (Real Audio exerpt) by French songwriter and singer genius Jacques Dutronc. What (an event or something) has driven you to launch an entire blog about the merdique state of France?

The song came out in 1984 and I like it a lot. I'm trying to get the lyrics to post on the site.
The site is full of references to French contemporary culture just like that one. You can see that I've done references and play-on-words on icons like NTM (a rap group) and Renaud (a political songwriter). The American readers won't necessarily understand that part of the site but the French certainly will. This is what gives the site its legitimacy. The site is not just a rant by a loud American. I'm a part of things over here, I know what's going on, and I've got a few things to say.

Recent events triggered a reaction and the launch of the site. I feel that the French have betrayed the trust of their ally, the USA. While things were a bit edgy before 9-11, I find their behavior and commentary since then to be loathsome. Americans only get the tip of the iceberg. Vedrine (France's former foreign minister) said this. (Foreign Minister) Villepin said that. Chirac did such and such. They do not understand the depths to which anti-American sentiment has sunk over here.

The blog will be covering:
- French attitudes towards America
- The Paris intelligentsia and French culture in general
- certain aspects of French foreign policy
- some fun stuff: learning French for survival in Paris
and some other ideas are in the works

(Later, Bill explains that he founded a software firm in Paris in 1996:

"We do large web sites (ie. with big databases), GPS software, and software for mobile phones. Our customers are in France, UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. I am constantly doing something software related. As you might understand, founding a company in a country where businesses and business people are so despised has somewhat shaped my views these past few years.”)

Did you get a lot of mail after prof. Reynolds linked to you and launched an "Instalanche" on your newborn site?

Quite a bit. Prof. Reynolds really helped me get started with the blog and I'm grateful for that.

Almost all e-mail reaction had been from the States. I can see that there are more and more French readers every day so I'm waiting for more responses to come in from them.

Also: since you clearly love the country enough to keep living there, what makes you stay despite the strikes, the grumpiness and the mal de vivre?

I don't love the country. It can be said that I love Paris but you will never catch me elsewhere in France except for business reasons. Other than that I do make frequent trips to Scandinavia and the UK for business. I'm very much at home in Europe on the whole as long as I'm in a big city.

Luckily for me, I have stayed in Paris long enough to meet my wife. We've been married for over 10 years now and live in Paris not far from her family.

As a French person living in the US, I think Americans get less bang for their tax buck than the French. Here, I've no idea where my taxes go except maybe the freeways. How is it for you, an American being overtaxed in France: can you enjoy the fruit of your hard-earned money?

My view on French taxation is quite simple. It is no more than a form of government run shakedown. The French are constantly lectured on how the system here gives them so much but if you are in good health and a hard worker you're just paying the way for everyone else. The fact that less than 50% of the French pay any income tax at all is also something that gets on my nerves.

Hard working people, businesses, and financial professionals (traders, brokers, etc) are treated as criminals who owe everything to 'society'. In my view they owe nothing to 'society' and should be
allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labor and any gains won through their risk taking.

How, if at all, have you changed politically since you moved to France?

My sense of right and wrong has become sharper. The French would call my attitude 'manichéenne'. I am also much more uncompromising with regards to principles of free markets and free speech. The 'politically correct' acceptable standards for thought and speech in France are extremely stifling.

And finally, what do you think of loud American tourists? Are they your friends? Enemies?

I do not see that many of them. I'm not often in the tourist areas of Paris. My home and work, while inside Paris itself and fairly central, are off the beaten path usually taken by tourists. I'm usually rushing around so if anything they might get in my way but otherwise, as I said, I don't tend to encounter to many of them.

I hope this makes a little bit of sense. If a question is too stupid, please ignore. As a French with ambivalent feelings towards my home country, I'm always very flattered when Americans like you make the effort to write so well in French and express as much interest as to call their blog "Merde in France." Thank you very much, Bill.

You’re welcome Emmanuelle.

Charles Sobraj, the infamous Bikini murderer, currently residing in France and having his legal affaires attended to by Maître Vergès, has stated that the best way to flatter the French is to speak their language.

As for the blog I hope that I can keep it incisive and, at times, raunchy, in the same style as people like (cartoonist) Reiser, (humorists) Bouvard, and Bigard.

Favorite French Music: Telephone, Rita Mitsouko, Daft Punk, Pills
Favorite French writer: Albert Camus
Favorite French movies: Les Galettes de Pont Aven, La Balance
Favorite French celebrity: Professeur Choron
Favorite French politician: None
Favorite French newspaper: They should all be called 'The Pravda'
Favorite French TV show: The Sopranos
Favorite French food: Pakistani extra spicy
Favorite French wine: Irish Whisky
Favorite French cheese: Babybel

I also have admiration for French provocateur Professeur Choron (picture) and share quite a few of Bill's opinions. But we have radically different takes on universal health care for instance (I'm a firm believer in it). It seems like Bill would rather eat plastic cheese like Babybel than say a little (just a tiny little?) positive something about France! Still, isn’t his firm stand in Paris and love for a French woman not telling something? The mere thought of living in Paris gives me a rash and makes my brain go on strike.

Merde in France
http://merdeinfrance.blogspot.com

A great read for frogwatchers who, like Suck did a few years ago, suspect that the occasional American correspondents in Paris miss quite a few points.

UPDATE: among the comments on Matt's post about this little Q and A, this one from Frenchman Philippe, who writes: "This guy from Merde in France is quite precisely an American version of a poujadiste." You can read his entire critic here. Click on the "comment" link at the bottom of the post.

posted by on 12:28 du soir | link

Novembre 25, 2002

Bientôt, le moblog? Justin Hall imagine sur TheFeature.com un futur dans lequel les weblogs deviennent mobiles et l'information est postée sur le Net de n'importe où, grâce à une nouvelle génération de téléphones portables. Il écrit:
"Weblogs reflect our lives at our desks, on our computers. ... But mobile blogs should be far richer, fueled by multimedia, more intimate data, and far-flung friends." (Via E-media Tidbits)

posted by on 06:51 du soir | link