Serge the Concierge

Feeling Lucky, Pair of Tickets to Holland within Reach thanks to Holland/ KLM Contest

To clear things up first, this contest is not our idea.

We thought we should share it in case anyone (in the U.S) wants to try their lucky at winning a trip to Holland, a country with much to offer beyond tulips, gouda and windmills.

Airline KLM and Holland's official tourist office joined forces for this campaign.

How can you try your luck and what's the prize:

"With Just Be. In Holland you are given the chance to get a taste of Holland with a luxurious World Business Class trip for a 3-night hotel stay in Amsterdam for TWO! All you have to do to enter is head to the KLM or Holland Facebook page and answer what 10 cities the chosen U.S. cycling teams will be touring in Holland."

Visit the Holland and the KLM USA pages on Facebook, try your luck and see what happens.

Did Holland Tourist Office share snapshot of bicycles and canals (on Facebook) to make us green with envy?

I don't know if you will meet with local band Mecano (are they still active) and be drawn into discussing the guillotine and Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky as happened to me on my one and only visit to Amsterdam.

Contest ends on Sunday May 29, 2011 so there is no time to waste.

(* This is not a Sponsored Post. It could have been)

Octobre Numerique, for Geeks, Gamers, Aural Sculptures, Arles, October 1-10

I would have thought of other cities than Arles as host for a festival that celebrates digital culture and creations in all their forms from video game competition (LAN Party), to animation, movies, music, free software, e-books and multi-media art.

Not willing to be typecast as just a destination for lovers of history, with Octobre Numerique, the city of Arles shows us 0's and 1's on the move.

From October 1st to October 10, 2010, this first edition of Octobre Numerique (Numeric October) brings into its fold established events like Main (in 5th year), a competition for programmers and Art Court Video (short art videos).

One of the attractions is on top of the building that houses the festival, the newly renovated Grande Halle, a 3000 square meters (M2) screen/ roof considered the largest in Europe.

One for geeks, gamers, video fans and amateurs of aural sculptures.

(Sorry non French speakers, except for portions of the MAIN site, most of the details on Octobre Numerique are in French only)...

Haute Boule, Models Get the Ball Rolling for Petanque in St Tropez, Bankers in London

I always liked playing Petanque with my friends and my cousins during my many summer vacations in the Pyrenees Orientales.

I did not have much success in the tournaments.

I was a bit amused to find out that Petanque is becoming a hit with actors and models alike.

That's what Jon Henley reports in How boules got cool (Guardian, July 28) illustrated with a photo of model "Karolina Kurkova (second left) beside actors Joshua Jackson and Diane Kruger during a game of boules at the Chanel party in St-Tropez in May".

So much so that this game of the people has been co-opted by "chic labels such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton are currently flogging designer pétanque sets in soft leather cases for £1,500; and where the country's biggest boules manufacturer, Obut, has just launched a new line in tattooed steel for style-conscious teenage pétanquistes" writes Jon Henley.

On June 19, a Pétanque Tournament sponsored by Ricard at Chelsea Garden turned into A Day of Sun and Fun for some 900 people in London.

 

Who did you play Pétanque with last?

Famous or infamous?

(* illustration from 'A Day of Fun and Sun' in FranceinLondon.com)

July 2, Anime Expo 09 opens in Los Angeles, Covers all Trends from Shojo to Seinen

Some 40,000 people are expected to attend Anime Expo 2009 which runs from July 2 to July 5 at Los Angeles Convention Center.

In Anime conventions still set trends, Robert Michael Poole (Japan Times, June 26) crowns it as the largest anime, manga and games convention in North America.

The event chairwoman Liyin Liang, he writes credits the success of anime on it's broad appeal.

It runs the gamut as she explains in the article:

"(Anime) covers the full breadth and depth of human emotion, but it is also fearless in the topics that it is willing to tackle such as nuclear fallout, biowarfare or adult topics. Our attendee demographic ranges from 15 to over 50. It is split 45/55 between women and men and we have staffers who are future doctors, lawyers, real-estate agents, nurses, teachers, computer technicians, musicians, engineers, marketers, publicists, magicians and cooks!"

An event organized it seems by the

Beyond the best sellers, Liyin Liang notes that Shojo (aimed at girls aged 10-18) and Seinen (for men aged 18-30) are driving book sales in the US.

As for my kids, they would rather go to BlizzCon 2009 Also in California (Anaheim, August 21-22)

Exploring the US-Japan cultural connections for Tokyo Thursdays # 94

Last week on Tokyo Thursdays: Tokyo Sanpo, Sketches of Tokyo Life through French Eyes