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Seems like everybody is going to San Francisco these days. When people ask me what they should see when they travel in the Bay Area (around San Francisco), I can’t seem to shut up. Ideas of things to see and do just flow out of my mind. But if anybody asks me the same about Montreal and its surroundings, I go blank. Get to the top of Mont-Royal? Hang out on St-Denis? Walk around the Mile-End and buy a bagel? I’m so out of ideas that it’s sad and a little pathetic.

When I lived in California, I spent my weekends exploring. I was hanging out with a bunch of expats. No one knew how long we would stay in the U.S. so there was a sense of urgency (un sentiment d’urgence – I’m not sure how to translate that), a desire to get to know California well before we moved back home. We would travel around, try out a new hiking spot, rent a chalet, take day trips. Even hanging out in a little-known neighborhood of the city was fun. ( I do have to admit that I explored less and less as the years passed.)

Now that I am back in my home province, I can’t seem to stimulate that desire for discovery. I get lazy about planning weekends away, about driving for 3 hours just to discover a new town. There’s always reading to do, movies to see, family to hang out with, projects around the house.

Yes, the highways are more boring here. Yes, hiking in bug free California is much more fun than in our mosquito infested woods. Yes, after the spectacular landscapes of the West Coast, a trip to Trois-Rivi�res can seem pretty dull. But after reading a blog like Cassandra Pages, I wish I could discover Montreal all over again and learn to love its surroundings more. After all, I’ve lived here for a shorter time than I lived in San Francisco. There is still a lot to see and do.

Then again, if I could move my family, my friends, my not-too-expensive house and my job to the Bay Area, maybe I’d be ready to leave again tomorrow morning. But only if they didn’t re-elect that crazy monkey-looking president. Rien n’est jamais parfait.

Oh dude, French Canadians are easy. Sex to them is like a fucking hand shake.

Vu:

Garden State, premier film de l’acteur Zach Braff. Premi�re oeuvre tr�s agr�able. La force de ce nouveau sc�nariste/r�alisateur (qui joue aussi le r�le principal) tient dans sa belle gallerie de personnages. Quelques clich�s facilement pardonnables – dont la sc�ne d’�piphanie sous la pluie et la conversation avec le p�re � laquelle on ne croit pas enti�rement – mais le film �vite tout de m�me bien des d�fauts de premiers films et l’oeuvre, tout comme Braff, n’est pas pr�tentieuse du tout. Natalie Portman joue tr�s bien les jeunes filles brillantes et excentriques – un r�le qui m’a fait penser � celui de Kate Winslet dans Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – en plus attachant. Je pense que les hommes sc�naristes aiment bien les filles un peu « bordeline » qui leur servent de muse.

Si l’on se base sur l’auditoire de la s�ance � laquelle j’ai assist� � Montr�al, ce film devrait devenir une oeuvre « culte » pour les jeunes du d�but de la vingtaine, branch�s mais plut�t alternatifs, ceux qui, comme le personnage jou� par Braff, se sentent toujours un peu exclus. � la fin du film, la jeune fille ronde au pantalon taille basse assise seule � c�t� de nous, s’est empress�e d’allumer son cellulaire. Elle n’avait pas de message et est sortie de la salle l’air un peu triste. Personne ne l’aimait. C’est dur, la jeune vingtaine…

Les gens du marketing du film Garden State ont sugg�r� � Braff de tenir un blogue, ce qu’il fait avec un bel enthousiasme depuis 2 mois. Au d�but de juillet, Braff recevait environ 75 commentaires par billet. Pour son plus r�cent billet, Braff a re�u 1189 commentaires (au moment de la r�daction de mon billet)! Le r�alisateur esp�re continuer de pouvoir lire les commentaires mais maintenant qu’il est retourn� � son r�le r�gulier � la t�l�, il n’est plus certain du tout d’y arriver. On ne peut pas lui en vouloir…

Voici un extrait de son blogue:
« Wow. You people are beyond kind. I’m completely shocked by the outpouring of support and love for « Garden State ». It’s midnight here in LA and I just got home from work, but I had to post something; some kind of response to say that in my wildest daydreams I never imagined so many people would be responding like they are to my first film. It makes me so inspired to write more and do it again. I feel so lucky to have this blog; it feels like I have direct contact with the film’s audience every single day. It’s a very unique experience for me and I’m so glad I listened to the web guys when they said that people would actually be interested in reading my posts. »