Get To Know Your Bixi Rider

Nevermind about dogs you can ride, let's talk Bixi. Montreal's own bicycle-taxi system, The Bixi, has been keeping me laughing since I first saw one of those things, and recently, I've become a bit obsessed with the Bixi Lifestyle. So much so, that I'm about to go all Midnight Poutine and develop a new feature called Get To Know Your Bixi Rider, in which I adopt the traditional man-on-the-street approach and interview Bixi lovers, novices and afficianados alike about the Bixi: its culture and history, and the impact of the Bixi on the lives of those who ride Bixi.

Who is your typical Bixi rider? Is there even an average Bixi rider, or does the convenience and spirit of the Bixi transcend all barriers between people?

If Arrested Development were around today, Jeb would not ride a Segway. No. He would zoom around Orange County in comfort and style astride his Bixi.

Ex-patriate Frenchman cultural critic and blogger Fabien Loszach (of the Almost As Cool As Fighting blog) and I were taking the air, as it were, biking to see the MSO perform a number of crowd-pleasing favourites in Parc Ahuntsic on an overcast Thursday (that turned foul hours later), when he told me of the seminal indie-rock band, The Bixies and their sleeper-classic, Where is my Bike? A week later to the day, my bicycle would be gone - stolen from outside of my house, not 50 feet from a Bixi docking station. If it were a particularly slow newsweek, I imagine my conversion from 10-speed Plateau-ish cyclist to a full-on Bixi rider would earn me a place in the Montreal Gazette's lifestyle section - a wide-angle photograph of me crossing my arms by the spot where my bicycle was stolen under the headline, "Bike Bandits have this Boy Whistlin' Bixi."

From now on, whenever you think about Bixi (and trust me, you will), visit Goldkicks. In the coming weeks, we'll be talking to the people that make Bixi what it is, representatives of the Bixi subculture, Bixi detractors, and get to the bottom of the painfully unsuccessful and bizarre Bixi thefts. Bixi Branding - what is it, and does it work? Do you find the Bixi is compelling enough as a concept? Does it emotionally resonate with you, or is the Bixi Identity too utilitarian? Can a Bixi be sexy? All these questions will be answered, and new ones will undoubtedly arise, as we chart the exciting life and times of the Bixi.

Other Notes

Ali Rahman vs. Bobcat Goldthwait.

Chris Clark is King of the Contests, King of Christian Comedy, and Montreal's stealthiest publicist.

Bixi Buzz: Bixi Stations, Bixi THIS!, You're on a Bixi right now, Bixit iPhone App, Bixi Me iPhone App, Up-to-date Bixi Map, Bixi & Twitter: So 2009, Should Bixis Come With Helmets?, Bixi Video, Maclean's Magazine Does A Bixi Audio Tour, Are Bixis Bad For Small Business?.

Just For Laughs Film Festival Jury Announcement & Paper Heart

I went out last night to catch Paper Heart, the mixed-format documentary (and stop-animation!) film from Nicholas Jasenovec & Charlyne Yi (you'll probably remember her from Knocked Up), documenting Charlyne's aw-shucks search for love, its meaning, and so forth. Jake Johnson (as Nick Jasenovec) as the slightly manipulative, but ultimately well-meaning director, was pretty funny, and while all-in-all the film depended on a certain mannered awkwardness, the essential charm of the cast and their own personalities stopped it from devolving into the unbearable twee-fest it could have been.

Michael Cera, for all his corduroy-clad stammering is a funny guy, and a lot of him in this film reminded me of his short-lived series Clark and Michael. Same apartment, too, I guess. Cameos by Seth Rogen, Demetri Martin, and a number of alt-comedy also-rans. Music production by Montreal's own Alden Penner (lately of Clues, formerly of the Unicorns).

Also on the JFL front, today they announced their jurists for the 13th edition of the film festival. From the press release:

This year's jury will be made up of 5 members of the entertainment industry, including David Greenbaum (Vice President of Production and Development, Miramax Films), Alex Epstein (writer, Bon Cop / Bad Cop), Melissa Auf de Maur (music artist from the band Hole and Smashing Pumpkins), Denis Côté (filmmaker, Carcasses) and Tendo Nagenda (Vice President of Production, Mandate Pictures).

Films are screening from July 16 to 25 at the NFB CineRobotheque on St. Denis, by Berri-UQAM metro.

Evan Dubinsky is still Googling himself, and unfortunately, intrepid searchers, I have no photographs of boys in panties here, just an old post on a Victorian musician named Panty Boy.

Ali Rahman information and whereabouts-seekers, please direct your attention to http://whereisalirahman.tumblr.com/

The Foundation at the Just For Laughs Film Festival

We're in the final stretch of the Montreal Jazz Fest, and while it was kind of interesting to press myself up against 100,000 other people for Patrick Watson's performance on Sunday night, truthfully, I've neglected my duties as a newly minted Quebecker (I declared my residency last Friday, after five years of living here), which, at this time, include wandering buzzed around the Quartier de Spectacle, fondling produce at a Farmer's Market or two, and playing pétanque in a city park.

Yes, I've been lazy, but now I'm summoning up all the civic pride I can to get involved, even if that means sitting in a dark theatre on a summer evening. (Thankfully, the weather's been mostly miserable...) The Just For Laughs Festival, widely known across the rest of Canada as the place where they film all of the filler stand-up comedy for Saturday night emergency programming on CTV, is here, and truthfully, I can take or leave stand-up comedy and comics. (And circus acts and the tam-tams and many other of Montreal's summer delights. Thank God they don't hold poetry slams outdoors.) But as it goes, there's something very compelling about this year's festival, and that's a screening of two episodes of a new television series on Canada's Showcase network (which re-broadcasts American cable shows, used to show a blue movie or two, and occasionally produces some Canadian shows) which stars two of the principals involved with last year's film, Who is K.K. Downey?, which premiered at Fantasia.

Kidnapper Films' Pat Kiely and Matt Silver make an appearance as the Tak Brothers, in an episode of a new five-part series called The Foundation, which is screening two episodes at the Just For Laughs festival. (Contrary to past years with this blog, I won't delve needlessly and deeply into the arcane details and connections, I'll just say that these are two very talented and very hard-working young men, and their lengthy CVs attest to that.)

From the trailer, it looks like it's just as funny, quick, offensive, and also features just as many questionable hairstyles and incidents of hard-drug use. Mike Wilmot (from It's All Gone, Pete Tong) stars as a morally bankrupt family patriarch, with Mike Dowse (Fubar, It's All Gone, Pete Tong) at the helm.

The Foundation at the Just For Laughs Film Festival
Thursday, July 23rd, 19h
NFB CineRobotheque
1564 rue St. Denis

I'll have a brief Q&A to post with the duo in the next day or so, but in the meantime, to give you a bit of context, here are some audio pieces. The first is a mock college radio show hosted by Terrance and Theo Huxtable that takes place prior to the events in Who Is K.K. Downey, and features an animated and aggravating caller, as well as selections from the film's spectacular soundtrack (Miracle Fortress, CFCF, Duchess Says, and others.). Unfortunately, we weren't able to re-create the smooth reggae sounds that follow on The Natty Dred Show. Production was by Ali Rahman and Martin Horn of Digital Bird Studios, with a little help from yours truly.

Who Is K.K. Downey? K.K. Cast (MP3 format)

Against Film Schools is a 2008 piece produced by Cristal Duhaime, who works on CBC Radio 1's Wiretap with Jonathan Goldstein, for the sadly short-lived and ambitious Savfaire magazine. The voice you'll hear is that of Matt Silver, expounding wisdom to the fresh and naive souls who wish to make it as film-makers.