Life In Technicolor

The lineup for the Osheaga Music Festival has come out and I don't really know what to think about it. It seems really scattered. These are the groups I know a little bit, or a lot: Coldplay, Jason Mraz (urgh), Girl Talk, Lykke Li, Elbow, Beastie Boys, Rufus Wainwright, Arctic Monkeys, The Decemberists, Crystal Castles, The Ting Tings and Beast. I have already seen Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys. Why bring back those two? What have Arctic Monkeys been up to lately? Arctic Monkeys are good in a show. Not really fun, perhaps, but good. Their fans go crazy at their shows. My sister is really enthusiastic about Arctic Monkeys, but I can't get too excited. There are other bands who will be pretty active this year who are free, I believe, at the time the festival will be taking place, and who could well be invited. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, unfortunately, is busy around that time. 

Other bands will be announced on May 7th. I will be waiting until then.

Perhaps I am just jealous of Coachella's incredible lineup.

Dreams

We've been reading Cane by Jean Toomer in my literature class. There are three parts to this book, the two first parts being a mix of short works of prose and of poems, and the third part being a play. The book, written in 1923, is about black people and their constant struggle with their identity. The first part takes place in the South, the second part in the North and the third part makes us return to the South. It is a very bleak book, very well written. Something worth checking out.

I Hear The Bells

"There was this one girl. She was blonde, petite... smelled of marshmallows and promises."

"Promises? That's the name of my perfume!"

Closer

I finally gave in and bought Kings of Leon's Only By The Night on iTunes the other day. I was already listening to "Closer" and "Sex On Fire" non-stop so I figured I could buy the CD. I have always found Kings of Leon a bit too Southern for my taste, but their sound makes me happy these days. "Closer" is pretty bleak compared to the rest of the CD. "Crawl" might be the song that rocks out the most on the CD. "Sex On Fire" still works for me, every time. "Use Somebody" is such an easy song. It's the kind of song a guy writes with every intention of getting into a girl's pants. I love "Manhattan" and "Notion", and "Cold Desert", the closer, is a sad, slow song. 

I am eagerly waiting to buy Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new album. :)

Pagan Poetry

This is the poem I chose to analyze for a paper for my literature class.

"IN JUST-" BY E.E. CUMMINGS

in Just-

spring       when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles       far        and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far        and       wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

      the

             goat-footed

balloonMan      whistles

far

and

wee

53rd & 3rd

"I'm eating and ignoring you."

"Look at you! Eating apple pie..."

Invisible City

Another movie with Sean Penn I can suggest you is Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood. I saw it on the way back from Barcelona. Watching a movie on an airplane is never really satisfying, but I could still appreciate this movie. Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, this movie takes place in Boston. In the first scenes, we meet three childhood friends, and one of them gets taken away by some strange men. Fortunately, he is able to escape, but this event changes things between the three friends. Years later, the three children have grown old, and one of them loses his daughter in an incomprehensible murder. Clint Eastwood does not disappoint, and the cast is stellar. (Kevin Bacon :D). 

Rebel, Rebel

So I finally saw Milk, and it was effing fantastic. Lots of people say that this is one of Gus Van Sant's more classical movies, directing-wise. Having only seen Good Will Hunting among Van Sant's other movies (and Good Will Hunting is supposed to be another classical movie of Van Sant's), I cannot really compare Milk with the rest of his work. I found Milk to be not that classical, though. What striked me particularly was how short some of the scenes were. But hey, I don't know a thing about directing, so... 

This movie is infintely quotable, and Harvey Milk is portrayed as a very warm person. Emile Hirsch's performance is really compelling. Also, there are a lot of "wtf?" moments. As in, "Wtf? Is that really how bigots think? Their arguments make no sense whatsoever!" Those kind of moments.

And now, I'll get cheesy: one of the aspects I liked the most about this movie was its love story. It simply tells you that the people who once mattered in your life will always matter. And I found that beautiful... that's all.

Sway

I love the Dirty Dancing reference.

Péché d'envie

I went to a restaurant with my parents and with my brother yesterday for some family time. The restaurant was on Ontario St., in Montreal's Gay Village. It is called Carte Blanche, which can be translated to "blank card". It is actually a French expression meaning "we give you the freedom to do anything you want". This restaurant was an actual French restaurant, not fusioned with anything else for a change. The ingredients were very simple throughout the menu. I splurged completely and ordered the fish soup with its rouille and a meal of chunks of lobster in an orange-flavored sauce. Both were delicious. I ended things with a chocolate fondant for dessert, and it was really good. The restaurant was nearly empty, which was kind of sad, but I believe a large party was coming on after us. My father says there are too many good restaurants in Montreal, and so people do not know where to go anymore. There was a single waiter for the whole restaurant, and even though there weren't that many people in the restaurant, he still had to constantly run. He still managed to remain very professional throughout the evening. All in all, if ever you are looking for a small and simple French restaurant in Montreal, this is a pretty good one.

Ocean of Noise

You know how I hate the movies people usually love? Babel is one of them. I had heard so much positive feedback about this movie, I kept waiting for something to happen. I find that there is no high point in the movie: it is one constant line. I get it, there's this big international message, interconnectivity between people, etc. The coincidences used to illustrate that, though, were too unbelievable for my taste, and were not very interesting. There goes another Brad Pitt-Cate Blanchett project that I don't like... but not so much because of them.

Babel is, I believe, part of a trilogy by director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu including Babel, 21 Grams and Amorres Perros. I have not yet seen Amorres Perros, and although I hated Babel, I liked 21 Grams very much. It took me a while before realizing that the different scenes in the movie were not placed in chronological order. I don't know if mentioning this will ruin the movie for you... It is a pretty bleak movie, and it gets violent at the end. I really liked the ending to this movie, and I like Naomi Watts a lot. Sean Penn is growing on me more and more. I will probably be seeing Milk tomorrow, and if so, I will surely talk about it in this blog soon. FINALLY I will be watching Milk - I've been wanting to watch it for an eternity.

Then She Appeared

"The things you find amusing astound me sometimes."

Bukowski

I am going to talk to you about another highly immoral book... Two immoral books actually, although one is perhaps less immoral than the other. Let's say two books, then, by the same immoral author, Charles Bukowski. He isn't only a novelist, he's a poet, too. I don't know much about his poems, but his novels, anyway, are semi-autobiographical. I will talk to you about two of his novels, both of which I have in my library. The first one is Ham on Rye and it features Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's alter ego. Ham on Rye tells the story of Henry Chinaski's childhood, which takes place in the Great Depression. Chinaski comes from a poor family, and his childhood is very rough. I found some passages of the book to kind of violent, especially since they feature a young child. The book basically tells us the desperate story of this kid who will grow up to become the very immoral man featured in the second book I will talk to you about, Women.

Women does not take place immediately after Ham on Rye. Some of Bukowski's other works complete the time gap existing between Ham on Rye and Women. By the time Women takes place, Henry Chinaski has become fairly old. He is now a semi-renowned poet and gives public hearings. He is always drunk. At the beginning of the book, Chinaski hasn't had a woman in a long time. However, he meets a crazy woman who will become a big part of his life and not long after that, he realizes that he is attractive to many women because of his reputation. He then spends his time cheating on his girlfriend, getting drunk, and writing. 

There are no moral endings to these books. As you can guess, I found Women to be particularly immoral. It is the perfect book to boost a guy's ego. Its lesson is that if you write, you can still get fucked even if you're old and ugly. These books are sometimes funny, but essentially the main thing you get from them is a very easy read. 

If you're wondering, I haven't given up on the idea of giving my posts song names. There really is a song called "Bukowski": it's a Modest Mouse song. All right, I'm giving away the answer, but no one is really playing my game anyway.

Human Behaviour

Another movie I want to suggest you is Dogville by Lars Von Trier. For a movie, it's very intellectual, but I still liked it a lot. It has a lot of powerful scenes and a very peculiar setting. I felt uneasy during the whole time I watched this movie, but I like that. I found the end to be extremely violent. The movie is about a woman who seeks refuge in a small town. At first, the townspeople like her, more or less, but soon they begin to use her. This movie is three hours long, though, so know what you're in for.

Exit Music (For A Film)

"Do you want me to have you committed or would you prefer to check yourself in?"

Heroes

I once said I would sometimes talk about books I had read, and I never got around to doing it again. Today I suggest you a more classic book: To Kill a Mockingbird. Before reading it, I knew it was about the trial of a black man accused of raping a white woman, but I didn't know anything else. I was really disappointed when I started reading the book, because it seemed as if the narrator kept talking about things that had absolutely nothing to do with the trial. The trial actually comes very late in the book, but once you're there, it's fantastic. Atticus Finch, the narrator's father, will surely become your hero. He is the accused man's lawyer, and he is a man with really strong morals. This is one literary character you do not want to miss on.

And while we are on the subject of books, I wanted to tell you that I got the translation of the title of Milan Kundera's book right: it really is Laughable Loves. So, Alex, you can now go get it. And you can now be conceited all over again: I gave you a shout-out on a post!

Laughing Out Loud

I'm getting more and more the feeling that I'm just not that good at this movies thing. I seem to hate most of the movies everybody loves. In order to reassure myself about not being an obnoxious movie grump, I will now suggest you from time to time movies I have actually liked. The first one that comes to mind is The Darjeeling Limited. It's a Wes Anderson movie starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman as brothers. I actually like Adrien Brody a lot, and he acts as an asshole in this movie, as always. It is kind of haunting watching this movie while having in mind that, at the time it went out in theaters, Owen Wilson had tried to kill himself. Anyway, it's a really beautiful road-trip like movie. The story takes place in India. If you're into low-key humor, you should try it out.

Never Get Old

"Finish your homework!"

I'm Set Free

Let's set the record straight. Which TV series do I actually listen to these days? I used to watch a lot more TV series. This year I have given up on "Prison Break", "House", "Grey's Anatomy" and "One Tree Hill". Seasons 1 and 2 of "Prison Break" were great, season 3 was okay, but this season has just gotten messy. "House" has gotten formulaic. "Grey's Anatomy" is okay-written sometimes, but watching surgeons behave like high school kids no longer amuses me. "One Tree Hill" was a really bad habit of mine, but I missed the French premiere, and so I was discouraged to catch up on what I had missed. 

These days I am watching "Heroes", "Desperate Housewives" and "Dollhouse". I remain faithful to "Heroes" no matter what. My geeky side needs to express itself. "Desperate Housewives" is a family thing. My dad enjoys it so much, it's pretty funny. 

Some TV shows I started watching when they weren't on air anymore. They are otherwise known as the TV shows which helped me get through school. They are: "Daria", "Freaks and Geeks", "Veronica Mars", and "Opposite Sex". They are all THE SHIT. "Opposite Sex" is a really funny show that only lasted eight episodes, starring a young Milo Ventimiglia and a young Chris Evans.

I never really watched "Gilmore Girls" in its entirety. Weirdly enough, I gave up on it when Jess appeared, because he didn't appeal to me then. At that time, perfect boyfriend Dean worked for me. I then started watching again when Jess disappeared, but not because I liked Logan, just because. Then I found clips on YouTube, and you know the rest.

Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

Who was there, out at West, pulling at the covers of the universe? Perhaps the gods we had given birth to, stuck in their loft-shaped paradise, exasperated at being so numerous, having each been led to believe they were unique.

- Monique Proulx, Champagne (the translation is mine)

Death Sex

Small Stakes

Today we tried going to a restaurant recommended on the Internet. We ended up in a really fancy restaurant, the intimidating kind. It was called Neichel. There were tons of weird appetizers at the beginning, the waiters had weird accents, and there were truffles and foie gras all around. The portions were really big, though, and the service was pretty fast. I had hare, which was weirdly presented, but the surprise foie gras pieces were great. There were tons of little sweets at the end as well. The coolest thing about the restaurant were the silver spoons hanging from the ceiling with invisible threads. Neat decoration.

Ghetto Love

I have finally brought myself to listen to Spinnerette. I like the Distillers so much that at first I was like, "Brody, why do you have to chaaaaaange??" Apparently, she has something new to say, and this something is poppier. But it still has Brody Dalle's edge. (Brody Dalle was the Distillers' lead singer.) Oh well, I'm all for that: I never have enough of edgy pop. The title of the post is the name of one of Spinnerette's songs. Check out the video on YouTube: it is pretty hot, and Brody is looking good without her crazy hair. There is only an EP out for the moment, but I'll be waiting for the album.

Like Someone In Love

"Jess... ma'am."

"I'm dancing on the inside."

"Oooh, zing, I've been snapped!"

"It's just a saying."

"Now say, 'And get in there and make me my supper!'"

The Start of Something

We went on a Picasso tour today. The museum was as cool as last time, but the guide was really annoying. Something funny happened, though: some really unsubtle noobish people started invading our tour, even standing in front of our guide and acquiescing to everything she said. My brother and I tried to make them feel bad by staring at them, but it didn't really work.

And for those who were wondering, I did bring my laptop with me. I'm not wasting my time in Barcelona running to Internet cafés. I'm just wasting my study time.

what I'm listening to at the moment 2

1) Leonard Cohen. What a poet. When you are in a certain mood, he is exactly what you need. Here is my list of Leonard Cohen songs:

"Suzanne"

"The Stranger Song"

"So Long, Marianne"

"Bird On a Wire"

"The Partisan"

"You Know Who I Am"

"Famous Blue Raincoat"

"Night Comes On"

"Take This Waltz"

"Dance Me To The End Of Love"

"Democracy"

"Anthem"

"A Thousand Kisses Deep"

2) Debut by Björk. Great stuff.

3) I have just heard The Sounds' Myspace. They are a Swedish group, not that recent, touring with No Doubt this summer. Unfortunately, we will not be getting them in Montreal. We will be getting Bedouin Soundclash instead. (...) They're kind of dancy. Maybe I'm just sold to them because the singer is female. It's my feminist side.

From now on, I will attempt to be Grey's Anatomy/One Tree Hill-like and give each of my posts a song name. Points are given to the reader if he/she guesses whose song it is, without cheating, if possible. Let's see how long I can keep this up.

I love this scene 11

I love it when they just show her the fender.

Kids

I thought I wouldn't be able to write as often as before, but I find myself blogging more than ever. I really should study. This morning we went on a tour of the gothic quarter, and we found ourselves in the middle of an elementary school recess. I guess the school's location had a rich history. Anyway, it was really funny, because there was a little girl who started translating the guide's explanations to her friend. 

I have finally figured out where our rented apartment is situated. There is a twenty-minute walk from our apartment to Plaça Catalunya, which is the commercial centre of Barcelona. There is also the University of Barcelona that is near to us. All in all, our apartment is located in a pretty quiet place, but it is still pretty central.

My pop culture two cents: I have watched the third episode of "Dollhouse" and found it pretty great. The moment when the singer says "I just want to be free" while she is ascending in a cage is good TV. Also, at the end (I won't spoil it for you), Eliza Dushku's character does something I would never have expected. This show seems like it will take a while before becoming interesting, because the main character cannot be awakened so soon (if you are interested at all in pop culture, you know what I mean, because the premise of this show has been everywhere over the web). I hope it doesn't get axed before things have a chance to get going on.

Restaurants

We have gone to two restaurants up until now. The first one was a typical tapas place. Pretty good, but I'm sure there are better restaurants out there. In Montreal, for example.

The other one was an Indian restaurant. My family has a knack for eating foods foreign to the countries we visit. It was really good, but also really expensive. It was called Namasté. We ate chicken vandaloo, mango lamb, butter chicken, tandoori chicken and masala prawns. The samosas were also really good, and we had two sorts of naans.

Barcelona is the laziest city I have ever been to. Nobody ever seems to do anything. On the other hand, the driving is crazy.

I love this scene 10

Best line ever.