2013/06/06

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  Rue Sherbrooke – 2013.06.03
  Scènes de Montréal – Montreal Scenes
  

  Above

  Across the street not far from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. (see below). I was waiting for the return bus when this young woman, pregnant to her eyeballs, came to sit on the sculpture’s bench, but facing the street. She was also waiting for the bus. The way she was sitting and her using some kind of iphone, her hair was falling down and it was impossible to see her face. It would have made a fantastic photo. I asked her if it bothered her if I took a pic including her, telling her why. She didn’t answer but got up. I asked her again and this time she replied «Yes, it bothers me». I told her she could sit because I could take a pic without her in it but by that time I guess she saw the bus coming and walked towards the bus stop. I quickly took my two pics and took the bus after her. She wasn’t agressive or anything. Just plain asocial. Strange encounter.

  

  Turkey

  Now it’s Turkey’s turn to live a Turmoil 2.0. What is it exactly that the middle-ages Islamists don’t understand?

  

  History? What history? And whose?

  Stephen Harper’s federal government is trying all it can to rewrite Canada’s history, putting much emphasis on the military aspects after 1812, all the while neglecting the almost 300 preceding years. Because, whether he likes it or not, its a Frenchie who coined the name Canada. It was Jacques-Cartier, and it was in 1534 that he, as we used to say, ‘discovered’ Canada. However, it’s after Harper’s Canada was officially created in Westminster in 1867 that Amerindians were headed straight into a cultural genocide spearheaded by the federal government. Today, of course, things would be different. Amerindians would claim, rightfully, what is theirs.

  
  Caption: IF WE COULD CHANGE HISTORY…
  On the protest sign: CITIZENS COMMITTEE AGAINST THE DISCOVERY OF CANADA
  Cartoon © A.-P. Côté – Le Soleil
  

  The large cross refers to the one Jacques Cartier alledgedly planted on the shore of Gaspé in 1534, claiming Canada in the name of France.

  I may have mentioned this before, but our most famous stand-up comic (Yvon Deschamps) used to say about Cartier discovering Canada: «It’s a pity that he didn’t put the cover back on again because we’ve been freezing ever since.»

  

  Don’t take my breath away

  Starting June 8, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montreal (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) features an exhibit by American blown-glass artist Dale Chihuly, born in Tacoma, Washington State. It’s an exhibit custom-tailored for the museum in part, in the sense that it is put together and displayed to go with its inside architecture. They’ve shown some of it on the cultural segment of Radio-Canada’s news and on this, they are not lying. On the museum’s site they say that this exhibit is “utterly breathtaking”. I hope its not too breathtaking since I still don’t have that much of breath to put in the balance. I wouldn’t want to die of admiration. If I don’t get to see it, I will still the same have seen a nice appetizer which, being outside, was much safer for my breath (not losing it). I had come one hour too early for my physio treatments so I took back the bus and dropped off near the museum to hang around a while. I fell on this. I thought it was a new permanent work of art (the museum is surrounded with such) but it’s probably temporary now that I know it’s related to that exhibit. Unless the museum bought it, of course, or already had it, for all I care.

  

  Note: Anyone recognizes that bird which was near City Hall and which had disappeared and had looked for? Apparently it’s been bought by the Museum, or this is one of its siblings.

  Laterz Note 2: From another pic, I read the sign in front of the sculpture, which is called “Sun”, and it says «Let Dale Chihuly’s Sun touch you but please don’t touch — it is extremely fragile. You are more than welcome to take photos and to share them with your friends: #CHIHULY [..] Please note these premises are under video surveillance.» So I guess it still belongs to Chihuly and my question is: why did he accept to let it put there??? It would be nice to take a pic a night when it’s illuminated by the lamps illuminating the building. I didn’t see any wires so I guess there’s no lights inside the sculpture.

  

  Da food section

  For some people, a guacamole is barely an entrée. For me it’s pretty much a full meal. Those totopos^[1] (tortilla chips) are made by a small company located near Marché Jean-Talon and called MAYA. They are the best in town. Some days, you can get them so fresh that they are putting them in the plastic bags right in front of you. BTW, I found out that Beck’s makes a beer with no alcohol at all in it, not even “less than 0,05%” as is the case for dealcoholized wines. It’s not the greatest beer on earth but it’s palatable. Something like those blond beers which don’t taste much all the while having that little bitterness…

  ^[1] I think I’ve mentioned before that “nachos” are a Tex-Mex invention by someone managing a stadium food outlet in southern United States. It consisted originally of totopos served with that yellow cheese found in Cheez Whiz and the likes. The real name for the chips is “totopos” and that’s the way they are called in most of Mexico. MAYA has the word Totopos appearing on their outside sign, but on the bags they printed Nachos. I guess they want to sell to non Latinos also and since most of them ignore what are totopos, they went with the crowd. As they say, if you can’t beat them, join them…

  

  This is one of those weird North-American sweet and sour recipes mixing brown sugar with ketchup and mustard and Worcestershire and onions and garlic and which are called BBQ although they are cooked in the oven. Worse, this here recipe is intended for chicken, but since I’m not chicken for one bit, I dare make a pig of myself by using it also with pork chops (which were waiting for deliverance in the freezer since early January – not GITMO, but still…). I guess that also blows my cover: yes boys and girls, I’m neither Jewish nor Muslim.

  

  

  • 01:09
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