A hilarious great unknown line

...this time from my youngest brother. He put recently on his Facebook status:

"Getting smarter makes my brain hurt."

I don't know why, but I burst out laughing when I read it. I could not stop. I guess it is because I am not so smart yet.

Les Loups et les Brebis

"Nous pouvons conclure de là 
Qu'il faut faire aux méchants guerre continuelle. 
La paix est fort bonne de soi; 
J'en conviens; mais de quoi sert-elle  
Avec des ennemis sans foi?"

C'est la conclusion de la fable Les Loups et les Brebis de La Fontaine. J'ai cette citation en tête depuis que j'ai appris la mort de Ben Laden. Bien sûr, les ennemis en question ont une foi, mais je crois que par foi La Fontaine voulait dire morale.

An evil man is dead

This is one Hell of a way to wake up: seeing this on the news. So Bin Laden is dead. I cannot say much about it beyond the cliché I am afraid. I thought to title this post "Satan is dead", but that would have been ridiculously pompous. He was no Satan, nobody is, nobody ever was in history. I don't believe in Satan. Bin Laden was just an evil man, a terribly evil man, who got what has been coming at him. It was about time.

I blogged about 9/11 time and again... And again. I wish Bin Laden had been judged for his crimes, but there is justice in his death, especially as it is the result of a military operation. I was afraid he might die of old age. This would have been the greatest, most appalling form of injustice, and of the Western's impotence against Islamofascist threat. I cannot help but feel smug that Barack Obama succeeded hwere the buffoons of the religious right miserably failed, for about nearly ten years. Of course, Bin Laden was only one head of the hydra that is Islamist terrorism. But I think of my American friends, among them a New Yorker, and I feel like celebrating with them.

Page de nostalgie montréalaise (2)

Mon frère, a commenté sur ce billet et y a ajouté bien d'autres souvenirs, que je vais donc mettre ici pour la postérité. Voici donc ses souvenirs de Montréal d'hier (lire: les années 90 et début des années 2000), avec mes commentaires en italique:

-l'énorme pieuvre en métal au dessus du restaurant L'Avenue. J'y suis allé une fois à l'Avenue. Restaurant caricaturalement surévalué s'il en est un.
-le défunt café "Porté disparu" avec ses fourmis en métal et son service inexistant. Très couru des gens de lettres, étudiants en littérature et artistes. Est devenu une Brûlerie Saint-Denis, puis autre chose. Même si l'endroit a connu des jours meilleurs, le service s'est considérablement amélioré. Le service était en effet inexistant, voire incompétent.
-le resto/magasin de cossins BD genre Tintin etc La mouette rieuse sur Saint-Denis. Il a eu une vie assez courte celui-là, le commerce était sans doute trop hybride et les prix trop chers. J'y ai pourtant bien mangé.
-la défunte chaîne de fast food Eurosnack. Une tragédie de mauvaises décisions y a mis fin. C'était ma chaîne de fast food préférée, mais ils en ont vite perdu (trop de bières, menu trop gros, etc).
-la défunte boutique Excalibor. Trop cher. jamais acheté que des marque-pages et des petites babioles pas chères. 
-le temps où ils déneigeaient les artères principales d'un bout à l'autre avant les fusions/fissions à la marde (j'étais et je suis toujours pour une île, une ville, mais l'exécution a été un lamentable échec).Dommage que ça ait été un échec. Je me rappelle aussi de la neige
-on se rappelera tous du verglas de janvier 199. Oh que oui! Une ville entièrement paralysée, c'était surréaliste. 
-Et la librairie Champigny (c'est bien ça?) avant qu'elle ne se fasse avaler par Renaud-Bray.Oui c'est bien ça. Il fut un temps où c'est Renaud-Bray qui tirait le diable par la queue. J'achetais beaucoup à Champigny.
-Et du temps qu'il y avait une caisse pop Desjardins devant le métro Mont-Royal et que les tourniquets étaient en haut des escaliers.Je me rappelle des deux. Le métro sur Mont-Royal faisait racoin un peu.
-Et du Café Munich devenu le Chou Frisé par la suite, maintenant un buffet thai dont les vitres ont toujours le givrage du Café Munich. On y a mangé une fois. C'était fort bon, genre bistro européen. Dommage qu'on l'ait perdu celui-là, il avait unc ertain cachet.

What May will bring

This is the first day of May, spring is looking more and more like summer (sorry for the clichés) and my parents left England today. It was nice being with them, like a mini-holiday. We are still on holiday, as we have a bank holiday tomorrow. Being with my parents brought a few numbers of changes to my every day life: my alcohol intakes went way up (mainly beer and rosé wine which they are quite fond of), my calories intakes too(but my mum finds me too skinny so thinks I should eat more), I spent time playing tourist and tourist guide (succcessively and simultaneously) and overall ejoying life. I like being an hedonist when I can. I will try to keep it up for the upcoming month. I might not go out as often, but I can still try to cook nice food, drink beer and wine (as long as my liver allows it at least), read outside and try to enjoy myself. I don't know how easy it will be when these almost holidays will be over. Every day life has its way of getting in the way of the carefree existence one seeks, even when the flowers are blossoming and the weather is nice.

Citons Beaumarchais

Je n'ai jamais lu ni vu Le mariage de Figaro, je connais plus la controverse entourant la pièce et l'opéra de Mozart que la pièce elle-même, mais j'ai cette citation en tête depuis le mariage (vous savez lequel):

"Noblesse, fortune, un rang, des places, tout cela rend si fier ! Qu'avez-vous fait pour tant de biens ? Vous vous êtes donné la peine de naître, et rien de plus : du reste, homme assez ordinaire! "

Ah, la sagesse républicaine!

Kew Gardens

Today, as it was their last day in England, we went with my parents to Kew Gardens today, as I already mentioned here. It eas a magnificent day, it was also a lovely time spent with my family. I discovered relatively recently that I love gardens, especially British gardens, I love how harmonious they look, yet how nature in them seems barely tamed, as if it just sprung from the ground and spread around the buildings, old and new. And it is lovely to see, smell and feel green. I saw little of the gardens, but I enjoyed them tremendously. And took loads and loads of snapshots, some good, some very bad. I didn't know which one to put here. This is the Temple of Aeolus, which for some reason had a strong impression on me. I know Aeolus from The Odyssey and my readership can check on this blog how much I am obsessed with the epic poem and with greek mythology in general. So I decided to put one picture here for the time being, of the Temple of Aeolus surrounded by vegetation that seems wild.

Dernier jour d'avril...

...passé avec père et mère pour leur dernier jour en Angleterre au Kew Gardens, lequel mon père voulait visiter depuis déjà un bout de temps (plus de vingt ans je crois). Journée magnifique, jardins magnifiques, la photo ne rend pas justice à l'endroit, je risque de continuer à débiter des clichés alors je vais m'arrêter là.

Cela dit, ça a fait beaucoup de bien de les voir et de pouvoir profiter avec eux de cette escapade dans la presque nature. Je n'avais pas eu de vacances depuis un bout de temps et le temps passé avec eux, même trop court et entrecoupé de travail, m'a été salutaire. Et puis on a eu du beau temps, ce qui ne gâche rien et qui est rare en avril. Aujourd'hui, c'était une fin de mois magnifique d'un mois qui a été en général étonnamment clément. Je suis un homme heureux.

Musing on that wedding tomorrow

I am home early today. And tomorrow because of "Kate and William's wedding". It sounds like they are old friends when they announce it like this in the media. I mean, really? It's not like if I ever had a beer with that guy or went to his stag night! We share nothing but a name. Anyway, as I needed holidays and the Easter ones had been too short, this is most welcome. Monarchy has to be useful about something. Still, the republican I am finds all the excitement about this wedding a bit ridiculous. In the end, it is a procession of (mainly) old people dressed like clowns. Catholics have the Vatican, the UK and the Commonwealth have the Queen and her descendants. Anachronism made flesh. At least I will have the day off.

Still, it is absurd, all that fuss about two people getting married, all that money spent on someone who will probably be the head of a state... because he was born. I guess I will watch bits of it, I don't have much choice, we will be invaded by images, soundbites, what have you. Maybe, maybe I will even drink at their health and happiness with a Windsor Knot. Not because they are royalties, but because they deserve to be happy. I am genuinely curious about this beer and this new brewery in Windsor. I wish the brewery well. A little anecdote that stayed in my head all day: in the lovely village of l'Anse-St-Jean there was a crowning, which I actually attend to. A bit of a ridiculous thing that got people talking, but the local brewery brewed a delicious beer for the occasion, "la Royale de l'Anse". It ceased to exist, sadly. Something good came up from that monarchy too, however short lived. I do hope the brewery in Windsor survives time, we need more breweries. But I hope even more than one day I will see the end of the monarchy in this country and mine.

Page de nostalgie montréalaise

Ca m'est venu comme ça aujourd'hui. Mon expérience de Montréal en tant que Montréalais (d'adoption mais quand même) date un peu. Mes souvenirs les plus vifs datent surtout de mes études à Montréal. Je me suis donc lancé dans un exercice de nostalgie, voyons un peu ce que ça va donner. Je me souviens:

-Quand la CAM était à 45.00$.
-Quand le proprio de la Binerie Mont-Royal m'appelait "jeune homme".
-Quand il y avait une boulangerie indépendante sur l'Avenue Mont-Royal appelée Le Moulin où on allait mon frère et moi parce que les employées étaients mignonnes.
-Quand je me stockais en bouquins chez Olivieri.
-Quand on entendait surtout les Colocs dans les bars.
-Quand je trouvais Pierre Bourque nono et un peu trop mégalo (ce qui ne m'a pas empêché de voter pour lui à mes premières élections montréalaises, parce qu'au moins il aimait la ville et il avait des projets, contrairement à l'autre demeuré).
-Quand on me disait après que j'aie prononcé quelques mots: "Toi tu viens du Saguenay."

Who else wants to be Irish?

I just read this article on the BBC news website, about American presidents with Irish blood, wanting to be associated with Ireland. Even Barack Obama has Irish blood. The article indicates that this might simply be because American politicians want to appeal to Catholic voters in the US and it has nothing to do with a particular affection with Ireland. I would find it a bit sad if it was true. I have French and probably Scottish blood, but like most Quebeckers I think I must have some Irish blood. From the little research I did, my ancestors, although Scottish by name, came to Canada from Ulster, they were Ulster Scots. The line between the two nations often gets blurry in history and I probably have mixed blood.

I did not fall in love with Ireland as early as I fell in love with England. Unlike my love for England, my love for Ireland is not entirely an allophilia, as I feel a natural bond with the country. Maybe because there are so many Irish Quebeckers, maybe because I feel, rightly or not, that I do have a bit of Irish blood in me. Yes, yes, I blogged about it before. But I wonder if there is not something about Ireland that makes it more attractive to other cultures. I remember a literature professor who once told us that Quebeckers were desperately trying to be latin. I think many people, among them Americans, Canadians, even some Brits, are desperately trying to be Celtic.

J'ai eu raison de me méfier

Je disais hier que je me méfiais du beau temps qu'on avait. J'ai eu raison de le faire: aujourd'hui, la température avait baissé, assez pour que je gèle en manches courtes sous un manteau trop léger pour la saison. Enfin, pour le mois. Il a suffi de quelques degrés de moins, de quelques nuages pour parfois cacher le soleil et d'un peu de vent. Le contraste était saisissant. On ne m'y reprendra plus, surtout qu'on annonce de la pluie pour les prochains jours et que la baisse de température pourrait donc devenir dramatique. Avril est un mois au tempérament bien cyclothymique.

Holiday reads

Quick post before I go to bed. I was a bit rough on Waterstone's recently. Well, I am a tiny bit happier about them now. I received another promotional email, this time about "holiday reads", talking about offers on travelling books, but also about novels from the country where one can be travelling to get a real feel of the place, etc. I do plan my reading list according to the time of the year and the place I am going to visit if I am on holiday or simply travelling. I am not original, maybe even a little bit shallow, but I found it a good way to know where to start when unread books start piling up on the bookshelves, or when I want to buy a book quick and don't know which one to choose. So I like it that a book chain helps me in my preparation as a reader and gives me some interesting reading suggestions. Now I am not planning any holiday trip soon, but I will keep a look at their website. They earned a bit of my respect back.

Étranger en son pays

Je ne suis pas allé à Chicoutimi depuis bientôt un an. Depuis la récente controverse sur la prière au conseil municipal, je me demande si je ne suis pas devenu étranger à mon coin de pays. Je sais, il y en a qui contestent la croisad imbécile de Jean Tremblay. Ces compatriotes sont comme moi, des gensde Chicoutimi fiers de leur région et de leur ville. Je suis fier qu'il y en a encore des comme eux, qui comprennent que le Québec a changé. Mais il y a tellement de gens qui l'appuient. J'ai aussi eu des nouvelles de mes parents à propos de la façon dont le maire est perçu: beaucoup avalent son argumentation fallacieuse et confondent comme lui culture, héritage, valeurs et dévotion catholique d'un autre âge. Et ça me déprime un peu. Je crois que la région et sans doute aussi le Québec ont besoin d'une communauté athée comme il y en a ailleurs, qui brasseraient un peu la cage et feraient aussi un peu d'éducation. En fait, je désespère un peu de voir un Québec authentiquement laïque. Là d'où je viens, je trouve qu'on en encore bien loin.

Agressive secularism?

Yesterday, I was not so surprised to read that a Catholic priest had again complained about secularism in this country, this time by Scottish cardinal Keith O'Brien. More here and here.

Now, where to begin. I have heard these accusations before, it quickly gets old. Cardinal O'Brien used very strong words, not only did he accused "agressive secularists", the label he puts basically on secular humanists, of destroying this country, but he talked of us as "enemies" and accused us of persecuting Christians. Yes, in a country where the sharia law is applied, where religious schools can teach Creationism as if it was facts, when Christian fundamentalists try to censor a humanist billboard advert, secularists like myself are the the threat, the Enemy, one could even say Satan. Of course, the cardinal, while fiery in his accusations, remains vague when making his case. O'Brien seem to have complained mainly that homosexuals cannot be legally treated as second class citizens by religious people like himself. He aluded to this story. What O'Brien did is downright cowardly: he draped himself and other fundamentalists (because that is what he is) in the cloak of the martyr, by doing so hoping to avoid criticism in the same time for more questionable aspects of his faith: his homophobia among other things, and his wish to have the right to be fully opressive towards gays, lesbians, free thinkers, etc. This is what he is pleading for really, a passeist view of a society that changed and which he did not follow.

And asking Christians to abide by the law is not persecution. Telling them their belief is wrong and in this case amoral is not persecution: it is criticism. Keith O'Brien hs the right to believe anything he wants and to hate homosexuals, secularists and so on. But he can be called on that, he can be criticised on that. I am not a Christian anymore, I am not a Catholic anymore, I have not to accept its moral code. And I will go further by saying that if this moral code is opressive, it is in effect immoral and should be fought. It should certainly be separated from the public sphere by a wall of fire.

Se méfier du beau temps

Il a fait particulièrement beau ces temps-ci, en fait il a fait une température rien de moins qu'estivale. Pas tout à fait la canicule, mais puisque nous sommes en avril, c'est tout comme: plus de 20 degrés Celsius en avril, c'est semblable à plus de 30 degrés en juillet. Cela dit, je me méfie de ce beau temps. Je ne suis pas superstitieux, s'il fait beau maintenant rien n'indique que les mois prochains seront horribles. Cela dit, je me rappelle encore l'été pourri qu'on a eu ici en 2007 après un avril dangereusement semblable à celui-ci. Alors je me demande si la température estivale peut durer pour les mois prochains. Cela dit, ce serait bien de respirer un peu avec des températures plus fraîches: c'est quand même étrange de se mettre de la crème solaire aussi tôt dans l'année.

Musing on Easter

It is Easter Sunday today! So have a happy Easter everyone! I love Easter, for various reasons, and like Christmas I celebrate it for its Pagan roots. I am a primitive man, but at least I am conscious of my primitive nature. For more on Easter's Pagan significance, I recommend this Atheist Eve strip by Tracie Harris. Always interesting to read her. You can also have a look at this article in the Guardian. Mixed with celebration of fertility and return to life, Easter, like many holidays we love (Halloween, Christmas, etc.) is also an excuse for eating excesses, taking as much as we can of nature's goodness. A chocolate Easter bunny, a Cadbury's egg, it is simply a sugar coated (literally!) Pagan symbol. I remember of a birthday I had around Easter (I believe it was in 1987, when Easter Sunday was on the 19th of April), we celebrated both the same day that year. We had a brunch in a restaurant my godfather owned at that time. On the center table there was a Horn of Plenty made of croissant dough, filled with fruits. Years later, I still wonder who thought about it, but I am still amazed at how powerful those symbols live in our psyche.

This picture was taken last Easter in Québec, in a sugar cabin. It was a dreadful sugar cabin, but they had rabbits. I thought that I would put one on the blog that is not in chocolate, for a change. I will not eat rabbit (or lamb) this year, but I might have an omelette for tonight's dinner, which is just as appropriate. I already had plenty of chocolate.

Mozart pascal

Okay, j'ai déjà mis l'Agnus Dei de la Messe du Couronnement ici, mais puisque je ne mangerai pas d'agneau cette année, autant la remettre. Nous sommes Pâques, c'est donc jour de musique sacrée et toute occasion est bonne pour écouter du Mozart. Est-ce moi ou est-ce que Pâques "récupère" de la meilleure musique que Noël? enfin bref, voici l'agneau (un mauvais jeu de mot avec "Ecce Homo"), interprété par Kathleen Battle, dirigé par Herbert Von Karajan, lequel m'a fait découvrir la musique classique. Ah oui, ça a été enregistré au Vatican (aaarrgghhh!), mais j'imagine qu'on ne peut éviter l'Église complètement quand on veut écouter de la musique en latin.

No lamb this year

It is officially Easter since a few minutes ago. After my parents left for other parts of England, it means that we will have a quieter Easter. I have come to this conclusion, however it pains me: one of the Easter traditions of my adult life will not be practised this year. I will not eat lamb. For stupidly sentimental reasons, mainly: during our last trip in the Lake District, I thought they were too cute. See the picture on your left, where this little fella looks like he is praying. Now can I be that cruel? If only it was offered in a stew where you can separate the product from the animal, but no, if I really, seriously wanted lamb, I would need to go and buy some in the supermarket, knowing full well that it is the part of a baby animal just like this. Stupid, stupid, stupid sentimentality, especially since that creature was pretty much breeded to be meat.

Since I hate ham/gammon, lamb was my food of predilection for Easter. It had the right taste for the season too, not to mention the right association. This year, I will probably have an omelette or eggs, which is what I used to have as a child. Simple but appropriate.

Premier orage de l'année

C'est une expérience assez surréaliste: il fait chaud comme si c'était l'été depuis un bout de temps ici. Or, il arriva ce qui devait arriver: ce soir, alors que l'on mangeait dans un pub à l'extérieur, un violent orage a éclaté. Heureusement, nous étions sous un toit, donc hors de portée, du moins jusqu'à ce qu'il commence à sérieusement tomber des cordes et que le vent se mette de la partie. Il a fallu terminer nos verres à l'intérieur. L'expérience n'a même pas été désagréable: l'orage a amené une fraîcheur qui manquait et j'aime toujours les orages. Alors voilà, on a eu droit à notre premier orage de l'année alors qu'au Québec on gèle. Être expatrié a parfois du bon.