Note syndicale

1. Quelques suggestions

Oups, le temps passe vite quand on travail trente-cinq heures (et quand on est préoccupé par le fait que le mouvement de sa permanence n'est toujours pas complété après près de deux mois) et voici déjà le moment du fameux colloque (reporté maintes fois) pour discuter d'un projet de convention collective. Désolé de ce billet de dernière minute!

Tout les détails après le saut de page:

Home Log (2012-03-26)

The work at the new library is finally becoming routine. The funny thing is that I often end up doing layout for flyers announcing the library's events and activities! However the full schedule and the long commuting (nearly three hours per day!) are really taking their toll: on my first day off this week-end I slept twelve hours! I am not getting any younger, I guess.

I finally got and watched the dvd of Ken Burns' documentary on Mark Twain. Quite an interesting character. I'll never get tired of watching Burns' documentaries: he's always very interesting and I am glad that I still have many of his works to watch.

The unusually warm temperature of last week made all the snow disappear but the melting also created lots of humidity in the basement. Consequently, in the last couple of weeks, I've experienced an invasion of woodlouse (in french: cloportes). Fortunately, those small creatures (Arthropodes are not insects but crustaceans) are inoffensive but, still, it's rather annoying. I'll really have to take care of this humidity problem. Those cute little things are definitely the inspiration behind the Ohmu in Miyazaki's Nausicaä of The Valley of the Wind, so I can't really hate them.

I wrote a little but not as much as I wanted (as usual, I came back from work too tired to do much). I talked (in french) about the fact that local libraries are now lending ebooks. I wrote (again, in french) about the fact that many of my assistant librarian collegues are often over-qualified and introduced two of them who are artists and are exposing their work in art galeries. Finally, I shared my weekly news scrapbooking and a funny anecdote brought me to reflect on freedom of religion.

I also kept reading from my old notebooks (some dating as far as the 70s) and I am still amazed (okay, it is not that good but it is nevertheless quite interesting). I really must use some of those texts here...

However, what I would have really liked to do is share comments about movies and books. That's the purpose of this cultural blog after all. I keep borrowing books and dvds from the library or receiving them from publishers and I am getting quite behind in commenting them. Spring and warmer weather seems to give me a little more energy so I'll definitely increase my writing output in the coming weeks and months (and I'll take some day off to work on it).

Reflection on freedom of religion

Earlier this week, as I was about to leave for work in the morning, the door bell rang. Opening the door, I discovered an old couple of missionaries (something like the Jehovah's witnesses) who were speaking only italian! Fortunately, I could understand most of what the old lady was saying. She wanted to give me some literatura about the life of Gesù. What makes the anecdote funny is that they seemed as puzzled as me by the fact that I couldn't (or rather wouldn't) speak italian. I must admit that there are lots of italians in my neighborhood and the previous owner of the house was italian, so I guess they had my address listed as “one of their own”.

This funny anecdote brought me to reflect on the principle of freedom of religion. Hit the jump the read more:

Weekly Press Review (2012/03/25)

After some extremely warm temperature for the season (last week the thermometer reached 26'C, the highest ever recorded for March), we are back with a more seasonal temperature (cold and windy) for early spring. The bad news of the week is the death of one of my favourite anime directors and founder of Artland studio, Noboru Ishiguro (Legend of Galactic Heroes, Megazone 23, Orguss, Macross The Movie, Yamato). I've also discovered that Casterman is releasing two new manga by Jiro Taniguchi (links in french): Furari (released in February and already available in libraries) and Enemigo (due late June in France). Beside that it was a slow news week, but you'll nevertheless find my collected links after the jump:

Artistes en bibliothèques

Ces dernières années j'ai travaillé dans de nombreuses bibliothèques et j'ai constaté que mes collègues aide-bibliothécaires venaient de toutes sortes de milieu. Bien sûr plusieurs d'entre eux/elles sont des étudiants du CEGEP ou de l'université qui travaillent à temps partiel afin de payer leurs études mais une grande majorité d'entre eux/elles ont en fait une formation et une culture qui va bien au-delà de ce qu'on pourrait s'attendre (ou même des exigences de l'emploi: un simple DES). Tout comme moi, ils/elles considèrent souvent ce travail comme une sorte de pré-retraite, une façon de gagner sa vie sans se la compliquer tout en continuant les activités qui leurs sont chères. J'ai rencontré des régisseur de plateau de télévision, des monteurs vidéo, des écrivains, des graphistes, des pressiers, des chercheurs, en fait des gens de toutes sortes (dont plusieurs avaient des diplômes d"études supérieures). J'ai aussi rencontré quelques artistes. Deux d'entre eux exposent actuellement leurs oeuvres et je vous invite à les visiter.

Je vous ai déjà parlé de Karine Perron. Elle peint sur papier en utilisant diverses techniques : applications d'encres, déchirures et égratignures.

Comme tout les printemps elle expose ses oeuvres au troquet le Cep et le Houblon (situé au 2280, rue Bélanger à Montréal; Pour plus d'informations contactez le 514-727-3333).

L'exposition, cette fois intitulée “À tout vent,” se déroule du 2 au 30 mars 2012. Hâtez-vous de la visiter!

De plus, j'ai récemment découvert Louis Fortier, un sculpteur polyvalent (il utilise tant le plâtre, le ciment, la résine que la cire) dont le sujet de prédilection est la tête (souvent moulée à partir de son propre chef). Son oeuvre est intriguante (c'est une sorte de Dali du visage) et le curriculum de l'artiste est très impressionnant.

Il expose actuellement à la Galerie Donald Browne (située dans l'édifice Belgo au 372 Ste-Catherine Ouest, suite 528, à Montréal; pour plus d'information contactez le 514 380-3221, consultez leur pages web ou Facebook). L'exposition, intitulée “Métamorphoses,” se déroule du 25 février au 14 avril 2012 (la galerie est ouverte du Mercredi au Samedi, de 12h00 à 17h00, ou sur rendez-vous). Certainement à voir.


Crédit photo: Ivan Binet

Prêt de livrels en bibliothèque

Les Bibliothèques publiques de Montréal et la Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec ont récemment mis à la disposition de leurs usagers des livrels (ben oui: des eBooks en français, aussi appelés “livres numériques”) qui peuvent être emprunté de la même façon qu'on emprunte un livre-papier dans une bibliothèque. Voir les détails après le saut de page:

Home Log (2012-03-12)

Nothing much to report on the home front. I'm still adapting to the new job & schedule. The wife is back to work, so it gave me more time to catch up on the TV series that were accumulating on the PVR. I've binged on Alcatraz and Unforgettable (my two favourites this season), as well as NCIS, Hawaii 5-0 and Vampire Diaries (but I still have to watch Grey's Anatomy and The Walking Dead). But it's on my writing that I should be catching up. I have a pile of books to comment on and many ideas of blog entries that I would like to share with the blogosphere. (Read more of my daily adventures beyond the jump).

Weekly Press Review (2012/03/12)

My top three news of the week are: the death of Moebius, Apple announcing new devices and apps, as well as the one-year anniversary of Japan's tsunami. Of course, we must not forget the Republican primaries that keep polluting the news broadcast... As usual, you'll find the rest of my weekly scraplinking after the jump:

Weekly Press Review (2012/03/06)

In the news this couple of weeks: in the US the tornado season gets an early and strong start, an imminent Apple event will possibly announce a new iPad and aTV, and, frankly, the next series of Survivors should not be held on an island but on a cruise ship! You'll find much more news right after the jump:

35th Japan Academy Award Winner

The Japan Academy Prize Association has just announced the Award winners for its 35th edition (for the nomination see our previous blog entry):

• Best Picture of the year: Rebirth (“Youkame no Semi”, dir.: Izuru Narushima)
• Best Director of the year: Izuru Narushima (Rebirth)
• Best Animation of the year: From up on Poppy Hill (“Kokuriko-Zaka Kara”, dir.: Goro Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli)
• Best Actor of the year: Yoshio Harada (Someday)
• Best Actress of the year: Mao Inoue (Rebirth)
• Best Supporting Actor of the year: Denden (Cold Fish)
• Best Supporting Actress of the year: Hiromi Nagasaku (Rebirth)
• Best Screenplay of the year: Satoko Okudera (Rebirth)
• Best Music of the year: Goro Yasukawa (Rebirth)
• Best Cinematography of the year:Junichi Fujisawa (Rebirth)
• Best Lighting of the year: Masao Kanazawa (Rebirth)
• Best Art Direction of the year: Yoshinobu Nishioka & Tetsuo Harada (The Last Ronin)
• Best Sound of the year: Kenichi Fujimoto (Rebirth)
• Best Editing of the year: Chise Sanjo (Rebirth)
• Best Foreign Language Film of the year: The King's Speech

Rebirth is clearly the overall winner!

For more details on the award winners you can check Anime News Network, AsianWiki and the Japan Academy Prize official site.