Encore des singeries

An english version of this post is available here.

Septembre marque la neuvi�me singerie. Puisqu’il est question de cin�ma autour de mon carnet ces jours-ci, nous avons eu l’id�e de vous proposer un th�me reli� au septi�me art.

Quand un sc�nariste ou un r�alisateur doit parler d’un projet de film � un producteur (ou un studio de cin�ma), il fait un « pitch », c’est � dire qu’il lance l’id�e en utilisant des films d�j� connus. C’est un clich� hollywoodien qui, comme tous les clich�s, est bas� sur des faits r�els. Il para�t que �a rend la conversation plus facile avec les dirigeants des studios.

On peut dire du film Kill Bill, par exemple, que c’est La Mari�e �tait en noir, rencontre (meets, dans le jargon hollywoodien) Swordsman III. Ou que La Grande S�duction est un genre de Fabuleux destin d’Am�lie Poulain m�lang� aux Arpents verts.

Si vous aviez � pr�senter l’histoire de votre vie � des producteurs de cin�ma, quels exemples de films ou de t�l�s�ries utiliseriez-vous? Vous pouvez choisir de « pitcher » toute votre vie ou simplement une partie de celle-ci (votre enfance, votre vie amoureuse, votre relation avec vos parents, votre exp�rience de travail, etc). Je publierai mon « pitch » demain.

En passant, est-ce que quelqu’un a une bonne suggestion pour remplacer le mot « pitch » en fran�ais dans ce contexte?

Hooked on blogs

There’s an interesting article by Maud Newton about the blogging obsession in the latest issue of Maisonneuve:

« I awoke three hours later and hustled off to my day job. Scanning the news sites and Web logs to see what I�d missed, I slapped up three more posts and read through sixty new email messages before my boss appeared at the door.

�Do you have that article for me yet?� she asked.

In a single motion, I minimized Internet Explorer, opened the appropriate database and rooted around for the case she�d assigned me the previous afternoon. I hadn�t even looked at it. �Almost,� I said, �but not quite. It�s more complicated than I thought.�

I may flout office conventions more than most, but the majority of the bloggers I follow also spend a significant chunk of their workdays updating their sites. A friend who�s the proprietor of the popular blog The Minor Fall, The Major Lift (TMFTML, for short) told the New York Observer last fall, �I�m actually curious as to what people did in offices before the Internet. My theory is that every job only requires about thirty minutes of hard work a day and the rest is bullshit.� He may be exaggerating, but only slightly. For those lacking corporate ambition, who are unfulfilled by office chatter and obsessive about subjects unrelated to their work, blogs are a good way to fill company downtime. »

She’s back

Hey, look! Madeleine Peyroux is back with a new album and she’s going to perform in Montreal at the new Cabaret La Tulipe. I saw her sing in San Francisco sometimes around 97. Her voice sounded just as good in concert as it did on her debut CD but since then, Peyroux had remained silent. Excerpts from her new album are available here.

I got a pair of tickets right away when I heard the good news! What’s even better is that the Cabaret La Tulipe (514 529-5000) takes phone orders, which means that you save all the extra R�seau Admission charges. The show is on November 11th. I can’t wait!