If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

The Paris Treasure Hunt - Ooh La La!

Talk about an interesting way to promote a city! This engaging Paris Treasure Hunt (trésors de paris) is a lot more interesting than your typical Tourism Board advertising. Last year, the 2007 event had more than 15,000 participants.

Above: The poster for last year's treasure hunt

So, what is it?
The treasure hunt is free and open to all (yes, the site is available in english as well as french). You can enroll here or in front of the town hall of the 3rd, 6th, 13th, 18th, 19th districts on July 5th. The surreal adventure organized by Paris City Hall (Mairie de Paris and Jean-Bernard Bros) is a unique way to discover the city, its secrets and its inhabitants.

You can hunt for the treasures alone or with friends (6 max). On your way, you will need to use your brain, your intuition, your observation skills, and you'll have to be brave. Navigating in the maze of Paris streets, the treasure hunters will have to ask mysterious Paris characters for some clues.

The treasure hunters will also get a feel for the authentic heart of Paris: meeting shop keepers, craftsmen and artists or discovering little-known places like hidden gardens, narrow streets and secret passages.

Above: The landing page of the website

trésors de paris gives visitors (and even locals) a chance to discover secret passages, unknown streets and hidden gardens in the 3e, 6e, 13e and 18e arrondissements. just sign up (it's free) with up to six of your friends, and receive clues and mysteries to help you navigate the maze of Paris streets. Lost? Stop and ask the paris "characters" for help. There are fabulous prizes for the winner: access to a secret cabaret, a night in a five-star hotel and dinner at a top restaurant. With many treasure hunts throughout the year, each one is themed to fit your interests. The theme on july 5th is ecology and sustainable development.

The rules:
Come and hunt Paris treasures. The treasure hunt is free and open to all. You can enrol here or in front of the town hall of the 3rd, 6th, 13th, 18th, 19th districts on July 5th. The surreal adventure organized by Paris City Hall will be a unique way to discover the city, its secrets and its inhabitants.

You can hunt for the treasures alone or with friends (6 max). On your way, you will need to use your brain, your intuition, your observation skills, and you'll have to be brave. Navigating in the maze of Paris streets, the treasure hunters will have to ask mysterious Paris characters for some clues.

The treasure hunters will also get a feel for the authentic heart of Paris: meeting shop keepers, craftsmen and artists or discovering little-known places like hidden gardens, narrow streets and secret passages.

Paris treasure hunt will start at 10 AM and will end at 3.30 PM, on the 5th of July 2008. In order to play the contestants have to register on this website in advance or in front of the 3rd, 6th, 13th, 18th, 19th districts town halls.
Registration is free and open to everyone.
The enigmas (clues in the form of questions) will be given to the treasure hunters, the 5th of July 2008 between 10 AM and 1 PM. There will be a treasure hunt with different winners in each of the districts.The treasure will not be timed. However, the closing time of the game is set at 3.30 PM. The winners will be determined at random by drawing lots amongst the teams that finish before closing time.
Game Mechanics :
Several enigmas (clues/ questions), following different itineraries, will be distributed at random to the contestants. All the courses of a district will converge toward the same ending. Every member of a team will receive the same enigmas. By following the enigma, the contestants will be guided toward several neighbourhood of Paris where strange characters will be awaiting them to challenge them to trials of wits, humour, taste, scent and who knows what? If they succeed they will win clues that will take the form of bits of paper.At the end, the contestants will have to use their clues to solve a final enigma, which will lead them to the arrival place. There, the contestants will be asked to put a coupon with their name and the phone number where they can be reached in France, in a ballot box.
The final challenge :
At the arrival point, in order to increase their chances to win, the contestants will have to answer a question about the course they just finished. If they answer it right, they will be able to put extra coupons in the ballot box.
Prizes:
There will be winners in each of the five districts.The prizes include :an access to the secret Paris Cabaret, which opens only once a year, dinners in top Paris restaurants, nights in chic Paris hotels, special “Paris tours” showing the mysterious side of the city.
Pour plus d'informations (For more information)
Contactez Ma Langue Au Chat –
Tel. : 33.1.44 92.93.94 – facteur@tresorsdeparis.fr

This event was organized by Mairie De Paris.

An Insurance Company Lures Customers With 24k Gold Plated Bike

To promote ETA’s cycle insurance in the U.K., Nick Larsen of Charge bikes came up with the idea of gold plating one in 24 karat.

The bicycle started its life as a Charge Plug, which is a single-speed model of the kind made popular by cycle couriers.

Very little of the bike is now standard. The frame has been stripped, polished, plated in copper and then finished in 24ct gold. The wheels have been re-built using deep-v rims and the chain, seat and bars are custom. The machine is one of a kind.

Everyone (where ETA is offered) who gets a quote for cycle insurance on the ETA website has the chance to win the gold bike. Get a quote and enter the competition here.

Learn about Charge Plug Bikes here.

Vanity Fair's Hitchcock Recreations Compared To The Movie Originals

I'm such a big Hitchcock fan I was giddy with excitement when I saw that Vanity Fair magazine opted to recreate some of his most famous and iconic scenes from 11 of his movies in their Hollywood Portfolio issue a few months ago.

above: I spliced together the VF recreation from Rear Window with Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem on the left and the original still featuring Jimmy Stewart on the right.

The March issue of the magazine, who has a tradition of doing some fabulous photo editorials, continued to impress with their recreation of 11 of Hitchcock's most famous scenes in which 21 hottest Hollywood actors are shot by four regular Vanity Fair photographers. The results are fabulous, and you can see them for yourself compared with the original Hollywood stills of the Hitchcock movies that I located for both your entertainment and education.

Dial M for Murder, 1954

Above: Charlize Theron. Photograph by Norman Jean Roy.

The scene in which Charles Alexander Swann (Dawson) attempts to strangle Margot Mary Wendice (Kelly), only to be himself stabbed with a pair of scissors, caused Hitchcock great anxiety. Although the entire film was shot in just 36 days, this single scene required a full week of rehearsals and multiple takes to get the choreography and timing right.

Above: The original still of Anthony Dawson and Grace Kelly. ©Warner Brothers.

Rear Window, 1954

Above: Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem. Photograph by Norman Jean Roy.

The film has been called a superb commentary on watching films, on loneliness, and on obsession, as well as a sharp critique of the male psyche. But at its essence, Rear Window is a paean to old-fashioned snooping. "Sure he's a snooper, but aren't we all?”said Hitchcock.“I'll bet you that nine out of ten people, if they see a woman across the courtyard undressing for bed, or even a man puttering around in his room, will stay and look; no one turns away and says,‘It's none of my business.”

Above: The original still of Grace Kelly and James Stewart. Paramount/Neal Peters Collection.

Marnie, 1964

Above: Naomi Watts. Photograph by Julian Broad.

It seemed to many on the set that Hitchcock was concerned less with the production of Marnie than with his efforts to woo its star. He sent champagne to her dressing room every day, and freely confessed his love. After Hedren finally rejected him, he dropped her, and refused ever to utter her name again. Did we mention that Marnie is a psychodrama about frigidity?

Above: The original still of Tippi Hedren. Universal/Photofest.

Rebecca, 1940

Above: Keira Knightley and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Photograph by Julian Broad.

Rebecca was the first film Hitchcock made after producer David O. Selznick lured him to Hollywood with promises of a large budget and a high salary. Hitchcock proposed several alterations to the ghost story, adding elements of irony and dark humor. Selznick demanded a re-write faithful to the novel. Although Hitchcock later dismissed the film as “not a Hitchcock picture,” it was one of his most successful, and the only one to win best picture at the Academy Awards.

Above: The original still of Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson. © United Artists.

Strangers on a Train, 1951

Above: Emile Hirsch and James McAvoy. Photograph by Art Streiber.

Hitchcock may have exaggerated when he called “the ineffectiveness of the two main actors”one of the film's main flaws, but had Guy (Granger) been played by a stronger figure (Hitchcock's first choice was William Holden), he might have been more sympathetic as a hero. It's hard not to root for the villain (Walker), especially when he has his hands around the neck of Guy's fat, loathsome, unfaithful wife, and begins to squeeze. Then again, that may have been Hitchcock's intent all along.

Above: The original still of Farley Granger and Robert Walker. Warner Brothers/Photofest.

Vertigo, 1958

Above: Renée Zellweger. Photograph by Norman Jean Roy.

Hitchcock's blackhearted valentine to San Francisco is perhaps his most fully realized portrayal of the themes that haunted his films—obsession, paranoia, the transference of guilt, spurned love. And, of course, necrophilia: “I was intrigued by the hero’s attempts to re-create the image of a dead woman through another one who's alive,” said Hitchcock when asked to describe the plot.

Above: The original still of Kim Novak. © Paramount Pictures.

To Catch a Thief, 1955

Above: Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. Photograph by Norman Jean Roy.

Grace Kelly was the quintessential cold Hitchcock blonde. Hitchcock called her sexual appeal “indirect.” “Sex should not be advertised,” Hitchcock said. “An English girl, looking like a schoolteacher, is apt to get into a cab with you and, to your surprise, she’ll probably pull a man's pants open.”

Above: The original still of Grace Kelly and Cary Grant. Paramount Pictures/Photofest.

Lifeboat, 1944

Above, from left: Tang Wei, Josh Brolin, Casey Affleck, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Foster, Omar Metwally, and Julie Christie. Photograph by Mark Seliger.

Lifeboat presented a difficult challenge to Hitchcock’s determination to appear in a single shot in each of his films. “I thought of being a dead body floating past the lifeboat, but I was afraid I'd sink,” he said. Hitchcock was sincerely worried about his weight at the time, and had undertaken a strenuous diet. His solution to the cameo problem: he appeared in a newspaper read by one of the boat’s passengers, photographed before and after his diet in an advertisement for a fictional weight-loss drug.

Above: The original still: From left: Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, Hume Cronyn, Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, William Bendix, Canada Lee. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp./Photofest.

The Birds, 1963

Above: Jodie Foster. Photograph by Norman Jean Roy.

Hitchcock said he made the film in order to “scare the hell out of people," but Hedren may have been more scared than any audience member. During the filming of the movie’s climactic bird-attack scene, Hitchcock put Hedren in a giant cage and had two men throw live birds at her face. He shot the scene all day long, every day, for an entire week. It was only when she suffered a gash underneath one of her eyes that filming was stopped. “Really the worst week of my life,” said Hedren.

Above: Seth Rogen. Photograph by Art Streiber.

The idea for the famous cornfield scene came about when Hitchcock determined to reverse, as dramatically as possible, the clichéd movie trope in which a man is forced to run for his life from some sinister force. “How is this usually done?” asked Hitchcock. “A dark night at a narrow intersection of the city. The waiting victim standing in a pool of light under the street lamp. The cobbles are ‘washed with the recent rains.’?” So Hitchcock instructed his production designer to put his hero in a wide-open expanse in which he couldn't hide—a completely flat cornfield in the middle of nowhere.

Above: The original still of Cary Grant. MGM/Photofest.

Psycho, 1960

Above: Marion Cotillard. Photograph by Mark Seliger.

A lot is made of the influence on Hitchcock’s films of his father, “a rather nervous man” who once locked his six-year-old son in a local jail for misbehavior. Less is known about Hitchcock's mother. We do know that they had a close relationship; so close, in fact, that she accompanied him on holidays with his wife. Older women in Hitchcock’s films are rarely treated with kindness, however, and tend to be scolding, obnoxious, doddering. But it was not until Psycho that a mother was treated as a homicidal maniac, even if by proxy.

Above: The original still of Janet Leigh. Paramount Pictures/Photofest.

By the way, if you haven't seen the above Hitchcock movies, I highly recommend that you do. These, along with many others like The Trouble With Harry, Rope, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Torn Curtain, Notorious, Frenzy, and more are worth a rental movie fest. You won't be sorry.

Throw them in your Netflix cue or buy a boxed set here.

You can see a video of the shoot, worth seeing because the actors get really into character, here.

An in depth course taught on Hitchcock with lots of great links and info here.

And don't forget to pre-order the Hitchcock Birds Barbie Doll, blogged about here.

The fun facts below the recreated photos are courtesy of Vanity Fair.