Confessions of a Concierge

Review on the English Translation of The Elegance of the Hedgehog

L'elegance du Herisson (translated into English in September 2008) is French author Muriel Barbery's worldwide best selling novel translated into half a dozen languages. In France alone the novel has sold over a million copies and been compared to Proust by Le Figaro. The plot is taken from a fresh and unique concept, with two narrators telling their tales simultaneously: Renée Michel, a 54-year-old concierge in a Parisian block of luxury apartments, and Paloma Josse, the 12-year-old philosopher and daughter of one of the most high status families in the apartments. Paloma has decided that the people around her are hopeless creatures and is making plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday.

As the reader, we know from the beginning that the two women have more in common than they realize. But Renée decides to maintain her facade of an uneducated concierge so that she may keep her job: she is a self taught literary enthusiast who adores Tolstoy, as well as a devotee of Japanese cinema. The inhabitants of 7 Rue de Grenelle would apparently be incensed if they found out that their low status, frumpy concierge was getting high on these intellectual play sessions. Not to mention that Renée simply wants to be left alone and has no desire to become the object of everyone's curiosity. "To be poor, ugly and, moreover, intelligent condemns one, in our society, to a dark and disillusioned life, a condition one ought to accept at an early age." So she pretends to be far more stupid than she is. The troubled young girl and the concierge are drawn together when a celebrated restaurant critic residing in the building dies. Kakuro Uzo, a cultured Japanese man takes over the apartment as well as a fascination with Renée. Paloma decides that the concierge has "the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary - and terribly elegant."

All the deeply delving philosophical observations about society and people in Barbery's novel provide her with an irresistible opportunity to explore her favourite theme: philosophy as applied to everyday life. This in part explains the popularity of the book in France, where philosophy is still a compulsory study and most people have a basic knowledge of the great thinkers in a way which we don't have here in Canada.

Despite its cute light-hearted depiction of trendy Paris, The Elegance of the Hedgehog is essentially quite radical in its stand against classism and French hypocrisy. Informative, thought provoking and moving, the novel is an introduction to philosophy intertwined with a platonic love story. Though it strays off topic in places, this is a worthy novel which deserves as much critical acclaim internationally as its had so far in France.

For further information on the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elegance_of_the_Hedgehog#Publication

Get Off The Computer And Try This

What happened last weekend?

What's the last thing you expect to do when invited to a friend's house for dinner? You may have guessed something sweet like a surprise party. You may have even guessed something a bit more "risqué" like some kind of romantic evening. You would however be wrong on both accounts. Playing a board game should've been the first and most obvious conclusion to come to. Not just your typical board game however like Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit, but something a bit more quirky where the right and wrong answer can really get tricky to discern.

The game I'm talking about is Scattergories.

Photo courtesy of www.hasbro.com

 

Wine does wonders

 

I was completely taken off guard as we were winding down after dinner. My friend made butter chicken and it was amazing for being homemade, and the fact that I had no idea they could cook. Of course the Shiraz and Chardonnay helped the experience, but I forgot how much I enjoy board games. There were 5 of us which was a good sized group for this type of game. The basic premise is each player takes turns rolling the die which has a different letter on each side. Whichever letter the die lands on is the letter each word of the 10 different categories must begin with.

 

Okay so this is what happens 

 

Example: I roll the die and it lands on M. There are 10 different categories on each player's category card. There are also multiple cards with a different set of 10 categories on each side. Since the die landed on M, each word I write down for an answer to the category must begin with M. Say the category was a famous musician, I could put Michael Jackson, Mozart, Musiq Soulchild, etc. Now if someone else put the same answer as me if I put Michael Jackson then neither of us get a point for that category. You can only score points if your chosen word isn't chosen by anyone else. There is also a 30 second time limit, you can also set it to longer.

• here is a complete rules list

What games do you like to play? If you don't play any board games or haven't for a long time, then what games do you want to try or reconnect with?

Toronto's Sleepless Night: Nuit Blanche 2012

The transition from being a suburban kid; born and raised in Ottawa, to a Toronto city gal is a tough one. There is so much to see and do that it’s difficult to figure out where to start! Lucky for me, I didn’t have to figure that out for myself, because a friend asked me to tag along to one of Toronto’s biggest art exhibitions, Nuit Blanche. Check out the public response to the event on  Twitter!
 

Photo courtesy of www.blogto.com
 

I’m no artist, but boy is their work ever impressive; and the art at this exhibition was of no exception. The entire city was lit up from head-to-toe, covered with the most intriguing pieces of art I have seen. Videos were being projected onto buildings, actors imitated artists’ depiction of human-life, and even raw meat was put on display.

Photos courtesy of www.blogto.com

You’re probably saying to yourself, raw meat, really? How on earth is that art? I too would have the same first reaction; however, this experience transformed the way that I define art, and the appreciation I have for it. Art is so many things – it is unique; it is limitless; it is a symbol of human-creativity; it is a part almost everything we do. With this being said, it is awfully hard to judge what is and what isn’t artwork; therefore, why must we judge at all? Instead, we should be grateful for the fact that it encourages diversity.

 
Photos courtesy of www.blogto.com

For those of you who are passionate about freedom of expression, I think it is important that you support artists, since their work is a product of this ability. So, get involved with the art community, whether or not you’re the next up and coming Leonardo da Vinci.  Toronto art exhibitions.

Feel free to share what art means to YOU. Do YOU think you appreciate art as much as you should? Cheers!

Want to read more?

Nuit Blanche 2012

Photos courtesy of www.theglobeandmail.com



My Longest Relationship: Music

Music and I have been an item for years, roughly 18 years to be exact. My earliest memories involving music is singing along to funk, R&B, and soul greats such as Parliament, Commorfores, Earth, Wind and Fire and the late Marvin Gaye. The aforementioned artists were my parent’s favourites, not musicians I cherished. There is nothing wrong with enjoying sounds of the older generation, I just wanted to find something, anything, I could call my own.  At age 12 I discovered EDM and immediately fell in love.

Electronic Dance Music or EDM is an umbrella term where various genres, sub-genres and styles of music are produced using electronic instruments, such as the Roland TR-808 bass drum.Without Robert Moog and  the commercial success of the Moog synthesizer, EDM would not have the ease to create electronic sounds as it does today.

Robert Moog and synthesizers 

The aspect I love most about EDM is its evolution. Genres and sub-genres are fused together, tempos are slowed down or sped up and new creations are formed simply by tweaking a basic element. One evolution of EDM which I adore is dubstep.

Yes, I admit it. I love dubstep. From the mellow beginnings, to the more aggressive, mainstream direction we see today, to its unforeseeable future, this genre has taken a hold of my mind for the past five years thanks in part to Dubstep Warz and programming on BBC Radio 1. 

I listen to one particular internet radio site almost on a constant basis: dubstep.fm. This site features hundreds of podcasts from 2006 with several live shows currently on its line up. This site is constantly playing, the only time my speakers are quiet is when I am asleep.

Dubstep.fm logo

Want to know more about the history of EDM such as where it originated and why the styles, genres and sub-genres we have today are around, I strongly suggest you check out Iskur's Guide to Electronic Music.

Are you interested in hearing EDM live and do not know the first place to look? Trance Addict has a forum where many events are taking place around the GTA in the future. 

  

Happy listening.

Volunteering at The King East Design District

This weekend was my first time volunteering in a couple of years, and I realized how fulfilling volunteering was. I was exhausted and my feet killed after every night, but I got to meet and talk to some amazing people. It was intimidating due to the hour long street car ride I had to take to get to the King East Design District. And I was in million dollar show rooms with rich and respectable people, so you better not mess up. Starting with my trip, I am new to Toronto and even though the trip was straight forward, literally, I managed to still become flustered. I got off at  King street west and had to run to get back on the street car and continue on to King street east. Thursday night was the VIP event where I was the greeter and worked coat check. I got to talk to some amazing people, and see some big names in the design world.

 The guests included:

•  publisher of house and homes magazine Lynda Reeves,
•  chef David Rocco, 
•  Neil Hetherington CEO of Habitat for Humanity Toronto

       The VIP event went smoothly, and on the weekend I was at Kiosk and Cambria, in which I was set up at a table by the front doors handing out passports to those who made donations to Habitat for Humanity. Kiosk had a beagle who kept me company (I love beagles), and the employees at Cambria were really nice. I also got the chance to meet Rob Campbell who is a blogger at smojoe who wrote an article about the event http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/333890. It was a good volunteer experience I was happy to partake in, I am looking forward to my next volunteer opportunity, what events are you volunteering for? 

Thousands have stopped using it and you should too

The notorious “r” word is a word that pollutes the ears and vocabulary of people of all assorted ages. The “r” word being the slang term of retardation or retard has no longer been acceptable in federal health, education and labour policy. So why does the word still exist? The word 'retard' exists as a derogatory term to classify something as being any variation of dumb or stupid. Medically, the word was used to define an impaired person but now is being replaced by “individual with an intellectual disability”.

For a kid growing up in the 90’s, I often heard the word ‘retard’ from friends on the schoolyard in

elementary school. My mind subconsciously accepted the idea of the word existing only to remain as something to say when I reacted irrationally to something that upset me. Unfortunately I made the mistake of saying it before I knew the definition around my mother who was a developmental service worker. With that being said, we had a nice sit down where she put it into a perspective I could understand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1TbFUs7zZQ&feature=relmfu

Following that conversation I gained a better understanding of having respect for individuals with disabilities and refrained from using the word ever again.

Rosa’s family who helped introduce the bill to the senate 

That was back then, this is now. In the 21^st century, governments are able to crumble at the hands of a social net-worker and colored people are voted into presidency which is a pretty good statement that says how far the human race has come in terms of equality. In 2009, two college students decided to focus on the word after interning at the Special Olympics. They decided to run pledge drives which had an impressive turnout of 30 schools running pledges in different ways.  This later developed into the signing of “Rosa’s law” which was passed in 2010 by President Barack Obama to abolish the word being used in federal lexicon.

So where do you stand? Do you believe such actions should be taken to abolish one word? If you do, join the movement and PLEDGE to end that one word.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T549VoLca_Q

A Fall to Remember

I live for hockey.  There is nothing better in the fall than the hockey season starting up, nor anything I look forward to more (except perhaps Christmas).  So much anticipation- so many questions, so many that I fear will not be answered this year. 

As many of you know, the NHL and its players union, the NHLPA are locked in a bitter stalemate over contract negotiations. As a result the commissioner of the league, Gary Bettman and the owners of the 30 NHL teams have locked the players out. 

What is a lockout?

You shall not pass.

Let’s clarify something.  A lockout and a strike are two entirely different things.  A strike is brought on by the union body saying that it will no longer go to work until they get a new contract.  A lockout is the owners refusing to let the players into their rinks to play.  Many NHL players have already said they would be fine playing the start of their season even if a new contract hadn’t been signed.

Why should I care?

Unless you’re a fan of hockey why should you take a stance? After all, this is a case of billionaires arguing with millionaires. We all have better things to do than hear about hockey players refusing to take a revenue cut from their $20 million contracts.

Pictured above: How much the NHL owners and Comissioner care.

Think about it. There are many people affected by the lockout.  Concessions stand workers; the people who make merchandise, custodial staff at hockey rinks nationwide and the cities themselves which suffer from not having an influx of hockey fans.  In an already struggling hockey community, such as Columbus or Phoenix, such things can be deadly to hockey’s lifeline.  

Hockey is a business-granted.  But hockey is more.  It is a way of life for some. For many of us fans, hockey is an identity.  It is part of who we are. For a sport to shut its doors on millions of fans is a testament to the mindset of the owners, and Bettman.

All that may be true, but what can I do?

We have no input on the decisions of these elite few.  What we can do is be heard.  Start a petition, educate others around you.  With social media such as Facebook and Twitter you can hear directly from the players, about their reactions to the lockout, and their advice to hockey fans across the world.

Be active! The league and the owners win, when fans stay silent and allow ourselves to go unheard.  As hockey fans we should stand united.  United against the closed doors and empty rinks.  United against greedy owners who despite last year’s record breaking revenue numbers, still demand salary cuts for their players.   United not just for us, but for everyone affected by the lockout. Remember, apathy is the glove into which Gary Bettman slips his hand.