new blog site

I was distressed to find that blogger.com has blacked out a lot the illustrations to my posts without explanation. Some, not all, were posters of movies that I reviewed or commented on. As protest I shall mainly discontinue posting at this site. Instead I plan to make use of my own:

                                                     http: lewis27.ca/blogspot

at Toronto garden show, 22 March 2012   

Raymonda

Raymonda
Раймонда
chor. Marius Petipa (1898), Aleksander Gorsky (1900)
recension Yuri Grigorovich (2003)

Bolshoi Ballet
simulcast from Moscow on 24 June 2012
with Maria Aleksandrova (Raymonda), Ruslan Skvortsov (Jean de Brienne), and Pavel Dmitrichenko (Abderahman)

The production was lavish and impressive, with peerless principals and excellent support of virtuoso soloists and corps de ballet.

War of 1812

On 18 June 1812 the U.S. declared war on Great Britain. The future of Canada was at stake!

Commemorations have been minor and sporadic, with little interest anywhere. Yet it is a fundamental event in the founding of this country.

Quebec students and the law

Arrests of student and other demonstrators in Quebec this spring have been been about 4000, mostly for minor offences against municipal by-laws or highway regulations. These have incurred fines for the most part, typically about $600 or $700, and do not leave a criminal record.

Pending are a number of criminal charges that are more serious, under many headings: mischief over $5000, inciting fear of a terrorist attack, possession of a prohibited weapon, obstruction of justice, assault of a police officer, conspiracy to commit a criminal act, participation in a riot, and participation in an unlawful assembly, to name most.

Four students, currently on bail, face charges relating to the smoke bombing of the Montreal subway system.

Student organizations have raised thousands of dollars to pay for legal costs and to reimburse fines.

In the residence of Amir Khadar, member of the legislature (Québec Solidaire), himself arrested and fined, is an allegorical black flag poster showing himself triumphant with rifle over the dead or dying body of the Premier of the province! The poster originated with anarchist performing group Mise en demeure who, to the tune of Ah! vous-dirais-je maman, sing about clubbing the Minister of Education on the head. It is actually the cover of their 2010 album, based on the iconic Eugène Delacroix painting of Liberty in the 1830 rebellion in France. Many, if not most of their songs involve some violence.
14 June 2012


Eugène Lacroix, La liberté guidant le peuple (1830)

This week:
About 100 demonstrators delayed their evening march to get a $10 red patch tattoo on their bodies.
Pauline Marois, leader of Parti Québécois, has been wearing the red patch.
Montreal is asking the province for $10 m to cover municipal costs related to nightly demonstrations.
An assembly of assorted pots, pans, and casseroles makes a tempting battery for a percussionist. La Presse published video of an enthusiast at work.
16 June 2012

Citizen resentment of entitled students will help the government if an election is called soon.
20 June 2012

Although Pauline Maurois was incongruously beating a casserole at Argenteuil recently, she no longer sports the red square. The PQ in power would reduce the increase in students fees, she said, but not abolish them. Opportunist that she is, she is aware of the unpopularity of the students' fizzled spring.
30 June 2012

A web site is now calling on students to prevent resumption of the interrupted semester at the 14 CEGEP's and 11 universities designated by the exceptional law. Meanwhile CLASSE has called for a return to the streets on 22 July.
[Montreal Gazette, 12 July 2012]

As delayed term resumed numerous student protesters and hangers-on, many of them masked, disrupted classes at the Université de Montréal and UQAM. Police intervened at UQAM, and 20 were arrested, all but one charged under Law 12 of 18 May 2012. Most students have voted for an end of the six-month strike. [28 August 2012]

naked and ugly in Quebec

Jacques Villeneuve commented about the students this week that they must have grown up with parents who never said "no". They were tiresome, threatening to disrupt Grand Prix Formula 1 in Montreal and, he thought, "it's time to go back to school."

Villeneuve, 41, was Formula 1 world champion in 1997. The response to his comment was a ton of abusive e-mail, including death threats.
[Montreal Gazette, 8 June 2012]



The 48th nightly demonstration, illegal but tolerated, turned vicious with the smashing of bank windows. The crowd was dispersed by riot police with numerous arrests.
[La Presse, 10 June 2012]

In Quebec Superior Court Chief Justice François Rolland to-day heard first arguments on behalf of a student association (CLASSE, Coalition large de l'association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante) against the special law of 18 May 2012 [L.Q. 2012, c. 12].
[La Presse, 12 June 2012]

Chief Justice rejected actions against parts of the law. Validity of the entire law will be considered in the autumn at the earliest, or perhaps not until January. The Court of Appeal declined to consider the case after presentation of arguments.


The Human Rights Commission*  meanwhile found the law of 18 May 2012  [L.Q. 2012, c. 12] incompatible with the Quebec Charter of Human Rights & Freedoms, citing articles 12-31. 
[Montreal Gazette, 20 July 2012]
                         * Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
                           The Commission's report is a mere opinion of no juridical consequence.


A provincial election has been called in Quebec for 4 September 2012. “In the last few months we’ve heard a lot from a number of student leaders," said Premier Jean Charest. "We’ve heard from people in the street. We’ve heard from those who have been hitting away at pots and pans. Now is the time for the silent majority.”
 [in Quebec City, 1 August 2012, after the electoral writ was signed by the Lieutenant-Governor]


Parti Québécois immediately announced, if elected, it would cancel increases in student tuition and scrap the exceptional law of 18 May 2012. Léo Bureau-Blouin is running as candidate in Laval des Rapides; he is past president of Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ).

showcase my photography

Parliament Hill, Ottawa (2006)

I am starting to create a portfolio of my photography, adding a few items each day, and inviting comments and critique. It is at a site for serious photographers, amateur and professional:
http://web.photo.net/photos/bel_ami

garden show (2012)

Ça casse!

Bonjour, Québec: Well, more fun in the street, red and black flags, lots of bling blang cacerolada — semester is suspended anyways. And, hey, Grand Prix Formula 1 is a few days off!

Who is actually on strike? It appears to be primarily students at 11 universities and 14 CEGEPs (community colleges) — that is where the semester has been suspended until August. The number of students registered in 161 protesting associations was 154,163 on 23 May 2012 — about a third of students in the province.
[www.bloquonslahausse.com]

The strike, now into 16th week, kicked off in a small way on 23 February 2012, picking up steam along the way.

Printemps casserole — le Québec en désarroi

much ado about nothing
Much banging, and smoking of pot, from all reports.
The cacerolada as form of protest originated in Chile in 1971, and has sporadically occurred elsewhere in Latin America, Spain, Italy, and Iceland.

Quebec's new ruling class

Maclean's (4 June 2012), great cover

Government has again again been talking to students, in fact negotiating with them. Both Montreal Gazette and Le Devoir report stalemate after three days [31 May 2012]. The public and tourists are avoiding downtown. Hotel bookings are off, ticket sales are down. Restaurants are laying off employees. Illegal demonstrations continue, with arrests nightly. Semester has been suspended in striking institutions until August. Many important summer jobs are imperilled. How many will never resume their interrupted studies?

Hundred days of student rage

There were 20,000 clogging downtown Montreal, and lesser numbers in other centres. Yes, most were students upset about an annual increase in tuition of about $250, the admission to a typical rock concert or good seat at a football game. But that was almost secondary now. Some angry mothers were seen carrying signs. Their babies were wearing red shirts, some carrying fleur-de-lisé flags — no Canadian in sight. It was almost like another St-Jean Baptiste on the streets, a beautiful day of the printemps érable that began 100 days ago.

There were so many cell phones in one area that circuits got badly congested and tweets were delayed or impossible. But quite a few still got through to Montreal Gazette, with minute by minute info and pics.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, history student at UQAM and spokesman for CLASSE *, yelled himself hoarse on the loudpeaker. The scene was pure mob. and lots more fun than classes, lectures, and labs. Mocking government, he openly defied the special law of 18 May 2012.** He has not been charged so far.

It was obvious to observers that the student movement was being hijacked by tons of others who disliked the current Liberal government of Quebec — unions, separatists of all kinds, radical socialists, and Black Bloc anarchists who could hardly resist smashing bank windows along the way, or throwing a variety of projectiles at police. There were numerous injuries and more than 100 arrests during the night.

* Coalition large de l'association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante

Dans ce conflit, les étudiants québécois sont représentés par quatre grandes fédérations étudiantes : la Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), la Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ), la Coalition large de l'association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE) et la Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TACEQ), qui participe aux négociations depuis le 23 avril.

** L.Q. 2012, c. 12:
An act to enable students to receive instruction from the postsecondary institutions they attend
Loi permettant aux étudiants de recevoir l’enseignement dispensé par les établissements de niveau postsecondaire qu'ils fréquentent
It expires 1 July 2013.

This happened on 22 May 2012.

See also: Montreal municipal by-law P-6 of 18 May 2012 (re wearing of masks and notice of march route, effective 19 May 2012) — Le conseil municipal adopte un règlement sur la prévention des troubles de la paix, de la sécurité et de l'ordre public et sur l'utilisation du domaine public

Newly elected spokeswoman for CLASSE (along with Gilbert Nadeau-Dubois and Jeanne Reynolds) ia Camille Robert, a history student at UQAM, and member of CLAC (Convergence des luttes anti-capitalistes).
[La Presse, 3 June 2012]

Le Corsaire
Корсар
chor. Jules Perrot (1858), Marius Petipa (1868, 1899)
recension: Aleksei Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka (2007)

Bolshoi Ballet
11 March 2012 simulcast

A great deal of work was involved in launching this version of Le Corsaire. The creators of the ballet studied archive material at Moscow’s Aleksei Bakhrushin Central Theatre Museum and St. Petersburg State Theatre Library; with the assistance of the Paris Opera, the original score was retrieved from the Bibliothèque Nationale; the old costumes and sets were reproduced, while, having deciphered the original dance notation in the Harvard Theatre collection, Aleksei Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka added dances of their own, their aim being in no way to sin against the spirit of that age when the last Petipa Corsaire loved, apparently drowned in shipwreck, but finally ended up safe and sound — the 1899 revival. [Bolshoi Theatre, edited]

The simulcast from Moscow was a tremendous experience — an impressively renewed great ballet of the 19c with Svetlana Lunkina (Medora), Ruslan Skvortsev (Conrad), and especially Artem Ovcharenko in the Grand pas des éventails (act III).
posted at Facebook

The Artist

The Artist (France, 2011)
dir. Michel Hazanavicius
rating: ✶✶✶

It's an ingenious b/w reminiscence of Hollywood in transition from silent to sound film, 1927-1932, with the story of a star unwilling to change. The obvious plot, interesting at first, becomes tedious towards the end.

Estonia Sings

The Singing Revolution (USA, 2006)
dir. James Tusty, Maureen Castle Tusty
rating: ✶

The documentary recounts aspects of Estonian recovery of sovereignty with the implosion of the Soviet Union. It is recounted in a breathless, patriotic style without historical nuance, and numerous crowd scenes of beautiful blond singers.

On reflection I reduced the film from two to just one star. Critics need to recognize the film for what is is: little more than ethnic propaganda.

Corporate America in Crisis

>The Company Men (USA, 2010)
dir. John Wells
rating: ✶✶

What happens in corporate America when executives are downsized and fired? It is masochistic to watch their comfortable socially predictable lives deteriorate with inevitable impact on families. There is one suicide in the mix, but at the end there is somehow a hopeful solution in declining America for the people we have been watching with no great interest.

Normally I don't post reviews of films that merit only two stars. However, this one is a tale for the times.

Pina

Pina  (Germany, 2011)
dir. Wim Wenders
rating:  ✶✶✶✶✶

A riveting dance film, as much for the director's ingenious presentation, as for choreographer Pina Bausch's extraordinarily imaginative, daring theatre of movement and human emotion, it is the best movie of 2011 for me.

A number of Pina clips at YouTube are fascinating to watch, as well as a long interview (in German) with Wim Wenders. It is remarkable how in the film he communicated the essence of Pina’s work and her enigmatic sui generis personality without resorting to conventional biography. As well one learned about the amazing group of artists she assembled and loyally kept together for her Tanztheater Wuppertal over the years. Five days after she was diagnosed with cancer she died in 2009.


Tanzt, tanzt — sonst sind wir verloren
Dance, dance — otherwise we are lost

Police, Adjective

Polițist, adjectiv (Roumania, 2009)
Police, Adjective
dir. Corneliu Porumboiu
rating: ✭✭✭

Even a slow policier has to have a plot with pacing, hardly apparent here. A young plainclothes officer stakes out some teenagers smoking weed, but has doubts about the law. Certainly the film has promising qualities of cinéma-vérité, but they are too casually developed, if at all.
dura lex sed lex

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty
Спящая красавица
chor. Marius Petipa (1890)
recension: Yuri Grigorovich (2011)
Bolshoi Ballet
with Svetlana Zakharova (Princess Aurore) and David Hallberg (Prince Désiré), and Artyom Ovcharenko (Bluebird)

simulcast from Moscow, 20 November 2011

It was the first ballet premiere on the newly inaugurated renovated main stage of the historic State Academic Bolshoi Theatre. A most recent and authoritative revision by Yuri Grigorovich of the company’s iconic Sleeping Beauty / Спящая красавица, it was simulcast from Moscow with stars Svetlana Zakharova (Princess Aurore) and David Hallberg (Prince Désiré). The production was of course sumptuous with Svetlana Zakharova, a paragon of poise and beauty, earning thunderous applause for a matchless rose adagio. David Hallberg, slight of stature but strong, entered stage with superb leaps and youthful ardour as amorous prince. Artyom Ovcharenko’s light and elegant Bluebird variation was memorable in the second act.

Romeo & Juliet

Romeo & Juliet
chor. Alexei Ratmansky (2011)
National Ballet of Canada
with Guillaume Côté (Romeo), Elena Lobsanova (Juliet), Piotr Stanczyk (Mercutio), and Jiří Jelinek (Tybalt)

This new choreography is fully Renaissance in costuming and true to Shakespeare dramatically. Sets are often sombre and basic, making the dance all the more intense: lyrical scenes of young love, rollicking crowds in the town square, sinister ball of the Capulets, all to end tragically in the tomb. To-night’s performance (2011-11-19) with the first cast was polished, lively, and exciting. The principals fully expressed a range of emotion, from infatuation and love to frustration and despair. The choreographer ended on a quiet note of closure in an interpretation that felt fresh and incisive.

Harvard befriends Facebook

>Mark Zuckerberg, class of 2006 (dropped out 2004), CEO of Facebook, revisited Harvard on 7 November 2011, meeting briefly with President Drew Faust, then faculty and students. He reportedly told students to find whatever it is that they’re passionate about and follow it, if they feel that it’s right: follow your heart, and things will fall into place. Obviously it worked for him.
[Harvard Gazette, November, 2011]

His personal fortune is currently in excess of $17 billion.

Remembrance Day 2011

Governor General David Johnston, Ottawa, 11-11-11
Remembrance Day is not a national holiday in Canada though banks and government offices are closed. It is a commemoration of all the country’s war dead, and more generally of all who have served, or serve, in the armed forces, past and present. In Ottawa the event at the National War Memorial is organized, not too impressively, by the Royal Canadian Legion.

On 11-11-11 the Governor General brought dignity to the scene along with the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers, along with the year’s Silver Cross Mother. Various chaplains added more solemnity (and some atrocious French accents), a female trumpeter in blue uniform tried not to flub last post and reveille, while a minute of silence at 11 a.m. was ended by the boom of ceremonial cannon. A children’s choir cheerfully and bilingually sang the royal and national anthems accompanied by a miscellaneous military band. Token soldiers stood at attention, outnumbered by militia and busloads of cadets. RCMP and Royal Military College cadets in scarlet added some typical colour to a Canadian public occasion of minimal pomp and circumstance.
The day’s numbers felt a bit mystic: 11-11-11