Raph profile picture

Raph

If the world didn't suck we'd all fall off

About Me


I have a tendency to keep 1 foot in paradise. It's a tough balance considering where the second foot sometimes ends up. I love popping up on the map at fancy locations. That'd be France, Japan, Israel, Spain, Korea, or simply Oregon. I have a tough job that just had me work in Hawaii, so I put on my sunglasses and decided to proactively work on a whole lot of nothing there. I have had a need to keep in touch with the turtles ever since, but that's quite tough back in Oregon.
I come from a wine country. Naaah, not Italy!!! It'd be France which, with its ~7weeks of vacation and strikes is quite appealing. There might even be some old monuments and cheese I forget to mention. But to the dismay of my family, I love to be just standing anywhere on the globe, and it's Oregon for now.
Did I mention I absolutely love dancing? Someone asked me once if I was good at it... well in as long as my partner smiles, I can leave perfection to hardworkers. I think dance is the panacea (I looked that word in the big book). All issues ought to be solved over a little dance, that'd be awesome! Seriously, imagine: Bush and Saddam having a Tango moment, or Tyson and Holyfield showing off some disco moves... Hehehe, I can just picture it!!!
My personnality?!? I am a fun person (or so it seems in my head) who loves to entertain and be entertained. I am extremely active (I can seriously run forever... Thanks Mom, Dad was useless again), I love talking, reading, drawing (I am the best artist ever.... I just have very bad taste). Relationships: sure / Love: that'd be awesome / Kids: scaring them is awesomely fun / Down to Earth: Of course not!!! Why is everyone so keen on being down to earth???
So anyway, why am I on myspace? Because my friend Stephan thinks it is going to change my life. So well, let us see... If you can help (to change my life, for the better preferably), then CONTACT ME!!!

My Interests


Chocolate, sport, cheese and laughs are the best inventions ever. They don't necessarily mix all too well at once. I preach the soccer and running gospel, without forgetting Team Handball (see my videos)... I spice things up with some dancing (Lindy/swing, Blues, Tango, maybe Salsa one day?), and COOKING! I do carry a French gene afterall ;)
But to tell you, traveling is by far the thing that motivates me the most, otherwise, why am I so far from home???

I'd like to meet:


Well who else other than YOU!?! If you can draw a smile from me, I'll write you back a novel, no less.
Oh, and this video is my favourite type of dance: Blues Dancing! If you Blues dance, you're GOLDEN... if you don't, you can always ask for a lesson ;)

My favourite movie quote:
"Ecoute Bernard... Je crois que toi et moi, on a un peu le meme probleme: c'est a dire qu'on peut pas vraiment tout miser sur notre physique... enfin surtout toi. Alors si je peux me permettre de te donner un conseil, c'est oubli que t'as aucune chance, vas y fonce. On sait jamais sur un malentendu ca peut marcher."
Jean-Claude Duss, Les bronzes font du ski

"Listen Bernard... I believe you and I have the same issue: we can't really rely entirely on our physical attributes... especially you. So forget that you have no chance, just go for it. You never know, a misunderstanding might just make it work."

Music:


Eclectic taste liking oldies yet constantly looking for originality or groovy style (so I can shake my derriere on it...)

U2 (of course!), Jack Johnson, Blue October, Amy Winehouse, The Cranberries, Tina Arena, Gnarls Barkley, Katie Melua, Natasha Bedingfield, Keane, Damien Rice (thanks Caitlyn!), Juanes, Moby...
As for French groups: Cabrel, Goldman, Renaud, Kyo, Calogero... But to be exhaustive, I would have to add everything I can dance to ;)

Movies:


Sugar coated movies ain't my stuff. I dig originality, great directing and acting. Jacques Audiard is one of my favourite directors: have you seen "read my lips"? BEAUTIFUL
So, well, I love indie and foreign movies...
the Shawshank Redemption, Waking Ned Devine, Gattaca, Amelie, Goodbye Lenin, the Commitments, Office Space, Read my lips, the Blues Brothers, Swingers, Lost in Translation, The Station Agent, la Vita E Bella, le Grand Bleu... That's about nearly it, plus or minus 37

Television:

I used to watch 'the Office' and 'my name is Earl'... but I busted my TV so I could do other things more active

Books:

I must have a fascination for Human decadence, cause I went through 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and Oryx&Crake. What's wrong with me???
Otherwise "Notre Dame de Paris", "Le rouge et le noir", "L'education Sentimentale", "les fourmis", yeah I know, bunch of Frenchie sounding books. How about "the DaVinci Code"? Really cool novel indeed, though "Angels&Demons" was equally as fantabulous. Favourite authors: Paulo Coelho, Umberto Eco, Bernard Werber, and Dean R. Koontz (for the creepy side of me)...

Heroes:

Mr. Furious!!!! (as in the movie Mystery Men) Ok, seriously, WOLVERINE is so cool 'cause he can cook bare hands... And that guy, SPIDERMAN, awesome I shall say, just hope he will never have cardiac problems. But the strongest in my mind is the Dalai Lama: compassion is at the root of all forms of love...

My Blog

Wikipedia, SAVE ME!!!

Two weeks ago I was in Israel for work or so they say. In theory, it shouldn't be me traveling, but for some mysterious reason, every time my boss asks the team: "who wants to go to Israel?", I am the...
Posted by Raph on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:03:00 PST

Making TH famous... or trying to!

As seen in the Oregonian (A&E section) on 06/29/07. By the way, I am the coach, what the heck!?! Ok, I have to blame Hawaii for not being interviewed. Good thing I was here for the shots... ...
Posted by Raph on Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:40:00 PST

Fait-accompli

So you say French sounds good? Well, let me tell you about the barbaric French word: "fait-accompli". If you don't know what it means, let me give you an example. Today, I receive the following email:...
Posted by Raph on Tue, 08 May 2007 12:36:00 PST

French dislike themselves

Whaaaat!?!?! Shall I take that I hate %44 of myself...? No wait, %44 of myself hates myself... no crap, doesn't sound good either. Ok, here is my resolution: despite this article, I am givin...
Posted by Raph on Tue, 01 May 2007 07:04:00 PST