An informative exhibition featuring Agatha Christie's life was at The Pointe-à-Callière museum in Montreal. She is known as the "Queen of Crime" with sixty-six mysteries; six novels written as Mary Westmacott; and a hundred and fifty short stories, eighteen plays and two memoirs under her belt. From her sleuthing couple Tommy and Tuppence to her sharply witted Miss Marple to her "greatest detective who ever lived" Hercule Poirot.
I have read only one of her books and despite my love of reading, I enjoy Agatha Christie's stories much more on television. It's easier for me when it comes to mystery novels because seeing the suspects with their unique characteristics helps organize them in my mind.
The museum split the exhibition between two floors. This post will focus on Agatha's life up until her archaeological digs.
]]> The ExhibitionWhen I entered the dimly lit room, a large poster of Agatha herself greeted me. She looked to the future with determination and a craving for adventure in her eyes. At our feet lay a garden of poisons she no doubt used in her many books. Tables lined the walls with photographs and paintings of Agatha and her household taken during her childhood. Dogs were always present in Agatha's life; her first dog was named Scotty. There were many people in this area, so I was unable to view this part of Agatha's life.
The room snaked around a corner and I stopped to view a representation of a nurse's grey, (possibly made of linen), outfit Agatha would have worn during WWI. Opposite were photos of her first husband, Archie Christie, and their daughter, Rosalind. Set before the photos were some of Rosalind's baby possessions with her name engraved on them. Further down this quaint corridor were more posters, bilingual videos and display cases. Old versions of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot books were out for us to admire. How different the covers were in style compared to the ones sold in Indigo today! Time had made the colors fade. There was an interview of David Suchet, who played the defining version of Poirot, along with Agatha herself, except we could only listen to her voice. Her voice reminded me of Virginia Woolf's. In the sound bite, Agatha compared Poirot to Marple and how "[h]e would never fit in her world".
In this same area, a display case housed postcards Agatha had kept on her many trips to Canada. A fact that will interest fellow Montrealers is this: "Agatha Christie briefly visited Montréal in 1922, while on a world tour with her first husband, Archie."
Throughout the entire exhibition, visitors could see her actual notebooks. As a writer myself, I looked at one open notebook and couldn't help but smile at the recognition of the hurried scribbles only the author could understand. I think all writers do this for even now, as I write this post, I am consulting my notebook and its chicken scratched notes. However, I could pick out a few words from Agatha's notebooks, such as 'Mr.', 'butler' and specific names. Her notes didn't seem to be in sentence form.
"I myself always found the love interest a terrible bore in
detective stories... However, at that point detective stories always
had to have a love interest ― so there it was."
― Agatha Christie
Curiously, there was a book where Agatha wrote about a Mr. Harley Quin. I know that Agatha had a Poirot story (The Victory Ball) that featured the harlequin figure, but I didn't know she had written a solo book on him. I didn't get a chance to read much about it since there was a large tour group coming up behind me and not too much space in this corridor.
Before I rounded the second corner, my eye caught a display with a skull on it. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was false, but realistically crafted nonetheless. The plaque below it said that Agatha had been part of 'The Detection Club' and had been their president from 1957 until her death in 1976. Initiates had to take an oath on the skull, who was named Eric. There wasn't any back story for his name which was the interesting part, in my opinion.
Round the corner were curtains with the design of the Orient Express opposite a small model of the famous train. I have a soft spot for trains and I have to admit, this was a beautiful setup. The museum staff had also prepared life-sized representations of the dining car and the sleeping car. The tea sets and luxurious china that sparkled in the dimly-lit corridor were complimented with the sound of a train whistling and running on the tracks. The movie of Murder on the Orient Express (with Albert Finney as Poirot) silently played on one of the walls.
Check back for Agatha's archaeological digs in Part 2.
Photo credit: Caroline Bergeron
Bibliography:
http://www.pacmusee.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/agatha-christie-and-archaeology
http://www.agathachristie.com/experience/investigating-agatha-christie
]]>I'm sure many of you have been stuck working with people who rely upon the rest of the group to get the project done and all through the project, you can feel that the morale is down and people are frustrated with having to do extra work because of this one person. I've been there countless times and will probably be there again in the future; it is inescapable because jobs often involve teamwork.
I was reading a book on organizational behavior and I came across the term "social loafing". It refers to a group member who contributes very little (or nothing at all) of their time, effort or any other resource to the group. To think that there has been a word out there to descibe those annoying group members! And, I would never have guessed that "loafing" would be an official term.
]]> About.com suggests some explanations for social loafing:There have been times where I have lacked the motivation for the project because I didn't like the people I had been put with, I didn't like the project we were given or other people in the group immediately took on the role of leader so I would step back and keep an eye on the direction of the conversation and project. But I always have the sense of getting the job done and done right whether I like what I'm doing or not because there is a deadline to meet or marks to be earned and I know I won't be working on this project for the rest of my life.
However, not everyone thinks or feels this way.
What I use for motivation is music and movies. Two of my favorites for motivation are "Number 1" by Chaz Jankel in Real Genius (starring Val Kilmner) and "Win in the End" by Mark Safan at the end of the film Teen Wolf (starring Michael J. Fox). What can I say? I have a soft spot for 80s music and movies!
]]>
The actors were already on the small studio stage by the time the 60 or so audience members scrambled for their seats. About half were observers of the acting workshop, notepads and pens at the ready. The other half was participants who would hit the stage later that day. All morning, the performers waited patiently for the acting coach to arrive from New York City. They had been working for months on their scenes, anticipating the day they would actually be trained by the one and only Tom Todoroff. Founder of his own acting studio and conservatory, Todoroff has been coaching and directing actors for theatre, film and television for over 36 years, having taught Liam Neeson, Bob Hoskins, Robert Wagner and Alicia Witt, to name a few.
The 11th hour finally hit. Todoroff entered the studio on that chilly Saturday morning in February, slipped past the audience and discretely made his way onto the stage. He sat on his director's chair, facing the audience and angled towards the first performers of the day. They took their positions.
Cue lighting. Enter Lady Capulet, stage right, her curly hair flying wildly behind her, her nightgown, free and flowing, falling just above her bare feet. She carried in her hands a breakfast tray and placed it at her daughter's bedside. Her daughter, Juliet, distraught from learning of the death of her beloved Romeo, sat up in bed slowly, surprised at her mother's presence in her chambers, but welcoming nonetheless.
]]> They spoke of Tybolt's death, Juliet's cousin, and the sorrow it has caused her and the Capulet family. But Juliet's grief had nothing to do with Tybolt and all to do with Romeo--though she hoped it didn't appear as such to her mother, who knew nothing of the affair with Romeo. No, Lady Capulet was set on marrying Juliet off to Paris, a noble kinsman to the prince. Something she explained to her compassionately and quite calmly.The scene ended. The excerpt was no more than five minutes long, and when it was over, the observers, their faces now illuminated, clapped in appreciation. On stage, the players appeared content by their performance.
"So," Tom Todoroff said, addressing the actors from the edge of stage right. "What did you both think of that?"
Emma Elle Paterson, who played Juliet, hesitated. "I think it was good," she said, smiling sweetly. Sally Singal--Lady Capulet--merely shrugged and offered a simple, "It was okay." Wrong answer.
Todoroff's jaw tightened. "The universe is very specific," he said. "Beware of, 'it's okay.'"
TODOROFF LESSON #1: EVERYTHING MEANS SOMETHING.
It was a simple statement, but a powerful one. What does this mean in terms of talent? Are we specific to the universe, or is the universe specific to us? In other words, are we, as individuals, born with such gifts, or do we attain them only after years of practice, after we've told the universe exactly what we want?
For Carole B. Thomas, a local Montreal actor and lead producer of the Tom Todoroff Workshop, it is likely a bit of both.
At 21, she was a programmer analyst, and a damn good one, having graduated top female in her class at Dawson College. But there was only one problem--she was 21, and she was a programmer analyst.
So at 21, Thomas quit her job.
It was a decision based entirely on gut feeling, after her sister had invited her to a dance class one afternoon. Here, Thomas found a sheer passion for something new, a connection to something that had literally waltzed into her life, without warning. Thomas had no prior experience in dance, but it didn't matter to her. From that moment on, she immersed herself entirely in the art of ballet. With just months of training, Thomas decided she was going to aim for a full time scholarship with Les ballet jazz de Montreal.
"When I went to my audition, I wasn't worried about anything. It was like, what do they want? Okay, I'll do it."
TODOROFF LESSON #2: IN THE WORLD OF PHYSICS, IF YOU DO THE MOST, YOU GET THE MOST.
Fearlessly, Thomas had marched into the audition room, surrounded by applicants who had been dancing their whole lives and unperturbed by the fact that she knew close to nothing about dance terminology. She simply played the part; she dressed the way she thought a ballerina should dress, forced her small brown curls into a tight bun the way ballerinas do, and imitated every single move presented in front of her.
If you act like a duck and quack like a duck...
Out of the entire group of applicants, Thomas was the only one selected who hadn't been training most of her life. A month into the course, Thomas's teacher had discovered her secret upon staring at her blank expression during a lesson.
"Carole," her teacher had said. "You didn't understand a word I just said, did you?"
Thomas shook her head. Her classmates snickered, but the teacher held her hand up at them and asked the class to sit and observe as she danced a short, but complex routine. When she had finished, she called Thomas up to the front. "Try your best to do what I just did."
And so she did. Without a moment's hesitation, Thomas, still not knowing what exactly she was doing, visualized the routine she just witnessed, and performed it almost spot on. The class did not snicker.
From the world of dance, she emerged into theatre, where she discovered the perfect balance between her ability to sing and dance, and her talent for transforming into another character. When she auditioned for Tom Todoroff's Studio and Conservatory in New York City, she knew she had found exactly what she had been searching for all along--she was a natural-born story teller, and this was her medium of choice.
TODOROFF LESSON #3: IT'S NEVER ABOUT THE ACTING. IT'S ABOUT THE STORY.
At the acting studio is where Thomas met Marjolaine Lemieux. She has been acting for 30 years, and has studied with Todoroff since the very first time he brought his workshop to Montreal eight years ago, in December 2006.
"I have seen so many scenes start from being pretty boring to incredibly emotionally-moving and exciting," Lemieux said, explaining that Todoroff teaches that the most important aspect is to reveal the story. Over the years, Lemieux has witnessed actors improve drastically after a workshop, but has also spotted a significant weakness in actors in general--their tendency to convince themselves they are "naturals," and hence require little to no training. The reality according to Lemieux is: it's 20 per cent talent, 80 per cent work.
"Someone who has it in their heart can act if they are willing to put in the work," Thomas agreed. "It's gotta come from a truthful place; that's how I raised my girls. I tell them, 'Your whole job is to be happy. Figure out what your talents are and share it with the world.'"
For most of his life, Montreal-born actor Chris Atallah's incentive has been just that. At 18, Atallah attended his first theatre class at the Montreal School of Performing Arts and has since focused his energy on training, training, and more training. Last year, at 23-years-old, he landed his first role in a feature film and has several projects lined up in 2015. "I don't believe I was born with any special skills or talents," Atallah said. "The reason why I act is to tell stories."
TODOROFF LESSON #4: SUCCESS IN MY FIELD IS MOLECULAR, CELLULAR ATTENTION TO DETAIL.
Although every actor has adopted their own process of preparation, Atallah's training has taught him the value of method acting; in other words, recalling emotions from personal experience in order to connect with the character. He is a firm believer that real-life experience is the secret to conveying a deeper truth.
According to a 2013 article published in the Business Insider, this technique is not uncommon among A-list actors. Even after filming, Daniel-Day Lewis refused to leave his character's wheelchair in My Left Foot. Leonardo Dicaprio hardly flinched when he injured his hand during the filming of Django Unchained; he had slammed his hand on a table so hard, it bled throughout the entire scene. While filming The Reader, Kate Winslet spoke with a German accent at home to her children, even though it irritated them. Robert De Niro went all out for his role in Taxi Driver; the actor obtained a taxi license and drove around New York City in a cab during his off-time.
For Chris Atallah, suiting-up and strutting around Wall Street for a week before filming Home by Now, currently in post-production, helped him walk the stockbroker walk, and talk the stockbroker talk. The technique qualified Atallah to gain a better understanding of his character's mindset after walking a mile in his shoes. Literally.
Details, details, details.
TODOROFF LESSON #5: MY WARDROBE AND MY PREPARATION SPEAK BEFORE I DO.
Back onstage in the studio, Emma Elle Paterson and Sally Singal looked as though they had taken a beating. Talented though they were, they felt far from it. In a little less than an hour, Todoroff had insulted their delivery, their wardrobe choices, even the way they critiqued themselves.
For the umpteenth time, Singal defended the artistic choices she made. "But I wanted this moment between Juliet and her mother to be special," she said, claiming, again, that this was the reason behind her hippy nightgown, warm breakfast-tray gesture, and bare feet, which, according to Todoroff, were utterly uncharacteristic of Lady Capulet.
The room erupted with laughter because by now, they knew it was merely pride speaking. She couldn't help but laugh a little, too. Everyone, including herself, was thinking the same thing: perhaps the lady doth protest too much.
Todoroff smiled. She had endured a lot of criticism in a very short time. He had interrupted her in many instances after every line, correcting her delivery and saying things like, "be aware of the downwards tone. Go upwards," and, "no, Lady Capulet isn't merciful. Say it firmly!" By the end of it, the audience felt their pain. The players on stage appeared drained, even irritated.
But Todoroff insisted. "Now, let's try the scene in full. Again."
TODOROFF LESSON #5: YOUR LIFE OCCURS IN MOMENTS. SAVOUR EACH ONE.
Cue lighting. Enter Lady Capulet, stage right, this time, her hair twisted in a tight bun. She held her chin up, the inappropriate wardrobe no longer distracting. She carried nothing with her but a powerful, presiding presence.
Her daughter, Juliet, distraught from learning of the death of her beloved Romeo, sat bolt upright in bed, straightening up for her stringent mother who was about to enter her bed chambers. Juliet stirred uncomfortably.
Lady Capulet strutted about the room, displaying nothing but false smiles and a commanding nature. Juliet's grief over "her cousin" was not an important matter. In fact, she should get over it and think only of Paris, a nobleman, who she was ordered, quite plainly, to marry without delay. This was not a matter for discussion. Lady Capulet's' voice shook in anger as she raised it at her daughter, shrill and sharply. Her last words lingered over the studio until, completely taken aback, the audience applauded and cheered. They were awestruck, inspired, moved.
On stage, the players beamed at their own performance.
For more information on Tom Todoroff's upcoming workshops, visit www.tomtodoroff.com.
]]>
By 2015, the City of Montreal should have reached a recycling rate of 70 per cent -- a goal set by the provincial government in its action plan for household waste -- but in reality, Montreal's recycling rate has barely even attained its 2008 goal of 60 per cent. In the 2014 report on waste collection, which is released every second year, the recycling rate remains stagnant at 58.3 per cent -- a mere 0.3 per cent increase from 2012.
In a Montreal Gazette article published on Sep. 2 of this year, Réal Ménard, the executive committee member in charge of the city's environment portfolio, said that overall, the 2014 report is positive but there is still much work to be done. "Globally, we are sending less garbage to landfill sites," he explained. "We have to obviously continue our actions to encourage citizens to recycle more and participate in the new collection of food waste."
]]> But what both Mr. Menard and the report fail to expand upon are the adverse effects that some municipal bylaws have on the City of Montreal's sustainable practices; for instance, in the borough of Saint-Leonard, the city does not distribute recycling bins to businesses or arrange pick-up of any kind -- rather, business owners must hire their own private recycling service. As a result, recycling is simply not a priority due to the costs and planning involved.Since the City of Montreal's recycling rates are not increasing rapidly enough, then the focus must be shifted from urging residents to recycle to implementing a recycling plan for business establishments. In the 1998 Canadian Waste Management Guide for small and medium businesses, it stated that the Quebec government was relying on the direct contribution of small businesses to reach their 2008 objective, and that as a result, businesses executives should expect to see new requirements and constraints added to the ones they were already facing on a daily basis. And yet nearly 18 years later, in an age in which sustainable development is increasingly acknowledged in everyday life, the province's most populated, international city is allowing some of its boroughs to pass bylaws that diminish the value and urgency of controlling our city's waste management -- that's more than 58,000 establishments in industry, businesses, and institutions that could/should be contributing towards the City of Montreal's objective to achieve a 70 per cent recycling rate.
In a blurb published on ville.montreal.qc.ca under the Montréal Community Sustainable Development Plan subsection, it states that their goal for 2019 is to recover 80 per cent of recyclable and organic materials, in accordance with the Municipal Waste Management Master Plan. Their most notable action plans are the collection of various recyclable materials, the distribution of new recycling bins, and the implementation of a program that eliminates residue from residential construction, renovations, and demolition. In another generic statement, it adds "of course, reduction at the source is still the most effective means to reduce the amount of residual materials produced...All sectors of activity can contribute to reducing residual materials slated for elimination by implementing their own recovery programs."
With the City of Montreal still behind 12.7 per cent from achieving its 2014 goal, it is infeasible to reach its 2019 objective of an 80 per cent recycling rate -- a 22 per cent increase from today -- without executing more austere measures.
]]>I prefer the act of writing for its:
I like typing for its:
I didn't grow up in an environment that was dependent upon computers and I didn't have the luxury of having portable electronic devices. Because I don't have any portable electronic devices, I keep a notebook with me and whenever inspiration strikes, I write. My travel time is rather long so I spend my time writing out stories, poems and, of course, blog posts.
When I was at the bus depot waiting for my bus, I was writing a poem when suddenly this young guy--I'd said he was a senor in high school--asked me what I was doing. I told him I was writing a poem and he replied, "You don't see that anymore." He even said he thought poetry was dead! I gave him a confused look and said, "No," and continued writing before I lost my thoughts.
I've included this Ted Talk which helped me write this blog post. I hope you enjoy it as much I did:
]]>
And is continually explored by Éric Soucy (aka FI3200) and myself (aka The (Only) Red Wolf).
The Goblin Tunnels are underground portals belonging to another dimension. Different creatures live in them and they enter our world to cause havoc and to bring things, and people, back into the Goblin Tunnels.
To see past installments, click here and here. Victor and Éric produce the mind-blowing photographs and I provide them with the occasional written piece (poetry and stories).
Warning: Here is the latest installment but to better understand the following story, please read "Resurgence" first.
IN MEMORY OF DAVID BOWIE: 1947-2016
]]> The Goblin Tunnels: Hail to the King (and His Final Moments)He watched his followers invade the other world. He waited for the last of them to exit the atrium before he withdrew into the Goblin Tunnels.
The Goblin King meandered ponderously into the hallway. His feet were silent against the cold cement floor. After delivering his speech, his blood was beginning to cool, the heat soaked up by the architecture around him.
Wires were a major decoration of the Goblin Tunnels. They snaked the floors, ready to catch the clumsiest of creatures. In some of the smaller hallways, such as this one, there was an abundance of wires hanging down; a couple of them were looped and camouflaged in this rubber jungle so the few creatures who would blindly run through would be caught by the neck thereby thinning out the herd.
The Goblin King pushed aside wire after wire. He knew the locations of all the traps since he had helped build many of the Goblin Tunnels. He was also very curious as to how things worked and he liked being several steps ahead of his enemies as well as those who were not his enemies. The only creature you could trust was yourself.
The Goblin King ascended the staircase and stood before an immense in-ground pool of light. Thin wisps of heat were emitted by the lights, encompassing the Goblin King in a warm fog; he felt shivers slithering across his body.
Normally, he would have gone with his followers to the human world. Normally, the Goblin King enjoyed watching what his words caused his devoted creatures to do in the name of fear and havoc. But on this occasion of the empty Goblin Tunnels, he just wanted to listen to the silence. As he did, the shadows in the corners seemed to grow and the expanse of the room seemed to gradually shrink. With his every breath, the Goblin King had the sense that the room wanted to swallow him and for the first time, the Goblin Tunnels reminded him of a tomb. He hurried out into the hallway, his heart hammering wildly. Looking back into the room, all was as it should be.
Continuing down the hallway at a slow pace, the Goblin King took deep breaths. The path he took twisted and turned. It was for some time he walked and he would have continued on uninterrupted had it not been for a sudden light appearing in the corner of his eye. Turning, he knowingly stared at that portal, remembering the shock and fear. The Goblin King had gone through that portal as a lad. And through that portal were steam pipes.
It had only been a few months since the Goblin Tunnels had acquired him, but he had already grown accustom to his new way of life. The physical and physiological changes had already begun and he had gone through many portals prior to this one. There had been nothing to worry about; however he was alone this time. The young Goblin walked through the faint, pulsating light that signalled the existence of a portal and he was immediately hit with a heat wave.
"That place was welcoming", recalled the Goblin King, "Until those pipes emitted that... sound. That cursèd sound."
The young Goblin had frozen in panic as the piercing, high-pitched whistle blew. The familiarity of the sound had shocked his mind and caused him to flee back into the safety of the Goblin Tunnels. The Goblin King turned abruptly, continuing down the hall for the memory of her voice to return to its grave in the steam pipes.
He entered a storage room with square shelving built into the walls. The Goblin King had been exceptionally proud of this project, for who would have thought to organize chaos? He ran a clawed hand over the glittering green limestone and when he came to a smooth patch, it gave him reason to pause. The Goblin King now had a clear view of his appearance. There was that human face of his staring back. He had never fully turned into a goblin and he never understood why that was, however, he had been accepted despite this abnormality. After several years had passed, he had earned the title of King for his visionary outlook and his service to the Goblin Tunnels.
The Goblin King ran his eyes all over his reflection in wonderment. He couldn't remember if his eyes had always been two different colors or if his nose had changed shape. Really, all that the Goblin Tunnels had done to him was exaggerate his own features: a few teeth had transformed into fangs, his finger and toe nails had elongated into claws and the hair on his head and chest had grown three times longer from their original length (whatever that had been). As he stared at his unchanged face, the question turned round his mind. As if in defiance, he dragged his claws across his reflection, pleasurably cringing at the sound they made on the stonework before he left the room.
Up another set of stairs and the Goblin King was at the entrance to his throne room. With red walls several stories high standing resolutely before him, pride swelled within him. This was his favorite part of the Goblin Tunnels. He believed that the entrance represented his essence. The Goblin King was a sentinel that would lead his creatures out of the Dark Ages and restore the world the humans had destroyed. As a smirk grew on his face, he entered.
The throne room matched the height of the entrance with a golden throne standing at the farthest end; this was where he granted an audience with his loyal subjects and where all gathered after venturing into the human world. He imagined what they would bring back from this particularly passionate attack. The Goblin King stood at the center of the room, turning his back on his golden throne. He was lost in revelry as he admired all that he had done since his succession.
"So this is where you've been all this time."
The Goblin King's body became rigid. It was the voice from the steam pipes. He turned around with dread and saw a young woman sitting on his throne. She was a woman he remembered all too well; she was a woman he should not have remembered at all.
"You shouldn't be here!" he impulsively shouted.
"Is that how you welcome me to your kingdom?" she asked as she rose. He reluctantly eyed her slender, dark skin as she moved towards him like a tiger in her slinky gold dress. Emotions he had buried long ago began to crawl out of their graves and take hold of him.
"No!" he shouted in rebellion.
She stopped, startled, "But, you promised. You said you'd be mine forever," she showed him her hand that had a ring on one of her fingers, "You're my love, my Da--"
He rushed at her and pointed his clawed finger at her neck.
"That is not my name. Don't ever say that name. I am the Goblin King!" he roared.
"But, Da--"
He struck her across the face, his claws scratching her eye. She fell to the tiled floor and clutched her face. Despite the stabbing pain and blood she felt, the blow had hurt him more.
She began to sob. Without thinking, he knelt down beside her.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Hot tears blinded him as he put his arms around her, "I'm so sorry."
With his head against hers, he rocked back and forth, "I don't know what I am anymore. I was of your world, then this world and now... I don't know anymore," his body shook as he tried to keep everything in.
She raised her bloody hand to his face, mingling his tears with her blood. Looking up at him, she said, "My darling, you see what this world has done to you, but you don't see that inside, you're still human."
"I don't know what to do."
She turned to face him, still encircled by his arms, "Open up your heart to me once more."
They were inches from each other. He could feel the warmth from her body. The memories were coming back to him, bringing him back to life.
"You haven't changed," she said with a small smile despite the pain, "Nothing could ever make you change."
And with that, he pressed his lips to hers with an almost-forgotten passion that overwhelmed him.
* * *
The devoted creatures of the Goblin Tunnels returned victoriously: many were covered in blood, carrying parts to use in the Goblin Tunnels' expansion and others had new, unconscious recruits slung over their shoulders.
They filed through the portals with cheers on their lips or stories of their moments in battle as they headed towards the Goblin King's golden throne. After venturing into the human world, it was there they always gathered to bring their stolen goods before his worthy gaze.
Through this labyrinth of tunnels, they reached his Royal Highness's throne and upon entering were greeted with a shocking sight. They drew near. Seated on his throne was the Goblin King, his arms open and laying on the arm rests and his head resting against his motionless chest. The Goblin King was still in his war uniform, apparently unscathed. Upon further inspection, one of the creatures cried, "He's bleeding!"
They opened his jacket and saw a bloody, gaping hole where his heart should have been.
"The King is dead!"
"The King has been killed!"
"An intruder! An intruder!"
"Find the intruder!"
Like lightening, the cry spread through the immense crowd of creatures returning from battle. They scrambled to find the intruder, all the while in disbelief that such a thing had happened. None of them had bothered to look at the Goblin King's face; although, even if they had, they would never have understood his expression. The creatures understood very little of the human race.
Out into the labyrinth of tunnels they ran and searched and searched and ran, but they would never find the intruder, if there had ever been one. They would never find his heart either, for although the Goblin Tunnels had claimed the Goblin King's body long ago, they would never have his heart.
]]>Last week when David Bowie's latest, (and now last), album Blackstar came out, I watched the video he did for his song "Blackstar" and I found that the video was jam-packed with religious symbolism; this was odd even for Bowie, in my opinion, because I have listened to a wide range of Bowie's music and observed his changing styles and themes and his consistent ones and felt that something was off. I wondered, why is there so much of this theme? And as I listened to his other songs on the album, my suspicions and questions grew. Why are there so many repetitions of death and death-reated things like tombstones and heaven? Watching Bowie himself in his video of "Blackstar" also made me wonder why he looked so much older.
It was only this morning when I heard news of his passing and his 18 months of battling cancer and I was deeply saddened. ANd as I played his various albums to personally commemorate his achievements, a thought struck me: "Black. Star. Black often means death and star is a synonym for a celebrity. Was his album connected to his illness?" and like a flash, I went onto the internet and immediately found this article that matched my train-of-thought:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/jan/11/was-david-bowie-saying-goodbye-on-blackstar
And it is confirmed that Blackstar was his "parting gift":
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12092542/Bowies-last-album-was-parting-gift-for-fans-in-carefully-planned-finale.html
We all say "thank you" to you, David Bowie, David Jones. He was a brilliant writer to whom I shall always turn to help me write, to help me stay true to myself and to comfort me in my sadness.
]]> As Felix Felicis (@LuckoftheDraw86) on Twitter wrote: "May the Labyrinth guide you home."I have written a fanfiction based on Bowie's Labyinth character Jared the Gobin King and I have included him in another project I am collaborating on with Éric Soucy called the Goblin Tunnels:
Fanfiction Pt 1: http://redwolfsroom.blogspot.ca/2014/03/as-world-falls-down-wolfina-escapade.html
Fanfiction Pt 2: http://redwolfsroom.blogspot.ca/2014/04/as-world-falls-down-wolfina-escapade.html
The Goblin Tunnels: https://medium.com/goblin-tunnel/the-goblin-tunnel-resurgence-1d685f25c0a0#.xq5vvecd9
]]>After several days of having a cold, my mind is eventually swept under waves of confusion, repetition and forgetfulness. Out of these three types of waves, the one I hate the most is repetition. Things said, seen or heard will repeat endlessly in my mind and I lack the energy to push it away and focus on something else. It's as if my mind cannot absorb the usual information it receives so everything seeps in at an extremely slow pace. Being only the third day of having a cold, I mostly have clarity, however, the want to stare at a wall all day is tempting right now as well as going back to bed.
I wonder if it's best to have a cold as school recommences since there aren't any projects yet, heavy studying or exams to complete.
Colds turn writing into very long chores because thinking is difficult enough without having to focus on what it is you have to write about. And when I'm finally finished writing and I go back over my work, I'm not even sure I'm making any sense. Reading is equally arduous; the mind wanders constantly before you realize you're still holding the book without a clue as to what it says.
Unfortunaltely, colds are an occupational hazard for us writers. And students.
Here's to your health!
]]>Restraining your creative impulses only creates a build-up of negative energy that leads to destruction of yourself or of relationships with those around you. Creativity is as important as exercise. It must be done a little each day.
We all need to do activities that help us escape, either mentally or physically, our present life. That's why we create in the first place. We need a place where we can go to cope with sorrow and anger or to celebrate our happiness. I have several creative activities that I do depending on my mood or the amount of free time I have. Among other things, I birdwatch. Here are some of my snapshots:
American Goldfinch
I also write poetry and short stories. And, of course, blogging is another one of my creative activities.
So, keep creatiing!
]]>L'irruption into Freedom
The words flowed well. The drums were powerful; the guitar electrifying. The rhythm helped her feel stronger even though she knew it was only temporary. She understood the meaningful lyrics despite her oblivion to the entire language. As the song ended, her strength slowly drained from her and she was brought back to her problem. A problem which she faced daily ever since she could remember.
Véronique sat in the booth alone with her Walkman. She finished her fries and replaced her Walkman in her bag, zipping it shut. Nearby, Véronique could hear a group of teens talking. They were speaking English, she knew. She knew because she often listened to English music behind her mother's back. Véronique wanted to join in the conversation but couldn't because of the boundaries her mother had set ever since Véronique had begun to speak. She lived in Quebec and could not fathom why the French will not accept any other language.
After dumping her trash, she walked home. The weather was frosty and bleak. The wind blew against her. As soon as Véronique arrived home, the phone rang.
-- Véronique ? C'est Michelle. C'que tu veux aller au Centre Ville 'vec moi et André ?
-- Euh... je...j'peux pas.
-- Ah, OK. Ben, bonne journée, Roni !
-- Oui. Toi 'si.
The phone's dial tone rang in her ear. Véronique wanted to go downtown but her mother forbad her because she believed English was the only language spoken there. Véronique felt the weight of the house's emptiness. Her father was at work and her mother was probably running errands.
]]> Véronique relaxed in her room before going to work the late shift at La Cache boutique. Originally, she had wanted to work at Simons or The Bay but most of Véronique's preferred stores had English names for which her mother held a grudge.She left the house and arrived at work punctually. Véronique's colleagues were already there, getting ready for their shifts.
After running the cash for awhile, she went on the floor to fix the clothing racks. Véronique ran into one of her guy friends.
-- Salut, Roni ! She turned upon hearing her name.
-- Rémi ! Qu'est c'que tu fais ici?
Véronique had a crush on Rémi. His sleek, long black hair and dark eyes gave him a mysterious allure. It took her breath away.
-- Ma mère cherche des nouveaux draps de lit. Et, toi ?
-- Ben, je travaille ici. Ça fait quelques mois. She smiled.
-- Tu sais, ça fait un long bout d' temps qu'on s'connaît, n'est-ce-pas ?
-- Ben...oui.
Véronique wasn't sure what Rémi was trying to say. It was a struggle for him to get the words out, at first.
-- Veux-tu... venir 'vec moi ....après ton shift?
Véronique was about to accept his offer when she heard a horrible sound.
"Remy? Oh, there you are! I've found some sheets," Remy's mother saw Véronique, "Is this a friend from school?"
"Yes, this is Véronique."
-- Véronique, ma mère.
Before she knew what she was saying, Véronique blurted out, "Hi."
She didn't know what had happened. All she could think about was her mother's horrified expression because she spoke a different language.
"Hello," she smiled before turning to Remy, "I'll be at the cash, okay?"
"Alright," His mother walked away.
-- Tu parles...anglais ?
-- Ouais. Alors... le souper ?
-- Oui ...euh, non...oui...j'ai aucune idée.
-- J'comprend pas.
-- Est-c'que j'peux te téléphoner demain ?
-- Euh, ouais.
-- D'accord. Faut que j'range les vêtements.
Véronique turned and walked away, broken-hearted and confused. If her mother ever found out that she was friends with someone English... Véronique stopped. She wanted to be with Rémi and she was not going to let a little thing like language get in her way. After sixteen years of not crossing her mother's line, Véronique had had enough.
When she arrived home from work, her mother, Janelle, was already there. Janelle was a short woman with good taste in jewellery and clothes, but not in make-up. She wore too much rouge. It clashed with her hair color which was also a shade of red. Véronique was more like her father.
-- Véronique, qu'est ce que tu veux manger ce soir?
Véronique took a deep breath...and answered:
"I want to have pizza for supper."
Her mother froze; her face ghostly pale.
-- QUOI!?
Véronique stood firm. She boldly repeated her response and without a translation.
Janelle pointed a finger at her.
-- Ici, dans cette maison et dans ce pays, on parle le FRAAAN. ÇAIS !
-- Mais ça pas d'bon sens ! On utilise le smoking, le week-end, une pizza. Pourquoi pas toute la langue ?
-- Parce que c'est comme ça. Point finale.
Janelle opened a cabinet to retrieve the dishes.
-- Non. Je parlerai c'que je veux...
Janelle looked at her daughter and parted her thick red lips to speak, but Véronique plowed on.
-- Et j'me tiendrais 'vec les gens qui me plaît. She walked towards her room.
-- AIE ! Tu restes ici, Véronique !!
Véronique whirled around to face her mother.
"You can't stop me. C'est fini, Ma, pour toujours!" Véronique went to her room and shut the door.
]]>]]>
who have dozens of unfinished creative projects hidden in an arbitrarily-named folder on your desktop;
who have endured internship after internship completing arduous tasks and hoping that maybe--someday--the company will find it in their budget to hire you; who, despite the monetary struggles, skeptical family members, disappointments, and failures, have still not given up--this blog is for you.
You're reading this because you can't help but feel a disconnect with people that surround you.
This is not to say you lack sympathy or sensitivity (you have plenty of that), but as an avid observer of the human condition, you are a spectator peering through a looking-glass--one with compelling characters whose stories are waiting to be told.
You're reading this because you are hell-bent on telling those stories.
If this is you on some level, then I may have some words that will inspire you to push and thrive, in spite of your inner doubts and latent fears.
For now, I leave you with this video-- a speech by Neil Gaiman that I wish I had heard years ago:
What inspired me to bring a journal on my travels were the Nancy Drew mystery games made by Herinteractive. In most of the games, the mystery begins with Nancy reading a letter she has written to her friends, father, housekeeper or boyfriend and in later games, she has a journal which gamers can refer to for observations, phones numbers and the like. In the Herinteractive Merchandise store, you can even purchase a Nancy Drew-themed journal which, of course, I had to have! I long to fill my journals with my travels to Ireland, England, Denmark, New York, Venice, Australia...the list continues. That's another reason why I am so in love with those Nancy Drew games; with their combination of music and graphics, the countries Nancy visits fuel my want to travel.
]]>It was late afternoon on a crisp September day. I was standing in front of the old Forum, half a block up from St. Catherine and Atwater, waiting for a friend to emerge from the Mêtro for a quick dinner downtown. Montréal's weather was changing suddenly, as it often does between seasons, and some people were still wearing shorts and sandals, while others had found their jackets and pullovers, and even the occasional long winter coat.
A river of people burst by, it was the height of evening rush hour. Ahead, a small-framed man in a brown windbreaker sat in a wheelchair, a head full of combed-through Brylcreamed hair, holding out an empty carton coffee cup. He looked up. No one slowed, no one looked at him, he was seemingly invisible, on the edge of the stream of commuters, an object eluding collision. As the rush receded, he lowered his cup and then his gaze, and disappeared into the infinity spot, his eyes swimming about two feet ahead...gone. Then he came back, animated by a game nonchalance, he smirked, "Am I going to have to hurt somebody?"
I choked off a guffaw; I couldn't suppress that knife into the heart. What will it take to be seen, to be valued and validated...how many miles?
]]>Yes, they are--but that's what's so great about them! Books are from the past, and since everyone is born at one point in time and dies at another, who better to teach us about what we aren't around to see than books?
Books have been around for about five thousand years and in many different forms. They were in the form of portable clay tablets that were used by Mesopotamians; Egyptians used papyrus scrolls; then parchment was the preferred material used for bookmaking all over Europe.
People use books everyday. Books are our teachers, our entertainers. They are the key to the past and a window into the minds of others. Books contain stories and knowledge. And "knowledge is power" (Sir Francis Bacon).
]]>
Books are also our guides to life's obstacles and curve-balls. Jesse Lee Bennett said, "Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life." Not only are they educators, they reveal many of life's wonders. Books reveal the mystical stories behind the stars, the greatness of Abraham Lincoln and Socrates. Books show us the strangeness of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales and reveal the the world's scientific discoveries like Marie Curie's work with radioactivity. Books let us experience the blazing hot sands of the Sahara desert and the majestic beauty of the Amazon forest. But the best part about books is that they let our imaginations run rampant.
Although I am more of a brick-and-mortar type of person when it comes to books, I like e-books because they allow even more people the chance to read because so many now have electronic devices and don't always fancy carrying a brick-like book on their back or shoulder.
I read Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird and in it, the characters say that mockingbirds don't do anything except sing melodious notes. Her book made me think about books in general and that it would be sad if books ever became extinct because they do nothing but enlighten us and help us pass the time. If books ever disappeared... then it would be like shooting a mockingbird.
Check out more of my posts on http://redwolfsroom.blogspot.ca/
Proteins bars--check. Bottled water--check. Toilet paper, Nutella, money belt, pepper spray, antibiotics, Malaria pills--check.
Eighteen hours later, in May of 2013, my five close friends and I stood outside the Mumbai airport well after dark, beads of sweat dripping from our brows in the 35-degree weather. Our luggage full of "essentials" was glued to our sides as we searched for a van cab that could accommodate all of us.
But in Mumbai, no such cab existed. We were reluctant to split up, even if it was just for a 10-minute drive to the hotel. For months, we had heard horror stories in the media about India - from robberies, to gang rapes, to murders. "Why India?" our families couldn't help but ask concernedly. "It's dangerous. They're dangerous," they'd say. But we were adamant. For almost a year, we educated ourselves on the culture, the customs, even the languages. It was a fascination we couldn't properly explain.
In any case--our romantic notions aside--once we had suffered the dreaded Indian Visa application process, we felt we had reached a point of no return.
]]> Before we knew it, our baggage was strapped to the hood of two taxis the size of Fiats, and we were off to God-knows-where. It's true what they say about driving in India--if you're susceptible to fainting, nausea, or strokes, avoid it at all costs. Forget about lanes, stop signs, and signalling. It's everyone for him or herself, and from what I gathered, only one rule: you fit, you go.And yet, somehow, I felt safe. With each passing day, I grew accustomed to the incessant honking, the bumper-to-bumper traffic, the swerving, the cutting, and the cows--which, FYI, are the only obstacles worth pressing the brakes for; cows are highly respected in Hindu religion for their gentle nature and are thought to inspire in people the virtues of kindness and connectedness with the earth. In all the traffic madness, my only solace was knowing that whether I understood the road rules or not, the locals seemed to have a firm grasp on them. It took me several days to realize that honking didn't mean, "Get out of the way!" but was actually a therapeutic technique used for drivers to vent and release stress hormones. So, ironically, the more you honked, the safer a driver you were.
Even for pedestrians, the streets of Mumbai were all kinds of chaos. As we sauntered down the narrow walkways, sidestepping hurried passersby, wandering children, and stray dogs, we were bumped, elbowed, and ogled.
"Everyone is staring," said my friend, Riccardo, as a gang of giggling girls walked past us, pointing and whispering. I didn't understand why. Our shoulders and knees were covered and our outfits reflected Indian fashion trends--or so I thought, until I paid closer attention to the locals' outfits and noticed that most 20-somethings like ourselves were dressed, well, modern. My girlfriends and I, sporting our vibrant sari skirts wrapped around our waist (EBay), may have gone a tad too far trying to fit in.
They weren't the only ones gawking. As we made our way to the Gateway of India, a concrete archway built in 1911 to commemorate the landing of King George V and Queen Mary, the swarm of Indian tourists surrounding the monument turned their gaze toward us instead. We were approached by dozens of children, teens, and even adults requesting to take our photo. Some didn't even bother asking - they snapped away, as though we were celebrities spotted in public. It wasn't long before a crowd had formed around us, pointing and sniggering. My neck, drenched with sweat, stiffened and my knuckles, swollen from the heat, clenched tightly as anger rapidly built inside of me. I had read about Indians' fascination with white skin, but I had not imagined to this extent. Should I be frightened? I thought. Are they a threat? All at once, the attention became overwhelming. I was feeling anxious and exposed, like a monkey at a zoo. In a frenzied state, we pushed past the crowd, flagged down a taxi, and offered an extra 100 rupees to squeeze in all six of us and step on it.
"They mean well," said Pranav, our "Grand Mumbai" tour guide the following day. "They will not harm you. On the contrary, they are in awe of you."
I thought back to the group of girls snickering at our outfits, and I realized that their smirks may have said, "What on earth are they wearing?" but their eyes merely wondered, "Why have they come all this way?" There was nothing menacing or aggressive about the people of Mumbai. They were humble and curious, and as fascinated by us as we were by them.
We reached this moment of clarity after our first stop of the Grand Mumbai Tour: The Hanging Gardens. Known to the locals as Pherozeshah Mehta Gardens, the park was built in 1881 on the Malabar Hills overlooking the Arabian Sea. Together, we walked along the paved pathways, pausing now and again to capture shots of the exotic flowering plants, towering trees, and famous animal-shaped hedges. Around us, couples strolled leisurely in silence; parents pointed out the giraffe-shaped bushes to their eager children; and a group of more than a dozen people, young and old, ambled together like students on a field trip.
As I stopped to admire a floral arch, I noticed from my peripheral view the large group stopping and gazing, as well. "I think you have some fans," our tour guide muttered to us, nodding toward the group of young men and woman and what appeared to be their families.
We stared back at them and smiled in earnest. They beamed in response, nudging each other and whispering urgently, as though contemplating their next move. "Should we ask them if they would like a photo?" asked Sophie in her usual sweet demeanour. Sophie was the tallest and fairest of our group; her piercing blue eyes and snow-white skin never failed to mesmerize the locals.
After blaming poor Sophie for making us the centre of attention--again--we all agreed on the photo and watched as Pranav approached the group. They nodded excitedly and then, to our surprise, the females joined us while the men retrieved their cameras and began snapping away in unison like a swarm of paparazzi. We couldn't help but marvel at the sight: teens and young adults, not much older than us, and their parents and grandparents, ecstatic to be in the presence of complete strangers.
"We're like, The Spice Girls," said Jessica, who still lives in 1999. Riccardo shot her a reproving glance.
But we weren't. We were no more special than they were. And so I retrieved my own camera and began taking photos of them. My friends followed suit. All at once, the lot of us broke into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
We headed back to our air-conditioned van on a high--the gardens had been a marvellous sight and our experience with the locals would be a great travel anecdote.
"This next stop won't exactly have the same...vibe," Pranav said wittingly as we stepped out onto a nondescript street corner. "Welcome to the Mumbai Dhobi Ghat Laundry District."
The what?
We stood on the sidewalk and took in our surroundings. Nothing--no monuments, no peculiar buildings, no market, no bustling crowds. I had half a mind to turn on my heel and climb back into the van.
But it seemed our blank facial expressions were enough to satisfy our tour guide's wicked sense of humour. He beckoned us to follow him across the street (he led, of course, firmly gesturing at oncoming traffic to halt for the helpless foreigners). We trailed after him like ducklings following their mother until he stopped at a small nook and leaned over the surrounding low cement wall, as though he were on a balcony overlooking something extraordinary.
My jaw dropped at the sight; hundreds of bed sheets and garments of all sizes and colours hung over clothing lines that criss-crossed over an enormous area filled with what looked like stone stalls. We were staring at Dhobi Ghat--the largest open air Laundromat in the world.
The washers, locally known as Dhobis, worked at the 700 wash pens fixed inside the original stalls that date back to British rule and spent their days washing clothes from Mumbai's hotels and hospitals. We watched in silence as the men beneath us hand-washed each article of clothing, hung it out to dry, and then repeated.
As I observed, I thought of some of our experiences prior to that moment--how amusing our experience at the Hanging Gardens had been and how elated we felt just the day before, when we had come across a quaint basement-like boutique adorned with oriental rugs, souvenirs, jewellery, handbags, and pashmina scarves (100% silk). After nearly an hour of browsing and friendly chatter, the shop-owner had disappeared in his back store and returned with a gleaming silver tray of steaming hot tea. "The best masala chai tea in all of India!" To this day, I'm convinced that it was.
"That was so normal," my friend, Jennifer, had said as we rounded the corner from the shop, where a family of four sat on the edge of the sidewalk in front of a small shelter they had built out of sheets and rags. They had merely watched us walk past, shopping bags in hand. Blissful. Content. Satisfied.
But India was far from normal. As we left the Laundry District, I tried desperately to make sense of it all; how such wealth could be adjacent to such poverty; how the sweet smell of spices could be as potent as the stench of rubbish; how such intelligent people lived under such a corrupt system; why to them, karma was always the answer to misfortune; where the peace was in all the chaos.
It was during the last stop of the Grand Mumbai Tour where the latter question was answered. Overlooking the Arabian Sea at nearly 1000 feet above sea level stood the ancient Shiva Temple of Lord Babulnath. Sitting on a small hillock near Chowpatty beach in an area called Girgaum, it is one of oldest temples in the city. Pranav led us inside the intricate sandstone structure, where we were asked to remove our shoes before experiencing the faithful climb up the 165 steps to obtain blessings from the supreme God Shiva. "Lord Shiva is one of the Trinity deities of Hinduism, known as both 'the Destroyer' and 'the Transformer'," explained Pranav. Barefoot, we followed our guide up each broad step, the hot stone burning the soles of our feet. As we ascended toward the temple, we took in the high ceilings, ornate mouldings, and elaborate images of Hindu mythology carved in the walls and pillars.
In each room, families gathered together to worship by chanting, praying, delivering flowers, and pouring water over the base of their deity's statue. Mesmerized, we longed for the same spiritual experience. Pranav beckoned us into an open space, where several blankets covered the stone floor, and invited us to sit with our legs crossed and close our eyes.
"Deep breaths. Clear your mind," he said. Somehow, this had the opposite effect on me. I thought of everything I had witnessed outside the temple walls. My mind was cluttered with images of children begging, of stray dogs roaming, of taxis honking -
"I can't," I uttered, my voice ringing across the still room.
Pranav nodded in understanding. "Okay, we'll try something else. Repeat, 'Om'."
It was oddly soothing. His tone was low and steady. Between each breath, we followed his mantra. The vibration felt powerful, as though a cosmic energy enveloped my body. With every, 'Om,' I felt closer to something greater. My voice was barely above a whisper when I finally reached it - that blissful inner silence.
And there, nestled in the heart of all the chaos, was the slightest glimmer of peace.
]]>Sometime in your life, you most likely will receive an offer to sign on to a project that undermines your value as a professional. Do you accept the offer since it will beef up your professional resume or do you decline on principle?
On one hand, if this project involves a charitable organization, it might be a no brainer. You would not only be gaining valuable experience, you might argue, but you would also be making the world a better place.
On the other hand, what if you were hired to design courseware for one of the richest global corporations in the world and offered not only below minimum wage compensation at the Masters or PhD level, but below the U.S. dollar level wages per hour?
Recently, a company contacted me to design online courses intended for retail employees to help them gain a leg up in a competitive world.
]]> For example, a sales floor associate could take a completion course for the low cost of $210 and receive 15 college credits at $14/college credit, transferable to most universities in the States. The course includes modules on Cashier Customer Service, Principles of Customer Service, and Intro to Workplace Safety and Health -- and is geared toward improving employee productivity by providing "off the clock" training at no cost to the company.Well, maybe, it could be reasonable-- but only if you fail to consider college tuition makes up 1/8 of the average Wal-Mart employee's monthly wage, an average wage that is close to $1.300 and one that falls well below the threshold of poverty (calculated as monthly wages falling below $2.000 for 2014).
Think about it.
Is the cost accrued by the employee for this so-called "college" completion course a reasonable one for the employee to incur?
Nowadays, many companies are striving to improve productivity without making any contribution. Profits rise. Shareholders benefit. Labour loses.
Once upon a time, employers hired and trained people to work full time with accrued health and retirement benefits. Moving to part-time and contract labour offset labour costs 30%. If a degree in higher education becomes vocational to the extent that it is preparing people for entry-level minimum wage part-time work, the degree itself will no longer hold value or translate to a better life. When the traditional brick and mortar institutions fail as cheap online degrees replace them with cashier training courses, will the lower income classes have a chance at a better life? And will the middle class disappear altogether as a kind of fairy tale told in history texts with an unhappy ending?
I also have to question whether this transformation of higher education into a vocational skills courseware factory is undermining the intent of higher education, to improve minds and society? Is it naïve to believe in a better world? I feel as though in accepting such work, I am undermining my future as an educator.
In this equation, unskilled and skilled labour are treated as equals in a system that renders both sides powerless to the corporate shareholders whose sole function and contribution is to accumulate wealth gained by profiting from a de-humanized, capitalized labour force.
Working for below minimum wage with a Masters or PhD level education makes no sense. I can see myself turning down the offer, but in the back of my mind, I'm wondering if I can actually afford to.
]]>In one of my classes in cegep, we had to make a portfolio of whatever medium we were interested in and we had to present it to the class. I wrote several short stories and for my presentation, I read one of them. It was Friday and our last class of the day so my classmates were tired and somewhat anxious to go home, but when I read my story, (I had turned out the lights so people would relax), no one interrupted or were on their phones trying not to be seen. They were all listening. Afterwards, there was a Q&A period and several of the students said that they enjoyed my presentation immensely because it reminded them of when they were in elementary school and listened to their teacher read a story. They felt nostagic because they are always preoccupied with social media and everyone is so busy. They enjoyed being able to relax and imagine again.
In the following video, Susan Cooley talks about stories helping youths find themselves and how much stories and writng have helped her in her own life.
Let your imagination run rampant.
]]>Today, we remember all who have fought in war and who are currently fighting. I have included some intersting facts about the author of "In Flanders Fields", John McCrae:
"On December 8, 1915, Punch magazine published a poem commemorating the dead of World War I. "In Flanders Fields" was written by John McCrae of Guelph, Ontario, after his experiences in the trench warfare around Ypres, Belgium.
...
McCrae published other poems before the war in McGill University's University Magazine. "In Flanders Fields" is one of a collection of poems published posthumously in 1919 as In Flanders Fields and Other Poems.
He was educated at the University of Toronto and in 1900 was appointed fellow in pathology at McGill University in Montréal. He later became a physician at the Alexandra Hospital and assistant physician at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montréal."
Source:
https://www.historicacanada.ca/content/heritage-minutes/john-mccrae?media_type=&media_category=35
]]>Reading the works of the Early Romantics, (Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge), brings me closer to nature and helps me feel peace. However, I believe that in order for one to fully comprehend their words, one must feel them. One must find a place away from the sounds of people and traffic. Quiet the mind, listen to the chirping birds, rustling leaves and breathe in the wind that has blown for eternity. Only then can one read and feel nature's meaning. It may take some travel, but it is well worth the trouble.
In honor of the Early Romantics, I wrote a short poem about the constant struggle between city and country:
Forgetting Romantics
Dare I dream of yesterdays?
Trees wholly ablaze
And Man's burdens falling away,
As the silence, save that of a stream,
Refreshes mind, body, soul of today.
But they round up the unknowing mules,
Encompassing within rigid rules
To erase memories of winds so cool;
Yet clear is the baaing of sheep,
The graduated fools.
How the curtains shut and remain,
Making our souls writher in their chains
And our minds wander among barren plains.
Aging flesh hanging, falling away,
As we, tortured rebels, become insane.
]]>For several years, I kept a hand-out my secondary two teacher gave out. It was Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". We had analyzed it in class and I decided to keep it, without knowing why:
The Road Not Taken
Growing up, I frequented two places daily: home and school. People's reactions to my behaviour and my interests always made me feel like I was not normal. I preferred being alone to being with people I didn't like and that made me weird. The stories I wrote which were full of emotions were also considered weird. People spoke over me and tried to force their opinions onto me. I didn't have any support; I was alone.
Five years later, I was in cegep and started my first job in a boutique. As I became acquainted with the staff, I found that my manager, although he was a photographer as opposed to a writer, shared my interests and I, at last, had found one solid connection in life. After reading two of my poems, he said, "It is a harduous path [following your heart] because only the bravest choose these paths. But it is yours..."
Two years later, I was listening to the soundtrack from one of my favourite television shows, Quantum Leap. The show features a man who is able to leap into other people's bodies throughout time and, in order to leap out again, has to fix things in the people's lives to change history for the better. The show demonstrates that leaping can be lonely and one of the songs on the soundtrack, "Fate's Wide Wheel", features loneliness as its main theme:
Fate's Wide Wheel
There has been a lot of talk in the news these past few months about who will be the next James Bond. Consider this: what if James Bond was an alias for a woman?
You might ask how can the world's greatest spy be a woman if he was introduced as a male character? Believe it or not, there is a fan theory which validates and encourages the existence of a woman 007. According the James Bond fan theory of continuity, the only logical way for the James Bond movies to make sense is if James Bond is not the name of an actual person, but a code name given to a new agent after the previous James Bond's death or retirement (Smokingcage). Assuming the fan theory is correct, there is no logical reason why James Bond could not be an alias for a female agent.
But what would a female James Bond even be like?
]]> A McGill University professor has already done a lot of the legwork to answer that question. In her work, "Under the Skin: The Perils of Becoming Female", Dr. Ara Osterweil, how the film Under the Skin (2013) portrays a woman (technically an alien in a woman's body) rejecting traditional gender roles by taking on what modern society would likely consider as male roles. By applying professor Osterweil's research to James Bond, you can form an idea as to how a female Agent 007 would behave. Firstly, the nameless female in Under The Skin stalks the streets looking to literally rob men of their skin. By doing so, the protagonist reverses traditional scopophilia. In other words, she views men as something to hunt and conquer, the same way men may see women as objects to acquire. Secondly, as the woman is an alien and thus immune to social norms, she is unapologetic for her sexual appetite. She thus attacks the double standard that men are respected for their sexual endeavors whereas women are made to feel guilty for it (slut-shaming). Thirdly, the alien commits the ultimate crime to the female gender role: rejecting motherhood. In Under the Skin, the female lead notices a baby on the shores of a beach while the tide rises. As the child's parents are dead and there is no one else to be seen, it is implied that the infant will surely drown if the alien does not pick up the child, leaving it to drown without showing any remorse. The former is a drastic example, and is not to say that female James Bond would abandon a baby from inevitably drowning, but instead to show she does not need motherhood to feel that her life has been fulfilled.Through Dr. Osterweil's research, you can see that a female James Bond would need to reverse traditional scopophilia, be unapologetic for her sexual desires, and have no interest in motherhood. However, there is just one missing characteristic which a female James Bond would need that is not examined in the professor's research, a strong capability with weapons. Weapons have long been symbols of male power. For instance, one cannot read Shakespeare without coming across the phallic imagery of swords. A more recent example would be how guns symbolize manliness in popular culture. The bigger the gun, the bigger the man (this particularly true when you think of 1980s cinema such as The A-Team). By being good with weapons, a woman symbolically takes on male power. (Besides, how can you have a James Bond who isn't good with a gun?) However, it is important to note that a female agent 007 should also not have the appearance of a playboy model as this would only further the mother or hooker stereotype of women in cinema. Many films such as Kill Bill or Electra do have female protagonists that are capable with weapons, but such characters do not empower women as their looks objectify them. A female James Bond could be good looking, but not overwhelmingly so as to alienate female audience members, and objectify her in the eyes of male audience members.
You now know that a female James Bond could canonically make sense, and you know what she would be like, but, other than her gender being a cool plot-twist, why does society need a female Agent 007? The reason is mirrored through the public's response the recent movie Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). As expressed by lead actress, Charlize Theron, the vast majority of movies portray women as essentially being either mothers or whores. However, Mad Max: Fury Road drastically attacks the stereotype by portraying a woman amputee as the leading hero. Theron views this change as a positive one. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with the Hollywood actress. According to The Independent, Aaron Clarey, a blogger on the website "Return of the Kings," declares the movie to be "feminist propaganda...a piece of American culture ruined and rewritten right in front of our very eyes" (Selby).
Clarey's intense reaction is exactly why society needs a female James Bond. In order for women to reach equality, people need to become accustomed to seeing women taking on traditional male roles. Literary critic Antonin Artaud stated in The Theatre and its Double, to elicit social change people must firstly be shown the world in a new light. For a change to happen, a population must first see that change is possible. As Artaud stated, this is a cruel process, people must be pushed out of their comfort zones (and they will not be happy about it). However painful it may be, it is a crucial process for social change.
If at all taken seriously, women's rights may be seen as old news due to today's most vocal groups being radical feminists and misandrists. It also seems that many women who identify as feminists complain continuously without offering solutions. Instead of purely focusing on what is wrong, why don't we focus on how thing could be right? As a society, we should seek a better way of achieving equality. Instead of shouting the need to smash the patriarchy, perhaps we should begin by showing women in a different light to elicit intelligent, mature conversation as to how we can make that vision a reality.
Works Consulted
Artaud, Antonin. The Theater and its Double. New York: Grover Press, 1981.
Osterweil, Ara. "Under the Skin: The Perils of Becoming Female." Film Quarterly 67.4 (2014):
44-51. Web.
Selby, Jen. "Mad Max heroine Charlize Theron on female roles in Hollywood: 'You're either a
really good mother, or a really good hooker'." Independent 15 May 2015. Web.
Smokingcage. "James Bond is a Codename and Skyfall Proves it (Skyfall Spoilers)." March
2015. Reddit.
]]>Twenty-first century entrepreneurs require global vision, a vision where dominance only the bottom line and fully realizing the potential of your brand requires imagination and agility, crossing borders and extending market domains.
Few brands achieve a winning global formula, one that comprises of flexibility and brand identity; old-school promoters perceive market expansion as offering more risk than reward, or brand dilution rather than domination. However, entrepreneurial success in 21st century global markets demands Olympian agility and fitness. A case study in global excellence, Mansion Group, an online gambling company based in Gibraltar, is a success story worthy of examination.
]]> Founded in 2003 by private investors, Mansion quickly made a notable presence in the online gambling community, establishing MansionCasino.com. Soon after placing their bets in this domain, Mansion Group crossed borders into traditional media, joining forces with Fox's Poker Domain Challenge, gaining international media exposure and street cred through targeted television programming. Today, the company offers five online casinos in its brand portfolio, including, Cansino, Club777, LesACasino, MansionCasion and SlotsHeaven.Mansion Group has pushed online gaming into a number of visible arenas, including music, television and sports. Recently, Mansion Group signed a sponsorship deal with two premier league clubs, Crystal Palace F.C. and AFC Bournemouth; a sponsorship that moves their online gaming brand into the gladiator field of the football arena.
Thrilled to have Mansion's sponsorship and exposure, Rob Mitchell, AFC Bournemouth's commercial director noted, "Today, Mansion Group has become one of the biggest names in the online gaming industry with a history of sporting partnerships." Both partners benefit through Mansion's sponsorship and gain visibility by bringing the online gamers out of virtual reality to the raw field of the premier league clubs and directing football fans online to Mansion's virtual premier casinos. This is the kind of agility one expects from the player on the field, and this kind of entrepreneurial agility, to make unexpected moves, in the form of sponsorships, expands the company's global presence and recruits new players.
Fittingly, Mansion.com's slogan is "Where the world plays"; and where the world plays, you will find Mansion Group dominating the game and demonstrating entrepreneurial excellence.
Survival is a thin line, too thin, and barely perceptible when reaching for entrepreneurial success. Only the weakest companies perceive this as a measure of success. The danger in doing so is that failure becomes your bedtime companion, the monster in your dreams. Before you begin to create your brand, consider looking toward models of success. Mansion Group shows the way toward entrepreneurial ingenuity.
]]>Nowadays I'm back at university in Montreal where, apparently, no one holds hands in public anymore. Over the past two years, I haven't seen one instance of it, not one. That is a high degree of conformity, of acquiscence, in the practice of an act that generally shows connection and affection; admittedly, it can have other motivations. I have seen a lot of texting on campus, hands clasped over the mesmeric screen, head bowed, thumbs fumbling and flying on the wings of text. Has our love affair with the little screen, on the little screen, replaced this simple act of affection? Has hand holding gone digital?
In truth, I'm not fond of the reductive 'public display of affection', or PDA, because of its emphasis on display, a thing done for show. If it's done in public, others will very likely watch, but that doesn't mean it's for display. Whether it's for or on display, in the end, "all behavior is communication".
Perhaps not-holding hands on campus is a by-product of academia's ethos; the body is there primarily to carry the head around to lecture halls and faculty meetings, or possibly, since universities are now so focused on corporate accreditation, hand holding is frowned upon just as it is in the corporate world - sours allegiance to the brand. Do your hands belong to you when you're on the job? Be that as it may, hand holding is clearly dèmodè in this, our digital revolution.
]]> This ain't the sixties man...or even the seventies. Distance is normative, public displays of affection are so last generation. In fact, a PDA is just a personal digital assistant, so what's your problem?In a digital world relationships of all kinds are birthed on the screen. Only a short time ago, the screen was exclusively a performance-watching space. Now it is much more an integral part of daily life. I wonder to what extent that history influences our avatar; the avatar as a performance piece, where the public view might include millions, not just your neighborhood. (If my avatar found out that I hold hands, that would not be good.)
As far as I can tell there are three basic types of public hand-holding with their attendant significances. At one end of the scale there is the pinky hook, very cool, non-chalant, easy to let slip; we're together, we're not, like that. At the other end of the scale, there is the fingers-interlocked hand hold. It can mean a longing for, or an expression of, a full bond with the beloved. Then there is the middle of the road, traditional, missionary hand in hand hold, appears balanced, safe and secure - make a note of whose hand is on top.
I once dated a no nonesense can-do woman named Jane, from the lush and lusty coastal islands off British Columbia. She was delightful, caring, and graciously accommodating. Isn't it strangely ironic that 'dating' is right there, in accommodating? I accommodated right back, and we were content. Eventually we parted ways after I moved to Montreal; long-distance love proved problematic - I love-hate that currently fashionable veiling word, "problematic". Hate it when someone baffle-gabs me with it, but love it when I can do the same.
The first time it happened (it being holding hands), I kept my guilt-ridden mouth shut.
It was a humid summer Sunday morning, the kind where you wake up drenched in sweat, stuck to the sheets and pillows soaked, and everything from eyebrows to assholes is drenched, and we just made love anyways.
After, Jane wanted to go for a stroll down at the lake; I wanted to go back to sleep. So off we drove down to the lake, to sleep. But first, Jane stopped at the mall for suntan lotion. I tagged along; the mall was air conditioned. As we crossed the vast lot to the mall, Jane grabbed my hand and held on. That was a first. I thought maybe the cars made her nervous. Sunday afternoon at the mall, the parking lot was a dangerous place, so holding hands was...fine.
I pulled my hand away, to open the door for her, and Jane smiles, eyelashes pointed at my throat. Once in the cool mall, Jane reasserted her grip. I looked at her; she smiled again. I looked around, worried about who saw us hand in hand. No one holds hands in public anymore, we did. I found all sorts of creative reasons for needing to use whichever hand she wanted to hold. But Jane was not to be put off. I went along uncomfortable, perplexed, accommodating.
The significance of holding hands differs according to culture. My Italian-born boyhood buddies, the Chicorelli twins, would sometimes hold my hand as we walked down the street, an Italian thing. It was a warm friendly gesture. I enjoyed the camaraderie it expressed, and it felt good. In Canada schoolboys don't hold hands in public, ever.
I recall that as a toddler I had epic power struggles with my mother about not being held by the hand when we were out. After a few blind-panic-inducing episodes of loosing me in a downtown crowd, she resorted to using a chest harness with a leash at times. Man, I hated that thing. But, in retrospect, at least I had some leeway, because mom was kind enough to use a long leash. Never mind, as a budding Houdini, I soon learned to unhook it. Holding hands can have a power aspect to it, sometimes a necessary one.
There are other more salutary experiences and associations we make with holding hands: the warmth of touching another's skin, that sweet dreamy spot at the center of the palm, the shapely and tender hand itself, the many maneuverable muscles along to the fingertips that allow so much unspoken communication, the security and strength that comes from being two (four eyes are better than two). So far so good.
Then the symbolism, the problematic part - I'm yours, and your mine. In fact, we are one. By joining limbs we signify that the relationship is its own entity, a third party if you will. A weyoume? I wasn't ready for that. Jane was, as was often the case when it came to relationship dynamics, ahead of me. I won't say miles ahead, but...yeah. I came to enjoy holding hands; it helped that Jane didn't make an issue of it. There were days though, you couldn't get me to hold hands no matter what.
Behavior has many aspects, and in an age when our bodies are under constant observation in public, and our thoughts are or can be recorded, down to the keystroke in private, a public act of affection, a PAA, is perhaps too much an expression of vulnerability.
The hook-up, the grinder, Ashley Madison, all new names and venues for an old practice, the one-night stand. The illusion of privacy and the ease of use that digital communication engenders has caused this shadowed practice to explode in numbers. And as diversity follows creativity, the latest is, "the lounger", a micro-stand, once known adolescently as the wham bam thank you mam, except this one's on wings. Yup, you guessed it, there's an app for that. It's for people who want to hook up in an airport lounge while their flight is pending. Don't worry there are shower areas in the back. The lounger, summons shades of the two-backed lounge lizard, of the genus horny.
Does how we form relationship in a digital world have an influence on how we are in public space in general? What do you think, is zero hand holding on campus just the inevitable change that accompanies the swing of the social pendulum, or is the lack of hand holding a symptom of our mesmeric relationship to the small screen, or could answers lie elsewhere? We may or may not come up with satisfying answers, but with your help we'll try, in this, our digital revolution.
]]>In 2012, CBC Radio's This is That program reported on a controversial new bylaw: dogs in Montreal would be required to understand both French and English. Chaos was reigning in the city's dog parks, and confusion in communication was the cause. With some dogs responding to English commands and other to French, mandated dog bilingualism was the only solution to the problem, said a city official.
]]> Or, rather, a fake city official. The story managed to fool many twitter users and even some legitimate news sites, but it was a parody; This is That regularly fabricates stories to comment on current events. Good thing, too, because as a monolingual English speaker, there's no way I could keep up if even dogs had to understand both languages. It seems ridiculous so many people were taken in by the notion, if only because animals can't be bilingual.Or can they?
Parrots have long been admired as intelligent pets able to mimic human speech. Individual parrots have been learning multiple languages for centuries, and ads in Paris from the late 1700s often boasted bilingual parrots for sale. One particularly spirited bilingual parrot, Millie, dazzled (and then shocked) attendees of Expo 67 with her fluency in French and English, particularly her expansive bilingual knowledge of curse words.
However, parrots are not actually fluent in human language the way we define fluency. A parrot can't learn grammar the way we can, and it can't grasp the meaning of abstract concepts. When a parrot is speaking to us, it's simply using sounds that have been associated with certain actions.
This isn't to say a parrot's ability to speak isn't a sign of intelligence--it still is impressive that they are able to learn our dialects at all. A parrot that says suppertime to you when you bring it food has managed to connect that specific sound to the arrival of food, and then has been able to make that sound back to you in multiple contexts; it knows to request food and acknowledge food with that sound. Supposedly bilingual parrots do the same, but with multiple languages.
How strange parrots must think we are, to have such different words for the same things!
So if parrots aren't truly bilingual, are any animals? Is it even possible for animals to be truly bilingual?
Finches are among the numerous species of birds to demonstrate what is effectively bilingualism. They are able to learn the calls of other birds not only to mimic, but to understand and use--just like a human learning a second language. Nuthatches are able to decipher the complex calls of chickadees--a bird they're not closely related to--down to knowing the exact difference between a large-predator and small-predator warning, and are able to react appropriately to each. Wrens have been observed eavesdropping on the calls of other birds and understanding them.
These findings are extremely important in the study of how human language developed. Humans communicate in ways no other species on Earth does, and it seems obvious to assume that bilingualism developed after language. The ways these birds communicate, however, suggests the opposite: the capacity for learning multiple modes of communication in humans likely evolved before lexical (language based) bilingualism was even an idea.
It's fascinating how complex language and communication are. To a finch, or a nuthatch, or a wren, being able to learn and use other birds' calls is often a matter of life or death, and so they've evolved to be bilingual. Knowing birds are showing me up in bilingual fluency is a bit embarrassing--time to get back to practicing my own bilingualism!
]]>
Hey all! Thanks for coming back. This week we're going to revisit an old topic, but put a different spin on it: Then and Now - The Montreal Comic-Con edition. I've been a fan of the convention for the last five years, and recently I've begun to notice some changes to our local superhero worshiping gathering. I know I have developed my own feelings on these changes, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter in the comment section below. Without further ado, let's get in to the thick of it!
]]> The New LocationSo, one of the first, and frankly most obvious changes that the Montreal Comic-Con has experienced is the change in venue. My first convention was back in 2010, when the convention was still renting out Place Bonaventure to house the event. It was an interesting experience; the layout was nice and the crowds never felt too overwhelming. Bear in mind, that even though the attendance of the event was estimated at 8,300, you never really felt swamped by other people since the total was spread over the weekend. By 2011, however, Place Bonaventure could not contain the more-than-doubled attendance (the Fire Marshalls actually had to stop ticket sales at one point due to safety issues) that suddenly sprang up on the organizers, and as a result they've since moved. Let's take a quick look at what I feel the breakdown of the pros and cons of this move were:
Pro:
-Palais des congres de Montreal offers an enormous amount of space for the stalls, events, and discussions hosted over the course of the weekend.
-It allows the organizers to host multiple, and sometimes simultaneous, events throughout the days of the convention.
-Palais also provides a spacious maze of stalls, artists, vendors, and exhibits to have a respectable amount of space to set up.
Con:
-The bigger the venue, the more it's going to cost. As a result of this move, ticket prices for the day / whole weekend visits have increased.
-There are so many more people! Last year alone there were over 51,000 tickets purchased for the three day event, with this year's event almost selling out on some of the days.
Star Power
Something else you might have noticed after attending, or seeing the advertisements, is that in the last four or five conventions, the "star power" of the celebrities attending have increased significantly. We've gone from having a handful of interesting and successful actors, artists, and icons to all-out insanity in the form of entire cast reunions and such. The first big ensemble of celebrities was during the 2012 edition of Comic-Con, when they managed to reunite the majority cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was pretty cool to see all of the Star Trek stuff flooding in to the convention. Now let's see how these changes have affected the Comic-Con:
Pro:
-We are getting better guests and stars to our conventions. Big names like Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), and Stephen Amell (Arrow) have all graced our halls at some point in the last few years. This is great and allows numerous fans a chance to meet their television or film favorites.
Con:
-The bigger the celebrity, the larger the line. During the 2012 Comic-Con, I spent over an hour waiting in line to get a signature from Wil Wheaton for my girlfriend. He was friendly and very engaging, but I seriously wonder if waiting for over an hour to have three minutes of face time is worth it.
-Most of the time, these celebrities will have a price for signature and photos. These can be anywhere between ten to one hundred dollars (depending on who you're waiting for), and coupled with the increased price of tickets, this can make the convention expensive.
Big Trouble in little Montreal
Lastly, with each passing year the convention brings in larger attractions and bigger events for the fans. Compared to the humble beginnings in 2006, the Montreal Comic-Con now has film screenings, wrestling matches, trading-card game areas, a costume contest, a masquerade, not to mention the numerous panels and photo opportunities over the course of the weekend. The Comic-Con has become a juggernaut of entertainment, and there is something for everyone, even if there isn't enough time to see it all. I'd say this area is where I've been the most disappointed with.
Pro:
-There really is something for everyone nowadays. You don't have to just like comic books to spend three days surrounded by like-minded people.
Con:
-In recent years, I've found the Comic part of Comic-Con to be rather lacking. The focus has shifted more from comic book artists and vendors, to a more diverse multimedia type attraction that encompasses all things science fiction, fantasy and superhero. There has been a subtle, if unintentional, move from comic book focused themes, and although there are still some attractions for comic book fans, I've found the majority of big names and pulls are closely related to Science Fiction or Fantasy based entertainment.
The Wrap-Up
Overall, I'm glad the Montreal Comic-Con has become such a massive local event; it adds to an already fantastic summer line-up of festivals and concerts. The size and appeal of the event is even starting to rival some of the other, older conventions in terms of the actors and unique offerings the Comic-Con brings in. What I'm not happy with is the continued use of the name Comic-Con. Whil I readily admit that I am not aware of all the legal and business elements of changing an events name, I believe that (through no malintent) continuning to bill the convention as a comic book celebrating event to be misleading. When I went to my first Montreal Comic-Con several years ago, there was no doubt in my mind that the focus of the event was on comicbooks. In recent years, I've passed on going to the event, whether it was due to (what I felt was) a lack of effort to recruit artists, to a focus on reuniting television cast members. Don't get me wrong, I stood in line and had Wil Wheaton sign a headshot for my girlfriend, he was nice and approachable, but I would never have expected to do so at a comic convention. To summarize, I believe the convention has outgrown it's earlier roots, those found in comic book culture, and should readily accept that it is moving on to bigger and better things. I feel as though the spirit of the event is now similar to the Fan Expo, the Toronto-based convention, and that we now celebrate all things nerdy and geeky (things which I very much enjoy) but please, stop calling it a comic convention.
]]>There is a cemetery at the edge of the village.
Carpathian Mountains,
field of sunflowers.
By the river Maros, Kisjenö.
Gilded icon guards white-washed farm house.
Mud-brick fireplace. Stone benches.
Spinning wheel, bed, table, and chairs.
Accordion with violin,
cimbalom, the zither.
Great-grandmother Victoria wears a párta diadem,
woven of gold and silk and crystal glass beads.
Embroidered linen blouse, cashmere skirt.
Calla lilies and white roses bridal bouquet.
Three sons and one daughter.
Grandmother Mariska
has no memory of her mother.
Not to know her mother's hands.
Green gooseberry of a thorny shrub.
Tree trunks limed against the codling moth.
Peach tree and pear. Cackling hens, geese.
Close to the house, stables.
Great-grandfather György deserting his wife.
The year was 1897. Victoria farmed out
her daughter. Kept her three sons at home.
Faded homespun, knee-high boots.
Four years of grade school. A servant girl at nine.
Tallow candles and oil burning lamps.
On the oak table, bean soup with dumplings.
Maize bread baked in outdoor clay oven.
Palascinta filled with ground walnuts and sugar.
Served with warm apricot marmalade.
Ilona Martonfi is the author of three poetry books,
Blue Poppy, (Coracle Press, 2009.) Black Grass,
(Broken Rules Press, 2012). The Snow Kimono,
(Inanna Publications, 2015).
Image courtesy of Wikicommons.
]]>
How many dispossessed?
"Enemies of the people"
for many long years
labour camps in the Ural taiga
white sun, white sky
uninhabited.
"You have 15 minutes!"
pack a bag, sepia photographs.
Grandfather's sister, Lia,
brother Yaakov, deported
accused of being a kulak
owner of lands
in Sudilkov village
windowless cattle cars
for one thousand versts around:
Where to? For how long?
Wolf carcasses
earth dugouts and huts
ragged, lice-ridden.
Logging timber
rye bread rations
thin, watery soup
barbed wire of the camp.
But how long can a song last?
Smuggled out with prison letters
sphagnum, bog cranberry
steppe wildflowers
buried beyond the river.
Ilona Martonfi is the author of three poetry books, Blue Poppy, (Coracle Press, 2009.) Black Grass, (Broken Rules Press, 2012). The Snow Kimono, (Inanna Publications, 2015).
In honour of trees
leave a blank page
at the site on behalf of Inuit.
This is for you
aligning holes between rocks
in likeness of a person
its extended arms
a flock of ravens
leave Inukshuk stone carving
almondshaped openings
in honour of Cpl. Cirillo
sacred katajjaq --
throat singing
other side of the hill
ominously reply
issue ultimatums
as parliament returns
day after shooting
direction markers
constructed as memorial
a soldier's final journey
along Highway of Heroes:
keep people silent
still frame taken from video
hearse procession.
That dividing line,
humbleness to that man
burden only he can carry
cross-shaped cairn
keeps vigil over the land
not the caw of a seagull
I heard no sound.
(Nunatsiaq News: Staff with Inuit, Tapiriit Kanatami, laid a card and an Inukshuk carving at the granite cenotaph National War Memorial in Ottawa in honour of Corporal Nathan Cirillo, who was killed there October 22 2014).
Photo courtesy of ITK.
Ilona Martonfi is the author of three poetry books, Blue Poppy, (Coracle Press, 2009.) Black Grass, (Broken Rules Press, 2012). The Snow Kimono, (Inanna Publications, 2015).
If you're a veteran in the Montreal comedy scene then chances are you've heard the name Joe Avati. He's the Australian-Italian comedian who's been touring around North America, England, and his native of Australia for almost 20 years! With his charming accent and ability to perform in both English and Italian, it's no wonder Joe continues to fill up venues all over the world and has been called "the greatest comedian you've never heard off". I caught up with Joe back in June, right before he hit the stage for his Back To Basics Tour show at the Leonardo Da Vinci Center to discuss the tour, upcoming projects, and all other things comedic. The evening also marked his 67th show at the LDV Center proving how Montrealers just can't seem to get enough of this wonder from down under.
]]> GC: Welcome back to Montreal Joe. How has the tour been going so far?
JA: It's going really well! It's basically a North American tour. We just added Montreal because we get so many requests on Facebook from fans. We thought while I'm performing in North America we'd jump up and do a couple of quick shows for the people who missed out last time or want to see it again.
GC: What can fans expect from the Back to Basics tour?
JA: On this tour there's always new material. I haven't been here for 3 years, been touring around. I would describe it as the best of the old, best of the new for this particular show. We haven't built it as a new show on purpose. You wouldn't want to fool anybody. When it's a new show, which I'm writing now at the moment, I'll probably come and tour that. I'm doing a 20th anniversary tour next year and that's when I'll probably have a new show.
GC: You're very popular here in Montreal and people can't seem to get enough of you. How would you describe Montreal fans versus other cities?
JA: They're very loyal fans! They really embrace the comedy. Many acts are doing this kind of comedy and they're selling really well, which is fantastic and good to see. I would hope that the 67 shows that I've done at this venue over the years would've helped started an Italian- comedy culture in Montreal. There are people who've been doing this a long time as well. I take no credit for their success. But I hope that I had a big part to the play in the culture of Italian comedy in Canada.
GC : Besides Montreal, what are some of your other cities to perform in?
JA: I love performing in New York. London is fantastic as well. The crowds in Vancouver are great. Shows that are normally supposed to be an hour and a half end up being about two hours because of all the laughter
GC: Who are your comedic inspirations and idols?
JA: Definitely Bill Cosby. Billy Crystal. Billy Connolly. All the famous Billy's pretty much! There's also an Australian guy called Austin Tayshus who's great as well.
GC: When you're not performing on stage what do you like to do?
JA: Nothing! I really enjoy having time on my own.
GC: You're known making jokes about Italian culture and stereotypes. You often include your own family members in your jokes. How do they feel about being inspirations for your acts?
JA: They love it! They come and see me all the time. They're a bit older now and don't come as much as they used to. I actually brought them along with me to Canada in 2002. They're very proud of what I've done and very supportive.
GC: Do you ever get bad crowds or audiences and how do you handle them?
JA: I don't really have bad crowds but they do vary. Probably the worst show I ever had was here (at the LDV center). Normally I would do an hour and twenty-five minutes and then do another seven minute encore. This particular night, by the time I did all my material and got off stage it was an hour and five. It was twenty minutes less than I did the night before and I did the exact same material. The reason was that the laughter was so lame. I've never had a bad show in terms of people booing or anything like that, it's often due to audiences not laughing or not getting it.
GC: Can you share some crazy stories that have occurred while on tour?
JA: I've had bomb scares in Perth. Underwear thrown at me from old Italian ladies. I've had people die during my show, have heart attacks, epileptic seizures and asthma attacks. I once had a guy in Melbourne beat up his girlfriend. He would hit her every time the audience would laugh so no one would hear the slap and scream.
GC: What's next for you after the tour is done?
JA: I'm going to continue to tour. Touring never stops. I also do a lot of corporate work, which is something I never used to do. The reason is because my show has gone from being bilingual to all in English and it's clean, family friendly and non-offensive. I get a lot of requests from corporations to perform at various conferences and I do a lot of motivational and key not speaking. A lot of people don't know that
Cheers to great interview with a very funny mate. A big thanks to Joe Avati for making time to chat with me during his busy schedule. Like always, the show was fantastic. Be sure to check out Joe's website and follow him on Facebook and Twitter for tour schedules and upcoming performances.
Photos courtesey of www.joeavati.com
]]>
They speak French. Some of them send their children to French schools to preserve their language. They have their own flag, their own culture, and their own history.
They also live in Saskatchewan.
The Fransaskois may not have the numbers that the Quebecois or even the Franco-Manitobans, but they are still an important part of Saskatchewan's history. The province has small settlements and hamlets that are entirely francophone as well as towns and cities that have sizeable, sometimes majority, Fransaskois populations. Everywhere the Fransaskois are, they celebrate their language and unique origins as proudly as any Quebecois.
]]> The French have been moving into the Prairie Provinces for centuries. Like their fellow English Canadians, they came for opportunities, jobs, and new lives in the west. While the first wave of French settlers came primarily for the furs in the area, the next--nearly a century later--moved to the prairies as a part of a push for immigration by the Catholic Church. Most of these people were farmers, and most were dedicated to their language and their religion in equal measures. Their unique prairie life was not assimilated by the largely Protestant English settling around them, and the French population of Saskatchewan in the early 1900s quickly grew to fifty thousand.These days, the Fransaskois number around eighty-five thousand, with most living in Saskatchewan. Zenon Park is a small bilingual village that once was nearly all French, having been settled by Quebec immigrants coming to work in agriculture and logging. One former resident of the village is Debbie Grassing, who grew up in one of Saskatchewan's French households. At that time, there were only a few families who couldn't speak any French, and though almost everyone was bilingual, she didn't learn English herself until first grade.
"It wasn't that gradual," Debbie says. "We had one hour of French a day, and most of our other classes were all in English." Though she had some bilingual teachers to help them, Debbie says there were no modern-style immersion programs back then. By the time she was in grade two, televisions were more popular, and everyone's English rapidly improved from there. "We didn't know any different," Debbie says; to her and all the other kids of Zenon Park, the whole world must have been learning two languages.
One of the biggest differences between Saskatchewan's French communities and Quebec is the regional language differences. "I think out west here we incorporate more English words into our language as we go along," Debbie says, which is a result of being surrounded by English-speaking people. Most of Zenon Park's resident's parents or grandparents had been from Quebec, and they each brought their own regional French dialect when they came for jobs.
Separated from Quebec, the French language in Saskatchewan grew in its own way, to the point where the Fransaskois accent is unrecognizable to French speakers in Quebec. Once, on a school trip to Quebec, Debbie found that Montrealers knew that she wasn't from there, but they couldn't tell where she was from, either. They had never heard a French accent from Saskatchewan. Interestingly, the French in New Brunswick resembled her own far more than the French in Quebec did.
The Fransaskois population is comparatively small, even in relation to neighbouring Manitoba's French population, and smaller communities become isolated from each other, which can make passing on the Fransaskois culture hard. The school system is helping to keep the language itself alive in Saskatchewan, but French Saskatchewan is about more than just the language.
Though on a smaller scale, French communities in Saskatchewan can relate to Quebec's own struggles to keep the French culture alive. "It's very difficult for students if one of their parents isn't French, because it comes with a certain culture, also, not just the language," says Debbie. She taught her own children a few French words, but they aren't fluent. Just as television taught her generation how to speak English, the internet has taught the young residents of Saskatchewan's French towns, starting at much younger ages. Speaking French at home is rarer now, too, as it's more and more common for Fransaskois to marry an English person.
There is hope, however. The Association Communautaire Fransaskois works to unite Saskatchewan's French population, and there is a regular French paper called L'Eau Vive that circulates around the province. Fransaskois can also tune into Radio-Canada for French programming on radio and television, some of which is even produced in Saskatchewan. French language arts festival and groups for anything from folk arts to fine theatre offer Fransaskois opportunities to express themselves creatively. Saskatchewan's French residents may have to work harder to hold on to their culture, but they aren't giving up.
"Open your eyes," Debbie says to the people who don't know about Saskatchewan's French communities. "Everywhere you go there are different cultures, and there are a lot more French people out west than Quebec people realise."
]]>***
The Drinks
Photo cred: www.lgrosluxe.com
Although L'Gros Luxe likes to keep its menu fresh they do have one staple I just can't resist - the caesars! Whether you're a fan of Jim Bean like me, or prefer an exotic twist of Saké, these caesars each have their own unique alcohol flavouring that's sure to keep you wanting more. Trying to get past each one of their toppings though can prove challenging. Keeping with the restaurant's eclectic style, each drink is dressed with a garnish that compliments its alcohol mixture. Take the Oh Deer God for example. This Jägermeister clamato combo is paired with a mini, beef or veggie burger (for all you non-meat lovers,) which is sure to make your taste buds jump with joy. However, beware the word mini. As you can tell from the photo above what L'Gros Luxe considers mini may be more than you bargained for!
***
The Food
Photo cred: www.shutupandeat.com
Although L'Gros Luxe likes to mix it up some of their dishes seem to have found a permanent home on the menu. Presented on a wooden plank that screams "Take me for what I am!" their baked brie entrée comes with beet crisps and confit, roasted almonds, warm bread, and melted brie cheese. The crunchiness and faint sweetness of the beet chips combined with the earthiness of the almonds and the creaminess of the brie is the perfect ying-yang of sweet and salty.
Photo cred: www.roastedmontreal.com
Not a big fan of cheese? Then the deep fried pickles are for you. Crisp on the outside with a tangy, juicy pickle on the inside each bite is delicious - and the portions won't leave you stuffed like a pig. If you're willing to dip the pickles in the Sriracha mayo your mouth will be awakened by a soft heat that both compliments the dill breading and takes this starter to the next level.
If you haven't already noticed L'Gros Luxe loves taking comfort food and transforming it into a high-end bistro star. Their Fish N' Chips poutine, with beer battered Cod, at once reminds us of our Québec roots all the while propelling our stomachs to the eastern seaboard. Not only that, but they make two different kinds of grilled cheese! The classic, which you can customize by adding pulled pork, bacon, chicken, mushrooms, tofu, tomatoes, brie cheese, goat cheese or fried fish, or the poutine grilled cheese which showcases your classic poutine ingredients between two thick slices of sourdough bread. As you can tell this restaurant is not meant for calorie-counters of any kind.
Even if you're watching you weight or dining with a vegetarian, you don't need to be scared of L'Gros Luxe. Their menu is vegetarian friendly. Their kale and brie salad with maple cider vinaigrette, as well as their grain and black bean veggie burger, offers you all the vegetable goodness your lifestyle demands. In fact my favourite dish is their BBQ mushroom sandwich on ciabatta bread. A marriage of braised mushrooms and onions is slathered in L'Gros Luxe homemade (vegetarian) BBQ sauce, goat cheese, and arugala salad. The combination is killer and leaves little room for the small side salad it is accompanied by.
Photo cred: www.facebook.com
If you're come and tasted the drinks, conquered the entrées and main dishes, then there's aboslutely no reason why you can do the same with dessert! Sure you can order the Earl Grey Crème Brulée or the "Smores" Hot Chocolate, but my top pick is the Deep-Fried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Served to you in a small bowl these delectable dessert tapas are drizzled with Nutella and topped with whipped cream. Bonus; if you're the kind of person who lives off bacon you can add some to your order for a mere $2.
***
The Ambiance
Despite the fact that I haven't seen inside their new Sud-Ouest location I can tell you that L'Gros Luxe's style is both classy and laid back. Now you might be thinking how can those two words work together? Simple. L'Gros Luxe interior is decorated with cool dark colour paint (a beautiful forest green in their Plateau location) and antique wallpaper. They're also big fans of brass for their fixtures and wood for their tables, which are usually meant for sharing. Whether you're alone of with a few friends the bar is big enough to drink and eat without feeling like you're breathing down someone's neck. Last, but certainly not least, their staff are charming, personable, and attentive professional who love to crack jokes with their customers and offer you their top picks off the menu. You can tell from their smiles and attitude that they love what they do.
Photo cred: www.thegoldwatch.wordpress.com
***
Liked my article? This was just a sneak peak into's L'Gros Luxe Sud-Ouest restaurant which opens July 22nd 2015. Come by and visit their new home - Alex and the gang can't wait to serve you.
Looking to learn more about L'Gros Luxe, its roots, and their food? Like and join their Facebook page here!
]]>I can't believe it has already been three years since Marvel unleashed its cinematic monster, The Avengers, onto the public. I still remember how excited I was after having seeing all of the buildup and connections that were teased in the previous, standalone films (ie: Iron Man, Thor, etc). Naturally, Marvel was aware of how big of a fan I was, so it was no surprise that they happened to release it a week before my birthday and you can bet your bottom dollar that I was going to see it. You can imagine my equal amount of excitement when I realized that Marvel was set to do so again, this time with the sequel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron! With my fiancée, brother, and old roommate in tow, we embarked on what I would have thought would be another successful chapter in the Marvel line-up, but did it meet our standards?
]]> VisualsVisually, I feel like the film almost overdid itself. There were numerous over-the-top action sequences, complete with just a smorgasbord of superheroes getting their screen time quotas in. The main villain character, Ultron, was completely computer generated and yet I found he stood out less in action scenes than some of the rendered forms of certain heroes performing their various super attacks.
My second problem with how the film presented our favorite heroes parrots something many other critiques have already said: there were too many characters. Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, War Machine, Falcon, Nick Fury, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Quicksilver; did you lose count yet? Yea, I thought so. During several climatic moments, the screen was literally cluttered with a dozen costumed crusaders, to the point that it became almost a chore to follow the action. By the end of the film, I was grateful for the focus on one-on-one interactions as the characters readied themselves for future events. I am becoming concerned, especially with the Infinity Gauntlet (one of my favorite mini-series of all time) coming up, that if future films are forced to contain ten or more big name actors / actresses, audiences might not be as receptive. I feel the solo films are going to surpass the flagship team in terms of enjoyment if this trend continues.
Story
I hate to say it, but the plot Avengers: Age of Ultron suffers from being a sequel. The first film was such a success that a sequel requires a monumental amount of work to surpass it. The film managed to ramp up the amount of action, but the story suffered due to the sheer number of characters that required screen time. We catch only snippets of character development, most of which is directed towards a rather forced relationship between Hulk and Black Widow, which leaves little time for absorbable dialogue. Aside from catchy one-liners, which Whedon is known for, I struggle to remember any moments in particular that stood out when compared to the first film, which I felt had significantly more memorable scenes.
I think the hardest part of the film to accept was Ultron's master plan. He is intially presented as this highly intelligent being, capable of controlling what seems like hundreds, if not thousands, versions of himself, but rather than use this army to conquer the world he decides to smash a small country into the planet. I understand that after the first film they needed something large and cataclysmic, having already done the army of non-human creatures, but this was a huge stretch. It made nearly as much sense as two characters that had very little prior exposure suddenly developing a forced relationship... Oh, wait.
This leads us to one of the hot topics of the net: the budding relationship between Black Widow and the Hulk. We, as the audience, are basically force fed through several unexpected, and frankly awkward, conversations and scenes. I feel that the best example of how poorly this relationship was handled, was during the scene where Bruce and Widow bump in to each other near the bathroom. Their brief exchange seems to contradict their hermitic behaviors. The crux of the conversation comes when Widow calls herself a monster due to her infertility, which I felt was just poor characterization. I believe it would have been more relatable if she were to compare how is a monster because of her time spent as an assassin, with all of the killing and what not, to how Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk. By making it about not being able to have a baby, I felt like the audience was being forced to remember that the Black Widow is the only woman on the team. I wonder, however, that even if Black Widow had acted in a different fashion, if I would have been less likely to roll my eyes at some of the onscreen interactions between Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanova.
I think the part that had me the most disappointed was how quickly Black Widow pushed aside her feelings for Bruce Banner when the situation needed the Hulk. There were scenes dedicated to building up the relationship between Bruce and Widow, but when push comes to shove (literally), Widow prioritized saving the world over her own happiness. This act calls to question the entire early half of the movie. Was Black Widow being sincere? Was she doing it as a mission? We, as the audience, are meant to sympathize and empathize with her supposed struggle, but she ends up giving up her future to save others. For me, this was the real underlying theme of Black Widow's characterization; sacrificing her future happiness for the good of the cause. Whether it's her fertility or her relationship, she has the strength to give up what matters most to her when it comes down to the wire.
The New Line-Up
The Vision (Paul Bettany) - I have been a fan of Paul Bettany playing the iconic voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. since the first Iron Man film. His English charm and dry delivery perfectly suit the computerized assistant to Downey's Tony Stark. His costume, mannerisms, and scenes were fantastic, and it's no surprise that he was my favorite of the new line-up.
Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) - I really wanted to like her, honestly. I was very keen on her being in the film, even impressed, when the initial images of her costume / action scenes were spoiled, but her ever-changing accent really kept me from enjoying her scenes. Bearing in the mind the source material this character is shaped from, the film does a good job of explaining her "Hex powers" in realistic terms. I think film did a good job of depicting Scarlet Witch, especially considering how they were not allowed to call her mutant or by her superhero name due to Marvel's past sale of the X-Men and all mutant related franchises to Fox.
Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) - I think we were spoiled with the Fox version of Quicksilver found in X-Men: Days of Future Past. While I feel Aaron Taylor-Johnson's version of Quicksilver, the cocky speedsterm, was significantly more accurate to the comics, I found Evan Peters' depiction in the X-Men film much more enjoyable.
(I'm sure you may know this already, but just in case, both Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Evan Peters starred as friends in another superhero film: Kickass.)
Ultron (James Spader) - Ugh, I'm not sure what to say about the main villain of the film other that he was a total miss for me. His master plan was awful, his design was all wrong, the dialogue was uncharacteristic, and even James Spader's voice, one of the big catches for me, seemed far and away from what was portrayed in the initial spoiler films. After Tom Hiddleston's fan-favorite performance as the cunning Loki, I was eager to see a colder and more vicious villain - one I thought we would find in the calculating mind of Ultron. Instead, I feel like we were given the PG version of what could have been a really ruthless challenge for our avenging superfolks.
My Verdict:
I realize that most of this review might come across as negative. I didn't like the plot, I didn't care for most of the new characters, and I found the movie overall forgettable when compared to the first of the series. Would I watch it again? I did and it was still a pretty enjoyable film. Even though I'm not sure anyone could argue that Avengers: Age of Ultron will be anywhere near as memorable as Avengers; it certainly fit the definition of a summer blockbuster to the tee. If I had to rate the film on the academic scale, I would give Avengers: Age of Ultron a solid B, whereas Avengers would be an A.
]]>Je suis un oiseau.
Ni l'abeille, ni la baleine.
Il mange une abeille.
I'm not sure when I'll be using those phrases, but if Duolingo is trying to make learning French memorable, it has succeeded. When I picked up the app, I wasn't expecting much--there was no way an iPhone app could teach me a language I had no knowledge of. Two months of using Duolingo later, I'm willing to admit I was wrong. While it's not a substitute for classroom learning, Duolingo is a useful way to start learning a language on your own time and at your own pace.
]]>Immersive learning is the main principle behind Duolingo's method. Instead of sitting you down and explaining you grammar theory, Duolingo drops you right in to translating various words and phrases, with a few hints along the way. The lessons start simple and cover the basics and short phrases before progressing to more complex skills and longer translations. In addition to translating words and phrases back and forth, users are given sentences they must pronounce properly, helping them learn the sounds of the language.
Duolingo can be used either as a free app (for iOS, Android, and Windows phones) or as a website. There are no in-app purchases, so in this world of freemium content, Duolingo truly is free; there is not a single cent you have to pay ever, for anything. Instead, users earn Lingots that they can exchange for bonus skills or help as they progress through lessons.
The app's design is attractive and simple, with no extraneous options or screens for the user to sort through. Progression through lessons is linear, so you won't lose your spot when you put the app down for a day. The website has more options, but it's still easy to navigate, and has the added bonus of discussion questions users can read over to learn more about the lessons they're taking. Both the website and the app have a social component, where you can add your friends and compete with your weekly progress--the more lessons you do, the more experience points you get, and the higher you are on the leaderboard.
Duolingo isn't perfect; it would be nearly impossible to become wholly fluent using Duolingo alone, and the app's lack of the discussion questions the website has is detrimental when you're stuck on a word or phrase. The app also suffers compared to the website when it comes to handing out experience points--on the website, up to ten experience points are rewarded vary on the length and success of the lesson, while on the app every lesson is always rewarded ten points, meaning it's harder to gauge what you should be focusing on based on your feedback.
I also found the bonus skills a lot harder than the other lessons. They would likely be best left until you've progressed through almost all of the lessons, which defeats their purpose as rewards in the beginning. The Flirting lessons are also almost useless for anything other than a laugh, as the lines the app gives you would never go over well.
However, Duolingo is still a very worthwhile language learning system to pick up. You can set your own daily goal, meaning you are the one dictating how much time you can put into the lessons, which is perfect for a busy schedule. On the app, Lingot rewards can be spent towards fun outfits for Duolingo's mascot, and on the website, Lingots can be used towards personal challenges. Friendly competition can keep you on top of your goals for the week, as well--I know I've had days where I've felt too exhausted to do my lessons, but the goal of staying on top of my score board inspired me.
Duolingo is easy to keep up with, and is very forgiving if you miss a day (or more) of lessons. As time goes on, skills you've learned lose their mastery, and you can redo them to refresh your memory. Missing a day of lessons only knocks down the mastery on a few skills, and you don't lose your experience points or Lingot rewards. Even if your mastery is high, you can still redo any lesson at any time, letting you decide if you need to strengthen certain skills. Experienced language learners can take advantage of the skill mastery system and test out of certain parts of the lessons, meaning someone with a few years of a language under their belt isn't stuck learning the basics.
Most important of all, Duolingo is fun. Not all of the phrases for users to translate are funny, but many are, and it keeps your attention. I know I learn best when I can laugh at something, and I'm not forgetting how to say "Il mange une abeille" any time soon. Duolingo's strange translations even have a dedicated blog, WTF Duolingo, where users can submit their own weird Duolingo finds.
Learning a language is a complicated process. It takes a combination of studying, practicing, and listening to really get a grasp on fluency. While Duolingo probably won't teach you an entire language all on its own, it's a great way to get started, brush up on some old skills, or supplement your own classroom learning on your own time, all while having fun.
Les chats boivent du thé!
]]>Fans of famed Montreal author Mordecai Richler will be thrilled to see his popular novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz appearing live on stage in a musical number at the Segal Centre. The tale is being brought back to life by award winning composers Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, A Christmas Carol) and David Spencer (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables). Prior to the stage, the novel was adapted into a 1974 film starring Richard Dreyfuss and Randy Quaid. Originally published in 1959, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz continues to be a must read novel, whether you're from Montreal or not. Those familiar with the novel (like myself) will notice the differences and similarities between the play, film, and novel.
]]> Set in the slums of rue Saint-Urbain, the story reflects on the life of Duddy Kravitz, a young Jewish boy who wants nothing more than to make a name for himself in the world and fulfill his grandfather's mantra of "a man without land is nobody". When opportunity knocks for Duddy to own a piece of vacant land, he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it means hurting those who love him most.
Like the story itself, the play is appealing to all audiences and age groups. All 306 seats in the theatre were filled with eager spectators. The set design was well done and clearly thought through, from the local delicatessen to the rural suburb of Saint-Agathe, no detail was left out. Constant background changes occurred and it was very clear where the scenes were taking place in.
The actors used the space accordingly; our eyes were constantly following the movements from one end of the stage to the other. There were choreographed group numbers and acts with just one or two main actors saying (or singing) their dialogues. Some scenes included jumping and hurdling like a hyperactive child while others, had beautiful intimacy like a sweet kiss in the rain. The sound was perfect and the actors' voices projected well in the theatre. There were moments that made us laugh, scenes that touched our hearts, and times when we wanted to get up and be part of the action.
Overall the actors were well cast. The title character of Duddy Kravitz was played exceptionally by Ken James Stewart (You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Wanderlust). Stewart does a great job of portraying Duddy's innocence and naivety. He also shows Duddy's scheming side with a devious, weasel-like laugh similar to the one Richard Dreyfuss lets out in the film version of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.
Duddy's father Max is played by the very likeable George Masswhohl (Oh What A Lovely War, Fiddler on the Roof). Masswhohl also plays the role of narrator and often appears off to the side, recounting his son's story to the audience in a Shakespearean soliloquy like fashion. At times we found ourselves more focused on his actions than on the play itself. Adrian Marchuk (Marry Me a Little, The Light in the Piazza) plays Duddy's do-gooder brother Lenny. Unlike his dreamer brother, Lenny is a straight arrow but nonetheless, some touching scenes occur between the brothers as well as the entire Kravitz family. These scenes prove that no matter how different family members may be, they're still bonded together.
Duddy's grandfather Simcha is portrayed by Howard Jerome (From Moses to Madonna, The Kabbalah Kabberet), another likeable character who can easily remind everyone of their own lovable grandfathers. The most unlikeable member of the Kravitz clan is Uncle Benjy, played by Victor A. Young (White Christmas, Hamlet). Like in the novel, as the story progresses we start to rethink about how we feel about Uncle Benjy.
Duddy's love interest Yvette, portrayed by Marie-Pierre De Brienne (La Melodie du Bonheur, Spring Awakening) does a believable job of playing a girl hopelessly in love with a somewhat shady guy. The chemistry between De Brienne and Stewart is authentic. Duddy's love for Yvette is more genuine in the play and he never refers to her as "his girl Friday" as he does several times in the novel. Another budding relationship is that between Duddy and his new American friend Virgil, played by David Coomber (Next to Normal, Men's Eyes). Coomber does a convincing job getting the audience to easily like and feel sympathy towards him, especially after an unthinkable act from Duddy.
The not as likeable characters in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz were just as convincingly portrayed as the likable ones. Sam Rosenthal (The Chosen, Skin Flick) plays the wealthy Mr. Cohen, Michael Rudder (Godspell, The Heidi Chronicales) plays the phony Jerry "the Boy Wonder" Dingleman and Kristian Truelsen (Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Anne of Green Gables) plays the flighty Peter John Friar. Other cast members, Albane Chateau (The Little Match Girl), Gab Desmond (Forever Plaid), Julia Halfyard (Two Divas, One Spotlight) and Michael Daniel Murphy (Lies My Father Told Me) played multiple characters.
Overall I enjoyed the play, the cast was excellent and the musical numbers enchanting; however the three-hour performance felt long at times and the sequences were repetitive. There is a section where they show a Bar Mitzvah scene from the movie adaptation of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz involving a graphic circumcision. They should perhaps warn people of this ahead of time. I had seen this scene but my companion and other audience members hadn't and were quite shocked when it aired.
Fans of the book will easily make comparisons and be more critical of the play's storyline. For one thing, Duddy is much more (if not too much so) likeable in the musical version than in the novel and film. Many of his mischievous adventures were taken out. The biggest difference, the story's ending is quite different and a much happier one, perhaps to make it more suitable for a musical and younger audience. Despite this, the play is definitely worth seeing, especially if you're a fan of musicals. The story of Duddy Kravitz is an important staple in Montreal literature and the memory and great works of Mordecai Richler should continue to live on.
Be sure to get your tickets to The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz at the Segal Centrebox office. The show will be playing until July 12th. Visit their website or contact them at (514) 739-2301.
]]>
Photo credit: Concacaf.com
CONCACAF is the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football. It organizes and administrates various clubs, national level tournaments and events, and promotes soccer accross the continent. The CONCACAF Champions League is a club-level tournament for the best qualified teams of various countries. The qualification process differs by country and there are two ways to qualify: Win the the qualification tournament set-up by the national association (which the Impact won last year) or win the national league that your team plays in. The number of teams per country also differs by size and previous results of the teams from that league. Twenty-four teams take part in this league. Beucase the US and Mexico have a larger number of teams they can enter four teams each and Canada can enter one. Central America can enter twelve and the Carrabean league can enter three.
How did the Impact get there?
Photo credit: Reddit.com
To get to the Champions League (CL) the Impact participated in the 2014 Canadian Championship which included Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver. The Impact lost its first match in the 4-team knockout tournament against Edmonton, a 2 - 1 defeat, but won the return match in Montreal 4 - 2, winning the 2-match series 5 - 4 on goals total. In the finals, they faced off with Montreal's general rival Toronto FC. The first match in Toronto ended 1 - 1 and a last-minute goal by the Impact in the 2nd match home game gave them a 1 - 0 win and 2 - 1 total series win. This gave them access to the Champions League.
The CL's format has changed over the years. During the 2014 - 2015 league, the 24 teams will be split up into 8 groups of 3 teams who'll play each other twice, at home and away. Each group winner will go into the quarter finals, then the semi finals, and the finals. Montreal was placed into group 3 with CD FAS of El Salvador and the New York Red Bulls. They won their first two matches against CD FAS 1 - 0 in Montreal and 3 - 2 in San Salvador. They also beat the Red Bulls 1 - 0 in Montreal and tied 1 - 1 in New York. Finishing first in their group, the earned qualification to the quarter finals against the Mexican team Pachuca. They played the first match in Pachuca, ending it in a 2 - 2 draw. The return match in Montreal ended 1 - 1 with the Impact scoring in the 90th minute of the game to steal the match and win the series; it ended 3 - 3 on goal totals but because Montreal scored two away goals (which is used for a tie breaker) they were declared the winners. In the semi-finals they were drawn against Costa Rican side Alajulense. The first match ended in a 2 - 0 win for Montreal and the return match, in a hostile Costa Rican stadium, ended in a 4 - 2 loss for the Impact. Just like the quarter-finals, the Impact won the series on a 4 - 4 tie, with two away goals scored in the loss. This meant they had achieved the feat of making it to the finals.
Why is it so important for Montreal and to Montrealers?
Photo credit: Thestar.com
As we now know, the Impact were honorable loosers in the finals, but this isn't the be all end all for our team. We must remember that no one in the world thought the Impact would make it to the finals, or that they could even score a goal against Club America. Since they were little most, if not every, players have dreamed of making it to a club or country final, so getting there meant they acheived a personal goal. Even though they didn't raise the trophy high for us to see they made it to the finals! This is a feat in itself and cannot be forgotten. For a hockey-dominated city like Montreal, the Impact's run in the tournament shows the Canadiens they're not the only championship-worthy team around. The Impact might know all about the Habs history, but this will build their own and for a young team there's nothing more important. Having the tournament broadcast internationally is helping Montreal stay visible on the global sports scene and attract more events, like the FIFA Women's World Cup this summer. As for its impact on Québec many young players have been targeting the Impact's youth teams and soccer schools which is key for the development of players in the province. Moreover the Impact represented Canada, a great honour which carries with it the hope of the nation and, in turn, the image of our country as a whole. In many ways this win has been a huge achievement for the fans of football in Montreal, Quebec, and Canada and the team has benefited both in experience and visibility. They may not have won the finals, but we all know that in the beautiful game of football anything and everything can happen.
]]>Since the tender age of 8 I have been in love with cheese. My adoration for it began at a Christmas supper, after the main course had been served. My father's family had always been strong supporters of apéritifs and cheese before dessert. My brother, cousins, and I would always see them conversing and laughing over a few bottles of wine and a large cheese platter. Many cousins often made funny faces and held their noses when this tray would come out of the kitchen which confused me some because my father, his siblings, and my grand-mother swore by cheese. How could the adults be so passionate about cheese and the kids so revolted? I needed to get to the bottom of this!
]]> Of course, at that time, whatever I did my brother was quick to follow. Feeling confident with my little buddy by my side I hopped onto my grand-mothers, and he onto my fathers, lap and we asked "Can we have some?" Big grins were displayed by both and slices of cheese were spread on fresh baguettes for us. We were instantly hooked, and have been ever since...Photo credit: Ourcheeses.com
THE HISTORY OF CHEESE AND ITS QUÉBEC ORIGINS:
The art of cheese making began in the Middle East, not Europe, 7000 to 8000 years ago. Although historians can't confirm its origins it is said that milk was once transported in a container made of a goat, or sheep's, stomach and that the sweltering heat separated it into curd and whey. After the Middle East the principles of cheese-making spread to Asia, the Roman Empire, and Europe.
In 1620 the Mayflower brought cheese to the Americas. It wasn't until 19th century that cheese began to be mass produced. In 1851 the first US cheese factory was opened in Oneida County, NY. With demand on the rise cheese-making made its way cross-country and, of course, to our Belle Province.
Although cheese-making was very popular in Québec, the production of cheese became restricted to Cheddar after the English conquest. As a result the cheddar we consume today is a decendant of England's Cheshire cheddar. However Québecers have always, in my opinion, lead the cheese-making pack in Canada. In fact the first North-American cheese school was founded in Kamouraska and today the Institut de technologie agroalimentaire continues to innovate with cheese thanks to the dairy school that was founded there in 1893.
With the English so far away and our people's love for cheese growing strong two new types of cheese producered emerged in Québec:
OKA: Inspired by the Port-Salut cheese from Europe the Trappish monks of the Oka region began manufacturing this now well-known cheese in 1893.
Saint-Benoit: For their part the monks of Saint-Benoit-du-Lac Abbey created their own regional cheese in 1943.
These and other manufacturers helped grow the cheese community we now have in Québec. Were it not for these dedicated ancesters other foreign cheeses, like Swiss and more recently Artisnal cheeses, would not be so well-known, liked, or abundant.
MAJOR CHEESE CATEGORIES:
Soft
Photo credit: Whitestonecheese.com
In accordance with their name, soft cheeses are those whose insides are neither cooked nor pressed. When cut open, and only if they've spent some time outside your fridge, these cheese will bleed out their creamy insides and typically melt over a warm bread, toast, or bagel (my personal favourite.) They do this because they have a high moisture content, between 50% - 60%, but this percentage can be even higher in double or triple cream cheeses.
Photo credit: Fromagesdici.com
Kristine's pick: If you're new to, or shy to try, soft cheeses I recommend the Brie de Vaudreuil. Its mild taste pairs well with many types of breads, meats, fruit and vegetables, and wines. It can also be eaten on its own and its low price point is pleasing to any wallet.
Semi-soft
Photo credit: Whitestonecheese.com
Sticking to their namesake once more, semi-soft cheeses are harder than soft cheeses, but still malleable. Their moisture content is 45% - 50% and their middles are sometimes heated during production, which allows more moisture to be drained out. There are many different types and flavours of semi-soft cheeses because each is processed and made to ripen for different amounts of time.
Photo credit: Delucaswinnipeg.ca
Kristine's pick: If I had to recommend just one it would have to be the classic Oka. Still in the mild category it's recognizable by its orange tint and somewhat earthy taste. It's great to have in a panini for lunch or with slices of apple as a snack. The producers of this cheese have since made the Oka Raclette which, if you've never had raclette before, you must research and experience for yourself.
Firm
Photo credit: Redwhiteandbleu.com
This being the biggest and most common cheese category, firm cheeses are generally tougher than soft and semi-soft cheeses, yet elastic. Their moisture content is between 35% - 45% because their middles are drained and pressed. Québec produces many varieties of firm cheeses like cheddar, swiss, edam, etc.
Photo credit: Ourcheeses.com
Kristine's pick: If you're not into strong cheeses I'd caution readers against this pick. However, for those more daring folks I strongly recommend a pungent Emmental. With its sharp taste and grainy texture I eat this cheese as is, most often with a glass of white wine.
Blue-veined
Photo credit: Culturecheesemag.com
You guesses it! This cheese's name comes from the blue or green streaks that form in the middle of the cheese. They are more commonly known as blue cheeses and are, by far, the smelliest and strongest tasting cheeses. The smell and flavour, most likely, come from the culture that is mixed into the curdled milk. This helps the green or blue mould, yes mould, grow inside.
Photo credit: Ourcheeses.com
Kristine's pick: Although I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese I I do love pairing it with mild recipes. My go-to meal for blue cheese is an endive salad. This Bleu d'Élizabeth crumbles to the touch and pairs nicely with crushed pecans.
Fresh
Photo credit: Countrycheesecompany.com
Fresh cheeses are those who form by being left in the open to curdle. Once this happens the milk is poured into a cheese drainer, a basket with holes on the bottom, so the whey can seep out. This process also gives the cheese its final look. Their moisture content exceeds 60% and can be liquid, smooth, or creamy.
Photo credit: Freshmarketdirect.ca
Kristine's pick: Before I even knew of the other cheese varieties I ate Cottage Cheese. It is a multi-purpose cheese that can be added to many recipes because of its mild flavour. It's also a very healthy alternative to some of the cheeses you've read about earlier. I love eating this cheese with berries as a snack or adding it to a pasta sauce.
In addition to these texture categories cheeses can also be categorized by country of origin and by milk source like cow, goat, and sheep. More daring cheese connaisseurs will happily try camel, buffalo, and yak cheeses, as these are rarer and have an entirely different taste.
No matter how developed your pallet is there's a cheese out there for everyone. The trick is to experiment. Find a cheese you like and continue experimenting with more in the same category. Then when you've conquered one you'll be more open to sampling the others.
It's not cheesy to want to learn more!
Check out these sites:
1- The International Dairy Foods Association
2- Our Cheeses
]]>You've seen the movies and you've seen the TV shows, but now you want to start reading comics and don't know where to start? Well look no further! In this article you will find some easy to follow pointers, which will help you enjoy comics to their fullest.
]]> The first step anyone should take when deciding what comics to read is to define what kind of story you're interested in. There are as many genres of comic books as there are novels. Crime, humor, action, romance, suspense - if you've read it in print you can read it in a comic. You can refer to the following list to find the genre you might enjoy, as well as some suggested publishers who make those types of comics:Superhero: The near-universal standard that comes to mind when someone mentions a comic book. These are your spandex clad heroes, your Batman and Spider-Man.
Publishers: Marvel, DC Comics
***
Crime: Think about those gritty crime novels. Tough cops cleaning up even tougher streets. In these comics you'll get to know the kind of people who don't mind getting their hands dirty when the need arises.
Publishers: Vertigo, Image
***
Romance: Romeo and Juliette meet comic pulp. Sadly, this genre has been neglected in recent years, and most publishers stopped creating these titles by the 80's. There are a few publishers who still experiment with this genre, and you can still find some light romance in comics like Archie.
Publishers: DC Comics, Marvel, Image, Archie Comics
***
Science Fiction: Space...the final frontier for comics! Starships and alien invasions - if you're looking for something along these lines there are numerous choices to pick from. One of the earliest genres to ever grace the pages of a comic book, you will easily find something to your liking.
Publishers: 2000 AD, Marvel, Image, DC Comics, Dark Horse
***
Horror: You've probably seen, or at least heard of, The Walking Dead TV series on HBO, but did you know it started as a comic? Comic book history has had a long relationship with the undead, which, interestingly enough, nearly ended comics as we know it (for more on this, look up the history of the Comics Code Authority, otherwise known as the CCA).
Publishers: Image, Dark Horse, Marvel
***
Fantasy: Sword and Sorcery! Lightning Bolts! This isn't your Harry Potter kind of magic, kids. You'll find many great fantasy comics ranging from characters like Conan the Barbarian to the redheaded she-devil Red Sonja.
Publishers: Dark Horse, DC Comics, Image
***
Paper or Plastic?
So you've picked what you want to read, but where do you go from here? There are thousands of titles and even more single issues to choose from. You need to do some light research and find out some small details such as:
Once you know these details, it is simply a matter of deciding your budget and how much you'd like to invest in comics. Single issue comics are much cheaper than their compiled cousins, the graphic novel, but take up significantly more shelf-space and require you to have bags and boards to store them. Graphic novels, on the other hand, fit and look elegant on a bookshelf,but come with a price tag that is often five to ten times more expensive.
For someone looking to with the very first issue of their chosen series, there are two great options from the major publishers: Marvel Essentials and DC Showcases. These are softcover, black and white print, consecutive issue graphic novels. These will vary in price, with DC and Marvel being cheaper due to their use of only black and white printing, but all of them will provide consecutive issues in a nicely bound format.
***
Something for everyone
For some, the option of buying physical copies is too impractical to pursue the hobby. Thankfully, many websites and companies, and even some publishers, are now offering a digital service with many perks for signing up. The comics are made available digitally every Wednesday, just like they would be at your local comic store. They'll take up no more space than the average Mp3 and your apartment or house won't be cluttered with stray issues. The only downside is that you will be paying the same price as if you bought a physical copy, which for some is a bit of a steep price.
Suggested Websites include:
***
There really isn't a wrong way to get into comics, provided you don't spend your life's savings on them. I would recommend looking into a genre you're already familiar with. For instance, if you like The Flash television program, why not pick up one of The Flash comics? Just bear in mind that many of the series that are out today have had their stories altered to better suit television and film. What this means is that although the characters may share the same name, some details have been reworked to appeal to the modern audience.
With all that being said, I will leave you with a few of my own recommendations:
Punisher MAX *NOTE THIS COMIC IS RATED R* - Marvel takes its grittiest hero to even darker levels as he scours the criminal underworld. Filled with foul language, graphic violence, and disturbing villains, the Punisher MAX takes a realistic look at what a vigilante might look like.
Chew - Crime drama meets comedy. I won't spoil too much, but just to whet your appetite, the main character gets his clues by eating evidence. You'll find this tongue-in-cheek series published by Image.
Saga - Science fiction and fantasy were smashed together to spit out this great read. There's enough action to keep anyone entertained, and it's coupled with a great story. This is published by Image as well.
Hellboy - Occult and supernatural drama with a dash of crime. You might have seen Ron Perlman play the titular character on the big screen, and I'm pretty sure you'll find he did a bang-on job of portraying the character. This one is published by Dark Horse.
Green Lantern - This is probably my favorite superhero comic. I'd recommend starting with Green Lantern: Rebirth, the miniseries that lead to the re-launch of one of DC's biggest selling series. Geoff Johns wrote some incredible stories for the emerald hero.
]]>I've been a fan of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock for years and believe that he is an icon in the world of cinema. Hitchcock, known as the "master of suspense", was quite ahead of his time. He wasn't afraid to push the envelope and make movies that were unique from anything else. His actions were at times questionable, such as his infatuations with the women in his movies and his ill treatment of actress Tippi Hedren in The Birds. Despite his flaws, Alfred Hitchcock has influenced many directors: Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma and David Fincher to name a few.
]]> With his many iconic and infamous films, it was quite a task to narrow it down to five. Some of my favorites are his lesser-known movies while others are his classic masterpieces. Along with the titles of my favorite Hitchcock films, I included some behind the scenes stories and information that die hard fans (like myself) may not have known and facts that can intrigue a "Hitchcokian" newbie. Please share your comments as well as your favorite films from the famous director.
No Alfred Hitchcock list would be complete without Psycho, a movie that has changed the way most people take showers. This black and white film starring Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles, is considered to be one of Hitchcock's best films and is filled with iconic scenes, lines and musical score. The story is adapted from the novel Psycho written by Robert Bloch. Hitchcock had many challenges turning Psycho from script to screen. Film executives refused to finance the film due to its violent scenes, and feared that the movie was promoting homosexuality and cross-dressing. Hitchcock had to fund the film himself and in order to cut down on costs, he filmed in black and white and used the set and crew of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
The film's protagonist is Marion Crane, played by the lovely Janet Leigh (mother of actress Jamie Lee Curtis). Marion gets herself into trouble by stealing 40,000$ from her employer so she can finally marry her long distance boyfriend Sam Loomis, played by John Gavin. On her way to tell Sam about the money she stops at the Bates Motel where she meets the owner Norman Bates, played effortlessly by Anthony Perkins. Norman is an odd, socially awkward man who is seemingly controlled by his mysterious mother Norma. When Marion's conscious finally convinces her to return home and give back the money, it appears to be too late for our heroine as she is killed by a shadowy figure while taking a shower. Sam, her sister Lila, played by Vera Miles and detective Milton Arbogast played by Martin Balsam, work together to try to solve the mystery of Marion's disappearance and what's really going on at the Bates Motel. Psycho's conclusion is horrific, mysterious and thrilling all at the same time.
The infamous shower scene was so powerful that Janet Leigh never took a shower again in her life. Other scenes considered controversial were the opening scenes where Marion and Sam are lying in bed together and, a close up shot of a toilet flushing. These types of scenes were quite uncommon if not non-existent for this time. Despite the controversies and difficulty getting Psycho produced, it ended up being Hitchcock's highest grossing film and a huge commercial success. The film executives who rejected the film must have gone quite mad themselves after Hitchcock's triumph with Psycho.
One of his earliest movies, Shadow of a Doubt is said to have been Alfred Hitchcock's personal favorite film. Once you watch this film noir, it won't be hard to see why and how it can easily be added to anyone's favorite Hitchcock film list. The movie stars Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright in a gripping tale of family, murder and how the people we know and love aren't always what they seem.
Shadow of A Doubt pulls audiences in with a beautiful opening scene consisting of a dance sequence called The Merry Widow Waltz. The story is set in a small California town where the female protagonist Charlotte "Charlie" Newton, played wonderfully by Teresa Wright, is anxiously awaiting for the arrival of her Uncle Charlie, played by the legendary Joseph Cotten, who is coming to visit the family. Everyone, especially Charlotte idolizes Uncle Charlie. However once he arrives, his behavior changes drastically.
We first see Uncle Charlie's odd behavior when two men claiming to be surveyors photograph him. One of the surveyors Jack Graham, played by Macdonald Carey, begins a romance with Charlotte. He confesses to be a detective who suspects Uncle Charlie of being the "Merry Widow Murderer". At first Charlotte refuses to believe that her beloved uncle could ever do such a thing, but later discovers signs proving Jack could be right. Along with Uncle Charlie's continuous strange behavior, Charlotte realizes a ring her uncle gave her has the initials of one of the murdered women engraved in it. Her attitude towards Uncle Charlie quickly changes and she wants nothing more than for him to leave her home. After confronting her uncle, a silent battle ensues between the two resulting in some near death "accidents" for Charlotte. With a heart pounding conclusion and final battle between Charlotte and Uncle Charlie, many secrets are exposed and lives will never be the same.
Along with its suspense, Shadow of a Doubt has some touching and humorous scenes. There are many family moments, proving what a tight bond the Newtons have and how Charlotte will stop at nothing to protect them. The entire Newton family are very likable characters Especially Charlotte's mother and Uncle Charlie's sister Emma, played by Patricia Collinge. She proves to be a very loving mother, wife and older sister to her brother Charlie who she idolizes almost as much as Charlotte does. The humorous element of the film is courtesy of Charlotte's father Joseph, played by Henry Travers (best known for playing Clarence the angel in It's a Wonderful Life). He is constantly discussing with his friend Herbie, played by Hume Cronyn, on how they would commit the perfect crime. All this without realizing that he is actually harboring a murderer in his house. Undoubtedly, one of Hitchcock's earlier masterpieces.
Alfred Hitchcock's most visually appealing piece of work, the romantic thriller To Catch A Thief, is a lighter film compared to his many darker themed ones. The two main leads consisting of the handsome Cary Grant and the stunning Grace Kelly are reason enough to see this film. What's even more pleasing to the eye than the two Hollywood leads is the breathtaking scenery of the French Riviera. If this film does not make you want to book your next trip to the south of France, then you're not watching it properly.
The films main character John Robie, played by Cary Grant is a retired jewel thief who also goes by the nicknames "cat burglar" or "the Cat". John went from thieving to spending his days tending to his vineyard. After a series of robberies occurs John is the number one suspect in the eyes of the law. After escaping the police he makes it his goal to catch the robber red handed and prove that he's innocent. John's plan to clear his name by finding potential targets for the new "cat burglar". Two potential targets include Jessie Stevens, played by Jessie Royce Landis, and her daughter Frances, played by Grace Kelly. Frances is a bored rich girl seeking some thrill in her life and is immediately drawn to John. But after more robberies occur, Frances worries that John may in fact be the cat burglar. With plot twists and turns and the constant question of the real criminal is, To Catch a Thief is a treat to all of our senses.
The chemistry between Grant and Kelly is undeniable. Along with the attractive cast, Kelly's fashions in the film also distract audience members from the storyline. To Catch A Thief has some of these familiar faces from previous Alfred Hitchcock films. Cary Grant has done four films in all with the legendary director (Suspicion, Notorious, North by Northwest, To Catch A Thief). Jessie Royce Landis also appears in North by Northwest and Grace Kelly has appeared in three of his films (To Catch a Thief, Dial M For Murder, Rear Window). To Catch a Thief was Kelly's final film with Alfred Hitchcock and one of her final films altogether before becoming Princess Grace of Monaco. To Catch a Thief is a royal addition to any Alfred Hitchcock collection.
Rebecca is an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's classic novel of the same name and was Alfred Hitchcock's first American project. Fans of the novel will enjoy this film and seeing the characters come to life onscreen. What appears to be a fairytale love story is actually a dark story filled with twisted characters and an infamous villain who has perhaps ruined anyone with the last name Danvers.
The main female protagonist is a nameless woman played by Joan Fontaine. She meets and falls in love with wealthy widowed Englishman Maxim De Winter, played by legendary actor Sir Laurence Oliver. They quickly marry and Maxim brings her to his Manderley mansion in England. Once they wed, the unnamed heroine is now referred to as the second Mrs. De Winter. Wedded bliss instantly becomes a nightmare once the couple returns from their honeymoon. Maxim's housekeeper the creepy Mrs. Danvers, played too convincingly by Judith Anderson takes an instant dislike to her master's new bride. Mrs. Danvers was enamored with Rebecca, Maxim's late wife and ensures that the second Mrs. De Winter knows that with constant threats and comparisons. The second Mrs. De Winter then begins to wonder if she'll ever have a place in Maxim's life and fears she will always be haunted by the presence of the late Rebecca. With storyline twists and revelations about the first Mrs. De Winter, Rebecca is dark, heart pounding film.
Joan Fontaine gives an exceptional performance as a naïve and confused heroine. A young Sir Laurence Olivier is quite dashing and Judith Anderson is quite simply gives one of the scariest onscreen performances one may ever see. Anderson doesn't even have to say or do much to instill fear, her stare is enough to send chills down anyone's spine. Rebecca is a prime example of the beginning of what would be a long line of scary and suspenseful Hitchcock films.
One of Alfred Hitchcock's most underrated films Marnie, while a little slow at times it does not shy away from the intense mystery that we love so much about his movies. Not as successful as Psycho or The Birds, it is nonetheless an iconic movie. Tippi Hedren (mother as actress Melanie Griffith) plays the title character and Sean Connery plays Mark Rutland, her one time boss who later becomes her husband.
The film centers around Marnie, a troubled woman who moves from city to city and takes on different identities in each location. She has very particular anxieties and phobias, which include a strong distrust of men and a fear of the color red. She also happens to be a thief who robs her employees' blind before running off to her next destination. The only person in Marnie's life is her mother Bernice played by Louise Latham. Mark is instantly intrigued by Marnie and pursues her despite her rebuffs. He forces her to marry him and proves to be the only person willing to love Marnie and help her. We eventually discover the reasons behind Marnie's anxieties and how all it took was one person to not give up on her.
While quite a different role from the one she played in The Birds, Hedren does a great job in making the role in Marnie an iconic one for her. The role of Marnie was originally intended for Grace Kelly. However as she the princess of Monaco, her royal handlers objected to her playing such a complex role. While working on The Birds with Tippi Hedren, Hitchcock offered the lead role in Marnie. Despite their complicated relationship, Hedren accepted. Marnie can steal the spotlight from the other more successful Alfred Hitchcock movies.
Recently this article was published and it got me thinking: what is wrong with our government? The person in question was found guilty of tax evasion for working with a prostitution company in the 1980's. Who in their right mind would believe that people would openly and willingly admit that they are earning money illegally and that they should pay their taxes on it? The whole point about doing illegal activities is to make more money in a shorter amount of time. Things like drug or weapon selling, money laundering, and prostitution do not typically show up on income tax papers. The person in this article was found by a judge to have evaded tax and is required to pay back all that is owed, including penalties.
The Good:
1) More tax money - If people pay the taxes on illegal activities, more money will go to the government and (hopefully) help pay for whatever the government needs. This could include creating more initiatives, helping with infrastructure, or simply paying down debt.
2) No tax evasion - One of the greatest mob bosses in the history of the Mob was Al Capone, who was brought down on tax evasion charges. If taxes are paid, then that at least is one less worry off of the mind of those invested in some illegal activities.
3) Fairness and keeping people away from crime - According to the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA), the taxing of illegal activities is to help lead people away from engaging in criminal activity and to make it fair that all Canadians pay their taxes.
The Bad
1) More tax money- This is a repeat because it could really go either way. If more people give money to the government, they could also then swindle more away from the people, making themselves richer in the process. Want proof of corrupt politicians? Quebec. Enough said.
2) Openly admitting guilt - Once payment is sent for taxes perceived as owed from a 'side project,' the government will now know about said activity. Unless it has a solid cover story or some kind of front like the Mob, it will be caught and shut down eventually. While apparently a separate entity from the rest of the government, the information it gathers is not as restrictive as it states.
3) Seriously, why? - Let's be honest; starting an illegal operation is a way to get as much money as possible as fast as possible. Why would anyone even think about taxes on an illegal operation?
Trying to make sense of what the Canadian government is doing is honestly head scratching. The facts page on the CRA website clearly shows that there is something being done about it, which is great for all the straight shooters out there, but they clearly are hoping for too much.
Think about it; in provinces like Quebec, where Montreal mayors change almost as fast as the lights on St. Catherine Street, the OQLF are funded heavily yet only ever amounted to creating the biggest joke in Western society today, and construction companies consistently draining taxpayers' money, do criminals really care about tax evasion? Let's go a step further.
Politicians are people that help fight for the people around them or in their sector by creating laws, bylaws, and regulations that help everyone. Some of these politicians have lands, properties, or companies that can be affected by said laws, bylaws, and regulations.
If we take, for example, Pierre Karl Peladeau, the current front runner for the leadership of the PQ party, things can start to get interesting. He was the president of Videotron and Quebecor media, two of the largest telecommunications companies in Quebec, as well as CEO of Hydro Quebec. Now, how many times have those large communications companies fought and mostly won against the government to not allow new communications companies into Quebec? If he were to come into power, imagine what kinds of things he would change simply so he can use politics to fill his pockets while bankrupting others, but still be legal because he helps make the laws.
While there may be some contempt for the PQ government in the above words, it is true that laws can effectively be changed by those in charge anywhere. Therefore, if laws can be changed, why not change them for the better?
So, instead of legalizing the act of prostitution but not the selling of it in Quebec, either ban or allow it entirely. If it is completely criminalized, then once a prostitution worker is caught you can seize all assets associated with the money earned illegally. If it is legalized, the government can watch the organization more closely as well as properly tax its earnings.
Personally, allowing it and making it a legitimate business seems more profitable and easier than the reverse for Quebec. Obviously it needs to be properly instituted and created, but with strict regulations it could potentially generate a lot more for the government than is currently being seized.
At any rate, it is silly to attempt to sway criminals away from illegal activities by instituting penalties and jail time for tax evasion. Criminals who are caught aren't going to worry about their taxes as much as what their business partners may do now.
Photo Credits: Eric Draper - The Diet; Mark Gstohl - Police Costumers; Samounet - Photo de Pierre Karl Péladeau
]]>1. A separate date
Easter is one of the two biggest Christian holidays worldwide, but it originated long before organized religion, as a celebration of spring, joy and rebirth. There's no fixed date in the calendar for it: in Western Christianity (the Catholic and Protestant denominations), according to the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th, following the first astronomical full moon after the spring equinox; Eastern Christianity, on the other hand, bases its calculations on the Julian Calendar, which is currently behind the Gregorian one by 13 days. Orthodox Easter therefore varies between April 4th and May 8th, so it rarely overlaps with the Western one, and mostly falls later in the year.
While we've been assaulted for weeks now by images of chocolate eggs and bunnies in store window displays, few Montrealers for whom Easter is a religious holiday seem to care much about the religious aspect of it - they just enjoy their day off, eat a lavish lunch and spend time with families. On the contrary, for Orthodox communities (mostly Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek and Coptic) in the city, this is the most important holiday of the year. It seems fitting that they would have a separate date to celebrate it.
]]> 2. Diversity of customsEven within one single culture, the manifestations of one holiday tend not to be unitary. In a multicultural city like Montreal, the ethic immigrant communities have maintained their traditions fiercely, passing them down through generations. From the decorations on their eggs, to the shape of the Easter buns, to the time of the church services, each cultural group manifests their unique Easter customs. Moreover, some of these customs are so old that they seem to have been lost in the home country.
For someone who's not Orthodox, it's easy to miss the ways in which these communities prepare themselves for their biggest feast. The most visible mention of it might be Easter bazaars. The Ukrainian community in Montreal is very vocal and staunch in displaying their customs, even non-Easter related, so that on visiting an Easter bazaar this year, between end of March and Palm Sunday, you also had the chance to admire (and buy) traditional motif clothing or have a typical lunch of borscht and cabbage rolls.
3. Best painted eggs
Even before Christianity, painted eggs, as symbols of spring, were believed to have magic powers, to bring luck and protect the home against demons and evil spirits; the shells of Easter eggs were kept and sprinkled over the soil in gardens to provide for fertility and richer crops.
There are two types of traditional Easter eggs in Eastern-European cultures. One type is for eating: commonly painted red (to commemorate Jesus' blood), they are broken immediately after midnight mass in joyous acknowledgement that "Christ Is Risen!". Sometimes the hard-boiled painted eggs can be adorned with natural patterns (leaves) and there's, of course, a going-back-to-origins trend toward using natural resources, like onions or beets, to dye the eggshell. Absent that, egg dye and egg sleeves are found for sale in Montreal stores that cater to the respective Orthodox communities. (Here's the local Romanian website compiling a list of where to buy egg dye within the city area - it's a concern! I got mine sent from Romania, because my parents apparently don't believe we have proper stores here.)
The other type of Easter eggs is the decorative painted ones, raised to the level of true objects of art. Eggshells are emptied of yolk and egg white, then covered in a wax mold, on which intricate designs (sometimes religious, but not only) are traced with a special pen. These exquisitely embellished Easter eggs are more typical for Ukraine and Poland, and got popularized in Canada as "pysanky" - but some parts of eastern Romania do them too. This time of the year there will be cheaper wooden versions for sale in stores, but the real deal is more likely to be available in one of the Ukrainian bazaars.
4. Traditional Easter breads and buns
Bread is the commonest symbol of home, of plenty and gratitude. Though generally not dissimilar in offer from the traditional Italian or Portuguese fare, typical Easter sweet bread comes with its own special twist in each Orthodox community. Light and fluffy in texture, all of these pastries may or may not contain bits of raisin, nuts or even Turkish delight - but what they do have in common is a lot of eggs mixed in the dough. The Slavic peoples have the kulich(Russian) or babka (Ukrainian), tall, cylindrical in shape, sometimes glazed. There's also a Polish-style babka, which looks more like a typical ring cake. The Greek brag of their braided buns with red eggs boiled inside, which look a lot like the Portuguese folar de pascoa. The Romanian-typical Easter bread usually contains cheese. Another type of sweet bread served only on holidays makes use of a good amount of sweetened crushed walnuts or poppyseed grains.
In Montreal you can order any of these goodies in the specific stores or bakeries (think Rosemont for Polish-Ukrainian, Park Extension for Greek, Cote-des-Neiges/Plamondon for Russian, Decarie for Romanian etc.) - sometimes even weeks before Easter.
5. Amazing ceremonies and sense of community
In some ethnic and immigrant communities throughout Canada, religion has high stakes; Orthodoxism at least is strongly intertwined with the belonging to a cultural community. Certain aspects of preserving a heritage - and Easter celebration is a perfect illustration of this - bring entire parishes together, at least twice a year.This year I came to realize that all Orthodox denominations in Montreal do attend to Good Week religious rituals that are richer and more elaborate than I'd ever taken part in in my Transylvanian birthplace.
One Easter custom preserved in Montreal that was new to me is the blessing of the food basket on Easter day: parishioners bring to church, for the priest's blessing, baskets containing a few staple foods: eggs painted red, bread, some meats, cheese, butter, salt and pepper - these represent the first meal they will have right after Ressurection. In Ukrainian churches this can happen on Good Saturday or Good Sunday after morning service. In my (smaller, I presume) Romanian church, people came forward with baskets after midnight service. My father says this custom was respected back in his village when he was young, but apparently it didn't get carried on to Romanian city life.
On Good Friday, I knew (but again, I'd never witnessed) that the congregation walks around the church carrying an icon embroidered on cloth, which represents the Crucifixion - commemorating the burial of Christ's earthly body. This year I attended the corresponding Greek ceremony, which appears to be a more complex and joyful ritual. The Holy Epitaph - a tall litter-like structure made of flowers - is paraded throughout the neighbourhood after dark, accompanied by altar boys and flower girls dressed in white, carrying baskets of petals. The procession meanders through the pre-blocked streets of the neighbourhood, discreetly watched over by police. Retracing its way back to the church, the crowd then dismantles the Epitaph to take the flowers home. Taking part in this communal walk was exhilarating for me: I will admit that hearing a ceremony in an unknown language may lend it a more solemn, striking air, but I was also impressed by the numbers in attendance and the organization of it all.
A Greek-Canadian friend also shared vivid memories from a typical Good Saturday service, where a "mini-ressurection" is role-played: "The priest and altar boys simulate the rock moving from the grave where Jesus was placed. In most churches it's a pretty small noise, but at our church we used to even light up firecrackers in garbage cans[...] to make a loud noise and smoke. The people in the pews bang their hands on the wood of the pews and on the balcony upstairs, the priest would save old chairs and tables he wanted to throw away and would let us bang them and break them."
Still, my favourite Easter ceremony, the climax of the biblical story, remains the Easter midnight procession where the crowd gathered outside has to walk around the church three times, with their lit candles, singing "Christ Is Risen" for the first time in the year. Of course, churches in Europe are usually built in squares, so crowds of people can actually go around them, while in North America they're mostly squeezed in some street corner; nevertheless, excitement was palpable this Saturday night as I stood surrounded by hundreds of fellow expats, waiting to testify to the rebirth of Christ and "receive the light".
The light, symbolizing resurrection, is an important part of this ritual: the priest shares light with a few believers at the front of the crowd, but then they have to spread it around, lighting other people's candles, so everybody would have a light to take into their homes. What can be a more apt symbol for togetherness on this Holiest of nights?
...but where are my nettles?
Local weather has not been kind to Easter celebrations lately, no matter how far into April the calendar tries to place them. As I write, there are still patches of snow on the ground, and the wind blew with a vengeance last night during the service, threatening everyone's lit candles!
Since we're not getting buds and flowers this early in the season, it stands to reason that some things will be different from what I was used to back in my home country. For example, on Palm Sunday (one week before Easter) instead of adorning the church with blooming willow branches, here we have actual palm leaves - though I don't know where from. I miss those willow branches and I hope to meet them soon in a park near me!
Also, one of my favourite Easter traditions back in Romania was washing my face right after the midnight church service: in a basin filled with water, one placed a painted egg, a shiny coin and a nettle, so that the person washing their face would be, for the rest of the year, beautiful as the egg, loved as money and fierce as a nettle. I haven't been able to do that for years now, due to the absence of nettles at this time in Montreal. Can anyone maybe help me find some?
This being said, Happy Easter to everyone! Hristos a înviat! Христос воскрес! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Photo credits:
4. Kulich - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulich
5. Tsoureki - http://www.sheridanrogers.com.au/tsoureki-greek-easter-bread-2/
6. Pasca - http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fi%C8%99ier:Pasca.JPG
7. Holy Epitaph procession - photo by Andriani T.
8. Romanian Orthodox Easter celebration - www.cbc.ca April 19, 2014
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter
Easter traditions - painted eggs: http://www.rounite.com/2008/04/18/painted-eggs/
Personal interview - Andriani T., April 5
]]>They are our morning coffee, our weekend brunch, and our saviors the morning after a few too many glasses of wine. Whether solo or social, 8am or 2pm - breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day, and NDG is spoiled for its many options. This unbiased reviews of five of NDG's top breakfast spots will be sure to get your mouth watering as I evaluate each on the food, the price, the service, the atmosphere, and the overall experience.
]]>Photo Cred: Tripadvisor.ca
1. Ye Old Orchard Pub: 5563 Monkland
Located on Monkland, Ye Old Orchard Pub is eaily accessible and serves up a hearty breakfast on weekends. The wait staff is always pleasant and courteous and the breakfasts are huge and delicious. While the breakfast menu is limited compared to their extensive lunch and dinner options, they serve up a classic breakfast fare and they do it well. There is a nice variety of omeletts, a selection of juicy sausages to choose from, and a few speciality items like their delectable Bailey's French toast. The pub itself is a cool spot for a weekend breakfast and is usually quite full, but finding a table for two is never too difficult. Seats are also available on their outdoor terasse in the warmer months which is a nice option for a little bit of people watching with your breakfast. Early morning and afternoon sporting events are also shown on the pub's many flat screen TVs for those who fancy a pint with their eggs.
Best for: Breakfast with friends, sporting events, terasse, hangovers.
Photo Cred: Carms @ Urbanspoon
2. Prohibition: 5674 Monkland
Prohibition is a trendy breakfast spot on Monkland and is one of the newest additions to the NDG breakfast scene. It's claustrophobic interior - while charming - can get quite loud, but dont let that stop you from coming in to try their delicious scones, their sin worthy bacon, and the other creative twists that they have added to their otherwise traditional breakfast items. A comfortable terrasse in the summer makes up for the small interior space and is a great option for those who want to soak up some sun while enjoying their morning coffee. While a tad on the pricier side, the portions and quality of the food at Prohibition make it well worth the price for the occasional mimosa brunch among girlfriends.The service was curteous if not somewhat hurried due to the number of people waiting for tables, which while slightly annoying, is a testament to the popularity of this small breakfast spot. Get there early!
Best for: Special occasions, breakfast with girlfriends.
Photo Cred: Laura Drudi @ Urbanspoon
3. Orange Cafe: 4011 Decarie
It may be a while, but it will certainly be worth it. There is no question that Orange Cafe is a popular weekend breakfast spot. On Saturdays and Sundays the line up often extends long outside the doors as patrons huddle together in the entrance waiting for tables. The menu is quite extensive, catering to both the health conscious as well as those who need a grease fix, so there is truly something for every taste. The coffee is refilled often and the portions are sizeable making it a good bang for your buck. Orange Cafe is a large, laid back breakfast spot that is perfect for families and foodies alike, and the few tables that they assemble outside is a welcome treat in the summer months
Best for: Lazy weekend breakfast, bring your newspaper, groups, casusal breakfast with friends and family.
Photo cred: ElizabethEatsEverything @ Urbanspoon
4. St-Viateur Bagel and Cafe: 5629 Monkland
St-Viateur Bagel and Cafe serves up traditional breakfast fare with a very special side - their famous bagels. This popular breakfast spot is typically brimming on weekends, but the wait is never too long and the atmosphere is bright and welcoming - especially in summer with open access out onto the sights and sounds of Monkland. While their eggs and potatoes are somewhat average and the menu is limited at best, the portions are huge and the service is fast and effective. One added benefit to St-Viateur Bagel and Cafe is their take-out counter that allows patrons to also pick up a dozen (or two) of their favorite bagels for the road. They are made fresh on location and are without question the star at this bustling breakfast spot.
Best for: Traditional breakfast, bagel cravings
Photo Cred: Globeater @ Urbanspoon
5. Eggsfruitti: 6710 St-Jacques
While set further away from NDG's popular pedestrian thoroughfares, Eggsfruitti is worth the commute. Probably one of the more consistent breakfast options, this popular breakfast spot has fast, friendly service and their extensive menu never disapoints. Serving both sweet and savory dishes, there is something for all tastes at Eggsfruitti. This breakfast spot is huge ensuring that there is always a table available, or that at peak breakfast hours, one wont be long. The decor is fresh and clean, and despite being the only restaurant on this list without a terrasse, the atmosphere is very open and never feels over crowded. The pricing is very decent at Eggsfruitti and is one of the better value-for-money options in NDG.
Best for: Trying something new, safe bets, bring your newspaper.
]]>
Photo © 1997 Sony Pictures Classics/Sandcastle 5 Productions |
Rudolph's screenplay positions its characters--their backstories, personalities and trajectories--to align with patterns and ironies rather than actually do any useful work on the matter of illuminating marital decline. Lucky, for instance, is a genial philanderer, and not the biological father of his runaway daughter with Phyllis; ergo, he becomes the perfect suitor to adulterously inseminate Marianne, whose own husband Jeffrey, an intractable creep, frigidly spurns her wifely entreaties. Jeffrey--successful, and all of twelve years old--is prematurely disenchanted with his marriage, and his attentions drift in the direction of Phyllis. She responds to his voiced desire for "fine [aged] wine" and he, in turn, responds to her triple desires for diversion, novelty and adulation. Phyllis is the enthralling Mrs. Robinson, filtered through a frothier idiom, to Jeffrey's preppy, starchy Benjamin. She is ostensibly motivated, at the core, by sadness and regret, but those somber dimensions come to feel less like psychological underpinning and more like artificial incentives for flurries of fancy. What is more, there is too much complementary flight and self-contentment in Julie Christie's performance to make plausible that Phyllis would have ever settled into marriage (and with that guy). The glib unruliness of Christie's performance--the most lauded in the film--is an index of Rudolph's whole lassitude here as a filmmaker: having found a partner in filmic crime to invigorate his turgid screenplay, he indulges her excesses when he ought to have put the reins on them.
Though Lucky and Jeffrey coalesce into an unsubtle contrast of masculinity, Phyllis and Marianne are birds of a feather. To wit, Phyllis' ennui and gliding egotism are meant to show how Marianne's voracious personality might take to many more years of trophy housewifery. Let it be said that illuminations of that kind are dim, and betray a limited understanding of the opposite sex on the part of scenarist Rudolph. Characterization in the film is wretchedly poor, with everything held in an engineered equipoise.
Photo © 1997 Sony Pictures Classics/Sandcastle 5 Productions |
Afterglow aspires to real heft, but never builds any stakes for its characters, who are left to act as agents of causality in a series of tedious exploits. Each role archetype agent is brought to life, by force of personality, through the talents of a four-temperament quartet: the younger pair by Johnny Lee Miller and Lara Flynn Boyle; the elder, by Nick Nolte and, as mentioned above, Julie Christie. "Talent" finds its loosest usage here: despite the awards one of them collected at the time of release, these performers range from innocently awful (Miller and Boyle) to complacently so (Nolte and Christie), with only Boyle sounding the occasional ring of truth. The camera circles them like a probe: its empty focus emptying them of any possible depth, and its limited expression limiting their reach.
Photo © 1997 Sony Pictures Classics/Sandcastle 5 Productions |
The film itself ought to have a certain amount of reach, what with its braiding together of drama, comedy and romance (genre-fusing tends to expand a film's appeal). One's mileage may vary, but it's difficult to conceive of this as appealing to anyone other than people in Rudolph's own peer-group (that's the framing perspective it claims). It plays like a jazzy old tune uninspiredly remixed by the originating artist many decades past their prime, which is an indication of failure for a film that attempts to unlock the valves of "that old feeling" in order to find new and vital channels for it. Sadly, everything perishes in the barrenness of Rudolph's lounging pace and tone-deaf, Altmanesque style.
Photo © 1997 Sony Pictures Classics/Sandcastle 5 Productions |
By the by, the story is set right here in Montreal. The choice of Montreal as a setting is too curious--this is an American film, after all--to be insignificant, but Rudolph's rendition of Montreal is far too anonymous and incidental for its backdrop presence to carry any observable significance. If one were to venture a guess at the intention behind the choice, one might point to the notion of Montreal as the Paris of North America. For his contemporary romantic comedy, Rudolph may have sought the synchronous splendours of two worlds: the metropolitan new-world he knows and the glistening haut-monde that we all know to be the world's Romantic capital. The intention, whatever it was, has yielded indifferent results, and potential is largely wasted. By way of compensation, the ritzy confines of the Ritz-Carlton see their fair share of screen time, serving as the site of critical, climactic revelations between the characters.
Rudolph would follow this up with the The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002), a much worthier film about troubled matrimony. As a storyteller, Rudolph brought to that tale precisely what, in hindsight, was missing from Afterglow: real angles and depths, and genuine laughs. A fine if not perfect film, Secret Lives left me with a lot to think about. After viewing Afterglow, the cinephile and Montrealite in me were simply left glowering.
]]>
(Photo Credit: Jogg In) |
Although not technically a mountain, Mount Royal is rarely or never referred as anything else by the locals. Nestled between the Plateau, Outremont, Côte-des-Neiges, Wesmount, and downtown Ville-Marie, Mount Royal offers a perfect escape from urbanity. It boasts three summits, a man-made lake, two cemeteries, countless trails through the forest and toward the summits for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing, vast green spaces, a sculpture garden, and an interpretive centre, not to mention seasonal and cultural events. Mount Royal has something to offer for everyone who just needs some time away from the busy city schedule.
]]> The Royal MountainMount Royal was named "le mont Royal" by Jacques Cartier in 1535 in honour of his patron, Francis I of France, which eventually inspired the name of the city, Montreal. Mount Royal Park on the eastern side of the mountain officially opened on Victoria Day in 1876. It was designed by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, co-designer of Central Park in New York.1
Olmsted developed three themes when working on his designs:
Thus, Olmsted designed a network of layered paths and trails that highlight the natural elements of the mountain, avoiding introducing anything that would disrupt its original state. However, the municipal authority built a funicular railway in 1875, and after its demolition in 1921, a streetcar between Mont-Royal Avenue and Côte-des-Neiges Street replaced it for a few years. As cars became more prevalent, roads and parking lots became necessary.2
Today, two cemeteries, the Mount Royal Park, and several other nearby parks and institutions make up the Mount Royal Natural and Historical District. The mountain and its surroundings are a refuge for the busy Montrealer and offer a dizzying array of possibilities.
(Photo Credit: AFAR) |
A Seasonal Paradise
In the wintertime, Mount Royal Park offers seven cross-country and snowshoeing trails (18 km in total), and a former ski slope now used for tubing and tobogganing.3 Equipment for these activities, and for skating on Beaver Lake, are available for rent at the Beaver Lake Pavilion from late-November to mid-March. Visitors can enjoy a guided nighttime snowshoe walk along the trails, topped off with hot chocolate. School groups are welcome and encouraged to make reservations, especially for March Break Day Camp based in Smith House. Cross-country skiing lessons are also on offer for adults and for kids.4
Sunday mornings from April to October in Mount Royal Park are unique in Montreal. Hundreds of Montrealers and tourists gather at the George-Étienne Cartier monument in Mount Royal Park for the "Tam-Tam Jam" from around 10:30am until sunset from April to October. Not too far away and usually starting around 1 pm, the Guerriers de la Montagne (warriors of the mountain) gather for Live Action Role Playing (LARP) games. The level of enthusiasm and historical accuracy varies from person to person, and while there are no official rules (of engagement, of storytelling, or even for safety), anyone is welcome to watch or participate.5
TAMTAMS - Mont-Royal / Portraits de Montréal6
For more structured pursuits, you only need to look across the street. Jeanne-Mance Park offers tennis courts, two softball fields, a soccer field, a children's swimming pool in the summer, and outdoor skating rinks in the winter. You could easily make a day out of that area: perhaps some sports at Jeanne-Mance park, followed by a picnic brunch for the start of the Tam-Tams, then an exciting battle royale with the Guerriers de la Montagne, and a hike up to Beaver Lake for a picnic dinner to watch the sunset. With the Plateau only a few steps away from the aforementioned parks, you could punctuate your enjoyment of the great outdoors with gourmet food and unique shops.
Something for Everyone
Mount Royal offers intellectual and cultural pursuits all year round. Five polished granite disks, spread around the mountain in evocative locations, make up a work of art known as "La montagne des jours" by Gilbert Boyer. Engraved on the disks, "poetic, amusing, frivolous, anecdotal or moving sentences, phrases and thoughts ... escape into the mountain as soon as they are deciphered."7 At the highest curb of the path that starts at the Peel Street entrance, you can admire the words "Give Peace a Chance" carved into the stone in forty of the languages spoken in Montreal. Artwork from the First International Sculpture Symposium in 1964 is available for viewing in front of Smith House. Sculptures line the path to the summit along the Way of the Cross, starting at Saint Joseph's Oratory. The cross itself can be seen from up to 80 km away and is lit up at night, making it an excellent landmark from which to get your bearings.8
Smith House is a heritage building that offers reception services and information to visitors, as well as a restaurant terrace. Beaver Lake Pavilion also has a restaurant, and artwork on display. Saint Joseph's Oratory is architecturally stunning and has a rich history. It is a pilgrimage site for many Catholics, some of whom climb the 283 steps on their knees, saying a prayer on each step. Mount Royal's two cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (originally Roman Catholic) and Mount Royal Cemetery (originally Protestant) are worth a visit as well.
After enriching your mind, you may want to exercise your body. Mount Royal's trails offer a variety of activities for every fitness level. There are dirt trails, staircases, or a long and gently sloped path that takes you around the mountain, rather than cutting across it. This path is thick with trees, cool and peaceful, and a wonderful place to relax on a bench when you need a break. Several feet wide, it offers plenty of space for people with different speeds: meandering, walking for exercise, jogging, and even biking.
(Photo Credit: Vu par Eric) |
Your rewards for reaching the summit include stunning views of Montreal, places to rest and refuel, and the satisfaction of knowing that you made it all the way to the top. The entrances to the trails can be found all around the mountain, creating an almost infinite number of new paths to follow.
Despite summer crowds, Mount Royal is so vast that finding a quiet place is still possible. Whether you like to commune with nature, study the flora and fauna, get a bit of sun, or spent time with strangers, Mount Royal is the perfect destination and sanctuary. Its creator delivered a haven for anyone "tired by the city" to contemplate the panorama, and revel in the physical activity and subtle pleasure of a stroll in the woods.9 For those who lack the ability or ambition to walk all the way to the top but still want to enjoy the views of the city and its river, you can drive, take the bus, or even take a horse-drawn calèche.10
La Montagne
Mount Royal may not be a "real" mountain, but to Montrealers, it will always affectionately be known as "la montagne." It offers many wonders that can be enjoyed over and over again by tourists and by locals. Its cultural delights make it more than just a green space within the city, and is a refreshing destination for people seeking an outdoor space to exercise in or to unwind in. It may even offer something you never expected to find.
Whenever the pressures and stresses of the city become overwhelming, I pack a lunch and some snacks and go on an adventure. I never know where the paths of Mount Royal will take me. Sometimes, I like to sweat my stresses out and jog to the summit. Sometimes, I wander the trails looking for interesting plants and animals. Sometimes, I curl up in the sun or in the shade and read for hours on end. No matter how many times I visit the mountain, I always experience something new. And that, to me, is what makes Mount Royal such an amazing place.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MountRoyal#MountRoyalPark
2 Pierre Larouche, Montréal et l'urbanisme: hier et aujourd'hui, 1929, p. 42-43.
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MountRoyal#wintertime
4 Les amis de la montagne www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/en/activities-and-services/outdoor-activities.sn
5 Sundays in Montreal: Guerriers de la Montagne (The Knights and Warriors of Mount Royal) http://untappedcities.com/2013/05/27/sundays-montreal-guerriers-de-la-montagne-knights-warriors-mount-royal/
6 TAMTAMS - Mont-Royal / Portraits de Montreal https://www.youtube.com/embed/TdOyVHMwxPk
7 Interactive map: Art on the Mountain http://www.lemontroyal.qc.ca/carte/en/html/Art-on-the-Mountain-48.html
8 Public Art on Mount Royal http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/Travel-Trade/Discover-montreal/Montreal-by-theme/Culture/public-art-on-mount-royal
9 Bernard Debarbieux, Le mont Royal: court essai de géographie historique et culturelle, Université Joseph-Fourier, Grenoble, p. 298.
10 Frommer's Montréal & Québec City 2009
The Jutra Awards (La Soirée des Jutras) just turned 17. They aired on the 15th of March, from the Monument-National in the Quartier des Spectacles. The awards are not hugely popular, but the promise of prodige Montréalais Xavier Dolan in competition with--wait for it--himself surely drove viewership from all over Québec. The Jutras, after all, our film award: the highest honor our small but formidable film industry has to congratulate the talents through which it is sustained. Sadly, despite the fact that Québec Cinema has risen on the international scene, its Jutras have not, by association, gained in any measure of global status.
]]>
(Photo Credit: fr.wikipedia.org) |
Fortunately, the actual bestowal of awards--which last year included a heartfelt homage by Patrick Huard and Ted Kotcheff to the great actor-director Micheline Lanctôt--is mostly a tasteful proceeding.
The Jutra is balloted traditionally, with categories elected and winners determined by a voting body consisting of Québec's professional film associates. The craft and design of the statuette, a curio that plays tricks with the eye, is credited to the late Charles Daudelin, who was a pioneer of contemporary Québecois sculpture. Named for Claude Jutra, a legendary filmmaker in the annals of this province, the Jutra emerged in enough time to herald the beginnings of a Québec Cinema composed of creative contributors completely "secure in their québécité." Inaugurated in 1999, it took the place of the now defunct Prix Guy-L'Écuyer (f. 1987).
In the grand scheme of (award) things, the Jutras are a rather peripheral affair. However, given the circumstances, that is no surprise. The U.S.'s Academy Award ceremony, being the world's first national film award and the progenitor of the nicknaming tradition that led to the moniker Oscar, has claimed something of a normative title--consigning to "otherhood" every other nation's top film award in its wake. In the English language, and possibly others, any mention of, for instance, France's César Awards, or Denmark's Robert Awards, or the United Kingdom's BAFTA Awards will inevitably lead to Americanocentric analogies like "the French Academy Awards," "Denmark's answer to the Academy Awards" and "the Oscars of England." The Jutras, in actuality a provincial film award, have not escaped this tendency. In one particularly unflattering case of analogizing, the Jutras were tagged as "Québec's Very Own Oscars." (Phrasing that evokes a whole word of Little Brother desperation.) The adoring public, by contrast, has conferred upon Oscar a colloquial verb form (e.g. "Meryl Streep has thrice been Oscared"), which is like the pop cultural version of a doctoral honorific. How can little old Québec and its Jutra even begin to compete?
Well, we can't--not with the most influential film industry in the world, or with its pervasively influential award--but given the air space, and the wings, the Jutra could surely ascend. Distinct though it is, Jutra manifests a lineage to Oscar in a few salient ways, not the least of which is the tendency to favor certain name artists (prompting the coinage "auto-nomination," or "auto-nom" for short), and pay a mite too much attention to gown and glitterati. As it stands, the Jutras haven't even succeeded in riding upon the coattails of the countrywide annual film award--the Canadian Screen Awards, formerly the Genies--that would sooner, and ultimately does, overshadow them. Seeing as the Québec film industry has for decades been the country's dominant filmmaking power, this just doesn't seem right.
Denis Villeneuve, three-time Jutra winner as Best Director (Photo Credit: moviezine.se)
In their corner, those in charge of organization and broadcast do the award no favors by airing it many weeks after Oscar night, which is thought to be the point of culmination in a months-long "award season"--after which nobody cares. Conversely, difficult to disregard is the contemptible plea for validation that was introduced into last year's ceremony. Enlisted to eulogize the Québecois filmmakers--namely Ken Scott, François Girard, Jean-Marc Vallée and Denis Villeneuve--with which they've worked, foreign stars like Vanessa Paradis and Vince Vaughn delivered offhand, half-hearted speeches on low-definition video recordings that were played back mid-ceremony. 'Twas abasement of the highest order.
Jutra needs help. It needs something to lead it out of obscurity and into the light, and do so in a dignified manner. Imagine the exposure distinguished local talent would get. Hopefully, the light of Montréalités will suffice for now.
1. "Canadian Screen Awards," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 4th March 2015. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Screen_Awards>
2. "Historique de la Soirée des Jutra." Les Jutras. Québec Cinéma, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.
3. "Jutra Award," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20th February 2015. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jutra_Award>
4. Kelly, Brendan. "Xavier Dolan Leads the Jutra Nominations." Montreal Gazette. Postmedia Network Inc., 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.
5. Ochman, Josiane. "A Short History of the Jutra: Quebec's Very Own Oscars." It's Just Movies. It's Just Movies, 6 Apr. 2010. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.
The Island of Montreal is a wonderful cultural capital, harboring a multitude of centers, groups, institutes and special events organized around the medium of film. Montreal's vast film-cultural arena, favorable to the cause of cinephilia, can be entered into from any number of venues. Those looking to mingle among the cinematically inclined can join the Cinéclub Film Society, which meets at Concordia University's downtown campus. Those eager to experience classics as they were meant to be experienced can attend revivals at the Cinéma du Parc, one of the city's arthouse theatres. Those with an empiric's curiosity about the production of film can take guided tours of La Cité du Cinéma, our country's largest film production facility. Those with a taste for the fresh and exotic can obtain a "passeport" and arrange to see new releases at our annual International Film Festival, which is held in late August/early September. The list goes on and on.
]]> However, should the experience of film culture in the public arena prove somehow overwhelming or under-satisfying, one can escape to the privacy of one's own home and nourish the avid film passions within if one undertakes to build a great film collection. Often started unthinkingly through gift and purchase, collections--with their inherent diversity and fluidity--are both fine commodities and wonderful resources (all the more so if they are vast and properly thought-out). Admittedly not a finite process, the amassing of a collection, consisting of films and books about film, is one way of living out one's film-madness in the long term. Uniquely fashioned and fastidiously maintained, collections of this kind only increase with time in personal and pecuniary value.Collecting is not a perfectly linear process, but in this case it involves three clear steps: first, the collection is planned out; then, purchases are made; lastly, those purchases are classified and shelved. You will cycle through these steps as you edit your plans, make new purchases, and rethink or reconfigure your classification system and shelving.
- Glossary -
alternate cut: a version of a film in which material has been edited in or edited out; the term is relative, and usually refers to cuts that are not compromised by regulation
blind buy: a home video purchase made sight unseen
domestic release: the original theatrical release of a film in its country of origin
transfer: featured media of a particular print quality (e.g. the Criterion Collection's famous digital transfers)
- You will require:
- STEP 1: PLANNING -
Begin by plotting out your desired collection with some kind of list. First consider what you already own, as that will help point you in the direction of any holes that might need filling. For instance, you might be one Godfather away from a complete trilogy, or wish to part with an outdated version of a trusty film book and replace it with the newer edition. Furthermore, start thinking about the manner in which you will classify your developing collection, as this will factor into the compilation, the growth, and the reading of any "to buy list" you use as you add to the collection--not to mention, it prime you for the actual classification of your collection further down the line. With a (preliminary) attempt at some kind of orderly classification, you will find it easier to pick out and prioritize your "to buy" entries. You will also find it easier to go about adding to your collection in a balanced and measured way.
Consider joining Film Aficionado, a website that allows members to catalogue their changing and expanding home video collection with the aid of useful folders (e.g. film "wish list"), useful figures (e.g. the number of films in your collection directed by a particular filmmaker), and genre breakdowns. Others apps and programs, such as Collectorz Movie Collector, can be used for the purposes of cataloguing a film collection; however, they are paid downloads, and an account with Film Aficionado is free.
The films you list will likely far outnumber the books, and some cinephiles, by their very nature, are too visual to bother with books at all. However, worthy film books are thick with dense material that will help broaden your film perspectives and enrich your film-reading faculties; ergo, they are handy to have at your side. Book collections of course vary in accordance with individual film interests, but there are certain books that, for reasons of quality and scope, are essential.
Essential film volumes:
- STEP 2: PURCHASING -
Put what you have plotted into action. Shop around. Jump at the opportunity to spend less and acquire more.
Online shopping facilitates price comparison, stimulates blind buying, and aids in the procuration of titles and releases that are out-of-print. To these ends, one of the best sites available to you is Amazon: it has a "marketplace" through which small and private businesses put their merchandise, new and used alike, up for sale. Be wary, mind you, when buying used items, in adherence to a principle of economy, as your thrift could prove self-defeating. The condition of used items varies, usually from "Acceptable" to "Like New"--unfortunately, the purchase of anything below "Like New" quality is generally a gamble.
Caution to Collectors: When buying from sellers not fulfilled by the site, always peruse their customer comment history to make sure that they can be trusted. Items are returnable, but the process is inconveniencing, and the seller must first approve the return. Also, never buy books from marketplace sellers as it is too risky, and the price of shipping & handling is usually quite steep.
A film collection is naturally something to which you add, but you will also remove from it and, more importantly, update it. You might someday choose to start from scratch and update the format of your entire collection, as many did when DVD made VHS obsolete, but there is also ample room for updating within the bounds of your chosen home video format. Consider improved transfers, alternate cuts, and special edition releases, as these all have their benefits. Collector's editions of films, for one, are decked with special features that are privileging in a variety of ways (e.g. the commentaries of certain luminaries that provide insight). Bear in mind that you will be more satisfied with your film collection if it carries a little extra weight from title to title--that is to say, if its constituents have more to offer.
Caution to Collectors: Do not overspend or otherwise overindulge in the building of your collection. Collecting is a hobby, but can become a compulsion.
- STEP 3: CLASSIFYING & SHELVING -
Devise a way of categorizing your collection in preparation for shelving. You needn't reinvent the Dewey Decimal System, but it is in your best interests to conceive something consistent and considered. Managing and navigating within the collection will be a lot less daunting, especially as it grows to number in the hundreds. It will also look a lot more presentable. Your task will be easier will be a lot easier if you started thinking about this at the planning stage.
Suggested categories of classification:
|
|
In the interest of following a universally applicable system, and avoiding overlapping classifications, consider using domestic release dates--or possibly the alphabet, which is advisable when arranging the books in your collection.
Next, display your classified collection on available shelf space. Do not fuss about putting everything in one spot, especially if you have broken the collection down by way of classification. Unitary dispersals of shelving keep everything within reach, which is practical. As you will have already expended, and continue to expend, a great deal of money on the collection itself, consider using your shelves as stacking compartments to maximize space and avoid the need to construct more shelves.
On a final note, you are advised to keep a repository separate from your main shelves in which the items blind bought can be stowed away. Collectors sometimes find that certain titles are too embarrassing to display, and a hidden repository is useful in this way as well.
Collectors Strongly Cautioned: Remember that a great collection is a prized commodity, and more importantly, a private one. When your collection becomes a lending library, its very integrity is put in jeopardy. If so inclined, keep to a consortium of trustworthy people when lending things out.
]]>Q1 - Professionally speaking, you've worn several hats: actor, radio host, publicist, manager, producer. Which of these plum positions have you most enjoyed and why?
A: I don't know if I could separate all of them. I guess I'd have to say publicist because that's the 9 to 5. Actually, as a publicist, it really isn't 9 to 5 because you never turn off. But all of those other things inform my work because of the digital landscape that is media today. So I understand the stage. If I'm looking at a piece of film or media or content, I have enough understanding of the creative process because of the personal work that I have done. And all the other stuff: the broadcasting, the producing... just everything. The stage. All that. It informs the work of me being a publicist. So I understand the filmmaker. I understand the artist. I understand the soundman. I understand it. Or, at least I respect it. I may not always understand the piece, but having touched upon those things in my life, it makes being a publicist that much more satisfying.
Q2 - You've had quite a journey, from your beginnings as an actor to your current day job as a publicist (and one of some renown). Did you see yourself doing this all those years ago or were you led into it by more uncertain and unexpected circumstances?
A: Led into it by uncertain circumstances: one thing begat the other. And, funny enough, since I'm still quite young, this might not be my last job. It's funny that my professional life had been bookended by the NFB, so my first large acting experience was the Sitting in Limbo film by the National Film Board, directed by John N. Smith. That started when I was about 18, and from there that led into the early days of publicity for the Black Theatre Workshop, Canada's oldest professional theatre company. Because I was an oddity, and it's bad to say this, and I've told you this story before: in '85, when Sitting in Limbo came out, it was considered Canada's first black feature film kind of thing, which we know is not true. You know that, 'cause you've done the research, but the press at TIFF treated it as such. So I did press up the yin yang. Everybody, you know... the L.A. Times, just everybody. The phone kept ringing. I mean, yes...it was a good film, it was a great project, John is an excellent director, but I did a lot of press. And then, after that, well...what are you gonna do? At that time, there were crappy roles for black actresses. I was known, so I had visibility. I was in the public eye. I was on minute-twelve in my fifteen minutes of fame. And so phones would ring, "Oh, there's this film! There's this film! Blah, blah, blah..." But they were all prostitutes and maid roles. And coming from such a femme-centric, strong and, you know, Jamaican family, it was like, anything we did you had to stand up in front of your mother, right? [laughs] I know you get that. In your case, it's your mother and your grandmother. After you did Sitting in Limbo, to go play those prostitute-chewing-gum-in-high-heel roles? No, no, no, no.
And so, that's how I ended up at the Black Theatre Workshop, and that's where--because I talked to so many journalists, I had journalists' cards. So now, "Hi, I'm calling you for a story." And so they'd take my call. "It's about the Black Theatre Workshop." Black Theatre Workshop had quite a success at the time, and it was unknown. "So let me tell you about it." And, I'm a talker. Someone once told me, at the age of about fourteen or fifteen, that I could sell freezers to Eskimos living in igloos. I could position it, pitch it, in a way that would make it palatable to you. And, at the time, I didn't quite understand, well, "What about this newspaper? What are its interests? Who are its readers?" No, I just turn you on to it, and then get you to experience it, and then you did all of that. That was how I got my start in publicity...to a degree. That's post-Sitting in Limbo, which is where I got trained professionally as a production manager and as a publicist. But out there on your own, where you've gotta do it, was Black Theatre Workshop. And then from there, I just continued.
The radio gig [CKUT] came up, and I managed the radio station, and they said, "Okay, you're gonna have some money now. You have to build this radio station. Can you do it?" Well, I'm from the School of If-You-Don't-Know-Something-Ask-Somebody, so I was good at pulling people together, and let's all do this together. And then, that was that. So it all begat each other. It was circumstances. And you learn and you read. I've always been the type of person that, if I watch you bang your head against the wall, and then you go, "Ouch!" ... Well, I know then not to bang my head against the wall. It hurts. I don't need to do it to know that it hurts. That's how I learned. And of course, in between, you do the school and some of the theory. And I did some of that. But it was opportunity, and just taking life and going with it. And just making sure--I never wanted to be a statistic. All right, so that was it. You work hard. And I enjoy it. I enjoy the arts. I see that I was privileged to learn from other people in the arts that if you're to look at your life and your diet in the same way that the Canada Food Guide gives you the health guide where you're supposed to have so much vegetable, so much milk, so much dairy, and so much wheat and breads and what-have-you. Well, I say that you need some reading. You need some painting, or to look at things and learn about them. You need some theatre. And, you need some film. And you need oodles of music. I think that's what every person should consume in their life. So, that was it: circumstances.
Q3 - Judging by your biography and professional history, you're a creative, artistically inclined individual. The PR work you do, as I understand it, is both artistic and scientific. How (if at all) do the more scientific aspects of the job challenge you on a weekly basis?
A: Oh, God...'cause the media landscape is always changing. Newspapers are getting thinner. They're trying to figure out their reality of how to exist with so much free stuff on the web. TV is changing. We [as a society] also have more ability. We're competing for the attention spans of people who are highly connected to an object, a thing. And so you're competing, particularly here in Canada, with the U.S. being right next-door. And so in film you're competing with a behemoth, Hollywood, right next door, for people's attention. Yeah, you have to be able to pitch; you have to understand the media landscape; you have to speak to people differently. And [the landscape] changes all the time. We are no longer in a time where what's news here, in Montreal, will make it two days later in the Caribbean. I would go to the Caribbean and read the papers. I'd have a big thing of beer, my favorite plate, and I'd have bought all the newspapers. I'm reading everything and the news. Apart from what's new and current in the particular island, whether its Jamaica or Trinidad, the stuff from North America was two or three days later because it took that long to peter through. Now, the moment something happens, it's news. Immediately, right around the world, and that's what you're competing with: the 24-hour entertainment and news cycle.
The other thing too is that we've allowed ourselves as a people to pollute our diet with a lot of celebrity fare, and that's hard too because now everybody just wants celebrity, celebrity, celebrity. Whether it's here, the Quebec star system, or the Toronto star system...that is it. Some very great artists who may not have name or cachet are being buried until they become a hit, and they have their fifteen minutes of fame. Why is it that we can't look at film, or whatever the product you're pitching, and see the beauty of it, or explore it now? And we consume it: the Internet has democratized the artistic landscape. So my job scientifically is to cut through all those various noises and say to editors and writers and bloggers and people, "Check this out." And why. So you have to sort of know the trends of what's going on. That challenges me. That is what's probably been the challenge in the eighteen years that I've been at the NFB: how to take the films and position them to people without all the clatter. What are the human universalities of the story?
Then also, I don't know if you realize, but I'm very different. I'm black. I speak, feel and consume art very differently from the mainstream. I understand the mainstream because, as black people, that's all we're fed. I have to put a spin on it that can come from me. Maybe that's what some of my success has been about. From my point of view--and it is a black woman's point of view, of a certain age, and I speak at times with an authoritative voice, on some things--I don't mind being vulnerable and not knowing it all. That is what has helped to a degree with my work. That's the scientific versus the luck, if you will.
Q4 - Do the more distinctly creative/artistic aspects keep you consistently stimulated and invested?
A: Yes, otherwise I would have left a long time ago. The products at the NFB have changed so much. I mean, between the animation--we've had to stay, to a degree, beyond the curve. We've always, in our history, pushed boundaries. So there's always something different. Compared to what I was promoting and publicizing eighteen years ago... now, I'm working with interactive content. And we have helped to define the landscape. And so the tools are different. The language is different. And, of course, you have to break it down for a lot of people who are not quite there yet. That was the NFB sixty-seventy years ago, with Challenge for Change. And when we were developing and discovering all sorts of stuff. It's exciting to be part of that. My biggest excitement, however, is when I travel personal--my personal travels. And people ask, "What do you do?" And you go, "National Film Board." And they say "Wow!" and this and that...that's how well we're known internationally. And people lose their minds. For me, the challenge here--or the excitement--is connecting Canadians, new and old. And sometimes it's reconnecting with their work. That is what is challenging and intriguing and keeps me getting up to go the next day, the next project. Like, sometimes I get something, and I go, "How am I gonna do this?! Are they gonna understand it? Is there an emotive quality?" Yeah, those things still challenge me. That's why I'm still there, in this position.
Q5 - Would you ever consider returning to your roots with the NFB--by that, I mean, would you ever consider stepping back in front of the camera?
A: Well, we don't do drama much. Maybe. Whether I'd do it with the NFB, I don't know because I've been so far behind the camera and at the other end of the creative process. To shift those gears...would I be able to do that there? I'm not sure if I can--because people really know me: the majority of my colleagues and how I work and interact. 'Cause I don't work alone. I work in a large marketing-communication sphere that works and collaborates with production and distribution and what-have-you. It would be hard for me. I keep all sorts of me's separate. A lot of people don't know, at the board, that I'm still a broadcaster. A fair amount of people don't know that I still do two or three performances on stage a year. A lot of people don't know. It's just so much easier. So I don't know if I'd do it in front of--it would depend on the project, the director, and what it is. That would be really hard: to be that vulnerable again.
Q6 - I have it on good authority that you're a gifted comedienne. Here's a question I've always wanted to ask someone who is good at being funny: how do you go about honing your skill at making people laugh?
A: You have to be able to laugh. You have to be able to laugh yourself, and see the jokes in everything. Sometimes I'm laughing inwardly at a lot of stuff because, you know, political correctness doesn't allow you to laugh. And then sometimes I laugh out loud. But I just find things... you have to, or else you cry. And it's just much more fun to laugh. You know what, I've always loved satire. One of the first books at eight years old that I read was Louise Bennett-Coverley, the Grande Dame of theatre in Jamaica. This book Jamaica Labrish. And she found the hilarious and the funny in everyday, common situations. And that's what I did. My family is funny as well. They're hilarious. And I'm, you know, part of a Caribbean island that has always had the wit to look at a situation from a witty point of view. And they have trials and tribulations! So I think that's it: being able to laugh and find the hilarity in the mundane. Even the Ghomeshi stuff, and the Cosby stuff and...painful as Ferguson is, there's some humor there. So yeah, it's just being able. It's delivery, really.
Q7 - Your ascension to the position of station manager at CKUT was a professional milestone for black women in Quebec. How would you describe the feeling, or lack thereof, of achieving something that extends beyond individual triumph?
A: That would have been, what, twenty-something year ago? That's twenty-two years ago. That was 1992. You know, I didn't realize that it was such a big deal when I got the position. It was a job. I was freelancing, and I had my own publicity company, Black Arts Production. I was doing all right. I mean, I wasn't starving, but freelance life of check-to-check-to-check was difficult. So it was, "Thank you, Jesus. I got a steady gig." And it wasn't until a couple of months later that everybody made a big fuss about it. And I don't know if it was because of me and the movie. There was, you know, a small buzz around me because I was known. Let's put it that way. And so they saw it as an upward move or something--I don't know what it was. But I was really befuddled by that. Like, "Okay...". And February, the first Black History Month calendar they ever decided to do--that must have been '93--they said, "Yes, you're the first black woman to..." I was surprised. I mean, I'm vain to a small degree, but I didn't think about it all the time. To me, it was about the art practitioner work that I was doing at the time, you know: the voice to the voiceless. That station meant a lot to a lot of groups in Montreal and had such a power, so I saw it as very important work. It came out of some of the race activism that I did, and all of that kind of stuff. But I didn't know about it. Maybe looking back now, I get it, but at the time it was... that's what it was. Truth, I swear! Honest injun.
Q8 - What advice would you give someone hoping to eke out a career in the arts or in an art-related field?
A: Young people have two holes at their disposal that we never had. Oh my God... I wish I had the Internet and Facebook when I was starting out. And the power to connect with large audiences. Back then, when were hoping to be discovered, that was it because, if you're black and talented and English within a Quebec context, someone from the States had to discover you. There was always this, like, Dorothy Dandridge syndrome. That's what I call it: where you have to leave home to make it into something before you could come back here and be something. Because, in terms of identity as black artists, to a degree--and Anglophone, on top of it--we weren't that valorized. So you had to valorize yourself. And the Facebook, and all those things that we have now, would have been a hell of tool back then. I think that, yes, schooling... Definitely accounting, meaning that now you can do your own accounting. I don't even know what they call it now. QuickBooks, or whatever software they have now. And consuming all sorts of art and culture. And really understanding people and the relationship with people, would be my advice. And, also, finding some way to make sure you have some sort of income coming in. Although, they say, "the hungry artist makes the best art." But some form of income. I don't know whether it's writing, dancing, waitressing...I don't know what they do these days, but perseverance...
Perseverance.
This interview was held on November 26th, 2014.
Follow Pat Dillon-Moore on Twitter @PatDoftheNFB
Tune in to her radio show, Bhum Bhum Tyme, on CKUT 90.3 FM (Sundays from 4pm to 6pm)
Sam and Simon
The thirties are a strange time, a sort of limbo between not being old enough to be considered middle-aged and not quite young enough to be considered...well, young. However, they are thought to be the time when an individual attains maturity and stability in most areas of life, or so we like to think. Ces gars-là, roughly translated as "Those Boys," follows the lives of two quirky bachelors in their thirties as they chase highs and experience lows in the metropolis of none other than Montréal. The show has been a surprising hit on the relatively minor V network, attracting 500,000 viewers in its first season, and was renewed for a second season which debuted last February. It breaks ground in Quebec television through its realistic representation of life in Montreal, such as the pervasive use of anglicisms in everyday French speech, as well as the evident presence and influence of multiculturalism and bilingualism throughout the city. Despite its raunchy and occasionally over-the-top brand of humour, the show is nonetheless thoroughly entertaining thanks to its original characters, plot and dialogue.
]]> CharactersSam and Simon, the show's main characters, are played by their real-life counterparts, comedian Sugar Sammy and Simon Oliver Fecteau, the latter of whom is actually the director of the show. The duo, based on the familiar "nice guy and bad boy" formula along the lines of "Two and a Half Men," nonetheless manage to stand out through their particular relationship. The show regularly draws on the complementary nature of Simon's bashful apprehension and Sam's zany gusto for comedic situations. Adding to their on-screen chemistry is the strong bond between the two friends from very different backgrounds, an anglophone of Indian descent and a white francophone. Sam is depicted as a wisecracking, self-assured womanizer who still lives with his parents, and Simon as a needy, unconfident wreck marred by his neurotic obsession with his ex-girlfriend. Interestingly (or frustratingly), theirs professions are never revealed, which begs the question as to how the two stags manage to fund their indulgent, urban lifestyle. The show's secondary characters are also intriguing in their own way, influencing much of the main characters' actions and thoughts. Amélie is an indecisive, confused woman who depends on Simon for many things even after their break-up. Despite her slightly clichéd role as a damsel in distress, her involvement in much of Sam and Simon's daily shenanigans adds depth to the plot and offsets the dynamic duo's masculine energy that reigns throughout the show. Sam's parents are stereotypical Indian immigrants who are nonetheless sweet, caring and unintentionally funny. They provide many laughs throughout the show by the manner in which they respond to unpleasant situations, such as when the Office québécois de langue française fines them over $8000 for putting up posters that say "garage sale" instead of "vente de garage." Aside from these major characters, there are also many unusual minor characters in each episode, who offer a refreshing perspective of the different types of people that are found in Montreal without being overly one-dimensional or contrived. Though the characters may at times seem too much like caricatures, they are for the most part believable, captivating, but most of all, relatable, allowing audiences to become invested in the outcome of their interactions.
The duo's natural habitat
Plot (Spoiler Warning)
The storyline is linear, each episode following the events of the previous, but with usually unrelated plots. The pilot opens with the two sitting in a bar as Sam tries to cheer up Simon following his recent break-up with his long-time girlfriend, Amélie. To this end, he jokingly tells him, "it's just a girl, it's not like you lost your car or something," which epitomizes his goofy personality. Simon attempts to "get back in the game" by approaching an attractive woman sitting by herself, but is discouraged when she spurns him curtly. This first episode sets the tone for the rest of the duo's adventure of going out and picking up women, encountering all sorts of odd, unpredictable ladies: an ultra-Quebec separatist, a woman with severe halitosis, and a lax mother of a malicious, troubled teen, just to name a few. Throughout the 10-episode run, Simon constantly tries to make up with Amélie, which turns complicated when she and Sam develop a secret relationship behind his back. The season ends as he prepares to ask Amélie for her hand in marriage, only to walk in on Sam giving her a friendly peck on the lips as they forge a promise never to let their relationship come to light. Although the show's dominant theme is the duo's quest for casual encounters with numerous women, they come to realize that their virility cannot suppress their deep-seated desire for love and romance. Many important elements of the plot seem absurd or exaggerated to a ridiculous degree, such as Sam still living with his parents or Simon's unhealthy desire to get back with his ex ("Move on already!" may be uttered more than a few times), but through suspension of disbelief, viewers can accept the situations as normal and appreciate their humour thanks to the semblance of truth contained in each one of them.
Simon and Amélie
Dialogue
According to Sugar Sammy and Fecteau, they wanted to "reflect what guys in their mid-thirties think and say when women aren't around," which they have undoubtedly accomplished through the often crass subject matter that is discussed throughout. Over the course of the show, Sam's jokes become increasingly boorish, exemplified by lines like "it pays to be gay in show business" and "a 30-year old woman is like a used car: it'll get you where you need to go, but you wouldn't show it off to your friends," which may amuse or offend depending on the audience's gender, age and sense of humour. In one particularly memorable scene, after desperately trying to avoid telling his date that she has bad breath, Simon finally snaps when pushed to explain his strange behaviour and tells her, "Your breath stinks! Your mouth smells like decay! It's as if a goat walked in and did its business right in your mouth!" This is a fine example of a mean, but undeniably funny premise, which is sure to get anyone laughing (unless they themselves suffer from awful breath). An important innovation in the show's dialogue is the realistic portrayal of the amount of English that can be heard in Montreal. Sam constantly peppers his predominantly French speech with English words, phrases and sometimes entire exchanges, albeit most of it is subtitled in French. This is rare considering the supposed unpopularity of English on French networks, but this myth is debunked by the largely francophone viewership who have responded positively to the generous incorporation of the "rival" language, paving the way for future programs to follow in their footsteps. One minor complaint in the dialogue may be Sam and Simon's redundant addressing of each other as "bro" and "man," but it is nonetheless an accurate reflection of commonplace Montreal vernacular which must be embraced for what it is: two grown men clutching onto whatever is left of their youth.
Overall, the show has been a large success in terms of ratings and originality. Its central theme of love life in the thirties and its truthful exploration of the many facets of culture and language in Montreal have appealed to a wide audience of all backgrounds and ages, earning itself critical acclaim, as well as another season. Its occasional over-the-top moments are easily outweighed by its entertainment value from its original characters, plot and dialogue. Will Sam eventually stop sowing his wild oats and settle down? Will Simon finally end up with Amélie again? The only way to find out is by tuning in on Mondays at 8 p.m.
]]>Montreal native Jean-Marc Vallée is held in un certain regard. A member of what has informally been termed the Quebec New Wave, which consists of French Canadian filmmakers on the ascendant,1he has a special talent for making films that resonate with audiences. Those resonances have carried through the global film industry and secured him a place on the map. What first put him there was the high-water success of LGBT-themed family saga C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005), a labor of love that he developed in collaboration over several years.2 Through precision filmmaking, he presented a somewhat grey-tinted perspective of Revolution-era Montreal, and conveyed a relatable sense of bildungsromanesque angst (authenticated by his own experience). However, contrary to popular perception, C.R.A.Z.Y. was not his first notable effort. In the nineties, his short films garnered him prizes from the Jutras, the Genies and the Yorkton Short Film Festival. In the mid-nineties, the now obscure legal thriller Liste noire also brought him a measure of distinction.2 At present, he merits of a closer look.
]]> Vallée is an alumnus of the Université de Montreal.2 As is sometimes the case, the career path he originally charted was far less uncertain than the one he eventually followed. While at Collège Ahuntsic, he initially began study with a view to become an accountant. Guided by the light of one of his professors, the prospect of films and filmmaking gradually came into view for him.3 It was then that he found his true calling--or, as they say, it found him. The dreamer within reinvigorated, Vallée was driven to partake of the art of visual storytelling, and made an academic pursuit of his enduring desire to helm films. Now a seasoned director, Vallée does his part to keep the "dream factor"4 alive in others through the films he makes.Leaving an impression of mild-mannered soulfulness, Vallée is distinctly Piscean. Born on the 9th of March, in 1963,2 he is now middle-aged, but has retained the kind of open face and undimmed gaze that seem to suggest entire worlds of creative possibility. As a creative force, Vallée is unique among filmmakers of the auteur breed because he draws inspiration from music. Having been reared around all manner of popular music by two very musical parents,3 Vallée is authentically immersed in musicality, and he has added its melodies, harmonies and rhythms to his depths as filmmaker (Café de Flore, which "started with a song,"5 is the most notable example).
On a dial of directors, Vallée can be found somewhere between Denis Villeneuve (who responds to the call for taut thrills) and Xavier Dolan (who responds to the call for swank and subversion). Less cerebral than the former and less mercurial as the latter, Vallée's films stimulate a great deal in the audience without making enormously high demands of us. As a contemporary filmmaker, one of the demands--one of the challenges--to which Vallée seems to submit himself is dramatic departure. He has travelled across space and time to direct stories set in the Old West (Los Locos), Victorian England (The Young Victoria), 1960's France (Café de Flore), Reagan's America (Dallas Buyers Club) and, as already mentioned, the not-too-distant past of his native Montreal (C.R.A.Z.Y). This level of occupational daring is second to none, and sets Vallée apart from the other members of his Quebec New Wave contingent, who tend to keep within niche extremes. Vallée's other major occupation is fatherhood, which is surely its own kind of directorial challenge. On George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, he drolly opened up about an instance of his two occupations becoming awkwardly entwined.6 While shooting Café de Flore, he was faced with the dreaded lip-lock scene in the screenplay, and it involved one of his sons. He had to stand strong as a director and see it through, wishing nothing more than to look away.
Whether tipping into the past or talking about his latest project, Vallée speaks plainly and succinctly. Proficient in English (an advantage to his expansion into the American industry), his speech is measured and his sentences are felt out. The manner in which he communicates with people during the production of a film is anyone's guess, but on the evidence of filmed interviews and appearances, he knows how to get through to others.
A pupil soi-disant of the "less is more" school of filmmaking,4 Vallée is willing and able to branch out from his comfort zone. He has proven malleable to the divergent formal and stylistic potentials of different stories, and exhibits almost none of the personalizing egocentricity attributable to other auteur filmmakers. Although he places a premium on "being truthful,"4 his eclecticism keeps that commitment to truth from becoming humdrum: the stylistic flourishes in C.R.A.Z.Y were rousingly inspired; the use of magical realism in Café de Flore helped accentuate the wonder of love; the openness to irony, and the tragic laughter that chases life, elevated Dallas Buyers Club--an AIDS story that, in a show of rapier precision on Vallée's part, was funny but not comic. If each of his films is a polished and sleek product, his process of writing one to make, or choosing one to direct, begins with an intense empathic connection between him and the story's protagonist3 that goes beyond any polished, sleek surface.
Vallée's protagonists have occasionally been underdogs and antiheroes, which are two character types for which he has a professed fondness.7 This fondness might be a lingering symptom of the alienation--the sense of not belonging--that he felt at a very young age,3 but it is also an index of his sensitivity and romantic nature: for it is those that are marginalized in some notable way that tend to dream big, and it is the stories of their fulfillment that are most closely attuned to the "dream factor." Vallée's most recent film has some of that dreamy luster. Adjectively titled Wild, it is an adventure biodrama about the trekking Cheryl Strayed (his newest underdog). A personal film, Vallée chose to make it in remembrance of his late mother, and in recognition of the feminine strength that she embodied.8 Unsurprisingly, Wild set prognosticators abuzz with talk of Oscar earlier this year.
Awards and ceremony are the industry's way of feting an artist's success. For those of us left to watch, the sincerest form of honoring just might be the process of poking around and seeing how the seeds of success have been sown. One of Montreal's gifts to world cinema, Vallée has burgeoned impressively, and wherever the music takes him, many will follow.
Notes
1.http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/10/31/dallas_buyers_club_first_usmade_film_for_quebec_director_jeanmarc_valle.html↩
2.http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jean-marc-vallee/↩
3.www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2009/09/05/valleacutee_throws_himself_into_his_work.html↩
4.http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/jean-marc-vallee#_↩
5.http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/article/2012/04/26/caf-de-flore-jean-marc-vall-e-interview↩
6.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjVRM1U1cIE#t=7m50s↩
7.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/i-like-underdogs-and-anti-heroes-jean-marc-vallee-on-what-drew-him-to-dallas-buyers-club/article15222656/↩
8.http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/entertainment/jean-marc-vallee-says-his-film-wild-is-a-tribute-to-his-late-mother-1.1347070↩
]]>