I know that it is the Fourth of July and, therefore, I should be feeling undivided American patriotism, but right now, I’m thinking a lot about Paris. My parents are there; many of my friends have recently been traveling there, and I seem to keep seeing movies set in or around it.

This weekend, I went to see “Ratatouille.” It was extremely cute, and with several great messages, as well as some classic Pixar-y hilarity, and, well, lots of fantastic-looking food. I’m actually a little surprised that the movie is rated G—not because there was anything in it to warrant a harsher rating, but because G is a rating now reserved so frequently for movies which can only entertain the most brain-dead children, while “Ratatouille” is much more sophisticated. It’s by the same guy—Brad Bird—who was behind “The Incredibles,” but in my opinion, generated a spark of its own that “The Incredibles” lacked. And, well, the scenes of Paris were simply gorgeous.

Today, I went to see “Paris Je T’aime.” I was expecting a very warm-fuzzy tale in the vein of “Love Actually,” but instead, felt like I was at a short film festival. Of course, that’s what this movie is: a series of shorts about various types of relationships, all set in Paris, and each directed by a different person or people. Some seemed really gimmicky, others were very sad (oh! The coffee!), but they were all somewhat entertaining. I adored the mimes, and the blind guy was cute, and Gena Rowlands is always fantastic. I’d recommend it, therefore, if you’re feeling kind of indie and don’t mind sitting through one or two boring bits—but it’s not the place to go for non-stop action. It’s human, and touching, and bits of it are quite bizarre, and imaginative.

And, it’s set in Paris.

I’m totally laughing at Purple and Brown. Seriously, watch those vids, they’re bizarre and stupid, but simultaneously hi-larious. I laughed very very hard tonight, in that wonderful, I-can’t-stop and I-can-barely-even-breathe way.

This is weird: this commercial is decidedly a spin on the whole 1984 thing, and maybe even the old Apple ad, but I can’t imagine that its target audience — li’l kids — would get either reference.