Ladies and gentlemen,

Since winter has become my favourite season over the past few years, I always enjoy doing outdoor activities. Last Friday, I had the chance to go to ''Les Glissades des Pays d'En Haut'' in Piedmont, next to Saint-Sauveur, a very small town which is about thirty minutes north of Montreal. I was able to do different types of snowtubing during a wonderful winter day. Please enjoy a few pictures I took last week.

Have a nice day and enjoy your winter activities!

Sebastian Kluth

This is the entrance of ''Les Glissades des Pays d'En Haut''

Here is a map or plan of the different types of snowtubing.

This picture was taken out of a rafting tube and also shows a few so-called tornado tubes. Rafting tubes were really fast while tornado tubes spinned quite a lot.

This picture shows a wooden shack in front of the slopes for rafting and tornado tubes.

These are the slopes for smaller and regular tubes.

This is the highest point of the small amusement park.

There were two different ways to climb the hills in this park.

This is a great overview of the main site of this little adventure park. It's also my favourite picture taken that day.

''The Forest'' is a British-American supernatural horror movie which takes place in the infamous Aokigahara, a vast forest below Mount Fuji that has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology and which is a notoriously common suicide site. The film tells the story of a young American woman who tries to rescue her twin sister who was working as an English teacher in Tokyo and who disappeared during a weekend trip to said forest. While local authorities believe that the troubled young woman committed suicide, her sister believes she is still alive since she has a special supernatural connection to her. She travels to Japan on her own and decides to look for her sister despite several warnings from local guides. She gets help from an Australian journalist and a Japanese park guide when she starts looking for her sister. She soon starts to have strange visions, has numerous arguments with the two men, gets mentally unstable and ultimately lost in the woods. The young has to fight her own demons of the past first in order to uncover the mysterious fate of her twin sister and survive after nightfall.

What I liked about the movie is the inspiring and original settings in Japan. The movie includes a few interesting cultural elements which build up a chilling atmosphere. The introduction of the movie is short and to the point. The background story of the two sisters is a quite good idea but could have been a little bit more detailed and profound. The camera, light and sound techniques are solid and overall there aren't too many low-budget shaky camera sections in this film which is positively exceptional nowadays.

On the other side, this movie would have been much more authentic if it had been made by an entire Japanese film crew even though most Western cinemas might have ignored such a film due to Hollywood's monopoly. I have seen several Japanese horror movies and they usually offer an intense mixture of supernatural horror elements and perfectly inserted bits and pieces of their own rich culture. ''The Forest'' doesn't have the same kind of depth and remains an entertaining yet exchangeable horror movie that could almost take place anywhere around the world. From an atmospheric point of view, there are two or three mysterious scenes and two or three good jump scares but other parts of the movie are rather dull and sometimes we get fifteen to twenty minutes where nothing important happens at all and where the movie loses a lot of momentum. The acting is of an average quality and none of the actors or actresses leaves a positive impression. This is mostly due to a poor script. It might introduce a few promising ideas like the mysterious death of the twins' parents but they aren't much developed and remain mostly superficial. 

The conclusion to the film is controversial and in my opinion rather confusing, hectic and absolutely implausible. I'm aware of the fact that a supernatural horror movie isn't supposed to be realistic but this ending is so absurd that it's almost laughable. It's a typical ''deus ex machina'' ending which sadly fits to an overall vapid plot.

In the end, faithful horror movie fans and those who like to get exposed to Japanese culture by any means can give this film a try. For anyone else, this movie is nothing more or less than an average supernatural horror flick which isn't really scary after all. If you want to go to the cinema with a couple of friends and get exposed to a handful of jump scares, this movie might be entertaining at some points. If you watch it on your own or are expecting something clever, this film is a letdown. If you are truly interested in profound supernatural horror movies connected to Asian culture, you can find much better films from Asia which are ignored by Western cinemas. 

''The Hateful Eight'' is a typical Quentin Tarantino movie. It has a slow build-up that carefully introduces the eight different characters. The dialogues are very elaborated and mix crude vocabulary with more intellectual expressions to create an emotional balance. The tension of the movie is based on the cold landscapes, the long dialogues, the restricted setting, the excellent gloomy soundtrack and an overall simple yet efficient story with a little twist. It takes nearly two hours before the first main character dies and the killing scenes are then very graphic, purposely exaggerated and chillingly refreshing in contrast to the lengthy conversations. Anyone who knows Quentin Tarantino gets exactly what one can expect from him.

This factor has its advantages and disadvantages. The dialogues are among the very best in modern Hollywood cinema. The camera techniques are epic, the settings add to the atmosphere of the film and the score composed by Ennio Morricone is great. The eight characters are unique and very different from each other. They are incarnated by eight actors who really shine in this movie. All of them do an outstanding job but I would like to point the acting of the only female lead character played by Jennifer Jason Leigh who perfectly portrays a sneaky, sadistic and opportunistic criminal that constantly tries to manipulate people around her. The relations between the different characters are what makes this movie even more outstanding. Unlikely rivalries and alliances come and go during the movie and none of the characters is predictable.

On the negative side, the movie is comparable to several previous movies by Quentin Tarantino. In my opinion, the film has too many similarities with his last western ''Django Unchained'', including the setting, discussions about slavery and the Civil War background. Another negative element is the length of the movie. While the film builds up a lot of atmosphere, some momentum gets lost in the middle of the film before the first character dies. The movie could have been shortened by at least twenty to thirty minutes to assure a more fluid experience. Another element that bothered me a little bit was the perspective change in the movie. Right before the climax, the film introduces an entire chapter set in the early hours of the same day that reveals all the twists in about twenty minutes which decreases the impact of the following climax and interrupts the flow of the movie in an odd way. This background story could have been told differently, quicker and especially at a different moment in the movie. 

In the end, ''The Hateful Eight'' might not be Quentin Tarantino's best movie so far but it's a good or slightly above average film by him. The dialogues of the script are worthy of an Academy Award, the camera, light and sound techniques have both a retro style and are up to modern standards and the actors and actresses deliver some of their very best career performances. If you like westerns, the stunning landscapes and the story are two more reasons for you to adore this movie. If you are looking for a more graphic, short-paced and violent movie, ''The Hateful Eight'' might bore you since the film is unusually long and at points hard to sit through, focuses almost only on dialogues and character developments and only gets physically intense in the last sixth of the movie. Personally, this was one of last year's greatest movies in my opinion but you will only admire this movie if you are familiar with other works of Quentin Tarantino, like western stories and settings and adore elaborated dialogues. 

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

Last Tuesday, I went to see American metalcore quartet Ice Nine Kills in concert at Club Saw in downtown Ottawa. The band from Boston, Massachusetts has just released a great, brand-new record entitled ''Every Trick in the Book''. Each of the ten songs is inspired by a different novel. Some of my favourite novels such as George Orwell's dystopian fable ''Animal Farm'', Bram Stoker's classic horror novel ''Dracula'' and even William Shakespeare's epic tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet'' are referenced on said album. I was introduced to this band by one of my students (Thank you! You know who you are.) and decided to discover more of this intriguing group that celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. When I heard that the band was playing in Ottawa, it was a great occasion for me to attend my first concert of the year. There are many more to come: I'm going to see Nightwish and Black Sabbath in February and Iron Maiden and Dream Theater in April. All these concerts will take place in Montreal and I will attend the latter three with one of my best friends. Sadly, most bands still ignore the Canadian capital and I have to travel to Toronto or Montreal to see live shows.

The concert took place in a location I had never heard of before. Club Saw is a small part of a gallery with regular art exhibitions, conferences and craft courses. The club itself is rather tiny and offers barely enough space for about one hundred people. When I arrived there, far over one hundred people were already there and the location was packed. The ticket cost me fifteen dollars even though a lower price had previously been announced on the internet. In my opinion, the location wasn't very well equipped. There was neither a coat check nor a bar. When I asked the ticket seller where I could have a sip of water, they recommended me to go to the washroom. Between the shows of the opening acts, I decided to go to the next supermarket and buy some ice tea instead.

In the end, I would estimate that more or less one hundred fifty people attended the show which is quite a lot for a Tuesday night in Ottawa. The last time I attended a show on a weekday in Ottawa last autumn, only about fifty people attended the same concert as I did. To my surprise, the majority of the audience was a lot younger than me. I'm not exactly feeling old but I would say that the average age was around twenty. Since nobody checked the identity documents of the concertgoers, I guess there were even a couple of people who could have been of the age of my students. Since no alcool was sold in the building, I guess that no identity cards were required to get to the show. This was actually the first time I experienced such a relaxed procedure since security guards at public events in Ottawa are usually rather strict. Another surprise was that half of the audience consisted of girls and women. When I usually attend rock concerts, at least three-quarters of the audience consist of men which wasn't the case here. The crowd was quite peaceful and polite. There were only a few small circle pits consisting of the same half a dozen men and the fans in the first two or three rows were actually singing along to the songs of the bands.

Sadly, the opening bands were quite disappointing in my opinion. They were called Southpaw, Trentia and Earthworks. All these bands are from Ottawa and rather young and unknown acts. One could clearly hear that they weren't too experienced since their sound was mostly poor and their performances quite chaotic. All three bands were missing catchy guitar riffs, ferocious breakdowns, intriguing lyrics, memorable vocal performances and vivid rhythm sections. Some parts of the crowd seemed to appreciate these bands more than I did. I was wondering why until I saw that some of the fans of the opening acts left before Ice Nine Kills even entered the stage. I guess that these guys were mostly schoomates, friends or family members of these local support acts. On a more positive note, I must admit that all three bands had some entertaining qualities. The interactions between the bands and the crowd were quite dynamic.

It was about half past nine when Ice Nine Kills finally hit the stage and brought the entire series of performances that night on a whole new level. From the very first notes on after a short instrumental overture, the band conquered the crowd by storm. Especially singer Spencer Charnas was impressive to watch. He constantly ran across the stage, interacted with the audience, gave handshakes, did some crowd surfing thanks to some helping hands among the audience and climbed on different pipes below colourful fairy lights in the small location. The band opened the show with the catchy and energizing ''Communion of the Cursed'' which was a perfect choice to kick things off efficiently. Over the course of the next sixty minutes, the band played about twelve songs. Five tracks were chosen from each of the two latest records ''Every Trick in the Book'' and ''The Predator Becomes the Prey''. I particularly liked the aformentioned powerful rendition of ''Communion of the Cursed'', the catchy performance of ''The Nature of the Beast'', the calmer tune ''What I Never Learned in Study Hall'' as well as the more relaxed parts of ''Me, Myself & Hyde'' and the great encore ''The Coffin is Moving'' which ended the concert on a strong note. The only negative aspect I might mention is the short length of the show which only lasted for about one hour. It was also a little bit strange to watch the singer who had a lot of problems with his semi-long haircut that seemed to disturb him during some parts of his performance.

After the show, the four band members took their time to take pictures with their fans, talk to the audience and sign different items. The four men were really down to earth and I had the occasion to talk to them for a while. We talked about the concept of their last record and how it might get younger generations into reading classics. When I told them about the student who had introduced me to their music, they told me that he should come see them next time. I bought the band's two latest records as well as a band shirt. My collection of albums and band fashion keeps growing.

In the end, I spent a great night in Ottawa and Nine Ice Kills' solid performance made me forget the rather disappointing opening acts. Since the concert finished rather soon, I was even able to get home around half past eleven and to get seven hours of sleep. If the band comes back to town with a new record, I will probably go see them again.

''Ashes of Time'' is a unique art film which is loosely bound upon Jin Yong's wuxia novel ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes''. Despite two blurry action choreographies, this movie can't be considered as a martial arts movie at all. Due to its philosophical content, its numerous metaphors and examples of symbolism and its calm episodic script, this movie could best be categorized as an art-house drama. The movie is separated into five fragments according to the four seasons with the spring season representing both introduction and coda of this piece of art. The director doesn't offer any conclusion to its vague story and challenges the audience to make sense of this film on its own.

The only guiding lines of the movie are the changes of season, the transformation of colourful landscapes and the topic of unrequited love and how to deal with this depressing fate. Each character has faced, currently faces or will face a desperate love relationship and everyone of them tries to find a different solution: one of them simply tries to forget the past, another one seeks refuge in isolation and another one wants to assassinate the one who causes all the emotional and mental suffering. In the end, none of the characters can find a satisfying answer on their quest for redemption. Despite the depressing tone, the beginning of the movie can be interpreted as the origin of a quest for redemption while the coda might be seen as an optimistic attempt at renaissance.

This film can be interpreted in at least two ways. One possibility is that the main location in form of a bare cabin in the desert is a meeting point for solitary souls who feel outcast from society and who are absorbed by their mental problems. The main character listens to their different stories and often manages to find solutions for them but he is still unable to solve his own problems. Another possibility is that this movie is only about the main character and that the side characters only exist on his confused mind and represent different sides of his shattered soul looking for salvation.

Despite its colourful journey, inspiring philosophical content and revolutionary visual component, this courageous piece of art is not appropriate for mainstream audiences and might even be hard to digest for passionate cineasts. The movie's pace is extremely slow and it contains several noticeable lengths towards the middle. While the few fight choreographies could have spiced things up a little bit, they happen to be rather redundant, slow and unspectacular.

In the end, you should absolutely watch this if you have an open mind for philosophical art-house experiments that request your intellectual participation in the movie. You should avoid it if you are expecting a vivid wuxia movie or a tense martial arts film because your expectations won't be met and you will end up being disappointed.