Usine C is a great performance space. I'd never been there before last Thursday, and now I've been there twice.

I've decided to make a resolution to see more performance art. It's been a while since I've seen something as stunning as Johnny Ranger's Les Constellations Dynamiques (my review on Midnight Poutine), and it left me wanting more...

And on Saturday I got more when I went to see ROBO_COOP (my review on Midnight Poutine) as a part of Nuit Blanche. It too was impressive...

A week full of computers, robots, music, and dance... I'm not complaining.

Crow Face, Thundra, the Hot Springs, and CPC Gangbangs played at the Sala last night and I'm glad that I didn't let my tired body home body keep me home -- cause it rocked!

The highlight of my evening was seeing my friend Lisa Gamble play with Thundra. They have a very cool and interesting sound that I would describe as being original in it's derivation. Their sound was quite variant, and at different points reminded me of many different things, but at one point they reminded me of The Fall -- and I love The Fall. I've written about the Hot Springs before, and I'm forever impressed with Giselle's voice. Crow Face were good in that they sounded like a lot of stuff that I used to love in the early 90s, but.... CPC Gangbangs... well a friend of mine really likes them; I only stuck around for 2 songs. I don't know... they seem to be the embodiment of all the things I don't like about MC5 (although I do like MC5); they represent that other side of punk... like the Misfits -- I really don't like the Misfits.

It was cold... it was fun... Noze was great... and I danced my ass off. I loved Igloo Fest, there's something very novel about dancing outdoors in -14 degrees Celsius. The evening contained a pig man, half naked DJs, surprisingly good coffee, and fell complete with a little snowball fight. If you missed it... next year...

Turns out that Noze are consummate showmen: they got into the antics, and had some crazy vocals. I fully intend to run out and buy something by them ASAP. Everyone probably thought they were freezing when they stripped part naked, but apparently there were huge heaters underneath the tables on the stage. LUV said it was super hot and and almost blindingly bright.

"KICKED ASS" is the most apt description of last night's scene at Igloo Fest. Even with the night's Hip Hop bent, even though I have a mild (maybe strong) dislike of much Hip Hop, and even though I missed my friend LUV's set, it kicked ass. So if you were waffling about stopping by, or even if you chose against it, SMARTEN UP and get your ass down there to have it kicked.

It's outside, but don't panic you'll be fine, if your dress warmly: there is an indoor area, they have big wood burning stoves for a toasty campfire feel, and I think the Igloos have heaters in them. Plus there's a good crowd, and dancing shall keep you warm.

I've stated a couple of times that Coolopolis is my favorite Montreal blog, so much so that I bought Kristian's book "Montreal: The Unknown City". I haven't started reading it, but I'll post a review when I'm finished. I expect my review to be a positive one; he writes about the city with an insight and flavor you don't often see.

Aside: the archives of Coolopolis only go back 4 months... is the blog really so young?

Even the battery life on the iPhone is tolerable... I so want to dislike it, but I don't... In any case I have a contract that will last another year and a bit so there's lots of time for the competition to come up with something (preferably a Linux device).

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not the biggest fan of Apple. I like half their design decisions and hate the other half (those clam shells were hideous). I respect OSX and find it quite usable, but in the end Linux is way more fun and interesting. However, what I hate most about them is their fashion oriented trendiness; I especially hate the iPod trend (although they are technically sound, I would never consider buying one). I regularly use a 17" powerbook that I got from work, and while I really like it (the screen is great), I'm somewhat embarrassed when I have it out in public. In fact if it weren't a work computer I'd definitely plaster over the apple symbol with a bunch of stickers and install Linux on it.

But I think I may have to hand it to apple when it comes to the iPhone. From the look of things they appear to be the first to have gotten the convergence device right. This might be the device that I've been waiting for. I'll have to reserve my final judgment 'til I see it in action but...

So I went to see Bond, and in short, I liked it. It made for a good action flick, and I think they did a good job of setting up his future (in the past and future) character. The movie was solidly entertaining, but at the same time I didn't walk out of it with a wow sort of feeling. It's worth a watch, and it's definitely better than the last two.

The Save Frosty the Snowman show was really good. It wasn't what I expected it to be, but it turned out to be exactly what I was in the mood for. It was pretty much acoustic sets performed by individuals not bands, very mellow, and nowhere near as busy as I thought. However, I almost missed Jorane; she was on when I arrived.

Well I bought the Holy Fuck self title album and it kicks ass. Good running music. Gotta love organic feeling analogue electro.

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