Terry Gilliam

Books on Terry Gilliam:

	The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus; All the Words Volume One Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, John Cleese and Michael Palin EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  Pantheon RELEASE DATE:  12 November, 1989
	The Pythons: Autobiography The Pythons, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Bob McCabe EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  St. Martin's Griffin RELEASE DATE:  15 November, 2005
	Monty Python's Flying Circus: Greatest Skits Monty Python, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin EDITION:  Audio CD MANUFACTURER:  BBC Audiobooks America RELEASE DATE:  15 June, 2007
	The Pythons: Autobiography The Pythons, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Bob McCabe EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  St. Martin's Griffin RELEASE DATE:  15 November, 2005
	Windows in the Wall Rebecca Heyl and Terry Gilliam EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  Skira RELEASE DATE:  01 April, 2008
	Gilliam on Gilliam (Directors on Directors) Terry Gilliam and Ian Christie EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  Faber & Faber RELEASE DATE:  15 June, 2000
	The Battle of Brazil: Terry Gilliam v. Universal Pictures in the Fight to the Final Cut (The Applause Screenplay Series) Jack Mathews EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  Applause Books RELEASE DATE:  01 May, 2000
	The Fairly Incomplete & Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Songbook John Du Prez, Terry Gilliam and Gary Marsh EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  Methuen Publishing RELEASE DATE:  28 February, 2006
	The Very Best of Monty Python (Methuen Humour) John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  Methuen RELEASE DATE:  April, 2007
	Terry Gilliam: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series) David Sterritt, Terry Gilliam and Lucille Rhodes EDITION:  Paperback MANUFACTURER:  University Press of Mississippi RELEASE DATE:  March, 2004

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Special Scooter Training Required in France

I know, I know: What special training? Isn't everyone in France required to ride a scooter by the age of 7 or something (along with knowing how to make a crepe, uncork wine and be disdainful to tourists)? Turns out that isn't true. It used to be that anyone with the French equivalent of a normal drivers license could also ride a scooter up to a certain size any time they choose. Sort of like in America, you don't need a motorcycle license to ride a moped or a 50cc scooter. France, like many other Euro countries, did this in part to ease congestion in densely packed urban areas. And now France has (partially) changed their mind. Why? Why the need for government intervention when things are apparently humming along just fine?For starters, the stats show that things are not humming right along. It seems that scooters account for 1.1 percent of all the traffic in France, but scooters also account for 10.1 percent of all traffic accidents and 18 percent of all traffic DEATHS. This is news to me. I recently spent a fair amount of time in France this passed June, and from what I saw, the roads seemed pretty darn safe. OK, I shouldn't say safe, per se, let's just say that I didn't see many accidents. Actually, I saw only the remnants of one accident, and that was a fender bender. The roads in France, especially in Paris, and they way they are used would come across as pretty stupefying to your average American driver. Paris is a tangle of streets largely laid out without rhyme or reason (apart from the grander avenues, natch). Imagine Boston or Philadelphia or San Francisco, only two thousand years older, and crammed with traffic. And all the traffic seems to be doing 70 in one huge pack. Until the next light. Schreeeech. Wait patiently. Discuss philosophy or cooking. Green light. Stand là-dessus!!! Hell of leather for the next traffic light or 19 way intersection, where that 11 lane road you're on changes into a raft of possibilities: alleyways, narrow streets, two-way traffic, four-way traffic, a cafe, a museum, a motor-route. It's just bewildering at first. But they all make it through. Did I mention the drivers seem certifiably insane? Well they do seem that way. They drive with a level of commitment and fearlessness that's a wonder for a car guy like me to watch. But after watching for 30 seconds or so, it does explain people like Alain Prost. Four-time world driving champ, and noted Parisian. And those are people in cars. The people on scooters? Well, they're a whole other breed of cat entirely. Given the milieu French scooterists work in combined with the lack of crush space, you'd think they'd be pretty damn circumspect in the operation of their ride. Hell, I know I would be. Not any of the scooter riders I saw in Paris. They charge for gaps, they weave through traffic, they make sudden braking or cornering maneuvers that look like they're pulling F-16 level Gs, and, near as I could tell, they seem to make it through OK. Sadly, that would not seem to be the case in actual fact. "Les deux roues représentent aujourd'hui 1,1% du trafic, mais 10,1% des accidents corporels et 18% des personnes tuées sur les routes." Uh-oh, that does sound bad, and I don't speak French. The French Ministry of Interior (geez, doesn't that sound like something from a Terry Gilliam movie?) has decided to make car drivers either get a bike certificate or get specific training to ride scooters. For the cost of about ?130. If you choose not learn how to use two wheels as per the government, you risk being fined by the Gendarmererie. Oh that will go over well.  Shoot, look at the last time something like bread was in short supply in Paris, let alone dinging the already scooter riding populace for 130 Es. I'm not saying there will be riots and dismembering of the nobility, I'm just saying it's a possibility. Then again, in Paris, that's kind of stating the obvious. Photo from Flickr user polbar
Published: Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:36:02 GMT - Source: Blog.Wired.Com - Read the article

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John Cleese	Terry Jones