A lot of international designers and architects are going to make suggestions on brightening up the road from Trudeau airport into downtown.
Updates from August, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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The new symphony hall is provoking carping of various kinds from various quarters, but except for the issue of funding, I don’t think we’ll know what impression it makes until it’s open and music is actually played there.
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Guillaume Saint-Jean compares the corner of Sainte-Catherine and de Lorimier in 1960 and today. Worth clicking through to the Flickr version and examining the large size to see the details in the old buildings. The building at left is covered in posters for somebody called Poupart but I can’t make out whether they’re for a cultural event or an election campaign.
Lots more new then-and-nows in Guillaume’s Flickr, always worth looking at.
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A new festival called OUMF is to open in the Quartier Latin on Thursday and run for ten days as a celebration of the rentrée.
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Some people have received letters ostensibly from the police asking them to be home at a certain time for a police visit and interview. Police say they don’t do that and are asking people to let them know if they receive such a letter.
I can’t figure out why crooks would want to make people be home at a certain time.
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Matt
Puzzling. I’d be interested to know what their racket is.
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Benoit
I’m guessing it’s a way for them to get in the house and scout what’s valuable to steal when they come back later.
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Kate
I guess. Have to have at least one plausible person in uniform, preferably two. If I were the (real) cops I’d be setting up a sting, pronto.
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David M
could be debt collectors, it’s really impossible to underestimate their cunning and resourcefulness. my old roommate used to get calls regarding ostensible job opportunities or contests he’d won that would turn out to be the collections contractor for hydro quebec or some others. could be that this is a new way of forcing you to deal with them?
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The Journal stakes out an anti-hipster position with a suggestion that fixies may be more dangerous than other bicycles. However, no stats are given to support this claim.
I saw a bike accident today on the bike path on Christophe-Colombe near Jarry. An older man riding on the path past the gas station on that corner was knocked down by a woman driving her SUV across the bike path. He was shaken and had some cuts on his head, but he was conscious, and said to me a couple of times, “But I was ringing my bell!” It was so sad – nobody in a closed, air conditioned vehicle on that busy corner would’ve heard a bicycle bell. I hope the man recovers and continues to ride his bicycle despite this setback.
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William
This is hilarious (the JdeM part, not the second part)! I wonder what sent them on that warpath.
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walkerp
The thing is, most of the newbie fixie riders have brakes. I think I’ve only seen one without a brake this entire summer. I know the majority of hipsters on fixed wheel bikes are super-annoying, but as an urban vehicle, it really has a lot of advantages. They are light and efficient and require very little maintenance. I think that that is what the huge sell is, once you get past the cool look.
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Kate
I wonder what sent them on that warpath.
I suspect the Journal has an Editor for Outrage who reads everything and keeps files on all topics that could be turned into a shock exposé. And then every so often they pull one out and try to make hay with it. Most of them don’t catch on, but some do and then other media get on the bandwagon and ride it around for a bit.
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ant6n
In a way, bixis are fixis. That second and first gear don’t really count, although there are brakes (of sorts) and the gear is not actually fixed.
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Chris
I’ve always found it hypocritical that it’s illegal for cyclists to wear earphones, but it’s it legal for motorists to have all windows closed, and sound blaring.
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qatzelok
Chris, I agree. It’s like the rules of the road/police are there to keep motorists super-comfy and ready-to-kill, and their two-wheeled prey worn down and humiliated with helmet laws and ticketing campaigns.
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The languages used on signs in Montreal are likely to become a hot potato again soon as the Office de la langue française gears up to pursue international firms doing business here.
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William
This is a stupid issue for the OQLF to be kicking up a stink about, and it’s perhaps even more stupid that these companies aren’t more sensitive about an issue that almost destroyed Canada. I wish we would focus our language efforts and money where it counts: education.
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MB
Well put, William.
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no\deli
So, to clarify… Megachains opening outlets: not a threat to local culture; the names of those megachains: MORTAL THREAT. That’s brilliant thinking right there. That’s installing a rotten tooth in your mouth on the strict condition that it be whitened.
Also, from the article: “’Commercial signs have a direct impact on one’s capacity to maintain and transmit language in their culture,’ [Mark Power] added. ‘That’s absolutely crystal clear today among sociologists and linguists…’”
Hahaha. ‘Crystal clear’, is it? Prof. Power appears to specialize in law/economics, and is very active in (French) language rights issues. But he ought to know better than to make sweeping statements on behalf of sociologists – and certainly not linguists.
That quote is perfectly incoherent bullshit. Only someone (a) with an agenda, or (b) with a profound misunderstanding of the mechanics of language acquisition could say such a senseless thing.
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Kate
More stories have come out about this since I posted it earlier, and the angle is that François Legault – who doesn’t even have a party yet, but has already broken a promise not to govern for more than one term – has asked for a crackdown on businesses that serve people in English (the main reason I’m looking at this story – English-language service is mostly a Montreal issue). Jean Charest is doing an end run around Legault by promising this new campaign by the OLF.
Legault’s other big deal is cutting back on immigration but there’s probably no way Charest can counter that notion, especially if recent demographic projections are correct in showing that Quebec’s workers will soon be retiring faster than they’re being replaced.
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Seen on Facebook: Sunday was the Wikipedia Takes Montreal day but the elements were against it. This page should show the submitted shots, some of which may not yet be posted.
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Patrick M. Lozeau
I was at the event and I can assure you that 103 participants did take pictures of Montreal.
Organizers decided to transfer the pictures on hard drives rather than make us try to upload them over wifi. They should be uploaded in coming todays.
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Kate
Excellent news – thanks for the update.
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Biggest news Monday morning is the damage to buildings, cars and trees done by tropical storm Irene in her passage through Montreal Sunday. Emergency services stayed busy as window glass and pieces of scaffolding fell on some downtown streets. And lots of folks lost power with some finding themselves still out on Monday morning.
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The Belgian film Hasta la Vista took not only the Grand prix des Amériques at the World Film Festival but also the public prize and a special mention from the jury. A Japanese film won a special Grand Prix jury prize.
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Good shot of the resettling of Macdonald on his monument with a copy of Le Devoir slipped under him for future workers to find.
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The rentrée begins today and brings the inevitable traffic woes with it. This item has an interesting infographic showing the island’s bridges and how much traffic they carried in the mid-seventies vs. today.
Shawn 09:09 on 2011/08/30 Permalink
Hint: just fix it so the roads, bridges and tunnels aren’t crumbling. That’ll amaze us all.
Shawn 12:10 on 2011/08/30 Permalink
Also, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village
William 15:51 on 2011/08/30 Permalink
Umm, Shawn, yeah. I think they just want it to look nice.