April Fool's Day is truly a holiday for me.
Tuesday night, after getting home from a long day exploring suburbia on an expiring multi-zone transit pass, I hunkered down until 6am writing stories to be published later that morning. The idea was to fool without causing any panic or long-lasting effects.
It seemed to work. I got a few emails, particularly about my secret metro tunnel story, which seemed to be the big hit of the morning. Though I really spent most of my time on "Fagstein ME!" and its associated comment form (thank your lucky stars I confined that design to a separate page and didn't put animated GIFs all over the blog). Interesting tidbit: the posts from that page were all taken from tweets of people who follow me on the Twitter.
The posts served their purposes: they fooled a few gullible people (whose names I will keep to myself for now), and they brought a smile or two to the faces of those who got them. And nobody died or anything.
And, of course, I scored the jackpot of having a Patrick Lagacé post all about me and how awesome I am, as well as some mentions in lesser media.
The first year of this blog, the April 1st post was a very believable one about having gotten arrested during a rather extreme scavenger hunt (so much so that the organizer emailed me to apologize). Last year I sold out by joining PayPerPost and hawking products for pennies.
Now I'm being asked how I'll top this next year.
Good question.
April 2, 2009 – 4:45 pm
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Posted in Opinion
From my archives in 2004: On the right, the thrill of victory; on the left, the agony of defeat
In 2003, a slate of moderate (what their opponents would label as right-wing) student politicians called "Evolution, Not Revolution" achieved what had seemed impossible: winning Concordia University's biggest student vote of the year and taking control of the Concordia Student Union executive against an established radical left-wing that had controlled it for years. Even though public opinion was clearly on their side, the mainstream of the student body didn't vote, because they didn't care.
April 2, 2009 – 12:00 am
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Posted in Humour, TV
My favourite new Quebec show, Les Appendices, announced they're returning for a second season. This after the network had undergone an extended period of reflection on the status of the show. Sweet.
If you don't know what it's about, you can see their first episode on their website for the next week and catch up.
Some people have been telling me I haven't done enough personal blogging here and they don't know anything about me. It's true, I tend to keep personal matters to myself. But that changes today with the launch of my new personal blog: "Fagstein ME!"
You'll find all my personal thoughts and anecdotes there from now on.
UPDATE: I see I was outdone.
April 1, 2009 – 11:30 am
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Posted in Humour
Loto-Québec, which runs ads in the daily newspapers with the previous night's lotto results, pulled a fast one on everybody by printing tonight's results instead of last night's. In the ads, Loto-Québec announced the change saying it wanted to be more forward-thinking about its announcements and stop reporting "yesterday's news."
The ads ask that readers not look at the results until after the draw this evening.
April 1, 2009 – 11:00 am
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Posted in Humour
Le Devoir in reverse type
An April Fool's Day prank I'm sure, Le Devoir this morning printed its front page backwards for home delivery editions. A note on Page 2 explains the reverse, wishing readers a "Joyeux poisson d'avril". Interestingly, all the news printed on the front page is real, but needs to be held up to a mirror to read properly.
UPDATE: According to my source at the paper, the front page on the newsstand wasn't reversed because that would have messed up the bar code and caused chaos for retailers. Newsstand editions instead come with a complimentary copy of the People's Weekly World.
April 1, 2009 – 10:30 am
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Posted in Humour
Bernard Derome, the former anchor of Radio-Canada's Le Téléjournal, and the most respected television journalist among french Canadians, announced this morning on CKOI that he will be joining Sébastien Trudel and Marc-Antoine Audette to become the third wheel of notorious Montreal pranksters les Justiciers Masqués (you know, the guys who prank-called Sarah Palin?). Trudel said on the radio this morning that he looks forward to gaining access to Derome's Rolodex of contacts, and hopes Derome will help the group mature and expand into more serious commentary. Derome, meanwhile, said he wanted to have a bit more fun in retirement and not take himself too seriously. He also wanted to improve his acting skills.
Derome's first prank aired this morning. It features him having an increasingly uncomfortable interview with U.S. treasury secretary Timothy Geithner about the U.S. economy, bank bailouts and ... well, I don't want to spoil the ending. It's worth a listen when it's posted online.
April 1, 2009 – 10:00 am
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Posted in Humour
Claiming that Mayor Gérald Tremblay is "in bed with the snow-removal industry", city opposition leader Benoit Labonté issued a press release this morning saying that, if elected mayor in November, he would reduce the length of Montreal's winter season by at least a month, a move that could save the city millions of dollars every year in snow-plowing costs.
Labonté, who was coy to reporters about whether his first name has an accent on it (he says he's in a period of reflection about it, but that many unnamed local business and cultural leaders have urged him to adopt the circumflex), said the month deleted from winter would be added to early summer, when the temperature is at its best and "all the sweet ladies are wearing almost nothing."
April 1, 2009 – 9:30 am
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Posted in Humour
TQS announced today (no web link, sadly) that the wildly popular late-night movie series Bleu Nuit will be returning to the airwaves starting in a couple of weeks. Though the cash-strapped network says that classic series like Emmanuelle will return, the plan is to also feature homegrown adult film artists though an agreement with Anne-Marie Losique and Productions IDI, who are behind the upcoming Vanessa cable porn channel.
Bleu Nuit will air at its usual timeslot at midnight, immediately following UFC fights.
