The loonie has indeed been absolutely atrocious. I have been checking every day against the Yen, and it has only been dropping for the last two weeks. Utter rubbish.

Also, I just read that it was poutine festival in Montreal this weekend. I am so jealous!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-s-poutinefest-goes-beyond-traditional-cheese-curds-and-gravy-1.3136587


Post 5999, how suitable.

So I recently discovered this amazing (and massive) portfolio of Montreal photographer Réjean Meloche, which he generously has posted online. I have lost a lot of time poring over the many excellent shots, and I thought some others might also appreciate seeing them. Covering a great period filled with historical events (e.g. Expo '67, the Quiet Revolution, the October Crisis, the 1976 Olympics, the passage of Bill 101 and the first referendum on Quebec sovereignty), I think there is a lot to be captured here for the simplicity but momentous importance, really time capsules each one. So much of a feel of the city is there, but even if you don't know Montreal, these are some great photographs.

The full picasa web archive can be found here: les Archives du futur.

Just picking out a few of my favourites to give folks a sense of the work,










And really, just so many more. Do check it out if you are interested. A great thanks to Mr. Meloche firstly for his work, and for sharing this extensive library of Montreal visual history with us.

^ Some things never change

Hahaha, yep, that is just what I thought when I saw that one too. And here I thought the [undoubtedly purposeful] terrible road structure in the city was a relatively new thing. How many city governments have went through since then, and nothing is any different.

Whatever your political affiliations, I think that most everyone can agree it is time we heave Steve. I sure hope this is the night, and that voter turnout is a sign of engagement, as well as the dissatisfaction so many Canadians are feeling with the direction our country has taken.

Trudeau looks like he's 15 years old...

I'd just like to say here how impressed I have been with the show of support for the victims and those fighting the ongoing forest fires in the Fort McMurray area. The devastation has been incredible, but thankfully - due to the efforts of an incredible response team - it has been mostly controlled away from populated areas and the massive evacuation efforts have saved lives. Since it began early last week, The Canadian Red Cross has now registered donations from Canadians totaling $67million, which will be matched by funds from the federal government. This money is already being dispersed to those affected, starting today. This is on top of all of the generous help with food, housing, and transportation resident of Alberta have already offered. I can't say for certain that this is unprecedented, but it sure seems like an incredible feat to me. I just feel it is worth noting the good in humanity when people can still feel empathy and come together for one another like this.

A couple satellite images showing some of the damage cause to the surrounding area:

Before and after (false colour, showing vegetation loss)


False-colour shortwave infrared showing heat damage


Smoke from the fires carried over to the Dakotas/Minnesota, and even reaching the east coast of the US




Thus far it is estimated the fire has burned an area of 229,000 hectares, and has displaced 88,000 people, destroying more than 2400 homes.

Montrealers (or least nefasth probably) might be interested in the upcoming event hosted by D&Q for a review/discussion of Chester Brown's new piece:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1611820515800778/



June 15th, 1900 at the D&Q library.

Ooooh, tempting! But not quite weekday-4-h-round-trip-drive tempting.

(I was going to post a video interview Brown did with Vice a few days ago but my Google-fu has failed me.)

Meat Loaf, of all people, came by the office today.
Apparently, he's a shaman in some Westmount church now ?!
I truly could write a sitcom about this fuckin' workplace

^^^^
Where do you work

That is an interesting development. Maybe Randy's antics brought a new spotlight on the area? I'd be curious to know what kind of ;messages' are being delivered by Guru Loaf.