2006 is a weird year.
Not because we start to see in full light the cracks in the worst administration of the most bloatedly rich nation on the planet, not because things are starting to change, but rather because my point of view on things is starting to change.
It has been 10 years now this year that i have started a new life in Montreal, which has turned out to be both one of the most horrendous and one of the nicest place to live on Earth. And, yes, I have seen Vancouver. Actually if you remove the time i was out of the country and living overseas, then it comes to a bit more than 8 years, but that's besides the point.
I have left without an ounce of regret the area known as Plateau Mont-Royal to find solace in Centre-Sud, one of the poorest areas in Canada. In the beginning, it was very hard. The kid had just come out of the womb and one of the biggest gaming multinationals in the world had sucked dry their part of provincial governments subsidies so it decided to shed a few pounds and purge itself of the excess weight. I was just collateral damage. But since then i have learned to NOT work like an ant for a faceless company that could not care less about their employees. Especially a French company that cannot allow non-French at the top level of administration, or so they said.
Yes, I am talking about UbiSoft.
To think that in late 2000, the Chief admin of the University where i started my Ph.D. told everyone present during the M.A. graduation get-together that the future looked bright for all types of trades since UbiSoft was hiring sociologists, historians and literature graduates on top of accountants, managers and computer programmers.
Talk about major foot in your mouth.
I have also been in the University of Montreal for 10 years now. Well, if you remove the semesters I was studying abroad, it makes about 8 years, but anyway, time has come for me to move on. That is one of the main reasons I have not posted anything for more than a week. I'm writing my thesis. Slowly but surely. The Dao de jing (The Book of Ways, from Lao Zi, founder of Taoism) says that nobody accomplishes great things by doing great actions. One accomplishes great things by accumulating multitudinous small actions everyday, regularly. Just like the Chinese parable of the old man moving a whole mountain, one shovel a day at a time. Well that's me all right. I just hope I can have this mountain moved, done and over with, soon.
***
This means that i have missed most of the films I wanted to see for the 10th anniversary of Fantasia, THE best summer festival Montreal has to offer. Sure, it is way more mainstream than 10 years ago, with all those sponsors and the same yucky food & beverages you can stuff yourself at any MegaTitanoPlex near you to watch stupid movies like *yawn* Fantastic Four or *yuck* X-Men. FantasiaFest is way more superior than Just for Laughs or Jazz Fest or Nuits d'afriques. Why? Because Fantasia does not need a cartload of subsidies just to beak even, and they dont have boogerheads as sponsors like GM for Jazzfest. That and, oh i dont know, the fact that maybe i can't really tell the differences between the three festivals i have just mentioned!?! All three have very expensive main venues that have nothing to do with their theme name, and a slew of side acts that are as interesting as the color of a dirty sidewalk. Why dont they just fuse all those festivals in one and call it Montreal International Summer Festival For Tourists and Suburbanites and at least then it will live up to its name and they can have less subsidies... As for FantasiaFest I still have the program for the 1996, when i went to see Li Lianji (Jet Li) in Tai Chi Master. I came to appreciate Korean cinema very much but this year i saw a Canadian low-budget gore flick and a Bollwyood blockbuster, Krrish. Both were well worth their money. My Dead Girlfriend was hilarious. The acting was surprisingly good. When i went to see Krrish, technical problems followed by thanks and whistling once it got fixed reminded me how die hard was the fanbase.
Well, I can always rent the Korean DVD at Marché clandesting for dirt cheap.
When and if i ever will have the time...
Posted by phonono at août 04, 2006 11:19 PM