'The most important thing to realize about the flâneur is that he was a character; not a real person, but a "type," a fantasy of male bohemianism created by Baudelaire, Balzac, and the journalist Jules Janin. Just as we carefully curate our online presences today--tagging only the most flattering photographs, listing the favorite books and bands that prove our coolness--these men created the flâneur as an idealized version of themselves: a seductive master of the modern city.'

"Transcending its original playful identity, it’s no longer a place for strolling — it’s a place for getting things done. Hardly anyone “surfs” the Web anymore." A thoughtful essay by Evgeny Morozov that captures some of my dislike for the modern web. (Having said that, on editing my pinboard bookmarks, I find a disturbing number recently are from the NYT. So much for me flaneuring.)

"One person with two tickets is a waste, so I was joined by fellow blogger (and French speaker), Tom for the day out, on a mission to take the Boris Bikes to Paris, take photos in suitably Parisian locations, and return them back to London on the same day."

A review of an exhibition at the Fondation Cartier-Bresson, Paris, of the work of this early 20th century German photographer. Sounds like it'd be worth a look if I was in Paris (although I'm not sure it's worth hanging a trip around).

An interesting article about an exhibition in Paris on the ethics of photographing people.

"The BBC's portrayal of a mortal threat, they say, is best understood as a negotiating ploy on the part of JCDecaux." This makes sense, I must say. I also liked Dan Hill's comment on the original BBC story: "It's public transport, not a profit-making enterprise. Funny how this crops up in a crunch."

A nice video showing the amount of the Velib rental bicycles at each of the stations for a single day in February 2008.

The text bits from today's Guardian pullout/poster/freebie, about the Richard Rogers / Renzo Piano Pompidou Centre in Paris.

"The cost of installing the line was about £73.5m per mile. This compares with £28.4m to build a mile of a three-lane motorway" Not entirely a fair comparison; most motorway isn't in tunnel.

On Jean Nouvel's new gallery in Paris, with a few passing mentions of the interesting-sounding Walbrook Square Foster collaboration in London. I'm relieved to find Glancey isn't happy with the new City cluster skyscrapers either.