French screening

Read in the paper today, this article about AIDS. The debate is still open. I sincerely think all this story is very dangerous. It allows everyone to know your status and be able to do anything with it, for example starting chase. To fight AIDS, "goes towards a screening of all the French population from 15 to 70 years ". The proposition is new. Some years ago, this suggestion would have provoked the sarcasm, even the dismay. Today, It is on the table. It is indeed the key recommendation of a report on the "screening of the infection by the HIV in France" that the High authority of health ( HAS) has just finished. Until now, this serious institution - it is the highest sanitary authority in France on the questions of medical practices and evaluation - had accustomed to be careful, and took even harmless positions. This time, It suggests a real turnover in the policy of screening of AIDS. Until now, no other decision provided good results. The situation is indeed paradoxical : in France, we make out a will a lot, but we make out a will badly. "Although the activity of screening is particularly important in France - 5 million tests in 2007, placing France in the second world rank-, it persists a delay in the screening which concerns more particularly some group of populations or individuals ", notes the HAS. Example: over the period 1997-2005, " 47 % of the subjects for which a diagnosis of AIDS was carried, presented a delay to the screening ". A large number of patients discover their infection while this one is already very advanced. This delay is particularly significant for the person of more than 40 years, for the persons of foreign origin and, finally, for the persons who were contaminated by heterosexual way. And this delay is heavy of consequences, at first for the very person: " The screening allows the premature institution of an antiretroviral treatment. In the end, as notes it the HAS, we estimate at more than 40 000 the number of infected persons who ignore that they are HIV+. Every year, there is between 6 000 and 7 000 contagions, but that nothing really changes. In brief, the epidemic is by no means in the stop. The balance sheet is bad. " The current device of screening suffers of a significant number of incapacities ", insists the HAS. The reasons ? Until now, this device was filled with the first years of the epidemic " where the risks of stigmatization and discrimination against the person living with the AIDS were particularly important and where the individual profits of the screening were limited ". Where from, at the time, the creation of the units of anonymous and free screening ( CDAG) exist almost everywhere in France. More generally in the population, if the screening was proposed at some key moments of life, as during a pregnancy, It remained connected to a risk-taking. It is this model which the HAS wants to modify. As far as treatments profoundly changed the face of the disease. Taken in time, these treatments work well, even very well, and a HIV-positive person, following faithfully its therapy, has a low risk of contaminating sound or his (her) partner. You should not certainly establish a systematic screening, but it is necessary to propose it, more and more systematically. To reach there, the HAS proposes a coherent strategy: " mobilize strongly the actors of health over a definite period of time ". In particular, the general practitioners, but also the hospitable actors. More innovative, the HAS opens the way to more individual practices. It proposes that every person can go to a laboratory of medical analysis to be made out a test without prescription ". For all that, " it will be to the biologist who made the test to inform the patient ", specifies the report. "Any diagnosis of a new infection, adds report, has to be translated by an orientation towards an adapted medical care. " Finally, this new device " will have to be the object of an evaluation in five years This report, in any case, is from now on on the desk of Minister of Health. In some weeks, Roselyne Bachelot should receive the report on the new methods of prevention. About thirty years after the arrival of the virus in France, it opens a real opportunity to change gives it.

Dream Boy

Dream Boy was presented at the Berlinale, the film festival in Berlin. I remember having been very moved by this movie and, though my friends I watched the movie with just left after the last image because of their schedule, I stayed just to enjoy a bit more the atmosphere of the characters. I was pleased then to see the team of the movie being invited on stage and then started a talk with the public. I remember one of the boy explaning how glad he was to have made this movie because he is straight and living in London, so very far away from the world of the story. They explained as well how pleased they were to have been selected at the Berlinale and It is good sensation that this movie brings. It is an adapted story by Jim Grimsley's novel, that tells us the chronicles of a subtle romance between two young men in the rural region of Louisiana in the middle of the 70s. Nathan (Stephan Bender) and Roy ( Maximillian Roeg) are two boys who cannot deny their attraction in spite of their fear. Nathan is uncertain and introvert and falls in love with Roy, an extrovert young man who is his neighbour. A love story begins immediately between them, whom they will have to hide because of taboos. Nevertheless Nathan will also have to make front with his internal traumas and for the familiar violence which he underwent through years. The exhausted love and the end of an interrupted innocence.

Pelleas et Melisande im Berghain

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Pelleas et Melisande

We were very happy to be able to go and see Pelleas and Melisande, opera by Claude Debussy, organized by the Neuköllner Oper, in a new release of Miriam Salevic and played at the berghain last Friday. There were 3 dates, sold out and we got tickets for Friday evening. This was good news because we were relaxed to go there before It opens for the week-end. The atmosphere of the place is really something different but the mood is still there, always expecting something different to happen. And It did. Of course It was sold out because only 60 guests could attend the event. Then you get the feeling that It is a private concert. It was played by young people but with future big talent. They are not afraid to involve themselves in this project of re-interpreting the Debussy’s opera in a new version, full of craziness. You could feel the scenery a bit aggressive but nevertheless interesting and even sometimes funny because ridiculous. But It is part of the game. I was positively surprised that It was played and sung in French with German subtitles. The young have nice voice and you can sense that while they will carry on to work, their art will improve, which is good news. It was also a good thing to see the Berghain without people. Because we arrived early, we could have a drink at the bar dowstairs and pay attention to the details of the place : the lamps, the huge stairway we climb as often as ye can preparing our entrance on the dance floor, the furniture we never see, the silence and the non-flashing lights. After this new experience, we needed a drink. It was Friday evening, It wasn’t late and the nights start to be really cold (we already have less than 5°C). Not very far we noticed a new hotel with what seemed to be a nice bar. Not necessary to mention it. Though the waiter is attractive, the place is OK, the drinks too expensive and not good and I can't talk about the service. Frustrated by this, we kissed goodbye with my friend and ended up at Bariton's, as usual, where the atmosphere is warm and the drinks good.

War of the Roses

The War of the Roses is a 1989 American motion picture based upon the 1981 novel The War of the Roses by Warren Adler. It is a Black comedy about a wealthy couple with a seemingly perfect marriage. He is a successful lawyer and his wife is building her own catering business. When their marriage begins to fall apart, material possessions become the center of an outrageous and bitter divorce battle. This is the third film to co-star Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito, after Romancing the Stone and its sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. In both the novel and the movie, the married couple's family name is Rose. The title also alludes to the battles between the Houses of York and Lancaster at the end of the Middle Ages.

Team Les Drugeres - France

Ugly dance world cup

The first ugly dance world cup just took place in Hamburg, Germany last week-end. The French did not win. What a shame. But the main thing is to participate. You say dance? They say ugly ! Everyone is informed of the beauty of deformedness. This is why they organized the 1st annual Ugly Dance World Cup. It’s so easy to dance nicely. But ugly dancing is art. Be part of it next time. Get more information and videos of the participants here : Ugly dance world cup

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43

Last July I turned 43. It’s a lot regarding what I achieved until now and It is nothing regarding what is yet to be done. Over the last years many events happened and I had to face them all. When I thought my world was perfect, it collapsed. I left Paris after have lived so many beautiful years, my friends, my family. I arrived in Berlin in the early 2000’s and It’s been a very hard time, being almost not compatible with this People, certainly due to our big differences. When the cup was too full, I left again and restarted, again, in south of France, to be clear with me and the administration, because to evoluate in a well-known system is much easier than to discover a new one, which I did not even a year after, being sure having done a big mistake and leaving for Barcelona where I had to adapt a new time. Everyone would say to you that It was so easy, which is true, but It is to carry on and try to grow in this city that is hard. Probably I was too hungry but I didn’t feel at ease and when Berlin passed by my life a new time, I did not hesitate and prepared my return, 2 years ago. I don’t regret it at all. In this short time, I established myself comfortably. I moved after a year from my studio to a 3 rooms flat in another area, much nearer from work where I go everyday with the bike, even when It snows so hard. I made new friends as well, because I go out a lot, and not afraid of failure, you can’t please everyone. I keep on thinking that in the end, there is nice people everywhere. I have found a nice bar round my corner where the wine is good. I remember, years ago, being always unsatisfied with the life I had. It’s like when one step was accomplished, to go further I had to renew the complete scene. Today is exactly the opposite. I guess It belongs to the age, maybe It belongs to the fact that I really found the place to stay, maybe It belongs to the fact that I made mine what my good friend told me once “It’s about time for you to be satisfy with the things you have”. And I have everything I need now. If you remember the movie “The war of the Roses”, at the beginning, when all is done, the character played by Kathleen Turner touches the pillow of the sofa just to give it a twist of non-perfection. And then she starts to get bored in her life. I used to be like that: When It was achieved, I crushed the cushion and started to look for something else, somewhere else. Today is exactly the contrary. I feel complete. No need to look after something else. It’s not that I am not ambitious anymore but life runs. And It runs faster and faster. Since my return to Berlin, I’ve got the feeling not to have achieve a lot outside the painting of the walls and going out a lot (maybe too much). But It belongs to the city to go out a lot. The offer is so big that It never comes to an end. Berlin is also so attractive now that friends want to visit it and my flat is never empty since last March. And once people discovered the city, they come back. Outside of that, you work everyday, sometimes you just want to lay on your sofa with the remote control in one hand and a glass in the other (I try to quit smoking). The major thing is to carry on establishing myself in the city. Compared to others, I have a big chance : I’m French and from Paris. You might find that strange but they like it here. My accent sounds for them so nice (“charmant” in German text) when I find it absolutely ugly. Thanks to the German friends I have, I could make connections to other people and suddenly my circle went big. Now I feel sorry not to have enough time for each and everyone each and everyone but I manage to meet them. I re-discovered the pleasure of making dinners at home, now that I have enough space (and the furniture !) to introduce people who don’t know each other, and that makes the event more interesting. So I manage to organize myself a very peaceful life that I deserve after many years of wandering and research. I guess I have my feet on the ground now. I am even afraid in a way to be too happy, especially since I realised I have the job, the house … and the boyfriend since some weeks (It’s getting serious). A friend told me that you never can be too happy when you have happiness in your life, well, just keep it. It means that after a long way, you are rewarded. My one and only thrill

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Körperwelten

I have true good work colleagues. It is rare to have such a good mood at work and I enjoy everyday going to work. We also sometimes go out together and once in a while during the year, we organize dinners at home. For my birthday, they offered a ticket for the exhibition I wanted to attend for years : Körperwelten, in English Body Worlds, which is traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination to reveal inner anatomical structures. The exhibition's developer and promoter is a German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, who invented the plastination technique in the late 1970s at the University of Heidelberg.Body Worlds was first presented in Tokyo in 1995. Body Worlds exhibitions have since been hosted by more than 50 museums and venues in North America, Europe, and Asia. Body Worlds exhibitions have received more than 26 million visitors, making them the world's most popular touring attraction. The exhibit states that its purpose and mission is the education of laymen about the human body, leading to better health awareness. All the human plastinates are from people who donated their bodies for plastination via a body donation program. Each Body Worlds exhibition contains approximately 25 full-body plastinates with expanded or selective organs shown in positions that enhance the role of certain systems. More than 200 specimens of real human organs and organ systems are displayed in glass cases, some showing various medical conditions. Some of the specimens, such as the Tai Chi Man demonstrate interventions, and include prosthetics such as artificial hip joints or heart valves. Also featured is a liver with cirrhosis and the lungs of a smoker and non-smoker are placed side by side. A prenatal display features fetuses and embryos, some with congenital disorders. To produce specimens for Body Worlds, von Hagens employs 340 people at five laboratories in three countries, China, Germany and Kyrgyzstan. Each laboratory is categorized by specialty, with the China laboratory focusing on animal specimens. One of the most difficult specimens to create was the giraffe that appears in Body Worlds & The Mirror of Time. The specimen took three years to complete – ten times longer than it takes to prepare a human body. Ten people are required to move the giraffe, because its final weight (like all specimens after plastination) is equal to the original animal. Body Worlds exhibitions have controversy and debate focused on various issues. Religious groups, including representatives of the Catholic Church and some Jewish minister ]have objected to the display of human remains, stating that it is inconsistent with reverence towards the human body. n 2003, while promoting a display in the Hamburg Museum of Erotica Von Hagens announced his intention to create a sex plastinate. In May 2009 he unveiled a plastinate of a couple having sex, intended for a Berlin exhibition. In 2007 The Bishop of Manchester launched a campaign to coincide with the opening of Body Worlds in that city, accusing the exhibitors of being "body snatchers" and "robbing the NHS", arguing that donation of bodies for plastination would deprive the National Health Service of organs for transplant. The site included a government petition calling for "a review of the law regarding the policies and practices of touring shows involving corpses". Consent is a primary focus of discussion. Paul Harris, director of North Carolina's State Board of Funeral Services, has stated, "Somebody at some level of government ought to be able to look at a death certificate, a statement from an embalmer, donation documents... That's a reasonable standard to apply."Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) said, "These displays do have important educational benefits, but using bodies against a person's will is unacceptable". All whole body plastinates exhibited in Body Worlds come from donors who gave informed consent via a unique body donation program. Only adults over eighteen years of age can sign up to the programme.The pre-natal and infant specimens in the exhibitions are obtained from morphological collections previously held by universities and medical institutions. odies from deceased persons who did not give consent – such as deceased hospital patients from Kyrgyzstan and executed prisoners from China – have never been used in a Body Worlds exhibition. In January 2004, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that von Hagens had acquired corpses of executed prisoners in China; he countered that he did not know the origin of the bodies, and returned seven disputed cadavers to China. In 2004, von Hagens obtained an injunction against Der Spiegel for making the claims. A commission set up by the California Science Center in Los Angeles in 2004 confirmed von Hagens' commitment to ethical practices, and published its Summary of Ethical Review.The commission matched death certificates and body donation forms, and verified informed legal consent of the bodies in the exhibitions. However, to ensure the privacy and anonymity promised to body donors, Von Hagens' Institute for Plastination maintains a firewall between body donors' documentation and finished plastinated bodies. To date, more than 9,000 individuals have pledged to donate their bodies to the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, in Germany. We all found this exhibition very interesting and we had to speak of it for hours after all.

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Nansen restaurant

The quality of the cooking is very good. The offer of dishes is variable every week, from meat to fish, and distinguishes itself by its creativity but always thanks to the seasonal ingredients. If starters as the smooth soup of potatoes of small milk, main courses as mais poularde tenderly basing on the tongue vegetables of leek or the bludgeon of piglet of crunchy shaving roasted with swedes, the Nansen, Maybachufer 39, manages almost always to enthuse thanks to the excellent quality of ingredients, the portions are measured well and the spices perfectly harmonized. This evening I had the lamm with cabbages cooked in honey and It was delicious. We finished with some chocolate mousse and fruits, then a coffee and we were very seduced by the welcome of the place.

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On your feet

Research shows that foot fetishism is the most common of all the fetishes. In 2006, America Online accidentally released a database of their members’ searches and some rough analysis showed that foot fetish was the most commonly searched for fetish. Some other studies by the University of Bologna showed that the most commonly fetishized part of the body was the feet and toes at 47%. They also found that of items of clothing, 64% were into shoes, boots and footwear. This was also reported in the Independent Newspaper). It is also interesting to note that there was an exponential increase in foot and footwear related depictions in pornography after the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic which mirrors a boom in interest in feet during the syphilis epidemics of the 16th and 19th centuries in Europe. Why feet? Well, Neurologists think that sensations from the feet and the genitals both end up in the same part of the brain, called the somatosensory cortex - and in some people there is neural crosstalk between the two, so stimulation of the feet causes sexual pleasure. Sometimes the effect is so pronounced that some people experience orgasms in the foot!

True Blood

Bad things

When you came in the air went out.

And every shadow filled up with doubt.

I don't know who you think you are,

But before the night is through,

I wanna do bad things with you.

I'm the kind to sit up in his room.

Heart sick an' eyes filled up with blue.

I don't know what you've done to me,

But I know this much is true:

I wanna do bad things with you.

When you came in the air went out.

And all those shadows there are filled up with doubt.

I don't know who you think you are,

But before the night is through,

I wanna do bad things with you.

I wanna do real bad things with you.

Ow, ooh.

I don't know what you've done to me,

But I know this much is true:

I wanna do bad things with you.

I wanna do real bad things with you.

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