I can’t see you, but I know you’re there.
I’m a fan of Michelangelo Antonioni’s work, so I thought I would mention that Zabriskie Point is playing this week at Cinéma du Parc through Thursday (infos en français).
It’s a rare occasion to see his stunning visual work on the big screen. Check out the slow-motion explosion footage set to Pink Floyd in the video below and you’ll see what I mean.
Montreal has hockey fever!
Someone dressed up the sculpture in Square Victoria with a certain jersey today. A prophetic gesture, given the outcome tonight.
If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad. - John Benbow in Manuscript and Proof, cited in The Making of a Name.
After several exciting, hectic and rewarding months, this is to announce that I am no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of The Code Kitchen and CakeMail, although I fully expect to collaborate on an ongoing basis with François Lane and his team.
What does this mean?
A new chapter begins…
Where’s the pot of gold?, originally uploaded by D u n c a n.
I recently moved. My new neighbourhood straddles the frontier between Outremont and Mile End.
I used to think of Outremont as being quite snobbish, and while there is an element of that, I find that it’s also quite relaxed and family-oriented, which is a nice change from the noise and frequent rudeness by drivers on the Plateau. Here, they actually stop at designated crossings that don’t have lights! (Which, in Montreal, is practically a miracle.)
Another reason I love this neighbourhood is the crazy mix of people. Hasidim, students, hipsters, artists, politicians and intellectuals all cross paths here. You never know who you might bump into.
Then there’s the general friendliness and six-degrees-or-less element. The other day I was at my new fav grocery stop on Avenue du Parc, when I bumped into an old friend who I hadn’t seen in years. We got into the what-are-you-up-to-these-days schtick, and she announces that she’s now married to the musician she was dating the last time we spoke. “Wow, congrats! What band is he with these days,” I ask, and she (somewhat shyly - Montrealers are too damn modest) mumbles the name of, ahem, a relatively unknown up-and-coming group known as … the Arcade Fire. “Oh,” I reply, feigning perplexity, “the name rings a bell.” We chuckle and I marvel silently at how fast life can change.
A few minutes later, I am fishing Greek feta out of a vat and this tall surfer-looking guy sidles up to me and starts mumbling something while cradling a bunch of asparagus in his hands. Oh-oh: crazy alert. But no, he was mumbling because a store employee was right behind him and he wanted me to know that there was a much cheaper place to buy feta right around the corner… While I enjoyed living on the Plateau, I don’t remember this sort of random act of kindness happening there.
Several of my artistic acquaintances have left Vancouver over the last few years for Toronto, Montreal and elsewhere, often complaining that the cultural scene is not as vibrant as it used to be. A recent commentary piece in The Globe and Mail claims such alienation has to do with skyrocketing housing prices:
Talk to Vancouverites in their 30s or younger, and you learn why, despite a booming economy, a lot of them doubt they’ll spend their futures here. Which can’t be good for the city’s own future. […]
In Vancouver, the rental vacancy rate is under 1 per cent. Landlords, therefore, can be very picky, and so a caste system has developed among prospective tenants. To be young is to occupy a bottom rung. […]
What does it mean that Vancouver, itself only five or six generations old, feels so unwelcoming to its latest generation? For one, the brand doesn’t fit the reality. The young city about to play host to the world’s Olympians in the prime of their youth is verging on becoming a preserve of affluent, staid boomers. Nothing cool about that.
I love Vancouver but I have to mostly agree with this assessment. I think that one of the reasons why Montreal has such a vibrant, edgy arts and music scene is that rent is reasonable enough (despite having risen quite rapidly since I arrived in 2000) that people don’t have to work all the time to live, which means they can devote some time to creative projects that fall outside the profit motive.
What can or should Montrealers do to ensure that the same fate does not befall their city?
Ooh-là, je sens que le prochain numéro d’Urbania va être chaud-chaud-chaud.
Le message ci-bas a été circulé aux abonnés de la liste d’envoi Urbania et aux membres du groupe Urbania sur Facebook:
Appel à tous
Prochain thème : : célébritésPour le prochain numéro, on se transforme en journaliste à potins. Et comme tout bon journaliste à potins, on brasse nos contacts pour obtenir du matériel juteux sur nos vedettes locales ou internationales. Du matériel qui sera publié dans nos pages glossy, bien évidemment.
Alors, avis aux anciens busboys du Continental, à ceux qui ont un cousin producer à L.A., aux amis Facebook de Freddy Prince Junior, aux exsss de Patrick Huard (Lynda, Véro, Mahée, Nancy la barmaid du Bourbon), aux femmes de ménage d’Hollywood, aux facteurs d’Outremont, à Abeille Gélinas, aux plottes à puck des Canadiens : Urbania a besoin de vous.
1. Dans un court paragraphe, racontez-nous vos meilleures anecdotes/nuits torrides/beuveries avec des vedettes d’ici ou d’ailleurs. (Exemple : une virée chez Éric Lapointe). Fabulateurs ou mythomanes s’abstenir.
2. Livrez-nous vos meilleurs potins de stars : ceux qui n’ont jamais été révélés dans d’autres médias (confirmés ou non).
3. Envoyez-nous des photos compromettantes de vedettes (soir de beuverie, sans maquillage, à la sortie du Tap Room à 3h am)…
4. Dressez la liste des has-beens que vous aimeriez retrouver.
Vous pouvez nous faire parvenir le tout à l’adresse suivante : allovedettes@urbania.ca
Vous avez notre parole : votre nom demeurera confidentiel.P.S. : Trois abonnements seront tirés parmi tous les répondants. Si jamais, mais seulement si jamais votre photo se retrouve en page couverture, vous remporterez rien de moins qu’un abonnement à notre prestigieux magazine… à vie!
P.P.S : 100$ seront remis à quiconque mettra la main sur un Tampax© usagé, ayant appartenu à Marie-Élaine Thibert.
Aux dires de Nelly Arcan, il risque d’avoir plus de matériel sur les hommes vedettes que sur les femmes, car « 85% des groupies ont comme idole un homme », fait qui peut être décourageant du point de vue de l’égalité des sexes, mais peut-être soulageant cette fois-ci pour les starlettes…
We think what’s happening during sleep is that you open the aperture of memory and are able to see this bigger picture. - Neuroscientist Matthew Walker in a NYTimes article.
So, here I am, working at the office, and we’re all sending instant messages across the room instead of actually talking to each other. Real geeks, huh? Maybe, but I think the phenomenon may have as much to do with maintaining productivity-enhancing silence in an open-concept office.
