Waydowntown!

What can I write now? Inspiration does not come easily sometimes. Blog are like writing in the void when nobody answer them. Ok whatever... I went to see a movie this week to the Nickle Art Museum on the campus. First I didn't know that there was a projection every Thursday night at 6:30. And pretty good movie too (For people who are tired of most of Hollywood crap). The movie presented was Waydowntown, a film by Calgary filmmaker Gary Burns film in 2000 in downtown Calgary with digital camera and then transfered on 35mm film. A dark comedy very refreshing and original compared to comedy I'm used to watch. The plot is a bet between 4 friends working in professional offices (freshly out from university). They bet one month salary on the one who will last the longer without going outside at all for a whole month without going nut. The way the building are connected by glass walkways allows people to do that if they want. I wouldn't personally do that but it's very funny to watch and the actors are all credible.

Art and Entertainment

What is Art? I think real Art is the one done without any materialist motivations. For personal pleasure or to achieve something greater than oneself and which will help people know more about themselves and the universe. For me Art must make people vibrate; When a person gets chickenpox whether listening to a song, watching a movie, or contemplating a painting, Art is really acting. Painting: in our fast paced society, saturated with images of all kind, we never really let our eyes linger or meditate on a work of art more than a few seconds. In this era of visual fast-food consumption, it's easy to become a passive observer who look at images after images without getting really deep in its meaning. Art is something to be watch closely, in detail and in a almost meditative pace if someone wants to become critical and articulate about it. I think that art is a philosophic quest. The intention behind any art work is the most important criterion and define art by itself. What I'm trying to say is that if the main motif of an "artist" is to make money, then his work can't be art. Art must be concerned by a higher ideals. A never-ending quest toward the unknown. Similar to the philosopher who ask questions to the world with his or her writings, artists' songs, poetry, sculptures, paintings, or dances, are big ? put there to make people reflect on the meaning of their lives.

Maple Syrup

Where was I with that story? Ah yes! This juice is collected and boiled for hours and when it has evaporate until the consistence of maple syrup, it is then filtered and put into cans, bottles, etc. The temperature must be perfect; too much cooking and we end up with a thick liquid (like honey) which is not good for maple syrup; Too less and the result is too diluted, too clear, and not adequate. Today, the process of collecting the sap of the maple trees is mechanical; a network of plastic tubes are connected to each tree in the "Erabliere"(a field or forest of maple trees) and a pump draw all the sap into the Cabane a Sucre to be boiled. However, this procedure is not poetic at all. For me it is ugly because we literally suck the juice from the plant, which is more like vampires who suck the blood of their victims. On the contrary, when I was a kid, we used the traditional way to collect the sap which is putting "chaudieres"(recipient) hooked under the hole from where the sap drop by drop fill the recipient. The sap is just flowing when the temperature is above 0 degree Celsius and at night the trees stop dropping their juice. What was I saying... Oh yeah! We used horses and big oak barrels mounted on sleighs to collect the precious sap. And then, when then barrels were filled, we had to head back to the shack and empty them into big reservoirs. And over again until all the sap had been gathered. I have to say that it was a pretty hard labour, for us as well as for 2 the big horses that we had because in Quebec there is, in average , at least 1 meter-deep of snow everywhere in the forest. Even if we used leather snowshoes, our feet still were going deep down in the heavy snow and it was very excriciating for a 8 years old kid. Sometimes we even had to help our horses, because they were stucked in the snow as well. But even if it may sound like nightmare, these souvenirs form the best memories I had from my youth. After a hard day's work, all my brothers, my cousins, uncles, gathered in the cabane a sucre to eat the unbeatable food that our grandmother had cooked: crepes with real maple syrup, real pea soup, ham, cabage salad, potatoes, and tea to help digest this huge amount of food we ate. This was a real fest.
I also remember nights of boiling sap , sitting, chatting and listening to a Montreal Canadiens hockey game diffused on a battery radio. There was no electricity there, just wood and fire to keep us dry and warm. I wish you were there to really see what all this really mean to me but the only way I have is to write that story which just tip of the iceberg of my memory.

20 minutes blog

It's now the season of maple sugar in Quebec, the province where I was born. I'm kind of melancholic when I think about me growing up with that culture, and these adorable memories that I have from it. My granddad on my dad's side had a "cabane a sucre" which is the place where maple syrup is produced, and every spring from 0 to 12 years old I was at the "cabane a sucre" with my brothers, cousins, uncles and aunts, and my grand parents. I'll try to explain a little bit of the history that I know of the maple syrup production, how we harvest the juice from the trees, and how this is, it seems to me, a very rich tradition of the French-Canadian culture. First when our French ancestors came in America, they develop deep relationships with the native tribes who where living in Quebec and the south east part of Ontario. Among these tribes were the "Montagnais" and "Iroquois" and "Hurons" people which revealed the secret that the maple trees were holding to us French foreigners. During the spring (from about March to April) the juice of these trees is going up from the roots to the top of the branches.(which is the same for every kind of tree.) but one particular and unique quality of the maple tree juice or sap is that it is very sweet. Then during the spring, if you make a little incision in the bark of the tree, the sap will come out and we collect it to drink it or to boil it. Our ancestors owe to the native people this amazing discovery. To be continued....

Breakthroughs

Psychological Breakthrough: Dr. Ellen Jane Langer – 1982

In 1982, American Dr. Ellen Jane Langer was credited to have discovered the relation between thinking and having a longer, healthier, and more productive life. In her research, she demonstrated that more mentally active people were having a longer life expectancy. Her motive was to prove the direct relationship between low mental activity and the degeneration of elderly people. In doing so she offered hope to millions of people whose problem were previously seen as irreversible and inevitable such as senility or depression. By her work, numerous articles, and six academic books, she has exposed how the human limits were defined by our own minds. She is the author of Mindfulness and The Power of Mindful Learning. Dr. Langer is the first woman to become tenured in psychology at Harvard University. Did you know that just by having to take care of a plant, a pet or by staying mentally active, older people showed substantial improvement of their life quality and have a longer life?

Working

Dream Job

My dream job would be to win ten millions at 6/49 and spend the rest of my life studying, traveling, and meeting new people all year long. This is of course a total utopia and unlikely to happen but sometimes it is nice to dream... Now back to hard reality! My (realistic and possible) job would be one in which there would be individual recognition, doing a project from a to z, working with positive and friendly people, and with opportunities for advancement. In my opinion, these values are what make people really happy in their everyday work.

Quebec Decision-Making Style Sucks!

In Quebec, the decision-making system is mostly like the American one which is Top-Down decision-making process. The boss gathers in a boardroom with high level managers to discuss of a problem and take a decision on how to fix it. They can also discuss of a new process and how to implement it. When an agreement is achieve, the new rule is forced all the way down to the lower level of workers who carry it on with more or less enthusiasm. It is, I think, a very stupid way to manage a business because it's like a dictatorial regime. It doesn't really care about employees' ideas or feelings. Ruling by fear, doubt, and suspicion; that's what it is! For example, if a low-ranked worker have a great idea, he or she will most likely keep it for himself or herself for fear to get it stole by a superior who will take credit of the new idea. The Japanese style is way much better!