The Killa Thrilla: October 2009

A Montreal Halloween extravaganza

I just published a new article on Halloween in Montreal. I hasn't been an amazing day for creating, yet that's exactly what I did, and more than once (see previous post for example). Maybe these are exactly the kind of days I need, but not too often hopefully, for the sake of my job and my sanity.

Asterix is turning 50

Asterix, the famous French comic is turning 50 today, as the 29th October marks the date at which the comic appeared first in magazine Pilote.

I wouldn't have written about this (pretty much) non-event for me, but Google has marked the anniversary with an amazing logo-redesign:

So here we are, Google is reminding us of Asterix, and I can't help but think about the hours spent in the public library of Cote-des-Neiges, basking in it's warmth and pleasant old-paper and dust smell, reading hard covered and heavily used Asterix, Lucky Luke, Tintin and Spirou.

Here is a littler video celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Cotye-des-Neiges library:

And as nothing is ever black or white, but tends to be more shaded, the BBC published an interesting article recently questioning if Asterix should continue its existence after this anniversary, or follow the footsteps of Tintin and retire from the imaginary world of drawn adventures.

China 60 years latter

If you're like me and your not big into vulgar displays of man-killing machinery staged by a regime with little regard for personal freedoms and rights, then you probably would understand why I wasn't interested by watching the grotesque parade organized for the People Republic of China's 60th anniversary. Nationalism and tanks aren't my thing anyways.

Yet, there is something animal and visceral about military parades (because that's what the celebration was mostly for). There is something scary and curiosity-exciting about watching parade these enormous trucks carrying missiles than can wipe-out entire cities at the whim of a single person commanding them. There is a whole lot of something impressive about watching thousands of people walking in sync, emulating brain-connected robots (of the future).

And so I succumbed to my curiosity and animal instincts, and watched this amazingly beautifully video, shot on a DSLR camera (here is the story behind the making of the video, simply impressive), and which didn't require me to waste a couple of hours of my life, by compressing all that is esthetically beautiful in a 3 min 42 seconds video: (see the whole thing in larger format straight at Vimeo http://vimeo.com/6853452)