They’re in D.C. C’est Chic, the district’s second annual French film festival, has returned with a promising line-up and all the staples of quality French cinema—Audrey Tautou, orgies, pretentious fashion, sugar waxing, etc. Here are some highlights:

Les Chansons d’Amour (Love Songs)
A spicy ménage-a-trois turns tragic in Christophe Honoré’s musical, which stars Louis Garel and Swimming Pool’s hot (and oft naked) Ludivine Sagnier.
AMC Georgetown Theatre: Tue. 10/23 at 7 p.m.
Avalon Theatre: Sun. 10/28 at 3:15 p.m.

Lagerfeld Confidential
Rodolphe Marconi documents fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. If you think you’re in vogue (you probably aren’t) you can see the director in person at the October 28 screening at the Avalon Theater.
Avalon Theatre: Sun. Oct. 28 at 8 p.m.
Avalon Theatre: Thu. Nov. 1 at 6:15 p.m.

Priceless
Still think of Amélie’s Audrey Tautou as a sweet, reclusive little do-gooder? Check her out as glam gold digger in Priceless. If you’ve got a trust fund, maybe you can afford the pleasure of her company. The rest of us can just watch the film.
Avalon Theatre: Thu. Nov. 1 at 8:30 p.m.

Caramel
This one sounds a bit like “Sex and the City,” except with real, non-shoe-related issues. Set in a beauty salon in Beirut, five women grapple with relationships and sexuality—among them a tormented lesbian and a soon-to-be-wed, ex-virgin Muslim—between haircuts and caramel waxing (a girl’s gotta pay the bills).
Avalon Theatre: Fri. Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m

For the complete line-up or to purchase tickets, see http://www.cestchic.org.

-Madeline Reidy, Leisure Editor

The October Rebellion, an umbrella group of protest groups, launched an unpermitted march through Georgetown Friday night. The march started at Washington Circle and ended when police cordoned off protests and released them in small groups. According to police, a young woman was hit in the face in front of Wisconsin’s Abercrombie and Fitch and was taken to the hospital. More on the Voice’s Flickr account.

These two protesters were arrested after a policeman was knocked off his motorcycle.

Groups met at St. Stephen’s Church. I saw a can of spraypaint and a slingshot. Someone near me said, “I have three rocks for throwing or whatever.” When they found out we were journalists they threw us out.

But at least we got a picture of their gender-neutral bathroom first!

The Abercrombie & Fitch where the girl was hit in the face with a brick. You can see the bloodstain by the door. I asked a cop if they knew who did it and he said they had no idea because it was thrown from the crowd.
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Some people have been acting like they’re not excited about seeing Coolio for free tonight on Harbin Field. Even the What’s After Dark e-mail is taking hospitality cues from Lee Bollinger: “Bear witness to the proud living legacy of one of the greatest visionaries of our time: COOLIO. That’s right. That wasn’t a misprint. It’s not a hoax.”

For those of you who think Coolio’s a has-been, here’s how Coolio’s been keeping busy since “Gangsta’s Paradise” (from Wikipedia, naturally):

• Coolio has been on Celebrity Fear Factor and made it to the third round
• Coolio played a “space age stoner” in Dracula 3000, a made-for-tv movie that has only negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
• He was in a Croatian movie!
• The last three albums he’s released have all gone gold.

Still, staying on the field after “Gangsta’s Paradise” is socially impermissible.

-Will Sommer, blog editor. Flickr photo from judge-penitent.

UPDATE: Pride co-President Scott Chessare (COL ‘10) has sent out a letter to administrators and media outlets; it is posted below the jump.

The two co-Presidents of GU Pride, along with Bill McCoy, the part-time coordinator of LGBTQ resources on campus, are in Chicago at DePaul University tonight, attending a conference on LGBTQ issues on Catholic campuses. I just received an e-mail from Olivia Chitayat (COL ‘10), one of the co-Presidents. Though obviously dismayed by the incident, she’s happy that the University got the news out faster this time (”Five days is better than three weeks”); interestingly, she says McCoy hadn’t heard about the incident yet. You’d think the University would want to tell him. More from Chitayat:

The University can’t just say that we do not tolerate homophobia on this campus and expect the culture to change. … These incidents are going to keep occurring, they already occur every day, [until] we step in and start talking about the issue, start providing safe spaces for members of the community, start listening to the needs of people that live and breathe on this campus and MAKE A CHANGE. We have to keep talking and keep pushing people out of their boundaries until everyone realizes that homophobia will not and cannot be tolerated, until everyone understands why treating a member of the community in such a disrespectful, hateful, and violent manner is unacceptable.

We’ll be reporting as much as we can on this issue tomorrow, so keep an eye on the blog.

- Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief

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Looks like homophobia on campus isn’t limited to September 9’s assault. Two men said homophobic slurs and pushed another person against a wall Sunday morning, according to a University Public Safety alert sent out Thursday night:

A complainant reported to DPS that at approximately 2:34 a.m., he was approached by two unknown males as he walked up Lauinger library steps. The suspects made homophobic remarks and followed the complainant to the Healy building. The suspects pushed the complainant into the side of the building and blew smoke in his face.

Nothing was taken, and the victim wasn’t injured. It’s not clear if anyone involved is a student.

It’s more depressing to see this happen again than it was to hear about the first hate crime, because at least that could have been as an isolated incident. The administration seems to be handling this faster and with more transparency than the last hate crime, and they’ll be more likely to agree to Pride’s reasonable request more LGBTQ resources in the wake of the previous assault.

Shame on the school for not having a DPS officer at the steps 24 hours a day. It seems like most assaults and muggings happen there, but Vice President of Public Safety Rocco DelMonaco only suggests “more education.” Also, the safety alert’s recommendations to students for avoiding future incidents? Call DPS and Saferides if something bad happens, and don’t prop your windows open!

-Will Sommer, blog editor

In this week’s feature, I quote from an open letter that four faculty members sent to Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson regarding GU Pride’s abortive protest and the Professors’ role in Georgetown policymaking:

It is simply and deeply unjust for the University to place so much of the burden of fighting intolerance onto young students and a few willing allies, with hardly any institutional support. With all that in mind, last Thursday’s episode outside Healy, and your decision not to step in to reassure the students that they are not an inimical presence on this campus, strike us as unconscionable. Surely, if cura personalis means anything, it must now mean for the Vice President of Student Affairs – and for the University administration as a whole - to make a public commitment to serious changes to make Georgetown a community that truly welcomes all its members and treats them equally.

We didn’t have room to put the whole letter in this week’s paper, so the whole thing is after the jump.

- Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief
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When Ben Shaw and Matt Appenfeller ran for president and vice-president of GUSA, their promise of free newspapers melted my heart. When I visited Holy Cross in high school, their stacks of New York Times and Washington Post newspapers were the most appealing thing about the college (that, and its football prowess). If GUSA could get us free newspapers, my regrets about not going to Holy Cross would be soothed.

The free newspaper idea is great for college students. We’re too busy to read every day, so a subscription would be a waste. But we also want to know things! Put a bunch of Posts inside Leo’s next to the college newspapers and watch the stigma of eating alone at Leo’s evaporate. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to the good fortunes of missent mail, The Voice recently snagged a copy of Michael Perry’s Hand Job: A Catalog of Type. If you’re like me and remain fixated on the pre-Photoshop, archaic days of old-fashioned pen and paper, bamboo brushes and ink vials, you’ll appreciate the artistry of this compilation. The Brooklyn-based artist, whose clients include Urban Outfitters, MTV and Polyvinyl Records, gathered hand-drawn works from fifty typographers around the world. The book showcases the artistic potential of letters, in conjunction with images, created using materials ranging from watercolors to leaves. It’s a great source of inspiration for the creative type, and makes a nice gift for anyone looking to earn some doodling-cred in Econ class. Give your friends a Hand Job for Christmas, Hannukah, a birthday or just for kicks. The cost of this guilty pleasure: $35.

-Madeline Reidy, Leisure Editor

To update our previous story, a Midnight Madness visit to Georgetown was enough to prevent all outside intervention: top-ranked recruit Greg “The Doctrine” Monroe has decided to play hoops for the Hoyas next year, according to the Washington Post. If he follows through, he’ll round out a pretty stellar incoming class next year. Based on all the talk about his academic achievements, he’ll probably have a higher GPA than you, too.

“I think his greatest strength is his ability to do everything well,” Monroe’s high school coach Tyron Mouzon said. In a related story, Craig Escherick’s greatest weakness was that he wasn’t a very good coach.

-Mike Stewart, Managing Editor

Personally, I had thought the days of “Caveat Emptor” were far behind us. Warranties, insurance, refunds, and receipts–it’s impossible for a corporation to steal from one of the little people these days, isn’t it? I must have gotten too comfortable in this belief though, because this weekend Greyhound decided to show me who really is the boss. After purchasing bus tickets three weeks in advance and receiving a 14-day advance rate of $58 rather than $88, I was feeling pretty excellent about my decision to return to North Carolina over Columbus Day weekend. So there I was, one hour early just like the website advised, standing in line at Gate 6 to board my bus. Ten minutes before the bus was supposed to leave, the line began to move forward. Read the rest of this entry »