Quote of the week

“I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!” —The message of a scam circulating on Facebook, linking users to a rogue Facebook app. Security software firm Sophos says thousands have fallen for the scam, which adds a monthly surcharge to cell phone bills.

Eco in the streets

Ecologically sound street festivals take over the city streets this weekend. Car Free Mile End hosts its second Journée des bons voisins on St-Viateur this Saturday from 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Expect an info-fair, music, barbecues, bike repair workshops and yoga in the street.

“We wanted to do something in the face of looming global problems, such as global warming or peak oil,” says Car Free Mile End’s Mathieu Vick. “It’s a way to bring people in the street and see that it’s a cool public space and it would be nice if we had some more space for families and to hang out.”

Details about the fest are at: carfreemileend.com.

For those who want to escape the Mile End bubble, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve hosts its fourth annual Grand Débarras at Parc Morgan (by Pie-IX metro) this Saturday and Sunday. Stop by to load up on fair trade, organic, locally produced items from tomatoes to artwork to Monsieur Corde à Linge, who will install a clothesline in your backyard. There will also be music and kids’ activities until the whole thing degenerates eco-responsibly into a DJ set at 9 p.m. The program of events is available at granddebarras.com.

MATT JONES

Media reboot camp

As print media continues to go the way of CDs, wolf t-shirts and phones that can’t access Facebook, the second annual Citizen Media Rendez-vous intends to explore a possible afterlife for journalism that might be free of the corporate ties of mainstream media and potentially less dubious than the opinion-saturated, un-sourced blogosphere.

“We’re looking at how different groups are creating open-source tools that anyone on the net can use for their own projects,” says event coordinator David Widgington.

Shubhranshu Choudhary will be explaining his project to connect disparate tribes in rural India using cell phones. “They dial a number, then press 1 to give a report or say what’s happening in their area. If they press 2, they can listen to reports from other people in the region in their own language. If they don’t speak Hindi, they have no radio stations or newspapers,” explains Widgington.

The main focus is on social media and human rights, looking at projects like Ushahidi, a platform that lets NGO workers in crisis zones keep tabs on danger areas by making real-time updates on a map about violence they witness.

The conference takes place Monday, Aug. 23 from 9:30 a.m.–6 p.m. at the Palais des Congrès. Visit citizen-media.ca to register.

MATT JONES

Park cinema

If you live around the Plateau and frequently find yourself restless to devour a little socially engaging entertainment yet too cash-poor to do much about it, take note that the free Wednesday night film series in Laurier Park (corner of Laurier E. and Mentana) will be continuing through the summer until Sept. 29.

The series, put together by “work co-op” Funambules Médias in conjunction with the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, is, according to Funambules Médias spokesperson Steve Patry, “just a way for us to coordinate a nice event for residents of the Plateau where they can sit back under the stars and watch a socially relevant movie in the park. It’s all very informal, of course, but we have invited the directors of all these films to come to the screenings and engage in any debates that might occur with the public as a result of them.”

The next screening, on Wednesday, Aug. 25, at 9 p.m., will be Patry’s own 2009 documentary Osoyoos, which follows the trials and tribulations of Nicolas, an idealistic young Québécois maverick, as he hitchhikes across Canada much like his unconventional parents did some 30 years before him.

To see what’s screening in the weeks to come, go to funambulesmedias.org.

CHRIS BARRY

History by bike

One cool way to kill a few hours this weekend while learning a little more about Montreal’s history and its various landmarks is to hook up with Ingrid Birker’s Stones and Beer Bike Tour on Sunday, Aug. 22. The tour, which Birker promises “isn’t too strenuous,” meets up at 4 p.m. outside the Redpath Museum and travels west, stopping at a series of notable locations including the Sulpicians’ reflecting pool at the Grand Seminaire and li’l Lenny Cohen’s boyhood digs in Westmount.

“I developed this tour a few years ago after writing the booklet, What Building Stones Tell, which is about the fossils you find in the building stones along Sherbrooke Street West,” notes Birker, who doubles as science outreach coordinator for the Redpath Museum. “It’s pretty much a geological history of some of our proudest institutional edifices. The whole tour is about 20 kilometers long and the steepest hill is up to Leonard Cohen’s old home. After that we’ll be gliding downhill to the McAuslan Brewery for a beer tasting before concluding the afternoon with the ghosts of Griffintown.”

If you’d like to participate, contact Birker at (514) 398-4094 or e-mail ingrid.birker@mcgill.ca. The cost is $25, $15 for students, and includes a copy of Birker’s What Building Stones Tell booklet.

CHRIS BARRY

Rear-view mirror

16 YEARS AGO - AUG. 18–25, 1994

On the cover: Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Director Alan Rudoph changed the title from Mrs. Parker and the Round Table because, “There was a chance that people might have expected some King Arthur element to the story.”

• Cocaine Anonymous says that more meetings are held in Montreal than in New York City, and that their hotline receives an average 1,600 calls a month.

• Janice Fike, in “A roommate’s special report,” writes about Melissa Auf der Maur’s unexpected offer to play bass for Hole. Fike traces the origins of Auf der Maur’s musical career to a 1991 dream in which Melissa was playing bass with Babes in Toyland “in front of thousands. The next morning, when she read that Babes in Toyland needed a bass player, she literally went out and purchased a bass.”

• City councillor Nick Auf der Maur issues a “1994 World Championship Certification” to the Montreal Expos. Nick is also quoted comparing the Mirror to the “student press.”

Angel >> The Cinema V The city will be taking back control of the crumbling, stately building on Sherbrooke West come November, after the community association tasked with repairing and re-opening it admitted they weren’t up to the job. It’s a pity the Empress Cultural Centre Inc.—the body that hoped to convert it into some sort of community centre when it took control of the building 11 years ago—lacked the $10–$11-million needed for major repairs, but at least the building is safe from decaying like the downtown Seville theatre. No one knows what it will eventually become—offices? Condos? An actual cultural centre?—but it is heartening that the elegant building won’t be demolished.

Insect >> Slumlords Slumlords wouldn’t be successful slumlords if they weren’t making money. Consider, for example, Robert Sebag. Said to be among the city’s worst landlords, Sebag is currently in negotiations with a non-profit housing group to sell his roach-infested apartment building on Côte-des-Neiges. But despite the building’s 371 health violations levied by city inspectors, the city is hesitating to fine him because they fear he will add the fine’s costs to the final sale price. Sebag is no stranger to filth: In 2008, he sold eight buildings in Villeray after he’d been slapped with 157 violations, and last December, the city ordered him to hire exterminators and remove asbestos from property he owned in Côte-des-Neiges.