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...

However, Blork points out that their deal with Cingular in the US brings some user rights issues into play (at least for Americans).

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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I found Parc Cruz's photos in a Blork blog entry, and some of them are jaw dropping. Well worth checking out.

Salon des métiers d'art du Québec: an Arts and Crafts thing at the Place Bonaventure that I scavenged off of Metroblogging Montreal

Huge, it was huge, and it was full of nice stuff. I went there yesterday, and I managed to get most of my Christmas shopping done in one shot. I'd highly recommend a visit before it end on Dec 21'st. Plus I like supporting local artisans and such.

Geneviève Grandbois makes the most beautiful, tasty, and interesting chocolates. Once again I bought a couple of boxes to bring home for Christmas.

I love Magic Idea, it's a bubble tea hang out in China Town that I've only been to twice, but there's something funny and good about it. I went there yesterday, and I've got to admit I really love their salt and pepper squid (oh so bad for me).

I'm starting to gear up to work on the mile-end.qc.ca portal, and I'm starting to look around at locally (Montreal/Mile-End) generated content. These are two blog related sites that look useful. I may consider approaching some existent content providers to see if they want to participate.

http://midnightpoutine.ca/: Montrealers need Midnight Poutine. It's a personal ongoing account of the city's happenings. It's a delicious high-fat source of rants, raves and musings. It provides the insight you never find in newspapers and the details and tangents that would never fit in a weekly. It possesses cheese-like flexibility. It's sometimes snarky, often unusual and always informative. Your order has arrived. Dig in.

http://yulblog.org/: YULBlog is a list of Montreal bloggers and a place to find out about the latest in person activities.

If you like French Cuisine, then you may love this place. I went with a group 8 for a birthday meal, the atmosphere is comfortable, and seemed well suited for groups. I, however, do not really like French Cuisine, and will probably not return. If it weren't for the fact that I eat fish, I would only have been able to eat appetizers. In addition the was food neither proportioned well enough or tasty enough to warrant the price tag.

Restaurant Yoyo
4720, rue Marquette
Montreal, QC H2J 3Y6
Phone: (514) 524-4187

Although they have some good beer on tap, I don't think I'm that big a fan of the place. Could just be the fact that it's downtown and full of kids, but... Although to be honest, I've never really liked it in any of the 3 locations that it's had. However, to be even more honest, I have to admit that I've been a bit of a Main, Plateau, and Mile-End snob since I've moved to Montreal.

But I did enjoy the company that I was with when I went there.

So my FSA/Vison Tech Mini Clip-Ons arrived yesterday I gave them a spin today. They feel quite different from the other aerobars that I've used, and it might take some getting used to. The pads contact the arms just above the wrist, and my watch made that a little uncomfortable, however, I think I'll be able to adapt to them. I couldn't do laps around the Grand Prix race track so I haven't had the chance to stay in aero position for any length of time, but soon they will get a good test run when I set my bike up in my trainer.

Hopefully the weather will permit me to take my race bike out a few more times this year. I'll be writing an extensive review of my cycling setup before winter hits full on.

I'm going to have to give Barbarella another spin soon. I love that movie, and for some reason I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I haven't actually watched it in about 12 years, but I think I'll still be able to get into it's cheeseball over the top 1968 sexy scifi B-movie nature.