tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168859652007-06-03T20:04:50.640-04:00PortelanceBlogger250125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-26086219905632946012007-06-03T19:46:00.000-04:002007-06-04T20:55:51.074-04:00

I bought sardines today, something I do not too often. I tend to eat them whenever I get some private time to myself. It's an odd thing to say the least. It's not as if I hate sardines, they just aren't something I can eat on a regular basis, and yet I probably would buy some every time I would go the grocery store ending with an uneaten stack for months, and they, one faithful day, the stack

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-14400161271349858802007-05-24T16:49:00.000-04:002007-05-29T20:48:20.523-04:00

I've come to think most Quebecois last names contain only 2 syllables: Chartier, Ouillet, Mailler, Fournier, Gravel, Tremblay, Gagnon, Brunet, etc... Yet first names are becoming longer and composed: Marc-Andre, Marie-Eve, Jean-Philip, Jean-Francois, Charles-Olivier, Louis-Philip, Charles-Antoine, etc... What's going on? Old People and Technology can be classified into two distinctive groups. The

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-21092734751615105602007-05-21T17:30:00.000-04:002007-05-26T15:20:17.571-04:00

The following post doesn't follow the standard writing format of our posts. It details a trip I undertook on May 19th to Bethierville for the marriage of an acquaintance. The map of Bethierville can found here. Road trips are a fan favorite of both writers of this blog. Eric and I enjoy taking them quite a bit and have great appreciation for the open road. When I was invited to take a trip to

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-68323956374689544472007-05-22T10:04:00.000-04:002007-05-22T10:21:27.118-04:00

The front page of the always-good-for-a-laugh Ottawa Citizen today features a story about a group of scientists who have discovered that Viagra is effective in helping regulate the biological clocks of hamsters in order to help prevent the effects of jet lag. It is postulated that the effects could be similar in humans and therefore Viagra would be effective for long-haul flights. This raises a

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-12196212434076065842007-05-18T13:13:00.000-04:002007-05-18T13:35:01.484-04:00

Hockey frenzy is on in Ottawa right now. I'm quite certain I have commented on the issue of sports a while ago -- especially in regards to Noam Chomsky's funny comment about college football from the Manufacturing Consent documentary -- but the issue seems more pertinent than ever. Perhaps, too, I am becoming more jaded about the issue. I believe that sports fans suffer from a similar type of

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-34352731808146704232007-05-09T11:19:00.000-04:002007-05-12T15:18:58.109-04:00

This blog has written many criticism of the education system of Canada and Quebec respectively. Archives go on and probably averages around a negative comment on the subject every four months. I would like to point out a few notes on the subject. Two different extreme fallacies have been surfacing lately and I would like to debunk them. Falacy #1: Getting a diploma isn't worth the time

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-32160301516737650552007-05-03T19:09:00.000-04:002007-05-03T19:26:56.635-04:00

A client walked through my door today, he immediately rushed towards the customer service counter and leaned against it, getting himself comfortable before I showed up. As I greeted him, he mumbles a 'hello' back and places his hand over his face displaying the signs of a headache. His following words are "we have a problem here!" He goes on in a fit of rage, ranting on about how some parts of

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-39468831305340550502007-05-02T13:21:00.000-04:002007-05-02T14:35:52.910-04:00

Something monumental happened yesterday and unfortunately, short of those who read tech news sites, it will probably be overlooked by most people. The Digg community revolted, taking over the site in order to espouse a specific protest agenda, and succeeded in subverting the corporate censorship machinery. This event was monumental because it represents a type of alter-corporate protest which has

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-11522218392178096702007-04-26T17:54:00.000-04:002007-04-26T18:08:24.425-04:00

Freud's theories are often timed mocked as being sexually oriented. Although they were challenged over the years, it's hard to deny that libido is a strong chemical drive that does primarily drive certain individuals. Pierre Rehov's documentary 'Suicide Killers' expresses this particular point of view. Although he isn't stating that sexual drive is the primary cause of suicide bombers in the

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-10609037378885230012007-04-22T19:44:00.000-04:002007-04-22T20:10:14.056-04:00

I haven't posted much recently, so here are a few collected ideas that I've gathered which don't deserve or require a full post. 1. I have a tough time understanding how people will often claim that a movie they just saw is one of their all-time favorites. When I look at Facebook, for example, I find it humorous to see how many people list movies that were just recently released. To me, this

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-7722348208916243082007-04-18T08:03:00.000-04:002007-04-18T08:10:04.917-04:00

I don't think there is ever a time I feel more blind then when I get a haircut. I often times walk around my house without my glasses, and everything seems in order and easy to understand. Yet, the second I get into that chair at the barber and take off my glasses, I get a status update as to how bad my vision is deteriorating. It seems to me like the color skeems are either off, or the whole

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-50016062825394088602007-04-08T17:50:00.000-04:002007-04-08T18:04:00.991-04:00

My family has always been interesting when elections days near. They don't speak about politics, and they certainly do everything they can to avoid talking about them. When my brother started to discuss his distaste with the election campaign, my father simply brushed him off by saying "None of us went into politics, we aren't better and we don't know better." I find this sort of attitude to be

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-73973811733550718682007-04-06T18:39:00.000-04:002007-04-06T18:42:09.179-04:00

This post has nothing to do with anthropologist-historian Jared Diamond's apparently great book Collapse, which I have not yet read. It does, however, likely deal with some of the topics that Diamond deals with. The other day we had a blackout here that lasted for about 5 1/2 hours. Blackouts have always been interesting to me, because they are a personal wakeup call for myself – as they should

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-25401202293644009322007-03-31T18:13:00.000-04:002007-03-31T18:28:51.169-04:00

I've noticed something that's been bothering me lately. There is a sub-genre of films that is being produced and ultimately appreciated by teens (sadly, gathering popularity even if the films are critical failures). I call it Torture films. Movies with pornography level of writing, but instead of sex scenes, we have people tortured. Films such as hostel, saw and texas chainsaw massacre: the

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-5676929350241334562007-03-23T11:54:00.000-04:002007-03-23T12:33:22.513-04:00

The whole issue of seperation of church and state is becoming a huge subject of debate in Quebec. Amongst recent incidents, guests at a sugar shack were asked to leave for muslims to perform prayers on the dancefloor of the establishement, a young soccer player was not given the opportunity to play soccer due to wearing the hijab and the announcement that women will not have to reveal their faces

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-90337179882041320082007-03-13T20:02:00.000-04:002007-03-13T20:17:43.866-04:00

Have you ever wondered what "D. G. Regina", next to the picture of the Queen, on the back of all Canadian coins means? In full, it stands for "Dei Gratia Regina", which, in Latin, means "By the grace of God, Queen". In the United States, there has been a very interesting movement to have "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance (this was an amendment and not in the original Pledge), to

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-43628066941049893422007-03-13T15:53:00.000-04:002007-03-13T16:15:28.570-04:00

After watching Bill Maher briefly yesterday on Larry King Live, one can clearly tell one of the messages he was trying to send to the audience was that travelling and understanding situations over seas helps in making a stronger and smarter government. The advantage knowledge and experience gives to somebody is priceless and helps the development of an individual tremendously. Montreal,

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-30944490843595378582007-03-02T17:12:00.000-05:002007-03-02T18:02:24.026-05:00

Structure is a very important part of story telling. Whenever I sit down and watch a film, I'll always end up commenting on the film structure. A lot of films follow a simple structure which is basically an intro, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. The ones that truly interest me are those who structure themselves differently, or use another motif to do so. I recently

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-31539260420498119492007-02-25T21:40:00.000-05:002007-02-25T21:42:32.150-05:00

Many people wonder why I, as an avid film buff, couldn't care less about The Oscars. I have not watched the ceremony in years, which is especially telling considering cinema is probably my biggest hobby and interest. Simply put, The Oscars are not about film so much as about the people involved in the commercial aspect of it. Every year, the focus is on the celebrities (especially the expensive

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-46600036742766563072007-02-23T18:16:00.000-05:002007-02-23T19:18:35.129-05:00

I would like to share some of my troubles. Here is a list of some of the worst films I've seen: 2 fast 2 furious Alone in the Dark Bloodrayne House of the Dead Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life Ultraviolet When I look at this list, I ask myself why it is I watched these to begin with. It's interesting to note that 3 films out of the 6 listed above are from Uwe Boll. He started off as a

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-76123222790737427172007-02-13T20:07:00.000-05:002007-02-13T20:28:18.928-05:00

I don't mean to be arrogant, but this is something Eric and I have been having problems with for a while now. This problem deals with how the education system often times force us to do what I call backwards researching. Often times, we are given subjects that needs a certain amount of research, cited sources and other such references but we are not in need of such resources to properly write a

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-11882585821937656762007-02-03T20:32:00.000-05:002007-02-03T20:49:15.504-05:00

Teenagers go through this phase, the phase that helps define who he/she is by fighting an authority or challenging a superior. Some teengers choose who they fight, while others swing at everything that sets boundries. The idea is common and widespread, everyone should fight the system, not abide by it or fall into the cracks of the Totalitarian regime 'we live in'. But are we truly abiding to the

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-90605619368382418302007-01-20T18:21:00.000-05:002007-01-20T18:41:24.706-05:00

I despise watching the same movie over and over again. I'm pretty sure I've written about my resentement of dancing films before on this blog, but the latest piece of shit Stomp the yard every once of hate in me. I remember watching the trailer on TV realizing that virtually no story is actually given out during the course of this teenage cash-in, but also elements of other cultures were stolen

Chartiertag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-13370260295116881252007-01-19T21:54:00.000-05:002007-01-19T22:06:28.176-05:00

Do you know the old joke/saying about fruitcake? Nobody actually eats the stuff, but everyone receives fruitcake as a gift and then manages to inconspicuously pass it off to another? Louis-José Houde once commented on this, saying that there's probably only 5 fruitcakes in the whole world. I am today announcing, however, that we are witnessing the demise of fruitcakes. It seems that whenever

Portelancetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16885965.post-27194308859328930552007-01-18T01:06:00.000-05:002007-01-18T01:19:47.623-05:00

There are moments when I wonder if some people just have no moral or logical compass whatsoever. I wrote some time ago about a person eating a bologna sandwich in one of my classes at 8:30am. At that point, I thought I had seen it all. Of course, there's always some douchebag who will manage to top things off. Case in point: One of my classes is in a very packed, cramped,

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