A travel through Acadian history

When we went to see the play of “La Sagouine”, I didn’t know what to hope for and I had been positively surprised. The actors were magnificent, they made us travel through their lives and it seemed so natural to them. The script was very interesting and well-acted. It was easy to see that the actors knew very well their texts, but also the issues regarding to the Acadian. I loved this play, the week-end after I even bought the script of the play to be able to really get the message that Antonine Maillet wanted to pass through this text.

Bravo to the actors and the writer!

Midterm Writing Test

The Black Swan, an unforgettable masterpiece

Darren Aronofsky, fantastic movie director, pushes the limits of psychological movies by intruding Nina's vision of reality eyes. The movie Black Swan tells the story of a ballerina, Natalie Portman as Nina, who's objective is to give a perfect performance in the first role of a well-known story; the swan lake. The artistic director played by Vincent Cassel has a new vision of an old play that he wants to produce where the role of the white swan and her alter ego the black swan will be danced by the same ballerina. Through the movie, we intrude Nina's head and see how the pressure and her will to succeed perfectly madden her. It shows us how the research of perfection can destroy our life. The story of the Black Swan developed a more complex way of seeing the story of the swan lake, a well-known favourite, through the story of the protagonist. It's basically an internal conflict between Nina as the perfect childish girl and this other woman she is becoming who's totally the opposite.

This movie is a masterpiece, not only for its original plot but also for its revealing acting performance and camerawork. Natalie Portman exceeds the expectations, as Peter Travers wrote in the Rolling Stones movie's review: '' (Natalie Portman) delivers an all-stops-out performance that will soon be stuff of legend''. She carried us away into her world has she shows us a new aspect of her acting abilities. She has improved a lot since she played Padme Amidala in Star wars. Also, Matthew Libatique, cinematographer, achieved an astonishing work, the shooting during all the movie adds to the dramatic plot. All the close up and the swirling help us to get easily into Nina's head and identify ourselves as hers during the time of the movie.

Aronofsky is well known for his exploration of the human limits. As Monohohla Dargis said in her movie review in the New York times (On Point, on Top, in Pain): ''trawled the lower depths in ''Requiem for a Dream'' and struggled to scale the metaphysical heights with '' The Fountain'' '', and in Black Swan, he takes us into the dark deep of human mind and social pressure.

To conclude, this movie not only instructs us about the world of ballet and the killing pressure the dancers have to suffer, but also shows us an amazing acting performance, a superb camerawork  and a very artistic and modern way of representing the story of the swan lake. The filming, the actors, the makeup and the costume; everything is perfectly develop.
 Two thumbs up to the Black Swan which will surely win the best movie at the Oscar.

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André Lespérance, a lawyer to discover

Originated from the United State, now spread in all Common Law country, the class action is a way for all costumers to gather together to sue a company. Mister Andre Lesperance is lawyer that defends customer’s rights against multiple companies such as the Tobacco Industry.  He was a senior general council for the government of Canada but he decided to retire so he could have his own class action firm. He knew some good lawyer that did that type of work so he got into a partnership with them. Now they work on very interesting cases.

everybody has goals, but goals remain dreams if you never jump in and do what it takes to realise them.

Sir Lespérance has certain goals he wants to achieve in his personal but also professional life. First of all, his principal objective for now is to win against Tobacco Company and in a more general idea related to his work, he would like to really be able to help people, to make a difference. But Mister Lespérance is not only a lawyer, he is also a father, so his most important goal in life is to make sure that his kids are, and always be, happy.

Work is a very important part of everybody’s life, but it’s not what defines somebody, his interest and also his network, in another hand, normally do. André Lespérance, besides being a lawyer, is a music fan. He plays saxophone and flute every Wednesday with some of his friends, other lawyers. Also, he bought about 7 years ago, a sugar shack, and since then he does maple syrup every spring with his family. During the year, he prepares his land, cuts the trees that interfere with the maple trees.  He loves doing that, going in the country, living in the little house he made, it helps him to disconnect from Montreal and his work. He bought this land with an old high school friend. Him and his wife were together in high school, and there social network of that time is still most likely the same. None of his friends did official work such as his, or his wife who’s a university professor, they are writers and draughtsman. We can conclude that his interests and social network are not typical of a lawyer as we see them.

To be able to go forward in life, we develop a lot of different skills that help us in our personal or professional life. Our achievements are the representation of those skills. Sir Lespérance definitively succeeds in his work, as shown at the beginning. He did that because he is a good arguer. He understands well the opponent and know how to build a strategic attack related to what he perceived. In his more personal life, he is able to build a house, to do very good maple syrup and take care of a large land. To conclude, André Lespérance is somebody that is worth knowing because he has very diversified interest, skills, and network and achieved a lot and will continue to do so.