I was a big fan of Dragonball since I was in elementary school. It’s the story of an alien baby arriving on Earth with the only purpose to destroy it. He also has a tail. It’s loosely inspired by an epic novel called Journey to the West in which the Monkey King accompanies a monk in search for Buddhist sutras. FYI, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are currently working on a movie, The Forbidden Kingdom, also based on the Monkey King.

Dragonball Z is a 100 million dollars movie that will be filmed in Montreal and it’s a big deal for this city. It’s as if The Matrix was filmed in Montreal. The final fight between Neo and Mr. Smith was a very Dragonball-like fight scene. This should be great news for kids and older fans.

Other big budget movies, that will be filmed on Montreal, include Another Night, the sequel of Night at the Museum which starred Ben Stiller and Robin Williams, and Fantastic Voyage, a sci-fi remake.

All three productions are expected to wrap by next July. You can read more about this in this article from The Gazette.

A final farewell to the Spectrum, which, despite an enthusiastic petition, will close its doors tonight to make way for an office tower and big-box electronics retailer. Years from now, a new generation of Montrealers will fondly recall evenings spent shopping for iPods and memory cards under the magical glare of fluorescent lights, in a space that will surely have contributed as much to the cultural life of their city as the Spectrum ever did. In the meantime, the Gazette has published this obituary for the concert hall, which features a bunch of old geezers waxing nostalgic about something called “live music.” Luckily, progress will march on without them.

I bike past this sculpture a few times a week. It sits high up on the top corner of a red-brick building in Old Montreal. I have no idea whose artwork this is or even what company is housed in that building. Situated on the corner of Ottawa and Queen, I have decided to aptly name the sculpture The Queen of Ottawa. It is made of sharp and shiny arched sheets of metal in silver and red. In the mornings, the sunlight gleams fiercely off of it and it is just simply beautiful.

Today the Gazette finished its 26-part series on the A to Z of Montreal. If you missed any here they are:

‘A’ Is For Airports
‘B’ Is For Bells
‘C’ Is For Character
‘D’ Is For Door
‘E’ Is For Escarpment
‘F’ Is For Food
‘G’ Is For Garlic
‘H’ Is For Horse
‘I’ Is For Imagination
‘J’ Is For Jockey
‘K’ Is For Ketchup
‘L’ Is For Laundry
‘M’ Is For Mardis
‘N’ Is For Night
‘O’ Is For Ouch
‘P’ Is For Pigeons
‘Q’ Is For Query
‘R’ Is For Recording
‘S’ Is For Seeds
‘T’ Is For Trolleys
‘U’ Is For Under
‘V’ Is For Vanished
‘W’ Is For Water
‘X’ Is For … Kisses
‘Y’ Is For Yeast
‘Z’ Is For Zeitgeist

Does that list work for you? Which one do you think the Gazette got most right? .. and which one is the least appropriate? It’s only fair in that case to add what you think they should have chosen for the letter they got most wrong.

In a typical case of threat-by-bureaucracy, the proprietors of the Mile End Cultural Centre have been forced to cancel all ticketed events at the Main Hall for the rest of the summer because the “salle de réunion” permit the venue has held for the last sixteen years apparently does not allow for “spectacles.”

Yeah, that’s right.

According to their press release, the impetus for the sudden turnaround by the city is a noise complaint from one of the MECC’s neighbours, which may now jeopardise their application for a proper “salle de spectacles” permit. Because you know, if you’re looking for a nice, quiet residential street to live on, then Boulevard St-Laurent is just the place for you.

This isn’t the first time that noise issues have threatened cultural establishments in the north Plateau. Back in 2000, a proposal to turn the old Rialto Theatre into a nightclub was quashed at the last minute because of noise concerns. Meanwhile, in 2006, the borough very nearly evicted the Montreal Fringe Festival because of complaints about noise emanating from its beer tent in Parc des Amériques.

Coincidence? Probably not, as the borough has listed the reduction of street noise as one of the main priorities of its 2007 Budget participatif, which began public consultations in June and is scheduled for final approval in the fall.

Determined to buck the trend, the folks at the MECC have started a petition in support of their application, which you can sign here. For the full scoop, check out the organization’s website or, if you’re feeling networky, you can join their Facebook group. Tell ‘em I sent you.

Le plus grand événement en ce moment est sans aucun doute le Festival de Jazz, mais il y en a d’autres comme le Rendez-vous des cultures qui se déroule autour du musée Pointe-à-Callières. C’est un merveilleux événement avec beaucoup d’items à vendre venant de toutes les cultures sur notre planète, sans compter les jeux et les shows gratuits.

Ça termine demain, dimanche le 1er juillet à 18:00. Je conseille de voir la Société de tai chi taoïste à 11:00 demain matin. J’ai oublié de mentionner que le musée Pointe-à-Callières est moitié prix durant le Rendez-vous des cultures.

Headed down to the Gay Village today to check out the arts festival that Tornwordo mentioned in yesterday’s posts. The 8th edition of the Festival International Montréal en Arts (FIMA) is taking place this weekend along Ste-Catherine East from St-Hubert to Papineau and features some really cool stuff. What a great way to enjoy art, strolling along outdoors under summer skies. A mix between crafts and visual arts, not everything may appeal to all tastes but you will definitely find a few pieces that delight, attract, intrigue, perplex, or affect you in some way or other. I of course, lingered at the jewellery kiosques but I also enjoyed browsing the different styles of paintings on display. Purchasing a painting might be a bit too pricey for some but one can always opt for a more affordable notecard or magnet. In any case, whether you’re an art connoisseur or not, it’s a nice way to spend a weekend afternoon in the city.

The festival runs for another day tomorrow on Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

Whenever I’m waiting for the bus outside the Mont Royal metro, I’ll stand at the stop or sit on one of the benches and read this poem embedded into a red brick wall facing the Place Gérald Godin. No matter how many times I’ve read it, it still resonates with me every time. It’s these little gems in the heart of the urban landscape that make Montreal what it is.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge and enjoy. I would translate it but that would take away from its natural beauty.

Jusqu’au 8 juillet 2007 aura lieu le festival de jazz comme à tous les ans au centre-ville de Montréal dans l’espace bordé par les rues Sainte-Catherine et de Bleury et les boulevard de Maisonneuve et Saint-Laurent. Voici un plan des lieux.

Il y aura de nombreux spectacles gratuits à tous les jours durant toute la semaine. Les rues seront fermées. Tenez compte de ça pour prévoir vos déplacements.

Tous les détails sont sur le site du Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.