playlist, feb. 25, 2008

Mia Doi Todd - "Sleepless Nights"
Bon Iver - "Skinny Love"
The Helio Sequence - "Shed Your Love"
Thao - "Beat (Health, Lie, and Fire)"
The National - "Mistaken for Strangers"
Cat Power - "Song to Bobby"
Grizzly Bear - "Shift" (Alternate Version)
M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" (DFA Remix)
Hot Chip - "Ready for the Floor"
Shriekback - "My Spine Is the Baseline" (1982 1212" Edit)
Cadence Weapon - "In Search of the Youth Crew"
Blake Jones & the Trike Shop - "Parade"
Kien Lim - "Theresa Baby"
Basia Bulat - "In the Night"
The Replacements - "Little Mascara"
The Raveonettes - "Aly, Walk with Me"
The Magnetic Fields - "Please Stop Dancing"
New Buffalo - "Cheer Me Up and Thank You"
Kelley Stoltz - "Everything Begins"
Vampire Weekend - "M79"
Jens Lekman - "Arms Around Me"
Ssion - "Clown"
Mahjongg - "Problems"
The YMD - "Drown Yr Hamster in Nail Polish Removal"
Mike Ladd - "Learn to Fall"
Karen Marguth - "I Can't Give You Anything But Love"
Abigail Nolte - "Take Me Home"
Andrew Bird - "Heretics"
Kate Nash - "Mouthwash"
Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Kiss Them for Me"
pc muñoz & the amen corner - "Skin City"
Kien Lim - "If Only"
Liam Finn - "Second Chance"
British Sea Power - "All in It"
Super Furry Animals - "Run-Away"
Modeselektor [feat. Thom Yorke] - "The White Flash"
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - "Dragonfly Pie"
Beach House - "Gila"

playlist, feb. 18, 2007

The Velvet Underground - "I'm Sticking With You"
Spoon - "The Ghost of You Lingers"
Black Mountain - "Queens Will Play"
Was (Not Was) - "Wheel Me Out"
M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" (DFA Remix)
diskJokke - "Some Signs Are Good"
Blondie - "Heart of Glass"
Kien Lim - "Only If"
The Avett Brothers - "Paranoia in B-Flat Major"
Jnny Lewis with the Watson Twins - "Run Devil Run / The Big Guns"
Cat Power - "Lost Someone"
Kelley Stoltz - "Your Reverie"
Modeselektor - "Let Your Love Grow"
Beirut - "Nantes"
Jens Lekman - "Your Arms Around Me"
Belle & Sebastian - "Sleep the Clock Around"
The Smiths - "The Headmaster Ritual"
British Sea Power - "Down on the Ground"
Blake Jones & the Trike Shop - "Virginia Woolf"
David Byrne - "Ex-Guru"
Snowden - "Like Bullets"
Sunny Day Set Fire - "Stranger" (CSS "Wilderness" Remix)
Yellow Magic Orchestra - "Seoul Music"
Neneh Cherry - "I've Got U Under My Skin"
William Shatner - "Common People"
Vampire Weekend - "M79"
Born Ruffians - "Red Yellow & Blue"
Xiu Xiu [feat. Michael Gira] - "Under Pressure"
Helio Sequence - "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"
P.O.S. [feat. Craig Finn] - "Safety in Speed (Heavy Metal)"
Common - "Be"
Odd Nosdam - "The Kill Tone Two"
DJ Bitman [feat. Juan Sativo] - "La Raza"
The Raveonettes - "Lust"
Beach House - "Wedding Bell"

playlist, feb. 11, 2007

Nancy Sinatra - "Day Tripper"
Chris Joss - "Magic Tubes"
Luxury - "Green Hearts"
Rancid - "Time Bomb"
Bonde do Rolê - "Geremia"
CSS - "Knife"
Justice - "Stress"
The Hold Steady - "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"
Les Savy Fav - "Pots&Pans"
Sleater-Kinney - "Wilderness"
Xiu Xiu - "I Do What I Want, When I Want"
Magnetic Fields - "Three-Way"
Abigail Nolte - "Leftover Light"
Jason Collett - "Out of Time"
Cat Power - "New York" / "Ramblin' (Wo)man"
The Avett Brothers - "Paranoia in B-Flat Major"
Amy Winehouse - "Wake Up Alone"
James Brown - "I Lost Someone"
Big Star - "Feel"
Black Mountain - "Wucan"
Sonic Youth - "Superstar"
Supersuckers - "Sail On" [Live]
The Whigs - "Right Hand on My Heart"
Joanna Newsom - "Emily"
Panda Bear - "Bros."
Band of Horses - "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands"
Architecture in Helsinki - "Underwater"
The Dalloways - "Tiffy"
Beirut - "In the Mausoleum"
Feist - "Mushaboom" (Postal Service Remix)
Teddybears [feat. Neneh Cherry] - "Yours to Keep"
!!! - "Heart of Hearts"
Hot Chip - "Ready for the Floor"
Aesop Rock - "Bring Back Pluto"
Atmosphere - "YGM"
Cibo Matto - "Spoon"
Gary Numan - "Cars" (Flood Mix)
The Knife - "Neverland"
Battles - "Ddiamondd"
Daft Punk - "Da Funk / Daftendirekt" [Live]
White Williams - "New Violence"
Calvin Harris - "Colours"
Digitalism - "Home Zone"
Glass Candy - "Candy Castles"
The Raveonettes - "Aly, Walk with Me"
British Sea Power - "Waving Flags"
Kelley Stoltz - "Put My Troubles to Sleep"

playlist, jan. 28, 2007

Kelley Stoltz - "Put My Troubles to Sleep"
Supersuckers - "Sail On" [Live]
Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"
Dengue Fever - "Seeing Hands"
Xiu Xiu [feat. Michael Gira] - "Under Pressure"
The Beatles - "Tomorrow Never Knows"
Animal Collective - "Derek"
The Magnetic Fields - "Three-Way"
Black Mountain - "Angels"
Aesop Rock - "Bring Back Pluto"
Radiohead - "Bodysnatchers"
White Williams - "Headlines"
The B-52's - "Dance This Mess Around"
British Sea Power - "Down on the Ground"
Belle & Sebastian - "Expectations"
Bob Dylan - "I Want You"
The Fiery Furnaces - "Ex-Guru"
Public Enemy - "Shut Em Down" (100dBs Mix)
Busdriver - "Kill Your Employer (Recreational Paranoia Is the Sport of Now)"
Basement Jaxx - "Where's Your Head At?"
Mika - "Grace Kelly"
Nina Simone - "Sinnerman"
Sleater-Kinney - "Words and Guitar"
The Whigs - "Like a Vibration"
Pinback - "Barnes"
The Boggs - "Melanie in the White Coat"
Bee Gees - "New York Mining Disaster 1941"
Cat Power - "I Believe in You"
Bright Eyes - "Four Winds"
Mark Ronson [feat. Lily Allen] - "Oh My God"
Hot Chip - "Shake a Fist"
Mike Ladd - "Learn to Fall"
The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?"
Supersuckers - "Hey Ya!"
Interpol - "Not Even Jail"
Delta 5 - "Mind Your Own Business"
Daft Punk - "Around the World / Harder Better Faster Stronger"
Say Hi - "Northwestern Girls"

playlist, jan. 21, 2007

Wilco - "Sky Blue Sky"
King of Prussia - "Spain in the Summertime"
Jens Lekman - "A Postcard for Nina"
The Decemberists - "Yankee Baronet (I Will Be Home Then)"
The Beach Boys - "Hang on to Your Ego"
Iron & Wine - "Lovesong of the Buzzard"
Joan as Police Woman - "Eternal Flame"
Nino Moschella - "Better Off"
Gorillaz - "Hongkongaton"
Fiery Furnaces - "The Philadelphia Grand Jury"
Yeasayer - "2080"
Mike Ladd - "Housewives at Play"
Apparat - "Hailin from the Edge"
Una - "Fading in C# Minor"
40 Watt Hype - "On and On"
U2 - "Pride"
Mavis Staples - "Eyes on the Prize"
Common [feat.The Last Poets] - "The Corner"
Michael Franti - "Love'll Set Me Free" (Acoustic Version)
John Lennon - "Give Peace a Chance"
Bob Marley & the Wailers - "One Love" (Cordovan Remix)
The Moldy Peaches - "Anyone Else But You"
Dengue Fever - "Tiger Phone Card"
Burial - "Archangel"
Saint Etienne - "Avenue" (Gordon King Remix)
Glass Candy - "Rolling Down Hills"
Vivian Goldman - "Launderette"
The Cure - "The Walk"
White Blue Yellow & Clouds - "Seeing Stars"
The Crystals - "Uptown"
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "Let Them Knock"
Tone-Loc - "Wild Thing" (Peaches RMX)
Radioactive Cauliflower - "Monster Pedals"
Black Mountain - "Stormy High"
Les Savy Fav - "Pots&Pans"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Isis"
Pinback - "Off by 50"
Jesus and the Mary Chain - "April Skies"
Tender Forever - "How Many"

googling sex

So I'm teaching a graduate level seminar on Queer Theory (for the first time), and I'm beginning the course with Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Last night as I was reading through the first essay, on the "aberrations," I ran across a reference to the tertiary sexual characteristics. I'm familiar enough with the distinction between the primary (those features related to the genitals and to reproduction) and secondary sexual characteristics (those that are not directly related to reproduction--such as bodily hair and pitch of the voice), but I hadn't recalled reading about tertiary sexual characteristics.

So I did what I often tell my students not to do, and I googled the phrase. The second hit was a reference to a work by Albert Moll from 1909, called The Sexual Life of the Child. (Freud references this work in the Three Essays.)

When I clicked on the link, I was taken to an facsimile image of a page from a 1912 English translation of Moll's book, and the relevant passage appeared before my eyes. (Click here to see what I mean.) Is that neat or what?

Apparently I'm a little late in discovering the magic that is Google Books, but I'm pretty stoked to some more exploring. I guess I'll need to rethink my mandate to my students that they not google topics that they are researching.

playlist, jan. 14, 2007

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - "Tell Me"
Thom Yorke - "The Eraser"
Charlie Louvin [feat. Jeff Tweedy] - "That Great Atomic Power"
Joan Baez - "Silver Dagger"
Saint Etienne - "Like a Motorway"
Dengue Fever - "Seeing Hands"
Mexican Institute of Sound - "Hip Hop No Pares"
The Flaming Lips - "Free Radicals"
Gang of Four - "Damaged Goods"
The Go! Team - "The Power Is On"
Kid Creole and the Coconuts - "Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy"
CSS - "Let's Make Love to Death from Above"
The Avett Brothers - "Shame"
Nick Lowe - "Hope For Us All"
Mark Ronson [feat. Lily Allen] - "Oh My God"
Pulp - "Common People"
Rademacher - "If U Got Some Magic"
The Bad Plus - "Tom Sawyer"
Radiohead - "Bodysnatchers"
Karen O & the Million Dollar Bashers - "Highway 61 Revisited"
Blake Jones & the Trike Shop - "Snapshot"
Feist - "Sealion"
Beirut - "In the Mausoleum"
Bebel Gilberto - "Caçada"
Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
DJ Bitman [feat. Jimmy Fernandez] - "El Diablo"
Aesop Rock - "None Shall Pass"
Morcheeba - "Wonders Never Cease"
Glass Candy - "Rolling Down the Hills" (Spring Demo)
Matthew Dear - "Deserter"
Junior Bloomsday - "Nervous Habitats"
Yeasayer - "Sunrise"
Sonic Youth - "Reena"
Sparklejet - "The Heart Will Lift You"
Band of Horses - "No One's Gonna Love You"
Blonde Redhead - "Top Ranking"
LCD Soundsystem - "New York I Love You But..."
Burial - "Endorphin"
Daft Punk - "Da Funk / Daftendirekt"

oh wait, one more

The videocast for Radiohead's "Jigsaw Falling into Place":

best music video of 2007?

I think it's got to be this one for Animal Collective's "Peacebone":



Next best? My vote goes to the vid for Battles' "Atlas":

playlist, jan. 7, 2008

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "How Long Do I Have to Wait for You?" (Ticklah Remix)
Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
Yeasayer - "2080"
King Tubby & Friends - "Satta Dread Dub"
The Libertines - "Can't Stand Me Now"
The Dalloways - "Cotty's House"
Anna Ternheim - "China Girl"
Sara Valenzuela - "Ya No"
Rilo Kiley - "Give a Little Love"
Bas for Lashes - "What's a Girl to Do?"
Modeselektor - "2000007"
Material, Nona Hendryx - "Bustin' Out"
Chromatics - "Hands in the Dark"
Hot Chip - "Over and Over" [iTunes Session]
Man Man - [Live at The Cellar Door]
El Olio Wolof - "Earthworms Can't Dig This"
TV on the Radio - "Province"
Akron/Family - "Ed Is a Portal"
The Avett Brothers - "Paranoia in B-Flat Major"
Burial - "Ghost Hardware"
Neon Neon - "Raquel" (Radio)
CSS - "Knife"
Radmacher - "What Yr Used to Back at Home"
The Shins - "Sealegs"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Rockers to Swallow"
The Long Blondes - "Giddy Stratospheres"
The Hold Steady - "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"
The National - "Squalor Victoria"
Aesop Rock - "None Shall Pass"
El-P - "Smithereens"
Busdriver - "Kill Your Employer (Recreational Paranoia Is the Sport of Today)"
DJ Bitman - "Shine"
Radiohead - "Nude"
Arcade Fire - "Keep the Car Running"

playlist, dec. 17, 2007

Una - "Casa del Fuego"
Sally Shapiro - "Christmas Anorak"
The Spinners - "The Rubberband Man"
Spoon - "Don't You Evah"
Cookie Jar - "The Island"
Petra Haden - "God Only Knows"
Yo La Tengo - "Fourth Time Around"
The Walkmen - "The Christmas Song"
Common [feat. Lily Allen] - Drivin' Me Wild"
Gorillaz - "Dare" (Soulwax Remix)
CSS - "The Knife"
The Submarines - "Brighter Discontent" (Styrofoam Remix)
Supersuckers - "Hey Ya!"
Andrew W.K. - "Don't Call Me Andy"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Rockers to Swallow"
The Pretenders - "Tattooed Love Boys"
Sleater-Kinney - "Rollercoaster"
Sparklejet - "Emilio"
Darlene Love - "Winter Wonderland"
LCD Soundsystem - "North American Scum"
Junior Bloomsday - "Swans to Greet You"
Beirut - "Forks and Knives (La Fête)"
The Smiths - "The Headmaster Ritual"
The Mary Onettes - "Void"
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - "100 Days, 100 Nights"
The Staple Singers - "Uncloudy Day"
Julia Dawn - "Beautiful"
The Gossip - "Are U That Somebody"
DJ Bitman [feat. Julian Peña & Tea Time] - "Tropilove"
El-P - "EMG"
James Brown - "Go Power at Christmas Time"
Nicole Atkins - "Maybe Tonight"
Wilco - "Walken"
Okkervil River - "No Easy Way Down" [Live]
Andrea Echeverri - "Baby Blues"
The Avett Brothers - "Paranoia in B-Flat Major"
Patti Page - "Frosty the Snowman" (Rondo Brothers Remix)
Daft Punk - "Around the World / Harder Better Stronger Faster"
Chromeo - "Fancy Footwork"
Calvin Harris - "Acceptable in the 80s"

playlist, dec. 10, 2007

Band of Horses - "Detlef Schrempf"
Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc." (Stanton Warriors Remix)
Hot Chip - "And I Was a Boy from School"
Sally Shapiro - "Anorak Christmas"
Low - "Just Like Christmas"
The Sleepover Disaster - "Over the Top"
Dave Gahan - "Saw Something"
Burial - "Archangel"
Radiohead - "Nude"
Darlene Love - "Marshmallow World"
Mark Ronson [feat. Amy Winehouse] - "Valerie"
Junior Bloomsday - "Nervous Habits"
Rademacher - "If U Got Some Magic"
Jens Lekman - "I Remember Every Kiss"
Feist - "The Park"
Antony & the Johnsons - "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Matt Morgan / Sufjan Stevens - "We're Goin' to the Country!"
Beirut - "Cliquot"
Moby - "Everytime You Touch Me"
Daft Punk - "Da Funk / Daftendirekt" [Live]
DJ Bitman [feat. Juan Sativo] - "La Raza"
Common - "The People"
The Go! Team - "Doing It Right"
Blake Jones & the Trike Shop - "On Christmas Tree Lane"
Wilco - "Sky Blue Sky"
Devendra Banhart - "Seaside"
Okkervil River - "April Anne"
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "Humble Me"
Akron / Family - "Ed Is a Portal"
Soulsavers - "Revival"
Animal Collective - "Fireworks"
Snowden - "White Christmas"
Division Day - "Tigers"
Les Savy Fav - "The Year Before the Year 2000"
Sigur Rós - "Í Gaer"

playlist, dec. 3, 2007

Band of Horses - "Is There a Ghost"
Charlotte Gainsbourg & Calexico - "Just Like a Woman"
Okkervil River - "Plus Ones"
Liz Phair - "Winter Wonderland"
Big Star - "The India Song"
Beirut - "In the Mausoleum"
Ls Savy Fav - "The Equestrian"
Adam & the Ants - "Kings of the Wild Frontier"
Rilo Kiley - "Breakin' Up"
Rademacher - "Machines"
The Fiery Furnaces - "Japanese Slippers"
José González - "Down the Line"
Radiohead - "Jigsaw Falling into Place"
Anna Ternheim - "Lovers Dream" (Naked Version)
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "I've Seen It All"
Snowden - "Christmas Time Is Here"
Akron / Family - "Ed Is a Portal"
Céu - "Malemolência"
Joan As Police Woman - "Real Life"
Amy Winehouse - "Love Is a Losing Game"
Saturday Looks Good to Me - "Apple"
Darlene Love - "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
Daft Punk - "Around the World / Harder Better Stronger Faster" [Live]
Chromeo - "Tenderoni"
Feist - "My Moon, My Man" (Boys Noize Remix)
New Order - "Regret"
C.S.S. - "Knife"
Poplord - "Quigley Park"
Billy Bragg - "All Fall Down"
The Mary Onettes - "Lost"
Manu Chao - "Rainin' in Paradise"
Dennis Brown - "Oh Mother"
M.I.A. [feat. Afrikan Boy] - "Hussel"
James Brown - "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto"
Dave Gahan - "Kingdom"
White Williams - "New Violence"
Junk Science - "Slojo / Pop Rocks" (Extended Disco Edit)
Prefuse 73 [feat. School of the Seven Bells] - "The Class of 73 Bells"
Federico Aubele - "En El Desierto"
The Kid Named Miles - "Ring of Fire"

'cause i got it going on

I've been home with a cold I picked up from my nieces and nephews over Thanksgiving, and, now that my computer has come back from the Apple store with a brand-spanking-new hard drive (and, yes, I did have a pretty current backup, so I'm pretty stoked), I can catch up on blogging, email, and surfing the web.

Over at 17 dots, Bryan Robbins made a passing reference to some Aphex Twin/Hip-Hop mash-ups by someone calling himself 100dBs. There are some good ones, and all merit a listen. I was also happy to be reminded how good Aphex Twin is. You can download the bunch for free here. My favorite tracks are "Planet .215061," "Breathe, and Stop Using Home Made Polysinths," and Drop Alberto Like It's Hot."

playlist, nov. 19, 2007

White Williams - "Headlines"
New Order - "Regret"
Sondre Lerche - "Let My Love Open the Door"
St. Vincent - "Marry Me"
Brady Earnhart - "Stephen Crane"
Iron & Wine - "White Tooth Man"
Yo La Tengo - "I Feel Like Going Home"
PJ Harvey - "The Devil"
Thom Yorke - "The Eraser"
White Rabbits - "Kid On My Shoulders"
Rademacher - "If U Got Some Magic"
Rilo Kiley - "Dreamworld"
The B-52's - "Downtown"
pc muñoz and the amen corner - "Skin City"
Junk Science [feat. Cool Calm Pete] - "Words from the Pedro"
Balkan Beat Box - "BBBeat"
M.I.A. - "Paper Planes"
TV on the Radio - "Dry Drunk Emperor" [Live]
Andrew Bird - "Darkmatter"
Beirut - "In the Mausoleum"
The Fiery Furnaces - "Navy Nurses"
Animal Collective - "Fireworks #1"
Battles - "Leyendecker"
Radiohead - "Jigsaw Falling into Place"
Stephen Malkmus & the Million Dollar Bashers - "Maggie's Farm"
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - "Follow the Lights"
Hem - "Not California"
Neil Young - "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
Mark Ronson [feat. Paul Smith] - "Apply Some Pressure"
Easy Star All-Stars [feat. Toots & the Maytals] - "Let Down"
Bonde do Rolê - "Office Boy" (Architecture in Helsinki Remix)
CSS - "The Knife"
LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"
Calvin Harris - "Merrymaking at My Place"
The Same Shape - "Laid Down"

are we not dell?

Devo is back with a great new song called "Watch Us Work It." Dell is featuring the song in a television ad, but the music video by Jonas Åkerlund (from which the ad is excerpted) is much better. Watch out; both the song and the video are addictive.

now the neighbors can dance!

Lately, Pitchfork has been spotlighting some fan-generated music videos, and today they've posted a video for the Arcade Fire's "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" from the band's much ballyhooed 2004 debut, Funeral. You can read what Pitchfork's Mark Hogan has to say about it here.

The video was made as part of a film school project, and it features some charming kids preparing for their school talent show. My favorite scene is when the kids literally start bouncing off the walls in a stark white space (a racquetball court?) that somehow evokes the spooky hallway scenes from Kubrick's The Shining, but replacing fear with fun.



Here's the official (and much creepier, though still beautiful) video for the song:

you kill the joe, you make some mo'

OK, maybe everyone else on the planet knows about these Terry Tate Office Linebacker vids, but I just learned about them thanks to my very cool brother.

Enjoy:

playlist, nov. 12, 2007

Bettye LaVette - "Somebody Pick Up My Pieces"
Bebel Gilberto - "Caçada"
Neko Case - "Buckets of Rain" [Live]
CSS - "Knife"
Dump - "Pop Life"
The Shins - "Sealegs"
Poplord - "Poptimistic Pete"
Spoon - "Don't You Evah"
Rademacher - "If U Got Some Magic"
Radiohead - "15 Step"
Beirut - "Cliquot"
Antony & the Johnsons - "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
The Clientele - "Here Comes the Phantom"
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "100 Days, 100 Nights"
Massive Attack - "Be Thankful for What You've Got"
Cornershop - "Sleep on the Left Side"
The Shout Out Louds - "You Are Dreaming"
Tegan and Sara - "Relief Next to Me"
Karen Marguth - "Marie Laveaux"
Julia Dawn - "Falling"
Sally Shapiro - "Anorak Christmas"
Jens Lekman - "Maple Leaves" [7" Version]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Is This Love?"
Big Country - "Harvest Home"
White Rabbits - "The Plot"
Dirty Projectors - "No More"
Of Montreal - "Voltaic Crusher / Undrun to Muted Da"
Iron & Wine - "White Tooth Man"
Mavis Staples - "99 1/2"
Bob Marley and the Wailers - "Soul Shake Down Party" (Afrodisiac Sound System Remix)
Ticklah [feat. Tamar-kali] - "Want Not"

montpellier (france, cont.)

On the morning of July 8, I made my way to the Gare de Lyon via the metro (love the Paris metro) and boarded a speed train bound for Montpellier in the south of France. I sat with a very friendly mother and daughter pair from British Columbia, and we had a nice chat about Paris and the places they were going to visit next. The train ride took only about 3 1/2 hours--not a lot of time considering I was traveling from one end of the country to the other. I became an instant fan of speed trains, and I'm really looking forward to the day when I can zip from Fresno to the Bay Area or to LA on the speed trains we so desperately need in California.

I arrived in Montpellier a little too early to check into my dorm room, so I found a good bakery and ate a sandwich in a park near the train station. I then boarded the TAM, Montpellier's light rail system--which is probably the best public transportation system I've ever used--and headed over to the university dorms. After a few misadventures (I was sent to the wrong floor, given the wrong key, etc.) I checked into my little room, and was thrilled to see that I had my own itty bitty bathroom, complete with toilet, sink, and shower. (I'd been told I'd be sharing a bathroom in the dorms.)

Montpellier is basically a big college town; it is home to the oldest medical school in Europe, and it is a lovely place to visit, despite the fact that other coastal towns tend to get all the love from travel books. In fact, the 17th-century philosopher John Locke once wrote, "I find it much better to go twise [sic] to Montpellier than once to the other world." This, however, doesn't prevent the Lonely Planet guide to France from snidely observing, "Paradise it ain't."

While it may not be paradise, Montpellier is a lovely place to visit. Its history as a hub of trade in the Mediterranean shapes its architecture, its cuisine, and its population. The pace of life is decidedly andante, although it is still a vital and bustling city with its fair share of tourists. I spent my first afternoon wandering about the place de la Comédie and the esplanade Charles de Gaulle, which are pleasant places to meander, enjoy the trees and fountains, and have a coffee. There are lovely examples of Beaux-Arts architecture here, and it's easy enough to dodge the tourists by wandering off into one of Montpellier's many side roads or alleys.

In fact, Montpellier is great for wandering, as the city center is a maze of small roads and alleys and home to a number of 17th-century mansions (hôtels particuliers) that have been converted into living spaces, shops, or museums. Swallows continually circle above the city, often darting downward and swooping through the alleyways. In the early evening, I headed over to Le Corum--the ultra-modern complex where the Enlightenment Congress was being held--registered for the conference, and went to the wine and cheese reception.

In my previous post, I indicated that the French were not at all rude to me, but I will have to say that French eighteenth-century scholars (dixhuitemists) are not the friendliest bunch. I couldn't at all join any of their conversations, and a few practically pushed me to the ground in their mad grab for wine and nibbles. I couldn't find any of my Irish/US/Canadian/English colleagues, so, having had enough of being ignored and jostled by French enlightenment scholars, I wandered off to enjoy a delicious meal of salad with goat cheese crostini, chicken breast in mustard sauce, and crème brullée.

The food in Montpellier was fantastic. The main reason I chose to stay in student housing was that I wanted to spend my money on food, and I'm glad I did, because I didn't at all hold back when forking out for meals. That evening I had my first good night's rest in France, and, after a modest breakfast of bread and coffee in the student cafeteria (a week's worth of these was included in the price of the dorm room), I got ready for a full-day's worth of sessions on such exciting topics as 18th-century law and theories of science in the enlightenment!

Um, not really. It was far too beautiful a day to be stuck in a stuffy room listening academic presentations, so instead I wandered the city again. I came across the Cathédrale St-Pierre, which sports some very large 15th-century columns that create a sort of odd front porch. Inside were some cool paintings, including "The Fall of Simon the Magician" by the 17th-century Montpellier artist Sebastian Bourdon. At lunch I watched a couple of drunks nearly get into a fight, and then went back to my dorm where I had a refreshing nap.

During an outdoor evening concert in the place Royal du Peyrou, I finally found my friends--Sally, Nancy, Katherine, and Caroline, all of whom are bonafide speakers of English, even if they all evince their own peculiar accents. From that point on, we basically became a rogue gang of eighteenth-centuryists, avoiding the conference as much as we could possibly get away with. By the way, the place Royal du Peyrou is another beautiful promenade where you'll find a hexagonal water tower (the Château d'Eau) and the nearby 18th-century Aqueduc de St-Clément. A statue of Louis XIV presides over the place. The Arc de Triomphe, just to the west of the promenade, serves as a gateway to the city center (see above). We got tired of waiting for the post-concert wine reception, so we all went off to dine at Roule Ma Poule, a student hangout with good salads (I had the Roquefort) and festive lights on its patio.

Next: how Sally, Nancy, Katherine, and Caroline avoided attending the conference by taking excursions to the beach and to a fantastical walled fortress!