Bizarre expressionless mannequins

Paris storefront windows put up special Christmas-themed displays. Lots of what you expect: snow, pine trees, something cartoonish or childish.

But this one.

This one, I cannot fathom.

Are the women greeting the new year?

Why are they dressed only in giant bows and party hats? Why are their limbs strangely elongated and distorted? Is this social commentary on the unrealism of mannequins, or on the way women must present themselves, bundled, primped, and covered in sparkles, to be glamorous in our society?

Your interpretations welcome in the comments below.

This post's theme word is hiemal, "of or relating to winter." Behold, the inscrutable hiemal display!

Musée d'Orsay en fête

I saw a concert at the Musée d'Orsay last night as part of a weekend-long celebration. The music was a nice selection --- all in French, even the librettos usually performed in Italian --- and the frission of being in the museum after hours, of nestling in amongst the statuary to listen to music, was very pleasant. The acoustics fulfilled exactly the expectations of a refitted train station; the soaring ceiling, so open to light and space for visually-experienced art, simply sucked up a lot of the sound. What sound remained was bounced around in off-beat echoes. Also, some of the stage lights were pointed directly at the crowd, I guess so that the glare-induced headaches would distract from the echoing cavern.

An interesting experience.

An unconventional use atop an unconventional use of a train station.

HT: R, who found this event, suggested attendance, and accompanied me. We had fun.

This post's theme word is lyceum, "a lecture hall or an institution that provides public lectures, discussions, concerts, etc." Each lyceum has its own acoustic profile, suitable to certain activities above others.