This Mr. Bean float appeared in the closing “Twin Parade” of the 2007 Just For Laughs festival. But was it really Mr. Bean, or was it actually his twin, Spanish PM José Luis Zapatero (with his oso de peluche)?

Well, I’ve done it — gone and bought Photoshop CS3. No more fiddling around with my various array of “almost good enough” tools and toys… Though it does look like I still will be using some of them (e.g. Photomatix for HDRs, Hugin for panos, maybe Bibble now and then). Those tools are all useful but I need to be able to make selections and masks, for the way I do my photo processing. (For the ear-steaming OpenSource freaks out there, GIMP runs too slowly on my iBook; when painting with a large brush it’s pathetic waiting for it to catch up…) It’s great to finally be able to say: “I’ve got the power! Dnt…dnt…dn-dn-dnt…dnt, dnt!” (now that song will be stuck in your head all day, hee hee ;-)

So here’s a shot from the football match last Sunday:

Sorry, I know this is just shameless marketing for the upcoming movie, but I couldn’t resist making a Simpsons avatar and sharing it with you here.

Thanks to Sugary for the idea. You can play and make your own characters on the movie’s promotional site.

I know this sounds a bit dubious, like something you might accidentally stumble across on the Internet. But no, I’m talking about the FIFA World Cup, and in particular the “under-twenty” version of the championship that’s being held in Canada for the first time this year. (We’re hoping to some day graduate to the “real” World Cup.)

Everyone in Canada loves soccer, don’t they? I mean, we almost all played it (or play it) as kids, and amateur soccer (aka “summer hockey”) is certainly alive and well. (Surely you know our noble Canadian motto: It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you have fun.) We’re not what you would call a world power, though, when it comes to the higher echelons of the sport. We have had (and do have) some professional leagues (Edmonton Drillers, late 1970s, anyone?), but I daresay most people would be hard pressed to name a single Canadian professional team. However, as of this year we do have Toronto FC, the first Canadian team in Major League Soccer (yes, that’s the same league Beckham now plays in, with the Los Angeles Galaxy…in fact he will play his first MLS game in Toronto on August 5!).

Anyhow, I’ve never been a fan of football on TV (and by football, of course I mean soccer). I rank it above golf in watchability but certainly below hockey and women’s beach volleyball. To give you an idea of how casually I take my spectating — even with hockey, I normally only watch a bit during the playoffs (and beach volleyball every four years, during the Olympics, whether I need it or not).

But as someone who wants to live in Spain, a country at least as mad about fútbol as Canada is about hockey, I feel I should give it a chance. I do enjoy watching highlight reels, seeing those spectacular goooooóls and the touch-and-go passing. Other than that, though, watching tiny specks exchanging possession within an enormous midfield area strikes me as almost…golf-ish, in its level of excitement.

But I appreciate the energy of fandom and national pride (actual or adoptive). I live in a neighbourhood with many Portuguese and Brazilian ties, so I’m surrounded by fanatical worshippers of the buckyball. I woke up early on a summer 2002 morning to join in the impromptu parade when Brazil won the World Cup. In 2006, I went to the Spanish social club and shared the humiliation of Spain being eliminated by France in the Round of 16. I remember hearing the roar of 80,000 fans coming from Palo Alto’s Stanford Stadium (near where I was living) during the 1994 World Cup. And last year, although jetlagged, I gave up hope of sleeping in Barcelona on the night Barça won the European Champion’s League — there were home-brew fireworks shows as far as the eye could see (and ear could hear).

So perhaps I was wrong. Somehow, I’ve gotten hooked watching this year’s under-twenty league (on TV or even on the ‘net, thanks to CBC and FIFA). As the teams filter down via elimination, the games get pretty exciting. The skill on display, by tomorrow’s superstars, is great to watch. So is the immaturity of some of these kids, as when Portuguese player Zequinha plucked a red card out of the referee’s hands because he “refused” to allow it to be assigned to his teammate. He then left the stadium in tears, also thrown out. This week I went so far as to buy a ticket to Sunday’s quarter-final match at the Olympic Stadium, between Chile and Nigeria. Amazingly, after almost fifteen years in Montreal, this will be my first sporting event at the Big O (we can’t call it “The Big Owe” any more because it finally got paid off, last December!). I’m excited; I just hope I don’t get caught up in any hooliganism or, more likely, chunks of collapsing roof…ha ha.

No comment about the fact that host team Canada didn’t win a single game, nor even score a single goal… No comment, except to say that we have our own unique way of achieving “firsts”! Suffice it to say that attendance has been great — in fact we may set a record, which would be a true point of pride.

Who do I cheer for? Generally, I do it on cultural and linguistic lines. If the option is there, I cheer first for Canada (why not?). After that comes Spain, then other hispanohablante country (e.g. Chile, Argentina, Mexico), then I move to neighbourhood favourites (both eliminated this time!) Brazil and Portugal. As a tie-breaker in undecided cases, where I don’t really know or care, I cheer for the underdog. On the other hand, if a team is playing exceptionally well, I may switch allegiance simply because they just deserve my applause. My loyalties are many and fickle.

Well, Montreal’s Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood (my ‘hood) has a new “free bike” program, called Bécikvert. They have a pool of 20 green-painted bikes, to start out, and all you need to do is exchange a piece of photo ID for the bike. Your ID is returned when the bike is returned. They have various kinds of bikes, different styles to meet all tastes. You also have access to special offers and discounts at various shops along Mont-Royal while you are in possession of the bike!

In Barcelona, meanwhile, the “green” bikes are actually red. They have a major new bike pool program this year, called Bicing. Theirs is far more ambitious, on a much larger scale. Although not free, it’s a great deal at 24€ per year. For that rate, you can borrow a bike (you swipe your personal access smart-card to unlock them from large racks) anytime for up to 30 minutes, without additional charges. If you want to borrow longer (up to two hours), you pay a small amount for the rental. You are not allowed to borrow for more than two hours — the idea of the program is for the bike as a means of point-to-point transport, a supplement to public transit and thus a car replacement. And the pool stays “afloat” in this way. If certain stops are underserved, then there are vehicles which move around rebalancing the load, delivering bikes when they are needed at “empty” stations. They claim to do this very quickly, so if there is ever any waiting, it is minimal. It would be good to hear from folks in Barcelona who’ve tried it, to see just how well it actually works. I imagine there are a few startup glitches, but the basic idea is great.

There are pickup/drop spots all over the city, especially linked with metro stations, bus and tram stops, and so the idea is to grab a bike and go wherever you’re going, then “return” the bike there. Later, you take a different bike to your next destination. You could spend all day hopping from location to location, for free! They currently have “only” 1,500 bikes, and that will double by the end of the year. You can even check bicycle availability in real time on the internet, since the whole thing is automated. I don’t think they offer helmets, though…so bring your own! I wouldn’t want to ride without one in Barcelona, although you may look like a freak because no one seems to wear them there.

These are both great initiatives which, coupled with increasing numbers of bike lanes and better driver awareness(!) will hopefully start to transform our cities. Not only making them more “green”, but making for healthier (and happier, I would hope) citizens. Already 80,000 people have signed on in Barcelona for annual memberships in bicing! Of course, it would be silly to offer year-round memberships in wintry Montreal…our trial program only runs during the summer this year, until September.

China is lifting the lid on a new, giant public washroom in Chongqing. “Hello. Is your toilet running?” If by that, you mean is it running for the World Record of biggest public toilet in the world, then, yes, they’re hoping the Guinness authority will grant them that honour. And that would be nothing to shake a…oh, never mind. The CBC article neglects to mention who currently holds the claim of world’s largest.

One tip to the promoters: about your marketing machine… Your spokesperson might have chosen his words more carefully when he proudly proclaimed: “We are spreading toilet culture.” I’m thankful you didn’t say you hoped it would make a splash. All I can say is that I hope you’ve also installed World Record hand-washing facilities, to help prevent spreading that toilet culture, you know, too far. Anyhow, if I’m ever passing through the area, I’ll be sure to give it a whirl.

P.S. “Flushed with pride” was already “taken” by the CBC article.

…yes, Happy Birthday to Canada! It’s the big four-oh (plus one hundred). Lucky us: here in Quebec we’re enjoying our second long weekend in a row, more time to enjoy the Jazz Fest and the strangely cool weather of the last few days. Last weekend was la Saint-Jean, Quebec’s fête nationale. Today, one week later, is Canada’s 140th!

It’s hard to imagine that I’ve been alive for one quarter of my country’s history. If you were from San Marino, you’d have to be well over 400 years old to make that claim. On the other hand, if you were from Montenegro you could be 3 months old and still alive for quarter of your country’s history…

Turns out it’s also Princess Diana’s birthday (and about ten years since her death), and there’s that big Wembley concert her sons are putting on in her memory, that apparently 500 million are watching right now. Ah, Lady Di… I especially love saying her name the way they pronounce it in Spain: there, it sounds like “Laddie D,” which somehow I find very cute.

“Props” also to those in Hong Kong, who today are celebrating ten years since the end of British rule (basically the same thing we’re celebrating here!).

The expression goes: “As American as apple pie.” Well here, we’re so proud of our symbols, oh yes indeed — people today are talking about “the North,” the beaver, hockey, the Mounties…we’ve got our Seven Wonders…and yet a recent survey says that (my italics):

…around 30 per cent of Canadians say part of what makes Canada successful is the lack of a strong national identity.

Well, you know, at least we’ve got a nice personality…