Alone and Unobserved

Five French-Language CDs I Purchased in Montréal:
(and my ratings out of four stars)

• Daniel Lavoie,
  Docteur Tendresse
  ✶✶✶✶
• Les Trois Accords,
  Gros Mammouth Album (turbo)
  ✶✶✶✶
• Isabelle Boulay,
  De Retour à La Source
  ✶✶✶
• Marie-Élaine Thibert,
  Comme Ça
  ✶✶✶✶
• Marc-André Fortin
  (self-titled)
  ✶✶✶

I was talking to one of my coworkers a few months ago, and after I had told her how exhausted I felt having to deal with school, and work, and (most especially) my family, she gave me a long look and said it sounded like I needed a vacation. And really, I clearly did. My first idea was to go to Europe, but I couldn’t decide between France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia, and after I tried to organize a week-long trip that included all of them, I decided that Europe would have to wait until I wasn’t COMPLETELY INSANE.

Montréal was the obvious next choice, because, even though French is my second language, I’ve never technically been to a French-speaking country. (Turns out the French House at BYU doesn’t count.) Also, it would be relatively inexpensive, and concentrating on a single city for a week would be more feasible than trying to take in the whole of Europe in one giant gulp. So I called up my friend Craig, who had already been there twice, but who didn’t at all mind a third trip, and we started making plans for May 8-15, 2007.

Three French-Language Movies I Watched at Serge and Stéphanie’s:
(all four stars out of four)

• Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra
  This side-splitting re-envisioning of the Asterix canon has become one of my favorite movies, ever. The one problem: most of the humor is completely untranslatable, and is thus only accessible to French speakers. Sorry, non-francophone readers.
• The Dinner Game
  Serge & Stéphanie had prepared me for how hilarious this movie was, but not for the unexpectedly touching moments scattered throughout.
• The Closet
  Daniel Auteuil plays a complete loser who pretends to be gay in order to keep from being fired. Whether or not this premise interests you, the film is much better than it sounds.

What can I say about Montréal? I loved it. I loved the restaurants, the language, the architecture, the shopping, the métro, the planetarium, and the endless medley of churches and cathedrals . . . and let us not forget all the hot guys walking around, nor how gay-friendly the city is.

Despite all the aforementioned wonderful things, I have to say that the best part about my trip was getting to know Serge and Stéphanie, a Montréal couple Craig introduced me to. If we ever needed to go somewhere (the airport, the mountains, or Québec City), Serge would show up between his classes in electrical engineering and drive us there. Stéphanie fed us a delicious dinner our first night there, and every time we stopped by the two of them made sure to ply us with food—crêpes with ice cream and maple syrup, chocolate milkshakes, popcorn, bagels, hot chocolate, etc. Stéphanie and I had hours of delight discussing our favorite musicians, sharing pasta-cooking secrets, comparing American Idol to France’s Star Academy and complaining about the bad grammar that surrounds us. Both Serge and Stéphanie were very excited to help me investigate as much francophone music and cinema as we could cram into the handful of days I was there. I can’t wait to go back to Montréal, and when I do (within the next couple years, I hope) I’ll definitely be looking them up.

Two French-Canadian TV Shows I Watched in Montréal:

• Ma Maison Rona 2007
  I couldn’t understand anything Benoît Faucher said (due to his incredibly thick Québécois accent), but in the end that didn’t detract from his hotness at all.
• Que le Meilleur Gagne
  This fairly standard quiz show was made more exciting by the fact that I could answer almost all the questions.

Photos of my trip are coming, I promise!

Head on over to my friend Craig’s blog for a Darwin Day salutation.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark, twisted fairy tale, full of monstrous cruelty and breathless wonder. I highly, highly recommend it. My friend Craig disagrees with me, but what can you do?

Also recommended is Del Toro’s other film about Civil-War-Era Spain, The Devil’s Backbone.

Here’s a map of all the states I’ve ever been in (even fleetingly). The same website where I created the map below lets you generate a map of all the countries you’ve visited, but mine looked really sad since I’ve only been in three. Check out my friend Craig’s blog to see a much more impressive set of maps, and feel free to post links to your own maps in the comment section!

create your own personalized map of the USA

I have added a new list to the already crowded sidebar: “Blogs I Read.” Here are the current ones below.

My friend Craig’s blog — a personal glimpse into Craig’s life. His latest post is on regional pronunciations and isoglosses. Good stuff!

Eric D. Snider’s blog — mostly Eric’s reactions to TV shows, as well as some hilarious angry, incoherent letters from angry, incoherent readers.

Eric D. Snider’s movie e-zine, aka “In The Dark” — Eric’s weekly newsletter crammed full of movie reviews, box office stats and info on upcoming DVD releases, delivered straight to your e-mail box. Lots of fun!

The Real-Life Twinkie Experiment — Two grown-up twin sisters decide to switch places. What shenanigans! (Read my original post on this subject here.)

After the first part of last night’s vigil was over, a group of us walked over to the west side of Washington Square and held up our signs for passing cars to see. I ended up standing between an ex-Mormon lesbian and a non-Mormon lady from Virginia. We discussed the political/religious climate in Utah, and the ex-mo and I expressed our displeasure with the closedmindedness of the locals. The lady we were talking with was a little surprised, and said that she had actually been able to talk quite civilly with many Utah Mormons, something she was not able to do with, say, Southern Baptists. I allowed grudgingly that Mormons weren’t quite as closedminded as SBs, but still! (When I talked with him last night, Craig said that Baptists will tell you to your face that you’re going to hell, while Mormons will just think it, or whisper it behind your back. I suppose I agree, although I’m not sure which is worse.)

Well, the ex-Mormon lesbian walked away, and the lady from Virginia and I started talking about Mormon theology. She mentioned that she thought Mormons “had it all sewn up” with the doctrine of baptism for the dead–there’s an escape route for every person! I tried my best to explain what Mormons actually teach on the subject, and I think I did a pretty good job. Not as glib as when I was on my mission (I kept saying “we believe” and then interrupting myself with, “I mean, Mormons believe”) but I think she got the general idea. Afterwards, she said that she was going to tell her Mormon friends the next day that a “gay Mormon ex-missionary” had explained Mormon theology to her. We laughed at the idea, and that led naturally to a discussion of our various current beliefs. She, it turns out, attends what she called a “Unity Church” that she and her husband started in Virginia. I, it turns out, am an atheist.

I was a little disturbed, maybe even offended, by her reaction to my atheism. (It is probably important to state here that the lady in question was probably in her fifties, while I am twenty-four.) Her response was, “Well, I guess we all go through agnostic periods in our lives. I know I’ve gone through agnostic phases, and even atheistic ones.” Hey, lady, just because I’m young doesn’t mean I haven’t though this out! I’m not going through an atheistic phase any more than you are going through a “believing phase.” Grrr.

A happier part of the conversation was when I explained to her how I wanted to come out to my parents. “If you had a fantasy of coming out to them,” she said, “What would you do?” I was stumped for a moment, but then remembered what I had decided over the past couple days: “I’ve decided to start dropping hints,” I said. “The idea is that eventually they’ll make the first move and ask me what’s up.” [Of course, I know that this process could never end--if my parents don't want to know, then they won't ever ask--or if they do ask, they won't listen.] She was encouraging, which was nice.

Anyway, I’m encouraged by my first experience as an activist. Next I need to march for gay rights or something. Hmmm.