Adventures en France

So I have not been posting any updates recently, but it's for a good reason: I'm in France, doing things. So for the next week or so, I'll try to get a few posts in on some of my experiences. I'd thought I'd start of with this: The French are total nerds. Seriously, next to my hotel is at least four video game stores, two trading card boutiques, and a wargaming store. The newsracks also carry, in addition to trashy teen magazines and covers that would be reserved for porn mags in the US, Vie Victus, a wargaming hobbyist magazine. It's so odd - there's seriously a magazine with Sharon Stone topless on the cover right next to a magazine about recreating historical battles with tiny metal men. Also, comic books (BD) are huge, an entire art form. Book stores will have entire floors dedicated to graphic novels coevering every subject under the sun. It's really quite fascinating. It's actually pretty refreshing to see brick and mortar game, record, and hobby shops since they've all died out in the US. It's not due to a lack of online sources, either (although Steam's refusal to acknowledge the strength of the Euro is pretty infamous.) Thanks to Socialism, France's internet connections are fast and cheap. No, it seems that these stores are still around because in France, there's still a market to wander into a store dedicated entirely to music, or games, and chat with people face to face who are also interested in your hobbies. Lucky bastards.