pan european

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it

W Shakespeare, Twelfth Night I:I

Q: What's worse than having no internet connection?
A: Having partial, slow, and intermittent connection. Give me the apple-worm any day.

That being said...

Ever wondered what French people really eat? You may have always imagined that in the privacy of their homes, they dine in candlelight, possibly a deferential sommelier in the corner, a selection of wines and cheeses on the dressoir. Pâté in a venerable terrine. Possibly a fig or two.

I know I have.

So when I spotted the ad for 'You are what you eat' a photography show on the French sim A&D, I just had to go see. The photographs are by Antoine Lancaster and they represent a photo diary of his meals from the first of January to December 31 2001 a period in which Antoine was going through some stressful challenges with his new job, rushing about all over France and sometimes on trips abroad, or back in his home in Paris dealing with important business-type stuff. Taking the pictures was a sort of therapy, a bit of controllable fun in a chaotic time in his life. Yes, a year's worth of meals on planes, trains, in hotels, in restaurants of various culinary denominations, at home, at table, in front of the TV. In his note, Antoine dubs the collection a "portrait. Even though you can't see me, you can still learn a lot about me by watching these pictures." The exhibition, ably curated by Arkady Shatzkin, is arranged on 12 floors with smoked-glass walls - très chic but hard to photograph through - each floor corresponding to a month's worth of meals. You begin in January at the top of a pleasingly utilitarian skyscraper and work your way down to the carb-heavy festive season. Take the spiral ramp or TP from floor to floor. As usual I preferred to walk. There are some 1500 pictures here, touch each 'frame' to see all the pictures for that particular day or repast.

Never in the field of human consumption has so much food of such awful appearance been so thoroughly photographed. Not every platter, of course, there are some appetizing veggies and the odd cake or two that looked delicious. But the fun part is the bad part. Walking past some of these photos is like observing a terrible accident, complete with road kill, you want to look away but you just can't as your eyes try to make sense of the disaster unfolding before them.

Some of it is all too recognizable, though I had forgotten about airline food - remember when they used to feed you on planes? - but it is the restaurant food that genuinely floors. A few dishes look like extras from a sci fi film, others merely a mad mashup. Some simply defy belief that anyone would put themselves around the outside of them, willingly and for a fee. There are crimes against pasta here, serious crimes. The notecard says the exhibit can be visited in a number of ways, like looking for 'foreign' food like sushi, or guessing where Antoine might have been at a given mealtime (the times given are all European Central Time, which can be a clue when you look at the hour and the type of meal being consumed) and people with eating disorders might also be helped by seeing the show. I entirely agree.

Pick up a freebie shirt at the exit, or perhaps one of the platters so took your fancy that you'd like a framed copy - these too are available for purchase. If you do please IM me and let me know which dish - see, now I'm getting food obsessed. But in a low-fat-low-carb cholesterol free way so that's OK.

"You are what you eat" on sim A&D is a fun and refreshingly frank piece of RL in SL. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll scratch your head and possibly throw up, but you have to visit. Don't forget to leave a tip.

Also in the news, I caught a wonderful band playing in SL under the auspices of the great Votslav Hax. They were on at Apfelland Airport 3. I hadn't been over to Apfelland since my newbie camping days, it was nice to be back, and the combination of English italian and german was a lot of fun. The band broadcast on Radio Apfelland and since I can't possibly beat Vot's prose about Krisalide, here, in verbatim, is the group notice:

"Krisalide Jazz Trio is a new hot group, formed by pianist Adelchi Rossini, drummer Kristine Lowey and bassist Alduccio Barbosa. They play a mix of jazz and blues standards, bossa and samba with a spice of modern songs revisited in jazz. They live and play in Rome, and are close friends in RL. Kristine is also an SL pirate from long ago, Adelchi is also a SL film director, and Alduccio is only a bassist. (lol) "

Join Symbiotic to keep track of this band and the many other brilliant artists in the group.

In questi giorni si tiene una mostra fotografica molto simpatica sul sim francese A&D e sono passata per vedere di che si trattava, dal nome "Siamo quel che mangiamo" mi intrigava moltissimo. Cosa mangiano i francesi? Sì può imparare qualcosa sui i nosti confratelli europei osservando come si nutrano? Come si fa a fotografare la prima colazione? Questa e altre domande mi hanno spinto a teleportare sul tetto del palazzetto di vetro per vedere la mostra curata da Arkady Shatzkin. Si svolge su dodici piani corrispondendo ai dodici mesi dell'anno 2001 in cui Antoine Lancaster ha fotografato ogni pasto consumato. Per Antoine, e' stato un modo per rilassarsi e divertirsi durante un anno 'di fuoco' nel quale ha avviato una nuova impresa. Viaggi in aereo, in treno, in macchina in tutta la Francia e anche all'estero, e ogni volta che vi si trovava davanti a lui un piatto, scattava una foto. In poco tempo si creo' un foto-diario gastronomico. Nel metaverso dove mangiare è uno strano rito una scelta mai una necessità, queste foto fanno ancor più effetto. Io invece sono stata colpita dalla varietà dei piatti - devo dire per la gran parte poco appetitosi - e la storia che raccontano ciascuno di loro. Non so se compatire Antoine o applaudire il suo corraggio giudicando da alcuni immagini deve avere uno stomaco di ferro. Insomma qui niente haute cuisine, ma i cibi quotidiani di un uomno d'affari. Giudicherai tu se conviene accettare un invito a cena a casa sua... e sì, quei nella foto, quello sarebbe un piatto di spaghetti.Essendomi del tutto passato l'appetito, mi sono recata ad un concerto. Il bravissimo Votslav Hax tramite un notice il gruppo Symbiotic ci ha segnalato l'esibizione sul sim tedesco Apfelland Airport 3 luogo di concerti regolari di ogni genere.
Krisalide Jazz è un gruppo nuovo nel metaverso composto da tre bravissimi musicisti: il pianista Adelchi Rossini, Kristine Lowey, suona il sassofono e anche la batteria, e il bassista Alduccio Barbosa. Abitano tutti a Roma, è stata Kristine ad interessare gli altri due, già amici di vecchia data, di suonare in SL. Suonano canzoni italiani, assieme a standard del jazz e blues. Alelchi è anche regista di machimima, mentre Kristine è pirata virtuale. Hanno suonato la loro musica tramite Radio Apfelland - la buona musica non conosce frontiere ne limiti d'idioma, ed è stato bellissimo passare un'ora insieme ad un gruppo davvero internazionale. Per seguire questo gruppo, e gli altri bravi artisti vale davvero la pena associarsi al gruppo Symbiotic. Chissà forse ci vedremo al prossimo concerto!