Ok, so my first article was printed last week, click here to check it out.
Not much is going on in my personal life. I've been sick and was bed bound for almost a week. I rented 17 movies in 2 days.. sad but true. I had nothing to do and staring at the walls got old fast. I highly recommend the following movies: The Big White, The Door in the Floor, and Shop Girl... i can't remember the other movies i had rented.
Moving on...
Last week idiots took the streets to protest police brutality. They destroyed private property, threw garbage on the streets, and screamed like morons... way to go proving a point assholes.
A couple months ago, a small hick town in Quebec, passed laws certain laws to send a message to immigrants: no stoning or burning women with acid was among one of the laws passed. This province is ridiculous sometimes. What makes this even more infuriating is that this town only has one immigrant family, so it's not like they were having a stoning problem. This shows just how narrow-minded and idiotic les Quebecois can be. This stupidity is found mostly in French Quebec. The Quebecois have this fear of losing their language/culture (they seem to confuse language with culture... because really, no Quebecois has yet to explain to me what their culture is exactly) to the anglos and immigrants, so they pass laws. One law is all signs must be in french, if there is english writing, it has to be written small than the french print. Stupidities like that. The language politics have taken over this province causing a lot of hatred between the English and French communities. I love living in Montreal, I really do. I love the architecture, the art, the diversity, everything. But the damn politics can sometimes really ruin my love for this place.
Canada (and the states) was built on immigrants, and it continues to grow because of people leaving their countries, their homes, and moving here. This is not a catholic community or a religious one at that, so the whole fear of other religions makes no sense. If you cared so much about your religion, support your bankrupt church instead of lashing out at somebody else's beliefs.
I am half Lebanese and half French. Growing up, and even today, my circle of friends consisted of Italians, Portuguese, Haitians, Mexicans, Armenian, Egyptian, Greeks, and many more nationalities. I ate their food, learned a few words, learned of their culture, etc. Is this something we really want our kids to miss out on? The food, the colours, the sounds, the music...do we really want to just live off of Poutines and Ginette Reno? If that's where this province is heading, then I'm moving to Vancouver.

I woke up bright and early this morning to participate in Montreal's 2nd annual underground race, "Downtown and Underground". Saturday my friend Julia called me up to say she was coming in from Vancouver for this race with a friend who canceled at the last minute, "would you want to race tomorrow morning?" she asked. Coughing up a storm, runny nose and with a voice sounding much like an 11 year old boy entering puberty, I accepted the invite. We met at 7:40am and headed to the event. The first runner took off at 8:30am and every 3 seconds after that somebody else took off. In total, there was 750 runners, speeding through connecting shopping malls to office buildings to train stations, and so on. I gave myself 45 minutes to complete the 5km race and i did it in 36... patting myself on the back.
Downtown and Underground is part of the Montreal Highlights Festival and hopefully i will be participating in a few more activities.

See you next week! Same bat time, same bat place!

Saturday night i was ever so fortunate to go to the Ani Di Franco show. I'm a HUGE Ani fan. I saw her when she performed at the Jazz Fest 2 years ago and i was so happy to hear she was coming back for this years fest as well. Ani has a way with words, as though the english language was her paint and her music is her canvas, and suddenly, she has a masterpiece and you can't help but be in awe.
"Your bones have been my bedframe and your flesh has been my pillow"
"I would never give my life meaning, by demeaning you"
"squint your eyes and look closesr, im' not between you and your ambition, i'm a poster girl with no poster.."
god help you if you are an ugly girl
course too pretty is also your doom
'cuz everyone harbors a secret hatred
for the prettiest girl in the room
and god help you if you are a phoenix
and you dare to rise up from the ash
a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
while you are just flying past"
"one day you might see that you're starving, and eat most of the words you just said"
"tell you the truth i prefer the worst of you
too bad you had to have a better half
she's not really my type but i think you two are forever
and i hate to say it but you're perfect together""
I can keep going on but i'll think i'll stop here and you guys can check her out.
Anyway, so Ani doesn't play big venues... it's not really her thing. Her shows (and you can tell by her live albums and bootlegs) are all about having fun and just having this sort of "hanging out" feeling. It's very intimate and most of the time, some sort of discussion breaks out. At one point, we were talking about global warming and Ani joked "it feels like a town meeting!" It was cute and funny and i adore this woman. I think all little girls should be listening to artists like her instead of miss Spears. Anyway, we (the audience) ended up talking too much cuz she had to skip over a couple songs. She did read a poem however. I've never witnessed anything like this. She started reading and the place just went silent. There was a few hundred of us and suddenly, no whispering, no clinging of glasses, no sneeze, no cough, no cell, nothing. Just complete and utter silence and everybody in complete awe. It was amazing. I didn't have my cam but i talked to a few people who did and gave them my email, hopefully i'll have them soon enough and post pics of the show!
Moving on, the Jazz Fest is now over and so begins Just for Laughs as well as FINA (Festival International Nuits D'Afrique). Now you know why Montreal is the city of Festivals in the summer, oh and of sidewalk sales. This upcoming weekend, Sainte Catherine will be closed down for Canada's largest sidewalk sale. Check out details here. It's almost 3km long of sales!!!
Another little bit of happiness, i am officially a private trainer. I have 2 clients and today was my first day training them. IT KICKED ASS!!! i think i just might enjoy this!
and another thing, i think it's kinda sorta official, well i'm pretty sure i've decided on this... i want a serious relationship, no more of this sleeping around and booty calls (oops sorry forgot to warn you Jane...). I want something somewhat stable in my life and feel the need to "grow up". I don't have the means or really the "want" to buy a condo rite now, and i don't have the education to jumpstart my career and i'm too flakey for that anyway, and i thought, yup, i think i'm ready for a boyfriend. umm ask me again in 10mins...or 5.
Stay tuned for more breaking news.....

I've been a bad Montrealer. I haven't mentioned anything about the fests going on. The Francofolies, FIMA, Panorama, the Jazz Fest, Just for Laughs, Grand Prix, and info on more montreal bands.
Francofolies kicked things off. The busiest street in Montreal, St. Catherine is closed down for the festival. Stages are set up, all local venues are booked with shows for the festival. It's a great way to discover local talent as well as listening to music you wouldn't normally listen to.. french music that is.
The banners are taken down, a few things changed around and the Francofolies becomes the Jazz Fest. This is an even bigger event seeing as it is known internationally. Musicians from all over the world take part and there are so many shows to see it's overwhelming.
At the same time, a few blocks east, more of Ste Catherine is closed for the FIMA fest. Local painters, designers, and artists line the street showing their stuff.
The area between the Jazz fest and Fima, where ste-catherine isn't closed, there's a park where business men and street kids just sit and watch the skaters attempt stunts, eat lunch, read... This time, we all gathered for Panorama. Now, i'm not sure of the official name, but it's basically steel *drums* . There's no website for the fest but i found another pan fest which will give you an idea of what it's all about.. click here

New Montreal Band discoveries:
Maybe Next Year
A mix of alternative, pop punk and electro.
Delson Drive
Rock alternative with a flavour of punk.
Mentake
pop rock... they just sound canadian.
Meesh
I just bought their cd. it's rock with a pop feel to it. pretty good stuff!

Just a shout out to 2 fellow canadians who are nominated on What's Your Story?
Haroon and Vicky, best of luck to you both!

All right, so this is a tribute to Montreal Bands. Thanks to Myspace, i've discovered a lot more bands this fab city has to offer. Check em out

Explode and Rebuild
A mix of punk and rock... no music samples playing yet, but soon... hopefully

The Peaks
My fave band of the moment... just listen to them.

The New Sincerity
Also a mix of punk rock... you can download some songs from this site

The Chronicles of Israfel
Ex Pulse Ultra guitarist Dominic started this band... leaves you in awe of his talent.

Shadowed By Folly
Different sound, same great voice for ex Pulse Ultra singer Zo. PL... man with many talents. (i will deny having said something nice about u..i was possessed... no drunk.. no.. both.) When the hell did 5 Line Legacy break up? anyway, their guitarist is now with these fellows.

Sunman
I remember when Sonny was telling me about starting this band, so proud of him and what he's done. In trying to think of who they sound like, i can only come up with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers... but not really. check em out.

These are some of my current favourite bands (in no specific order) and/or friends of mine who's music i support. If they sucked, i wouldn't have mentioned them. Check them out, some have links to their official sites, leave them messages... preferably positive ones..lol

For more info on Montreal bands check out the montreal music scene

There are so many things on my mind right now i wish that all i had to do was think about it all and it would type up on it's own...
I was on the bus today and i couldn't help but listen in on 2 boys converstation. They were about 11 years old and each had a cell phone. First question... why does an eleven year old have a cell phone? One of the boys, who came off as being the idiot of the 2, mentioned something about his cologne... uhh.. why is an 11 year old wearing cologne? moving on.... stupid turns to his friend and says something about montreal being seperate. For those of you who don't know, Montreal is an island. His friend enlightens Stupid on this. Stupid then goes on to say "no, it's seperate from something... oh, maybe it's Quebec. Yeah, Quebec is seperating from something. I don't know how they're going to do that"

So here's the 411.... When i was 12 years old Quebec held their 2nd referendom meaning all those 18+ had to head out to the polls and vote on wether they wanted Quebec to seperate from Canada and become an independent country. The majority was NO... for the 2nd time now. The major reason why people want Quebec to seperate is because some feel that they are losing their french culture... i'll keep my opinions to myself just to finish this story...
Anyway, when i was 12, i was very well aware of what was going on. We had seperatist neighbours and we had those against seperation in our neighbourhood as well. My parents had already found a house in Calgary and a school for my brother and I. Jobs were waiting for them there, etc. I remember watching the elections on tv with my whole family while on the phone with my best friend. Many of us had said our goodbyes just in case we were all moving, it would have been done rather quickly and there may not have been time for it later.

Now, remembering how informed i was about politics back then i am quite baffled as to why Stupid doesn't realize that Quebec isn't going to physically seperate from Canada (i can just imagine Quebecers with their shovels on the border of Quebec and Ontario...hahaha), not only that, to have confused the Quebec with montreal.... mom and dad of Stupid... take the cell phone away and hand him a history book for the sake of our future.

My opinion on Quebec seperation:
Every time i have spoken with seperatists all they talk about is the language. "On veut notre Francais!!" they shout all while listening to english music and watching english movies (even if you watch them in french, you're supporting the anglo film-makers) If you want to support Quebec artists and denounce the others, then don't buy anything that isn't Fabrique au Quebec. Every time i have this discussion with somebody, they never explain how Quebec will profit from seperation. How will they do business with Americain companies? How will they do any form of business... Germany, China, Italy, all the vacation get-aways.... are all anglo first. So in order to do business with these people you must speak english right? Which means Quebec residents will have to learn english in order to work with the rest of the world, which means english will be taught in schools, and students will start listening to english music again and watching english movies (as practice.... i did the same when learning Italian) and they will start to speak english with their friends in order to not lose their 2nd language and OH MY GOD, things are back to how they were.
Whether you like it or not, it's pretty much impossible to not do business with the states. They are a rich and powerful country (even with Bush as their "leader" and i use the term losely) and other countries in general do need their "business". We need our Microsoft products, our Winners (owned by T.J Maxx and Marshalls btw) our Gap and Old Navy, etc. We also need them to make our products profitable. Two americans own Roots, they live in Toronto and they have Canadian citizenships, but they are American and Roots exploded when they dressed the american olympic team. only afterwards did they do the canadian one. Parasuco, Le Chateau, Celine Dion, the Barenaked Ladies... all became "big" after going to the states, before that, they were our hidden gems. Even our movies only have an impact with american backing.... Titanic, Crash, Annie Proulx was unheard of before Brokeback Mountain became a movie.
Most people base their idea that Quebec is losing it's french after visiting montreal and seeing how much anglo there is. The thing is, montreal isn't french or english. It's spanish, Italian, Lebenese, Greek, Polish, Chinese.... you see it in our architecture, in our art, you hear it in our music. You see it in the brown, the white, the yellow, the black.... Montreal has never been about french culture or english culture, it's been about culture period. The St. Patricks day parade, the Arab fest, the African Film fest, the Jazz Fest, the Francopholies, and everything in between. That's Montreal. That's MY Montreal.