singing and soccer

Nouvelle Star...Nouvelle Star was AWESOME! We waited hours upon hours to get into the studio, but when we finally did we were incredibly close to the stage and all crammed into this little room with all sorts of important people bustling around with lights flashing and cameras swinging over our heads. We waited in the studio for two hours before the show started (and me wearing high heels as if anybody would even see my feet should I be caught on camera) and bottles of water and posters with all the contestants names were passed around to keep the crowd busy.

Finally the lights dimmed, the man incharge of the crowd started running around like mad telling us all to smile and clap, "ne jamais BOO," and remember that we're going to be broadcast live to five million french televisions - so act accordingly - and the judges took their seats. Show time.

I have to say that I consider the talent on Nouvelle Star of a much higher standard than that of it's American counterpart - almost all of the singers could belt it out and play the guitar or piano or drums. Fan favorite Amandine covered The Beatles "Get by with a little help from my friends" and nearly made me cry. She really brought the house down and was singing with such a passion and intensity that all the veins were pop POPPING! from her neck.

Emission du 09/04/2008 : Benjamin et Sian chantent Purple Rain - Nouvelle Star 2008 - wideo
<p>Benjamin et Sian chantent Purple Rain



<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial">Retrouvez tous les coulisses et interviews inédites de la Nouvelle Star sur le blog de Moïse : <a href="#" type="h-t-t-p-:-/-/-moisenouvellestar.m6blog.fr/" onclick="gotoURL(this.type); return false;">http://moisenouvellestar.m6blog.fr/</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial">Nouvelle Star ® 19 TV Ltd et FremantleMedia Ltd. Basé sur le programme de télévision produit par FremantleMedia France. Licence par FremantleMedia Enterprises. <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="#" type="h-t-t-p-:-/-/-www.fremantlemedia.com/" onclick="gotoURL(this.type); return false;">www.fremantlemedia.com</a> </span></p>

Mots-clés : tele m6 tv nouvelle star télévision émission musique chanson rain casting live best of jury benjamin direct purple manoukian lio manoeuvre baltard sinclair sian efira

Video de nouvellestar

My personal favorite was Benjamin Siksou. First he sang a duet of Prince's "Purple Rain" (above - don't mind the html, it's just french crap) and then he did his solo song to CCRs "Proud Mary." He's got a smokey, bluesy kind of voice that reminds me a little of John Mayer, only he's less annoying and it looks like he has better musical influences. Plus he's French, so of course I'm all about it.

By the way, date number two with Roman was not as successful as the first. All the elements for a perfect time were there - café next to Notre Dame, pouring rain, a tiny little book store - but there was that little something extra missing. He's been calling, but I'm leaving for spring break on Friday and am playing the "I'm too busy card."

Laurel was here over the weekend, and I had a wonderful time showing her around Paris and catching up on all things Taylorville. She says she's having a great time in Italy, but is starting to get the itch to go home. I think I'm having the exact opposite emotions - I don't want to leave! I still walk around this city with my mouth hanging open and marveling at the beauty of it all. I figure it'll be time to go home when those feelings start to diminish, but how could they ever?

On Sunday night, my group went to see our very first European soccer match - Paris Saint Germain vs. Nice. It was an incredible experience and a dangerous one. We were given specific instructions concerning behavior, clothing and drinking before the match and our organizer watched us like a hawk until she was sure that we weren't going to get drunk and do something stupid. Soccer fans have a reputation for brawling and cat calling, so if at any time we were to say the wrong thing or cheer when we should be silent, we risked getting a beating.

And of course, me being the incredibly intelligent person that I am, wore Nice's colors to the match. Paris is red/blue/white (obviously) and Nice is red/black/white. Nearly the same, but I guess each team has a signature color that they identify with - Nice is ROUGE ROUGE ROUGE! Right out of the métro I got called at by three men, "Mademoiselle, perdez le rouge. C'est pas la meilleure couleur ce soir." To save my hide, I bought a PSG scarf and kept my coat on for the rest of the match (hey Connor, look what I bought you in Paris!).

The match was pretty boring and a huge let down when PSG lost in the 85th minute after they had been up by two the entire game, but it was still incredible to see the fans. We were sitting right in the middle of the main cheering section, and men were chanting and screaming all around us, holding up their scarves, lighting flares, waving flags and throwing empty beer cups at the Nice section that was roped off from the rest of the statium. I wish games in the US were more of this taste, then maybe people would actually give a shit about soccer.

Other weekend highlights included getting "choclate africain" at Angelina's - a world famous tea room and treates house (and it was delicious...practically molten chocolate and bitter sweet, too) and then walking around a Marche aux Puces where I found a tiny little shop that only sold buttons. Just buttons.

Just a few more classes to get through this week, and then I'll be heading to the south for a little sunshine and relaxation. Cannot wait, and I realize that because I'm anticipating this vacation, the rest of the week and all of my classes are going to drag by. At least I have a contemporary ballet to look forward to on Thursday night and class with a cute Belgian man Frederic on Friday morning.