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Boucler la boucle

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Ville de Montr-al - Arrondissement de Villeray - Saint-Michel -

Mumbai vue à vol d’oiseau. © Kiran Ambwani

Vendredi 6 décembre à 17h30 avait lieu le vernissage de “Boucler la boucle”, une exposition de photographies par Kiran Ambwani. Celle-ci “propose une version intime du quotidien des habitants des bidonvilles de Mumbai à travers le regard de ses enfants et montre la beauté et leur résilience malgré la pauvreté qui les entoure.”

En contrepartie au projet de Mumbai, Kiran Ambwani a également réalisé un projet de médiation culturelle avec des élèves de sixième année de l’École Barclay de Parc-Extension. Les étudiants ont pu ainsi s’initier à la photographie et aussi découvrir leur quartier sous un oeil nouveau, au travers l’objectif de la caméra.

C’est une exposition très intéressante qui nous montre la perception que les enfants ont de leur environnement. Cela mérite certainement un coup d’oeil (pour une fois que la salle de diffusion de Parc-Ex est bien mise à profit avec une exposition qui offre plus qu’une demi-douzaine de pièces et qui mérite un petit détour!). Malheureusement il n’y avait à peine plus d’une vingtaine de personnes au vernissage…

[ extrait de la présentation de Kiran Ambwani lors du vernissage ]

L’exposition “Boucler la boucle” se tient à la Salle de diffusion de Parc-Extension (Complexe William-Hingston , 421, rue Saint-Roch) du 6 décembre 2019 au 19 janvier 2020. stars-3-5

(Sources: communiqué, culturevsp, Photo Solution, Newswire, Radio Canada International.)

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SDL 2019 : Jour 2

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Samedi, lancement de Solaris #212

Je suis retourné au Salon du Livre de Montréal (SDL) samedi après-midi pour une visite entièrement consacrée aux littératures de l’imaginaire (autrement connues comme la SFFQ). Au kiosque d’Alire, on lançait de 18h à 19h le numéro 212 de la revue Solaris. L’achalandage du salon était beaucoup plus élevé que ma première visite de mercredi (le fait que la Parade du Père Noël avait eut lieu un peu plus tôt au centre-ville y était peut-être pour quelque chose).

[ SDL, samedi après-midi, 2019/11/23, vers 16h18 ]
>> Voir l’avertissement concernant les photos/vidéos <<

Quand je suis arrivé au kiosque d’Alire, Ariane Gélinas (Quelques battements d’ailes avant la nuit) et Sébastien Chartrand (Geist: Les héritiers de Nikola Tesla) terminaient leur séances de signatures. Ils ont été remplacé par Lionel Noël (Halifax Express), Yves Meynard (Chrysanthe 2. Le Prince rebelle) et Rick Mofina (Dernière Limite), puis, un peu plus tard, par Natasha Beaulieu (lauréate du Prix Solaris 2019 pour “Ici”, parue dans Solaris #211). 

CatAlire2019-20J’ai mis la main sur le dernier catalogue de parution (2019-2020) et j’ai profité de moments d’accalmie entre les séances pour faire des entrevues-capsules avec Sébastien Chartrand, Jonathan Reynolds (auteur et coordonateur de Solaris) et Yves Meynard (que je mettrai en ligne au fur et à mesure que j’en complète le montage). Évidemment, les gros titres de l’automne sont surtout le dernier Jean-Jacques Pelletier (On tue…, un polar) et le dernier Patrick Senécal (Ceux de là-bas, du fantastique). Mais je crois qu’il faut aussi mentionner le dernier Sébastien Chartrand (Geist: Les héritiers de Nikola Tesla), qui m’intrigue beaucoup personnellement car, après sa trilogie du “Crépuscule des Arcanes”, il passe de la fantasy historique à de la SF qui fait dans l’uchronie et le steampunk (ou plutôt l’électricpunk!). 

Je regrète toutefois, d’une part, d’avoir manqué les séances de signature de Éric Gauthier, Francois Lévesque, Jean-Jacques Pelletier et Patrick Senécal un peu plus tôt en après-midi, et de ne pas avoir pris de photos de MM. Mofina et Noël… Cela aurait été intéressant aussi de pouvoir faire des entrevues avec tout ce beau monde… mais, bon, le temps était limité et je ne suis pas encore tout à fait à l’aise comme intervieweur (je ferai sûrement plus d’entrevues à Boréal…).

[ un premier tour du kiosque d’Alire, vers 17h54 ]

Solaris212_VG-255x400Évidemment, le traditionnel 6 à 7 de Solaris, où on lance la dernière mouture (cette fois-ci le #212), n’est qu’un prétexte pour permettre aux lecteurs de la revues, aux auteurs et aux amateurs de SFFQ de se rencontrer, de discuter et partager leur passion. C’était très informel, sans discours, autour d’une coupe de vin rouge. Le numéro d’automne de Solaris, le #212, nous offre cinq nouvelles (“Manifeste 2113” par Frédéric Parrot, “Le vieillard, l’enfant et la cuillère pensante” de Denis Roditi, “Mémoire vive” de Étienne-Janosik Desforges, “Écho perdu” par Geneviève Blouin et “Eau et Diamant” par Derek Künsten), deux articles (“Albert Robida : de la satire de la science à la science-fiction” par Julien Chaffour et “Les Carnets du Futurible: À nous l’infini, ou ls visages de la philosophie cosmiste” par Mario Tessier) et de nombreux commentaires de lecture (voir le sommaire du numéro pour les détails). Comme d’habitude cette “anthologie permanente des littératures de l’imaginaire” est une superbe lecture…

[ lancement du Solaris #212, vers 18h16 ]

J’avais promis à Jonathan Reynolds que je ferais le “photographe officiel” de l’événement. Poursuivant mon projet de faire découvrir et connaître les multiples “Visages de la SFQ” je me suis donc mis à la tâche. Je n’ai toutefois pris qu’une trentaine de clichés…

Cette fois-ci on ne me la fera pas !
Sébastien Chartrand
Ariane Gélinas
Natasha Beaulieu
Yves Meynard, Alain Ducharme, Talhi Briones
Yves Meynard, Alain Ducharme, Talhi Briones
Éric Gauthier, Patrick Senécal, Natasha Beaulieu
Natasha Beaulieu, Michèle Laframboise
Christian Sauvé
Luc Dagenais, Mariane Cayer
Luc Dagenais, Mariane Cayer
Philippe-Aubert Côté, Josée Lepire
Éric Gauthier, Martin Thisdale
Michèle Laframboise
Josée Lepire
Natasha Beaulieu
Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso
Yves Meynard, Luc Dagenais
Meynard, Luc Dagenais
Éric Gauthier, Francine Pelletier
Louise Alain, Alain Ducharme
Yves Meynard, Josée Lepire, Geneviève Blouin
Jean-Jacques Pelletier
Geneviève Blouin, Yves Meynard
Mariane Cayer, Ariane Gélinas, Francine Pelletier
Ariane Gélinas
Mariane Cayer
Talhi Briones
À bientôt…

À venir: les entrevues…

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SDL 2019 : Jour 1

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SDL2019-banner

Mercredi, à la découverte du salon

IMG_0294

Plan du salon

Comme toute les années depuis que j’ai l’âge de raison, je suis aller faire mon tour au salon du livre de Montréal mercredi soir. C’était gratuit pour tous alors il y avait foule (mais c’était tout de même beaucoup plus calme que dans l’après-midi). Comme à mon habitude j’ai déambulé dans un sens puis dans l’autre afin de pouvoir jeter un œil sur un maximum de nouveautés. Bien sûr il y trop de beaux livres pour tout voir alors j’ai surtout porté attention aux kiosques des diffuseurs de BDs et de mangas (Interforum, Flammarion, Hachette et La Boîte). Par le passé le salon était surtout composé de rangées de petits kiosques où chaque éditeurs présentait ses produits mais avec le temps, les éditeurs se sont rassemblés dans l’espace des diffuseurs / distributeurs qui devenaient de plus en plus gros chaque années. A un point ou s’était difficile de déambuler dans le salon en suivant le quadrillage des allées car ces gros kiosques obstruaient la circulation. Je dois dire que cette année le plan du salon a grandement été amélioré et la circulation en était grandement facilitée.

[ SDL, mercredi soir, 2019/11/20, vers 17h44 ]
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Comme le mentionne le communiqué de presse, “la mission première du Salon est de promouvoir le livre et le plaisir de la lecture comme biens culturels dans la société québécoise.” La thématique annuelle est “se raconter” et elle se décline autour de la poésie, du conte, des littératures de l’imaginaire, du polar et de sous-thématiques comme l’environnement, la parentalité, la diversité, la technologie, etc. De nombreuses initiatives et évènements étaient organisés dans le cadre du salon. De plus, le salon innovait avec la présence de deux kiosques thématiques: l’un sur un quartier de la ville (St-Michel) et un sur un pays invité (l’Ukraine). Finalement, cette année, les invité(e)s d’honneur étaient Enki Bilal, Fanny Britt, Jean-Paul Daoust, Tristan Demers, Antonine Maillet, Andrée Poulin, Sheila Watt-Cloutier et Webster.

Un quartier invité: St-Michel
Frantz Benjamin (député de Viau) donnant une heure du conte
Pays invité: l’Ukraine

D’abord, je note encore l’absence des bibliothèques de Montréal au salon, qui ratent l’occasion idéale de promouvoir la lecture dans les bibliothèques. La bibliothèque de St-Michel a bien sûr fait quelques animations dans la cadre du “quartier invité” mais les bibliothèques auraient pu faire tellement plus que cela. C’est très décevant…

IMG_6660J’avais deux grands objectifs au salon cette année. D’abord, rencontrer Enki Bilal. Malheureusement, toutes ses apparitions au salon (séances de signature, conférences, etc.) se sont retrouvées en conflit d’horaire avec d’autres engagements et je n’ai pu voir que son espace de signature vide… Très frustrant. 

9782356740748_largeAussi, je désirais mettre la main sur la dernière bande dessinée de Philippe Gauckler, Kébek, t. 1: L’éternité publié aux Éditions Daniel Maghen. Il s’agit d’une adaptation du roman La nuit des Temps de René Barjavel, que j’ai lu et adoré étant ado. J’ai envoyé un courriel à l’éditeur pour connaître qui était leur diffuseur au Québec et si leurs titres seraient présent au salon. Je n’ai reçu aucune réponse, alors j’ai dû faire ma petite enquête… Je suis d’abord allé voir l’un des plus gros diffuseurs de BDs et j’ai demandé s’ils distribuaient les Éditions Daniel Maghen. On me réponds “C’est pas nous mais je crois que c’est Dimedia.” Je vais donc voir Dimedia et on me réponds “C’est plus nous mais je ne me souviens pas qui est le nouveau diffuseur…” (Hum, oui, bien sûr…). J’essai encore deux autres diffuseurs avant de finalement découvrir que c’est Interforum qui distribue les Éditions Daniel Maghen. Malheureusement, le changement de diffuseur s’est fait trop récemment et ils n’ont pas encore reçu de stock. Donc aucun exemplaires au salon. Grosse déception. C’est tout de même étonnant qu’un livre sortie à la fin août en Europe ne soit toujours pas disponible au salon !! Heureusement, on me dit que le Gauckler devrait être disponible en librairie imminemment (en fait, il semble déjà l’être chez Renaud Bray, Archambault). En ligne, il n’est pas disponible chez Amazon.ca mais on le retrouve chez Les Libraires (qui dessert les ventes en ligne des librairies Raffin, Planète BD et Monet; on l’indique disponible depuis le 1er novembre !). À ce prix là ($37.95, mais tout de même pour 88 pages), je vais probablement le lire en bibliothèque…

Dans mes déambulations au salon (et en périphérie), j’ai fait quelques découvertes. D’abord La Pastèque a publié un nouveau “Paul” de Michel Rabagliati (le neuvième de la série): Paul à la maison. Aussi, les Éditions Albert René nous offrent un trente-huitième album pour les soixante ans d’Astérix: La fille de Vercingétorix. Pour l’occasion on retrouve également toute une ligne de sous-produits livresques dont les plus intéressants sont: Les citations latines expliquées et Les vérités historiques expliqués (tous les deux chez EPA et écrits par Bernard-Pierre Molin) ainsi que Les banquets d’Astérix par Thibaud Villanova et Nicolas Lobbestael (chez Hachette, collection Gastronogeek). Glénat a sorti un album commémorant ses cinquante ans d’édition. J’ai également remarqué un nouveau roman par Claude R. Blouin (aussi un spécialiste du cinéma japonais) aux Éditions Mots en toile: Irina Hrabal. Je note également la sortie d’un nouveau Chat du Rabbin (#9: La Reine de Shabbat) et d’un nouveau Yoko Tsuno (#29: Anges et Faucons) !

Michel Rabagliati
:es citations latines expliquées
Les vérités historiques expliquées
Les banquets d’Astérix
Paul à la maison
La fille de Vercingétorix
Glénat 50 ans d’édition
Irina Hrabal

Finalement, côté manga, j’ai découvert deux titres qui méritent notre attention. D’une part, Ki-oon publie une autre adaptation d’un chef d’oeuvre de Lovecraft par Gou Tanabe, c’est fois il s’agit de Dans l’abîme du temps (un seul volume de 368 pages). D’autre part, j’ai découvert chez Bayard Jeunesse une collection qui nous raconte L’Histoire en manga (mes deux sujets favoris!): v.1 Les débuts de l’humanité, v.2 L’antiquité grecque et romaine, v.3 L’Inde et la Chine antiques, v.4 D’Attila à Guillaume le Conquérant, v.5 De l’empire mongol à la Guerre de Cent ans, v.6 La Renaissance et les grandes découvertes, v.7 L’Histoire en Europe de la Reine Elisabeth à Napoléon. J’ai bien hâte de lire tous cela.

Dans l’Abîme du temps – Gou Tanabe
L’Histoire en manga – 1
L’Histoire en manga – 2
L’Histoire en manga – 6

J’essaierai de commenter la plupart de ces titres dans les prochaines semaines (ou mois). Je ferai aussi une autre visite au salon samedi pour le lancement du numéro 212 de Solaris au kiosque d’Alire. J’ai l’intention d’y prendre de nombreuses photos et de faire quelques entrevues. Gardez un oeil sur cette page (Watch this space, comme ils disent en anglais!).

Le salon du livre de Montréal s’est donc tenu à la Place Bonaventure du 20 au 25 novembre, 2019. L’année dernière, le salon avait annoncé qu’il déménageait au Palais des Congrès mais, n’ayant pas réussi à obtenir les dates désirées, le SDL est demeuré à la Place Bonaventure pour 2019. Toutefois, il faut dire adieu à la Place Bonaventure, car cette fois c’est bien vrai, le salon aura lieu au Palais des Congrès l’an prochain. La raison de ce déménagement n’est pas très claire (manque d’espace? travaux de rénovations à la Place Bonaventure?), mais, bon, on verra bien de quoi cela a l’air l’an prochain…

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Antiquarian Book Fair

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MtlAntiquarianBkFairLast March I went to the Westmount Book Fair (organized by Mr. Wilfrid M. de Freitas) where I acquired a new title for my collection of old books. I would like to remind everyone that a similar (but bigger) book fair is scheduled to happen in a couple of weeks. 

The 36th edition of the Antiquarian Book Fair (organized by the Confrérie de la Libraries Ancienne du Québec) will be held at the Concordia University (Pavillon McConnell, 1400 boul. Maisonneuve O.) Saturday September 28th (from 12:00 to 18:00) and Sunday September 29th (from 11:00 to 17:00). It will feature a wide selection of collectable books, rare, illustrated, first editions and fine bindings of all genres but with a particular focus on fantasy books. The admission fee will be 6$ for the 2 days. 

I am planning to go have a look in hope to find some interesting books (I will particularly be looking for classical author editions of the 16th or 17th century) — although I also despair that temptation will make me spend too much!

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TV updates

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The Boys

The_BoysNow I’ve watched the entire first season. Impressive. It’s funny, dark and, if not entirely original (it reminds me of several other superheroes shows or movies), fresh enough to be interesting. However, not enough for me to increase my appreciation to four stars. So it remains at stars-3-5.

Maybe it’s my imagination, but it looks to me that Vought International is some kind of allegory for the Trumpian White House, where Homelander represents Trump, the rest of the Seven being his cabinet members and the corporation’s high hierarchy being the PAC that finance and control the whole thing… Of course, the comic book was published in 2006-2012 and couldn’t have predicted such a freak president, so it’s probably just my mind playing a trick on me (although the show producers could have put a slight emphasis on this aspect…). 

A friend, who has read the beginning of the comic, told me it was quite violent and he was rather disappointed by how tame the TV series was. The comic intended to out do the violence and sexuality of Preacher, but unfortunately it appears that Amazon Video is not as daring as AMC or HBO when it comes to TV adaptation.

The way it ends offers a little closure, but this end most likely calls for more. Indeed, Amazon has renewed it for at least another season. Now what?

Check my first comment for more information on The Boys.

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Euphoria

euphoria2I’ve caught up to the episodes I had missed at first and even watched the complete first season. This show is a mess — but a beautiful mess. It’s intriguing and even enthralling — almost addictive. It gets better and and better with each new episode. The characters grow on you and it makes the drama created by Rue’s self-destructing behaviour or the misunderstanding and missed opportunities of everyone’s relationships even more painful to watch at time. That’s the sign of excellent writing. That’s not the type of show I would normally watch, but now I feel I would like to see more. Too bad the first season is over… Although it is still available on streaming and the show has been renewed for another season next year… However, if THAT’s the life of today’s teenagers, I weep for the future…

This one definitely deserves to be upgraded to stars-3-5 or maybe even a stars-4-0 !

Check my first comment for all the show details.

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Jamestown

JamestownS03Tonight on PBS, the Jamestown series is concluding with the end of its third season. It started as an interesting historical drama about one of the first successful British colonies in America — although it is not clear how much “historical” it really is (the series is shot in Hungary; they use the names of some of the colonists, like James Read, but mostly of the Governor Yeardley and his wife Temperance, as well as the Pamunkey King, Opechancanough — Pocahontas is NEVER mentioned). After the failure of Roanoke in 1585, Jamestown was established in 1607 and the story begins twelve years later with the arrival of the first women and, in second season, of the first indentured “servants” (African slaves). At first, it focuses on the politics of the colony and the schemes behind the Virginia Company. Unfortunately, it quickly turns into fantasy with lots of supernatural plot elements and ends abruptly with the massacre of 1622 — when the local native tribes, the Pamunkey and the Powhatan Confederacy, get fed up with the abuses and false promises of the Englishmen. The reviews were probably so bad in the U.K. (however ratings on IMDb [6.9] and Rotten Tomatoes [78%] were relatively good) that it was quickly brought to a conclusion and terminated. It was an entertaining drama, but it could have been so much more. Disappointing. stars-2-5

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Others

PreacherSeason4Preacher has restarted but it will be the last season. I can’t wait to see how they will end this one. The first episodes are set at Masada, in the Middle East, and then it will move to Australia. Actually, it was all shot in Australia. An amusing splatter & gory series that I will not really miss after it’s gone. Check the trailer. stars-3-0

Poldark is also concluding with a story line that covers the gap between the two book series. So it has more to offer for those who has loved the books. I’ll be sad when this fifth season comes to an end. I really liked those characters. After tonight, there will be only three episodes to go… Check the trailer. stars-4-0

Pandora continues its disappointing run. Its not good enough to really appreciate it, but it’s not bad enough to drop it. So, I’ll continue watching it hoping for improvements… stars-2-5

KilljoysS05Killjoys has also restarted for a fifth season. The team is struggling hard to escape the grip of the Lady… A beautiful and excellent Canadian sci-fi series (second only to The Expanse) that will unfortunately conclude in September. Check the trailer. stars-4-0

The first season of Blood & Treasure has ended but the series was renewed for a second season. A cute but quite ordinary action/adventure series. stars-2-5

The seventh season of Elementary will end next week and that will conclude the series. It was an interesting modern adaptation of Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes (more palatable for the general public than the excellent but frantic Sherlock). I liked the idea of making Watson into a woman (played by Lucy Liu!). It was nice while it lasted but I won’t miss it too much as it was getting a little repetitive and stale… stars-3-0

The sixth season of The 100 has ended and there is only one more season to go as it was announced that the series will end next year. It is not super original, but the story and setting are quite interesting — I can’t miss on a post-apocalyptic series! Good sci-fi drama. stars-3-0

Tonight, the second part of the fifth season of Fear the Walking Dead is restarting (check the sneak peek). I didn’t like the first season, but now I like this series even better than the original The Walking Dead. I don’t see the horror in it, but I like the post-apocalyptic survival aspect. The fifth season will end in September and it was renewed for at least another season. It’s an interesting drama. stars-3-0

TheTerrorInfamyThe second season of The Terror is starting tomorrow. The first season about the Franklin’s lost expedition in the Northwest passage was quite good (see my comment). This new season offers an entirely new story and cast (including Derek Mio, Kiki Sukezane, Naoko Mori, C. Thomas Howell, and… George Takei !). Subtitled Infamy, it is now set in a Japanese-american internment camp during WW2 as some characters are haunted by a ghost from their past and the camp is terrorized by a bakemono! It airs Mondays 9e/8c PM on AMC. Check the official trailer.

Season_4_SDCC_2019_PosterThere’s now a longer trailer for the Watchmen playing on TV (HBO, October 2019). The visuals still doesn’t excite me and the story will definitely be different from the comic or the movie, but it looks intriguing. We’ll see. There’s also a longer trailer for His Dark Materials (HBO, late 2019), which seems even more intriguing and appealing. I can’t wait for this one…

You will be glad to learn that The Expanse is coming back in December for a fourth season and that it has even been renewed for a fifth !!! However, it moved from SyFy to Amazon Video (check the production trailer). Also, there is still no news on the third season of Westworld set for broadcast in 2020… Finally, everyone is asking where is the twelfth season of Doctor Who ??? Apparently it is currently in production, but the release has been delayed to 2020.

While writing this article, I have discovered Carnival Row, a very intriguing victorian (“Neo-noir”) fantasy that will start on Amazon Video on August 30. It certainly deserves a look. Check the trailer. 

It really seems that there’s a lot of good TV series coming ahead. The competition between all those independent or internet pay channels (like AMC, HBO, Prime Video, Netflix and soon Apple TV+) is bringing out all the good stuff. Where/when will I find the time ?!

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New signage in the park

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IMG_5999This afternoon I have noticed a new signage in the park urging cyclists to slow down — and even just walk along-side their bike — while approaching the hill going down to the Émile-Journault entrance. This signage is quite welcomed since I have often noticed cyclists going down the hill (in both direction) at very high speed at the risk of hitting pedestrians or other cyclists coming in or out the park though the Émile-Journault entrance and having limited visibility on the polyvalent trail because of the vegetation. There was probably complaints (or even accidents) prompting the introduction of this new signage. Unfortunately, the signs are small and not very visible and, of course, I haven’t seen a single cyclist respecting it (among the dozen that passed by while I was walking —when do cyclists respect the signs after all ?). Nice try, though.

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FFM 2019

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Montreal-World-Film-Festival

Monday morning, the president of the Montreal World Film Festival, Serge Losique, has announced in a brief press release that “the festival will take a break this year to better prepare the 2020 edition”. The statement mentions Losique’s poor health as the reason for this year’s cancellation of the event. This comes to no one’s surprise as the festival had been declining severely in the last few years and it was plagued with financial troubles. Let’s hope that the festival will indeed use that time to recover and that the gap will not mean the death of this once-famed international event. They also said that more details on the 2020 edition will follow shortly.

I am disappointed because I was looking forward to have my yearly dose of Japanese cinema. However, it was to be expected. I should have made arrangements to free myself to attend the Fantasia festival instead…

Press review:

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Fantasia 2019

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Fantasia-2019-bannerThe 23rd edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival, the top genre film festival in North America, will be held (mostly) at the Concordia Théâtre Hall from July 11 to August 1st 2019. The festival will open with Hideo Nakata latest movie, Sadako. It will also showcase over an hundred feature films & shorts in horror, sci-fi or fantasy genres and many filmmakers and actors will be attending to introduce their production — including Yamamoto Kiyoshi (Director of Brave Father Online – Our Story of Final Fantasy XIV), Yaguchi Shinobu & Kanekoa Ryon (director and producer of Dance with me), Makoto Tezuka (dir. of The Legend of the Stardust Brothers), Takahiro Umehara (dir. & writer for Moon in the hidden woods), Nao Yoshighai (retrospective), Oshiyama Kiyotaka (dir. of the short Shishigari) and Keita Amemiya (dir. of Garo and speaker of the Master Class on Wed July 31, 2019 7:00 PM at the York Amphitheatre). Tickets will be available at Concordia’s box office and online starting July 6th.

Movies from all over the world will be presented (including five from China, five from Hong Kong, twenty-four from South Korea and two from Taiwan), but here we are interested mostly in the forty-five production from Japan:

Anime

Live-Action

This year there’s lots of horror and lots of shorts, many anime and a few titles to watch closely (like Human Lost, The Relative worlds, Garo, Gintama 2, and The island of cats).

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Amazon Prime Reading

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prime_reading_logo._CB465064760_

Amazon Prime is now not only offering free shipping (Prime Delivery), video and music streaming (Prime Video and Amazon Music), or photo storage (Amazon Photos) but also has unlimited reading on any device (Kindle readers or other devices through the Kindle app) with a selection of hundreds of books in electronic format that you can “borrow”. That new service is called Prime Reading. 

Learn more or browse the catalog. It includes books in French and graphic novels (like Attack on Titan, Battle Angel Alita, Preacher, The Walking Dead, Peanuts compendium, Initial D, Beck, etc. etc.) ! Cool.

It’s worth a look or a try (since I am already a Prime member).

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Solde de livres 2019

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abm_2019_affiche_vf_tgpComme tout les ans, les Amis de la Bibliothèque de Montréal organisent leur solde de livres pour offrir à petits prix aux Montréalais les livres dont les bibliothèques ne veulent plus (mais qui sont encore en très bon état). Vous y trouverez tout les genres de livres (plus de cent milles romans, documentaires, bandes dessinées, magazines, pour adultes, pour enfants, en français, en anglais et même parfois dans d’autres langues!) à très bon prix: 0,50 $ (livres jeunesse et magazines), 1,00 $ (livres adultes), 2,00 $ (BD et manga), et 3,00 $ (Dictionnaires, encyclopédies et « beaux livres »).

Le Solde de livres 2019 se tiendra du samedi 25 mai au dimanche 2 juin, de 13h00 à 19h00, à l’aréna Martin Brodeur (300, boulevard Robert, Montréal, juste à côté de la bibliothèque de St-Léonard). Les quantités sont limités sur certains types de documents (BD, dictionnaires). Le paiement doit être comptant seulement; il y a pas d’échange ou de remboursement possible. Et, S.V.P., veuillez apporter vos propres sacs. Pour plus d’information vous pouvez visiter la page Facebook.

Le but de cet événement est “de prolonger la vie utile de ces livres, d’aider à répandre le goût de la lecture et de permettre aux citoyens de Montréal d’enrichir leur bibliothèque personnelle à faible coût.” De plus, les revenus de la vente serviront à financer des activités d’animation dans les bibliothèques. Les documents invendus seront ensuite offert à des associations sans but lucratif et organismes communautaires, puis à Renaissance et finalement à la Fondation des parlementaires / Cultures à partager (qui les expédie dans des pays en voie de développement — comme en Afrique francophone et en Haïti). Ultimement, les livres qui restent après tout ça sont recyclés pour le papier. Rien ne se perd! Quelle entreprise louable…

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Détour

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DetourLes week-ends se déroulent rarement comme prévu. Je planifiais de faire de menus travaux, de la comptabilité, de lire et commenter des mangas (surtout Isabella Bird et Moriarty) et je me retrouve finalement à lire (relire?) des vieilles BDs de Moebius, à regarder des animés sur Netflix (Gundam Unicorn !) et à rechercher une nouvelle adaptation animée d’un vieux manga shōjo des années ’70 par nulle autre que Waki Yamato (Haikara-san ga tōru) et dont je parlerai sans doute amplement dans un futur proche…

Encore un coup de nostalgie. Cela faisait un bout de temps que j’avais pas regardé d’animés… C’est bon. Ça fait du bien. Et sur Netflix, qui plus est (quoiqu’on y retrouve rien de bien nouveau puisque Gundam Unicorn date déjà de 2010). Et ce n’est pas fini puisque Netflix a annoncé plusieurs titres d’animés à venir (dont Evangelion en juin, Saint Seiya plus tard dans l’été et Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex en 2020 !!!). Ce n’est vraiment plus de la culture populaire (geeky stuff) mais cela commence à faire partie de la culture courante (mainstream)…

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dBD #130

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dBD130-covJe feuillette le plus récent numéro de dBD (février 2019) dans l’espoir de découvrir de nouveau titres intéressants. Malheureusement, je suis déçu car je n’y trouve rien de bien passionnant pour moi. Toutefois, ce numéro nous offre un hommage à Stan Lee par une interview avec Jean-Marc Lainé (biographe de l’artiste américain) et une interview avec Didier Tarquin (Lanfeust de Troy) qui revient avec U.C.C. Dolores, une BD de SF très prometteuse où une nonne hérite d’un croiseur de guerre et se lance vers la Frontière spatiale (voir le sommaire de ce numéro pour plus de détails sur le contenu). 

Dans le cahier critique on retrouve notamment Nymphéas Noirs de Cassegrain, Duval & Bussi chez Dupuis (adaptation d’un thriller de Bussi qui se déroule à Giverny, “quoi de plus naturel que d’adapter un roman policier aux airs impressionnistes en BD”), Journal d’une vie tranquille par Tetsuya Chiba (Ashita no Joe) chez Vega (autobiographie de son enfance en Mandchourie, “extrêmement séduisant”), Avant de partir par Jung & Koo chez Sarbacane (manhwa coréen “merveilleusement étrange”), ABCD de la typographie chez Gallimard (ce collectif, scénarisé par David Rault, ambitionne de tracer “l’histoire de la typographie latine, intimement liés à celle de la BD”), Ragna Crimson par Daiki Kobayashi chez Kana (dark fantasy, histoire de chasseurs de dragons avec des personnages attachants, qui “tient pour l’instant ses promesses”), et Talentless t. 3 de Looseboy & Furuya chez Doki-Doki (“un peu la rencontre entre Battle Royale et les X-Men”). Un magazine riche en information pour les amateurs de BD.

dBD #130 — Février 2019. [collectif dirigé par Frédéric Bosser] Boulogne-Billancourt: dBD sarl, février 2019. 100 p., 23 x 30 cm, 8.90 €. ISSN 1951-4050. Lectorat adolescent (12+). stars-2-5

Pour plus d’information vous pouvez aussi consulter les sites suivants:

[ Biblio —  Wikipedia — WorldCat ]

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Capsules

Golden Globe: No Japanese winners

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At the Golden Globe 2019, held on January 6th, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has awarded Bohemian Rhapsody for the Best Motion Picture (Drama), Green Book for the Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), Glen Close for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama), Rami Malek for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama), Olivia Colman for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), Christian Bale for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), and Alfonso Cuarón for Best Director.

Surprisingly (or is it, really?), I have not seen any of the nominated TV series either for Drama (The Americans [the winner], Bodyguard, Homecoming, Killing Eve, or Pose) or for Musical/Comedy (Barry, The Good Place, Kidding, The Kominsky Method [the winner] or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). And I am not sure I am interested. Although, I’d like to see  Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite or Crazy Rich Asians (when they comes out on dvd)…

However, the categories that interest us the most are those where Japanese movies were in nomination. Unfortunately, no Japanese movie received any award this year.

The Best Animated Motion Picture award went to Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse. It is quite disappointing because I thought that Mirai had some chance. Even the heavily Japanese-inspired Isle of Dog [on which I commented] deserved the award better. That’s a shame.

The Best Foreign Language Motion Picture award went to the Mexican movie Roma. However I was really cheering for Shoplifters [the latest film by Hirokazu Kore-eda, which was shown at the FNC and commented by Claude R. Blouin — AsianWiki / IMDb / Wikipedia]. It is just bad it didn’t win.

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Notable News (w42-w53)

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It has been a little more than two months since the last entry of our journal. The weather has been relatively gray, since we’ve had very little snow so far, as it was—more often than not—rain and freezing rain, and lots of ups and downs in the temperature. The most notable events on the domestic front included a strange saga over the video of a panel at the book fair, where I also attended the launch of Solaris #208 and did a capsule interview with Catherine Sylvestre. We had again a problem of flicker in our electricity (strangely only on one side of the house), so bad that one night I thought my apartment had become a disco! Finally, we found the source of the problem (old wirings) and hired an electrician for a temporary fix but we will have to change the electrical entry in spring.

Somehow my sister’s cats managed to start the shower while she was on vacation. It lasted about twenty minutes before we realized that water was dripping from my bathroom’s ceiling. Luckily this small flood was relatively contained but we had to mopped the floor for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. The damage is limited but we will have to redo our bathroom’s ceiling…

The work-place was not too much a strain on my mental health, beside the continuing problem with the ventilation and heating system (strangely when this happens at another library of the borough they close immediately while we have to endure and work in very unpleasant conditions—that’s so unfair!) and some dubious decision on age classification of some mangas (Bride Stories, Nausicaa & Mafalda for kids! Are you joking?)!

readings2018Apple announced new Macs and iPads. We attended the vegan fest again, visited the Book of Hours and the Calder exhibits. I reached my reading goal for the year (fifty books! But, as usual, it was mostly comics and mangas). This allowed my to comment on  a few books (C Comme Cthulhu, Le Chat du Rabbin 8, Isabella Bird 3, Nous rêvions de robots, Pline 6, Ross Poldark, and a book about the New Yorker’s cartoons). I also wrote about the works (bande dessinée) of Philippe Gauckler: Convoi, Prince Lao and Koralovski. Unfortunately, I still watch too much TV and movies (A place to call home season 6, Mars season 2, Murder on the Orient Express, Outlaw King, Picnic at Hanging Rock, RBG, Solo, Transformer: The Last Knight, Traverlers season 3). Finally, I took some time to reminisce about the fanzine era and the old Protoculture days.

2018blogstatsI just completed my first year with WordPress.com so I don’t have much basis to compare this year’s statistics (although I remember that with Internic’s hosting I had ten times more traffic so either they were calculating it differently or I lost some followers in the switch or WordPress is not promoting the traffic as well). There is also a slight difference between WordPress’ and StatCounter’s numbers. Anyway, in 2018 I posted 319 entries (a 16% increase), acquired 68 followers and received (if we round up a little) an average of a thousand views per month or 350 visitors per month (about 135 returning visitors per month). It is not as much as I would I’ve liked but it is a beginning. The most important is that it keeps increasing from month to month. I’ll keep improving the blog and (hopefully) writing more so it will be at its best when I retire and make it my main occupation (in about 3064 days!). 

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Doonesbury (2018/10/21)

On the world stage, the months of November and December had their lots of typhoon, floods, wildfires, tsunami, and violent protests in France, but it is mainly the U.S. Mid-term elections that retained the attention. In reaction to Trump’s insane White House, people went to the ballot with numbers not seen in nearly a century allowing the Democrats to retake the House by electing many young candidates, including several women (95), members of racial minorities (two Muslim and two Native Americans) or of the LGBT! Space exploration was also in the news as we landed another probe on Mars, explored more asteroids and mini-planets, and China landed a probe on the far-side of the moon.

All in all, 2018 was a very challenging year for everyone, so let’s hope that 2019 will be much better.

Through all this I tried to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered a few notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual), after the jump.

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SDL: La Philosophie-Fiction

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Voici une vidéo qui offre des extraits de la conférence sur la “Philosophie fiction” présenté sur l’Espace TD du Salon du Livre de Montréal le mercredi 14 novembre 2018 à 19h00 — voir mon billet “SDL: Jour 1, mercredi”. Animée par Jocelyn Lebeau, les participants incluaient Elisabeth Vonarburg, Esther Rochon, Bernard Werber et Karoline Georges. Dans cet extrait il manque les quinze première minutes ainsi que toutes les interventions de Mme Georges (retirées à sa demande)… mais cela reste une très intéressante discussion qu’il valait la peine de partager, je crois.

(Mise à jour: 2018/12/03)

J’ai retiré la video de la conférence à la demande de Karoline Georges qui affirme ne pas avoir donné son consentement pour être filmé ainsi que pour la diffusion de la conférence.  Toutefois aucun consentement de la sorte n’est requis pour filmer et diffuser un événement publique, qui se déroule sur un lieu publique. J’ai vérifié ce point légal avec un ami avocat qui pratique le droit intellectuel international dans une firme importante et qui l’enseigne dans une université américaine. J’ai cependant retiré la video pour le moment par courtoisie.

Je trouve cela très dommage car cette table-ronde offrait une discussion très intéressant et que ce n’est pas tout les jours que des auteurs de science-fiction québécoise ont la chance de débattre ce genre de sujet sur une scène du salon du livre.

Je reste très pantois sur la position de Karoline Georges. Un auteur se présente au salon du livre pour faire la promotion de sa personne et de ses livres. Il est dans son intérêt de rejoindre le plus de personnes possible, chacun étant un lecteur potentiel. Lorsqu’un bibliophile (promoteur de la SFQ de longue date) assiste à une conférence publique (sur un lieu publique), l’enregistre et veut la partager parce qu’il trouve ça bon et intéressant, n’est-ce pas dans l’intérêt de l’auteur qu’elle soit diffusée? Si une personne ne veut pas être vue, elle n’a qu’à NE PAS monter sur une scène publique et prendre la parole! Beaucoup d’auteurs n’ont pas la chance d’avoir une telle tribune. Je ne comprends simplement pas.

Ce sera quoi la prochaine fois? Demander qu’on retire un commentaire de lecture parce qu’on aime pas la critique? Vous en pensez quoi, mes chers lecteurs?

Je serais particulièrement intéressé à lire ce que mes collègues du milieu SFQ en pensent… N’hésitez pas à commenter sur ce billet ou sur le fil Facebook…

(mise à jour : 2018/11/20)

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SDL : Jour 2, samedi

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Après une première visite le mercredi, je suis retourné au salon du livre samedi (après le travail à la bibliothèque). Là, il y avait vraiment foule, quoique l’habituel embouteillage de bibliophiles s’est calmé en fin d’après-midi. Je n’ai pas refait le tour mais je suis plutôt aller revoir des représentants de distributeurs. J’ai mis la main sur au moins un service de presse que je commenterai dans les prochaines semaines.

J’avais l’intention de faire quelques micro-entrevues (deux ou trois minutes chacune) avec des auteurs mais l’ambiance sonore du salon était trop bruyante pour ce genre d’exercice et je manquais de temps. Je vais plutôt essayer de contacter des auteurs cette semaine et faire des entrevues autrement qu’au salon. Je les mettrai en ligne sur le blogue au fur et à mesure qu’elles sont disponibles…

Solaris208-255x400L’objectif principal de ma visite était le lancement du #208 de la revue Solaris, au kiosque d’Alire. C’était très informel (pas de discours mais on a tout de même servi un p’tit rouge) et cela m’a permis de discuter avec plusieurs auteurs et de me mettre à jour avec le travail de quelques amis. J’en ai profité pour faire signer mon exemplaire par les auteurs présents. 

Le point fort de ce numéro d’automne c’est, comme d’habitude, ses fictions qui sont au nombre de six: Leçon d’histoire par Frédéric Parrot, Oeil de plastique par Pierre Gévart, La Véritable Histoire du mystérieux toaster spatial par Francine Pelletier, Prochaine Station par Jonathan Brassard, Autour d’elle par Célia Chalfoun et Yi par Oskar Källner. On y retrouve également un incontournable Carnets du Futurible sur les Échecs féeriques par Mario Tessier et de nombreux commentaires de lectures. Vous pouvez consulter en ligne le sommaire de ce numéro et même en feuilleter un extrait.  Je commenterai ce numéro de Solaris (et d’autres) dans un futur proche.

Voici quelques photos de l’événement:

Le kiosque d’Alire
Maxime Houde, auteur des Enquêtes de Stan Coveleski
Richard Ste-Marie, auteur des enquêtes de Francis Pagliaro
Frédéric Parrot
Francine Pelletier
Jonathan Brassard
Louise Alain, directrice commerciale chez Alire
Jonathan Reynolds, coordonnateur de Solaris

Il reste encore quelques jours au salon et, si ce n’est pas déjà fait, je vous enjoins à aller y faire un tour. Cela vaut vraiment la peine (si vous êtes bibliophile, j’entends).

Bonne nouvelle, le salon grandit tellement que j’ai entendu dire qu’il se tiendra l’an prochain au Palais des Congrès!

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SDL: Jour 1, mercredi

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SDL-2018

Mercredi, 14 novembre, le salon du livre (SDL) était ouvert gratuitement au grand public. Tel que promis, j’y étais. J’avais peur qu’il y ait une foule monstre mais finalement il n’y avait pas tant de monde que ça. La journée des bibliothèques (où l’on peut entrer gratuitement avec une carte de membre des bibliothèques de Montréal ou de la BAnQ) est maintenant le jeudi! Il est clair que le salon fait de grands efforts pour être accessible à un plus grand public.

Cette année, les invités d’honneur sont Joséphine Bacon, Samuel Champagne, Martine Devaux, Marianne Ferrer, Dany Laferrière, Heather O’Neill, Alain Vadeboncoeur et Bernard Werber. On note quelques innovations dont une zone SDL ADO (c’est tout un engagement de tenter de dynamiser les visites des adolescents au salon. Bonne chance!) et une présence accrue d’éditeurs et d’écrivains anglophones, entre autre avec la présence de l’Association of English Language Publishers of Quebec et la Quebec Writer’s Federation, ainsi que des librairies anglophones (Drawn & Quarterly et Paragraphe).

IMG_3895Comme à mon habitude, j’en ai fait le tour dans tout les sens, afin de prendre le pouls de l’édition cette année. Mais il y a tellement de chose à voir (des BD, des romans, des tonnes de documentaires, des livres pour enfants, des livres audio, et j’en passe) que s’en est accablant. La tête me tourne juste à y penser…

Je note d’abord l’absence du cahier-guide habituel qui a été remplacé cette année par une charmante carte beaucoup plus pratique et, surtout, écologique. On a pas vraiment besoin des articles qu’offrait auparavant le cahier. C’était la carte qui était le plus utile. Bon choix.

Chrysanthe1GFCette année, je n’ai rien vu dans les nouveautés qui ait particulièrement éveillé mon désir. Un livre m’a intrigué: Shinrin Yoku; Les bains de forêt, le secret de santé naturelle des Japonais par Pr. Yoshifumi Miyazaki [Biblio-Mtl]. Et il y a bien sûr les plus récentes parutions chez Alire: Les Pierres et les Roses 2: La voie des roses et Les Pierres et les Roses 3: La Balance et le Sablier par Élisabeth Vonarburg, Radio Vérité: la radio du vrai monde par Jean-Jacques Pelletier, Neiges Rouges par François Lévesque, Chrysanthe 1: La Princess perdue  par Yves Meynard, et Les Traitres du Camp 133 par Wayne Arthurson. Ne manquez pas de mettre la main sur leur Catalogue 2018-2019!

J’ai profité du salon pour prendre contact auprès des distributeurs de BD et de manga pour quêter quelques services de presse. Je n’ai pas eu recours à des services de presse pour faire des commentaires de lecture depuis très longtemps (pendant plus de vingt ans j’ai écris sur la SF francophone quand je faisais Samizdat et sur les mangas en anglais quand je faisais Protoculture Addicts). Mais je fais ce blogue depuis plus d’une dizaine d’années alors il serait temps que je commente un peu plus de nouveautés… Et pour ça, je vais avoir besoin de recevoir des services de presse. On verra ce que ça donne.

IMG_3900J’ai aussi assisté sur l’Espace TD à une intéressante conférence sur la “Philosophie fiction” avec Karoline Georges, Elisabeth Vonarburg, Esther Rochon et Bernard Werber. Mais n’est-ce justement pas l’attribut de la science-fiction (et des littératures de l’imaginaire) de raconter des histoires qui se déroulent hors de notre quotidien ou de notre réalité pour se questionner sur la nature humaine et ses possibles devenir? Des extraits video de la conférence seront ajouté au blogue dans les jours qui suivent.

 

 

Karoline Georges & Élisabeth Vonarburg
Élisabeth Vonarburg & Jocelyn Lebeau
Élisabeth Vonarburg
Esther Rochon & Bernard Werber
La Philosophie fiction

Je remarque qu’il n’y toujours pas de présence des bibliothèques de Montréal au SDL (en fait, cette année, je crois que même la BAnQ n’avait aucun kiosque). Cela est très décevant car le SDL est pourtant l’endroit idéal pour rejoindre des lecteurs. Étrangement, beaucoup de citoyens de Montréal ignorent qu’ils ont accès à un vaste réseau de bibliothèques où ils peuvent emprunter gratuitement tout les livres qu’ils désirent (ou presque)!

En fait, plus je fréquente les bibliothèques et plus je me rends comptes que je n’ai plus (et ne ressent plus) le besoin d’acheter des livres, puisque je trouve tout ce que je veux dans les bibliothèques (même les nouveautés — avec un léger délai). Je n’achète donc presque plus de livres — à moins, bien sûr, d’un énorme coup de coeur (ça arrive). Et puis, il faut tout de même en acheter quelques uns pour faire vivre les libraires, les éditeurs et, surtout, les auteurs!

IMG_3898Le SDL est donc à voir absolument. C’est l’endroit idéal pour avoir une vue d’ensemble de l’édition francophone, pour découvrir les dernières nouveautés et pour faire ses emplettes des fêtes!

Moi, j’y retourne samedi pour le lancement du numéro 208 de la revue Solaris (au kiosque d’Alire — le #364). Au plaisir de vous y voir!

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Notable News (w32-w41)

/ Clodjee / 1 Comment

Since our previous status report, nearly three months ago, a lot has happened. On the domestic front, I am happy to say that I have felt improvement at work. I guess I found better ways to deal with all the irritant “mammoths” (a plethora of usual absurdities, incompetence, and running arounds that made me crazy and drained my energy). However, following the “heat episode” I mentioned earlier, I complained to the union. The union director for the borough came to the workplace and said he could not do anything. A few weeks later he submitted his report to the employers. His conclusion? The section head and the three employees who left early because the excessive heat made them sick … should have stayed at work to show solidarity with their colleagues! Who needs a heartless employer when you have a union of traitors and assholes like that! A real nest of collusion. Madness!

As I keep saying, library work can be quite physical and exhausting (who knew!). I remember someone saying that, at my age, “if you don’t feel pain somewhere when you get up in the morning, it means that you’re dead!” Well, I can say that I feel quite alive. Pain is good. It certainly makes me feel I am there.

What has probably helped is that it has been a very good time for writing. My mind felt clear, I’ve been producing a lot, and everything was doing so well that I could only fear that it would all crash down soon. Maybe it’s the Algernon’s syndrome  or, to paraphrase Nelligan, “I am happy, so happy, that I am afraid to burst into tears!” Hopefully not… It is true that I wrote a lot, mostly about movies (Winchester, The Guernsay Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Isle of Dogs, Ready Player One, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, Ex-Libris: The New York Public Library), particularly with the coverage of the World Film Festival (list of Japanese films, red carpet, Samurai’s Promise, Zone Out, Life in overtime, Think again, Junpei, The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan, wrap-up). After a while I had enough of movies and it felt like I should go back to comment on books and manga—which I did with The Ghost in the Shell 1.5: [Human Error Processer], Un siècle d’Animation Japonaise, Souvenirs d’Emanon, Le Guide du Mauvais Père 4 and The Little Broomstick. I also wrote a suggestion list of adult manga. With all this the blog’s stats have soared!

I kept busy. I took walks in the park or visited the museum, a farm fair or the Italian week. I also reflected on the electoral conundrum (before accomplishing my citizen’s duty —in anticipation— with disappointing results), against Facebook, about writing (1, 2, 3) and about reading (or not). 

Eventually, by mid-September, everything started to slow down again and I wrote less. So many things to do. I feel that I cannot accomplish anything. What I need is more time! Time… Time is the enemy. We fight it to do more. We fight it hoping not to get old too fast and still have a little time left to do more. I wrote a haiku.

I started writing in a new notebook. The thirty-fifth. Some could be surprised that, in this digital age, one would still use a paper notebook. However, I find this physical form strangely reassuring. After all, electronic information can be so vulnerable. The good old notebook doesn’t need any batteries and fears only fire and water. Its sequential way of working—to write, read (or re-read)—is so much more appropriate for the human brain capacity. It is easier to get an overview of the text, to positioned yourself in the three dimensions of the writing. It’s more confortable for me. Of course, most of the time, it is just a glorified to-do or grocery list, but it serves as backup for my capricious memory. That way, in a few scribbles, I can preserves ideas that would otherwise be too fleeting to be useful. It is also the witness of my daily life.

I’ve watched a few interesting TV series. First, The Miniaturist mini-series. It is good and yet disappointing. It looks similar to the Girl with a Pearl Earring. It’s another show about the powerlessness of women in the end of the Middle Age (or early Enlightment). It concludes with an open-ending. “I can do this”, she says… I also binge-watched the first season of the Jack Ryan TV series on Amazon Prime (a thriller similar to 24), the new seasons of Walking Dead, Doctor Who and also the very good Press TV series. 

Apple has announced new products (iPhone and watch) and released new operating systems. How come, when you do a software upgrade, you always loose something you like? Why is removing something cool and useful is considered an upgrade? New operating systems always offer a basket of frustration…

I am trying to improve my reading habits by reading more, more often and better literature than just manga. I started with The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart and I am currently reading the first novel of the Poldark series by Winston Graham. But it is hard. In the olden days, I could read about sixty pages in an hour. Now, I read only a few hours per week, before going to bed, and barely thirty pages per hour. After two or three days of starting a new book, I am barely at page fifty! What’s happened to me? Fortunately, as I go forward, it is starting to get better… However, manga are pilling up on my nightstand, so I will soon have to pay attention to them…

“Summer is officially dead. It smells like Fall outside and I heard a flight of geese passing over the house”. Then, Fall officially came. It got colder and rainy. We even had some light snow. It became a little warmer for a while, but now we can feel that Winter is around the corner. Flowers and plants are shrivelling, twisting and taking the brownish colour of death. Winter is coming…

The lights have started to flicker again. Same time than last year…

On the world stage, we find the usual disasters (increasing numbers of earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and volcanoes) but my attention had been particularly focused on the trumpian saga of corruption scandals (Stormy Daniels, the Mueller’s investigation, of course, but particularly the Kavanaugh confirmation) growing in a crescendo as the midterm elections are closing by. Such craziness! (For all the details see the 2018 events for the months of August, September and October as well as the links bellow).

Despite all this, I surprisingly succeeded to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered over two-hundred notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order; please note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual) after the jump.

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Festival du Nouveau Cinema 2018

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The 47th edition of the Festival du Nouveau Cinema (FNC) will be held in various Montreal theatres (Cinema Impérial, du Musée, du Parc, Quartier Latin, Theatre Maisonneuve, Cinémathèque Québecoise, etc.) from October 3 to 14, 2018. In their own words, this festival is a gathering to “celebrate our shared passion for film, (…) for cinema of all types, from offbeat, one-of-a-kind niche works to crowd-pleasers to daringly innovative big events”.  It is “resolutely forward-looking, has long been the unfailing advocate of new technologies“ making it “the best place around to preview the cinema of tomorrow”!

This year, it will offers over three-hundred movies including ten from Japan (click on the links for details & schedule):

Press review:

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FFM 2018: Wrap-up

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It has been a good festival this year.

There was no scuffle to get the credentials, no problem with the schedule or screenings and an excellent selection of titles. 

Of course, it could be better. Apparently they brought back the Movie Market (and the press room?). I heard it was on the third floor of the Imperial, but couldn’t find how to get to it… In the past, they were always the practical places to access press information and to be able to screen video on our own schedule. However, what I really miss is the press conferences where we could have direct access to the film crew and cast of the movies in competition. Beside that, for me, the festival is already all I needs it to be.

As long as there’s good movies to watch, people should be happy. At least, as long as there’s Japanese movies, I’ll be happy. Although, come to think of it, the festival deserves a bigger audience. In the past, I used to see lots of people from the local Japanese community, but I saw very few of them this year. Most of the movie I’ve screened this year had barely an audience of a dozen people! Of course, there was absolutely no advertising this year and very little media coverage, so it certainly didn’t helped. And the last couple of years have had a fair share of scheduling and screening problems which might also have discouraged people from attending this year. If there is a festival next year (the same question come back every year lately), this really must be improved.

Another needed improvement, beside more advertising, would be more screens. The festival could use at least a couple more rooms of the Quartier Latin (if not the entire floor like in the good old years). However, for that to happen, the festival would need more budget. Not to put on lavish parties, but to make sure that all the movies can be screened at least a couple of times. Why not giving the festival a chance and give it again at least some subsidies?

The festival certainly has its share of detractors. People who don’t think it can improve or who want to see something else in its stead. Strangely, most of the criticism seems to come from the anglophone community (for example, the articles in The Gazette appears to be quite hostile). However, I don’t think that the majority of people in or around the local movie industry want the festival to continue in its downward spiral of death. But we don’t want a glamorous festival like Cannes or Toronto either (yeah, it’s nice to see Brad Pitt or the latest blockbuster with its load of stars, but what’s the use if that movie is gonna by in all theatres two weeks later?). Personally, I want a festival where I can see movies I couldn’t see anywhere else. Movies from all around the world. A festival that gives their chances to young or unknown directors, to small productions. A festival that doesn’t exclude stars, but that is not built around them. That’s what the festival was in the past and I think this formula can still works. There is no other festival like this one. And we can still mend its wounds. We must. Of course, every parties will need to water down its position a little. The government (local, provincial or federal) must look past previous disagreements and accept to provide a little help. And Losique needs to let go of his creation and prepare some sort of succession. Pass on the mantle while still remaining in the background to provide his knowledge and wisdom. If he doesn’t do that, the festival will surely die with him… We’ve seen a little improvement this year, so let’s hope it can continue in that direction…

All in all, this year, I’ve succeeded to watch five of the eight Japanese movies. I am pretty happy with this score. The selection included a great variety: a samurai movie, a docudrama-style movie, a comedy, a yakuza movie and a biopic — I wish I could have added to my score card the documentary, the action movie and the scary co-production!  And almost all the titles I’ve seen were good movies — save one which was a disappointment. Beside this last entry, I was able to write seven articles (including five movie comments) about the festival (which represents more articles than La Presse, Le Devoir or The Gazette each wrote about the FFM !).

Please read our other articles on the festival:

Your can also check the review of the Japanese movies at the FFM by Claude R. Blouin (in French: “FFM 2018: Cinq témoins japonais de la condition humaine” on Shomingeki.org)

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The festival’s awards:

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Japanese movies at the FFM 2018

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FFM2018-posterThe 42nd Montreal World Film Festival will be held from August 23rd to September 3rd 2018. So far there is only seven eight Japanese films listed in the line-up. We will add more details as they are available.

Of course, the festival has had financial troubles for sometime and run on a very minimal staff, so we shouldn’t expect a smooth operation. It will certainly not be better than last year. But the most important part of the festival is that there is movies to watch. This year it will be the nineteenth year that we are covering this movie festival and we hope that it will recover from this difficult period and prosper for many years to come.

The schedule for the Cinema Imperial (CI) is now available (2018/08/22). And the schedule for the Cinéma Quartier Latin (QL) is now also available (2018/08/23). As for previous years, the closing film will be a mystery title to be screened for free at the Cinema Imperial Monday September 3rd at 18:30. 

The FFM just announced the awards for the 42nd Montreal’s World Film Festival and for the 49th Student Film Festival (2018/09/03).

Two Japanese movies won an award: Samurai’s Promise by Daisaku Kimura won for the Special Grand Prix of the Jury (Ex-aequo) and Hiroshi Tachi won the Best Actor award for his role in Life in overtime by Hideo Nakata.

Please, read our comments on the festival:

 

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Here is the Japanese movies line-up (after the jump) :

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The Mummy

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L9677659I found this action movie rather average and, if they wanted to do horror, well, I wasn’t scared. It is well paced and the acting is good (although Tom Cruise is getting a little old for this, his two female co-stars, Annabelle Wallis & Sofia Boutella, are great), but the story is rather predictable — however, mixing Jekyll & Hyde (Russell Crowe) with it was a surprise! I also like the “Egyptian” designs (the flashbacks, the look of Princess Ahmanet, the tomb & sarcophagus — a little reminiscent of Giger style). It’s interesting that, just in case the movie would be successful enough, they’ve put an open ending to allow for a sequel. I hope not. This reboot of The Mummy franchise offered a nice mindless entertainment but, alas, nothing more (Rotten Tomatoes concurs with a critical rating of 15% !). What’s scary is that The Mummy is supposed to be the first movie in the reboot of Universal’s Dark Universe (Jekyll & Hyde [with Russell Crowe — now the cross-over with The Mummy makes sense!], Frankenstein [with Javier Bardem], Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Invisible Man [with Johnny Depp], etc.). The next movie in line should be Bride of Frankenstein [dir. Bill Condon, with possibly Angelina Jolie or Gal Gadot in titular role] first announced for Valentine’s Day 2019 but its release has now been delayed!  stars-2-5

[ Amazon — Biblio — Google — IMDb — Wikipedia — Youtube ]

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Capsules

Notable News (w13-w22)

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In the last couple of months (ten weeks!), there was really nothing new on the domestic front. The same old routine. Spring finally came, the air warmed up and (after a little icy setback) the buds started to open, quickly blossoming into a late summer. I experienced, again, some health problems which kept my moral down for a while. I had my old computer repaired and finally got a new one, which meant lots of hardware and software installations, reorganizing the working area, etc., which made many onomatopoeias come to mind (Aauugh!, *whimper*, *Phew*).

PearlsBeforeSwine-20180106I tried to apply to a couple of new jobs in order to get out of the nut house where I works but with no luck. To make things worse, the company we hired to repair the balcony & backyard keeps dragging their feet and nothing seems to get going. I want to prepare the garden for the summer but will we be able to do any gardening? My life seems on hold. I have many new project ideas to keep me busy but there’s so little time, so many things to think about and to do, all at the same time, that’s overwhelming, mind-crushing, depressing even…

I spent so much energy running like crazy at work (and for a whole week the temperature in the library was between 24 and 28 ºC!), coming back completely exhausted, hoping for a new job (or some sort of fairy god-mother intervention), waiting on the contractor (I took some vacation in order to rebuild the garden after the works would be done, but I feel I wasted my time…), stressing about health problems, reorganizing my computers and my network (extending ethernet to compensate for Bell’s weak wi-fi for example) that I really didn’t read or write much. Again, getting caught with life so much that… I forgot to live! It seemed that time was slipping through my fingers like sand. I felt (and still feel) tired all the time…

When I am at work I feel miserable but, when I am at home and look at this house — this little and comfortable nest, or safe-house, we have set-up for ourselves — I feel pretty good and content. I have everything I need and could ask for (okay, maybe not that marble bust of Lucius Virus or a more quiet and pleasant job — but, who knows, it might come someday). So, I have no real reason to be unhappy (beside watching the news, of course). I just have to tell myself that, again and again, and repeat it,  each time I have to face the darkness…

However, I was not completely idle. I wrote a little (commenting on Le secret des vietnamiennes, Venise and Bug, as well as a few movies). I also attended the Congrès Boréal, went to Ottawa to watch tulips and to the annual book sales of the libraries (so far I bought a few novels and about thirty-five manga!). Unfortunately, I mostly kept myself entertained: I finished to watch The Durrells, some old favourites TV series like Homeland or The Expanse, and tried some quite excellent new series like the remake of Lost in Space, Little Women or The Good Karma Hospital. I even discovered a new TV service, BritBox, but haven’t had time to try it yet.

PearlsBeforeSwine-20180111On the world stage we find the usual disasters: Trump ramping and raving (blaming everyone but himself), floods here, volcano there, many more sexual scandals, ups and downs in North Korea, war looming in the Middle East (Gaza, Iran), add another ebola epidemic, or an occasional school shooting and you have the picture. But there are also some good news, like a very Royal Wedding! [See detailed day by day events for April and May]

Through all this I tried to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered a few notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual), after the jump.

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Notable News (W07 – W12)

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In the last five weeks, nothing much happened on the domestic front. The weather slightly improved each weeks (now it’s mostly above zero, although the east coast kept being hit by one  nor’easter after another!) and the sun feels much better (warmer) since we switched to daylight saving time as it sets much later now. The snow is melting. The job is as tiring and frustrating (absurd) as ever, but I think I am dealing better with it. Zen and all (trying not to give a f*ck).

I got my DNA testing results from 23&me and it is rather disappointing. I am genetically boring: one hundred per cent europeans and no variants detected for major health issues (save a higher risk for macular degeneration and celiac disease). The physical traits reports are hits and misses. I still have to read everything in details, but I feels it is more amusing than really useful.

I didn’t write much (although I did a few good comments on What the Health, An inconvenient sequel, Le chat du rabbin 7, Reine d’Égypte vol. 1 and vol. 2-3, on Kim Thuy’s conference and her book Ru) because I have been constantly busy trying to solve multiple problems. I have the feeling that nothing works properly anymore! Everything seems buggy: the WiFi, the blog, the computer (at home and at work), and even the electricity (causing the lights to flickers almost constantly, turning off and on the TV or the computer)! Is the world starting to slowly brake down all over? The entropy! The entropy! Seriously, if all this is a simulation (or a dream) slowly shutting down, maybe a reboot would wake me up? Or maybe not. But this constant fighting to maintain the cohesion of the universe is getting tiresome (if not unbearable, yet).

I called Hydro Q and the flicker stopped (for now). Tried to install network extenders but Bell’s wifi is till shitty (neither Apple Airport or Netgear worked; should I try another brand? More pods? To be continued…). The computer finally died (there was a problem with File Vault being on but the main problem was the hard drive after all) and is now at the repair shop. My desk feels empty and working in the salon on a combination of Mac-mini (which I normally use as a media center) and iPad, is rather uncomfortable. I am planing to purchase a Macbook soon… But I wasted so much time doing all this… it is frustrating.

In the news, the world doesn’t seems in a much better shape. More Trump-related scandals (Cambridge Analytica, Stormy Daniels, he fires Tillerson and McMaster, tease trade war and impose tariffs on steel & aluminum — mostly for China, proposed talks with North Korea, etc.), more school shooting this time at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland (Florida), serial bombing in Texas, another democrats’ victory in Pennsylvania slowly tips the scale, emboldened Russians assassinated a couple of former spies in Britain (one with a nerve agent!), Steven Hawking died, etc. The good news is that the students from Parkland are old enough to become activists (#NeverAgain) and, for some, to vote in the mid-term election in November! An end to this nightmare really seems possible…

Anyway, as usual, I managed to stay a little acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered many notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual), after the jump.

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Retro linking 1

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I found a bunch of old notable links (part one from January to March 2015) that I never had the chance to share with you. It’s quite a time-machine! For an historian, it’s fascinating: it’s like a slice of what was happening at that time or, at least, a slice of my interests then. I was reading more news in those days… I am also surprised how so few links went dead after so many years. (To save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window as usual).

So, here they are (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order and minus the links that are dead or now irrelevant), after the jump…

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Faux Ziegler but not fake humour

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Last week on Facebook I stumbled upon this piece of cartoon signed “Ziegler”:

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I found it extremely funny (but also quite sad) because it embodies everything that is wrong in Washington right now and particularly the Republicans’ hypocrisy (they pledged to never raise taxes but they do; they say they are against raising the deficit but they always  make it worse; they try to impeach a president on moral grounds but elect a treasonous crook, serial sexual harasser and bully as president and want to put a child molester in the senate ! They always said they would removed those entitlement and, well, they kind of did… Where’s their moral high-ground now? How can they claim to be “good Christian” and allow this? They should be ashamed of themselves!).

So, kudos to the “cartoonist” for this excellent idea that pinpoint Washington’s ethical fallacies. Or is it? I noticed that the style of the cartoon is quite similar to what we find in magazine like The New Yorker, but the font used for the caption is totally wrong for this style — such cartoons usually put the caption in a italicized serif font… So the creator of this piece must have “repurposed” (meaning stole) a previous cartoon in order to create this hilarious concept by adding his own caption.

RealZieglerCartoonConsidering that the drawing is signed, it didn’t take me long to find the original. The concept is quite similar, so the “thief” just adapted it to the current political situation.

The original was created by Jack Ziegler and was indeed published in The New Yorker, a magazine well known for this style of cartoon. Unfortunately, Ziegler died last March. You can read tributes to his life and work in The New Yorker,  The New York Times and The Washington Post.

You can find many compilations of The New Yorker‘s cartoons in your local public library.

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Monthly notable news (w20-25)

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On the domestic front, after much hesitation, the summer has finally arrived. At work, it is crazier than ever with the start of the vacation loan, the TD summer reading club, the twenty-days of amnesty, the summer clean-up and all this often in a sweatshop-like environment (hot and humid, because the ventilation and AC doesn’t work properly). It is so exhausting. I’ve applied for a job with more responsibilities (and pay) but flunked the interview (for the second time!). I am either good for nothing else or there’s something rotten in the HR kingdom.

I felt quite depressed lately. With all the problems with the house and at work, as well as the fact that I have not written or read much in several months, it’s no surprise. I come back from work with all my energy spent. I feel worthless. I feel I give a lot to the people around me and doesn’t get much (attention, respect, gratitude, etc.) in return. I hate it when dark thoughts keep me from enjoying life. But, hey!, it’s summer so lets enjoy the sun, the parks, the museums, the flowers, the cats, the people and particularly the few remaining days of my second ten-day summer vacation. There’s lot to do around the house and so much writing (hopefully) to catch up (I’ll try to go at it with smaller bites)!

In the news, Apple has announced some great software updates (iOS 11, macOS High Sierra, watchOS 4) and some new products (iMac & MacBook Pro, or iPad Pro updates, as well as a new iMac Pro and the HomePod, a speaker that they say will reinvent music at home) and my evenings have been consumed with listening to the latest Trump craziness on MSNBC. Everyday brings a new lie! More on the news in the links bellow…

I have always enjoyed the stray cats in my backyard but this year it is a real infestation: a battered dominant male [Toffee], two females (mother [Grisou] and daughter [Chaussette/Socks], their FIVE kittens and a couple of tomcat challengers. That’s TEN cats! They have laid waste to the backyard garden so I had to do something to control the situation. Unfortunately, the lack of consistent animal management policies in the city (and particularly in this borough, VSP) puts all the burden on the citizen and doesn’t give much help. My only option is to bring them to the Berger Blanc (which has a terrible reputation and an almost all-kill policy — also, for some mysterious reasons [$$?], my borough doesn’t deal with the SPCA) which I refuse to do. So far, I’ve caught all the females and their kittens, and I’ll see what I can do from there (any suggestions?)…

I’ve also started taking some omega-3 supplements, which (according to an NHK World report) is supposed to be good against cholesterol and dementia, amongst other things (like cancer or arthritis). It’s messing up with my digestion, but strangely I feel that my mind is a little clearer. Placebo effect? Anyway, we’ll see…

Strangely, I kept busy during the last month by doing lots of little things (cleaning up the garage, buying a new couch, burying my mother’s ashes, etc. — daily routine stuff) about which there’s little to say (or I just can’t recall some of them). I confess that I also probably watch too much TV. Anyway, that’s about it for now…

Although, as always, I continued to stay acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered nearly a hundred notable news & links — which I share with you (in both french or english, and roughly separated in a few categories of interest), after the jump.

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