Happy Solstice~

Avec Jo

Jo left last night. Back to my regular hibernation schedule until the 26th, when my sis Denise comes to visit!

I'm quite in love with the above set of photos. Taken at various spots around town. Enjoy!

Nation's Wealthy Cruelly Deprived Of The True Meaning Of Christmas

Report: Nation�s Wealthy Cruelly Deprived Of True Meaning Of Christmas

"I hope people don't take what they don't have for granted."

There's snow?

Combien?

Jesus. I had one (1) comment on my last post and it was from a spammer speaking Spanish.

I went for a walk the other day. Above is the result of this walk.

ps. Alliteration rocks.

Listening to Nirvana - Plateau (the Meat Puppets cover)

Grey Pleather

Grey Pleather

Here's 5 quick photos. I haven't felt photographically inspired as of late. I've been hibernating in my apartment for days at a time.

It's terrific.

Listening to The Mountain Goats - Cotton

Musée

We got drunk and went to the CCA to learn! And learn we did. Did you know there was an oil crisis in 1973? Where was that in my High School Social Studies/History lectures?

hmm?

Listening to Ingrid Michaelson - Far Away

Planning. Stress. Accomplishment.

carbonmedia.ca

In between our regular client work, we've been working on the new Nation and Carbon Media sites. Well, here's the products of our labours:
Carbon Media Design

And you already saw Nation from my last post, right? Right?
Nation Toys + Tees

Listening to: Devendra Banhart - The Body Breaks

A big day, with more next week

thisisnation.com

Today saw the advent of Nation's new website. Take a look, and let me know what you think! Any feedback is always a good thing. Another huge website is in the works for next week... I've been busy!

Listening to Caribou - Brahminy Kite

Une heure et quart minute jusque à minuit

Around Place St. Henri

We went over time today in class. It felt very much like Elementary school all over again.

Montréal on Rails, tomorrow!

The Friendship Cove

Frienship Cove

Yesterday I bought a table at Salvation Army. When I was on my way out, I put the table down near some scarfs and touques I wanted to check out. This guy came in and dropped his stuff on my recently acquired table, and I looked at him and said something funny about it. I think his response was, "Quoi?". After the confusion settled, he invited me to a show at a place called the Friendship Cove. (See photos)

This place seemed to be a gutted out factory or something along those lines that people live in and play shows in now. Amazing.

The Thermals @ La Sala Rossa

The Thermals

Kaja and Jacob took me on a mini tour of the city yesterday, mini because it's so damn huge. We went and had really greasy food. I bought some record from a junk store to use as artwork (photos pending). And we enjoyed Rock Hour shots of Tequila at an exquisite cafe on the plateau. Then, a bottle of wine later we're off to the Thermals show at La Sala Rossa. I've heard this venue is owned by some members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Trés beau!

Graffiti, Round 1

My professeur will often use amusing anecdotes when teaching us such as "Je ne danse jemais le tango avec M. Bush", or "Je ne parle pas à Stephen Harper". Fun!

Make sure to check out Jealous Surface' website, they do some sick work.

UPDATE: We now have Dunny Series 4 and Ginger Dunny's in stock at Nation! Although, we're low on the Ginger ones...

A High of 26 Celsius? Wha?

School

Photos of my school!

I'm beginning to wonder if this apartment is haunted, I'm hearing at least one strange noise from something shifting in the kitchen every night. As well, everytime I make toast or cook something in the oven the fire detector goes off. Which gets super annoying after the third or fourth in a row.

Adventure Time!

Adventure Time!

I had a nice stroll home following last night's get together. I had to cross from NDG to St. Henri. Check the album above for a photo journal of my explorations.

Hands-down the third scariest walk of my life. Right near the end, I was approaching my flat and noticed three big guys all wearing black outside my place. A quick 180 and a walk around the block to give them time to diverge from my front door. Crazy stuff.

Listening to: Pinback - Barnes

Fairlee's Terrible Product

Dollar store orange juice? Sure, I'd give that a try. Who wouldn't? If I can get my orange juice for a dollar a hit I just might be able to stash all those pennies I'd save over buying the name brand and take a vacation some day! I'm not sure how they were allowed to get away with packaging this stuff as orange juice. It has no pulp, and tastes worst than McDonald's orange drink. I had to pour the remainder of it down the drain.

I'm off to play Scattegories tonight with some good people! Go board game geeks!

FedEx'ian!

Well, they weren't supposed to come till Friday but my stuff arrived today. Hooray! I had my first run in with someone who thought because my last name is Bergeron that I MUST speak French. Even though I was speaking English to the FedEx guy, he insisted it should be en Français.



Soon my beard will require it's own towel.

Almost forgot, I launched http://tetromino.com a couple of days ago. It's my programming blog. Yay! Along the same vein, Art Central new site was launched this morning.

Neighbours

Yves Laroche Galerie D'art + Scotty

Three lovely hippies live upstairs in my building. They're letting me use their compost and recycling bin. So nice!

A cool student gal shared a smoke with me and brought me up to speed on the neighbourhood.

Also, the internet-man came at 9am this morning, back to the land of the 'tronic.

Skunks Are Great

Français Graff

Last night I saw a skunk near my place. If only they could be house pets.

Radio edits depress me. UPDATED: Radio depresses me.

pirateradiousa.com

Highway Robbery

Things Reaffirmed:

• Dollarama is highway robbery. Seriously, how many countries are we putting one over on for these cheap petroleum products?


• Unlike Vancouver, people in Montréal actually password protect their wireless routers.


• Queen sized Sheets, Pillowcases and Duvet/Duvet Cover are expensive.

A Quick Tour

Just tilt your head to the left a lil'...

en Français!

Mount Réal!

Good day.

Things are going well out here. I'm completely in love with this city. The nice gal that I've been staying with has been more than accommodating, and is probably at wits end with me by now but is too nice to say anything. That's okay though! I think.

I should have my new place tomorrow, or Wednesday at the latest. It's a cozy 1 bedroom with a living room and kitchen. Furnished, with a futon and table in the living room. New oven, new fridge. Etc. etc. I'll post photos once I'm moved in.

The trains (which from now on will be known as the Metro) are incredible. They're actually on time, and in sync with one another. I was able to get from downtown to the far northeast (including a transfer!) in 20 minutes.

My buddy Scott mentioned that the government subsidizes language lessons here, and supposedly it's $45 CAN as a one time fee for really intense schooling. I'll definitely check it out once I'm settled more.

It's such a cultured city, and the nightlife is wonderful. We were out past midnight in the Plateau area last night and there were tons of bars and places still opening and full of people. SUNDAY NIGHT! Try that on for size, Calgary.

I don't really miss home yet, as much as I know I'm going to. It'll come soon, though.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading, more to come later.