Auteur : Martine

There are some issues in the news today about the need to secure dressers and other large pieces of furniture to the walls if you live with young children. There has recently been some serious accidents that injured children so the Hospital Sainte-Justine in Montreal is sending a warning to parents.

The subject is serious and yet it made me smile when I saw a demonstration on tv this morning. You see, I used to be one of those short kids who climb on everything to reach what they need. I figured I could reach the content on the top of my dresser by opening the drawers and creating a staircase. I would try to do this quietly and keep my balance but it would never work and I’d think « oh, oh » as the dresser threw me to the floor and fell on my body, the content of its drawers flying off in the room. My mom would come running, lift the dresser off of me, check if I was okay (I always was, lucky me) and then give me a hard time.

I wouldn’t try it for a couple of months and would forget how dangerous it was… until I really needed something that was on top of my dresser and gave it another shot. « Oh oh ». Same scenario.

My mother would get scared every time but my parents never considered securing the dresser to the wall. They just trusted that I’d be smart enough to not try it again. Probably not the best idea but things were different then. There wasn’t this constant sense of danger surrounding kids in the seventies.

I don’t climb anymore now. I just jump, aiming for the object of my desire, coordinating the grip and the landing. You should see me catch a box of cereal from the top cupboard of the kitchen, or a roll of toilet paper that has reached the back of the bathroom closet. There should be special Olympics for short people. I’d rock.

Le d�partement d’histoire de l’art et d’�tudes cin�matographiques de l’Universit� de Montr�al est en train de parachever l’organisation d’un programme de doctorat en �tudes cin�matographiques. Ce programme de troisi�me cycle sur le septi�me art serait le premier du genre au Canada et le seul offert en langue fran�aise en Am�rique.

(La nouvelle avec un peu plus de d�tails, ici.)

Il �tait temps! � mon « �poque », ceux qui s’int�ressaient au cin�ma au Qu�bec et voulaient faire des �tudes sup�rieures devaient soit s’exiler, soit passer par un autre d�partement. C’est comme �a que je me suis retrouv�e avec une ma�trise en litt�rature fran�aise alors que mon programme d’�tudes �tait vraiment concentr� sur le cin�ma. Profitez-en bien, les p’tits jeunes. Moi, je ne retourne pas � l’�cole.

Depuis les �v�nements reli�s aux fameuses caricatures de Mahomet, je n’arr�te pas de penser au titre de ce nouveau film, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. Incroyable comme sens du timing! Je me demande si les �v�nements serviront le film ou non. J’en doute. Les critiques ne sont pas tr�s bonnes et le sujet ne fait sourire personne ces jours-ci.

Big Mamma 2 aura s�rement plus de succ�s…