so much security for such a small man. nicolas sarkozy may be small but he made himself resonate in the breathtakingly beautiful hall of sorbonne this weekend. he resembles a bulldog, once he bites into his victim, he does not let go easily. his speaches are full of rhetoric and stories of maghrebian ladies living in france's banlieus looking for protection. no doubt, they need it. as an outsider though, his statements seems obvious almost to the point of seeming too simple. once you get through the well structured responses and the colourful examples, and the jokes of course too-which he manages to still here and there in between the tirades - the ideas are obvious: immigration should be selective, work weeks should not be legally restricted to 35 hours, and france does not have space to absorb 900 million inhabitants of the african continent, although most of them would prefer france. The only thing that fails my comprehension is how can anyone in their sane mind argue against these principles. And it seems to be, as an outsider to this whole election drama, that perhaps these are not the ideas being opposed by the french opposition parties that are close to winning. Here of course, one has to exclude the likes of Marie Le Penn.
Watching this debate, I came to the perhaps odd conclusion that the contestants in for the french presidency are perhaps not really talking about the same issues - in france, perhaps it is not the opposition of ideas but their prioritisation that will or will not bring sarkozy to the throne. And a throne it is in france. Bon chance alors...

photos of tunis and rabat. stories to come...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomamico/sets/72157594313758097

A propos Hard Candy...
I think this movie came out a long time ago in the US and Canada, but just came to France. I was talked into seeing it and following is the essence of my review. I don't normally write comments about movies i see but here i think it was warranted.

my review:
if you are in the mood for some serious sadomasochism, and please take note of the word 'serious', this might be a movie for you. otherwise, i would advise to save the 2 hours of your life. trust me, even watching commercials of soap is more useful/interesting/exciting. somehow, the creators of this wonderful piece forgot to mention the word 'pedophelia' in its description. I am not sure how this is possible given that this is the point of the movie - well, it does not really have a point, but this is what this 'film' allegedly tries to explore (without, I might add coming to any conclusion or a hint of thereof). when you watch the preview for this chef d'oeuvre, it sets up an intrigue of older man meeting a younger girl of in the net. interesting. here is a preview of this the trailer omits: a crazed teenager trying to cut the testicles of an alleged offender for about half an hour. A Saturday night killer (and by that I mean your Saturday night). Actually, this movie can kill the mood of any evening. so just to sum up, if you are in the mood for some sadomasochism, you have found what you are looking for. otherwise, as I said, even soap commercials are better. at least they don't leave you nauseous.