I hope my trip will be just as good

As incredible as it may sound, I'd like less sex in my TV shows please.

Incredible because us French are rarely against a little bit of full frontal. In fact I think the only time I wrote a comment in a forum was to defend the sex/rape in Game Of Throne because it was necessary to the story. I've read the first 50 shades, thought it was not as good as my usual erotica and laughed that they would have a Red Room of Pain but anal was out of the question :-)

But I've recently sat through all 12 episodes of the new Netflix serie: Sense8, and really started yearning for PG-Rated shows. Let's go back in time before I rant about this shit show.
Charlie's Angels: 1976 Family-style porn

Turns out in I Love Lucy in the 50's, the word "pregnant" could not be mentioned on TV and the married characters had to sleep in separate rooms. In 1976, TIME called Charlie's Angels a "family-style porn, a mild erotic fantasy that appeals about equally to men and women."

One of S.A.T.C. shocking sex scene :-)
But in the time I can remember, the 1st shocking show, the one that started it all, was Sex and the City. These women liked sex, talking about it and sometimes doing it, they were extremely shocking. At that time their sex scenes where usually brief, in the dark, and you couldn't actually see a nipple, starting this devastating urban legend that you keep your bra for sex.

Then there was Dexter and the bad bad hero, Game of Throne and the incest, and certainly some gore zombie thing I did not watch introducing us to bloody innards. And they were successful. In fact they made HBO and Netflix and other original programming channels. The shock value of these TV Shows made them more real, more gripping, more of an emotional roller-coaster.

Unfortunately with Sense8 (yes we're coming to it), you see exactly the other side of the penny. They started with the shock and forgot the show. They had a great premise: A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive, being hunted by those who see them as a thread to the wold order. I mean you could do something with at, at least for 1 season, particularly when directed by the Wachowski's.

Apparently they thought that was enough and started filling the blank with what seems to be success-recipe these days: Shock. Let's include all the things in there, that will make people talk about our show.
  • Gay / Lesbian couple done: in The L Word (among others) Sense8 twist: One is actually a transsexual... Actually also already done in Transparent. Nice effort though...
  • LGBT Sex done: in... I don't know, Brockeback ans everthing else since 2000 Sense8 twist: there is a close-up on a fluid-splashing strap-on dildo... Bon Apetit!
  • Masturbation done: in Sex and the City Sense8 twist: Someone else is in the guy's mind and it's against a wooden door. It might be gratuitous, still don't want it.
  • Gore done: even in the recent and classy Kingsman Sense8 twist: some trepanations
One scene I had forgotten about.
Can't remember what that was for...
That is actually pretty mild no?
But instead of going back to the story and writing a great series, they really worked at this shock thing and they came up with... the next frontier: natural birth, close-up, full frontal, on TV. Who would not react to heads splitting vaginas on their way out? And there is not 1, not 2, actually not even 8, they managed to slip in one more.

Of all this scenes, the dildo, the wooden door charmer etc, none served the story. We just needed the 2 guys to have sex so there could be compromising pictures, and the 2 ladies (sorry I was not engaged enough to retain names) to establish they were very much in love (although I understand that with dressed above-the-waist shot almost better than with a strap-on). One of the births is needed to establish that a character lost her baby after giving birth when stuck in the mountains.

I loved the premises of the show, I liked the cinematography, but the creators thought the recipe for a good series these days is a slow built and shocking images. So they fill the air with shocking images and forget to build a story. It takes these poor people 2 hours to realize what is happening, busy that they are shagging and swimming naked. I am really very disappointed with this show, it showed so much promise. It felt so empty and desperate to be talked about.
Hopefully Masters of Sex is back on soon, a show that scored in every area Sense8 missed.

1 bag, 2 bags? 3 bags maybe?
Defining what my "bag" configuration would be for this trip has been a real puzzle, and the Eureka moment came from the best camera shop in Paris.

I already had The Big One, a 65L Rucksack, that is neither good, nor new, nor light, nor anything BUT I have it and I have not yet used it enough to feel good buying a new one. So the big one is a go!

But then I'll need a smaller one, with some space for a sleeping bag and some clothes for various 2-day trips we're going to take.
But then I'll also need a bag for my camera + 3 lenses + charger etc.
But then I'll also need this little bag to be my eeveryday on my back in all circumstance bag, whether to take a walk in the city or... well... anything really.

My 1st idea was to take a camera bag that would have enough space to hold some cloth and sleeping bag.
So I looked at the Lowepro Rover Pro 35L
Lowepro Rover Pro
Found it really not pretty (yeah I know but it counts for me...) and really not infinitely re-usable, too much of a 1-shot purchase. There are some other brands and possibilities for this kind of bags. Le Vieux Campeur in Paris has many camera bags for backpacking.

Then it's the magic men from the most fantastic camera shop in Paris: L'instané (link to the post which first pointed me there) who solved my problem.
First thing is: he sold me my new camera (took 2 visits and at least 3 hours for me to decide) and he was nice and helpful all the way.
I was talking to him about my camera bag issue and I took out the most glorious item of the store. A camera-blanket with velcro.
Ideal Solution - ID-wrap

I pack my camera in there, then drop it in any bag I like. This is how I've been able to take my camera everywhere these day and really train and get used to everything. It's a wonderful little thing!

So with this issue wrapped up (such bad pun I tasted a little bile...) I knew what I was really looking for was a backpack made for hiking / trekking and big enough to hold my camera gear in wraps.

Again to Le Vieux Campeur. I was looking at the Osprey bags, just because they are so cool. The guy showed me the Gregory J33 and it was love at first sight open from the top, from the front, very light... everything I wished for except he has only in Bright Pink and the Purple ones. I had to go online to find the grey one I picked.

So here it is. Finally found what my bags would be:
- The Big One
- A 33 L Backpack to hold my camera gear and sleeping bag and everything else.
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