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Affichage des résultats pour les étiquettes 'event'.
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Media Advisory - Air Canada to Unveil the Future of Canada's Flag Carrier at Events in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver - Feb 3, 2017 New livery strongly rumored. -
http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/fr-evenements-new-cities-summit/ http://www.newcitiesfoundation.org/new-cities-summit/ New Cities Foundation NEW CITIES SUMMIT The New Cities Summit, our flagship event, is the leading global event on urban innovation. The Summit brings together the top entrepreneurs, innovators, change-makers, CEOs, policy makers, investors and thinkers in this space. Our Next New Cities Summit New Cities Summit Montréal 2016 The Age of Urban Tech http://www.newcitiessummit2016.org Our Past New Cities Summits New Cities Summit Jakarta 2015 Seizing the Urban Moment: Cities at the Heart of Growth and Development http://www.newcitiessummit2015.org Read E-Book Dallas - New Cities Summit 2014 New Cities Summit Dallas 2014 Re-Imagining Cities: Transforming the 21st Century Metropolis http://www.newcitiessummit2014.org Read E-Book São Paulo - New Cities Summit 2013 New Cities Summit São Paulo 2013 The Human City http://www.newcitiessummit2013.org Read E-Book Paris - New Cities Summit 2012 New Cities Summit Paris 2012 Thinking Ahead, Building Together http://www.newcitiessummit2012.org Read E-Book New Cities Foundation Shaping a better urban future Find out more : Our Mission Blog Members Contact Follow Us Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Sign up to our Newsletter Subscribe © 2016 New Cities Foundation | Credits | Powered by WordPress Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
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http://toughmudder.com/events/montreal-sat-july-6-sun-july-7-2013/?language=fr Tough Mudder: Fancy an obstacle course on steroids? Tough Mudder brings its bruising brand of insanely popular obstacle-course challenges to Quebec in July By René Bruemmer, THE GAZETTE May 31, 2013 Tough Mudder: Fancy an obstacle course on steroids? Tough Mudder brings its bruising brand of insanely popular obstacle-course challenges to Quebec in July By René Bruemmer, THE GAZETTE May 31, 2013 ason Ostroff ran competitively as a kid. He remembers it being a trying experience, with much training and gasping and worrying about best times. He doesn’t run much anymore, but one childhood activity he does miss is the jump and tumble fun of navigating obstacles, revelling in the elemental joy of getting over, under or through. Which is why he and three longtime friends will be taking part in the Tough Mudder event this summer near Montreal, a child’s obstacle course on steroids designed by military men that bills itself as “probably the toughest event on the planet.” “Honestly, it’s just that I like the idea of running an obstacle course — it’s just fun, and since I was a little kid, I kind of liked the idea of having to get through this stuff,” said Ostroff, a 26-year-old McGill medical student living in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. “It feels like an army boot camp kind of thing. And an opportunity to be a kid again.” In July, about 8,000 people are expected to sign up to test their strength, stamina and perhaps sanity at the first Montreal Tough Mudder event, taking place at the Bromont airport, one hour’s drive east of the city. Participants will navigate an obstacle course 15 to 20 kilometres long and scale 25 challenges designed by British Special Forces, most often with the help of teammates — entrants are encouraged to enter as part of a team, and about 80 per cent do. They will climb wooden walls, jump fire, receive electric shocks, crawl through fields of mud and immerse themselves in freezing water in challenges with names like Arctic Enema, Fire Walker and Ball Shrinker. At the end, they will be handed an ice cold beer, but they will not be told how long it took them to complete the course, because providing a change from timed marathon-type races is at the heart of the Tough Mudder philosophy. It also was a key selling point Ostroff used to coerce his friends. “None of them wanted to do it, until I explained it wasn’t timed,” he said. “They liked the fact we could just take it easy and didn’t have to sprint the entire race.” The Tough Mudder events are part of a growing phenomenon of adventure-type races offered worldwide with names like Muddy Buddy, Spartan Race and Warrior Dash for those seeking a new brand of challenge. In its second year in 2011, Tough Mudder had 140,000 participants at 14 events. By 2012, it had grown to 35 events, bringing in almost 500,000 participants. This year, 53 events are planned worldwide. The Spartan Race, a similar challenge that has a 20-kilometre event this year at Mont Tremblant on June 30, had 300,000 participants globally last year. Of those, most are corporate types joining with colleagues and “70 per cent of our people just came off the couch,” Spartan co-founder Joe DeSena told The Wall Street Journal. (Doing some training, however, is highly recommended.) When Will Dean presented his idea for Tough Mudder as part of a Harvard Business School contest, he was hoping to attract 500 participants to his inaugural event in 2010, drawn mostly through advertising on Facebook and word of mouth through social media, he told The New York Times. His professors considered that optimistic. The first race drew 4,500 participants to Allentown, Pa., and Dean, a former counterterrorism agent from Britain doing his MBA, discovered a new calling at the age of 29. It has grown into a $70-million company based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Modelled largely on events held in Europe, Dean’s premise was to create a challenge that involved more camaraderie and teamwork than standard marathons, and where participants don’t have to train for months. Participants are also allowed to skip obstacles they find too challenging. The organization takes a certain glee in poking fun at marathon-type races (“Fact # 1,” its website reads: “Marathon running is boring. Fact #2 — Mudders do not take themselves too seriously. Triathlons, marathons, and other lame-ass mud runs are more stressful than fun. Not Tough Mudder.”) The organization has also raised more than $5 million for the Wounded Warrior foundation, which supports injured soldiers. That being said, one does have to be a tough mudder to complete the race, which is why only 78 per cent of participants do so. Given the nature of the event, participants have to pay an extra $15 for insurance on top of the $85 to $180 it costs to register, depending on how soon in advance participants sign up. Spartan Race estimates an average of three people are injured in each of their races, and seven per cent will suffer “light” injuries. A 28-year-old died in April at a Tough Mudder event in West Virginia after leaping into a mud pond and failing to resurface, the first fatality in Tough Mudder’s history. The organization notes it is its only fatality in its three years among 750,000 participants, and the West Virginia event was staffed with more than 75 first aid, ambulance and water-rescue technicians. Ostroff trains five to six times a week at the gym, doing cardio and working on upper body strength, which should help, as might his intended specialty of orthopaedics. He hasn’t done any specific training for Tough Mudder — one day a year of climbing ropes and walking slippery planks over ice pits is enough, he said. He trusts his teammates, some of whom he has known for 20 years, although he’s a little concerned about the one who weighs 240 pounds, since he will have to help boost and lift that mass over wooden walls. His greatest concern is the running aspect of the race. “Honestly, I just hope to have a completely awesome day, as injury-free as possible,” Ostroff said. “I just want to have a great memorable event.” rbruemmer@montrealgazette.com Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Tough+Mudder+Fancy+obstacle+course+steroids/8460617/story.html#ixzz2UziJ5r3o -
evenko annonce avec fierté que selon les chiffres compilés par Venues Today*, le Centre Bell se classe au premier rang des arénas les plus achalandés au Canada et figure au troisième rang mondial ! Au Canada, le Centre Bell devance l'Air Canada Centre de Toronto, qui occupe le cinquième rang mondial. Ce palmarès est basé sur le nombre de concerts et les recettes des amphithéâtres de 15 001 à 30 000 sièges, du 16 octobre 2011 au 15 octobre 2012. Venues Today, magazine international couvrant le volet affaires de l'industrie du divertissement et du sport, recense l'achalandage des plus grands amphithéâtres au monde. Voici le classement des vingt premières places en 2012: 1.O2 Arena, London, U.K. 2.Staples Center, Los Angeles 3.Bell Centre, Montreal 4.Allphones Arena, Sydney 5.Air Canada Centre, Toronto 6.Madison Square Garden, New York 7.Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia 8.Verizon Center, Washington 9.O2 World, Berlin, Germany 10.HP Pavilion at San Jose (Calif.) 11.Philips Arena, Atlanta 12.Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas 13.Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh 14.Amway Center, Orlando, Fla. 15.American Airlines Arena, Miami 16.Coliseo de Puerto Rico, San Juan 17.Prudential Center, Newark, N.J. 18.Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta 19.American Airlines Center, Dallas 20.Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif. De plus, selon une étude réalisée par la firme de Secor pour le compte d'evenko, '' les spectacles d’evenko figurent parmi les attraits touristiques les plus importants de la métropole'' et ''constituent plus du tiers de l'assistance à des spectacles et événements au Québec.'' Nous remercions tous les spectateurs du Québec ainsi que les nombreux visiteurs canadiens et étrangers qui continuent, année après année, d'assister aux différents événements présentés au Centre Bell. (* 2012 Year-End "Top Stops". Based on concert and event grosses from Oct. 16, 2011-Oct. 15, 2012, as reported to Venues Today. Venue/Location/No. of Seats/Total Gross/Total Attendance/No. of shows.) ------------------------------------------------------- evenko is proud to announce that as per Venues Today* the Bell Centre has been ranked number one arena in Canada and 3rd top arena in the world! In Canada, the Bell Centre placed ahead of the Air Canada Centre, taking 5th position worldwide. The rankings are based on concert and event grosses from October 16, 2011 to October 15, 2012 in the amphitheatre category of 15,001 to 30,000 seats. Venues Today is a leading international trade publication that covers the business side of entertainment and sports, particularly as it relates to venues. Here are the 2012 '' 20 Top Stops'': 1.O2 Arena, London, U.K. 2.Staples Center, Los Angeles 3.Bell Centre, Montreal 4.Allphones Arena, Sydney 5.Air Canada Centre, Toronto 6.Madison Square Garden, New York 7.Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia 8.Verizon Center, Washington 9.O2 World, Berlin, Germany 10.HP Pavilion at San Jose (Calif.) 11.Philips Arena, Atlanta 12.Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas 13.Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh 14.Amway Center, Orlando, Fla. 15.American Airlines Arena, Miami 16.Coliseo de Puerto Rico, San Juan 17.Prudential Center, Newark, N.J. 18.Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta 19.American Airlines Center, Dallas 20.Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif. Moreover, according to a Secor study which was recently conducted for evenko: ″The events promoted by evenko are amongst the most important tourist attractions of the city″ and are ″a staple of the cultural industry in Quebec -- more than a third of the overall attendance at shows and events in the provinc″. We thank all patrons in Quebec and visitors from Canada and abroad who continue, year after year, to attend the various events presented at the Bell Centre. (* 2012 Year-End "Top Stops". Based on concert and event grosses from Oct. 16, 2011-Oct. 15, 2012, as reported to Venues Today. Venue/Location/No. of Seats/Total Gross/Total Attendance/No. of shows.) -
Bonjour à tous, Nrithyalaya Classical Art Foundation, va avoir son spectacle annuel à la salle Oscar Peterson située au 7141 Sherbrooke ouest à Montréal. Ça sera une soirée de musique classique du sud de l’Asie. L’Évènement est gratuit et vous êtes les bienvenus pour vous joindre à nous le samedi 28 mai à 19h30 à 22h00. Si vous n’êtes pas familiers avec les chansons classiques Tamil, vous pouvez voir la performance qui a eu lieu à la Maison de la culture Ahunstic – Cartieville. Le groupe a interprété une chanson québécoise « Chanson entre nous » mais dans un style de musique classique Tamil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlHJhuz6wHo Au plaisir de vous voir à tous ______________________________________________________ Dear all, Nrithyalaya Classical Art Foundation will be hosting its annual Carnartic concert at Oscar Peterson Concert Hall located at 7141 Sherbrooke ouest in Montreal. It will be night of celebrating Classical music from South Asia. The event is free, and you are welcomed to join us On Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 7:30pm to 10:00pm. If you are not familiar with Classical Tamil music, you can take a look at part of the Foundation performing in La Maison de la culture Ahunstic – Cartierville. The group interprets a Quebec songs, ‘Chanson entre nous,’ but sung in the classical Tamil style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlHJhuz6wHo Good day and hope to see you at our event. Would love to see some of you guys there, I only met two of you guys. -
Michael Douglas's cancer diagnosed in Canada, now he's helping Montreal hospital
un sujet a posté GDS dans L'actualité
Michael Douglas's cancer diagnosed in Canada, now he's helping Montreal hospital By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press – 13 minutes ago MONTREAL — Michael Douglas's battle with throat cancer began in Canada — and now the Oscar-winning actor is giving back to the Montreal hospital that detected a disease others had missed. An appreciative Douglas, star of Hollywood films such as "Basic Instinct" and "Wall Street," volunteered to headline a posh fundraiser next month for McGill University's head and neck cancer fund. Last year, Douglas underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments in the United States for a walnut-sized tumour he now says is gone. But the cancer diagnosis first came from the McGill-affiliated Jewish General Hospital — only weeks after several physicians elsewhere had given him a clean bill of health. As a thank you, the 66-year-old actor, who owns a vacation home north of Montreal in the Mont-Tremblant area, personally offered his star power to the hospital. Douglas's publicist confirmed Monday the Montreal hospital discovered the cancer first. "That's where he found out he had his cancer," Allen Burry said of the Jewish General Hospital in a phone interview. "He was happy to do it (the fundraiser)." Organizers of the $375-a-head gala on May 3 have pencilled Douglas in as the honoured invitee, meaning he will mingle with ticket holders, sign autographs and say a few words to the guests. Those hoping for more face time with Douglas can buy a $750 VIP ticket, giving them access to his pre-event cocktail. "It was his very gracious offer to help us in view of his own battle with throat cancer," said Dr. Saul Frenkiel, a co-chair of the fundraiser who was personally contacted by Douglas. "We're hoping as the evening unfolds that it will be a big year (for the event). . . there's a buzz." Douglas and his actress wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, have even put themselves up for auction. The biggest item on the live auction list is a golf outing at Mont-Tremblant with the Hollywood power couple. The annual event has featured celebrities in the past, including Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau and Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut. But Frenkiel is pretty sure Douglas is the most prominent drawing card in the event's 17 years. "Certainly, Michael Douglas . . . helps to bring to the attention of the public the need to do important research in the head and neck cancer field," said Frenkiel, a head and neck surgeon, or otolaryngologist. He underlined the importance of the charity because some head and neck cancers are on the rise, including thyroid cancers and throat cancers caused by the human papillomavirus. The money raised will fund research and improvements to direct patient care. Last year's event brought in around $1.5 million, said Frenkiel, who hopes to break the $1 million mark again. "We were very appreciative of his kind support — it was a gracious personal offer and certainly reflected his own inner personality and willingness to help battle head and neck cancer," he said of Douglas. Shortly after announcing last August that he had been diagnosed with cancer, Douglas told David Letterman that he had his persistently sore throat checked out earlier in the summer. "I actually went through a litany of doctors and tests — they didn't find anything," Douglas said during an appearance on Letterman's "Late Show." Douglas, who will begin shooting the film "Liberace" this spring, announced in January that his tumour was gone and that he had regained 12 of the 32 pounds he had lost during treatment. "He's doing well, he's doing extremely well," Burry said. -
(Courtesy of Tesla Motors) :goodvibes: RSVP
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(Courtesy of The Montreal Gazette)
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C'est encore payant d'aller sur SSP... http://skyscraperpage.com/montreal/en/ Dates: March 25 to 31, 2008 Where: The Grande Place in complexe Desjardins (located in downtown Montreal), in a neighbourhood that is home to several future urban development projects. Description: We are proud to present the 2nd official edition of a unique public event that highlights real estate development and infrastructure projects (commercial, residential, institutional and governmental) that will change the landscape of Montreal over the next quarter-century. This special event will feature a record number of architectural models, designs and plans loaned by various promoters and organizations and presented at the Grande Place in complexe Desjardins. The first edition in March 2006, presented at the CDP Capital Centre, was a huge success. This time we are planning for an even greater number of exhibitors and participants, and will be adding two new important elements - major TRANSPORTATION infrastructures and ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS (sustainable development). Members of the business community and government officials will be on hand for the official opening event at the exhibition site on March 25, 2008 hosted by honorary president Benoit Labonté, Mayor of the Borough of Ville Marie. This event will be attended by over 500 guests, all of whom are involved in and concerned about the urban and economic development of Montreal. The exhibition will be open to visitors free of charge. Thousands of visitors are expected over the course of the event, given that the complexe Desjardins attracts traffic of some 36,000 people every day. For more info on the exhibition: Robert J. Vézina, organiser 514-875-1353 ext. 205 rjv@bbcm.org http://www.boma-quebec.org
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New Year's Eve party à la Times Square in Montreal Thu, 2009-09-10 17:37. Shuyee Lee Montreal is getting its own Times Square-style Rockin' New Year's Eve. Media company Astral Media is organizing a big New Year's Eve party this year on McGill College Avenue downtown. It'll be an annual affair complete with live music and comedy, activities, as well as sound and light performances. The Big Astral Countdown for Mira event will help raise money for the Mira Foundation, which provides over 180 guide dogs and assistance to people with mental, visual, hearing and motor disabilities. Astral Media owns CJAD 800 which will broadcast the event live, along with its sister stations CHOM 97.7 and Virgin Radio 96. http://www.cjad.com/node/990235
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MONTREAL — Add “promoter of international soccer matches” to the dossier of the Montreal Impact. The Impact has officially landed Montreal France’s Champions Trophy, a one-game final between the winners of the French Championship and French Cup to be held on July 25 at Olympic Stadium. It will be the first time the Champions Trophy has been held outside France, and past winners include Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes and Monaco. “The Impact is the promoter,” Impact vice-president Richard Legendre said. “As (Impact president) Joey Saputo has said, we think it’s the right timing to bring international soccer to Montreal. We think there’s a market for that and we’re at a better place to organize it. “It’s in our mission to promote and develop soccer here, and this is a very good way to do so. We went after it. We worked on it, and it’s up to us to promote it. Hopefully we can also bring new sources of revenue. There are costs, but we think the revenue will be higher than the cost.” The Champions Trophy (officially Le Trophee des Champions) brings together the winner of France’s Ligue 1, currently being contested between Bordeaux and Marseille, and the winner of the French Cup, which is competed for by all divisions. Ligue 2’s Guingamp won the French Cup on May 9, beating Rennes 2-1 on a pair of goals from Brazilian striker Eduardo in front of 80,056 spectators at le Stade de France. Guingamp, the first Ligue 2 team to win the tournament-format French Cup in 50 years, will face either Bordeaux or Marseille in Montreal. Bordeaux, which Thursday announced it had signed Yoann Gourcuff to a four-year contract, ending the possibility of the French international playmaker going to AC Milan, needs only one point against Caen Saturday night to secure the Ligue 1 crown. A record crowd of 55,571 was at Olympic Stadium last February to watch the Impact play a CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final game against Mexican first-division club Santos Laguna. While it remains to be seen if two visiting French teams can attract a similar crowd in Montreal, Legendre is confident the interest will be there. “We think it’s an important event with a lot of stature, certainly from the interest we’ve received so far. The fans of international soccer, and of course the fans of French soccer, I think will be very excited to attend,’’ Legendre said. “We haven’t set any specific objective in terms of numbers, but think that such an event should draw 30,000-plus. That’s why we’re holding it at Olympic Stadium.” Montreal Gazette
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Infrastructure crumbling? An international sports event might be just the answer LINDA GYULAI, The Gazette Published: 23 hours ago Big international events snag big bucks. Toronto and its neighbouring cities are hoping that formula will equal $1 billion to build or upgrade local sports and recreation facilities if they win a joint bid to host the 2015 Pan American Games. "It's the single most important objective," former Ontario premier David Peterson, who was named by Premier Dalton McGuinty to head the region's bid, said in an interview with The Gazette. "There seems to be a massive deficit of infrastructure here." The region will know in a year whether it has the event, Peterson said. The province hasn't hosted a significant international sports event since the 1930s. Cities all around Toronto say they need everything from swimming pools to gyms. Hamilton said this month it will have to close more than half its recreation centres, pools and arenas within a decade if it doesn't deal with a $20-million backlog of repairs and upgrades. And a 2005 survey of 2,560 municipal arenas, pools and community centres by Parks and Recreation Ontario, an association, found their average was 32. The facilities require $5 billion in repairs and upgrades, the study concluded. The bulk of federal sport infrastructure funding in recent years has gone to western Canada, which has hosted the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games, said Michelle Gendron, spokesperson for Sports-Québec, a provincial association of sport federations representing 90 activities. Vancouver will host the 2010 winter Olympics. Montreal's last major international hurrah, the '76 Olympics, sparked the city's last sport and recreation building boom. But politicians have done a 100-metre dash from the idea of hosting another major event after the games left a $1-billion deficit. Mayoral candidate Benoit Labonté has proposed Montreal bid for the 2020 world fair as a catalyst for the city's renewal. After all, Montreal got a métro system for Expo 67. It's the right idea, but the wrong event to generate cash for Montreal's worn-out sports and recreation facilities, Gendron said. "It takes a sporting event to generate investment in sport facilities." Even a smaller international sporting event brings a windfall, she said. The 2005 World Aquatics Championships, for instance, led to the upgrade of the swimming pools on Île Ste. Hélène. -
Montreal goes to Chicago Windy City gets its own comedy festival Montreal’s prestigious Just For Laughs comedy festival is spreading its wings – with a new festival in Chicago. The 25-year-old event, a long-time favourite of talent-spotting American TV executives, has teamed up with the TBS network for the new festival in summer 2009. It comes after the rival HBO cable network cancelled its comedy arts festival in Aspen, Colorado, in favour of a less industry-orientated event in Los Angeles. Ellen DeGeneres will headline the five-day event, but the rest of the line-up – including stand-up, improv and sketch shows, plus Latino and black showcases, will not be announced until the autumn. Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, sad: ‘We couldn’t be happier that the enormously talented and always funny Ellen DeGeneres is on board. Just For Laughs: A Very Funny Festival is a perfect opportunity for us to showcase some of the best talents in the comedy industry.’ Just For Laughs president Gilbert Rozon added: ‘Looking back, it’s hard to believe that Just For Laughs started out as a small local comedy showcase and has grown and evolved to become one of the biggest producers of comedy in the world. We are thrilled to be involved in this endeavour with TBS, and to have Chicago as our flagship comedy event in the US.’ Chicago has an illustrious comedy heritage, especially with improv and sketch acts, with comedians such as John Belushi, Tina Fey, Bill Murray, and Steve Carell starting their careers there. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2008/02/20/6439/montreal_goes_to_chicago?rss
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Montreal hosts global programming event By: Rafael Ruffolo ComputerWorld Canada (17 Sep 2007) OOPSLA 2007, an international conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages and Applications bringing together a wide variety of computing professionals, is coming to Montreal next month. The conference offers demonstration sessions, panel discussions and keynote speeches geared towards industry practitioners, managers and researchers. Speakers will address subjects such as improving programming languages and software development, as well as exploring new programming methods. The event will also host doctoral students who will get the opportunity to interact and present their work to industry researchers. "We have a fair number of managers from various IT organizations coming to the conference," Richard Gabriel, OOPSLA 2007 conference chair, said. "This year's event in particular has a real superstar lineup as we have some keynote speakers that people in the field would try over a ten-year period to see. But, we've got them all." One such keynote speaker is Gregor Kiczales, a professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia. Kiczales is known for his work on Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) and helped lead the Xerox PARC team that developed the AspectJ programming language. He intends to talk about how people work together toward building and using complicated systems. "We have these very scientific and technical theories that account for how people work together versus the social factors that account for how people work together, and everybody knows that the middle is where the action is," Kiczales said. "The thing I want to claim our field should work on over the next 10 years is that theory in the middle of how people work and how technology works and I think that could have a dramatic impact on what we do." Kiczales said that AOP, which is what he's most known for, touches on these same issues. He said it's about how different people see the same thing in different ways. "I've been working with AOP a little over 10 years now and what I'm trying to do now is go back to this set of intuitions that produced AOP and fish out the next idea," Kiczales said. Because the OOPSLA conference is so diverse, he said, both technologists and methodologists will have the opportunity to hear these ideas together; something the specialized nature of most conferences fail to address. "OOPSLA is really about this mix of people from our field trying to see the ideas that are going to be breaking in about five or 10 years from now," Kiczales said. "The thing that truly makes OOPSLA unique is the mix it brings together with practitioners, managers, consultants and researchers. You have people who believe that technology is the answer, people who believe that methods are the answer, and people who believe that management is the answer. And when you mix these sorts of people together you tend to produce insight." Another notable speaker is John McCarthy, an Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) Turing Award winner, whose credits include coining the term "Artificial Intelligence" as well as inventing the Lisp programming language. McCarthy also did work in computer time-sharing technology and suggested it might lead to a future in which computing power and programs could be sold as a utility. "This is going to be a talk from one of the most famous computer scientists ever at the tail-end of his career," Gabriel said, adding that McCarthy is expected to discuss his work on a programming language called Elephant 2000. "He's been working on it for about 15 years now, but he doesn't talk about it much and has not released many papers on it, so it should be an interesting discussion," Gabriel said. Gabriel said what he knows thus far about McCarthy's proposed programming language is that it's designed for writing and verifying programs that facilitate commercial transactions such as online airline bookings. Frederick Brooke, another ACM Turing Award winner, is also speaking at the event and will discuss how companies can collaborate and "telecollaborate" to achieve conceptual integrity. "He's going to deal with the issue of groups of people who are designing systems together, but aren't situated in the same place," Gabriel said. "A lot of his current research deals around the issue of virtual reality." And speaking of virtual reality, two other notable speakers include Jim Purbrick and Mark Lentczner, who are software engineers behind the virtual world of Second Life. The two will deliver keynotes on the event's Onward, which is about trying to look to the future, Gabriel said. "Large companies like IBM and Sun Microsystems have presences in Second Life, so we're hoping some of the higher level, business-type people who attend will be the target of this keynote." OOPSLA organizers expect roughly 1,200 IT and computing professionals to attend the conference, now in its twenty-second year. The event runs from October 21 to 25, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.
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Montreal fest maverick Serge Losique conquers Montreal scene By SHANE DANIELSEN Claude Miller's "Un Secret," starring Cecile de France and Patrick Bruel In an increasingly corporate fest milieu, Serge Losique is a maverick. Pugnacious, unpredictable, the 76-year-old Montreal World Film Festival chief has for over three decades run his event as a personal fiefdom, as shuttered and inscrutable as the court of Tamburlaine. He's also a survivor, having seen off a recent challenge that would have sunk many a less determined adversary. Launched amid great fanfare in February 2005, the New Montreal FilmFest quickly signed a high-profile director (former Berlin and Venice topper Moritz de Hadeln) and boasted coin from Canada's major government film offices. It was, its backers claimed, the breath of fresh air the Montreal film scene badly needed. But in fact, the newcomer proved one of the fest world's more conspicuous train wrecks. The omens were not good: Both the fest's staff and its board were castigated by de Hadeln in the Canuck press just days before opening night -- but the reality proved far worse, with few (and flummoxed) guests, an empty red carpet and most films unspooling to near-empty houses. "It was," one attendee commented, "like watching the Lusitania go down. For 11 days." From across town, you could practically hear Losique's sigh of satisfaction. Sure enough, after that first, disastrous edition, the plug was pulled. Bloodied, but defiantly unbowed, the veteran fest celebrated its 30th anniversary last August. However, the very creation of a rival fest signaled other, more serious concerns -- specifically, a deepening feud between Losique (who runs his event as a private company, even owning its principal venue, the Imperial Theater) and his chief funders, Canadian government bodies Telefilm Canada and Sodec, the Quebec film agency. Both claimed disenchantment with Losique's autocratic managerial style and "lack of accountability" to the local film community. In electing to side with the NMFF, they expected his event to fold. Instead, the tyro event went under, leaving both bodies with oeuf on their faces. "The problems we encountered in the last two years with Telefilm Canada and Sodec are due to the fact that they are judge and jury," Losique reports. "Sooner or later, this approach to culture has to change." Losique has challenged the status quo before: "We raised these questions (just) as we raised questions about the rules of FIAPF (the Intl. Federation of Film Producers Assn.). We quit them. Now FIAPF is better, with new rules, and we are a member again." In the same way, he says, the relationship with Telefilm Canada is "becoming more normal." His lawsuit against them has quietly been dropped: "We're not yet kissing each other, but we are talking to each other." Unpredictable programming Still, Telefilm has not committed to reup its funding: a spokesman would say only that MWFF was still "under evaluation." Sodec, however, has returned to the fold, announcing in June that Losique's event would be once again among the eight Quebec film fests to share its annual C$800,000 ($750,000) pot. For many attendees, the chief virtue of the World Film Fest -- and the reason for its enduring importance on the fest landscape -- is the sheer unpredictability of its programming. Where Toronto, true to its origins as the Festival of Festivals, essentially culls a greatest-hits lineup from Berlin, Cannes and Venice, the Montreal slate comprises many off-the-radar pics from across the globe. Last year saw entries from 76 countries; this time, filmmakers from Chad to the U.S. will compete on equal terms for the Grand Prix of the Americas, the event's major award. Many of these will be world premieres. As such, it's a distinct change from the homogenous, shopping-list selections of most fest selections. Or as Losique puts it: "Our goal is to find the best films from as many countries as possible. We are not looking for 'names,' because even great names can produce bad films. In some festivals, you see the parade of stars and starlets offered by the marketing junket machine of Hollywood. We are not here to please dubious merchants, but to display the gems of the film industry." Still, he admits to a growing sense of dejection: "The emotional mystery of cinema is disappearing. Today you can buy any film on DVD on the same shelves with cat and dog food. Films d'auteur are gradually dying at the box office, and that's a danger for a quality film festival and also for cinema in general." The only way forward, he believes, is to retain a sense of perspective: "If you're too big, it's not good for cinema and discoveries. If you are too small, you do not exist for the media and sponsors. A festival should not be so big that you cannot even appreciate the films. Some middle road must be found."
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Digital 04 Studios announced the return of its popular conference in Montreal geared toward the digital art industry. Named Advanced Digital Art Production Techniques (//ADAPT), the conference will feature more than 20 digital art masters, world famous film, vfx and videogame studios. This year, the //ADAPT 2007 Conference will once again be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Montreal, on Sept. 24-28. In addition to the master classes, the four-day event will feature new programs and activities such as the //ADAPT Theater and the //ADAPT Art Expo, designed to promote and inspire artists and display the amazing art work developed in leading films, vfx and videogame productions worldwide. "With this announcement, Digital 04 Studios is proud to once again support this vibrant industry of digital art worldwide." said co-founder Jonathan Abenhaim. Throughout the next few weeks, stay tuned to the new http://www.adaptmontreal.com website for program information and registration. Last year, the //ADAPT 2006 conference registered 900 attendees from all over the world, nearly exceeding capacity. Thirty percent of attendees came from Asia, Europe and the U.S., and were made up of artists, students, film and videogame developers. "We were really amazed with the success of //ADAPT 2006. The participation and interest from artists and studios exceeded our expectations and confirmed the need for such an event," said co-founder Jean-Eric Hénault. Master classes were given by numerous world-renowned artists, such as Syd Mead, Scott Robertson, Iain McCaig and Mark Goerner, who featured their work and art production techniques. In addition to the training, attendees had the opportunity to network & interview with major studios, such as, DreamWorks Animation SKG, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucas Arts, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), Beenox and Hybride. Marc Petit, vp, Autodesk, Media and Ent., stated during his address at the Saturday evening cocktail mixer, "Montreal is the center of the CG universe. ADAPT gives the international 3D community the opportunity to learn from a number of leading artists and network within the industry." Digital 04 Studios, created for artists by artists, is the corporate entity presenting and organizing the //ADAPT Conference. Co-founded by Jean-Eric Hénault, president of CGChannel.com, Emile Ghorayeb, formerly at DreamWorks Animation, and Jonathan Abenhaim, formerly of Ubisoft Ent. The //ADAPT Conference was established in 2006 by Digital 04 Studios to teach advanced digital art production techniques and to promote digital artists worldwide.
