Big Lady

New address / Nouvelle adresse

2008-02-10T13:27:00.000-04:00

This blog has now moved to wildsound.wordpress.com !
Ce blog a été déplacé à l'addresse wildsound.wordpress.com !

Thanks for reading,
Merci de votre attention,

Flavie

Griffintown

2008-02-01T21:24:00.000-04:00

Real estate developer Devimco wants to revamp the Griffintown area. That includes destroying some historical buildings and modifying the urban landscape. Griffintown is kind of decrepit right now, and it definitely needs some change. But it also bears a historical heritage that must be preserved.
Here's an article that will help you learn more about the neighborhood.

Real estate developer Devimco wants to redevelop Griffintown

Aille spique frênche

2008-01-31T21:08:00.000-04:00

I feel so bad for all the anglophone Quebeckers. How must they feel everytime they are reminded that their language is dangerous, that their culture is threatening, that they should plainly not be there?
The French language and culture have no legitimacy to be predominant in Quebec. There are two cultures here and they must coexist. None is better than the other.
I don't mind being served in English in shops anywhere in Montreal, because I think we're privileged. As long as everyone makes the effort to learn the other language, that's fine with me.

Merci à Lysiane Gagnon d'écrire dans ses chroniques ce que je n'ose plus dire. Par exemple, que beaucoup de Québécois parlent mal français.
J'aimerais apporter une petite précision, qui n'a sans doute rien à voir, à son article Dans l'antre de la bête. Tout en bas, elle écrit que les dépanneurs sont une "porte d'entrée commerciale des immigrants (coréens à New York, arabes à Paris). Tout d'abord, n'y a-t-il pas une majuscule à Coréens et Arabes? Je n'en suis pas sûre mais si quelqu'un le sait, qu'il me fasse signe. Ensuite, les Arabes qui tiennent des dépanneurs à Paris, et bien ils ne sont pas toujours arabes. Parce que tous les Maghrébins ne sont pas arabes, et je ne sais pas comment ils le prennent quand on les appelle comme ça, mais moi ça m'énerverait. L'Arabe du coin...

Awaille, dépêche!
Lysiane Gagnon
La Presse
22 janvier 2008

«On peut pas laisser les vidanges icitte!» «Agrippe-toi, quel fun noir!» «Awaille! Dépêche!»

Ce sont les exemples de traduction «à la québécoise» que citait dernièrement, dans sa chronique du Journal de Montréal, notre collègue Benoit Aubin.

La compagnie Nintendo, fabricant américain de jeux vidéo, a décidé, sans y être obligée, de produire une version française du jeu «Super Mario» pour le marché québécois. Et voilà ce que ça donne: des expressions traduites, comme le dit Aubin, «dans un français atroce, délinquant et déplorable, comme on n'en trouve que chez nous».

On est ici en plein paradoxe. D'une part, on se réjouit de ce que cette grosse entreprise américaine veuille servir les Québécois francophones dans leur langue - une chose qui aurait été absolument impensable il y a 30 ans. D'autre part, on s'attriste de constater que dans ce domaine comme dans tant d'autres, ce que l'on nous sert, loin d'être du français, est une sorte de dialecte impossible à comprendre dans le reste de la francophonie.

Ne blâmons pas Nintendo. Cette langue-là, c'est celle que tolère - que pratique! - une grande partie de nos élites.

C'est cela qui a changé: naguère, les Québécois qui avaient eu la chance d'accéder à l'instruction s'efforçaient de s'exprimer correctement. Aujourd'hui, les gens instruits, bien plus nombreux qu'autrefois, adoptent - par coquetterie, par une sorte de snobisme à rebours, ou, dans le cas des amuseurs publics, pour élargir leur audience - la langue relâchée farcie de sacres qui était autrefois le lot de ceux qui avaient quitté l'école avant la fin du primaire.

Je cite Aubin: «Trente ans de batailles linguistiques pour établir le français comme langue commune d'usage public au Québec. Dix ans d'Internet qui ont donné un droit de cité dans le cyberespace à notre langue et à notre culture qu'on croyait menacées à court terme. Et pour aboutir à quoi? À Super Mario disant: «Cette job est pas pantoute facile!»

Il y a bien des gens que cette situation désespère, dont le directeur des études du cégep de Saint-Jérôme, Robert Ducharme, qui est aussi président de la Commission des affaires pédagogiques de la Fédération des cégeps.

Dans un récent courriel, M. Ducharme plaidait en faveur d'un «chantier national sur la langue». Il constatait, lui aussi, que le Québec compte beaucoup de gens instruits et bien informés, mais que la grande absente c'est la maîtrise de la langue. «La reconnaissance d'une diversité culturelle doit être, dit-il, soutenue par une langue parlée et écrite de qualité.»

Plus concrètement, il s'inquiète du futur marché de l'emploi. Notre secteur manufacturier s'amenuise à mesure que des usines se délocalisent vers les pays en voie de développement. Il y aura de moins en moins d'emplois de cols bleus, de moins en moins d'emplois qui n'exigeront pas la maîtrise de la langue qui va avec la spécialisation. Or, dit-il, «ce n'est pas en utilisant des mots imprécis et des phrases approximatives que nous pourrons nous assurer une place sur l'échiquier mondial».

Que l'on pense, justement, aux ordinateurs, au web, à l'Internet. Les nouveaux moyens d'information et de communication passent tous par la langue. Google corrigera vos menues fautes d'épellation en vous demandant si ce n'est pas plutôt tel mot que vous recherchez. Mais une connaissance approximative de la langue vous empêchera de tirer profit des moteurs de recherche.

Quelques futurologues ont déjà voulu nous faire croire que la majorité des gens n'aurait jamais besoin de savoir écrire. Quelle erreur! Jamais dans l'histoire l'écriture n'aura pris une telle importance. Les messages électroniques ont remplacé le téléphone. Même les patrons, qui se fiaient naguère à leur secrétaire pour rédiger leurs lettres, doivent aujourd'hui pouvoir écrire sur l'ordinateur.

Un chantier national sur la langue, qui dépasserait le strict domaine de l'école pour toucher tous les secteurs - familles, médias, arts, politique, commerce, entreprises Un chantier d'envergure nationale, qui serait, comme dit M. Ducharme, «porté par le gouvernement, voire l'Assemblée nationale» Mais oui, l'idée est excellente. Ce n'est pas la première fois qu'elle court, cependant, et jusqu'ici aucun parti, aucune coalition ne l'a ramassée.

Dans l'antre de la bête
Lysiane Gagnon
La Presse
24 janvier 2008

L'an dernier, la crise existentielle portait sur les hassidim et les musulmans en train de détruire notre culture. Cette année, on change de thème tout en restant dans la même veine: le français recule à Montréal!

Même si le sujet me lasse énormément (j'écris sur les questions linguistiques depuis l'époque du bill 63!), je me sens obligée d'apporter mon humble contribution à ce faux débat, pour deux raisons. Primo, je connais le terrain: la rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest - coeur du litige -, je l'ai toujours sillonnée; j'y suivais ma mère quand elle « magasinait» chez Morgan's, Eaton's et Ogilvy's. Étudiante, j'ai été vendeuse chez Simpson's (tous ces magasins portaient alors des «s», comme le veut l'orthographe anglaise). Secundo, j'habite depuis longtemps au centre-ville, dans l'antre de la bête.

Je ne m'attarderai pas sur la révolution linguistique qui s'est produite depuis les années 60. Toute personne de bonne foi le reconnaîtra. Ah! Mais le français commencerait-il à reculer? C'est la nouvelle peur qui s'est infiltrée dans les chaumières, à la faveur de reportages alarmistes et de l'habituelle démagogie politicienne.

Un collègue d'un autre quotidien, commentant l'enquête de l'Office de la langue française, qui révèle que l'on se fait servir en français dans 90% des commerces situés rue Sainte-Catherine, entre les rues Papineau et Du Fort, déplore que l'OLF n'ait pas ventilé les résultats en fonction des secteurs. Il soupçonne que si le français prédomine entre les rues Papineau et de Bleury, ce ne doit pas être le cas à l'ouest

Faux, cher ami, archifaux. Si vous n'habitiez pas en banlieue, vous sauriez que la langue du commerce, au centre-ville, c'est le français. Et aussi l'anglais bien sûr, car l'immense majorité des vendeurs est bilingue. Mais l'important, c'est qu'il n'y a pas un francophone qui soit obligé de passer à l'anglais pour se faire servir. C'est bien sûr le cas, sans exception, dans les grands magasins - La Baie, Simons, Ogilvy. Mais parlons des petits commerces, car ce sont eux qui sont la cible des doléances de nos zélotes.

Ma pharmacienne est vietnamienne, elle parle français avec un charmant accent. L'atelier de couture où je fais faire mes retouches est tenu par des Arabes qui parlent français approximativement. Ma cordonnerie, par des Arméniens qui parlent un excellent français. Chez Linen Chest, vous serez servis par des Rachida et des Maria qui parlent français mieux que la plupart d'entre nous.

Peut-être parce que les salaires sont trop bas, les jeunes Québécois de souche, tant francophones qu'anglophones, semblent bouder les postes de vendeurs. Les postes sont souvent comblés par des jeunes francophones d'origine haïtienne, maghrébine, libanaise ou africaine, ou par des immigrés relativement récents dont le français n'est pas la langue maternelle, mais qui l'ont bien appris.

Une commentatrice se plaignait l'autre jour qu'«en une seule soirée de magasinage sur Sainte-Catherine Ouest», elle a entendu «très peu de français chez les clients et chez les vendeurs». Le fait est que la rue Sainte-Catherine est intensément cosmopolite, et qu'un grand nombre de passants parlent anglais entre eux, ce qui ne veut pas dire qu'ils ne connaissent pas le français. Et alors? Montréal a toujours eu une population anglophone, c'est l'une de ses richesses. Si la clientèle francophone a diminué en proportion au centre-ville, c'est parce que trop de francophones de souche ont émigré vers la banlieue, et qu'ils «magasinent» dans les centres commerciaux qui ont poussé au-delà des ponts.

Allons encore plus à l'ouest. Les bouchers et les maraîchers du marché Atwater sont tous francophones. On se fait aussi facilement servir en français au Cinq-Saisons de la rue Greene qu'à celui de la rue Bernard, dans la très française Outremont. Idem rue Monkland, la rue marchande de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

Ici et là à Montréal, on tombera parfois sur un dépanneur - invariablement un immigré récent - qui bredouille à peine le français. Les dépanneurs sont en effet, dans toutes les grandes villes, la porte d'entrée commerciale des immigrés (coréens à New York, arabes à Paris), parce que ces mini-commerces ne demandent pas trop d'investissements et qu'on y embauche ses proches. Où est le drame? C'est le lot des villes cosmopolites que d'avoir des îlots qui vivent en cercle fermé.

Made in Quebec

2008-01-20T20:11:00.000-04:00

To my greatest surprise, my mum announced me today that I had an article published in the McGill Daily. I have never written for the McGill Daily, hence the surprise. I quickly found out what this was all about: The Link had shared my feature article with them. I didn't even know! I guess it means I was read by quite a lot of people. I never posted the article in this blog, though. It's a bit long, but since some of my most serious fans have asked for new posts, here it is.

Made in Quebec
The end of sweatshops?

A Petites Mains employee removes extra threads before shipping the final product; Staff at Petites Mains are predominantly comprised of women who learn industry and language skills at work; At one time, Blank produced their clothing in a basement. They now produce everything in the store, but will have to relocate because of expansion. PHOTO Matthew Gore

When Martin Delisle and two of his friends decided to found Blank two years ago, everybody around them began to doubt their mental sanity. Their family, the banks; nobody would even dare trust them.

Delisle’s idea was quite simple, though. He just wanted to sell basic and modern clothing to Montrealers at an affordable price. And he wanted his clothes to be made here, in Quebec.

Anyone who’s had a look at their closet lately or been a fan of Naomi Klein knows that Canadian-made clothes are an endangered species. Local production is only profitable for a handful of small high-fashion companies who need to wield tight control over production. All the others have long gone to the free zones of China and India and to the maquiladoras of South America.

While the textile sector is finding a new lease on life with its innovation into technological specialization, the apparel industry in Canada is quickly disappearing. After a steady increase during the 1990s, the employment rate in the industry suddenly dropped in 2002, partly due to the suppression of the barriers to multilateral trade, such as import quotas and duty rates. From then on, there were no more restrictions to relocations abroad. Since then, more than 10,000 garment workers are unable to find employment every year, according to Statistics Canada. Institut de la statistique reported almost 18,000 jobs losses between 2003 and 2004 in Quebec alone.

But Blank succeeded. After opening a first store on St-Laurent, the franchise opened a second location in the Village on St-Catherine, which also became its production site. Sales doubled last year. The company now employs 12 workers plus 40 subcontractors and a constantly diversifying collection. It gets most of its profits from wholesale and counts Québécor, Amnesty International, the YMCA and Radio-Canada among its clients.

At Blank, only the cotton is imported. Every other phase of production is completed entirely in Quebec, from weaving to dyeing to sewing. While shopping, customers can observe the workroom, its particular lighting, air conditioning and ergonomic seating through a large window in the back of the store. In spite of all those fancy details, a basic t-shirt costs $20, taxes included.

“We decided to make less profits but more sweaters,” says Delisle.

There will always be production in Montreal as long as there will be independent boutiques —Norma Rantisi

Blank would probably not have known the same fate if it had started a few years ago. It is currently riding the wave of ethical fashion, a trend born in London and Paris out of a growing demand from consumers for a better transparency of products.

In the midst of the self-afflicted guilt generated by a sudden awareness about environmental issues, ethics have become a new way of life. Within the fashion industry, this concept can be applied to the infinite and has become a cornerstone for new marketing techniques.

Oöm is another Montreal-based clothing company entirely rooted in ethical fashion. Their clothes, which can be found in various stores across the city and through wholesale, are made out of organic cotton from India and out of bamboo. Some of the clothing is decorated with a silkscreen accompanied by a positive message. Two percent of sales go to social charities, and like Blank, Oöm clothes are manufactured locally. But the workers are of a very special kind. The company subcontracts the sewing to organizations of social integration, helping immigrants and handicapped people find their footing through ethical fashion.

This process is extremely energy-consuming since workers often lack experience. Founders Pascal Benaksas-Couture and Pascale Clauzier spend a great deal of time verifying the quality of the products and often have to send them back to the manufactures for modifications. But according to Benaksas-Couture, it is worth all the effort.

“It’s an incredible workforce,” he says of his workers. “Without this occupation that we are offering, they would stay at home and degrade themselves, instead of feeling that they are part of the society.”

Soon, Oöm clothes will be certified as fair trade. The company is one of the founding members of FibrEthik, a cooperative that will ensure that cotton imported from India has been produced in decent working conditions. This might cause prices to increase, even if they are already at $40 for a t-shirt. And for Martin Delisle, who refused to be part of FibrEthik, it still won’t guarantee that the workers are welltreated.

“We cannot guarantee the conditions of production,” he says. “Right now, organic cotton can only be imported from China and India. They deal with third parties that we cannot control.” Delisle prefers to wait and search in other directions for Blank, such as the development of organic cotton farms in the United States and hemp cultivation in Quebec.

Oöm can at least make sure that their workers are in good hands. Petites Mains is one of the organizations to whom they outsource part of the production. Since its creation in 1994, it has been helping women—mostly immigrants—integrate into Canadian society. It offers French and English courses concurrently with six-months of job training.

Women are trained into the field through the sewing program. Clients include independent clothing companies like Oöm, which relies on the sewing program for its operations.

Bombardier and Bell Canada are only two of Petites Mains’ regular clients who are ready to pay a bit more for their t-shirts in order to have a better public image.

Petites Mains has to turn away new clients because they are already running at full capacity. In the midst of the crisis undermining the apparel sector, the company seems almost untouchable.

But for the participants, this success can be bitter. Many of them have followed a husband convinced that life would be better in Canada because of political or economical reasons. Some of them are refugees who arrived here without knowing how difficult it can be, without knowing that they won’t be able to use the diplomas that they earned at home, without knowing they will have to start a new life from scratch.

“They are not told about the process of mourning of their country, their professional or social situation that they have

to do when they arrive here,” explains Julie Hannotiaux, a social worker at Petites Mains.

At Blank, Oöm and Petites Mains, everybody is conscious that they are benefiting from an unprecedented craze. Even if it has only been growing so far, nobody knows how it’s going to evolve. While Blank still doesn’t get much consideration from the banks, Oöm wonders what will happen if people stop caring.

“A lot of companies centre their campaigns on the environment,” says Pascal Benaksas-Couture. “What scares me is that those companies, when it won’t be profitable for them anymore, will give up this niche, whereas Oöm has been our raison d’être for the past four years. We don’t rely on anything else to survive.”

According to Norma Rantisi, a professor in the department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University, Montreal is a great place to sustain ethical fashion. She says the city relies on a history of apparel design and manufacturing, and can boost local designers as long as they leave room for originality.

“There will always be production in Montreal as long as there will be independent boutiques,” she says.

But she also warns that although expanding is just the natural thing to do for successful clothing companies, it can also complicate the business. As the production grows, they run into cost problems, and most of them end up relocating. Those who choose to stay have to be extremely vigilant. For them, the biggest challenges may have yet to come.

Coney Island

2008-01-20T20:02:00.000-04:00

Et voilà! Un beau message, tout joli.

School shootings are a social phenomenon

2007-11-12T21:51:00.001-04:00

I reviewed this book in June but I just wanted to mention that The Tipping Point might be interesting to read after the shooting that happened in Finland. Gladwell proposes an interesting theory on social phenomenons touching the youth which could very well explain the current outburst of school shootings. This new epidemic could be far from having been reached its climax if nothing is done to counter it, and by this I don't mean simply toughening gun laws.

The Gillman store is gone, for good.

2007-11-06T18:31:00.000-04:00

Ripples gets smashed, buildings burn down or get destroyed and stores close down on St-Laurent blvd. And I'm not seeing any of that because it's so unpleasant to walk on my favorite street right now that I just don't go there anymore.
One of the things that I missed, and not the least, is the disappearance of the Gillman's store.

I once took a picture of a beautiful demolition site on Duluth street but never realized that in the same building was located what remained of the store previously owned by the Gillman family. I had stopped many times in front of the mysterious deserted store though, to look from the window at its shelves filled with grocery products of another time. P. Gillman kept the store as is after the death of his father, an immigrant from Ukraine. But he died last year and the building was sold to the owner of Fuchsia, a vegetarian restaurant on the street, who will turn it into her new coffee space. She says she will include the old store into her new concept in a way, but of course it will never be the same.

I see people leave all the time in Montreal. I'm just starting to realize that the places that I love and have known since I'm here also go away.

What happened to Ripples?

2007-11-06T18:15:00.000-04:00

Apparently the building where the Ripples' ice cream store is located burned down this morning. The store wasn't damaged by the fire, but I recall walking by it last Saturday night and seeing that the inside was completely devastated. The roof had fallen and crashed on the counter. I'd really like to know when the store was wrecked and if those two event are linked. What's going on with St-Laurent blvd?

Du bon goût et de la révolution sexuelle

2007-10-30T21:33:00.000-04:00

Il y a un an presque jour pour jour, ma collocataire rentrait dans l'appartement en m'annonçant fièrement qu'elle avait trouvé son costume pour Halloween. Elle parti dans sa chambre pour l'enfiler rapidement afin que je lui donne mon avis.
Ma première réaction en la voyant fut de lui demander si elle avait acheté son costume dans un sex-shop. Gabby se tenait devant moi habillée en French maid, ou domestique un peu coquine (pourquoi française, je me le demande toujours,) arborant son tablier blanc et son corset très ajusté. Ma remarque ne la déstabilisa pas vraiment et elle retourna dans sa chambre pour se changer, en s'imaginant déjà le regard des mecs tombant par hasard sur son décolleté.
Le soir d'Halloween j'ai vu quelques autres French maids dans la rue et dans les bars, mais aussi des écolières à jupes ultra-courtes et chemisiers grand ouverts, des prostituées du 18e siècle et beaucoup, beaucoup de peau. Les hommes, eux, devaient pas mal transpirer sous leurs déguisements de superhéros ou de cow-boys.
J'avais l'impression d'assister à la réalisation des fantasmes de tous les mecs de la ville. Alors qu'Halloween est l'une des rares occasions de se transformer en quelqu'un que l'on ne peut pas être le reste de l'année, il semble que beaucoup de gens rêvent d'être acteurs de soft-porns. On peut aborder le sexe de bien des manières, originales ou humoristiques, mais pendant Halloween c'est la manière lourde qui prévaut.

Cette année, je fêterai Halloween bien au chaud chez moi. Je mettrai mon costume de Française râleuse et ouvrirai la bouteille de Sauternes en dégustant un bon petit foie gras.

Ben's given a second life

2007-10-22T21:01:00.000-04:00

Courtesy from Laurent Boursier. Well, I didn't even ask him...

Ben's will live again between the walls of two Montreal museums. The restaurant, created in 1908 and shut down after a long and painful strike of its workers in 2006, has elicited the interest of the McCord Museum and the Musée de la Personne. Both will try to keep its memory alive by collecting some of its objects and interviewing personalities such as patrons and employees.

TV is better without the TV

2007-10-21T16:19:00.000-04:00

In Dillon, TX, everybody lives for Friday nights. That's because every Friday night they can pack in a 16,000 seats stadium and watch a bunch of hot 17-years-old-looking-25 guys yell "oomf" and "uuuh" while fighting for a ball. Then for the rest of the week they make sure those guys are correctly turned into idols and over-venerated so that when they graduate from high school they can fall into drug abuse or alcoholism, or both.

Jason is the star quaterback of the Panthers. During the first game of the season he breaks his neck and ends up on a wheelchair.
Young Matt, his substitute, suddenly has to deal with the attention and responsibilities that go with his new status.
Tim is Jason's best friend. He drinks a lot of beer and his hair is always dirty. That's because he's a rebel. He has an affair with Lyla, Jason's girlfriend and, no need to say, the cheerleaders' captain.
Coach Taylor, tired from Early Edition, (Demain à la Une) is very stressed out. It's not easy being a coach.

After watching Private Practice, Dexter, Brothers and Sisters and others, I sticked to Californication and Friday Night Lights, one because of its original story, the other because of its original aesthetics. Friday Night Lights is shot like a reality-tv show and looks a bit shitty because of that, but if you look closer you realize the shots can be quite complex. And after my trip this summer, I can understand a bit better what "small town" means in the States...

Quit the sandals, Taylor

Jusqu'ici tout va bien...

2007-09-09T21:05:00.000-04:00

Cette photo a été prise par Denis Darzacq, photographe français, dans le cadre de sa série "La Chute." Darzacq a photographié à Paris des danseurs de Breakdance et de Capoeira "en plein vol." Son travail lui a permis de gagner le 1er prix "stories" du World Press Photo 2007, dans la catégorie Arts & Entertainment.
Le World Press Photo est actuellement présenté au Musée Juste Pour Rire, et ce jusqu'au 30 septembre. C'est 5$ pour les étudiants, 9$ pour les autres, et ça vaut vraiment le coup.

Naomi Klein

2007-09-06T18:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday night Naomi Klein spoke at Concordia. She was there to promote her new book, The Shock Doctrine. I like listening to her (it was the second time, the first being at El Salon, for the launching of The Take in Montreal,) she's so clear and effective.
Klein comes from an intellectual leftist family, she was born and raised among daily debates and arguments and among what could be called an education contestation. After all the ideas of the left are so under-represented in North America that they look like an underground current. After three years spent in Canada I wonder if being a North American educated Socialist is a realistic combination of words.
I also wonder how many years of education I would have saved if I had had the same background. No offense, I'm fine with my background!
Growing up the social ladder is a 20th century invention.

As for the book I really would have like to get a signed copy but I'm a student and this is September. In other words, I'll wait for it to be available at the library!

"I like to be in America"...

2007-08-24T17:55:00.000-04:00

I'm back from the country where people pledge allegiance to their flag, where kids pay 50 grands a year to go to college, where pizza is more common than vegetables.
I'm back from the state where fifteen-years olds wear John Deere T-shirts and chew tobacco, where everybody knows each other and where there are six churches in a 6000-people town.
I'm back from the city where you can watch Casablanca in a park with several other thousand people and scream the Marseillaise when it plays in the film, where you take the subway at four in the morning to go chinese-noodle hunting, where you can't have a glass of wine for less than nine dollars.
Yes, people, I'm coming back from AMERICA!

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

2007-07-10T20:37:00.000-04:00

I'm so busy with work that I don't have the time to do anything else, therefore nothing to write about. I didn't even go to the Jazz Fest.
I'm updating the Playlist though.

The Free Jazz Festival

2007-06-20T20:21:00.001-04:00

Who can afford the tickets for the Jazz Festival anyway? Fortunately, the festival has some free shows, and some good ones. Here's a little selection.

June 28
21h: Carlinhos Brown - Scène General Motors
22h: Nomadic Massive - Scène Bell

June 29
22h: Pawa Up First - Scène Bell

July 1
20h and 22h: Emilie Claire Barlow - Scène Alcan

July 4
20h: Emily King - Scène Alcan

July 6
21h and 23h: Esperanza Spalding - Scène CBC/Radio-Canada/Best Buy

July 7
20h and 22h: Room Eleven - Scène Alcan

Julie se fait couper les cheveux dans la cuisine

2007-06-19T13:09:00.000-04:00

2880 Film Blitz

2007-06-12T22:20:00.000-04:00

Hi guys,

This is how student newspapers fuck up with your articles. Because the Blitz lasts 48 hours, and not 68. Cause 2880 minutes makes 48 hours. AND I GOT TO WRITE ABOUT SUONI PER IL POPOLO FIRST!!!

A film in 68 hours

The Blitz is back and the heat is on

The Link, June 12

One short film. 2,880 minutes to make it. $10,000 to win. These are the guidelines for the 14 teams participating in 2880 Film Blitz from June 15-17.

“Everyone can do it, but whether everyone can do it well under the pressure is a big difference,” explains John Christou.

The young filmmaker knows what he is talking about. He participated—successfully—in the first two editions of the competition. Christou then became a member of the jury before to get on the board of Doc-Quebec, the organization that is putting “the Blitz” together.

What started as an original fundraising event quickly became an important platform of recognition for young Montreal filmmakers.

Doc-Quebec is an organization that brings together documentary filmmakers on a national scale. Like most film companies, it operates on a tight budget. Five years ago, its board decided to create an event that would become one of their main sources of revenue.

For them, fundraising didn’t have to be dull or formal. They wanted to have fun and other people to have fun with them. And to give filmmakers the opportunity to accomplish something unique: make a film in three days.

“What’s great about the Blitz is that it forces you to make a movie in a week-end, whereas people take months and months to make even a short film,” says Christou. “To be motivated to do it is such a daunting task.”

The only rules of the competition are to stick to the theme given during the launching of the event and to keep the film within five minutes. This year, the limits have been pushed forward: the only “theme” to respect will be a five-second video-clip to insert in the film. For the first time, there will be no limitation concerning the format: film, video, even a cell-phone camera will do, a freedom that promises to tickle the creativity of the participants.

“Usually in short films, especially shot on video, if you try to follow more the Hollywood type of formula, which a lot of people try to do, it just never comes across as good as what you were imagining in your head,” warns Christou. “The ones that end up winning are the ones where people take risks and they use the fact that they don’t have a lot of time.”

Being creative with the Blitz pays. The winners not only obtain generous prizes, they also get to present their work to a crowd of professionals, making it a great opportunity to boost an incipient career, especially since the event grew in popularity over the years. There were so many subscriptions this year that the participants had to be selected by a raffle. More participants mean tighter competition.

“The quality of the films has actually gone up every year. I think people are more prepared now, and having seen what other teams have done in the past, have taken it more seriously,” says Christou. “It would be harder to win now if I would enter again this year!”

The projects from the 2880 Film Blitz will be presented on June 17 at La Tulipe (1220 Ste-Catherine E.) at 7 p.m.

Henri Chopin is in da house

2007-06-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

Henri Chopin is a poet, and also a painter, and a traveller, and many other things that I don't know of. Henri Chopin is a survivor of the Holocaust, and by looking at him you wonder how such a frail man could have the strength to resist. Henri Chopin was performing last night at the Sala Rossa for the festival Suoni Per Il Popolo, and Henri Choping is staying at my house while he's in Montreal.

Plein de trucs bien dans la radio

2007-06-04T22:42:00.000-04:00

Pour les francophones, et les autres qui savent parler français, et les anglophones qui savent parler français et qui aiment écouter des interviews en anglais traduites en français, deux informations concernant des émissions disponibles en réécoute sur Internet:

- Une série d'entretiens avec Noam Chomsky dans Là-Bas Si J'y Suis, que je n'ai moi-même pas encore écoutée mais que je sais qu'elle est très bien quand même parce que Là-Bas Si J'y Suis c'est toujours très bien. On peut écouter les entretiens sur le site internet de l'émission.

- Patti Smith était le sujet principal d'Eclectik samedi dernier. Avec une longue interview très intéressante. L'émission est disponible ici.

- Petite update aussi pour parler de la nouvelle émission de Julie, Dans Ta Bulle, sur la bande dessinée, qui parle de pleins de trucs de bande dessinée. Puisque c'est une émission de BD. Et Julie elle s'y connaît vraiment en BD alors ça vaut le coup si vous aussi vous aimez la BD. Dans Ta Bulle s'écoute sur CHOQ fm en direct ou sur leur site internet.

Housekeeping

2007-06-04T22:32:00.000-04:00

I just added a link to Freakonomics' blog, which displays all kind of news related to the book.
Another link worth mentionning is the archive page of the articles published by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, the authors, in the New York Times. Those act like little extensions of the book.
The whole website is pretty good by the way. It features a student guide and an instructor's guide to the book, for use in class.

I also wanted to say that I'm seriously getting bored cause no good music is coming out lately. Plenty of nice trendy stuff, yes, but real good true soul-reaching music, no. So I stay with my Johnny Cash and Charles Mingus and Nina Simone, which is not bad at all anyway.

Two books. Two bestsellers. Not new at all!

2007-06-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

The Tipping Point is an interesting book. Not fundamental, but interesting. Through a drawn-out exposé, Malcolm Gladwell explains his theory that little things can transform movements into mass movements. It links social psychology to marketing techniques and statistics, in the same spirit as Freakonomics. Though Gladwell sometimes theorizes too much (lots of categories, sub-categories, examples with no apparent link between one another,) he presents facts that are worth just knowing.

A Short History of Progress is a compilation of lives and deaths of some of the biggest civilizations on earth. It doesn't say anything new, it's not complicated to read, but its message will never be said too many times. History shows that those brilliant civilizations - Sumer, Easter Island, Maya... - have all done mistakes that led to their disappearance. And History proves that this will happen again, to us. Because nobody is able to remember History, it seems.

Agenda

2007-05-31T17:40:00.000-04:00

Two quick things concerning the music agenda:
- Some very good groups were added to list of Osgeaga, and I'm sure they won't be the last ones: Damien Rice, M.I.A., Explosions In The Sky, Editors, Interpol, Martha Wainwright, Au Revoir Simone...

- Tomorrow starts the festival Suoni Per Il Popolo at La Sala Rossa and La Casa Del Popolo. A lot of strange things, but all very interesting. My roommates and I have special ties to this festival, very very special ties. Just come by our place during the Grand Prix week-end and you'll see...

Un peu d'Air

2007-05-31T17:13:00.000-04:00

A new post after a long absence. I just didn't have anything to write about. Or I didn't feel like it. Cause there was indeed plenty of stuff to mention, like this weird thing that happened to all French citizens at the end of last month. I was just struggling with my journalistic objectivity there.

One thing that I still want to talk about is the concert of Air, which happened on May 6 at Metropolis. I'll be brief: it was like staring at a picture of them while listening to the album. No talk, no improvisation, no emotion. I was almost bored.

Un commentaire?

2007-04-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

Vu et entendu sur Canal+ le soir du premier tour:

Un journaliste à Marine Le Pen - "C'est la fin de Jean-Marie Le Pen ce soir?"
- "Je ne crois pas, non. En tout cas c'est la victoire de ses idées."

I was watching some videos on Internet of the soccer world cups in 1998 and 2006 and it made me remember that sometimes the French can be happy and tolerant.

Joan As Police Woman

2007-04-21T22:27:00.000-04:00

It's quite funny cause I've known Joan Wasser's name for a long time but I never listened to what she was doing. Joan was dating Jeff Buckley when he died, that's why. I remember this picture of them taken by Merri Cyr, who published it in her book A Wished-For Song. And now she's having her first album released and it's really good...

Pour les lecteurs Français

2007-04-17T21:03:00.001-04:00

Une barre de Galak pour qui saura répondre à mes questions:

- Le projet de construction d'une grande mosquée à Marseille vient d'être freiné après que le tribunal administratif ait ordonné à la ville de résilier le bail qu'elle avait signé avec l'association La Mosquée de Marseille. L'association disposait d'un terrain de 8600 m2 pour un loyer annuel de 300 euros. Le tribunal a jugé que le prix du loyer était "anormalement bas" comparé au prix du marché et que "le projet violait l'article 2 de la loi du 9 décembre 1905 selon lequel la République ne reconnaît ni ne subventionne aucun culte." (Le Monde)
Mais à qui appartiennent les églises? (C'est une vraie question, je sais vraiment pas à qui elles appartiennent, les églises.)

- Qu'est-ce que Jean-Paul II vient foutre dans la campagne présidentielle?

- Mais que fait la police?

Quelle coïncidence!

2007-04-08T20:49:00.000-04:00

En plein débat sur le dernier clip de Ace Norton, Michel Gondry est l'invité de Rebecca Manzoni dans Eclectik cette semaine!
Podcast disponible sur le site de France Inter.

Aux armes.

2007-04-05T18:21:00.000-04:00

Battles played last night at la Sala Rossa. In spite of my extended tiredness, I thought it was something big (this is incomprehensible I know, but I'm still tired) and I nominate "Atlas" in the category "Tunes to take with your breakfast during the exam period" for the Big Lady Music Awards (which ceremony is gonna take place whenever I will decide. Please send in your suggestions as to the categories you wish to be represented.)

Battles the website
Battles on MySpace

Scoop

2007-04-02T19:05:00.000-04:00

Osheaga will be back next September! Same place, same dates.
The first names are being announced, hold your breath:
The Smashing Pumpkins, Placebo (héhéhé,) Amy Winehouse, Stars, the Sam Roberts Band, Xavier Caféine, Paolo Nutini, Au Revoir Simone, Adam Kesher, Peter Von Poehl.

And I shouldn't be telling you that but you already can buy your tickets online...

Podcasts

2007-04-02T18:39:00.000-04:00

A new section in Big Lady's sidebar: a selection of my favourite podcasts. I rediscovered radio with them.
My preference goes to CPR's This American Life, APM's American RadioWorks and The Story, and... eh... No, I love them all.
Please send your suggestions!

Les Fatals Picards

2007-04-01T17:31:00.000-04:00

Voilà la chanson qui nous représentera à l'Eurovision. Les Wampas, c'était bien, mais les Fatals Picards, c'est mieux!

Une autre chanson des Fatals Picards pour tous les profs de Picardie et d'ailleurs (hein, Sèv et Gilles!)

Truc de ouf

2007-03-26T23:31:00.000-04:00

Eh vous avez vu? C'est pas un agenda musique de malade ça? Comment y va être trop bien le mois de mai! Et le mois d'avril? Il est pas beau le mois d'avril? (Mais comment je vais réussir à me payer tout ça, moi?...)

Translation:
A good concert season we are going to have!

Sinon demain je vais voir Screamers, un documentaire sur le génocide avec System Of A Down sur lequel le Cinéma du Parc ne tarit pas d'éloges.

Tomorrow: press screening of Screamers, a documentary on genocides with System Of A Down.

Marie-Antoinette

2007-03-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

I saw Marie-Antoinette yesterday and I really liked it. I was actually thinking that when I decide to go back to the hairdresser, maybe I'll think about a 18th century-style haircut, looks comfortable.

Michel Gondry plagiarized?

2007-03-25T22:18:00.000-04:00

If you watch Norah Jones' new video of her song "Thinking About You," it strangely looks familiar. This cardboard universe, the subway, the giant heart, the dreams and the giant alarm-clock, you've seen it before! And you know where: in the Michel Gondry's videoclips. Except that "Thinking About You" was not made by Michel Gondry but by Ace Norton. Norton also did some videos for Death Cab For Cutie, Sébastien Tellier, Tahiti 80 and The Faint notably, if you believe his MySpace page. The guy is not bad by the way, and if you also believe the same MySpace page, he's 24, which is young to be good, and he logs in everyday, which leads to me not liking him since I don't like MySpace (which explains I didn't put a link to the page. I don't like Facebook either, this is absolutely not the place to say it, but I can't help it: I hate Facebook with a passion.)
So Ace Norton likes cardboard and Play-Doh but Ace Norton is also largely inspired by Michel Gondry. The thing is, Ace, Michel is better than you. He's French.

I don't think Norton's MySpace is very useful. I just found his film production company's website though: Commondeer.

Bye-Bye concentrated milk and vodka

2007-03-20T15:03:00.000-04:00

I was reading in The Economist that non-Europeans who take the plane and have to make connections inside the European Union are upset because they are not aware of the new retsrictions that apply to liquids.
"The Russians get so angry that they drink a bottle of vodka on the spot," said Edgar Engert, spokesman for Munich's airport operator.
It's not only about non-Europeans. While I was packing for my last flight back to Montreal, my mum placed a huge tube of concentrated milk in my backpack. We had been careful to put the wine, cheese and other treats in my suitcase but in a moment of absence none of us realized that the milk would not end up in my belly, but in an aiport's garbage. Or in a security officer's belly, I'll never know. I'm still drooling over the thought of the tube.
As for the restrictions, nobody knows if they actually helped reduce the risks of a terrorist attack, no study has been done on the subject so far. And sales in duty-free shops have fallen by 40%, still according to the article.

Sondages

2007-03-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

Selon le Canard Enchaîné, 31% des gens en France ne sont pas "sondables" car ils ne disposent pas d'une ligne de téléphone fixe.

Pocket Symphony

2007-03-10T20:12:00.000-04:00

The boys of Versâââilles released their new album Pocket Symphony this week. Surprisingly, or not, it sounds a lot like Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55, which they produced last year. Pocket Symphony is darker and more melancholic than its predecessors, I'm not sure it could become my favourite Air album.

That's Montreal right there

2007-03-10T19:48:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture I found in my stuff at random today. I took it a year ago, when I was making my porfolio to get in Communication Studies (I was accepted, but I didn't go for some obvious reason.)
This was taken on Duluth Street, between St-Laurent and Hôtel-de-Ville, but you will probably not find it cause the wall and what's behind were destroyed shortly after.

I have to stop!

2007-03-05T20:59:00.000-04:00

Voilà un exercice de classe. Mais comme le dit Julie, c'est mignon!

http://www.zshare.net/audio/i-have-to-stop-mp3.html

Let's boycott Arcade Fire

2007-03-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

Mr Win Butler says in Voir this week that it's not true that Arcade Fire provoke their hype behind a deceitful innocent façade. He says it's the people who make those critics that create the hype. Well, Mr Butler, who chose to sell 50 extra tickets each day of your shows in Montreal, New York and God knows where? Who chose to throw a secret show in a church, of which only well-informed people, or people with a good adress book should I say, were informed? I got in one of the Ukrainian Federation show by contact myself, and you know what, I don't feel particularly proud of that. I must admit it gets pretty exciting when it's extra-ordinary, but having access to a permanent VIP pass to everything just makes people pretentious and shallow.
This whole stuff about lining up by -30 in the night reminds me of the techniques used by sects to enroll members. Basically, you just have them undergo a drastic physical and emotional experience in order to put them in a state of emotional weakness that will allow new ideas and doctrines to set in their minds more easily. I went to see the line-up for only half an hour, and I can tell you that those people suffered, even if getting their tickets made them forget everything.
I'm not saying that Arcade Fire shouldn't be doing what they're doing. They deserve success and they can use all the publicity techniques they want to make it increase, as long as it's legal. They just can't say they're not pushing it.
As for me, I'm gonna concentrate on other bands. There's tons of good stuff out there that don't need to know this guy or that one to see them live.

Socalled

2007-03-04T16:43:00.000-04:00

www.myspace.com/socalled

Alvin AIley American Dance Theater in Montreal

2007-03-02T20:26:00.000-04:00

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater back in Montreal

By me!

It took 25 years for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre to come back to Montreal, but only a few minutes to get the public transported far, far away last Thursday.

It was the first of three performances by the world-acclaimed New York-based company at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place-des-Arts. They were presenting two of their touchstone pieces: "The River" and "Revelations," created by the deceased Alvin Ailey himself, as well as the 2005 "Reminiscin'," choreographed by artistic director and former company star Judith Jamison.

From the moment he created the company in 1958, Alvin Ailey took pride in honouring African-American culture by creating choreographies that incorporate elements of all types of dance traditions such as ballet, jazz, modern dance and cabaret for his multi-ethnic dancers. While "The River" was the result of a collaboration with jazz figure Duke Ellington, who composed its music, "Revelations" became a fundamental piece for African-American dance, displaying black people's relation to religion in their struggle against oppression. It's hard to imagine what it was like for a Texas-born black artist to present such a creation in 1960, but seeing it performed 45 years later in front of a mostly well-off white audience makes one realize how Ailey's work is timeless.

Going beyond the barriers of ethnicity, the show delivered an impression of joy, faith and intense communion. The link between the dancers seemed almost physical as they evolved as a whole; shivers ran down my back as the dancers, in line, held each other's hands and actually became "The River," not even trying to imitate it. Core members of the direction team, such as Judith Jamison and associate artistic director Masazumi Chaya danced for Ailey for years before carrying on his work. Some dancers have been there for up to 25 years and others graduated from the Ailey School.

It's a delight to see the dancers evolve on stage. Their bodies are curved and athletic, their gestures are nervous and passionate. Dancing in "Revelations", they bring one of the best companies in the world to a popular level and remove all the elitism usually associated with modern dance.

The popularity that the company benefits from allowed it to extend its activities. The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, which was already sheltering the Ailey School, now administrates another company, Ailey II, as well as the Ailey Extension, which offers dance courses to the public. It gathered enough donations to build in the heart of Manhattan the largest facility dedicated to dance in the United States, from which it operates since 2004. The Ailey name is now synonym of financial prosperity, something rarely seen in the world of dance.

The Concordian, February 28, 2007
Now you can compare to this one:

Fiery dance performances light up Place-des-Arts
Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre starts the night off small only to end with a blast

By Sylvain Verstricht

When performers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre danced in front of a projection of flames last week at Place des Arts, the image could not have been more fitting. It has been mentioned that the New York company moves as if their bodies are on fire and their souls hang in the balance. Surprisingly, one could not have guessed that so much energy would be carried throughout the show.

The troupe opened the night with “The River,” a fruit of a unique collaboration between choreographer Alvin Ailey and musician Duke Ellington, who composed a score with the dance in mind back in 1970. Within the context of an entire evening, this work functions much better as an introduction to the dancers than as a full-fledged piece. While the work does display the dexterity and near-perfect technique of the dancers, the body movement proves to be highly redundant.

Artistic director Judith Jamison’s “Reminiscin’” does not offer much hope of improvement at first glance. Using an episodic structure which spans across the three works, performers embody characters in a bar setting and dance to a series of pop songs. The setup feels amateurish and this feeling only gets reinforced when a woman pulls out a yellow basket after dancing to Ella Fitzgerald’s “A Tisket A Tasket.” When Diana Krall’s cover of Joni Mitchell’s classic “A Case of You” then came on, I almost expected the dancers to pull out a case of Labatt Blue.

But alas, no beer appeared. On the contrary, it is with this number that everything turns on a dime. Though it is difficult to identify individual dancers in a work for 12 people, I believe it is Adam McKinney’s performance that is responsible for this transformation. While all dancers are indisputably skilled, with him the body speaks beyond its movement.

What was previously missing in “A Case of You” becomes clear; it was emotion, that concept that is so elusive, yet so undeniably visible when it is present. And it is positively contagious. McKinney breathes life into all the dancers who come into contact with him.

The finale returns to company founder Ailey for “Revelations” and suddenly the dancers are on fire. Their bodies are open to the light that shines from above. Their arms are spread wide, their hands lifted to the skies. The positive energy is beaming as they dance to traditional music such as “Wade in the Water.”

And, much like McKinney’s emotion is infectious with the dancers, this positive energy similarly spreads to the audience. The crowd showed such appreciation when the curtain came down that they were treated to an encore performance of “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham.”

The Link, February 27, 2007

Did we see the same show?

Un samedi soir tard, très tard dans le parc Jeanne-Mance

2007-02-25T20:58:00.000-04:00

Photo prise par Linda.

Fired!

2007-02-18T01:11:00.000-04:00

Getting fired is never pleasant, but when it's Woody Allen who shows you the door because "you look retarded," it can be quite traumatizing.

That's what happened to actress and humorist Annabelle Gurwitch, who describes what she calls her "Woody Allen experience" in her documentary Fired! Instead of hiding it from the famous friends to whom she had proudly announced she was working with Allen on an off-Broadway play, Gurwitch openly told them what happened.

She discovered she was not alone. Everybody seemed to have a story about being downsized, from summer jobs to important positions, and it proved to be quite entertaining.

Gurwitch therefore decided to produce a Fired! stories show on stage in Los Angeles and New York, with her friends performing.

Encouraged by its success, she put the stories in a book, Fired, Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized and Dismissed.

In the movie, Gurwitch travels across the United States to interview her friends (Tim Allen, Illeana Douglas, Jeff Garlin and Richard Kind are there among others) and goes one step further by talking to more ordinary people like GM workers from the Lansing plant.

She meets professionals of downsizing - how to fire someone without even making it sound bad - and attends a seminar on how to react after getting fired.

Fired! Could have been a thoughtful reflection on a society where massive lay-offs seem to have become a trend, and job security a legend.

Every time it seems to go in that direction, Gurwitch comes back to her actors friends.

She listens to their stories while sipping a drink in their private L.A. pools, when at the same moment millions of other downsized are simply trying to survive.

For Gurwitch, it was just a way to cope with the emotional implications of her having been "let go" and be reassured, but as one of her interviewees reminds her, many people would love to be fired by Woody Allen.

Fired! Will be shown at Cinéma du Parc from Feb. 16.

The Condordian, February 14

Arcade Fire line-ups

2007-02-18T01:02:00.000-04:00

Last week was the coldest time of the year, but fans were ready to freeze to see Arcade Fire live. "At first I told myself it was just a show - I wasn't going to get up early in the morning for a show! But then I was filled with remorse, I was like 'you're going to have to live and have something to tell in your life,'" said Sébastien Charest, journalist for Bang Bang magazine.

He arrived at 7:30 in the morning last Tuesday, a few minutes too late. Fifty people were already lining up in front of l'Oblique, an indie record store located near Mont-Royal metro station, and that's the exact number of tickets that were going to be available at 10 a.m.

Because Arcade Fire's five shows were sold out within a few hours last December, the producers decided to keep 50 tickets to be sold each concert morning. They probably didn't expect fans to be ready to fight temperatures of 30 below for up to 11 hours. On Friday, the line-up was full by 3 a.m.

"They're a pretty good band. To be honest, they're not even one of my favourite bands, but I really thought it would be fun to stay out all night for the experience - it's a funny story to tell people. And it will probably be a good show too," said George Everett, a student at Concordia who lined up on Thursday.

He arrived with his friends around 1, and like most of the other people there, he spent the night going back and forth to the nearest caf�. From listening to them, one would think it wasn't so terrible to stay still outside for such a long time. But that night, three people quit because of the cold. "When you spend the night outside in the winter, the conditions are very difficult," explained Luc B�rard, owner of l'Oblique. "Physically, it can be very dangerous."

He had never seen such a craze for a band in the 20 years the store has been open. But it was well worth the wait: their shows were awesome. Although the sound quality was not the best - the Ukrainian Federation was a church before it became a concert hall and so wasn't designed to welcome amplified music - the band reached their goal, which was to test their new songs (the album "Neon Bible" will be released on March 6.)

On Thursday, the band opened with "Black Mirror," playing with a giant neon Bible in their backs. They continued with a few other new songs before switching to well-known material such as "No Cars Go" and the infuriated Neighborhood #3 (Power Out). They also presented a surprising cover of Gainsbourg's Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son and finished the show in the middle of the crowd, as they like to do, with Haiti and Tunnels.

Arcade Fire is now heading to New York for another series of shows. They'll be back in Montreal in May for the actual tour, but this time in a bigger venue.

The Concordian, February 14

Note: I would never write "awesome" in an article. This was edited.

Eewww, kinky...

2007-02-16T16:20:00.000-04:00

Do you miss the time when you were a baby and had no responsibilities? When your mummy cleaned your poop and breastfed you? Do you miss the spanking, the scolding, the punishing, the napping, the playing?
And, most of all, are you slightly mentally deranged?
Then the ABDL (Adult Babies/Diaper Lovers) adult nursery is there for you!

P45 even has an article on it.

I wasn't tied to my bed or put into a straightjacket when I was a baby, though. Is that normal?

Julie's Arcade Fire

2007-02-16T14:37:00.000-04:00

While I was writing my article for The Concordian, my roommate Julie prepared an audio creation on the Arcade Fire line-up for P45 magazine.
You can go here to listen to it online or right-click here to download it.

Repete after moi

2007-02-16T00:33:00.000-04:00

Go on France 4's website and learn some English or French, as you wish, with Lily Allen.

Electrelane + The Blow live

2007-02-14T19:26:00.000-04:00

Electrelane and The Blow will be playing at la Sala Rossa on May 17! I know, that's far away in time, far after the exams and all that, and even the day when my mum is coming to town (my mum is cooooomiiiiiing.) But let's bet she'll be jetlagged and will want to sleep while I'll go 50 meters away watch one of my favourite bands play.

Three months left

2007-02-07T22:34:00.000-04:00

"Moi je m'adresse à tous les Français, et je trouve que les ouvriers, ce sont des résistants d'une certaine forme de civilisation. Comme les paysans, comme les artisans, et qu'il faut leur donner la parole et qu'il faut parler pour eux! Je vois pas pourquoi on ne viendrait pas dans les usines!"

"I speak to all French people, and I think factory workers are the resistants of a certain form of civilization. Like the farmers, like the artisans. You have to allow them to speak and you have to speak for them! I don't see why we couldn't go to factories!"

Nicolas Sarkozy

It's not even my favourite band!

2007-02-06T09:26:00.000-04:00

6:45. My alarm-clock rings. The weather woman announces -29 for this morning. I hear my roommates Julie and Linda get up so I force myself out of bed. After a quick breakfast, we dress the most warm as possible. No shower. We leave.

7:40. We arrive at L'Oblique, rue Rivard. There's already a pretty big line-up, but certainly not 50 people. Several people are wrapped into thick blankets, some brought chairs to be more comfortable. We head to the end of the line. "Actually I think I'm the 5oth," says the guy in front of us. What? How do you know? Did you count? How is that possible? He says someone in the line had the good idea to give informal tickets with numbers to people so that they can go home and nobody can cheat. He shows us his piece of paper: 48-49-50.
I still want to interview people as was planned for an article, except that part of the idea was to write a review of the show. But people are not really talkative, they don't even know why they like Arcade Fire. And I have to get my right hand out of the glove to push the record button, after 2 minutes my hand hurts from being cold.
Most people arrived around 5 but the first ones are there since 3 in the morning. Worse, since 11 last night they've been checking the street regularly.

8:15. So we go back home, completely frozen. I'm not sure I could've stayed in line anyway, it's too cold. I won't come back tomorrow or the days after. I saved 25 bucks!

Update
15:30. I arrive at Concordia downtown to buy mini-discs. I have to hurry up cause I'm late for my class. In the computer store, I see my friend Lucia and tell her what happened this morning. "But I know the guy who organizes the show, maybe I can call him to get you some tickets!" she replies. We leave the store and she dials the guy's number. I don't say anything, but I want her to stop. He's going to laugh at her. The show has been sold out for months, I bet he wouldn't even let his girlfriend enter the venue. I feel bad, I'm gonna be the naive girl who thinks she can get tickets at the last moment.
Under my eyes, Lucia gets me a deal for Thursday night. She didn't even push it. Just a question and an answer. I have to give flyers to people at the end of the show and I'll be able to see it before.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

2007-02-05T01:22:00.000-04:00

So Brett Dennen was really nice, the guy is good. But I must say I almost fell asleep. God it's Sunday night and he's playing such a quiet music! I know, this is a horrible review.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is coming to town. That means you have to go. They will be performing at Place-des-Arts on February 22, 23 and 24. If you're a student, you can have tickets for 25$, which is cheap for such a show.
I don't know much about dance but when I see reviews in the New York Times talking about them as one of the best companies in the world, I just tell myself I can't miss that.
I'll write a review of the show for The Concordian but I will post it here as well.

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards

2007-02-04T17:24:00.000-04:00

At the center of this record is my voice. I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice, I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer…I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument.

The new Tom Waits album is out. With three albums and three hours of music I didn't have the time to listen to all of it yet.

Arcade Fire extra tickets

2007-02-02T20:01:00.000-04:00

As you may not know it already, Arcade Fire will be playing from February 6 to 10 at the Ukrainian Federation. The shows are sold out, except for 50 tickets per day, which will be able at noon at a record store whose name I'm not gonna mention cause you don't deserve it. However I'm open to all propositions to give out this precious information if they involve money. Or you can look in the newspaper.

Julie @ Igloofest

2007-02-02T17:58:00.000-04:00

Probably my best picture until now. This was taken at the Igloofest something like two weeks ago.

What's going on?

2007-02-02T14:09:00.000-04:00

Sooooo why is the Big Lady back, you wonder? Because I'm booored and I'm lazy and I didn't have the courage to find something to write about this week-end. And it's been the same story for three weeks in a row. Not that I don't like to fill my time with books, actually the books I've been reading were so good that they plunged me into a state of social weirdiness and de-connection. Reading-fucked-upiness might be the right word. Fucked-upiness is a word I invented to describe my general psychological state and it made Matt laugh so I think it's pretty accurate.

So what's the plans for this week-end? Brett Dennen is at the Green Room on Sunday night. She, sorry, he plays a pretty laid-back folk music which quite suits a sunday evening mood. As for the lyrics, I don't listen to them. Which French person understands English anyway? But don't fall asleep.
Grizzly Bear will be playing at the same time a few meters away, at Main Hall, so you'll have to choose.

Josh Ritter is not coming to Montreal cause nobody booked him. WHAT HAPPENED? He comes here every year in February, it's not difficult to remember! He will be playing in Ottawa on February 13 an 14, so whoever wants to go there that night (and just that night cause I have classes the days after) tell me.

Hey, the new album of Norah Jones is CRAP. People, please stop listening to what people tell you to listen to. I think it's cool that she did "My Dear Country" though.

You missed me, didn't you?

2007-02-02T14:06:00.000-04:00

Delete. Modify. Publish. The Big Lady is back (still with her good English.)