Project Olympic runway
There’s only one show that can interrupt my newfound Olympic obsession, and that’s Project Runway, the Heidi Klum-helmed fashion designer competition. So you can imagine how thrilled we were when this week’s challenge was to design an opening ceremony outfit for the American Olympic team. Some of the contestants had never watched the Olympics before,…
Sucks to be Perdita
Remember Canadian track star Perdita Felicien? If not, maybe this will refresh your memory: Hurdle. Face. Sadly, the media has a long memory and every time her name is mentioned, it’s in the context of that glorious fall, which also took out the Russian athlete, at the Athens games. Apparently the Russian runner was so…
Let’s do lunch
MV: And welcome back to Beijing. All right, guys, I have a question for you.AC: Hm.MV: Have you eaten lunch today?AC: No.ML: Yes.MV: I don’t really want to know. That is the Chinese way of saying, `What’s up?’ Hey.AC: Oh.MV: That’s–the translation is “Have you eaten lunch?” It comes from a time when people really…
Daft Punk Tribute
Daft Punk TributeSaturday, August 9 at 11:57pm, The Marquee.Scott Blackburn
ZENN fuel better than unleaded
To the editor, Tim Bousquet is quite wrong to state that in Nova Scotia “the ZENN would actually increase GHG emissions, not reduce them” (“A ZENN moment,” Reality Bites, July 31). According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Notably, even if battery electric vehicles are recharged with electricity from power plants that use fossil fuels,…
North end parking pains
To the editor, I have contacted HRM to obtain an exemption to the daytime no parking sign on the street in front of my residence. The answer, although politely presented, was nothing more than absurd. As the new owner of a condo in the north end, I was unaware that an HRM bylaw interdicts co-properties…
The Living Argument Against Inbreeding
I’ll post this link so you know what I’m talking about first. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080807/funeral_protest_080807/20080807?hub=Canada I feel that I have to say WTF??? What does Westboro hope to prove by this? That they’re all ignorant asshats? Mostpeople already hate you and wish that you would die. They mentioned that the church has about 70 members and they’re…
sick of it
I walk to work and home again almost every day – I’m sick of the gum wads, garbage and dog shit. I’m sick of the people who feel it neccessary to hork up their hairballs and spit it out on the sidewalk in front of me, beside me, behind me. I’m sick of seeing adults…
Spelling bee good
No one needs to know to spell anymore, right? That’s why those angry red lines in Microsoft Word are there. Wrong, peeps. There will always be some nagging chunk of your soul missing. You won’t know what it is, but you’ll feel a pang every time Caesar salad is spelled incorrectly on a menu. Just…
Sew much thinking at Robert Street Social Centre
A free workshop at the newly renamed Roberts Street Social Centre (5684 Roberts) is unintentionally but appropriately timed to be an alternative to Beijing Olympics-watching (and a shameless plug for our armchair blog). On Wednesday, August 20 Tracey Prehay will be conducting an open-air sewing evening, to create Hu Xiu. These are traditional cotton sleeves…
Would it be wrong to suggest…
…that Canada sucks at the Olympics this year? Can anyone even grab us a “Canadian Gold” (a bronze)? Remember that photo of all those Canadians, walking proudly into the opening ceremonies at The Bird Nest, hopeful, confident, well dressed, cocky…Well, they may have a little less wind in their sails now…Here’s a comparison, thanks to…
China’s Gold Medals Found to Have High Lead Content
Stop the presses! (please!) China’s impressive haul of gold medals at the Beijing Olympics was tarnished somewhat today when it was revealed that “abnormally high levels of lead” were found in the first-place medallions. The medals, which were supposed to be made entirely of gold, were instead found to be composed of 99% lead alloy…
The olympic drinking contest, pt. 2
Yea, sure, he left a while ago, but I couldn’t pass up this photo.
Transit haters
In Toronto: Every weekday morning Sandra Cassidy wakes up to the sound of the bus carrying her neighbours to work and school. “It just comes roaring down the road. We can’t open our windows because of the smell and noise,” says the Ajax homeowner. Over the objections of residents who rely on the service, Cassidy…
Coulda been a contendah…
Yeah, yeah, I know this isn’t an Olympics photo. But mayor Kelly should win a medal. Once he won a gift basket full of candy. I know because I have the photo pinned to my bulletin board. I wonder if you can get custom haz-mat suits made…
Togo or not Togo
So I was so excited for Benjamin Boukpeti who got a bronze for individual slalom kayaking, the first EVER Olympic medal for Togo. Yeah Togo! Ah. Then I read that Boukpeti wanted to compete for France (he was born in Paris), but he had shoulder surgery and I guess, had to settle for Togo, where…
Aging well
All-ages staple The Pavilion (5816 Cogswell) will celebrate its fourth year of making us feel old with a free show on August 14. (We kid, we kid. ) Beginning at 5pm with a free barbecue, the music starts at six sharp with a diverse lineup featuring hip-hop superstar Ghettosocks (he can make your dog famous),…
PETA (People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals)
I recently just came across an adervisement by PETA; an organization dedicated to animals rights… blah blah blah. The ad was actually mocking the horrible death of Tim Mclean, I find it completly disgusting and disrespectful to his family not to mention are these people fucking serious? Comparing the murder of a human being to…
Hot sand, cold war
Castro’s finest are duking out a silicone-shaking (fortunately, only sand) cold-war grudge match in the Beijing Volley-dome. American women vs Cuban. Who will win? Who will lose? Will Cuba be forced to capitulate and accept capitalism? Or will America honour the bet George W. and Castro made to take on communist social and political structures…
Already, the backlash begins
Sherraine Schalm, our best chance for a fencing medal, just got knocked out of the epee competition. In a quote that ought to go down in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, she told the CBC, “It’s like I imagine being a man. It’s like being kicked in the nuts repeatedly, that’s how bad it…
Krups Kup of Excellence
In further coffee-related news, Halifax will be participating in 2009’s Krups Kup of Excellence competition. With a wide-eyed, buzzing team of caffeine fiends –connoisseurs, restaurateurs and culinary media – this expert panel will seek out the top spot for espresso. To nominate your favourite café log on to Krups Coffee
Hallmark’s This and That
This and That Fashion (6188 Quinpool) have a for rent sign in the window…Hallmark’s (5507 Spring Garden) windows are covered in newsprint, though reasons behind the abrupt closing are unknown at the time of print. Check back next week for further greeting card and the fate of one quaint little vintage store.
Black Market Celebrates 20 Years
Shoptalk correction, in last week’s column I mentioned the Black Market’s (1545 Grafton) 20th anniversary celebration to be tentatively scheduled for October 9. The shop has confirmed the actual party soiree will occur on October 4
77kg class weightlifting
The Turk tried it. The Japanese lifter tried it. The Russian tried it. They all dropped the weights. Then the Armenian tried it. He went up. Took a few breaths. Some people yelled stuff at him. The small crowd laughed. The Armenian gripped the weight. He bent over, took another breath with his face next…
What we know about Michael Phelps
He co-starred in “Unfiltered” a documentary about the sport of equestrian swimming. He founded ‘Swim with the stars’. He was found guilty of drunk driving in 2004. He is: only 22 and already a legend. Well in front. On his way to olympic immortality. From a broken home in Baltimore and likes Young Jeezy. The…
Jumped the shark
I knew this would be the year that the Olympics would finally, once and for all, jump the shark. We’ve got the censorship, the execution of dissidents, the fake fireworks, the too-ugly-to-sing girl… all we need now is a ineptly handled but bogus terrorist attack. If there were a pool, I’d say next week some…
T & A
If it wasn’t so early in the morning I’d make all sorts of insightful, er, insights about how there’s a seamless gradation from admiring athletic prowess to a more vulgar (in the Latin sense) appreciation of physical beauty, blah, blah, blah. But seeing how I’m still on my first cup of Joe, I’m just wondering…
Something to grit my teeth over
I’m saying this as tactful as I possibly can about annoying customers. Today, I served this old lady (I’m a cashier), and she happened to be using a reusable Sobeys bag. There’s this rule here that we only use Superstore bags for customers to earn PC points, but there are a few exceptions like Sobeys…
Olympic viewing drops reality bomb
Details that make me question reality: You can view events live on the East Coast (well, Eastern time) but not on the West Coast. Live is not live anymore. 75% of NBC’s coverage is live (on the East Coast), but an army of commentators sit and broadcast from New York, not Beijing. These people sit…
Waiting room news
I just spent a couple of hours at the medical clinic (yes, for a sports injury, ha), which gave me a chance to catch up on my Olympic reading. Here’s what I learned: From today’s Globe and Mail:–families are fighting over Olympic coverage. Not because one member hates beach volleyball (ahem), but because some family…
Boxer McSoreloser
OK, so last night I wrote about the Russian flyweight that dissed the Ukrainian boxer who beat him, by refusing to shake his hand after the match. I just watched the American world champ boxer, Rau’shee Warren, do the same thing to Korea’s winning Lee Ok-Sung! Ok-Sung looked kinda confused about Warren’s snub, following him…
A slice of tomato costs 73 cents!
I wanted to let you know about the lunch I had today. I asked for a half sandwich and soup, which I have had quite often and enjoyed. Today I asked for a tuna sandwich, which was made. It included lettuce and mayo. I asked if I could have some tomato and pickle as well.…
Eff You University
Why did you ever convince me that you were the right choice for a better life? Why do you have so many of your recruiters out there influencing people like me when they are young and easy to persuade. Why do you convince bright high school students that the only option for a prosperous future…
BURNSIDE GANGSTAS
To all the guys who are speeding around Burnside in company trucks/vans. I would like to officially tell you that growing a shitty goatee and driving around like assholes is not the cool thing to do. slow down, lose the chip on your shoulder, stop yelling at me from a vehicle YOU DON”T EVEN OWN.…
To you creepy old men.
To the creepy old men of the northend of dartmouth, I am a 17 year old girl and I’m sick of walking down the street and having 40 year old men stare at me and say “Hey.”. Like GO, what make you think I’m interested in you? Your old. And I hate when people like…
Info on Teach in Korea
Ok, like everything good, once it becoems a little popular, google searches turn up thousands of stupid irrellevant or useless hits when I search for “Teach English in Korea” jobs. My partner and I want to look into teaching in Korea for a year or two so we can get ahead and get out of…
Opening fakeries
AFP is reporting that pigtailed little Lin Miaoke, who sang at the opening ceremonies, was chosen for her looks by Chinese bureaucrats because the party thought the real singer, Yang Peiyi was too fat and had crooked teeth. In a rehearsal, China’s ruling Communist Party politburo, who came to check it out, said something along…
Letters to the Editor
I am concerned about the excessive vandalism and arson that persists in the Community of Herring Cove. The properties all around us and now ours was set on fire. There were less than 10 minutes from our house catching on fire. The local neighbors helped us put the fire out before the fire department arrived.…
Letters to the Editor
To Tim Bousqest,I was very impressed with your reply to Reg Rankin’s letter…he knows what he is talking about, I thought, and has the proof to back it up…ie “I’ve posted a recording of the meeting etc etc…” But when I tried to find it I couldn’t …What gives?? People will check this out….you can’t…
Letters to the Editor
To the editor, I find I cannot let Mr. Rimmington’s letter (“Bousquet misreads expelled”, July 17) go unanswered. I have not seen the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed so I cannot respond to any of Mr. Rimmington’s remarks regarding the movie itself, but I am well qualified to criticise his comments regarding science and scientists.…
Letters to the Editor
Good morning, I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing in the hopes that you will be able to help out with an injustice that took place this past Saturday night in front of Sicilian Pizza, on Pizza Corner, in front of at least fifty witnesses, and that was captured on film and…
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor,With the recent events and controversies arising with the Chebucto road widening, I could not hold myself any longer to raise attention on parking laws in residential HRM. I have contacted HRM in order to obtain an exemption to the daytime no parking sign on the street in front of my residence. The…
Letters to the Editor
Dear EditorAs I pumped in wheelchair accessible as a search requirement in your Coast list of restaurants, I found The Italian market on Doyle St listed as accessible. This is not the case and should be removed from that particular list. By C James-McKenna
Letters to the Editor
Re: Reality Bites – A ZENN Moment, July 31, 2008 Mr. Bousquet is quite wrong to state that in Nova Scotia “the ZENN would actually increase GHG emissions, not reduce them.” Acording to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Notably, even if Battery Electric Vehicles are recharged with electricity from power plants that use fossil fuels,…
Letters to the Editor
You and most of readers are a bunch of old foegies, in reference to your Cell Hell article. I bought an IPhone and love every bit of it and will be using it for along time, no landfill for this phone. I own a watch AND I use the clock on my phone also. I…
Letters to the Editor
Just registering my dismay at the cigarette advertisement in this latest issue of The Coast. By Mike Ruxton
Feminists
This goes out to all my feminist friends. I’ve read my share of feminist literature- Steinem, Klein, even Camille Paglia (controversial and sadistic-you go Grrrrl!) I’ve even taken a Women’s Studies course or two. My question is this: Why do you think that because I’ve chosen to live my life fairly traditionally (husband, kid, shaved…
Pretty pony
I think the equestrian events are the most graceful of the whole olympics. Those huge beasts ridden by tiny characters in funny hats makes me wish I knew how to ride a horse. This in contrast to the marathon runners, who make me wish I didn’t have to do something so long and tiring as…
le cha…no
to a certain spring garden buissness with a french name…this morning i walked by your buissness entrance to see a security guard standing in front of your door refusing to a let an obviously homeless person in.I noticed this blatent act of discrimination(telling the security guard that if said homeless person was wearing a suit…
If I had left you a dime, it would have been a dime over
So this one goes out to the lovely waitress with the hack of a hair dye job who waited on my friend and I. I don’t know what kind of shit you’re dealing with at home lady, but you can’t just dish it out on us like we’re worthless. And just because you’ve been working…
Soap dodgers?
Sometimes, you wonder why the Australians get compared to Americans. Then an Aussie opens his sour grapes mouth and it’s all ‘you limeys should shower before you enter the pool’ or something to that effect. It’s hard to see who comes off worse here – the oppressive over-confidence of the British once they’ve actually won…
Sickos!
<pTo my parents: My brand-new king-size bed is not for you guys to have a romp in the sack! Don't think that I don't know you've been banging in my bed! That's fucking sick! Four times in the past 2 weeks, both of you would come up from downstairs where my room is at the…
Can someone tell me how much gasoline was the last time oil was $113.00/barrel?
History quiz- Can someone tell me how much gasoline was the last time oil was $113.00/barrel? As of now 2:17 pm Aug. 11 oil is trading @ $113.20. Gasoline is still $130.00/litre. There is something wrong with this picture. I know it is an old song and dance that when oil goes up then price…
Canada, medal, wah?
So while Canada was losing to the Swedes, the Canadian men’s swim team was actually winning! The men’s 4 by 200m freestyle relay team won their heat and set a new Canadian record. And apparently they’re serious contenders (along with Italy) for the gold. This post goes out to Sean, Canada’s record holder for most…
Joke mayoral candidate
More strip clubs? Yea, that’s a winning campaign platform.
Canada Loses
Okay, we lost, but really we won. It wasn’t a bad, humiliating loss. Maybe the Swedes gave our ladies a collective skinned knee, but we both advanced. Correction: I got my talk all wrong in the earlier posts. Sweden earn second place in Group E with two wins and a loss; we get third place…
Red = medals?
er, if this is true, shouldn’t Canadian athletes, with, ya know, the red and white uniforms and the red and white flags following them everywhere, be, like, winning more medals? BEIJING (Reuters) – Red might be more than just a lucky color for Chinese athletes competing at the Olympics. A study has found choosing the…
CANADA SCORES!!!
For the last 3-4 minutes Canada has been putting a little pressure on the Swedes. Trying to get it together. A left wing pass to the centre gaves Melissa Tancredi (14) a perfect, easy peasy tip into the goal. OK, OK, I’ll keep watching. Soon after, Sinclair goes off, replaced by Jodi-ann Robinson. 72 -…
Lotsa goals
Lotta Schelin scores again. Why am I watching this? I don’t need to. Canada already qualified for the QFs. All the play is taking place in the Canadian end. I guess I don’t want to see them lose. Losing is not really great for morale, so I hear.
Half Time
Sweden’s playing to go out on a high note. Nice save by Erin McLeod in the final minute of the first half. Also putting in a heroic effort is Canada’s defense player number 9, Canadace Chapman. She’s saved the teams bacon a couple of times so far.
Free kick
Canada took a free kick. Best chance all game, (would you belive a girl came – this close to heading it in) but they couldn’t complete the play. Canada is looking a little flustered and frustrated. They’ve had 2 or 3 good chances, but the Swedes have done a good job of staying on top.…
Athlete without Compelling Personal Drama Expelled from Olympics
It was bound to happen: A member of the U.S. Olympic diving team was disqualified from competition today when it was learned that he did not have a sufficiently compelling human storyline to exploit on the NBC telecast of the worldwide sporting event. Tracy Klujian, the expelled diver, was not raised by a single mother,…
Sweden scores!
Canada’s defense caught playing catch up. I thought they had the Swedes contained but the teutons made a nice little play, outsmarting the Canucks and at 19:00 Lotta Schelin went one-on-one against the Canadian goalie. Schelin sank it deep in the corner pocket. Canada’s playing very defensively right now.
Canada – Sweden Women’s soccer
OK, so this is a tough game for Canada. 15 minutes in and the Swedes have had some very good chances. This is like the Swede’s third corner kick. And it’s a lousy one. The Canadian women are playing well, but they’ll have to step it up to win. If Canada ties, they come in…
scared of chebucto
thank you so much to those in power who decided that the chebucto road widening was a good idea. first you take people’s property, then you create more traffic in an attempt to fix a problem we didn’t really have (this is halifax, when has anyone ever been in traffic for more then ten minutes…
Fuck noisy people
To the people residing in an apartment building who talk really loud and laugh about stupid shit: That’s great, but close your fucking windows! Some of you are loud as fuck when some of us are trying to sleep! And some of you are really loud during sex and YOU won’t close your fucking windows…
The best news you will hear today
“It’s really fucking awesome. There’s llamas here, animals everywhere, and weird old carnival equipment,” reports Jenn Grant from a van bound for pizza in Schomberg, Ontario (“it’s on the way to Barrie”), where she’s just completed the first of 10 days of recording her new full-length album. She’s set up camp on Puck’s Farm, a…
crime of opportunity
So, I locked my lovely bicycle on my friend’s front porch on Harvard Street last night instead of taking it with me to Gus’ Pub, thinking that it would be safer there, under the watchful eyes of her parents. Unfortunately, I returned to retrieve it tonight only to discover that my seat had been stolen.…
Back in the USSR
I just watched Ukraine featherweight boxer Vasyl Lomachenko pound Russia’s world champion, Albert Selimov, 14-7. That was one serious bunch of fists (scrappyweight, according to Neal). Selimov was so cheesed off–you could really see it in the last round–he refused to shake Lomachenko’s hand. So not cool. Unless you’re playing croquet with my family, and…
Pedestrian Flow
There needs to be a class taught in school, a ‘Pedestrian Education’ day, or big fluorescent street signs that direct sidewalk traffic because my fellow walkers in Halifax don’t seem to understand how sidewalks work. Like the road, it is customary for traffic to keep to the right of the sidewalk in the direction you…
Toilet Trouble
On a nice, bright sunny afternoon, I decide to head out for a walk and realized about 2 hours into my walk, that I was having technical “plumbing” problems and needed a bathroon urgently. I see a convenience store up ahead, where I am a frequent customer, and make a run for it and ask…
Right Hemianopsia.
To the idiot that squeezed me between her car and the sidewalk while I was riding last week-end beside lake banook. One day you will kill someone if you keep ignoring to share the road with cyclists. And if your point was that I should have been on the bike path instead of on road…
Pub Grub
So I was at the pub the other night with my girlfriend having a couple drinks and waiting for my order when a small army of screaming children and old men and women troll in. They are seated, and they order. My fucking food comes almost 50 minutes later, and the kind waitress apologizes and…
Attn: Lacewood Dr. Home Depot
It’s 4:30 am and I’m listening to Avril Lavigne’s “When I’m Gone”. Not only do I hate Avril, but I especially hate her at 4:30 in the morning after a night out on a holiday weekend in the comfort of my apartment. It’s bad enough that I have to hear you bastards on the loud…
The olympic drinking contest
W even manages to screw up the simple art of being a spectator.
Win at the Salon des Refusés
If, for some reason, the Atlantic Film Festival jury rejected your movie about the cannibalistic mime and his talking iguana (they just didn’t get your vision or the homage to 1970s post-classic noir), there’s still a chance to invite your mom to a screening: the eighth annual Salon des Refusés, scheduled for September 10, a…
Papa is a shrinking stone
The Simpsons rerun on Sunday was last year’s season premiere, where Springfield became the first city in America to hold a primary for the 2008 election and Ralph Wiggum somehow emerged as a contender. Guest voices included Jon Stewart and Dan Rather and a panel of talking heads that included two bloggers and a dude…
Arty observations
I know very little about Chinese contemporary art, but I figured now’s as good a time as any to correct that oversight. Zhang Dali is a big name; he was the only graffiti artist in Beijing during the ’90s, and was the first artist since Keith Haring and Jackson Pollock to be on the cover…
Jack Donaghy approves
More on the American connection to the Olympics. First off, for all the talk about sportsmanship and hail-well-met-old chumminess (and let’s not get too cynical – this indefinable feel-good quality is present, otherwise no one – er, me – would watch it) this is a capitalist event. General Electric, the company that owns NBC and…
OUR WONDERFUL PREMIER
Who voted this guy in again and did they get a smack in the head? So oil is at an all time low and has been steadily decreasing for the past month so why the hell are we still paying crazy prices? New Brunswick’s government stepped in and lowered taxes on gas to help out…
W never disappoints
Reason #8,762 to be ashamed to be an American: …t’s difficult to imagine that the president’s trip to Beijing didn’t peak when he received an up-close and personal beach volleyball lesson at Chaoyang Park from defending gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. As if things weren’t hot enough for the president, who had just…
Mascots and safe sex
I think Howdy and Hidi are my favourite Olympic mascots of all time. While searching for a photo of these lovable square dancing polar bears from the 1988 Calgary Olympics, I found this clever ad series promoting safe sex in China, placing condoms in Olympic pictograms. How these two things managed to get onto the…
Contradictory advertising
MacDonald’s has absolutely lost their marbles. “Going for GOLD has never tasted so good” is the catch-phrase on an ad picturing a huge burger, giant fries, and a huge Coke. MacDonald’s, I’m certain, is the main reason Americans are doing so well in Beijing, what with 60 percent of their children unable to see their…
Yikes! Teletubbies and dead air
The teletubbies are filling up the dead air at the fencing championships. What the heck is going on? Ah. nevermind. The French women’s fencing champion just ran the green one thru. If only, though. I’m beginning to realize that if CBC Radio had this much dead air, there would be nobody listening. It’s been Chinese…
Fencing finals
For all my talk about how suave fencing is: I am watching the end of the gold medal round. Maria Valentina Vezzali of Italy just won the Gold in Women’s individual foil. She’s on the shoulders of her coach who is waddling around the floor. And playing in the background is this awful, nameless, faceless…
Fencing
It’s Fencing’s old school European nature that attracts me. That, and growing up on Errol Flynn movies. I am watching two Italian women (Granbassi and Trillini) fence in the Women’s individual foil event. A close up shot of Trillini’s hand shows off a gold wedding ring and an expensive watch. No dressing down for this…
He’s so high
OK. This whole American ‘dream team’ really goes counter to everything I cherish about the Olympics. In 1989 there was a rule change that allowed USA Basketball to field teams with professional players. Jordan,Barkley, Bird…And of course they won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain (although it hasn’t worked for…
Beach volleyball bitching
The one good thing about beach volleyball is that all those crazy bodies and meat xylophone abdomens (thanks Stephen Colbert) actually inspired me to go to the gym. I have new respect for beach volleyball after spending the evening with someone who used to play the game pretty seriously. Two people covering all that territory…
bouncers back off!
just had a night out which was partly ruined by agro heavyweights. we’re tired of lame-o bouncers trying to look cool by appearing to be tough. after you messed up with the math, we were calm and walked. you’ll probably never forget how dumb you looked. i won’t mention which p(articular) pub this was but…
Hard to find work
Why is it so difficult to find work in this city? I’m a College grad, yet no one in my field wants me. Even the non-experience retail/lacky jobs won’t hire me. Sometimes I think companies want you to come our of College and magically have 3-5 years experience in your field. Ugh 🙁 What do…
way to go, hippie…
ok, so im a bit of a conservative and sometimes i catch myself “hating” on the NSCAD and indie kids and feel guity. i shouldn’t stereotype. but then i hear things like i overheard yesterday and realize these people leave themselves ripe for parody. I get that you want to start a new “free love”…
meat meat pizza
severely disappointed in the lack of cheese and/or veggie to-go slices in the pizza joints in bedford on a horrible hangover day! bbq chicken, meat lovers, pepperoni?! BARF. i’ll pass.
Recycle this
I try to do the right thing, recycle right etc. Return the beer cans for the travel fund, do a buddy a solid and leave beer cans to the shopping cart pickers. So what happens? Some asshole picks out the milk cartons and other non refundables and dumps them on my lawn and takes the…
To all coffee finatics, lovers and general consumers.
If I’m asking if you want your coffee “for here” or “to go” I don’t care if you stay, I simply want to know if you want paper or ceramic. If it’s not Tim Hortons, I could care less if you want anything but black. If it’s not Starbucks, please speak english? I don’t know…
Bicycle Polo anyone?
Before the next set of TV viewing comes along, anyone want to play this? Or maybe next week, over lunch, on the Commons. It looks great. Last played as a medal sport in 1908 at the (of course) London Olympics.
LATVIA beats the USA
I guess the Latvians are pretty chuffed. I think coming to Halifax for the Hockey World Cup back in May really helped this volleyball duo rally to win. Were the number 1 ranked Americans put off their game by the President’s intensive volleyball coaching session with the ladies team yesterday?
MIA
I blame myself. Second half. The tension roils. Someone comes by in a car and offers to drive me to the market, so I stop viewing. I go fulfill my familial obligations. Groceries are bought. Canada ties with China. Without my critical voice, my Canadian team lacked the chutzpah to go for the killing stroke.…
David Kikuchi joins the circus
I’d love to have Fall River’s own David Kikuchi around to open jars and stuff. Those pipes are nuts. He’s on the rings, every muscle and vein a’popping. Wow. Apparently this is his last Olympics, and afterwards he’s joining the circus, literally–Cirque de Soleil. (Correction; it’s actually Grant Golding who is running away with the…
Kyle Shewfelt breaks through
Yo Andy. I was there with you! That really was an amazing game. Almost as incredible as watching Shewfelt on the vault. Ummm, dude is recovering from two(!) broken legs and went over with a near-perfect flippy-jump. Brandon O’Neill cacked out–he has a really messed-up ankle. He’s the world champion on the parallel bars but…
Thanks for the Shiner
To the douchbag that jumped me at 4 am in the pouring rain. Thanks for fucking up my face. It was awesome to explain to every person I met the past week that I am not, in fact, in an abusive relationship nor am I a professional boxer. Hope you got that sick satisfaction of…
Dizzy Lou Spins Out of Business
Local entrepreneur Gary Castle was one of the first people I met in Halifax -and by far one of my favourite conversationalists. While employed at Atlantic Photo Supply (5505 Spring Garden), he’d come in with a big grin on his daily routine to pick up rolls of black and white film for development. He is…
Espress Yourself
According to the Coffee Association of Canada, 63% of the population drinks coffee on a daily basis. Local business KAFA Espresso Bar Catering found a niche in a booming market. Independent café culture has spread like wildfire through the city, from the North End’s beloved Java Blend (6027 North) to the South End’s bookish Trident…
It’s back on.
It looks really hot. Canadian players are chugging water as an injured Chinese player is taken off.
Half time
Do what you have to do. My own personal marathon – can I get to the market, buy week’s veggies and be back in time for part two? Um – no. Can’t. Will not. Eat. This. Week. Other news – Mike Brown just aced a heat in the 100m Butterfly. Didn’t see a fancy suit…
CHINA SCORES!
Yuan Xu gets past Canuck keeper and shoots it into the empty net. Canadian defense try to block it, but they are too late. Then, Canada gets right back in there. They plow the ball back to the Chinese end and shoot – a close one, right on the crossbar. If you’re not watching this…
Canada SCORES!
Nice goal by Canada. Sweet little pass by Kara Lang over the head of the Chinese defense, Christine Sinclair gets in there, scores…yes!
CBC online video feed
By the way, I am loving this web feed from CBC. No commentators. No talking. Just the game.
Canada – China Women’s soccer
I just tuned into this qualifying game (for the quarter finals). The Canadian team is dominating right now. Some nice moves by top scorer Christine Sinclair. Some good saves by the Chinese keeper. I am so balanced.
I’ve got your dirty secrets, scumbag.
You’d think that people would be nicer to the poor soul who has to clean up after them, after all I may use your toothbrush to scrub the toilet or put all your pubes on the bathroom floor in your bed. But people who stay in hotels rarely tip. I have to clean 14 rooms…
Get a real job
To the woman working the McDonalds drive through last week. All I asked for was some more napkins and you rolled your eyes and acted like I was asking you to run a 20k marathon. Go fuck yourself! It’s not my fault you’re 25 years old and working at McDonalds! It’s not my fault you…
Ralph Lauren meet Quentin Tarantino
On the Ralph Lauren website, you, o’ unathletic one, can purchase the Olympic collection. Except it looks nothing like what you see below. This icky little number looks like it was pulled off the scrap pile from Kill Bill. He’s also selling some bad striped belts and puffy denim hats. Remember when everyone had those…
Ralph Lauren reads my mind
Leave it to Ralph Lauren to design my dream Olympic outfit: classy, nicely fitted and sharp. Very Chariots of Fire on the way to the champagne polo court. (Who me? Oh no sir, I only skeet shoot at the club.) Of course in the real world, I’m not allowed to wear white pants. And in…
Beach volleyball discussion
Neal 3:25pmwhat the WTF is happening with the olympics this weekend?(I love the old-man-not-getting-it of what the WTF)Sue 3:28ha! I checked CBC’s schedule and if you can figure out, I applaud you!Neal 3:28I’m just going by what’s playing live.or I’ll hook up the TV and go spend $3894893958908245 on a new battery for my piece…
Jealous or what?
Alright, I’m walking down the street on my way to work (Robie st. almost by the corner of North).. wearing.. yes maybe a bit see thru but who gives a fuck.. white leggins & a LONG t-shirt covering half of my bum… this chick drives by STARING at me like im a monster or something.…
Last kick at the opening ceremonies parade of nations
I think I know where this tiny island nation is investing their olympic energy.
The rawk pile
Let’s give em something to talk about: how about Bonnie freakin’ Raitt headlining the Dutch Mason Blues Festival on Saturday night? Sure you have to go to Truro, but we’ve all made sacrifices for our favourite artists. (Ask me about my trip to see Ben Lee in New Haven, CT sometime.) Tickets still available here.…
Geek ALERT!!
Just to go back to Neal’s post about Guyana and Canada. There’s been some thinking about this in the last couple years. Researchers Andrew Bernard and Meghan Busse managed to predict the total number of medals that Australia would win the 2000 Sydney Olympics to within one medal based on a comlicated mix of economics,…
Yawn
CNN: Developing Story: Retired Chinese gymnast Li Ning lights Beijing Olympic flame Developing story? Like something unexpected might happen?
MSNBC: “We can’t hear you!”
Alan Abrahamson, who’s live-blogging form the actual Olympic stadium and not from Sue Carter Flinn’s couch, is complaining that the Chinese don’t behave like ugly Americans: The last team to enter, per Olympic protocol, the host nation: China. The roar from the crowd is loud but not deafening.
American protestors detained during ceremony
According to Associated Press, three American pro-Tibet protesters were detained near the Olympic venue.
Rodney MacDonald on cap and trade
Reportedly, yesterday Rodney dissed both a carbon tax and a cap and trade scheme. A straight carbon tax is a complicated issue, and reasonable people can disagree about it. But for now, I want to point at MacDonald’s comment about the cap-and-trade idea: I’m not convinced the cap and trade system is the best for…
My Olympics includes Regis
I can’t believe I forgot mention this before! When I turned to NBC during one of many commercials on CBC, I was expecting to see some red, white and blue, y’all. But what were they broadcasting, smack in the middle of the opening ceremonies? Regis and Kelly!! Actually, it wasn’t even Reg, it was Kelly…
MOVIE TIME CORRECTIONS
Sorry to all you downtown movie-goers. According the print version of The Coast’s movie listings on August 7, Hancock, WALL-E, The Bee Movie and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 were incorrectly listed as playing at Park Lane. Too bad Pants lovers (I know you’re out there, secretly jumping up and down in your…
Atlantic Fringe on your furniture
If your ideal morning is a coffee and a Shakespearian soliloquy, you might want to consider giving an actor a place to stay during the Atlantic Fringe Festival. Billets are needed for actors from New York, Toronto and the UK from approximately August 27 to September 8. If you have some space, call 435-4837, 471-7081…
meta Olympic blogging
CBC in its infinitesimally small wisdom is running their live web site’s live feed through a Mac-unfriendly Media Player thingamjig (probably not the technical term). Someone sent me a link to a British proxy server that through the miracle of the intertubes is somehow connected to a German TV network’s live feed, but all I’m…
By sheer numbers
It’s interesting to watch the parade of nations and realize that, through sheer number of entries, Canada has a much better chance than, say, Guyana. But I guess with less than a million people in Guyana, and an average per capita income of less than $5,000, I imagine the Olympics are on the to-do list…
Project Olympic runway #2
Go Burundi. Way to kick the traditional outfit. Loves it. Luxemburg. Way to represent with 14 athletes and cutie flagbearer. I’m confused by Belarus .There’s an older gent carrying the flag and I think that Mansman said he was a sprinter. Nepal is rocking the black uniform with gold hats, and it looks so much…
Canada is here!
We haven’t got style, but we have heart. GO team GO!
Project Olympic runway #1
Finally the athletes! But who let the bagpiper into the athletes’ procession? Where the hell did he come from? There is a really strange procession along the track–an endless line of Chinese women in white cheerleading-style outfits bouncing up and down and dancing as the athletes walk by. Andy pointed out they actually have a…
Ice Cream!
A reader writes, “And by the way the Chinese invented ice cream too.” Why yes sir – King Tang (A.D. 618-97) of Shang, China liked his frozen dairy treats. Where is the giant ice cream cone with dancers on it? Or the paean to ketchup?
Devo appears
A bunch of guys in yellow suits, covered with lighted tubing, dance. They look like Devo. Then some Tai Chi’ers do Tai Chi beside kids painting. Bring back Devo!
Sorry Neal
I knew you felt the dream. I hope you’re feeling better. You’re not missing much other than a lot of cute kids painting “environmental” pictures. Children are our future, after all. Nothing makes you forget smog, human rights violations and emprisoned kitty cats more than pig tails and chubby cheeks. I swore I wouldn’t write…
Invent-ory
So as Manzbo has been repeating over and over, these ceremonies celebrate the four great things the Chinese have invented: gunpower, paper, the compass and printing. We created butter tarts and the canoe. Okay, it’s humbling. But just wait until we meet on the playing field. We Coasters can watch TV better than anyone.
The Ceeb
With a quick jaunt on down to CBC.ca, you’ll find http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/livevideo. From there, you can get streaming coverage of olympic events, or, on my girlfriend’s laptop and our useless wireless internet, a nice Chinese-looking background and a spinning “loading” icon. Forever. Sorry for missing this morning’s events. Strep throat struck in the night, leaving me…
Enough already
9:15am: Whoa, a giant paper SCROLL that flies! This is playing out like a messed-up Peter Greenaway movie. 3,000 Confucian scholars! Giant moving Chinese characters moved by people hiding in boxes, synchronized perfectly! Flower blossoms! Fire! Peter Mansbridge! 9:19am: I’m finding the decadence of this ceremony overwhelming. Maybe because I’m usually just waking up now……
Scrolls alive!
So this giant scroll unravels. Then some dancers dance on it. The dancers paint a picture with their bodies, but we don’t know this until the scroll rises into the air. I am totally captivated. Also – I didn’t know Ron MacLean knew so much about the Tang Dynasty but he is really showing off…
Drums!
I really like this drum show. They have glow stick – drum sticks so when the lights turn off you see 4016 sticks flashing. They have flashy Las Vegas style silver suits, but these amazing olde style drums. It’s like a communist Vegas, though – individually they look corny, but all together, moving in unison,…
Explosions in Beijing!
So far, these fireworks are better than this year’s Natal Day fireworks.
Cool Map!
Okay, if I post this, promise to come back now, hear? medal counts by country going back all the way to 1896. I was working on something similar, but didn’t have time to finish it for the opening day. My animated collage of Olympic mascots: past and present will be posted sometime before the end…
It’s on!
8 – 8:30am Cue majestic, pomp-tastic music. Fancy graphics. Wide aerial pans across Beijing. The Bird’s Nest. 29th Olympiad begins. We’re viewing the CBC right now. Lots of stuff about how great we are. And some old footage of Peter Mansbridge with hair – a clip given to Ron McLean by George Stroumboulopoulos. Ouch! What…
Anchor swoon
8:21am: Anchor love-in. yeah! This is my dream crush host-on-a-desert-island tag-team (So what? I have a handsome old dude swooning thing going on, thank you). Thank god Peter Mansbridge doesn’t look as sweaty as yesterday. Ron MacLean’s dark blue suit looks quite dapper as usual, with a tasteful blue striped tie. 8:38am: still more breaks,…
Good timing
I woke up early this morning for the 7am Olympics but I forgot that the broadcasting world is all about the Eastern Time. It’s not on until 8am here. An hour of sleep I’ll never get back. Right now it’s just a bunch of CBC blah-blah-blah. NBC? No signal. That doesn’t bode well considering The…
Nosey Neighbours in the Hydrostone
Wow. You really are a bunch of uptight bitches and dickwads. Yes, I admit — I was a bit noisy the other night. However, it was the first time I ever kept it going until that time. Did it really offend that much? Did you truly need to go about, form a quorum, and bring…
Dear Bicycle Thief
You stole my bike out of the hallway of my apartment building on Canada Day. It was entirely my fault. It’s not a secure building, and the bike wasn’t locked up. The fact that I’ve been storing my bike in that spot for almost ten years without incident doesn’t mitigate my stupidity. That bike was…
A PLACE TO SIT DOWN
I have a twenty minute wait for my connecting bus at the sportsplex, twice a day. you ever stand around for twenty minutes hoping your bus is on time? There are two or three wooden benches that are usually totally occupied and upwards of fifty people standing around. is it so fuckin impossible to have…
Time to buy a plasma screen TV?
It seems no one in Halifax wants to watch these Olympics together – in public, in a bar, in front of inevitable plates of hot wings and potato skins, as all sporting events should traditionally be viewed. The will to play host is lacking. None of the sports bars in town – not Bubba Ray’s,…
STAY TUNED!
When the Atlantic Fringe Festival starts August 28th, we’ll post all the reviews by Kate Watson and Graham Pilsworth here.
If Only
In an unpredictable climate such as Nova Scotia it seems befitting to call a surf shop If Only (1300 Queen). If only the sun was shining, if only the tide was in, if only… owner John McLellan wants to help curb such longings. He’s quietly opened up his shop and is in the midst of…
To the PATHETIC COWARD who wont say anything to her face.
You need to get a life, none of her staff talk badly about her.. they actually all like her! =) So before you go an make assumtions about a woman you dont even know.. I suggest you get to know her. She is actually a wonderful woman! Yes, sometimes people get frustrated with demanding customers..BUT…
Computer user
To the person who was at the computer in the far corner of the computer lab at Alderney Gate Library, you seriously need to grow the fuck up. I don’t care how homophobic you are, you have NO right to call me a “homo” or “fagboy” everytime you see me, simply because I dared to…
Things of Desire
Former Coast listings editor and awesome arts writer Mike Landry has started his own alternative arts blog http://thingsofdesire.wordpress.com with gallery info., short, snappy artist interviews and reviews from around the country. Anyone who follows visual art in Canada, outside of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, knows how little coverage there is in so-called national newspapers and…
Encouraging Poor Behaviour
Crazy, rude, irrational customer – I was frustrated by your name calling and embarrassing behaviour. Now I realize the store is just as complicit as you, in encouraging the worst possible behaviour. If it didn’t want such behaviour, it would allow it’s staff to say “I don’t respond to such behaviour, please leave”, and management…
Tick tick boom
The Halifax Pop Explosion just dropped its first round of announcements. Don’t bore us, get to the chorus, you say? Oh fine: Brutal Knights, GZA, Polaris Prize nominee Holy Fuck, The Inbreds (that’s right), Islands, Monotonix, Retribution Gospel Choir (pictured), Ruby Coast, Scarce, Ron Sexsmith with Symphony Nova Scotia, Polaris Prize nominee Two Hours Traffic…
Catherine Sutherland opening tonight
Jewellery designer and artist Catherine Sutherland is launching her line of “Bustop Jewellery” tonight at Hydrostone Gallery (5519 Young) from 7-9pm. Sutherland casts pieces of actual bus shelter glass into gorgeous sterling silver rings, pendants, bracelets, charms and necklaces. Once I accidentally kicked in a wall of a bus shelter glass demonstrating my not-so-high kicks.…
Go North! for love
Go North!, the third annual north end studio and gallery tour, is hosting a fundraiser with benefits (if you know what I mean), on Thursday, August 7 at FRED (2606 Agricola, 8pm, $5). A Night of Romance is a modernized version of the old-timer TV show, The Dating Game, minus the heinously ugly set and…
Thanks for ruining the concert
To the family in the frontmost left pew at the Steve Earle concert: thank you for being the most obnoxious concert goers I’ve ever witnessed. It baffles me how you were capable of showing up at 8:30 and remain stupid-drunk (without drinking anything) for 4 hours. People paid $55 for tickets for a quiet and…
Harbour swim non-solution
To the editor: There is no way in hell I’m setting foot in that harbour water…ever. I don’t care if the mayor and city councillors, Ellen Page and Sidney Crosby jump in! There are two-and-a-half centuries of shit sediment lining the bottom of the Harbour. What if a big ship stirs that all up? We…
Maddison Avenue
Published August 07, 2008. Maddison Avenue Maddison Avenue (Indie) Halifax-based Maddison Avenue’s self-titled debut EP is a catchy blend of gritty rock and country beats not unlike Van Morrison, Tom Petty and CCR. The addition of professional horn players (including members of local funk-factory The Mellotones) adds a rich jazzy tone to the mix–it bursts…
Chaos Theory
[image-4]Published August 07, 2008.Chaos TheoryDirected by: Marcos Siega(Castle Rock)Coincidentally, the night before I sat down with Chaos Theory, I watched a Batman: the Animated Series episode featuring a gentleman named Temple Fugate. Much like Frank (Ryan Reynolds), the protagonist in Chaos Theory, Fugate is a time-efficiency expert whose ordered life is thrown into disarray when…
Marissa Gough drawn to the flame
Marissa Gough has done comedy, slam poetry and burlesque, but she’d never thought of performing with fire until Ash Circle’s Ivan Bellari made her an offer. Gough, mohawked and travelling in the same pair of pants for weeks, was applying to be a cigarette girl at a cabaret. Bellari, a big guy smoking a cigar…
The Daft Punk Tribute w/Scientists of Sound
Fans of the TV show Clone High remember the character JFK’s dig at lame, lazy hip-hop: “What if we take a ‘sample’ of a song that already exists, and then you rap over that ‘sample.’ I call it ‘song-taking!’” It was funny and all, and then Kanye West did it for real. So for ill-taught…
Savage Love
Q: I have a cousin with whom I am very close. He recently proposed to his girlfriend. I have several issues with this, but the most important one is the fact that everyone who meets this young man thinks he’s gay. (I don’t know how the girlfriend hasn’t seen it.) When I told my friends…
Olivier Jarda’s smart talk
Olivier Jarda suddenly appears across a high cafe table, looking hurried and apologetic, explaining how his drive down to Halifax from Moncton was snarled in traffic and construction, the day before traffic volume going the other way—up into New Brunswick from Halifax—would increase with SappyFest in Sackville and The Eagles in Moncton. He’s back only…
Lincolnville dumped on again
Maybe, like Kanye West’s explanation for George Bush’s inaction during the Katrina disaster, our government doesn’t care about black people. Maybe that’s why it keeps putting dumps in Nova Scotian communities such as Lincolnville, a small rural black community in Guysborough County. In the 1970s a first-generation dump was put there with no community consultation.…
Swing Vote
It shouldn’t matter that Swing Vote isn’t plausible. From a human standpoint, it’s a great idea for a movie. But its improbability leaves an unresolved weakness: The film has no idea how to make its setup feel credible. One must accept that Ernest “Bud” Johnson (Kevin Costner) is a not-too-bright, small town factory worker with…
Border inaccessible to disabled
Paul and Barbara-Anne Chapman say even a dog has more rights than their daughter. When the British couple arrived at Halifax airport July 12, their Labrador retriever sailed through customs. But an official with the Canada Border Services Agency demanded to know why they were bringing their seven-year-old daughter Lucy into the country. “Why shouldn’t…
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Escapism doesn’t come easy. The skill to make The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor enjoyable isn’t here. It’s a shame since the first in this series was one of the most spirited things in that era’s CGI overkill. This third Mummy is directed by workman action director Rob Cohen. Having made the attractive, loud…
A City in Transit
Gas prices are rising to the stratosphere. The globe is approaching a climate change tipping point. Unending congestion and a lack of parking have turned the daily commute into a daily headache. Late-night partiers risk assault for lack of a safe ride home. All of which cries out for a reliable and user-friendly transit service,…
Michael Smith tops the food channel
It all started in 1997, when Michael Smith was running the kitchen at the Inn at Bay Fortune on PEI. In the garden overlooking the sea, gathering herbs for an evening’s service, the chef suddenly thought to himself, “this is so goddam perfect, we should make a television show.” Within weeks, Smith, local producer Gretha…
Looking under the grill
Restaurant-goers in Nova Scotia are to get another weapon in the arsenal of their decision-making toolboxes. The province will begin posting restaurant health inspections online, starting next month. Nova Scotia agriculture minister Brooke Taylor made the announcement in May, joining a movement towards full disclosure that began in Toronto and is slowly making its way…
HRM Grinds My Gears
Dear HRM, Yes it is Natal Day thanks but if you are going to close the bridge and have buses delayed while on holiday schedule dont you think the buses should run on a regular schedule? People work on holidays! late for work today and prob tommrow
