Get off your ass and walk the dog (for once)
To my brother who I still have the misfortune of living with. Why are you such a douche? Why don’t you pull your weight around the house while our parents are gone? Why don’t you trying vacuuming? Why don’t you try doing anything at all? Why don’t you try cleaning up your dishes so that…
CBC Poetry Face-off: Vote for Nanci Lee
Halifax poet Nanci Lee won the regional CBC Poetry Face-off awhile back. Tomorrow, between noon and midnight, you can listen and vote for her poem. But do yourself a favour and listen to them all—there are some great words from across the country.
Photos: International Dance Day at Grand Parade
Plenty of people stopped to watch the dance spectacle today at Grand Parade, in honour of Unesco’s International Day of Dance. First, Sarah Cox’s beautiful piece, Open Fan, soothed the crowd with its meditative gestures, based the traditional movements of Japanese Bugaku. I saw Susanne Chui’s The Longest Now, back in January, when it was…
Drumming Douche Bags
Hey Douche Bags: SHUT IT, You suck and are too LOUD. Get Rock Band ans some head phones. No one wants to hear you and no amount of practice will make you better. This is a nice neighborhood. So please stop with the endless lame drumming/guitar/music/bass. You are gross smoking losers. Go away. —enough you…
stupic fuck driver
To the stunned bitch with the giant sunglasses driving the red jeep this afternoon on Wyse Rd. – What makes you think that driving with TWO dogs in your lap/hanging out the driver window is a good idea???? —Captain Slow
Duck Bylaw proposed and more Halifax council notes
Media desert Still reeling from its recent layoffs, the Chronicle-Herald has yet to assign full-time reporters to City Hall, courts or school board beats. In the interim, reporters are evidently just sent out the door more or less randomly. Every week at council meetings I run into a different reporter, each with no institutional memory…
STAY IN YOUR OWN LANE !
To the Stupid Asshole in the Blue Grand Am, with the car full of kids at the Windor Street Exchange,around 11am this morning, that crossed into my lane with no signal light, while i was right beside you, causing, me to slam on my brakes and almost getting rear ended, what part of, “Stay in…
Get the Radio Ad Correct!
To the writers of the radio ad: The 3 large smoke stacks are NOT ORANGE!!! Last time I checked, they were red and white. —Not Colourblind
International Customers Not Welcome
To all the bars that refuse entrance to patrons with European and British IDs, what the fuck are you thinking? Now I, as much as any one else of age, don’t want little underage fuckers in the bar either but when i have friends from overseas with overseas IDs you refuse access because their cards…
signs sign everywhere a sign
The Coast is hip to rich media ads, they add so much more to the users experience on the website. it’s just fantastic…. When did a “good design” have to become so complicated. —OP
crazy woman- i dont want your opinion
You saw me give my puppys leash a quick yank to stop her from pulling me and my small child out of a crosswalk. I corrected her behavior not hurt her. You then decided to lean out your car window and yell at me to “learn how to walk my dog” well speeding down the…
Disillusioned
I don’t own a car, walk or cycle everywhere, and have always supported pedestrian and cyclist rights & initiatives. But: to all the cyclists I see going against the one-way on Charles street – at least two or three a day: please stop! And don’t even try to be indignant when a vehicle almost smacks…
Ignorance and Bigotry IS Alive and Well in My Beloved Halifax…
What is with you people who associate everything you dislike or disagree with as somehow being related to sexual orientation?.Over the past X number of years I have regularly heard people at work and in public express their displeasure by stating that “this is, that is, he is, she is so gay, blah, blah, blah,…
Fundraiser for The Spot will help all the kids in your life make a record
Asia & Nu Gruv all jumped in the lake at once after this picture was taken Halifax’s first youth creative arts/media centre, The Spot, needs some TLC from your wallet. The Spot (1474 Queen, still in its developmental stages) aims to create an open environment for youth to pursue artistic pursuits in an inclusive atmosphere.…
A Piece of Cake opens shop in Dartmouth
Almost 4 weeks ago, Yvonne Bartrand took the leap with her wholesale bakery business, opening A Piece of Cake bake shop (723 Main, 406-3440) in Dartmouth. “It’s fantastic,” she says, raving about the new operation, which is modeled after the Magnolia Bakery in New York, a place to get cupcakes and treats. “We cater to…
Euro smash with Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees
I say! Tip top! Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees will be speaking with an accent when they get back, I swear. Photo Aaron Mckenzie Fraser Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees are opening for Thunderheist this weekend, and I’ll bet you’ll feel the wanderlust coming off of them in waves from the stage. As…
SGR
3 little punks crossing the street in front of me when I had a green light: i thought you were just throwing up gang symbols or some gay shit… but now i realize you were flipping me off (wtf was that anway). next time im gonna ram my civic into your weak ankles .. you…
R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Practice what you preach bitch
what is it with people blasting their cell phones on the bus? I was on the 14 last saturday when someone asked a blonde bitch to turn her music down when she felt that “taking it off the bus and smashing your face in” to “show some respect” was the answer. Sure, whoever asked you…
Tired of living in a deathtrap because I have a dog.
I’m starting my apartment search many months early. Because my landlord is sketchy and incapable of doing his job, there are rats living in my ceiling and I’m pretty sure it’s an illegal apartment. So why am I living here in the first place? Because I have a dog and it seems like the only…
pedestrians
this is a bitch for most pedastrians what is fucking wrong with most people,do most of you not have the common sense when pressing the walk button it doesnt mean press and walk it means press and look first. the drivers cannot stop as soon as you press it.press the fucking button and wait a…
You called the cops on these gf abuser
I came home last night from work close to midnight to my apartment next to the Arena and there were two cop cars outside. This morning I found out someone called the cop to report some guy beating up his gf. I suspect it is the same abusive idiot living somewhere around me, as he…
Music scene
The music scene in halifax seems to suck. There is no good bands or shows. —where they @
A Prickly Thistle
To the Douches working on Thistle St. — Thanks for tearing up our street just in the nick of time for summer. No sleeping in, no way for emergency vehicles to pass, they can’t even open the store downstairs where I buy my baby Daughters milk because even they can’t get here and they don’t…
chebucto good samaritan shoes
this past weekend i was walking past your place and you had a hockey stick, some plywood and 3 pairs of shoes with the word FREE. one rocksport pro walker beige. i had been getting pain in my ankle due to walking in my new 40$ shoes bought at Munford Mall. i couldn’t spend another…
Get Your Own Board
What’s with all these job postings for the Nova Scotia government? They have a union and these jobs get posted to public boards whether or not the position is open to the public. I say post once John Q Public qualifies to apply. Until then, use your own dam website or job board to advertise…
If you don’t brake your arm it’s not an emergency
1. Two of the staff at QE11 refered to my boyfriend as “the big guy” … shallow assholes 2. Do they really think that tv explaining waiting times helps? 4 people in waiting for 3 fucking hours!!! His appendix could fucking burst as far as I am afraid and buddy just shrugs “well it’s busy…
Bullying
I was all the way across the street when I HEARD you hit him. He’s long and lanky while you’re a little taller, a little heavier and a whole lot fuckin’ meaner. The kid had a broken wrist or something and didn’t even try… good thing you backed off because next you were dealing with…
Carla Gunn reads new novel Amphibian at Frog Hollow
Sometimes you start reading a book and fall in love by page two. That’s what happened when I tore through Carla Gunn’s novel Amphibian, published by Coach House. The book’s narrator, nine-year-old Phin Walsh, is an encyclopedic pint-sized worrier, addicted to the “Green Channel”’s 24-7 coverage of environmental destruction. But instead of running around outside…
HRM approved for $87.75 million in economic stimulus funding
UPDATED BELOW At about 10am this morning, word reached Halifax council chambers today that HRM is eligible for about $87.75 million in economic stimulus funding. Of that, $31.5 million comes via the time sensitive federal stimulus program. The $31.5 million pot of money must be split three ways between federal, provincial and municipal funds, and…
Tammachat Natural Textiles showcase fair trade fashions
May 2, from 10am-6pm, Tammachat Natural Textiles is bringing its fair trade creations to the Universalist Unitarian Church (5500 Inglis), offering organic silk scarves, organic cotton scarves and bags of all sorts—including hand-woven bamboo bags, hemp and leather purses—as well as jackets, wrap pants, cushion covers and more. At 1pm there’ll be a slideshow on…
Marks
If an academic institution states that they are going to have your marks up at a certain time, then those marks should be up. I as a student am required to have all my work submitted on time, if not I lose marks because in the real world, it is not professional to be late.…
Creapy cops
Every day I walk to work around the back edge of Citadel hill. There are usually at least one – often several – cop cars sitting on the road up Citadel hill just idling suspiciously. I want to know what you sneaky buggers are doing up there every morning!? Your frequent and unexplained presence at…
Buckley’s Music store goes out of business
We were saddened to hear that Buckley’s Music closed over the weekend. No word yet on if the locally owned music equipment supply store and music school is shutting down permanently, but a number of local musicians who subsidized their living as performers by teaching at the school have reported they are out of a…
Go see artists shortlisted for the Mayor’s Award
On Monday, there was an opening reception in City Hall from 5-7pm for the artists shortlisted for the first Mayor’s Award of Distinction in Contemporary Visual Art. You can see the show every Wednesday night from 7-9pm through June 17 (except for May 6). After the show, works from the winner and two honourable mentions…
Bitches at an eatery
I’m deeply sorry if the mere presence of my friend and I in the doorway irritated you enough to glare at us with an intensity that could have melted steel. I truly hope that our 3 seconds inside the restaurant didn’t ruin your dining experience. —NoPatience
Thirty dancers descend on Grand Parade
If you go down to Grand Parade, Wednesday at 1:30pm, you’re in for a big surprise. In honour of UNESCO’s International Dance Day, more than 30 of Halifax’s best dancers and choreographers are taking over the former parking lot. Choreographers Sarah Cox and Susanne Chui are presenting works “each reflecting different aspects of the human…
Value Village moves to new Moirs mall and more
The former home of the late, lamented Odyssey-2000 game and comic store at Quinpool and Oxford now houses a new location of Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy (6407 Quinpool, 444-7702), run by owner/pharmacist Anastasia Hanias and offering a wide range of clinics and services. Unfortunately, the pharmacy was robbed last week, so please stop by and give…
Where to get free comic books
The eighth annual Free Comic Book Day takes place Saturday, May 2. Started as a way for the comics biz to promote itself to new readers, the entire industry gets on board these days, with special edition titles released specifically to be given away on the day. It doesn’t hurt that X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens…
courteous cab driver
I must send this one to the cab driver who stopped at the bypass going from joseph howe into the highway along the cemetery and in the direction of kemp , the car dealers, and the bridge. It’s usually a dash for good life to cross as soon as I find a safe space between…
The Van Is Back
To the man in the red cube van with Ontario license plates driving downtown on Sunday afternoon. Seeing your van made my day. This thing had windows on the side-rear on both sides, tinted, with mini-blinds! Seriously, this thing was the very definition of a shaggin’-wagon. The driver even looked the part too. Thank you…
Quarters
Whoever loaded up all the candy machines in Charlie’s with quarters, you put a big smile on my face today. I even replaced your quarter afterwards. —Thanks again Quarter Fairy!
Idiot Crossing
This to the fidiot that doesn’t know how to cross a street. April 26th, 3:00pm on Barrington. WTF is wrong with you yelling at a driver that had the right-of-way while you were in the middle of the street. Try a crosswalk you dipshit. Or at least if you are going to jaywalk, wait for…
To All You Job Posters out there …WTF!!!
For the love of God just include a fucking salary range in the job posts when your advertising for a position online. I know you’re just hoping to lure in naive, hoping-for-the-besters. You know God damn well how much you’re willing to pay and “competitive” and “commensurate with experience” do not necessarily mean the same…
it is not easy being Green
Nowadays every corporation is trying to put on an Environmental Conscious face to get business . I feel almost like Kermit the Frog waving my green flag to match my green body fed with green food. Green used to be used to describe someone who is still “wet behind the ear” ie. a greenhorn, meaning…
Keep your fluids to yourself
OK, so, as I’m sure most of you are aware, there is an outbreak of Swine Flu with pandemic potential. So, all you people who like to cough without covering your mouth, hawk loogies onto the sidewalk, or run to the ER with every sniffle, please consider the rest of us who do not want…
D12 pull the plug on coming to Halifax. YEESH!
Later days, D12 A couple weeks ago I also wrote about this concert, recently declared CANCELLED! Tickets can be refunded at point of purchase until May 8, (Ticketpro call centre 1-888-311-9090, online at www.ticketpro.ca or Ticketpro outlets. So for God’s sake, get on that. That’s not a whole lot of time to get your money…
Top 40 Flop
Really, how does crap music like All American Rejects or Nickelback fit in with the rest of the music on The Bounch and Z103? I get the whole “top 40” thing, but can’t we have a dedicated hip hop station here in Halifax? Theory of a NickelCreed just really doesn’t do it for me when…
Weirdos….
Emo kids, you live in suburbia, no one feels sorry you, so please get ur shit together, and please get a freaking hair cut. —keeping reality alive
keep your comments to yourself.
Earlier this week, I walked into my local corner store, to get change for my laundry. I walked into the store to see the older gentleman (I would say 50-60)sitting at the cash. He looked up with a big smile on his face and proceeded to stare at my chest. “oh Hello, you look beautiful…
An open letter to Body Break
To Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod: Stop it. Just fucking stop it. You two have been clogging up the airwaves with your creepy fitness coupledom for far too long. Your annoyingly cheery faces have been leering out at me from my television since I was a child, and enough is enough. Your stupid 80s theme…
Loving You
{Editor’s note: this isn’t really a Love the Way we Love– it’s more appropriate in the PSSTs, under Classifieds] I’m not sure if you’ll see this or not…but its something i want to say to you. I know i’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past and caused a lot of trouble for us…
Fed up with Apple
I get it, I get it. You’ve got the most amazing software out there. Your precocious little brain child iPhone is the most popular kid in school. Get over your pretentious idiotic self already! I HATE APPLE! (but I love your products…) —poop
Wearable Art Show photo recap
So I’ve been sorting through a thousand photos of the Wearable Art Show from Wednesday night—so much eyecandy! Here are just a few to begin with. More photos and captions to follow.
It’s not like you’ll ever read this….
To the old hag on Spring Garden Rd, I am a person with a charitable soul. If I am capable of giving, I do so. The other day you asked me for a “spare” cigarette, and although there is no such thing as a “spare cigarette” at $10 a pack, I smiled and was happy…
Ground Zero opens largest indoor climbing zone in the east
Just reopened in a new, larger location in Dartmouth is Ground Zero Climbing Gym (The Wright Place, Corner of Wright Ave. and John Savage Drive in Burnside, 468-8788). It’s Atlantic Canada’s largest indoor climbing facility, perhaps not for those with vertigo. | Also across the water, The Dartmouth Yoga & Wellness Studio (166 Ochterloney, 464-2225)…
Made in Halifax provides online business help
Marc Skeldon credits his friend Sonia McAloney for hatching the idea of a creative online business collective in Halifax. She was the one who reserved the domain name years ago for her embroidery company Made in Halifax. Now it’s a website, madeinhalifax.com, just in its infancy, but growing as Skeldon gets more interest from local…
Wooden Shoe Café goes Dutch in Bayers Lake
The one time location of Café Wanda at 8 Oland Crescent in Bayers Lake is now home to Wooden Shoe Café (405-8909). Opened by Ron Van Vught in August of 2008, it started a soup and sandwich place, but Van Vught thought to bring in some tastes from his homeland, The Netherlands. Most popular is…
ATTENTION ALL ILLITERATE BUSINESS CLASS
IF YOU DO NOT READ THE PLEASE WAIT TO BE SEATED AND SEAT YOURSELF AT MY RESTAURANT YOU WILL NOT GET SERVED LIKE A NORMAL LITERATE PERSON WHO WILL READ THE FUCKING SIGN AND WAIT. AND IF YOU WAIT LONGER THAN YOU SHOULD HAVE DO NOT GET PISSED OFF AT ME BECAUSE I DIDN’T GET…
bag your own or stuff it
so some big “environmental conscious” grocery store has decided to tell you to shove it if you forgot to bring your own bag for groceries. i think it’s about saving trees and being “ahead of the competition”. well, how noble , i could almost cry at the sentiment. after implementing automation to cut down the…
Look up when you’re outside
Try it. You might see something strange going on. Planes flying military routes, spraying things… You need to stop this, cause I can’t. —Canadian Special Ops Pilot
EEEEEEEvolve Festival line up
KK & BBQ are bananas Antigonish’s yearly Evolve Festival , July 17 to 19, is bringing Shout Out Out Out Out, The New Deal and, a group I am very stoked about, The King Khan & BBQ Show! KK & BBQ put on an insane show and it should not be missed. Nudity, shiny costumes…
Earth Day
To the editor, In response to Chris Benjamin’s article “Earth attack” (Apr. 16, Sustainable City): thank you. The article was a necessary call to attention that isolated, one-day efforts will not be enough to reverse our current culture of environmental exploitation. However, Benjamin’s cynicism misses the mark in an important regard. Earth Day provides a…
Take a good long hard look in the mirror, Grandma, your dyed hair looks like shit
I was in a coffee shop today and once more have seen yet another woman over 60 with fucking black dyed hair. All it did was accentuate her prune face and wrinkles. You can’t stay young, woman, get over it and allow your hair to turn natural instead of that shoepolish colour you insist on…
Dear Loser!
http://youmakemetouchyourhandsforstupidreasons.ytmnd.com/
Direction 0
A friend of mine has a drug addiction. He’s made some bad choices, and has become a part of something much, much bigger than he is. He very recently accepted the fact that he needed help, so he was refered by his doctor to a methodone clinic here in Halifax. This is a very busy…
Dear Drivers and Pedestrians
I’m sorry, I’ll be riding my bike on the side walk. I promise not to race by you pedestrians, I will slow down and give you lots of room. I promise not to shoot through cross walks at the speed of light. I will be a pedestrian with wheels attached. Suck it up and deal…
Littering/dumpimg that is shameful
We (humans) are not very good custodians of our planet. Take a walk by the Joe Howe Superstore and look at the literal heaps of garbage that people leave by the railtracks or take a walk by the Kechen Goodman Library in Clayton Park and look at the piles of garbage in the roadside ditch.…
Understand Merge…Psycho in the Silver Protege?
Hey Old White Haired Loser on the MacD bridge yesterday headed to Halifax at around 5:30pm…learn to merge and chill the fuck out before you get yourself killed (from stress or someone that is going to loose it on you for your behavior). The bridge is one lane and all the toll lanes merge into…
No, I don’t want your body.
Stop it. Stop saying that hideous phrase everytime I walk past you. I know YOU want ME, however I don’t want YOU. Or your ‘body’. You’re not funny either. You’re actually creepy and weird, even though we’re both just out of our teens. Please do yourself a a favor and return to your pillows and…
Finders Keepers
Just because your last fare didn’t pay does not mean I am not obligated to turn over the $1.05 i found in the backseat. Kicking us out and then telling the other cab not to pick us up seems a little extreme for a $1.05? hope you get a flat tire and someone pukes in…
Why Do We Have A Bridge Commission
The last straw was when, the other day, the stupid toll booth didn’t register my loonie and some bridge commission employee gives me shit. Uh…Why do we have all these stupid toll booths again? It’s like going through some Palestinian checkpoint to work everyday. The tolls are retarded, they slow everyone down and we pay…
Meats Heads in Dartmouth
The guy who threatened me and called me STUPID at MacPhee Pontiac on Wednesday; you can call me stupid and even kick my ass but I’m university educated and work with the feds; what are you? Judging from your overworked physique, tattoos and anger management problems…. I’d say a welfare case or a drug dealer.…
Love those reconstructed t-shirts at Love, Me
I was completely bummed that I couldn’t get over to Love, Me to see the t-shirts that had been reconstructed by local artists. Love owner Chara Kingston put out a call for people’s old ratty t-shirts and in return, she paired those toss-away tees with a suitable artist. Yesterday, the shirts were on display, in…
Busted barrier, Yale at Monastery.
[image-1] What’s wrong? Busted barrier, Yale at Monastery. Who’s responsible? Ken Reashor, god of traffic, 490-6637. Remarks: This traffic barrier was erected when the nearby Canadian Tire/Atlantic Superstore complex was opened. Intended to prevent shoppers from racing through residential streets, the brick and wrought iron structure was one of the better looking of such barriers…
Transit tax bid collapses
This is an expanded version of my column in today dead tree version of the paper. ——– After first embracing it last week, Halifax council Tuesday abruptly reversed course and rejected a service-based taxation scheme for transit funding, opting instead to use an assessment-based general tax rate, at least for a year. Then, they held…
Federal Public Servants are INCREDIBLY Rude!
Once again I have been treated not only poorly, but with contempt, by a federal public servant. What the fuck is the point of having douche bags work in “public” positions if all they are going to do is demean the citizens who pay their goddamned salaries?!?! Service Canada? My ass! Passport Canada? Fuck off,…
Leave Them Alone
I would love to say first of all that I am not a metro transit driver, nor do I work for the HRM. I am so tired of people bitching about metro transit drivers. All I hear is how cranky they are blah blah blah but honestly I get the bus and sure enough you…
Sushi Fraud
What is the deal with the sushi joints in this city that list crab on the menu but in fact use processed crab-flavoured pollock? If they want serve fake shit fine, but don’t call it what it isn’t! No restaurant would survive if they sold pork as beef or tofurkey as turkey; I don’t see…
Another Boring Call Center Bitch
I work at a call center. I know, I know. But you do what you have to do to pay the rent. I’m not here to bitch about rude callers. I knew what I was signing on for when I took this job. This is more of a public service announcement. After working in this…
Lovin’ Sobeys ladies
Thanks to the cashiers at my nearest Sobeys (Antigonish) who smile their greetings, look me in the eye, laugh at my ridiculous comments, and pack my bread and squishables safely. Be prepared for me to single you out and wait in your lineup! —M’Goo
Unimpressed with the new staffing solution
Dear Resteraunt I frequent atleast once a week, You recently restaffed. I am nto sure why and frankly it is none of my business. What is my business is that since the restaffing, I have had nothing but bad service. Your staff takes reservations it cannot keep, We have to wait 30 minutes after being…
Friday Sure Thing: Tongan Death Grip EP Release Show
Tongan Death Grip’s record release show will be their last for a while, but guitarist Craig Hamlin is relatively confident that drummer Mike Belyea’s impending move to Montreal won’t be the end: Belyea has already been living in Saint John for most of the band’s lifespan. “We basically get together [to practice] 30 minutes before…
An intense sense of romance
Q: I’m a 32-year-old, very attractive, very fit SWM living in NYC. I’m well-read and well-spoken. I march to the beat of my own drum. Friends tell me that my personality is intense. It must be true—everyone concurs. I’m extremely idealistic, and I count myself as a romantic. I’m interested in an intense and consuming…
B.A. Johnston
B.A. Johnston has proven that he’s one of the best live acts to ever call Halifax home. Does it matter that he wrote a great album, Stairway To Hamilton, chronicling a life of dirt malls and dead-end jobs that channels the spirit of Ford Pier and the Bonaduces, as long as he still continues to…
Che: Part One
Director Steven Soderbergh frames the 1956 Cuban Revolution in a continual medium shot, his history lesson/war movie an ensemble of armed men marching towards Havana, surrounded by lush jungle greens and military khaki. Ernesto “Che” Guevara distinguishes himself in the crowd of revolutionaries as an intellectual, a medic, a warrior and a man of the…
The DoneFors
Following up previous collaborations, Toronto-based Janine Stoll joins forces with two members of Afrobeat band Mr. Something Something in The DoneFors. The songs on How to Have Sex With Canadians are dreamlike concoctions that move along crisply with just a hint of the exotic. “Mouth Full of Marbles” wraps a metaphor-drenched narrative with contraband and…
Razorlight
Razorlight’s Slipway Fires is a difficult album to listen to, as it is nearly impossible to not long for the popular Anglo-Swedish band that broke out in 2004 with such Brit-pop gems as the title track “Up All Night,” plus “Rock ‘N’ Roll Lies” and “Golden Touch.” It’s not that Slipaway Fires, their third studio…
Terri Peace de-cups Tim Horton’s annual contest
“It’s about garbage on the ground,” says Terri Peace, “and throw-away stuff.” Peace is a community recreation programmer with HRM who coordinates the annual Pick up to Win Challenge. The rules are simple: participants—from youth environmental action group HEAT—have two weeks to collect as many littered disposable coffee cups as possible. Over three challenges, they’ve…
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Give me Karen O over Emily Haines any day. Although both Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ and Metric’s new albums are dance-floor killers, the former sparkles with sophistication—even Karen O’s more gutteral yelps seem less pissed off and more relaxed. Nick Zinner’s iconic, raw guitar may be downplayed in favour of keyboards, but their sound hasn’t lost…
Boat Harbour: On toxic pond
Rodney MacDonald’s government isn’t the first to say it will clean up the mess the province made of Boat Harbour. And it’s not the first to use public money to keep the polluting pulp mill running. An investigation by a group of University of King’s College journalism students finds over four decades of murky water…
Dog Day
Though necessary in life, an act of concentration carries with it the risk of obsession and overreaction. We are each the author of our own doing and undoing. Be aware or beware what happens if you’re not. This is what Dog Day’s second full-length, Concentration, tells us. And the band tells it in more simply…
Tracking the comic sounds of Michael Winslow
Michael Winslow is turning Japanese. “Domo arigato?” he squeaks in a bizarrely convincing female voice. “Where is the bank?” The self-described “voicestrumentalist,” stand-up comedian and veteran of seven Police Academy movies is on the phone from his Florida home. As will happen many times during our interview, he’s abruptly lapsed into one of his favourite…
Karlheinz Schreiber’s kickback bonanza
Schmiergelder. It’s a lovely sounding German word, isn’t it? Schmiergelder literally means “grease money” and it’s at the heart of the federal inquiry into why former Tory PM Brian Mulroney received three envelopes stuffed with $1,000 bills back in 1993-94. Karlheinz Schreiber, the German-Canadian wheeler-dealer who handed Mulroney the cash, spent four days testifying before…
Moose River gold mine’s crushing environmental impact
As long as people continue to want gold rings, Mark Parent said in early 2008, there will be a place for mining. The former provincial environment minister was referring to his department’s controversial approval of the Moose River gold mine in the Musquodoboit Valley district of HRM. This month, however, Haligonians are getting a closer…
True North Diner’s retro-fitted comforts
In going for a retro look and feel for the True North Diner, the owners have apparently spared no expense. The vast cavern of mediocrity that was the Ponderosa has become a gleaming, chrome and red, black and white tiled bastion of days past. It looks really sharp—not the genuine patina of age that the…
Cassandra’s Dream
“Ain’t life grand!” declares gambler Terry (Colin Farrell), enjoying a day on the lake with his brother Ian (Ewan McGregor), an aspiring businessman, early on in Woody Allen’s not very subtle, kinda pretentious Cassandra’s Dream. “You know what that’s from?” Terry continues. “Bonnie and Clyde…two Barrow Brothers are having a fine time, and Clyde says,…
Montreal filmmaker Alan Kohl’s street smarts
It’s a cold, wet, Montreal night. The reflection of traffic lights glitters on damp streets. A black-clad figure rides through on a bicycle, clutching a piece of posterboard beneath one arm. He dismounts near a crosswalk, glancing furtively around him, and pulls something from his pocket. We hear the rattle-rattle of the spraypaint can as…
Crank: High Voltage
Having fallen from a helicopter, bounced off a car and landed face down on the pavement, it looked like Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) was dead at the end of 2006’s Crank. The only explanation Crank: High Voltage needs for keeping him alive is that he’s in an ultra-sadistic, live-action equivalent to a Road Runner cartoon.…
State of Play
The crime-solving journalist genre is a sure-bet with critics. State of Play finds its pedigree in a rich ensemble. Russell Crowe, looking like Jeff Bridges with his frumpy dress and grunge-era hair, plays luddite Washington Post investigative reporter Cal McAffrey. He’s paired with blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) to cover a pair of murders that…
Elliott Brood does it country revival style
“You can write a love song a million times,” says Casey Laforet, guitarist-singer-songwriter for Toronto alt-country trio Elliott Brood. “Our tastes are geared to storytellers like The Band, Neil Young. It’s not for everyone. We love a cool story and to tell that story with instruments. I don’t think we can write super-catchy pop songs.”…
Whaaa?!
First the good, then the bad. So its great that you guys have opened a new pub. Its beautiful inside and the “theme” is encouraging. But. WHAT is up with the stage? Seriously, my bathroom is bigger than that! It’s also in a terrible spot in the room (adjacent to the bar, at floor level…
