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View Full Version : AppleExpo Paris Aug 31st - Sept 4th: Whos going?


ZO
2004-07-08, 17:22
http://www.apple-expo.com/

So, whos coming?

It'll be my 3rd and a half...

2001 was cancelled for obvious reasons... and 2002 got cancelled for me because of racist nazi French border police.

stoo
2004-07-09, 12:29
Any chance of live updates as news breaks? :)

Spart
2004-07-09, 15:10
...and 2002 got cancelled for me because of racist nazi French border police.

Sounds like there's a good story behind this. :D

DMBand0026
2004-07-09, 15:29
Sounds like there's a good story behind this. :D

Seriously, I wanna hear this one.

Gargoyle
2004-07-09, 15:46
I might go. Not been to an Apple event yet! Will have to check prices of trains and hotels tho - not got much spending money at the mo. :(

ZO
2004-07-09, 19:09
Seriously, I wanna hear this one.


You asked for it... you got it.

Seeing that I wrote all about it 2 years ago, I'll just copy paste it from the original Appleinsider post I made at the time.

You can read the followup from here (http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11903&highlight=racist+french) Was aptly titled "I Love France"

And to imagine that now I live here... *sigh*



Get up at 5am, gulp down a Red Bull, get in car with fellow Mac friend on way to Paris from Brussels.

Night becomes day, 2 hours later in an uneventful drive, we get to the French-Luxembourg border and get pulled over at the border (uh, Schengen agreement, hello?).

A burly fifty something French police officer asks for our ID. Comes back five minutes later. "Hey Mauritian, you can't come in to my country." (to call him "Alex" or "Mr. Chimon" would have been too hard I imagine)

You see, my friend is Mauritian and despite having all his papers in order and having lived most of his life in Belgium and attended the same college as I have, he has darker skin than I.

With absolute glee and joy he laughs at him as do his colleagues. Out of a technicality they dont want to let him into France. There is no 'national number' on his perfectly valid belgian ID. He accuses my friend of being an expert forger and that we had better get along and get back to where we came from. Of course, from Luxembourg, you only have a stream of Porches, Beemers, Mercs, and the occasional Ferrari. Of course they dont have to slow down to the 10km speed limit, and the border gurards even smile when their rich occupants rev up as soon as they are in France.

The pot bellied officer leaves again for his office with both our IDs. After 5 minutes my friend gets out of the car to see whats going on with the papers.

"Hey!" yells a colleague of our transalpine friend "you Maurtian. You can't get out of your car onto French land! Get back there and stay there in your car unless told otherwise"

The arguement is over as it begins. The guard is on such a power trip that unless he would get a signed paper from President Chirac himself, no matter what we did would not have sufficed. Maybe not even that would have detered him. Should I tell him that i can call the Italian Ambasador and that my friend's relatives work at the Maurtian one? No, he would just be humiliated and get us on some other technicality and maybe even have his buddies have some fun with my friend while they 'withold him'.

The more our anger shows, the broader his smile. He knows he can lock us up for any reason he pleases as long as we give him the chance.

"So, how are we supposed to go back to Belgium?"

"Drive back the way you came."

"But that means driving through Luxembourg, and you just said that my documents aren't valid!"

"Listen, I'm an expert at my work!"

... whatever, nice reply.

This wasn't going to go anywhere. We weren't going to get in.

"I sent a fax to all the other French border points" said the gurad "with a copy of your ID and therefore you will not be able to enter from anywhere else. If you attempt to do so, I will see you in prison."

Fvck you, you arrogrant sunnavabitch.

"Drive forward, make a U-turn, and collect your IDs from me on the other side as you leave my France"

We comply and pass the other happy go lucky guard officials on the way who are obviously enjoying this whole ordeal. Ah yes, when you have such crap jobs and no life, no wonder you are so easily amused.

with a sudden bout of enthusiasm and sincerity he said:
"Ah, but monsieur" refering to me "you are Italian! You may proceed if you wish! Welcome to my France!"


I didn't say a word as I took my ID back through the window. My stare of absolute, seething, visceral hatred must have dented him at least a little because for just a split second, his crooked victory smile yielded.

"your" France. Fvck you and 'your' France.

Apple Expo 2001 cancelled because of terrorits, my Apple Expo 2002 cancelled because of arrogant racist pigs.


And thats my eventful Apple Expo 2k2

ZO
2004-07-09, 19:31
DP

drewprops
2004-07-09, 20:49
Oh man, I TOTALLY remember that story ZO! Bummer for you then, hope that Steve makes up for it this year. So are you gonna have on your AppleInside--- I mean, applenover shirt? How are we going to know that it's you when the camera pans the crowd? Don't point to the community pages, I don't want to have to memorize faces, I want you dressed in a damned silly costume flapping your arms like crazy.

mon frere.

drewprops
2004-07-09, 20:52
Oh hey, Mr. Scates, you coming down to the ATL for that? I'm not sure if I'll be in town then but if I am I'll sure try to be at the APPL Store @ Lenox.

ZO
2004-07-10, 14:31
Any chance of live updates as news breaks? :)

If they let us come in with our laptops, yes.

Last year they confiscated ALL CAMERAS!!! Bastards...

BTW... I've always wnated to try and do a QT Broadcast with an iSight

Anyone want to help? :)

If there is WiFi, I could setup an iChat with iSight, and maybe someone of you could re-broadcast it? I think using QT Broadcaster would be a bit much from the Expo.

Worse comes to worse, I can send SMS to one of you, who can then update...

thequicksilver
2004-07-14, 08:38
Yeah, I'm there. Was there last year too… sat in the press section as there was so much space free there. Ended up directly in front of Shawn King from Your Mac Life.

I couldn't believe that they refused entry to my camera either. From what I saw, any non press person with a notebook computer was also forced to leave it in the left luggage area. From what I've heard anyway, they cut the Wifi access off the second Jobs comes on stage anyway. The only way Shawn King kept in touch with his people back in the US during last year's keynote was by holding a mobile phone up for them to listen to Jobs speaking.