Montreal is known for its rich, cultural life and not surprisingly it has nurtured a galaxy of Famous Montrealers. Just think of some of the names that are known world-wide: Louise Arbour, Conrad Black, Leonard Cohen, Ernest Cormier, Patsy Gallant, Irving Layton, Oscar Peterson, Mordecai Richler, Lili St. Cyr, Pierre Trudeau, Jacques Villeneuve. If one of them rings only a vague bell, then Wikipedia can certainly remind you who they are. These are just some of the great Montrealers who are having or have had their impact on the world

There are two Montrealer names you won’t have a problem with. Who hasn’t heard of Céline Dion? Her many admirers are delighted that she has now become a fixture in the heady world of Las Vegas. Those less overwhelmed by her talents are hoping that the old saying is true: “Whatever happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.”

The other world-famous Montrealer is possibly known in an even bigger universe. He has spent a good deal of his time as Captain Kirk in Star Trek. Who doesn’t know the name of William Shatner? Perhaps his singing is less appealing than Céline’s but he makes up for that in so many other ways.

Check out the full list of all the gifts from around the world. It’s very impressive.

Continuing on the countdown of Montreal’s 7 gifts to the world, here’s number 2!

Download/open up this musical sample and read along!

Montreal is known for its vibrant music scene. Bands and singers from our city have made it big, and others have the potential to do so eventually! We can think of the obvious Celine Dion or Leonard Cohen, but in the more recent years there has been the emergence of a lot of musical groups! For example: The Arcade Fire (Grammy nominee), Malajube, Sam Roberts, The Dears, Pony Up!, We Are Wolves, Bell Orchestre, Simple Plan, and the list goes on and on. So that’s our gift to the world, musicians that are dedicated to their art, with new ideas and ready to take on the world!

Compiled list of other cities’ gifts for today!

Every day this week, many of the Metroblogging sites from around the world will be listing seven gifts that their city has given to the world. This past weekend, our writers have compiled, and voted for, a large list of suggestions. Montreal certainly has a lot to offer but we had to separate what is good for us from what is good for the world. In the end, we have come up with a list that most of you will agree with, except maybe for the order of individual suggestions. There was one exception however, the number one choice was an almost unanimous decision…you’ll hear about about it on Saturday. To see what the other cities have to offer, David from Blogging.la has been keeping a running tally.

For our first gift to the world I decided to nominate something that is actually named after our fair city, something that will impact others more than it does ourselves, something that was named by Kofi Annan as “Perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date.”

The Montreal Protocol

In the mid-1970’s it was discovered that halogenated hydrocarbons, commonly used in sprays, refrigerators and air conditioners, can diffuse to the stratosphere where ultraviolet radiation would convert them to chlorines, a potent and long lasting catalyst of ozone depletion. The protocol proposed new rules and funds that allowed for the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances. While the ozone hole still hovers over Antarctica, thanks to the persistence of atmospheric CFCs, the overall level of compliance has been high enough for us to hope that this is one problem that our children won’t be inheriting.

Check out all the cool Metroblogging gear that’s available for sale now! As a self-confessed shopaholic, I love hearing about new stuff to buy. And what could be better than some MB wear. For those of you who don’t like to fight the crowds come holiday shopping season, online shopping is the way to go. You can even get Metroblogging hipster undies. Perfect for the ultimate hipster Metroblogger. Check out the site and happy shopping!

Voting has begun over at the Canadian Blog Awards. There are over 300 nominees in the 20 different categories. This blog has been nominated in four. Best Blog, Best Group Blog, Best Local Blog, and Best Blog Post. I had originnally thought I would check through all of the nominees and find those from Montreal, but the number of blogs has prevented me from doing so. So I have put together a list of noteworthy nominations that I recognize. If you know of any others, please give me a heads up and I will add them to the list. Voting runs from today until next Tuesday. You may vote once per day. It’s not required that you vote in every category, but you must make all your selections before submitting your votes. So vote for your favorites and make your keyboard heard. The list is after the jump:
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What a past couple of days! I can’t help but shamelessly plug the Montreal metroblog because the posts were riveting and so up to date as “information” became available. I’m honored to be among such a group (even though I’ve never met anyone in the group, lol).

I spent my day yesterday giving conversation based English classes to adults in Laval and Downtown Montreal. Three guesses what we were talking about. There are a lot of feelings out there, and some of them are a bit surprising. One general theme from my (adult) students was the incomprehensibility that the guy basically screamed on the blog his intentions, and yet no one tried to step in and “help”. And in some cases, my students felt that the police should investigate anyone posting such material on the internet. And then of course we delved into the issue of “freedom of expression”. I was surprised at how many were willing to give that up if it were to prevent further events like this.

Mostly though, everyone is stunned and saddened. Bruised would be a good way to describe the city’s spirit yesterday.

I have opened up a discussion forum on the Metroblogging Message Boards as a medium for anyone and everyone that might want to “get it out”.

Not everyone is as fortunate as I have been to be able to write about their experience on a site such as Metroblogging, just as I have done right here on Metroblogging Montreal the evening it happened. The discussion forums might especially be of interest to anyone that might not have their own site or blog to tell their story, thoughts or feelings.

I encourage anyone and everyone to use the forum to talk about anything you want. Feel like venting about the shooter? Go right ahead. In a sympathetic mood and want to extend your wishes to friends, family or anyone effected by the day’s events? This is the place to do it.

Access the Dawson College Shooting forum right here (must be registered to post however).

I certainly hope that you have been enjoying these extra helpings of Metroblogging goodness during the month of August. A total of 15 contributors posted 109 entries this month, thus smashing the previous record in the balls and sending it whimpering in the corner.

Perhaps not surprisingly, traffic has also increased significantly. I’d tell you by how much, but only in exchange for the secret ingredient in Tim Horton’s coffee. Let’s just say that the only way we could have done better would have required a terrorist attack, a hurricane, an earthquake or a summer ice storm.

Thank you all.

I came across a post that raised that interesting question. It got me wondering and reflecting on how I tend to answer it. I know plenty of people that simply don’t understand the concept of a blog, or even most websites in general for that matter. They also don’t seem to comprehend that contacts are made and friendships can develop online. But that’s beside my point and question which is: How do you describe a blog or what we do when people ask or the subject comes up?

I usually just give the most basic explanation I can, saying that a blog is somewhere I can write about stuff I care about. I can rant, praise or babble on about nothing in particular if I choose to. All I know is that I get a lot of odd looks from friends when they find out I have a personal website, a few other misc webpages (ie: MySpace), or that I keep my photos and store numerous files online, and that I seem to always be able to find something to do on the net.

… I’m getting sidetracked again! So back to the point of this post, how do you guys acknowledge people when the subject of blogging comes up? When asked “what do you do for fun?”, do you mention blogging?