Rideau Canal

Last weekend we went to Ottawa, Canada's capital. And one can't visit Ottawa in winter without skating on the Rideau Canal (except for Tinneke of course who didn't want to put her infamous clumsiness to the test).

Skating is like riding a bike. You never forget.


Petra teaching me how to skate backwards.

Even the police was having fun!

We met up with our friends Craig & Nath and kids for an afternoon of skating and beaver tail eating (think a doughnut slapped and shaped into a .... eh, well you get it). Nathalie made a great curry afterwards that got the last morsels of cold out of our system.). On Sunday we took a trip to the LCBO, Ontario's state-owned liquor store (and counterpart of Quebec's SAQ). In general wine is much cheaper in Ontario than in Quebec (up to $3 difference per bottle), beer on the other hand is more expensive. Also, their range of products is different favouring Canadian, USA and New World wines instead of SAQ's preference for la douce France. Also certain types of alcohol are much more common to find.

So we left the LCBO with an empty wallet, but 10 bottles of Cline Zinfandel and Cline Zinfandel Ancient Vines (I've grown very fond of the Zin's during our little trip to California last fall), Soju (think Korean vodka), Singha Beer (impossible to find this dry smooth Thai beer here) and 3 new bottles of Single Malt to add to my (very empty) collection: the classic Oban 14y, Scapa 14y (from the Orkey Islands) and a very special WMD II The Yellow Submarine Bruichladdich 14y (Islay).

Living room concert

A friend of ours is raising funds for cancer research by training for a marathon. Besides being an exceptional individual, he is also a gifted musician, so we decided to throw a living room concert fundraiser event to encourage him. And because he felt the spotlights are too big for him alone, it was the perfect excuse to put a band together. The more the merrier so the saying goes.

We invited a bunch of friends (of friends) and the Montreal Flemish Expat Community and cramped them all on our living room. It was great evening, great music and most importantly for a very good cause.

Me personally, I rediscovered the joy of playing music with others. The organic chemistry of the band was just right. I think we all felt the same way, so I hope to continue doing the odd gig together.

And since it's the 21st century ... we filmed the event.


BAPTiSTE solo




The band, still looking for a catchy name.

Tinseltown

Only after living in Montreal for some time I started noticing that this city is often used as a backdrop for many movies. In fact more movies are shot here than in any other Canadian city. The bilingual staff, cheaper labour, proximity to the USA (only 5 hours to LA, 1h to NYC by plane) and especially its Old World architecture transform this city regularly into Tinseltown.
Recently I started recognising Montreal in the Curious case of Benjamin Button (Moscow and Paris scenes), I'm not there (London scenes), Death Race, Get Smart and many more. From our office building I was even witnessing a new John Cusack flick.

However lateley things have cooled a bit. Other provinces have lured the big hollywood producers to their cities with far more interesting tax benefits on labour costs.
As usual, politicians were slow to respond and have now finally increased the tax credit. This is not only good news for the big studios but for everyone working in the film industry. The local film industry more than benefits from the know-how and experience of working on big blockbusters. It also ensures that the local filmmakers community will stay vibrant for years to come. Some of my favourite local QC films are: Le guide de la petite vengeance, La turbulence des fluides (with the gorgeous Pascale Bussières), Les 3 p'tit cochons, Horloge Biologique and Québec-Montréal.