People start sending you reminders by fax!
(Hey, at least now I know somebody reads this thing, right?)
Archive
I’ve been busy lately. Too busy. Rushing to finish a big Web project before running off to play in NYC, hence the lack of posts.
But I still need to satisfy my news junkie urges. News podcasts to the rescue! My favourite is the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent (also available on iTunes), which paints world events in a slightly personal light. Perfect for those days when you don’t have time to read the newspaper and clean house. Pop it in your iPod, do the dishes, fold laundry, run errands, whatever.
Now all I need is for CBC Radio to finally offer podcast versions of World Report and The World at Six. They have streaming versions on their respective websites, but if I’m sitting in front of my computer, I’m probably doing something that requires my full attention.
Moment Factory, a Montreal-based creative studio specializing in video production and visual environments for events, shows and communications, recently gave their website a facelift. Visitors will find an improved interface for viewing hundreds of high-quality videos (aka moments) and 60-second shorts (aka minutes) by talented video artists and VJs from Montreal and around the world.
You can watch every moment in full screen, have a pop-up player while you’re working, continuous and random play, a search tool to find your favorite moments, and even an online submit tool giving you easy access to our FTP. While we’ll be adding new functionalities throughout the year, the cat is out of the bag! So tune in, click random, go full screen, and let it play for all eternity. Better than TV, every moment is timeless.
Video maestros can use the site’s submit tool to propose their creations for screening at Moment Factory’s regular “Minute Moments” events and for broadcast on the Moment Factory site.
Moment Factory also has a video podcast on iTunes that you can subscribe to.
Nicolas Ritoux, un ami journaliste artisan de phrases bien apprêtés, vient de répondre à l’appel (irrésistible ?) du carnétisme. Son discours inaugural m’a fait éclater de rires :
Il fut un temps où je collaborais à plusieurs sites Web, où j’écrivais de longs discours sur les listes de discussion, et où je poussais l’effort jusqu’à écrire à des jeunes filles sur Réseau Contact. Je viens seulement récemment de retrouver cette fibre de l’écriture bénévole.
Cette réconciliation est peut-être le fruit des trente ans que je viens de me prendre en pleine face. Je me sens soudainement investi d’un paquet de responsabilités : avoir des enfants, m’engager sérieusement avec une femme, devenir sobre, sain et non fumeur, et toutes ces choses qu’on attend d’un homme adulte.
Quoique Nicolas écrivais des textes sur le Web bien avant que les blogues existaient, il ironise sur son sort en disant que « À première vue, créer mon blogue après tout le monde en 2006, c’est pas fort pour un journaliste techno qui se veut à la pointe du progrès. » Je me suis dit un peu près la même chose ce printemps : pour un rédacteur-traducteur qui est sollicité par des agences Web experts en expérience utilisateur afin de réviser leur rapports et gérer la création de textes adaptées à la lecture sur l’écran, c’est drôle que je n’avais pas de blogue.
Ceci dit, je ne crois pas qu’on devrait faire un truc simplement parce que c’est nouveau ou parce que c’est à la mode. Je lis des blogues depuis que ça existe ; je n’avais pas envie d’en avoir un jusqu’à tout dernièrement. Sommes-nous arrivés tard à cette fête carnétiste ? Peut-être. Mais ce n’est pas le premier arrivé qui compte. L’important est d’être encore debout (et intéressant) quand la fête poursuit et bat son plein. Pour ça, c’est jamais trop tard de se joindre à la fiesta.
The design hounds at Bureau officiel have been dutifully working to augment your arty T-shirt collection. Their latest T-shirt design was created on the occasion of an installation by two of their crew, Jean-Sébastien Baillat and Mathieu Bélanger, at Escales improbables.
You like? Wear it for a mere $22 CAN. Email your specs to baya[at]lebureauofficiel.com (his or hers American Apparel T in small, medium or large). Available in white only. The writing on the back is inside the T-shirt; I’m sure Naomi Klein would approve.
This weekend, Montreal’s Old Port is the setting for an art happening, Les escales improbables, which translates as “unlikely ports of call” in English.
Featuring artists from Quebec, France and Morocco, the event promises everything from “musical siestas to interactive performances, from impromptu concerts to philosophical conversations,” all with the goal of (re)learning how to do nothing but see, hear, feel and be.
My good friends Les Passagers, a VJ outfit that also has a couple of art installations to their credit, are presenting an installation and performance entitled L’homme-Oiseau. Collaborators include Lyne Nault (human/bird), Steve Savage (words), and Dany Fraser (sound).
Good thing the coming weekend is a long one, because there’s going to be a lot to pack into what appears to be too few days after sifting through the options. I finally had to resort to making a sort of schedule, which looks something like this:
- Friday night - Boyz Noize at Neon Nights
- Saturday (day) - Escales Improbables then Osheaga
- Saturday night - MEG @ Metropolis
- Sunday (day) - Osheaga
- Sunday night - chill!
- Monday afternoon - Piknik Électronik
Any dissenting opinions? Fellow travellers?
PS If you didn’t click on “chill”, you should: it’s a great read…
Friday. We gather on a rooftop, Montreal at our feet. Planes thunder and whine overheard. Grenache in my glass, the murmur of the city in my ears. We converse, swill, and hold forth some more. There is nowhere else we would rather be.
Brimming with good food and conversation, we spill into the street. The river of asphalt carries us along. We fall in with fast friends and tumble up some stairs. Cold, clicky sounds and warm bodies. Smiles are currency in an economy of fun.
Good things do not come to an end. They break for pizza.
Tonight (and every Friday if I’m not mistaken UPDATE: actually, it’s a monthly that tends to fall on the last Friday of the month–my bad), Montreal’s fabled Musique Risquée label hosts you and your dancing shoes at Academy, 4445 St-Laurent, starting at 10 pm. Cover is $8.
This Friday’s lineup:
ARK - Live
(Circus Company, Perlon / France)
AKUFEN - Dj
(Musique Risquée)
VINCENT LEMIEUX - Dj
(Musique Risquée)
MC will be in da house. And you?
I’m off with some friends to New York city from September 7-10. It’s compensation for what will have been an insane month, work-wise.
Any cultural/nightlife/shopping/food suggestions are welcome, although I’m sure there will be no lack of things to do!
Photo from friend and blogging inspiration, MC Turgeon!