One single day removed from the 177th celebration
we know as World Photography Day
I remember that I do have this blog here
entirely devoted to my very own brand
of Luminous Photography...
And I finally update it again!
With what, as subjects for my trusty camera,
you ask...?
This: the Festival des Montgolfières
de St-Jean-sur-Richelieu...
which was not all that it was quacked up to be
in the belle (?) province of Quebec...!
Let's take a closer look...
Parking there, first:
amidst the monsters de la route...
water, water everywhere...
and not a drop to drink!
The local homage to the time-honored
BBC sitcom - touching...
This Montgolfière dude looks an awful lot like the execrable
mascot of that other festival there - Juste Pour Rire...!
Devils, everywhere among us, I tell you...
Inventive amalgamation of properties, I'll give them that;
call it ''Raiders of the Lost Jungle Book'' -
and be sued into submission, already!
There was a dragon on the premises, of course
(devils everywhere - remember?)
I tried to slay it, as every good
Knight in Luminous Armour should do,
of course - but security prevented me from doing so...
(Same goes for the parking lot monsters - obviously.)
And speaking of monsters...
the Yeti was hiding in plain view there -
see it? No? Don't fret too much over that...
The exact same thing occurred all the time,
over at Früendly's ...
Another stunningly daring amalgamation
of properties that belong to other copyright owners:
this time, Lucky Luke's Ran Tan Plan
appears to have joined Lady, the Tramp, Scamp
and the 101 Dalmatians too...
Only in La Beauce...
If you went for it, those fair games (far from being fair)
offered you the chance of bringing home a Golden Seahorse...
or a plush pile of shit.
Spider-Man is reputed to be really strong -
the proportional strength of a spider, eh?
That would be why this punch-o-meter
that measures one's strength
is named a ''spider box''...
I had loads of fun there...
reading the ''caution'' message!
Some merchants were present there -
on the most mercantile alley, mostly jammed up
by those peddling unfair games, fast food & joy rides...
Unquestionably the most luminous of all of those
was MATIKA - bravo, Matika!
Thanks for being there -
elevating the bar, at last!
Also elevating that bar from mediocrity to excellence
within a very short span (basically the time it takes you
to drink a freshly-made real lemonade!)
'Nuff said...
The Grand Carousel didn't seem as enticing this year -
I guess we're not 10 years-old anymore!
Most everyone was there to see those damn things
get blown up - and take off!
At 32$ a ticket - plus 8$ for the parking -
not counting the damn coupons to use on the rides,
exorbitant prices for food & drinks,
overpriced (despite being few and fugly) souvenirs
- oh, and 15$ for the mere simulator... ugh!
You want your main event when it is
supposed to be there!
It appeared to be on its way around 6:32 pm...
Several big balloons were readying themselves -
which was a good sign
since we wanted nothing to do with the
small balloons freely distributed on-site...
(Blue or yellow balloons
emblazoned with the logo of sole sponsor
Banque Laurentienne!
UGH...)
Those were much more colorful balloons,
no doubt about that...
ALAS...
They never took off!
At 6:42 pm, it was clear that concern
over some strong winds
coming to us from the Great Lakes
forced the cancellation of
all take-offs...
The big monster at the entrance was not impressed...
Maybe he was a bit hangry, however...?
As a local celebrity of yesteryear used to sing,
C'EST ZÉRO...
And everyone left the site...
bredouille.
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