Oh, lovely... More tightening of mortgage rules...

I stumbled across this article.

So, it appears that the Conservative Party of Canada and our lovely Finance minister is making it more difficult to get a mortgage to "protect the housing market".

What he's actually doing is enlarging the gap between the rich and the poor.

Now, the minimum term of amortization is 25 years, instead of 30 and you can only mortgage up to 80%, instead of 85%.  That means you need to have an even larger down payment as well as having a salary high enough to be able to afford the higher monthly payments.

How am I ever going to be able to buy my own home?!!

Dark Shadows

On Tueday, June 19, 2012, I went to see the movie Dark Shadows featuring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham-Carter and Eva Green.

The story is about Barnabas Collins, who was imprisoned by a witch.  The Collins family established a huge fishing business in the town of Collinsville.  Being locked away for 200 years, he gets unearthed and finds himself back to the old mansion where the Collins of today live.

However, the Collins of today need more protection then ever, because they no longer own a fishing business in Collinsville.  So, Barnabas tries to get it back up and running again.  Of course, he runs into a few problems along the way...  Especially from Angelique Bouchard, the witch who has been in town in different forms for the past two hundred years or so.

This movie is based upon the 70s series of Dark Shadow.  Tim Burton did a good job and I found this movie highly amusing.  It was very funny and I had a few laughs.

Bravo! CSMB

I stumbled across this link for a news story about a teacher who was suspended with pay.  Here's the version of it in French.

A couple of years ago, I applied to be a substitute teacher with this school board, la commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys.  The Human Resources people rejected my application and stated that I wasn't a qualified candidate.  Despite the fact that I had my degrees and that my Quebec brevet was in progress and it was coming.

However, according to this news story, someone who decides to show a gruesome video to his students, that candidate is completely OK as a candidate for a substitute teacher, or even a full fledge teacher.

If I were to teach an ethics and moral class, I would never have shown the video.  We might have discussed this news item in the classroom, but that would have been the extent in which it would have been done.  There would have been no mention of "let's take a vote and see if you want to watch this video."

I'm so glad that this school board rejected me.  I wouldn't want to be associated with a school board that makes decisions (dumb/stupid/idiotic ones?) like this...

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

On Tuesday, June 12, 2012, I went to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, featuring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie and a whole bunch of British stars.

The movie is about five retirees.  They all find themselves at The Exotic Marigold Hotel for their retirement.  They all have different circumstances as to why they ended up there, but they do...

Of course, not only do they get charmed and learn about the country, people who are involved with the hotel also have lessons to learn.

A great movie that has very many cleverly written lines.  The humour is quite intelligent.  Definitely worth watching in the theatre.