"Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!"

Yes, I know I used the very same title last year to commemorate April Fool's Day. But this time, this time, YouTube gave me the film to go with it. I am talking of course of The Simpsons' episode So It Comes to This: A Simpsons Clip Show. Where the famous chant "Blood for Baal! Blood for Baal!"comes from: it is used in an interlude when Lisa explains the origins of April Fool's Day. The whole episode is hilarious, as every episode of the TV show was back then, but this is the line that never fails to crack me up. I am typing this and I am giggling. So here it is for you to enjoy:

Question existentielle (282)

Nous sommes le... 1er avril. Au lieu de vous faire un poisson d'avril, genre de pratique à laquelle je suis d'ailleurs assez mauvais, je vous pose une question existentielle:

-Quel est le meilleur poisson d'avril que vous avez connu, qu'il soit de votre fait ou d'un autre?

Russian bird whistle

I have a Russian colleague at work and he recently came back from a holiday in his homeland (I've heard that Russians often call it the motherland). He is a nice guy and quite generous: back from his trip he gave me this bird whistle. That is one cool souvenir. It is a unique one too: the colours and the designs are different for each whistle. I am not the only one who received it, so I know. It has a high pitch sound, not exactly melodic, but not unpleasant. It makes for both an original decoration and, if you are bored and have nothing to do, an interesting toy. Seriously, I must have been blowing the whistle a thousand times since I had it. And it's Russian therefore exotic. I don't know if it has been hand made somewhere in a small Russian village or if it comes off from a factory in China, but it looks Russian and crafted. Anyway, I absolutely love my new bird whistle.

Que dire sur le 31 mars?

Nous sommes le dernier jour de mars. Je veux le souligner sur le blogue, même s'il n'y a rien sur le mois que je n'ai pas déjà dit. Premier mois du printemps, il a été très printanier (voir mon dernier billet en anglais). On a eu droit à l'équinoxe, puis à un changement d'heure en fin de semaine, ce qui veut dire que le soir tombe de plus en plus tard. Dommage, parce que j'aime le soir et les nuits longues. Et je déteste perdre une heure de sommeil. Le 31 mars, c'est donc aussi le moment où l'on perçoit que le jour est plus long que la nuit. Un aspect du mois que j'aime moins, d'ailleurs. Et puis c'est le printemps, saison pour laquelle j'ai des sentiments ambivalents. Et vous, que pensez-vous du 31 mars?

A typical Spring?

I have been thinking about it, I also mentioned it in a recent post, that Spring is not a nice season, when nature gently wakes up and blossoms. It is temperamental, has changing moods, goes from hot to cold in a matter of day, sometimes hours. Last Friday was almost hot, then the temperature went down and it often pours. I started wearing my shoes and taking off a few layers, but in the end I kept my warm coat. Because it got cold again. March is ending with a bang. And I can't help thinking that this is as it should be, as we should always expect. Nature is grouchy after hibernating. I am not sure if I like the season or not anymore, but I accept its nature. And I think we are having a very typical Spring.

Des bateaux, des ponts et des rivières

Photo prise sur la rivière Dart dans le Devon, dans le petit voyage en bateau de Totnes à Dartmouth. C'était un bien plaisant trajet, lent juste assez, joli et picturesque, comme ils disent (je n'ose pas dire pittoresque). Je n'ai pas fait de tour de bateau depuis ces vacances-là. Des ponts comme celui en arrière-plan, j'en traverse souvent, il y en a un dans la petite ville où je vis (encore, pour le moment, ça ne durera sans doute pas), un truc plus récent mais aussi picturesque, quoique peut-être moins pittoresque, qui enjambe la Tamise. Et il y a bien des bateaux dont certains qui offrent des balades sur la rivière, mais étrangement on n'en a jamais profité. On n'a guère le temps ces temps-ci de toutes manières, mais j'aimerais bien prendre le temps, quand on aura le temps, pour une petite balade en bateau le long d'une rivière. Ce qui était bien dans le Devon, c'est que la nature était à peine touchée le long de la Dart, alors on avait l'impression de voyager dans un endroit sauvage. C'est plus difficile ici.

"Tell us a joke"

This is what the two women working at the tills of the local Marks & Spencer asked me last Saturday. It was Holy Saturday, a few hours before closing time and I could tell they were bored stiff. It must be really boring working in a shop, any shop, the day before a day like Easter. As the staff from M&S there is always nice and friendly to me, whatever the time of the day, I told them the first joke that came to my mind: "There was two men on a boat. One had long hair, the other one didn't mind." It's a lousy old joke a friend used to tell us (my brothers and me) when we were bored and didn't know what to do. The lousiest joke I could ever come up, yet it made them laugh. I don't know if it was to be polite or because they were tired, but they said it was a good one. It is a good example of absurd humour and I thought I would share it and the anecdote on the blog.

P'tite vie, p'tite misère...

Bon, de retour à l'ouvrage après une fin de semaine de quatre jours et je me demandais comment souligner l'état d'esprit. J'ai pensé à une toune de Vilain Pingouin, P'tite vie, p'tite misère. Bon, ce n'est pas si dramatique que ça, mais c'est quand même parfois un peu comment je me sens. Et puis c'est du bon vieux rock québécois et c'est la deuxième fois (dans un contexte assez semblable) que je présente une chanson des Pingouins ici, ce qui est une raison en soi. Durant le début des années 90, j'en écoutais pas mal. Leur clip est une parodie pas mauvaise de Metropolis. Mais ce qui est bon dans Vilain Pingouin, quand ils sont bons, c'est la simplicité frappante des paroles. Ce n'est pas sophistiqué, ça demeure néanmoins éloquent.

Domino the house cat (!)

I thought I would blog about Domino again, give you some updates about him (even though it was not long since I last blogged about our cat). Since his accident in January, we have not taken him out of the flat, out of fear that it would happen again. When we move house, we might change this if we can find a place where he can remain outside, away from the road and overall safe. Although I understand there is no completely risk free environment. Overall, he did not mind the change. First because he was traumatized by his accident, then because he ended up liking the place. He does ask sometimes to go out, but never insists much. He spends his time here napping, exploring and re-exploring the flat (his favourite spot changes regularly) and playing with his many toys. Because now that he lives inside, we want to keep him active, so he has many toys, most of them looking like mice and birds. I sometimes have the guilty feeling of keeping a predatory feline in a cage, but at least he does not massacre birds like he used to. He is safe for himself and others. And he does feel safer here too, I think, at least sometimes. Domino does not like noise, so when it was stormy again last night, he seemed grateful to be inside.

Qu'est devenu l'agneau pascal?

Je sais que je fais dans le billet bouffe souvent ces temps-ci, mais que voulez-vous. Photo prise lors du marché de Noël à ciel ouvert, pas la bonne fête mais que voulez-vous. Enfin bref, hier c'était Pâques et j'ai mangé... une omelette. Parce que je peux ainsi la partager avec ma femme, qui est végétarienne. Avant cela, je mangeais de l'agneau. Je trouve que c'est la viande la plus appropriée pour Pâques, comme la dinde à Noël. Enfant, c'était du jambon qui trônait au milieu de la table, ce qui me faisait gerber (je déteste le jambon) et encore aujourd'hui cette horreur (cette cochonnerie, c'est le cas de le dire) continue de détrôner l'agneau. C'est seulement adulte que j'ai décidé de renouer avec une tradition gastronomique négligée au Québec. Je n'ai jamais été un grand cuisinier, mais au moins faire de l'agneau à Pâques ça rentre au poste. Et avec de la sauce à la menthe, découverte ici bien entendu, ben c'est surprenant mais c'est bon. Et donc fuck le jambon! Mais... Qui mange encore de l'agneau? Pour des raisons pratiques et aussi un peu sentimentales (les agneaux sont mignons), moi même je n'en mange plus à Pâques. Alors qui en mange encore?

Stormy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! We got woken up this morning by the first storm of the year. There was thunder and strong wind. It felt like a weather more fitting for a Good Friday than Easter. Since the storm it has been overall sunny, but the temperature has remained cold. I always picture Easter as warm, sunny and peaceful, but then Easter is at its core a Springtime holiday, and Spring is a temperamental season, prone to nasty weather. So thinking back about it, today's temperature is fitting. I remember some Easters when it was snowing!

Joyeuses Pâques!

Joyeuses Pâques tout le monde! Pour souligner, je présente une partie du butin de chocolats cette année: des oeufs de Pâques, des lapins de Pâques, un poussin (ou un canard?) avec sa coquille dessus, rien de magnifique comme les produits de là où j'ai grandi et vécu mes Pâques, mais tout de même, il faut bien satisfaire sa dent sucrée et sa gourmandise. Surtout un jour de Pâques. Et puis il y a les chocolats de Riegelein auxquels j'ai très hâte de goûter et dont les designs ne sont pas trop cartoonesques. Mais enfin bref, Joyeuses Pâques!

Of Christ and Antichrist

Easter is tomorrow and I thought I would share an anecdote about it. I often identified Easter with Jesus of Nazareth, which script was written by Anthony Burgess, my favourite writer. He also wrote in parallel Man of Nazareth, his own and more personal take on the story of Jesus. But Burgess is of course most famous for writing the dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange, which was adapted into a famous (and sometimes infamous) dystopian movie about youth, violence and free will. The connection may surprise you, but both novels/movies do share similar themes and if you pay attention to the dialogues you can see both works have the same spirit. When I told of Burgess' involvement with the Biblical movie years ago to a fellow uni student, who really enjoyed A Clockwork Orange, book and movie, he could not believe it. "Anthony Burgess wrote the script of Jesus of Nazareth? But he's the Antichrist!"

It is not quite true, but that deserves to be a great unknown line. Burgess was not the Antichrist, or even an Antichrist, although he was a lapsed Catholic and had no issue in his writing delving in blasphemous thoughts. You can read more about it in this post and that one. In A Clockwork Orange raise moral and ethical issues which cannot be answered through the narrow views of any catechism or credo. You also have a main character, Alex who is not only an antihero of another type, pure and innocent, nevertheless he could be considered a sort of Antichrist, not so much because he opposes Christian teaching as he completely disregards them. In jail, he loves reading the Bible, not as a holy work inspiring religious devotion, but as a source of sadistic fantasies. As one can see in the scene below. It is a scene like this one, which was also in the novel, that prompted by fellow student to say that Anthony Burgess was the Antichrist. He was only partially right: Burgess' character was an Antichrist. Then he wrote a character that was Christ. You tell me which one was more believable.

Des lapins de Pâques

Je me suis récemment plaint sur ce blogue que l'on ne retrouve ici que des lapins de Pâques cartoonesques, qui ont l'air des cousins de Bugs Bunny ou de Roger Rabbit. Et puis j'ai découvert ceux-ci dans notre magasin de sucreries local. Ils sont de la confiserie Riegelein, que je ne connais pas, mais comme le magasin de sucreries vend toujours des produits de haute qualité (ou sinon des produits nostalgiques), je pense que c'est potentiellement le lapin en chocolat que je cherche. Sans être comme un vrai lapin, il ne fait pas trop cartoon. Alors j'en ai acheté. Pas des gros comme ceux-ci, mais des modèles plus petits. Je ne sais pas si je vais les garder pour ma femme et moi ou si je vais les donner en cadeaux aux enfants de nos amis. Faudrait d'abord les voir à Pâques ce qui n'est pas certain.

Tonight's meal for Good Friday

It is Good Friday and, more than any other Friday in the year, it means to me fish Friday. I will have tonight my traditional Good Friday meal: bagels from St-Viateur, which I saved from my last trip to Montreal, capers, raw onions, a slice of tomatoes and of course smoked salmon. I know, I have a rather strange way of fasting. But for me, any excuse is good enough to eat a traditional bagels meal. And I have been practicing this tradition since my first Good Fridays in Montreal. So this reminds me of home.

Vendredi saint

Photo prise en Bretagne en 2008. Le crucifix de village, presque omniprésent sur les routes de cette région, m'avait beaucoup étonné. Nous sommes aujourd'hui Vendredi saint et j'ai pensé que la photo était de circonstances. Quand j'étais un enfant catholique vivant dans la Grande Noirceur, le Vendredi saint était... Était notre première journée de vacances, alors je l'aimais beaucoup. Mes frères et moi écoutions Jésus de Nazareth ou un autre film biblique s'il n'y avait pas Jésus à la télé et on se préparait pour Pâques. C'était supposé être une journée sombre de la Semaine sainte, moi je l'ai toujours trouvée sympathique.

Pain & Gain

Tonight was the first Krav Maga training session I've had in two weeks. I had to stay away because I was ill. It was for my own safety and my fellow students, as I was a living breathing biohazard. That said, I had the weekend before the privilege to do a seminar with Lior Offenbach, one of the most respected Krav Maga instructors in the world (and a friendly guy as well). It was called the Pain & Gain Seminar. And for two days, I did go through a lot of pain. One hit to the chest by Lior's foot especially, which I felt straight up to my jaw. And there was also a lot of gains: I gained bruises, scratches, more bruises and bigger bruises. My chest was completely covered with them, which traumatized my wife a lot (she was not amused). Nevertheless, I did also gain strength, stamina and a few techniques. And a free t-shirt! You can see the nasty yet cool image on it in the uploaded picture. On the back of the shirt, there is this quote from Lior: "Krav Maga is nasty- we kick to the groin, bite and gouge the eyes. There is no f**king clean technique- either smash them or they smash you." This explains why these few bruises were necessary. And this also deserves to be a new great unknown line.

Plus qu'un jour...

Demain, ce sera le Jeudi saint. Le dernier jour de travail avant les vacances de Pâques. Et je me rends compte que j'ai comme besoin de petites vacances. Je sais pas pourquoi, je veux dire je n'ai pas particulièrement beaucoup de travail, moins que je pensais en tout cas à ce temps-ci de l'année. Je pense que tout le stress lié à la recherche (jusqu'ici infructueuse) d'un nouvel appart commence à me peser et ça m'épuise moralement. Je croyais que Pâques arrivait trop tôt cette année, je n'en suis plus si certain. Donc, demain c'est Jeudi saint et j'espère qu'il passera vite et sans emmerdes.

What's the excuse, this time?

So you must all know about the terrorist attack today in Brussels. I am so sick and tired of it. I was sad and angry at the Charlie Hebdo massacre back in 2015, sad and angry at the terrorist attack in November in Paris. Now the sadness, although there, has been buried in anger, so I just feel furious. The first thing I said, learning about Islamist terrorists going at it again was: "What's their f*cking excuse, this time?" The US policy? Oh no, the attack was done in Europe. Belgium's colonial past? The difficulties of immigrants to find a place in a Western society? Capitalist exploitation? Islamophobia? I know we'll read and hear these sorry excuses from the religious right and the regressive left. Because a certain left easily betrays its principle and is blind to see said principles being trampled when the perpetrator is an Islamist. Anyway, these are my two cents: I'm furious and there's no excuse for savagery.

And I will end this post with an anecdote: today a French client told me over the phone that she hoped my friends and family were all right. It took me a moment to see that she thought I was a Belgium. Usually, I find it funny. Today it felt like tragic irony.

Le lapin Lulu

Photo prise sur la page Facebook de la Chocolaterie Lulu, l'une des fiertés régionales en matière de desserts. Quand je vous dis que je m'ennuie de leurs produits, vous pouvez voir facilement pourquoi dans cette photo. Le lapin est assez grand, a juste ce qu'il faut d'anthropomorphisme avec sa posture et son panier sur le dos, mais il a l'air d'un vrai de vrai lapin, pas de Bugs Bunny ou de Roger Rabbit. C'est pourquoi c'est ce que j'aurais voulu pour Pâques.