Utter geekery for fun and profit.

[tenlittlebullets]

HAHA so toi_marguerite and I put our devious plan into action today. We grabbed our program director and explained that we'd been tracking down Places Where Shit Happens In Les Misérables, and we'd been to almost all of the ones in Paris but you can't exactly get to Montreuil-sur-Mer or Digne on the RER. We quoted the book and rattled on about cultural patrimony and unique opportunities, then gave an approximate budget for Montreuil and sat there looking hopeful.

He laughed. He is familiar with our geeky shenanigans, and was probably pleased that we had the balls to ask. "Write me a proposal--half a page of explanation and half a page of budget--and I'll see what I can do," he said. "And don't ask for a fortune."

Promising, but inconclusive. So we sprang into action! toi_marguerite hinted that the trip might be vital to the development of her special-studies project on the evolution of the novel's rough drafts. I threw online/RL separation to the wind and showed him the Paris section of my website. Both of these things seemed to impress him, because he said, "Well, we do have a bit of money set aside for student projects, and this sounds like exactly the sort of thing it should be used for." Also, I think the words "serious academic activities" might've been pronounced at some point.

Conclusion: being in Srs Bsns Literature fandoms has its perks. I didn't have the heart to tell him that this was like bankrolling a trip to London so we could try to find platform nine and three-quarters.

Comments

[mmebahorel.livejournal.com]

No, more like trying to track down Diagon Alley or Grimmauld Place (since Platform 9 3/4 is labeled as such).

This is awesome :)

[10littlebullets.livejournal.com]

Actually that's pretty apt, considering Montreuil-sur-Mer has its own ninety-minute "Victor Hugo included us in his most famous novel!" show complete with song-and-dance numbers, pyrotechnics, and cavalry charges. ;)

Some of the Paris locations, on the other hand... you'd probably have more luck tapping on bricks with a stick trying to find Diagon Alley than tracking down the place in modern Paris that corresponds with the Petit-Picpus convent.

[kittycallum.livejournal.com]

Nice one! Glad the cunning plan is working out ... and of course, for the sake of Serious Academic Activity, they simply must make the trip possible!

[10littlebullets.livejournal.com]

Very Serious Academic Activity. *nods* Like buying Montreuil's local beers named after Valjean and Cosette.

[mmebahorel.livejournal.com]

Even though Cosette never set foot in Montreuil. though I guess you don't want to imply that dead hookers drink your beer.

(I haven't used the Lea icon in ages - time angry Fantine came back out *g*)

[10littlebullets.livejournal.com]

Nope, although it's perfectly okay to imply that dead hookers buy your lacy thongs.

(No, I will never stop laughing about the lingerie shop called "Les Dessous de Fantine.")

[mmebahorel.livejournal.com]

Well, lacy thongs are appropriately slutty? I guess? Andy Neofitou would probably think so - it seems perfectly in keeping with her costume design.

[kittycallum.livejournal.com]

Certainly, lacy thongs are in keeping with the whore profession. Although implying that you allow small children (Cosette) to drink your beers is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser unless you're talking about older Cosette, who spent all her time in Paris anyway. (But since Cosette wasn't in Montreuil in any case, I suppose it's a moot point ... ) OK, my logic's gone.

[kittycallum.livejournal.com]

... Montreuil literally has Valjean and Cosette beers?

That's it, I have to go there someday!

[brittlesmile.livejournal.com]

That's so great! I hope you don't get bogged down with Serious Academic Activities.