L'invisible vue - La numérisation de la mort

 

By Pascal Boucher

Technical direction: Marc Doucet

Performers: -Luke Dawson, Hélène Messier, Julie Pichette et Mario Veillette 

archive.upcoming.org/event/108312

Difficult choice: Holy Fuck or Duchess Says + Les Georges Leningrad UPDATED

It's not fair ! On September 20th, there's two excellent shows I want to see. It's impossible for me to choose which one to attend... Duchess Says and Les Georges Leningrad at Rouje (More info) or Holy Fuck at the Grand Salon (More info)

***Edit***

Good news (!?!), the show is cancelled. I can now go see Holy Fuck knowing I don't miss a good show. According to Rouje, the show was cancelled a month ago by the producer. Newspapers made a mistake and published anyway. I did'nt check before posting... sorry about that.

Holy Fuck at Osheaga festival

I've just returned from the Osheaga festival in Montreal, my ears are buzzing like crazy (tinnitus) . I saw Holy Fuck and it made my day. What a great show ! Too bad it was so short.

Holy Fuck will be at the Grand Salon (Pavillons Desjardins-Pollack, Université Laval) September 20th. It's for the launch of the new season of CHYZ 94,3
http://upcoming.org/event/104419/

Here's a video of them live at the Dot-Dot festival in Nothingham.

Taxidermia - Soundtrack by Amon Tobin

I can't wait to see Taxidermia by György Pálfi. The soundtrack is by Amon Tobin.

Here's a link to the official site: http://www.taxidermia.hu/

New geotagging on Flickr

I first used Geoblogger to geotag my photos and it closed when the author got hired by Yahoo. I then found the excellent Flagr. The developpers of the site are great and open to new ideas. The website is getting better all the time. Now, Flickr offers geotagging as well (probably with the help of the geoblogger guy). It's a shame that the satellite photos are still in low resolution for Quebec City... I'll hang around Flagr again for a little while. I can now see the possibility to digitalize the whole planet as a probable thing. Microsoft is working on Photosynth, a software that let's you build 3d objects in real time with the combination of many photos. Google will eventualy jump on the wagon and combine it's power with Photosynth and Flickr. We will then be able to navigate digitally around every little square centimeter Earth has to offer. Imagine a Google Earth that zooms-in from space and let's you see the dime on your basement's coffee table.

***Update***

If you use Firefox and Greasemonkey, I highly recommend using GMiF . With that combination, you can use Googlemaps instead of Yahoo ! maps.

Pocoyo

I'm a sucker for animation in all it's forms and I found a beautiful 3D cartoon for kids. It's called Pocoyo . The characters are simple and gorgeous, it's feels like clay but it's CGI. The animation is spot-on and very dynamic. The music soundtrack is really good (cartoonnish electronica). The narrator is Stephen Fry (the voice of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Here's an episode from YouTube:

 

Photos Osez! 2006

I was in St-Jean-Port-Joli for the Osez! 2006 event. Here's a selection of my photos. Click on the photo below to see the slideshow.

   

An original idea by Karine Ledoyen

Choreographer: Ginette Laurin 

Music: Jérôme Minière and Pascal Asselin (Millimetrik)

Between St-Roch-des-Aulnaies and St-Jean-Port-Joli

Don't mess with my flight plans by David Olive

I've found a very interesting article on the Toronto Star's website by David Olive. It's about last week thwarted terrorist plot to blow-up multiple planes. He summarize very well my thoughts on mass-medias shoving fear down our throats, and the governments using that fear to diminish our rights. Life is dangerous, deal with it ! You can find the article here.

Osez! 2006 Official Flyer

 

  Danse K par K

Festival des barres à Jack

Photo credit: Unknown

A cultural event will be held next weekend (August 11th-12th-13th) in St-Raphaël de Bellechasse. It's the festival des barres à Jack. A weekend filled with demolition derbys (even with combines, wow !) , burn outs and the always popular Soap Box derby. On Sunday, don't miss the exhibition untitled "Viens montrer ton char !". The famous McDonald's mascots will even be present during the weekend. For more info: festivalbarresajack.com

CD wrapping

What's the deal with the wrapping for the CDs ? Is it sealed like that for more freshness ? Is it because I'm too anxious to listen the album ?

We can land robots on Mars with pinpoint accuracy. We live in an era of speed dating and fast food, I can't understand why it's so hard to unwrap a new CD.

Is it because the pirates are using portable CD-burners and they're copying CDs directly in the stores ?

I hope that in a lab somewhere, a team of dedicated Nobel prize winners are on a verge of finding a revolutionnary new way of wrapping CDs...

I consider myself as someone with pretty good dexterity and I get frustrated each time I buy a CD.

Someone, please help me, what's your special trick ?

Duchess Says - Cut up

Duchess Says

OSHEAGA Music Festival in Montreal

Oh their god ! I can't believe the line-up for the OSHEAGA festival in Montreal. I already bought the ticket for both days. Saturday, September 2nd: Sonic Youth, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Dinosaur Jr., Metric, K-OS, The Stills, Malajube, Joseph Arthur, The Magic Numbers, World Party, Amon Tobin, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, James Chance & the Contortions, Bush Tetras, We are Wolves, Duchess Says, Think About Life, Crystal Clyffs, Hushpuppies. Sunday, September 3rd: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, The Flaming Lips, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley,Bedouin Soundclash, Wolf Parade, The Dears, Lady Sovereign, G. Love & Special Sauce,Islands, Starsailor, Kid Koala, Final Fantasy, Bell Orchestre, The Hidden Cameras,Kiss Me Deadly, Call Me Poupee, Herman Düne, Zombie. Here's the website for more info: www.osheaga.com

My recent flags on Flagr

The flash player died, here's a copy of my flags thanks to the Wayback Machine: web.archive.org/web/20101228032211/http://www.flagr.com/people/SimonRoy

At the Ends of the Earth (Au bout du monde) by Konstantin Bronzit

America: Freedom to Fascism

Here's a trailer for Aaron Russo's latest movie; America: Freedom to Fascism. If he manage to release his movie on a large scale, it's bound to stir some serious shit. Have a look at his web site freedomtofascism.com for more info and spread the word around.

5 à 7 Osez! de l'été

You are invited to the fundraiser for the dance event Osez! 2006 that will be held in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, August 16th to 20th at sunset every day at 19:00. Map of the Cooke-Sasseville Atelier:

If you want to save that event on your Google Calendar, click the button below:

Superman is the man

I just watched Superman Returns. He's really the man of steel. The scene where he gets shot in the eye and the bullet crush on the retina is amazing. What a master of disguise, he just wears glasses and nobody can recognise him when he's Clark Kent.I thought I would be disapointed,but I really enjoyed the movie. It's pure candy for the eyes, probably the best superhero movie I've seen.

St-Jean Baptiste, in the morning.

BumpTop 3D Desktop Prototype

This is so cool. The minute it's out, I'm buying it. honeybrown.ca/Pubs/BumpTop.html

T-Shirt for sale

Shameless plug...

Boudoir + Versa Opening

Tonight I tried to go to the opening of the Boudoir and Versa terraces on de l'Église street, but it was too damn jam packed. 10 minutes of feeling like a claustrophobic sardine was enought for me...

Faubourg en Fleurs

I went down St-Jean Baptiste street today and it was the Faubourg en Fleurs event. It's a tradition in the neighborhood every year. The street is closed and all the shop have outside displays. The bars put their tables in the middle of the street, you can buy hot dogs and shish taouk sandwiches from some restaurants. Bands are playing along in the street (The Void where playing some Metallica, Iron Maiden and AC/DC). I love where I live !

Flagr + Flickr

Ever since Geoblogger went down, I was looking for something similar. I found Flagr, a site you can use to put flags on a Google map. The brilliant thing is, you can then link those flags with your photos on Flickr. Simply add a Flagr icon in the photo's comments and the visitors can see where you took the photo. More info about all that in the Flagr::Sharewhere! group on Flickr. Here's an exemple of a clickable Flagr icon:

Towel Day for Douglas Adams

Today is Towel Day to honor the memory of the regreted Douglas Adams. Basicaly, you have to carry a towel with you all day to show your support. For more info, please click on the banner.

Homemade Stop-motion movie

While doing some cleaning on my hard drive, I found a video I made some time ago. I used my old Sony Mavica FD91 (that camera used floppy disks !!!) and Adobe Premiere. The soundtrack is by Misstress Barbara.

Extreme bike jump

Here's two compositions I made of a crazy friend jumping with his bike.

My 1984 book in Peru

Hahaha ! I've just received an email telling me that the book 1984 by George Orwell I've released in the wild was now in Peru. For those who don't know about BookCrossing, you can compare it to an everchanging virtual worldwide library. You release or catch a book in the wild, then enter a journal about it on the website. After you are done with the book, you release it in the wild again.

You can read the travel log of that book on BookCrossing.com.

La Linea

I've recently managed to find more info about the La Linea TV cartoon serie by Osvaldo Cavandoli. I loved that show so much when I was a kid. I'd like to buy the DVD, but it's only available on Amazon.de. Some episodes are available here.

I don't get the hockey frenzy...

Someone will have to explain it to me, I really don't get it. I was sitting at the bar in the Faste Fou after work, having a beer with a colleague. Both TVs where tuned on perpetual news channels, the big story was about tonight's hockey game at the Bell Center. Is that really news material ? I mean, there's a million of important events each day that change the world as we see it... Do we need to know that much about a sport event ?

A colleague in Montreal this week was having a really bad day because the Canadien lost a game. I'm having a bad day when I learn that a loved-one died. I might have a bad day if I wake up late, to then ride an over-crowded bus on a rainy day. I can't conceive having a bad day just because my favorite team lost a game in the finals.

How can a sport bring so much passion/mass hysteria ?

Soirée Osez! Centre de création O Vertigo April 22nd

A party/fundraiser will be held at the Centre de création O Vertigo at the Place des Arts of Montreal, April 22nd, 21h. The night is for the launch of the 2006 edition of the dance event Osez! in St-Jean-Port-Joli, August 16th to 20th.

Map:

Soirée Québec 84 !, May 6th at the Sacrilège

An other Soirée 84 ! Music from the 80's by Dj Lo and Dj Zézette.
May 6th, 22h at the Sacrilège
447 rue St-Jean

map:

Tonight's Subhumans show

I've finally seen Subhumans at l'Anti tonight. What a great show ! Amazing ! Those guys are solid, and they can teach a lesson to many bands. It was a concentrate of pure energy. I wish they could've gone for longer, but I can imagine they were pretty exhausted from such a performance. The show went so fast, it was like a flash. It was good seeing that big crowd of punks outside, scatering around côte d'Abraham, still stunned by the show. Here's a video of the song "I Don't wanna die" I've found on YouTube that was recorded August 6, 1998.

Music made with a Commodore 64: Goto80

While listening to LastFM, I discovered an interesting artist; Anders Carlsson (AKA Goto80). He makes music with a Commodore 64, a Gameboy and various old hardware.It brought a lot of memories about the good ol' Commodore 64. I remember playing countless games of Jumpman, Impossible Mission and Moon Patrol on it.

An other crazy birthday party !

I haven't slept in more than 32 hours, so I don't know how the post will be like... We have a tradition with my friends, we sometime like to kidnap each other on our birthdays. Yesterday (well, still today for me), the LaTourelle Orkestra (5 members) entered my workplace and I was with two colleagues. They played Bubamara (Black Cat White Cat) for us.

After the song they gave me a note telling that a car was waiting for me. The band followed me while playing like if I was in an Emir Kusturica movie. We embarked in a Dodge Caravan mini van that a friend was driving and they continued to play in the car. The trumpetist was all squished in the back and still managed to play. We went from the Parc industriel Jean Talon nord to the Salons d'Edgard. It was like having a live radio in the mini van. The band was still playing when I entered the Salons. I don't like to be the center of attention, so to tell you that I was embarrased would be an understatement. I took a shooter of vodka with the musicians. I know the staff and they are good friends. Everybody was laughing and wishing me happy birthday. I was then told that we would eat at the Clocher Penché and the band followed me from the Salons to the Clocher Penché. I thought about running, it would have been funny to be chased by the band with pursuit music (I should have done it). On the way there was some peoples in the street claping and dancing and even honking. They played a last song in front of a mystified/amused audience at the Cloché Penché.

Originaly, my friend planed to have the band follow me in the bus trip home, imagine that ! I had a nice and delicious supper with very dear friends and then we went to a big party that a friend was hosting at his flat (it was his birthday on Tuesday). At some point, there was actually someone body surfing on the small dancing crowd. I managed to catch the last call at the Sacrilège and went back to the then finished party. There was no more time to sleep, so I took a taxi and went to work directly. Yes, I worked, I know it's crazy, but don't worry I was completely sober and in good shape considering all that happened during the night. Now, I'm completely burnt/incinerated/cremated and I have some serious ZZZs to catch up. What a great birthday party ! So long, and thanks for all the fun.

  

Super Cop video

You don't want to mess with that bad motherfucker...

Street Scratch n Spin video

It looks like I'm in video mode these times. Here's a clever little ad for a crossfader.

 

Red Bull - Crashed Ice 2006 video

Ali Farka Touré Buried in Mali

I just learned that Ali Farka Touré died March 7th. I liked his music very much, it sucks to learn that so late. Here's a BBC article about his hometown burial.

Death from Above 1979 - Romantic Rights video

 

Sorry for the Firefox users, the video starts by itself. If you can recommend a better way to show this video, let me know (the YouTube version sucks).

My Radio on last.fm

My tastes in music are very eclectic so this may not be for everyone, then again, everyone will eventually find something they like...

Here's a link to my radio if you have the last.fm player lastfm://user/SimonRoy/personal

You can check my charts at http://www.last.fm/user/SimonRoy/ The RSS feed of my recent tracks ---At the bottom of the right collumn you can see my recently played tracks---

The Fancy Pants Adventures

A cool little flash game with good music and beautiful graphics/animations

Clash ! Un show de danse

Don't miss the latest dance show by choregrapher Harold Rhéaume. If you never saw a modern dance show, this would a great place to start. Interpreted by Harold Rhéaume, Stéphane Deligny, Pierre-Alexandre Lamoureux, Karine Ledoyen and Arielle Warnke St-Pierre. As a bonus, the soundtrack is by Mathieu Doyon.

 

 

  Salle Multi de Méduse 591 Saint-Valier Est (Québec) Tickets: Billetech (418) 643-8131 or 1-877-643-8131 map:

Han Hoogerbrugge

Subhumans April 18th

 

I can't believe how lucky I am these times... The legendary punk band Subhumans will be playing at Anti, April 18th. It will be the 2nd time I see them live (3rd, if I count the Citizen Fish show in Sillery). 

Anti 275 Côte d'Abraham Québec (418) 522-9992,  April 18th 2006 at 19h00, 15$

Map:  

Tickets:

Billetech

Exo 260 St-Joseph Est (418) 529-9620 

Platine 847 St Jean (418) 529-8174

Ultimate - Mars Attaque !

This weekend (March 18th and 19th), Quebec City will be hosting the "Ultimate - Mars Attaque" tournament at Expocité , in the Pavillons des Bovins. You can find more info on the official website; www.ultimatequebec.ca/MarsAttaque/MA.php 

For those who don't know about Ultimate, here's a brief summary; Ultimate (often called Ultimate Frisbee) is a competitive non-contact team sport played with a flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc into the opposing endzone, similar to American Football. Players may not run while holding the disc. The game was invented in 1968 as an evening pastime. Ultimate is distinguished by its Spirit of the Game - the principles of fair play, sportsmanship, and the joy of play. (Source: Wikipedia) 

When: March 18th and 19th

Where: ExpoCité 250, boulevard Wilfrid-Hamel, Québec (QC) G1L 5A7

Phone : (418) 691-7110

Red Bull - Crashed Ice 2006. The course.

Here's some photos I took from the course of the Red Bull Crashed Ice 2006. I'm off to see the finals, I'll post more photos soon...

Click here to see the slideshow

Red Bull - Crashed Ice

Quebec City will be hosting the Red Bull Crashed Ice 2006 event this weekend. It's a combination of hockey, downhill ice skate (!!!) and boardercross. The course is a 400 m downhill ice-track with a vertical of 36 m from start to finish, featuring berms, turns, whoops, jumps and steep chutes. The course starts near the Porte St-Louis and snakes around the fortifications to end at Place d'Youville. The qualifications are Friday, March 3rd and the finals on Saturday, March 4th.

More info and videos here: www.redbullcrashedice.ca

Julio et Romette ou Hibiscus

An encore for the dance show "Julio et Romette ou Hibiscus" by choregrapher Karine Ledoyen, interpreted by Arielle Warnke St-Pierre and Stephane Deligny. March 10th and 11th, 20h00 at Nouveau Studio, 336 rue du Roi, 2nd story, Quebec City, 25$

Places are limited: 1-877-643-8131

Virtual data storage @ box.net

I've found a neat Web 2.0 web site (no bullshit, no ads) that lets you store 1Gb of data online (free). Useful when you want to have your files always available wherever you are. It's here: , check it out !

Bascule inc.

Here's a beautiful and mysterious japanese web site (warning, long download)

www.bascule.co.jp

Katari Damacy Online

A fun little flash port of Katari Damacy

As seen on TV (it must be true, it's on tv!)

Yeah right...

I've been watching an other ridiculous infomercial (what else to do when you can't sleep). I had a great laugh, thanks guys.

The product in question is the Sauna Belt system. It supposedly magically burns your fat (I shouldn't make a publicity for them). I searched for the thing quickly and got that review site . If you're stupid enought to jump on the phone to order it, you might as well burn your money, it saves a lot of trouble. How can you possibly fall for that ? You have to live in a solid bubble, and be totally unaware to the basic facts of life I guess.

I think the product actually works, I laughted so much that I lost some weight...

A little Frappr! experiment

 

If you stumble upon this blog, please leave a mark of where you are from here 

Frappr! let's you build maps with groups of peoples with the same interests. I thought it would be interesting to see from where my visitors are coming from.

A sad day...

R.I.P.

Marc-André Perrault

I did'nt vote !

After all I said yesterday, I did'nt vote...

I left my job so quickly yesterday that I forgot my wallet on my desk. I realized just before the bus arrived that my wallet was far away (and my cell phone too). I felt naked without my wallet. Thoughts of being-run-over-by-a-car-and-ending-as-an-amnesic-John-Doe-at-the-hospital floated in my mind.

I was shocked this morning to learn that you only need your voter's card that Election Canada sends by mail to vote. Many of my co-workers voted without any ID. Next election, I'll go around the neighbourhood and collect cards to vote many times.

No need to worry, we still live in a "democracy"...

Election day in Canada

It's the federal elections today in Canada. We're still living in a "democracy", but not for long if you don't vote. Please visit Elections Canada's web site if you need help.

There's not a single good reason not to vote. At least go to cancel your vote !!!

Soirées Québec 84

I'm not into 80's music, but a dear friend is holding an event at Gallerie Rouje next friday (Jan. 27th at 21h00, 4$). The event is Québec 84, a night filled with rock, pop, alternative and francophone music from the 80's. Dj Lo and Dj Zézette are the hosts for the night. Dress very lightly, the Galerie Rouje feels like being in an oven with all those crazy peoples dancing.

Photos moved to Flickr !

 

I've transfered the photos I had on Pbase.com to Flickr ! Have a look at flickr.com/photos/simonroy/sets/

Dystopia Update 4

If you're a big Cyberpunk fan like me, you'll love Dystopia. It's an Half-Life 2 team-oriented multiplayer mod that was created by a bunch of cool Aussies. It's a very fast paced game with cool graphics and a very different gameplay compared to other FPS. You can play in Cyberspace or Meatspace and both worlds have an effect on the other. The community is great and the game simply kick arse. It's free if you own HL2. Have a look at the website at www.dystopia-game.com or download the update 4 at dystopia-game.com/downloads/. You can see a trailer of the game here.

Rise of the machines

Technology made an other step this week. I received an automated call at my job from Bell Mobility. It was a message telling me to call them back at a certain number !?! The message went so fast that I did'nt have time to take the number. I was baffled for 5 minutes afterward, just thinking of what happened. What a lazy way to reach your customers ! It did'nt even say to whom the message was directed...

I got used to the automated call from Visa (a lot of peoples at my work seem to be in the red). It goes like this; "You have an important message, please hold the line" and it repeats itself forever. I make a point to protest when they finally take the line. They tell me that everybody is pissed off by their methods, but they're just employees and there's nothing they can do about it. I can imagine the poor guy with 10 calls waiting (the machine calls for him and puts peoples on hold).As soon as he hangs-up with a customer, an other one is ready...

Someday, we'll be forced to have machines to take care of other machines (like a personal assistant of some sort).

Birthday !

The 9th of april it was my birthday. What a crazy night !

5 Gmail accounts for grab...

I've got 5 Gmail accounts to give. 2 gigs of storage, up to 10 mb attachments, accessible via Outlook and the such. Contact me at simonroy66ATGmailDOTcom.

Enjoy !

++Show++ Les Georges Leningrad at Rouje

Don't miss Montreal's post-punks band; Les Georges Leningrad at Rouje, April 16th 2005. Here's 3 audio samples; Sponsorship, Supadoopa, George V