Welcome to the fold, Chris!

I haven’t really got anything to say today, but I felt like mentioning the addition of PhD Chris to the blogging community. I’m sure my regular readers had noticed the newly added link under the People I Know category. So feel free to visit his site and leave comments. I’m sure they’ll be appreciated. Well, maybe. I guess that will depend on the nature and source of the comments. Either way, let him know that he’s not just babbling on for no reason.

In looking at the calendar, I also noticed that we’re nearly at the end of the month, which means that the countdown to the arrival of the new addition to the McNorgan clan is officially on. If Chris or Rebecca know the sex of their prospective child, they haven’t let me in on it. Hopefully it will go smoothly for both mother and child. Buckle up, Chris. I can guarantee that’ll be one of the longest days/nights of your life! On that note, I’ll sign off for now. Til next time…

Quebec Studies Open House

Around 4pm I got an e-mail in my Inbox from Dr Jarrett Rudy of the History department at McGill University. Apparently he doubles as the Department Head for the fledgling Quebec Studies program there as well. It seems they were having an open house to promote their program, complete with cheese, French bread, wine and (of course) Quebecois beer! I know my readers will be completely shocked that I decided to attend the event. After all, when has Al ever fallen for the old “free beer” recruiting tactic?

So I headed over, with a spring in my step, looking forward to checking this thing out. I arrived a bit later than the majority of the attendees, but in plenty of time to mingle a bit and sample the available beer. I wasn’t quite bold enough to introduce myself to the huddle of professors, but I gradually made the rounds. Once I was on my 3rd beer, I found myself trying to explain the Toronto-Montreal dynamic to a Parisian exchange student, which of course prompted chuckles from the PhD candidate from Alberta. I failed miserably to disguise my complete and total disdain for Toronto, but whatever.

Dr Rudy was also nice enough to offer to be a sounding board for ideas as I try to prepare a research paper for my application to the Masters program. It’ll be nice to get a bit of feedback so I don’t end up completely off track and whatnot. Now I have the unenviable task of trying to come up with a topic. That was always the reason I never tried to do Editorial work for the campus paper back in the day. Heck, I run into the same problem with this blog de temps en temps. So I appeal to my loyal readership: please submit history-related topics that could make for an interesting 15-20 page research paper.

For those anxiously my interview with Bernard Landry, it’ll probably be another few days. I’ve been taking my time with it. Til next time…

A Touch of Evil

What the HELL was THAT all about?!?! The shootings at Dawson College have made national and, to a lesser extent, international news but for those who aren’t caught up on the story, here’s the basic rundown: some lunatic in a black trench coat went down to the campus and opened fire on the students in and around the school’s cafeteria. Police arrived on the scene and neutralized him. For those not familiar with the terminology, neutralized means killed.

Details continue to roll out as each hour progresses, but at this point one of the 20 or so victims has died with several others listed in critical condition. What makes a person do something like this? The whole concept is so foreign to me that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around it. According to the CBC website, the shooter kept a blog with pictures of him holding various weapons. I could very easily post a link to his blog, but I refuse to do so because I don’t wish to feed his twisted need for attention. I also refuse to feed the public’s equally morbid curiosity into what makes this wacko tick. Leave the psychological analysis to the professionals.

What he did was horrible. There is absolutely no justification or rationalization that could ever make this act seem remotely reasonable. While I understand the need to take him down, it’s unfortunate that he died. Not so that he could explain himself. Not so he could apologize or be rehabilitated. But so that he could be forced to live out his days paying for what he did. At this point, he’s gotten away with no real consequences, save whatever fate may befall him if there’s an afterlife. As far as I’m concerned, he can rot in hell. Pointe finale.

Canadian Content

I got into a discussion recently about the Canadian film industry and it made me start to think. At what point does a film become “Canadian?” No doubt the industry has any number of criteria to distinguish “our” films from those made elsewhere, but indulge me for a moment or two. Climb aboard my train of thought. There are quite a number of Canadian actors, directors, and writers, who work in Hollywood, yet these productions, are never considered “Canadian.” Major films are shot on location in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal; many times using Canadian technical and production staff but these, too, aren’t Canadian.

So what does it come down to? Let’s suppose, for sake of argument that we wanted to make a comedy. No doubt we’d be hunting around for a good comedic leading man. The current poster boy is someone like Jim Carrey, but we could just as easily go for someone like Mike Meyers. If we wanted to go more old school, we could with Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy or Martin Short (though I freely admit that none of these guys can carry a movie nowadays, but that’s not the point). We could easily make a decent ensemble cast out of Canadian comedians.

Alright, so we’ve got the onscreen talent covered. What about behind the camera? There is any number of Canadian directors who might fit the bill for our fictional creation. If we wanted to go with the nostalgia angle even more, we could snag Ivan Reitman (Canadian immigrant) to direct and produce, while getting Lorne Michaels to produce and maybe do some of the writing. Just for additional giggles, we’ll shoot in Toronto. So now we have a film that is written, produced and directed by Canadians, and shot in Canada. Is it a Canadian film yet? I would be inclined to say yes, personally. But what happens if the film is backed by 20th Century Fox?

It seems to me that the moment a film gets picked up by the Hollywood machine that it seems to lose all connection to Canada. Wacky, huh? Is it really all about the money? If Canadian talent is being used in the principle/important roles yet backed by a major studio, then why do we consider it American? I would love to hear some opinions on this. Til next time…

Major News!

Big news from in the world of Al B Here today! Some of my more ardent readers already know about this little coup, but it’s far from common knowledge, so I thought I would spread the news. Ol’ Al has managed to score his highest profile interview to date! And who, pray tell, is the next willing participant in my exploration of Quebecois culture? None other than the past Premier (like the Governor of the Province, for my American readers) and former leader of the Parti Québécois, Monsieur Bernard Landry!

Any exploration of Quebecois culture would be severely lacking without discussion of politics, so I decided to go to someone with firsthand experience. Aside from a séance with the spirit of René Lévesque, I can’t think of a better person to talk to than a past Premier. Now there are those among you that believe I have no business discussing politics with Monsieur Landry. Truth be told, you’re probably right, but I’m going to try it anyway. I have no doubt that he’ll be able to provide some pretty interesting insights into a movement that I’ve never really understood.

The most common reaction I’ve received has been (much like the initial reactions to the other interviews I’ve done so far), “How did you pull this off?” And given my status as an independent writer, I can see why people find this whole thing so bizarre. I've said it before, but it merits repeating: I’m interested in the topic and it never hurts to ask! Sometimes I get shot down. So be it. That’s no reason to stop trying, right? I freely acknowledge that I could never pull this off in Toronto, so I’m going to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves here in Montreal.

As always I would like to acknowledge the support of my circle of regular readers. I’m definitely psyched about this and I hope that I come up with a solid effort for you guys. Til next time…

Le Petit Medley

The Labour Day weekend has now come and gone and, though the weather left a lot to be desired for most of it, I decided I should take advantage of the extra recovery day and check out the nightlife in my area. I’m fortunate enough to live within a Donovan Bailey of Le Petit Medley but had never checked it out. The place seemed busy enough to be worth a look, so I figured, why not?

As I walked in, I was met by my first surprise of the evening: there was a $6 cover charge. Ouch. I’ve paid less to go to bars downtown! Sure, there aren’t too many other options near me, but that just seemed a little excessive. But I ponied up anyway and took a look around. As the name implies, it’s not particularly big, but the place has a good feel to it. The bar is the central focus of the place, smack-dab in the middle of the room. There are tables and a lounge area to the left as one enters, with a small dance floor and some more couches off to the right. It reminded me a bit of Molly Bloom’s from back in London.

After ordering one of my trademark Molson Exports (which cost just a hair under $5), I took a look around. Turns out that damn near everyone in the place has drinking draught beer. Hmm. Perhaps they knew something I didn’t? I managed to find a dark corner with a decent view of the surroundings. The crowd seemed to be mid-to-late 20s with a few cougars mixed in for good measure and it was most certainly Francophone. It wasn’t particularly busy when I got there at 11:30pm, but at the stroke of midnight, the place filled up in a hurry. That was also the cue for the DJ to start things rolling on the dance floor.

That’s when I got my second surprise of the night: they played Mes Aieux?!? Though I was quite happy to hear something from my favourite Quebecois band, it took me off guard that a bar would play folk-rock music to get people to dance. But sure enough, it worked. The dance floor was packed in no time and people were singing along to the song. Guess the DJ knows his audience, eh?

By this point, I had switched to draught and was feeling less self-conscious about being there alone with each sip. The music was too loud to be able to carry on anything that resembled a conversation, so I just hung back and people-watched. One thing I noted is that the bar seems to be a BYOB (Bring Your Own Babe) bar as there weren’t the usual small packs of women I’m used to seeing when I’m out. Also, the ratio wasn’t favourable. Maybe I picked a bad night, but at this point I can’t recommend the place as a prime cruising location.

Overall, I’ll give the place a cautious thumbs up because of proximity and atmosphere. I think it would be a decent place to finish off the night after returning from downtown. Anyway, that’s all for now. Til next time…