November 1, 2008 – 3:20 am |Also posted in Montreal
Alex and Kristin check their lists during February's scavenger hunt
After a successful event in February with about 40 in attendance, a second underground city scavenger hunt is being organized next weekend on Facebook and through other channels.
Here’s the details:
Saturday, Nov. 8, 12:30pm at the Central Station food court (which is near the gates for the Deux Montagnes commuter train line). The game starts at 1pm and ends at 3pm at the same place.
No entrance fee, age limitations or secret code words.
What you need to bring:
A team of between one and four people
A bag (you know, to put all your stuff in)
Some money (at most $5), though if you think you can get everything for free go nuts
A camera (anything, even a cellphone camera, will suffice)
A watch or other time-telling device
Comfortable shoes
For those of you who weren’t aware of the previous hunt, you can read my post about it, which includes a full list of the items people were searching for. It’s almost all stuff that’s worthless and can be picked up for free in the underground city. You can also read the piece I did for The Gazette about it.
Robin inspects the goodies
For those who were there in February, organizer Robin (that’s her above) has made some tweaks to the rules for this time around, mostly concerning what happens when a team arrives late (which happened a lot last time, causing many items to be disqualified). Also note that the meeting point is different.
There’s no RSVP required, but doing so on Facebook would help with estimating how many people will show up.
August 15, 2008 – 12:53 am |Also posted in Montreal
The Société de développement environmentale de Rosemont (yeah, I didn’t know they existed either) is sponsoring a guided bicycle tour of the borough’s environmental-friendliness. Perhaps more interesting is that at least one bike shop (Bicycle Beaubien) will be on hand to help you out with any bike needs and there will be some free food, all on the city’s dime.
Route for SODER's bicycle tour of Rosemont
The tour starts at Bellechasse and 16th Ave. at 1:30pm on Saturday (Aug. 16). For more information, consult the press release (PDF).
Some local fun-seekers are trying to drum up last-minute support for a silent dance party tonight (Friday) at 9:30 at Place Jacques-Cartier (actually, at the fountain just beside City Hall). The idea is you bring your own music and you dance to it listening on your headphones. And because you’re doing it as a group, you look like less of an idiot.
From the people that brought you Manhunt, metro parties, pillow fights and other pointless fun comes a bubble battle, scheduled for Saturday at 4pm at Phillips Square:
This Saturday, come blow bubbles with us at Phillips Square. Watch people’s eyes light up as millions of bubbles soar majestically through the air. Bring friends, cameras and, of course, what you need to create bubbles
You can join the Facebook event or, you know, just show up with bubble-making equipment of your choice.
I’ve always been a big fan of comedy, and I’ve lived in Montreal my entire life, so you’d think Just for Laughs and I would be a perfect fit (it’s only a year younger than me). But I’ve never been to a gala, and before last night had never been to any live production related to the festival.
The main reason behind that is money. Why should I pay $40 for a nosebleed seat for a show I’ll get highlights from a few months later on TV?
The other reason is that I’m not easily impressed by comedy. Jokes about relationships and making fun of people’s acccents got old about three decades ago.
But last night, both those problems were alleviated as I stopped by to see the Uncalled For’s Blastback Babyzap production at Mainline Theatre. I’ve seen the group perform improv shows, so I had an idea that there would be some funny stuff going on. And at only $12, it didn’t hurt the wallet to attend.
I must say, I was very impressed.
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen the show, some of the stuff below may ruin the surprise. But it’s still worth watching.
The lady selling those bloody glowsticks in the middle of the display, however: we need to talk.
The next fireworks display (from Australia) is Saturday at 10pm, followed by shows every Wednesday and Saturday until August 6. The best (free) spot to view them is in the parking lot where René Lévesque and Notre Dame meet (Papineau metro). Be sure to bring a radio (105.7FM) to listen to the music that goes with the fireworks.
The other day (you know, back when it wasn’t raining), I wandered on to the Just for Laughs outdoor fun zone. For those of you who have never been here, it’s not so much funny ha-ha (the comics are saved for shows people pay for), it’s more about having fun with games, clowns, mimes and other amusing things.
The most amusing thing for me was this: a metro car, pulled out of the garage and parked on the street to be turned into an ice cream parlor.
The yearly summer festival whereby representatives from countries around the world come here and blow stuff up has begun. (I’m resisting the urge to say “with a bang” here)
It continues Saturdays, with Wednesday shows starting July 23, until Aug. 6.
The shows start at 10pm and last until just before 11. Best free place to watch is at the parking lot near Notre Dame and Parthenais (Papineau metro). The Jacques-Cartier bridge is also freed up during the shows, but the pedestrian area is too crowded and the roadway too obscured to be able to really enjoy it from there unless you setup really early.
Be sure to bring a chair, some slightly warmer clothes and a radio, which you can tune to 105.7 FM to listen to the music that accompanies the show (it makes a big difference). If you’re taking public transit (which you should), buy your return tickets in advance, because the lineups after the fireworks are insane.
A group of local Improv-Everywhere-style scene-causers is planning a mock gun fight (Facebook link) on St. Laurent at Prince Arthur at 7pm on Saturday (exact location isn’t being divulged yet because of NARC-ism concerns meeting at Prince Arthur and Coloniale).
The event is purposefully taking place in the middle of the Main Madness street sale. I’m sure no problems will arise from people yelling “bang” and randomly falling down in the middle of a crowded street.
Either way, hopefully it’ll last longer than five seconds.
UPDATE: If you want to make a day of these activities, you can also go to a Capture the Flag game at 2pm at the statue in Mount Royal Park on Park Ave., as well as a Manhunt game at 5pm in Carré Saint-Louis.
To most people, this is just a bus. The kind that will take you to work on a daily basis.
But to a select few, this rust bucket is something special. A group of about 30 public transit fans chartered this RTL bus for a day last weekend, just for fun. I tell their story in today’s paper.
McGill students are organizing a metro party on Friday evening, meeting at 9pm at the back end of the platform at Henri-Bourassa metro (why they don’t start at Montmorency is a mystery, but whatever). The Facebook page shows 77 “confirmed guests”, which translates to about 15-20 people actually showing up.
The party is similar to metro parties that took place in March, May and October of last year.
April 16, 2008 – 10:29 pm |Also posted in Montreal
Clear your calendars for April 26, 10:30pm. That’s when the next chapter of Montreal’s flash mob history takes place: A “silent disco” “silent dance party”, where people stand around listening to music on headphones and dancing to it.
When one person does that, it’s annoying and/or funny. When dozens do it, it’s a scene and/or pathetic.
Like the freeze in February, this one will take place around the big puck at the mezzanine level of Berri-UQAM metro.
This supposedly happened today at Central Station.
UPDATE: Another video of the event, which also involved a freeze in the food court of Place Ville-Marie. And another one, which shows CTV’s Paul Karwatsky, making it abundantly clear to everyone that this is an organized event, and another one.
UPDATE (April 15): Don’t ask me why they waited more than a week, but CFCF finally has a report on the freeze from Karwatsky in his “My Generation” segment.
Sunday, March 16th, 11:00 AM, at René Lévesque & Crescent.
For those of you new to the idea, I’ll explain (by excerpting my first ever article for The Gazette, printed almost two years ago):
Manhunt is essentially hide-and-seek with a twist: once players are caught, they become hunters. As more and more are assimilated, it gets harder to tell if another player is predator or prey.
“We encourage deception,” said organizer Philip Paynter, a political science and economics student at Concordia University.
Paranoia is part of the fun. Hunters pretend to be prey to create a false sense of security, and the prey in turn try to fool hunters by pretending they’ve already been caught.
Players wear bright orange armbands to distinguish them from pedestrians, and are required to keep inside the eight-block boundary. Players must also stay outside and on public property.
After 30 minutes, anyone who hasn’t been caught is declared a winner, and invited to brag about it.
Sadly I won’t be able to make it as I’ll be helping out with the parade itself. But I’m looking forward to the fun running around outside that Manhunt brings on a biweekly basis during the summer.
The Improv-Everywhere-style freeze today at Berri-UQAM metro I told you about was a crazy success (much to my surprise). About 50-60 people showed up, then entered the metro station and gathered in the area around the puck on the mezzanine. For five minutes, they all stood frozen, quiet, as regular travellers passed them by.
There’s talk on the Facebook page of organizing a second one some time in March, or perhaps other IE-inspired activities. I’ll keep you updated, of course.
I’ll have more to write (and show) about this later. In the meantime, here’s the first video that’s been uploaded showing what happened. In it, you can hear the loud, spontaneous applause that took place among participants just as the freeze came to an end.
