Funkytown: The Montreal Disco Era. Studio 54? Qu’est-ce que c’est? By the late 1970s, “Montreal had platinum-status admission to the VIP lounge of coolest-of-the-cool disco cities.” An oral history of the city where no one bats an eye at going out to dance at 1:30 AM in –20°C weather. (Contains links to MP3 of CBC Radio documentary.) [more inside]
posted by joeclark on Oct 21, 2009 - 14 comments

The 2009 Hugo awards have been announced at Worldcon. Winners include Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book for best novel, Ted Chiang getting best short story and Elizabeth Bear getting best novelette. Best Related Book was snagged by MeFi's own jscalzi. The award for best semiprozine, which was to be scrapped, has been saved, this year being won by Weird Tales - a surprise upsets as it's main problem was that it had essentially become the Locus magazine award for best Locus Magazine. As well as the Hugos other awards such as the Prix Aurora award for best Canadian SF and the Chesley Awards for SF art have been announced, and Cory Doctorow accepted the Prometheus award for Libertarian SF. Convention reporter provides continuing coverage (the convention still has another day to run) and Starshipsofa spin-off Sofanauts has an excellent series of podcasts with regular Amy H. Sturgis and others reporting from the con.
posted by Artw on Aug 9, 2009 - 63 comments

People die and different folk celebrate and mourn in various ways. However, while it does seem as if everyone is blogging about baseball and boxing or UFC during these times that try men's souls'... not everyone can write about it for the CTV network. John will be missed by both Blue Jay and Expo fans and perhaps fight fans as well. Please take a moment of your time to click on some links, thank you.
posted by christopher.taylor on Mar 26, 2009 - 3 comments

BBOY JOKER (single link interactive youtube game) - Patrick Boivin (from visual wizards Phylactère Cola [wiki]) strikes again with a new stop animation game following his success with YouTube Street Fighter.
posted by zenzizi on Feb 14, 2009 - 4 comments

Montreal Graffiti/Street artist Roadsworth, who was arrested in 2005 and faced up to 250 000$ in fines, is back on the streets, this time with a permit and a commission. Interestingly, the title of the new piece (which stretches across multiple intersections on downtown Sainte-Catherine street) is "Défense d'Afficher", which means "No Postering". It seems as though he's commenting on the role of art and advertisement in public space, but maybe that's just my take. Thoughts? For a more in-depth discussion, read the Torontoist's article on graffiti), and for more examples, check out Vandalist, the same blog's photostream of T.O. street art, Streetsy, a great photoblog showing off various street art from around the world, and, of course, Flickr's STREETART pool.
posted by rssaddict on Jul 3, 2008 - 20 comments

La Reine et sa Cour Some pretty incredible photographs from this guy, David Giral
posted by psmealey on Dec 14, 2007 - 26 comments

Interesting photos and video of Montreal's standing wave, which has become something of a surfing hot spot (.mov) even though it is 400 km from the nearest ocean. Standing wave surfing is also big in Munich. Perhaps fallen Baywatch star David Hasselhoff had something to do with it?
posted by furtive on May 5, 2007 - 51 comments

Claude Laundry hates litterbugs and has the spontaneous camera footage to prove it.
posted by debralee on Apr 5, 2007 - 40 comments

Ryan Larkin [1943-2007]
posted by docgonzo on Feb 17, 2007 - 32 comments

Expo 67 photography
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Dec 4, 2006 - 23 comments

"Ça va faire une maudite poutine."
posted by docgonzo on Apr 24, 2006 - 39 comments

Quitting France: French Jews are leaving the country in ever-growing numbers, fleeing a wave of anti-Semitism. They are moving to Israel, the United States, and increasingly, Montreal -- where the mostly English-speaking Jewish community is preparing for its greatest demographic change in decades. An interesting if slightly anecdotal look at the situation for Jewish people in France from Canada's National Post.

Part 1 - Barricaded in Paris, Part 2 - Taking leave of 'the fear', Part 3 tomorrow deals with the impact of the influx of French Jews in Montreal.
posted by loquax on Nov 21, 2005 - 67 comments

WeFunkRadio.com has 390 full shows available for download featuring the funk, underground hip-hop, and rare grooves that are so hard to find. BitTorrents are available for the two most recent shows and there's always the audio stream and podcasts coming at you fresh from Montréal's CKUT radio.
posted by furtive on Sep 16, 2005 - 16 comments

When there's no more room in hell, the nerds will walk the earth. LARP nerds vs. zombies Another entry in the long tradition of nerd mashups (via boing boing)
posted by Gamblor on Jul 6, 2005 - 60 comments

Karla Homolka is due to be released today. For those of you who don't keep up with this story, Homolka and her husband Paul Bernardo kidnapped, raped and killed two teenaged girls in the St. Catherines (Ontario) area a few years ago, with one of the women being Homolka's own little sister. Homolka is getting away pretty lightly because of sheer stupidity on the part of the then-prosecutor. Well she's about to get out now. While the official Karla Internet Death Pool no longer exists, one does wonder how long she will last, assuming she's still planning on moving to Montreal's NDG district.
posted by clevershark on Jul 4, 2005 - 123 comments

Like lane markings, but better. Montreal artist Roadsworth transforms street markings into boots, bullets, and zippers. Sad postscript? He's been busted.
posted by optimuscrime on Dec 16, 2004 - 21 comments

MadeInMTL is a rich media application site that enables the user to explore the city through 15k photographs, 400 texts, 50 hours of video, 40 sound bits, as well as 25 short films that truly capture the spirit of Montreal in a virtual experience." {it be flash and I found it at netdiver}
posted by dobbs on Nov 28, 2004 - 9 comments

The Montreal Expos are moving. Writer Jonah Keri says goodbye. Though questions remain about whether the deal will be done (Injunctions have been filed, and a RICO lawsuit still looms), it appears that the cronies will again have their way.
posted by trharlan on Sep 29, 2004 - 26 comments

Ryan is a documentary about Oscar nominee/animator Ryan Larkin, who now panhandles on the streets of Montreal. A preview clip is at the far right of the photo gallery.
posted by disgruntled on Jun 4, 2004 - 5 comments

"The Royal Bank, last year, refused to open an account for the "No Committee 2006" saying it believed the committee was violating the human rights of gays and lesbians." (The No Committee being an anti-gay group whose only reason to exist is to oppose bringing the gay games to Montreal.) The Royal Bank stated that "we will not knowingly open and operate bank accounts for groups whose express purpose is to incite discrimination against minorities." (via Soapboxgirls)
posted by monkeymike on Aug 19, 2002 - 30 comments

The Silophone - turning abandoned industrial farm equipment into musical instruments. "Located in Montréal's old port, Silo #5B-1 was built in 1958 and has been cited by Le Corbusier as a masterpiece of modern architecture....These tall parallel cylinders, whose form evokes the structure of an enormous organ, have exceptional acoustic properties: a stunning reverberation time of over 20 seconds. Anything played inside the Silo is euphonized, made beautiful, by the acoustics of the structure. All those who have entered have found it an overwhelming and unforgettable experience."
posted by skwm on Mar 2, 2001 - 7 comments

Positive, by Ian Stephens. Not, perhaps, in the tradition of Day Without Art. But... Ian Stephens was a poet, musician, and performer from my neighbourhood in Montreal who died in 1996.
posted by mikel on Dec 1, 2000 - 0 comments

Christmas decorations too soon sparks vandals. At least in the states we have usually have until after Thanksgiving (Nov 27th I think) before we see anything come up. This year I started seeing stuff right after Halloween.
posted by john on Nov 15, 2000 - 2 comments

October Coffee Crisis. Montreal Gazette: "In its communiques, the BAF warned that Second Cup franchises were to be 'in the line of fire' and warned of an escalation of violent acts if Second Cup and other chains insist on keeping their trademark English names." More Trudeau nostalgia?
posted by todd on Oct 12, 2000 - 7 comments