Lyrics: “Polaroid Picture” – Frank Turner, 2013
Just a few photos from a much needed weekeend away with some of my oldest girl friends. We had lots of yummy food… (More than this here, I didn’t always pull out the camera).
…we played games, we had massages, we relaxed…
… we explored the surroundings.
I should do those mini-breaks more often. I should definitely get a massage more often. And I need to definitely get more sleep. Over and out.
Yesterday I went to see two basketball games as part of the FISU – World University Games 2025, which take place in our metropolitan area that the moment. You not often have the chance to watch professional sports (and uni /college sport already feels quite professional) for just a few Euros. The US women and men basketball teams both had a game nearby so I went and it was enjoyable. I don’t know how the player / team selection usually takes place, but according to the info online this year the USA decided to not put together a team of various students from different university, but select one team to represent the US. For the women it is the Red Raiders from Texas Tech and for the men it’s the Baylor’s Bears for Baylor University.
It was fun to watch, even though I don’t really know much about basketball rules. Like how many steps are allowed while dribbling and such. For the men’s game I had people behind me who clearly did and who almost called the infraction before the referees did. But the general concept of the game I know so it was easy to follow.
I also made good of my Unlimited Card at the local multiplex and on Friday afternoon watched “Jurassic World – Rebirth”. I don’t remember how many of the Chris Pratt Jurassic movies I’ve watched; some I guess, but not all, I’m sure. I enjoyed this one though, because Jonathan Bailey makes a fine nerdy museum guy and there were nice heartwarming family moments with the sailboat family. With these kind of movies I know not to get attached to any of the secondary crew, because they are most likely to be killed in the genre specific disaster: here eaten by a dinosaur. So I didn’t care too much about all those ship crew, cheered early on when the rude annoying guy got culled, was indifferent about the other two. None of the good (nice, regular) people gets killed in this genrer anyway. So yeah, fun summer blockbuster movie.
The same goes for “Superman”, which I saw last weekend. Typical superhero genre movie, fun to watch if you don’t take it all too seriously. Because if you would seriously consider the death toll of that rift in the earth and everything else? But it’s a fictional superhero story, so you better not.
I realize I haven’t mentioned that the week before last, I also saw “F1” with Brad Pitt. That was a trip down memory lane. I liked him to look at and as an actor since the mid-90s. Not all his movies and all his looks, but he’s aged well and has still got “it”. The movie as such was quite interesting as well.
With going to the movies every week (sort of) I’ve seen the same trailers over and over again. I need some of those movies to come out already so I can watch them. Movie trailers I saw in descending order of my interest_
Fantastic Four – First Steps
I’m generally not a fan of the whole superhero genre (I only vaguely remembered the Justice League connection for Superman), but this 1950’s vibe has got me interested and I’ve also had a tiny girl crush on Vanessa Kirby, back when she was on “The Crown”.
Project Hail Mary
I like Ryan Gosling in general. Not all of his movie choices, but this looks like an interesting enough one. Not coming out before Spring 2026 though.
One Battle After Another
The same thing I say about Ryan Gosling goes for Leo diCaprio. I don’t watch all of his movies and with this one I’m afraid it might turn a bit too violent at some point, but all in all the setup seems interesting enough. And… it’s Leo diCaprio.
Materialists
I’m on the fence about this rom-com. Yes it has Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal competing for a woman’s affection, but the whole posh marriage matchmaker world it’s set in turns me off a bit. I still might see it, because of the Unlimited Card.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
I guess it’s not a direct remake of the 90’s slasher movie, but seems like a similar setup and plot. The characters (and actors) from the 90s all seem to make an appearance. I haven’t watched the one in the 90s, won’t watch now.
The Long Walk
Based on a Stephen King novel and it’s too dystopian and too gruesome for me from the trailer alone. Nope!
When I sat down at my computer this afternoon I decided to move the ton of photos from my cameras SD card to my computer, before I started typing up my thoughts. While moving those Paris files I somehow managed to shred the SD card they were on. I don’t know if it would have worked better, had I only copied instead of moved the files. I’ll never know. But the many many Paris photos were and remain lost! Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, some bridges and monuments, the Louvre and Tuileries Gardens at dusk… all gone! I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried hot, angry tears over that for a bit this afternoon. But… it’s just photos. Yes, it would have been nice to have them to remember the trip by. To share some of them here and on Instagram. To show off a bit, I admit that as well. I try my hardest to not be too hard on myself for messing this up. No amount of being pissed at myself over it, will restore these files. “Be More Kind” starts with oneself, right?
Here are the few not as high-quality photos I took with my phone.
I had a good time all in all and that’s what matters, right?
I had thought about doing another “Charlie in…” Insta stories installation, but that would have been the opposite of unplugging. So I rarely took photos with him. Here is one though. Like I said I had a good time in Paris.
It rained more than I had liked, but I used that time in my rented apartment to just catch up on my reading. Newspapers. Online articles. Novels. Two around 400 pages each in the span of 4 days. Lots of rain and long train journeys make that possible and I loved that.
The main reason for me to travel to Paris was the Brandi Carlile gig on Monday evening. It was her first time proper touring in Europe and she did not disappoint. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of her as such, but I like a lot of her songs and I had wanted to see her live for a long time. It was so nice to be be able to experience the energy in the room with a bit of emotional distance, but of course it also swept me away. Think of hard core music fans being able to hear the songs live for the first time in no idea how many years. It was a loud crowd and I loved it. The concert took place in theatre with great acoustics. Here are two clips from that night (not filmed by me, obviously).
“The Story” – Brandi Carlile in Paris, July 2025
“Cannonball” – Brandi Carlile in Paris, July 2025 (totally unplugged)
I took my small point and shoot camera with me to the show (and didn’t mess up moving those files from the SD card, obviously).
