Kate McDonnell has a piece on UrbanPhoto re-exploring the Laval metro extension, now that the opening weekend crowds are long gone.
For more pictures and information about these new stations, be sure to check out Matt McLauchlin’s excellent Metrodemontreal.com profiles of the stations.
I could spend this post complaining about how my two-week-old futon is broken in two places already, but there’s something far more important to be mad at Ikea about:
A small group of students from JFK High School in St. Michel are visiting hydro-electric power plants in James Bay and chronicling their trip in a blog.
I find the text flows well, the metaphors are very powerful, the news is current, and the ideas really get the wheels turning in your head. And other bad puns.
This week’s blog profile is une vie en musique, whose author René Lapalme died June 9 of cancer. It was written before the latest post went up. Normally blogs and other websites of the deceased stay frozen forever. This one, it turned out, was an exception.
Reading René’s blog gives a timeline of his declining health. His increased fatigue causing him to take a break and slowly return to work a month later not knowing the cause, the decision to finally see a doctor, the battery of tests eventually leading to the discovery of cancer, his tearful video thank-you to his readers for their support, and eventually his last post, a self-portrait of a man half his previous weight and without his long curly hair, where those who heard of his death added comments to say their final goodbyes.
The blogosphere response to news of his death was huge. I won’t try to summarize the dozens of blog posts about him from his readers, but it was clear he had a lot of them. A few to point out though:
Radio Centre-Ville had a special show the Tuesday after his death (where he volunteered his time on a radio show) devoted to him. It’s no longer online, but if someone saved a copy I’d be glad to point to it.
The official obit is here. His self-written biography is better. Though to truly understand his character, I would recommend taking a look at his photo comics, or listen to his music.
I’m not normally an emotional person. I don’t like writing sad things. Hopefully I won’t have to write another blogger obit for a while longer.
Dominic Arpin is refusing to talk about this Journal article which has him creating an Internet video show for TVA. I guess that means he isn’t denying it.
In case you’re wondering where real journalism is going, here’s your answer. Get ready for the onslaught of funny cat videos.
Following my earlier critique of CBC.ca’s redesign (other blogs are weighing in, a list is compiled here), I should give them props for a good use of technology: Blog Watch.
I first noticed it when I saw I was getting traffic from a CBC article I had commented on. It turns out CBC is using services from Technorati for pingback-like features. It scours the blogs for links to CBC.ca news pieces, and links to those blogs in the sidebar. The Blogwatch page finds the most blogged about articles.
Though some have expressed concern that this will just elevate pop culture articles above important news pieces, I still like the idea. It provides direct, relevant links to the blogosphere automatically, and without sacrificing editorial quality.
Kudos.
I still hate your homepage though.
Chris Hand, the Zeke behind Zeke’s Gallery, spent most of today in the Palais de Justice with his lawyer and mother. At issue was an injunction which stops Hand from making specific statements about Pierre-Antoine Tremblay, an art dealer who is suing him for libel.
After hearing about an hour’s worth of arguments from both sides, the judge has ordered a renewal of the existing injunction against Hand, but without changes asked by the plaintiff (those seemed centred around preventing Hand from using other media to make statements against Mr. Tremblay). The injunction prohibits Chris Hand from saying that Pierre-Antoine Tremblay is associated with Frank Martorana and the mafia, or that he tried to sell fake paintings to Loto-Quebec. Both statements Tremblay’s lawyer says are entirly false.
The injunction lasts until Sept. 6, 2007, when further hearings will take place on this matter.
Among other things of note:
Michel Leblanc has an interesting on-the-other-hand take to the Zeke’s Gallery situation. He points out that Tremblay hasn’t been convicted of anything, and just because the media accuses him of something doesn’t make it true.
The point is well taken. Chris Hand shouldn’t be immune from prosecution for libel just because he’s a blogger.
But this whole mess was caused by Tremblay himself, who instead of sending an email with his side of the story (a side he hasn’t expressed publically, in part because of a confidentiality agreement with the Loto-Quebec thing and in part because he’s just chosen not to) sent a lawyer’s letter to Hand. Then, when Hand complied with the letter, he sent another more threatening one making more demands.
Tremblay (as far as I know) didn’t sue Radio-Canada, Le Devoir or the other media who first made these claims about him (UPDATE: He sued La Presse, who made much more outlandish statements about him, and lost). And despite an agreement which Tremblay implies was in his favour (as the paintings are still on display), the original press release which accused Tremblay of fraud is still online.
Hand and Tremblay (or their lawyers) meet in front of a judge tomorrow. Let’s hope they can still resolve this amicably.
Heri of Montreal Tech Watch has opened up a wiki blog called Open Space. As the name implies, it’s a blog that’s open to editing by anyone.
Not sure how successful it’ll be, but it’s the first wiki blog (or blog wiki?) I’ve ever seen.
Dominic Arpin points to a car commercial stealing the shtick of a local entertainer.
It sucks having ideas in this world sometimes.
I don’t want an idiot driver opening his door and sending me to the hospital looking like this.
When’s that de Maisonneuve bike path coming again?
Just when you questioned the idea of having a blog about a vast undeveloped area of land next to a highway, there’s a new blog (from the Gazette’s Andy Riga) about the forested cliff next to that giant area of land.
I’m thinking of starting a blog on the Angrignon Blvd. overpass and Pullman Street (which is dangerous to walk on).
UPDATE: Tremblay speaks out.
The local blogosphere is abuzz with outrage over the situation affecting the Zeke’s Gallery blog, whose posts have now all disappeared. I wrote about the case in The Gazette last week.
There’s some misinformation and faulty assumptions going around, so I’m going to do the best I can to explain what exactly happened here, in chronological order.
With the Zeke’s saga heating up the blogosphere (did I mention I was Geisted?), the Globe and Mail has a piece by Mathew Ingram about the libel chill affecting prominent bloggers. It lists the Zeke’s case as an example (though it for some reason weasels its way out of naming the guy who’s suing him).
The issue isn’t all that difficult to understand. Blogging has created an army of citizen journalists. Some write only about the actions of their puppies, others think they’re more important than those “MSM hacks”. But they all write. And anything you publish is subject to libel law.
What’s changed is the way the Internet has democratized media. When college newspapers commit copyright infringement or blatantly libel people, nobody really cares because it’s just a few thousand copies and everyone forgets after a while. But with the Internet, a single blog post by some idiot on his couch can reach worldwide exposure with a few good links. In the case of Pierre-Antoine Tremblay, the guy who’s suing Chris Hand, a Google search of his name is littered with pages about his lawsuit, and that’s what everyone’s going to know him by.
Of course, that’s all his fault. Had he not brought the legal action in the first place, nobody would have noticed the original post, his Google situation would have been salvageable and he wouldn’t be getting all this negative publicity.
On the other hand, these blogs and those college newspapers have one thing in common: they don’t have any money. That’s the real reason why small-time publishers don’t get sued for libel: It’s just not worth it. Even if you win, you won’t get any money. It’s only when you go after the big guys that you can get rich.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop some people with sensitive egos and lots of time on their hands from launching frivolous, over-the-top lawsuits.
With great power comes great responsibility. We have to watch what we write, and hope that it doesn’t come to a point where we have to justify our words in front of a judge.
Kate has some thoughts on this issue as well.
The Montrealer and Wikitravel founder recounts his experience at the Webby Awards ceremony, where Wikitravel won for best travel site.