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Occupy the Holidays

Accumulation of Useless Crap
Occupy Christmas: International Day of Action has been a welcome initiative for many of us. The holiday season is a hectic, stressful time for working families who end up spending well beyond their means on gifts, meals and entertainment. This spending spree now extends beyond the holiday season and into the New Year, as lining up outside big box stores for big ticket items has become a popular new tradition in the past decade. The real winners in all this are the corporations, credit card companies and banks, otherwise known as the 1%.

Most of us are painfully aware of this fact and have already adopted the holiday measures the Occupy Movement has advocated:

Supporting the local economy by making purchases from local merchants. This even involves filling our gas tanks at  locally-owned gas stations. Buying gifts from local artisans and produce from farmers' markets.

Leaving our credit cards at home because banks make their money from interest and late payments.

Using strictly cash and withdrawing only the amount of money we need. Remember that ATM or debit cards charge merchants 2% to 5%.

If North Americans adopted these few measures, we might actually succeed in cutting into the profits and power of the 1%, but unfortunately the Occupy Movement does not have the means to get this message out. Media in the US is concentrated in the hands of a wealthy few who also own many of the corporations that profit from holiday spending and year-round consumerism. Concentration of media ownership is also the case here in Quebec, where Québecor is king, taking in $4 billion in revenues last year. This corporation alone prints 37 dailies, 7 free commuter papers, 200 community weeklies and its media holdings include the TVA 24-hour news network and the canoe.ca news portal. Together, Québecor media reaches 90% of French-speaking households in this province.It`s no coincidence that Occupy Montreal camped outside the front door of the corporate headquarters.

The likelihood of  Canada's media titans Québecor, Shaw, Rogers and Bell carrying the Occupy Movement's media message of buying locally and using strictly cash year-round are pretty slim. That's why the Occupy Movement should be advocating the following fourth and fifth measures:

Read, support and make donations to independent media and share the information via Twitter, Facebook and other social media.

Continue to expand your social media contacts and use targeted hashtags to help get important information out.

For instance you might want to tweet something along these lines:
Kai Nagata writes 3-part series for indy Tyee on Quebecor's hold on Quebec 
http://bit.ly/o64hTa #occupy #indymedia

If you don`t have time to comb through left-leaning media, Toronto Star writer and social media maven Antonia Zerbisias or Montrealer Neath Turcot are people worth friending on Facebook.

Here`s a list of indy media outlets. If I`ve forgot one please leave a comment below with the name or link.

Indy Media

Canada
Adbusters: Where the Occupy Movement started.
Rabble
Tyee

US
Truth Dig (My favourite!)
Truthout
Common Dreams
Democracy Now!
Alternet
The Nation
ZNet

General news with a different frame but not independent:  Al Jazeera and the Guardian (Great Occupy Wall Street coverage to date.)

A portion of this has been cross-posted at Rover Arts

Related posts:
Occupons Montréal in Photos
Peaceful Tactic: Keep Wall Street Busy
Interview with Carmen Aguirre, Chilean Resistance Fighter












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Cycling in Style

Models at the Couvreselle Shop
I've written about Vivianne Myette's creations before, but this time around I visited her Couvreselle shop at her home to pick my very own bicycle seat cover--a belated Christmas gift. As you can see from the picture on the left, there is quite a selection. I had such a hard time deciding that I left with two before I chose a third. . .

Vivianne teams up with her sister to make these one-of-a-kind objects. Her sister, who sews drapery by day, uses an industrial sewing machine to make the covers, while Vivianne picks the materials and comes up with the designs. She got her idea from the bicycle seat covers she saw in Egypt.

The covers are meant to fit snugly and will stretch slightly to take the shape of your bicycle seat. But they`re still easy to remove, which is recommended, or they might walk away on their own. . .
Here`s one. Click to enlarge.

The seat covers are made to last. Durable materials are used and each seam is sewn twice. What`s more Vivianne is very conscientious and told me to come back if ever I had a problem with wear or design.

My friend Lucie bought one for herself and two for gifts, and they were apparently a big hit.

If you would like one for yourself, you can contact Viviane through her couvreselle website, where she also lists some cycling shops that carry her covers. Or you can visit her booth at the 10th Annual Salon du Vélo at Place Bonaventure, from February 17 to 19, in Montreal.

Other hood-related posts:
The Art of Mosaic
This is what 77,000 books looks like
Expozine 2011
Occupons Montréal in Photos
Bixi: 2012 Recap
Churros: The Uruguayan
Who's a Cyclopathe
Neon Icon: Miss Villeray
New Digs and Swedish Thrillers
The Haitian Barber

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4th Year: Blowing up the Basement, the App

My Dad an I Taking Pictures in the Old Port
We are around the date of my third blogiversary, and what an eventful three years it has been. Of all the hobbies I've had in my life, blogging has been the most enjoyable. I'm always learning something new.

This was a big year in our lives. We sold our condo, which took seven weeks of staging and cleaning up. A week before our big move, my husband got his dream job leaving me with the packing during a heatwave, at which time our air conditioner broke down, only after our car died.

But I still kept blogging, even tackling "the interview." In fact, the post that received the most hits this year was my Interview With Author Billie Livingston, who has a new book, One Good Hustle, coming out in the spring. Billie is one of my favourite authors because of her iconoclastic women characters. They can be sweet and kind and then mean and petulant just a page away.

A close second in terms of number of hits was a review I did for Elevate Difference on the Girls' History and Cultural Reader: The Twentieth Century. This was a collection of scholarly essays written about girls and the changes in their lives in the 20th century. Although this was a fascinating book, it was vast, and I found writing a fair, critical review very difficult.

The third most popular post was the eyewitness demise of Montreal's Georges Marciano. My friend Lucie was at Marciano's hotel bar when his priceless art collection was being seized by men in white uniforms. The jean titan's legal woes had finally caught up with him.

So in three years, I've added photos, videos and the odd survey. I have posted reviews, interviews, rants, how-tos, fluff and some discoveries. That's why I've decided to move on to special effects. (Please rub your palms in anticipation.)

In this short video, instead of cleaning up the basement with its mix of cat hair, wrapping paper, gifts and general mess, I've decided to simply blow it up. Just like Vegas! Here it is for your viewing pleasure:



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The Art of Mosaic

Work in Progress at Mosaikashop
If you can't part with broken cups or smashed plates and spend more time than most looking at bathroom and kitchen tile then you may be a born mosaicist. Before my children were born, I collected different colours of glass, porcelain, broken kitchen tile and beads, and I decorated counter tops, plant pots and tables. Making a mosaic is a great way to hang on to your favourite cup and all of its memories after someone has broken it. You can then use the pieces of the broken cup to create a border on a mirror, a picture frame or decorate a plant pot. I`ve even done mosaics in the molding around a room to great effect.

A Tray Exhibited in the Mosaikashop Gallery
Unfortunately, I gave this hobby up about 7 years ago because of the hazards associated with working with bits of broken glass and sharp edges around small children. And although I`d done a fair number of mosaics, I still needed some instruction on how to use tile cutters (effectively!) and how to grout evenly. Much to my surprise  after I`d moved to Villeray this summer, I discovered Mosaikashop at the corner of Villeray and Henri-Julien streets. If you enjoy the feeling of highly creative and colourful spaces then I suggest you come see this place for yourself.

A Project from the Mosaikashop Beginner Course
The Mosaikashop concept was originally developed at Mosaïka Art & Design (MAD for short), a world-renowned mosaic studio that specializes in large-scale mosaics. MAD is responsible for several mosaics in the New York subway. Mosaikashop is in fact first and foremost a mosaic school. Owner Suzanne Spahi runs the store and gallery and offers 3 workshop classes, and luckily one of those classes gives instruction on the basics, exactly what I was looking for (an early Christmas present from my husband). Spahi`s own mosaic specialty is to reproduce and reinterpret tribal rugs with mosaics. (To see her fabulous work, click here.)

If you would like to try a mosaic on your own at home here`s what you will need:
(Hint: you may want to start with something small like a dollar store mirror frame or a plant pot.)

 Materials
1. Some small pieces of broken china, beads, ceramic.
2. Tile adhesive (hardware store)
3. Grout (hardware store)

Instructions
1. Apply a small amount of tile adhesive to the clean, dry surface.
2. Add your pieces of broken china in your desired design.
3. Wait at least a day for the adhesive to dry completely.
4. Add the grout, ensuring that there is an equal amount of grout in between each tile.
5. Wipe off the excess grout with a damp cloth.

Voila! You have made your first mosaic.

Mosaikashop
300 rue Villeray
Montreal, Quebec
H2R 1G7 Canada

Other hood-related posts:


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Buttons, Ribbon and Theatre

Treasure Chest Full of Buttons
Calling all sewers, crafters and hobbyists! I was working on a snowflake craft with my children and needed a variety of white buttons to make Christmas gifts for grandparents, and I came across this fabulous store. There are many shops selling sewing and decorating supplies on St-Hubert, but none quite like Rubans Boutons.The owner collects antique buttons and has some of the most beautiful collections I have ever seen. He even has a wooden chest full of odd buttons that you can scoop into bags for $1, $2 and $4. This is exactly what I was looking for. I was even lucky to scoop some beautiful retro buttons from the 50s.

Effet V's Stage
As I wandered further to the back of the store I realized that there was a stage. Rubans Boutons' owner, Richard Letendre, informed me that he and his partner have their own theatre company, Effet V, and they just finished their latest show in October. They will be starting a new stage production in the spring. And of course, I'll be sure to drop by.

If you`re a sewer, crafter or just curious, this store is a must-see, and don`t be fooled by the modest store front, as is often the case on St-Hubert. There is an entire wall of silk ribbons, which of course must compete with the opposite wall that has possibly the most beautiful buttons you will ever lay eyes on.

Drop in if only to have a chat with the friendly actor/button store owner Richard Letendre.

Rubans boutons
7363 St-Hubert
Mtl (Qc)
Canada H2R 2N4
514 847-3535 

Other related posts
Café Cuzcatlan: Roasting Coffee Beans
This is what 77,000 books looks like
Expozine 2011
Occupons Montréal in Photos
Bixi: 2012 Recap
Churros: The Uruguayan
Who's a Cyclopathe
Neon Icon: Miss Villeray
New Digs and Swedish Thrillers
The Haitian Barber




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Café Cuzcatlan: Roasting Coffee Beans


Cuzcatlan Coffee $25,000 Turkish Roaster
Yesterday, I dropped by a café on St-Hubert where the owner roasts his own Arabica beans, which come directly to Canada from El Salvador. Owner Erick de la O was kind enough to show me the Cuzcatlan coffee roaster and talk to me a little about the art of roasting coffee beans. By the way, Cuzcatlan is the indigenous name for El Salvador before the Spanish conquest.

In the picture below you`ll see the three distinct colours of beans. Erick showed me the light, medium and dark beans he uses to make Colombian, French espresso, Italian espresso and the house special, Cuzcatlan espresso. The ratio of light to dark beans in these blends (apart from the Cuzcatlan espresso) is apparently an industry standard. Good to know. Obviously, espresso requires a higher concentration of dark beans. However, here`s a little fact that you probably didn`t know. The lightest beans have the highest caffeine content. (To read more about coffee roasting click here.)

Dark, Medium and Light Roasted Beans
I was offered a cup of the light roast coffee, to which I added a little milk. It tasted like a weak cup of coffee that you might have at the office. Then the owner told me to try it without milk, and it made a world of difference. It was a very smooth cup of coffee.

Café Cuzcatlan serves filtered coffee and cappuccino and espresso on the premises, or you can purchase the Colombian, French espresso, Italian espresso or Cuzcatlan espresso ground blends or just the beans. Erick supplies coffee to many neighbourhood restaurants, and it can also be found in a number of the smaller Villeray grocery stores.

Either way, it`s nice to know that you can buy coffee that is roasted just a few streets away and handled by just one person.

Café Cuzcatlan
7585 St-Hubert
Tel: 514-807-3754

Other hood-related posts:
This is what 77,000 books looks like
Expozine 2011
Occupons Montréal in Photos
Bixi: 2012 Recap
Churros: The Uruguayan
Who's a Cyclopathe
Neon Icon: Miss Villeray
New Digs and Swedish Thrillers
The Haitian Barber

Read more »