Full Atlantic Film Festival lineup unveiled
Bruce McDonald’s Trigger, starring Molly Parker, Tracy Wright and Don McKellar. On Tuesday, the Atlantic Film Festival revealed the rest of its schedule, and we managed to drag our sweaty fingers across the keyboard to pick out a few early favourites. For those who like to be the first to see big commercial films, there’s…
Mary’s Place 2 opens Monday
Mary’s Place Cafe 2 (5982 Spring Garden Road, 404-7171) will open Monday morning, says owner Roy Khoury, bringing the same breakfast, vegetarian, vegan and Syrian menu that is found at the original Mary’s Place Cafe (2752 Robie Street, 454-2558). Hours at the new restaurant are 7am-9pm.
Finally, A Joan Jett Tribute Night
a-guh guh guh guh guh guh The Coast’s favorite rock heroine with a bad reputation will get her due at Reflections this Saturday. Craig Hamlin, Matt Grace, Ben Manuel and Myles Deck form The Blackhearts while the sultry-voiced Chantal Caissie (of Audrey and the Agents) will don Joan’s leather pants. “I’ve always really liked what…
The New Palace welcomes back the students
As far as Back to School promos go, this one is righteous. Every night The Palace (1721 Brunswick Street, 420-0015) is open—Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday—they’re dubbing it “Student Party Central.” Everything, all night, every night, is $2.50. That includes barshots, shooters, domestic beer and Redbull. Also, students have a free cover all night on Wednesdays…
Nice…
I think you’re absolutely hilarious. Your comments are funny, intelligent and to the point. I really appreciate your grammar and spelling. I also love the fact that when you say things it seems some take them the wrong way or don’t get the sarcasm. You seriously make this fun for me and I have a…
They’re really are good people around
Thank you to the man in the van, who passed me on Wyse Road quite a while back and asked me if I was hungry when he saw me picking up cigarette butts while carrying my two backpacks. I thought you would expect something, but all you did was give me $20.00 and be on…
Customer service at its best
To the lone sandwich artist on Fenwick on Monday night: It was crazy busy with all the students moving in, and even though there should have been way more staff working you did a great job serving everyone promptly, and with a smile on your face. You deserve a raise! —Hungry Haligonian
Hurricane Earl may drop in on Halifax
No one can predict the paths of storms with 100 percent certainty, but the good people at the Canadian Hurricane Centre of Environment Canada, with all their computer models and hi-tech equipment, released this statement of concern earlier today: Hurricane Earl information statement issued by the canadian Hurricane centre of Environment Canada at 9.11 AM…
HRP, do your job
HEY halifax police, get off you’re jolly old assess & try doing your job for five minutes. I mean, you’ll certainly do your job for someone known, of high social status, etc.. but what about drug addicts, prostitutes, or even the dealers & johns. A person is a person, rich, poor, good, bad, black, white,…
Litter, litter everywhere!
While I enjoy the vibrancy and life the returning students bring to the neighbourhoods surrounding Halifax’s universities my blood pressure is starting to rise this week with the amount of litter already accumulating in my neighbourhood. The houses where it’s most appalling are the ones full of the pseudo hippy/hipsters who are all preachy about…
You’re a Wheel Asshole, Ya Know?
People who push through the yellow light in heavy traffic and wind up cutting off the intersection for everyone else should be gassed. The whole “Imma-just-look-straight-ahead” routine doesn’t make you invisible, or move your fucking car. We can all see you… and we all hate you. —Stuck on Green
Proskates, Utliity and Moksha Yoga: Shoptalk Facts and Rumours
This we know is a fact, as has been reported in Shoptalk: Pretty Things Boutique (5685 Cunard Street, 492-8329) is moving into the Pro Girl space at 5240 Blowers Street, while the ProSkates empire, including Pro Girl, prepares to move into new digs on Quinpool Road. The ProSkates move was prompted by the news that…
Bouclair opens two new stores
On the hunt for bedding, furniture, laps, rungs, etc? Give Bouclair a look. The Canadian company has just opened two stores, one in Bedford at 85 Damascus Road and at Dartmouth Crossing at 72 Finnian Row.
Hungry Chili closes
The Hungry Chili (5234 Blowers Street) has closed. No word yet on whether the owners plan to find a new location. The closure was due, according to a notice posted on the door of the establishment during the past few months, a dispute with the landlord.
Bitchin’ and Lovin’
Thanks to (most of) my beeps (bitch peeps) for not getting bent out of shape when there’s a lag in new posts. I do my best to keep things current, but there’s times when things get busy on the job or when life gets in the way – like this past weekend when I was…
When we were wired the world was like a secret
You make my heart melt everyday. You’re amazing. I love you. —Running for home
Love
This goes out to whoever turned in my iPod to the front desk at Nubody’s in Clayton Park on Friday: You could have easily kept it for yourself or sold it but you didn’t! Thank you! And to the front desk enforcer at the club this morning, thanks for the box of samples as well!…
Don’t take too long
Are all the things I want. I know you’re fresh out of a relationship, so go have your fun, and let me know when you’re ready for fun +. —Me
For What It’s Worth
I’m sorry it all ended so shitty. —Me
Chef in Salmon River Shack is a Genius
I never order seafood chowder. Why did I here? Do I have a sixth sense? I wasn’t expecting anything. I didn’t know you won best chowder in Canada this year. With such grace and tenderness were the lobster claw, scallops, haddock and salmon delicately steamed and positioned in a pool of cream, cajun spice, fresh…
Are all Nova Scotian run businesses run this way?
I work in an office where I have to deal with different providers of goods and services. It is interesting that most times when I place an order for goods or services there is the attitude of not caring about the order… like “we’re so well off in this little berg that we don’t really…
Was General Hospital Not On?!?
For the record: Your manipulation of this entire situation makes you a massive douche. What happened today reads like a scene from a lame soap opera… Just a thought – maybe you should take some of that precious time of yours to apologize to the person you’ve wronged instead of going out of your way…
Librarian in love with the sound of her voice
Whatever happened to librarians who spoke softly and (carried a big stick)? This one carried a big mouth and stuck it into every molecule of the air at Spring Garden library. Projecting about five levels above normal in the stacks (a place where people are concentrating–locating, perusing, reading) and continuing her love affair with hearing…
Rules Must Be Tempered with Reality
This is not so much of a “bitch” as a heartfelt concern and fear. Now that Halifax is bubbling with thousands of university students and young family cyclists with baby(ies) in carriers on board on back, I have false expectations appearing real (FEAR) as a car driver. I try to ride my bicycle as much…
Calling for ban on bongos!
My roommates and I have noticed that on a regular basis a horde of hippies have taken to playing the bongo drums very loudly around the city, particularly in the commons which is close to where we live. Get over it hippies, no one wants to hear your incessant drumming. It’s disruptive, annoying and it’s…
Running Wild
Dear asshole at Long Lake: I love dogs. You love dogs. What I don’t like is when your 3 big black dogs that you’ve taken for a dip overrun me and my friends, get our shit soaked and EAT OUR FOOD. This could have been made at least a little easier for us had you…
TRANSIT FUCK UP.
Check out the new bus schedule… its fucked. —B
Mobile Phone Bills
I love Halifax! But what is up with your mobile phone providers!? I got a new Canadian number, to replace my European one and could not figure out why I kept having to put money on my account. Then I was told it is because they charge me money even when people from back home,…
Green Means Go
WTF … are drivers color blind? When the light changes from red to green, you should remove your foot from the brake, press on the gas pedal, and proceed through the intersection. Don’t sit there gabbing with your passengers, putting on make-up, fixing your hair, or texting. Stupid fucks. The light only stays green so…
Put Your Damn Phone Down and Pay Attention to Your Kids
To the Mother at Bell in Halifax Shop last week: Open your damn eyes while you were bitching at the sales clerk your oldest daughter whacked your younger daughter’s head off the corner of the display case… This is why she was crying in the mall, not because she was being difficult, perhaps if you…
Publications
All there is are left wing publications that are mainstream.We need a right wing publication that expresses the views of the silent majority. —A Nationalist
Why are you yelling at me?!
It was a beautiful Saturday morning, a cool breeze off the harbour, and the city was in good spirits as folks made their way to the farmers market. It was 7:30am, still early in market terms, and we were looking for a parking spot. We drove passed the lot and noticed a car had left,…
Acoustic Bitch
To the girl with the acoustic guitar: who the actual fuck do you think you are? You’re talented, I’ll give you that, but I don’t understand why the hell you choose to crank the volume to 11, out on your fucking porch, at 8:30 in the morning. On a Saturday, no less! This is the…
Oooohhhh Tough Guy
Takes a big strong guy to threaten to beat up a girl. You’re just a meat head and pissed off that the girl you wanted to assault is smarter than you… tougher, too actually. I think she could hold her own with you but just in case she can’t I will have no problem laying…
Barrington Street Garbage
I am ashamed to admit I am from this city! A beautiful day, street is busy with tourists and the garbage and litter along both sidewalks of Barrington Street is awful. I have been to other cities in the Maritimes and none of them looked like this!! For goodness sake, doesn’t the friggen city own…
I am not surrendering my arm rest
To that guy in the movie theatre: thank you for ruining my entire cinematic experience because you, for some reason, could not differentiate between my arm rest and your arm rest. When I picked up my drink, that didn’t mean that I was surrendering to you, I was literally just picking up my drink EXPECTING…
Ugly Chef Who Obviously Hates to Cook
I went to this restaurant the other night expecting to have a great first date, granted it was 20 after nine and they closed at 10, but to me it seemed like plenty of time to have a nice meal and begone before 10. Unfortunately, the BIG chef looked at me and my date through…
Heineken’s a steal!
$8.25 for a Heineken draft?! Holy inflation, Bruce Wayne! What’s happened to you? This price is acceptable for your enormous Hoegaarden draft, but for a Heineken — neither rare, nor in a large quantity? I went for 2 beers and lost 2 pockets full of change. —Normally an Economical Drinker
One for the Road
Here’s one for ya: I cracked the heel on my left foot, broke a toe on my right foot, and tonight I have to hop (no larf intended) on a plane to Halifax to attend a family reunion. The worst thing? I’m stuck ponying-up for the ‘refreshments’ for the reunion. —Fool on the Hill
Lead-er On-er
Make up your mind. You act like you genuinely care when we’re together, then don’t have the decency to be punctual, ever. And I can’t count how many times you’ve canceled plans. Didn’t your parents ever teach you to be considerate? I’m not sure what you’re waiting around for, but I’m certainly not waiting for…
Bridgiots
Who are those idiots causing all the accidents on the bridges and at the toll booths at rush hour? I hope their insurance skyrockets and they picked up a few injures in the accident.—DelayedOnMacKay
Nice Drivers!
Did anyone happen to see the license plate of the burgundy Dodge Van that hit me when I was on my bike Friday morning, on the corner of Barrington and Duke Street? They decided to take off after seeing me roll on the pavement on my elbow and ass. Nice drivers Halifax! —Pissed off Cyclist
Dear prissy little freckly bitch
If I were you I’d try to get over my insecurities and stop putting other people down cause quite frankly your not the shit, you actually the opposite of it. Oh and another thing, I don’t owe you an explanation for why I leave the room every time I see you it’s cause your an…
Barrington Heritage?
Taking the bus down Barrington the other day, looked up and saw flags hanging from the posts intimating the incredible heritage and history of Barrington Street. I`ll tell ya what city council or whomever is responsible, when Barrington street is filled with Businesses outside the Pita Pit and the Freak Lunch Box that make money…
Bitching about men
I work in a restaurant as a server, and I overheard a conversation with 2 women complaining about the lack of men out there. Here`s a hint honey: there is such a thing as eye contact and communication, lift those ridiculously big sunglasses off your eyes, pick your pie hole up from all the texting…
Part of the Weekend Never Dies
party cat wants to have it all How great was this past weekend? You probably still have salt in your skin from the beach, or maybe your shirt still stinks like coal and hot dogs from camping, or maybe you’re still cross-eyed and sloshy in the guts from all the beer you drank. But hey,…
Insensitive Boobs!!
Recently, a Breast Cancer awareness bus was parked near the courthouse on Spring Garden road, that`s a great thing> The bad, a local media organization – seemingly there to lend their name to the cause – had 3 young ladies, with tremendously perfect knockers standing by the bus to offer support. I am no activist…
Inter-car Food Fight
I work nights. I got myself out of bed late for work tonight, and was half awake driving down Quinpool, when a group of teenage gypsters in a shitty red Honda Civic threw a bit of hamburger through my open window as the lights at Connaught changed to green. I have to say it was…
The passing of journalism
Jules Loh died yesterday. As the Associated Press explains: Former AP reporter, features writer Loh dies at 79 By RICHARD PYLE (AP) – 13 hours ago NEW YORK — For most of his four decades as a reporter, Jules Edward Loh traveled the United States, reaching every state and using his honeyed Georgia accent to…
?!
Lets write mean things in the Styrofoam container that my lunch is in… because when I ordered my hummus and pita, I forgot to mention that I really did want permanent marker poisoning to go along with it. I’m so glad you’re great at your job and you are that mature that you took things…
Picture this…
… you are sitting in your cubicle, concentrating on important reports, preparing for a meeting you have in half an hour. It is nice and quiet as most people that sit around you are on vacation. You’re enjoying the peace and quiet when all of a sudden you hear…. SNIP…. SNIP…. SNIP….. One of your…
I’ve been told you have a girlfriend
The blueberries you sold me this morning were fantastic. Also, I have the biggest crush on you, but I think you know that by now. —Back next week
Candy from Strangers FTW!
To the crew handing out fair-trade chocolate at the corner of Queen and Spring Garden on Thursday – you guys rock! Thank you so much for filling up my bag with treats when just one bar would have been greatly appreciated. You made my day! —My Tummy Hurts
159 link early AM
What is with men trying to smell pretty? A guy sat next to me and almost choked me. A recent study concluded that men wear cologne because of an insecurity. They want people to like them so they wear a scent. It went on to say men were tricked into this false sense of security,…
Theodore J’dour
Thank you to the little red capped tugboat for bringing a smile to my face every time I see you floating in the “big harbour”. —Aquarius (water lover)
Wasted Effort
It sucks that it doesn’t matter what you do to prove something to someone, because once they have made up their minds it’s practically concrete. Everyone makes huge, hurtful, horrendous mistakes, but some of us actually mean it when we say we’re sorry. Building back someone’s trust can take time, understandably, but it’s a big…
Neo-Nazis
My father, uncle and cousins served in WW II against the Nazi regime. Too many were killed, fighting low life pieces of shit like you. You don’t deserve the liberties and protection that their sacrifices give you. Why don’t you play “Follow the Furher”, and go suck some cock in hell. —I hate haters
What is so complicated about traffic lights?!
I’ve driven in plenty of cities including ones with much worse reputations – but I do not get Halifax drivers at all! Basic, basic driving skills – if you cannot be sure that you can clear an intersection – DON’T ENTER IT. Why is it that I’ve been stuck so many times on Joe Howe…
Via Boston
Bridge by Santiago Calatrava I am on Concord coach 912, en route to Portland, Maine with a 90 minute layover in Boston. Boston is the place of a sad day for me, in 2004 when I am on a bicycle trip. I had turned 50 in June, and to celebrate I buy a bike (beautifully…
Next door
Oh hey, 26 Nepali’s living in one Townhouse in Clayton Park: Maybe you should learn some English so you don’t have to give me the ‘WhatTheFuck’ expression every time I ask a different person to be a little bit quieter at 10, 11, and 12:30 at night, when I have to get up at 6:30…
When did you get so lazy?
At one time we were really good friends, now you just piss me off. I guess it started all those years ago, when we shared an apartment for the first time. Like most things, it was fine at first. Then you started eating my food with no intentions of replacing it. Often I would come…
Clayton Park SUCKS
I fucking hate this shit neighborhood. It’s just full of either middle-aged snotty nosed somethings, or ghetto trash. White ghetto trash. White, fat, and loud. There is nothing here to DO, other than go to Bayers Lake, HA, and you know, sometimes you’re just too apathetic to go downtown, because I have to come BACK…
Sick Of Butt’s
For fuck’s sake, why do some smokers not realize that a cigarette butt is trash? I am so sick of seeing them flicked out of car windows and the carpet of butts near smoking areas is disgusting. Goddamn it ITS LITTERING!! Pick up after yourselves assholes!! —SOB
Manipulative Bitch
To the whore/bitch/slut who briefly dated my best buddy: Do you have any fucking idea how much my buddy liked you? After going on a few dates with you, he would not stop talking about you… I’ve never seen him so happy in a long time. I didn’t know you personally, but my friend went…
Biking with rainboots
Yesterday, the traffic on the Bedford Highway was crazy, and you biked right passed me, onto a little gravel thing, and onto the sidewalk up Kerney Lake, that super steep hill. I tried, and I caught up to you, and you gave me a massive smile before you took a right turn and rode away.…
Wednesday on North Street. between 430-5.
I had on black boots, black jeans, a white shirt, blue wool hat, & broken glasses. You had on grey jeans and a black shirt, short hair. Your friend was wearing a black skirt and black top, and maybe had black boots and maybe had her septum pierced… ANYWAYS, you made sustained eye contact with…
KB you suck
I don’t like you… you don’t deserve what you’re getting. Screw you and you’re annoying ugly face. 🙂 —It’s me bitches!!
Manchester, New Hampshire
Hugh Jackman in a wife beater. I am in a small hotel room on a fourth floor in Manchester, New Hampshire. I have arrived into town by bus from Burlington, Vermont. The night is calm and warm; the days have been very hot. When I get off the bus I start asking anyone I see…
Centennial Pool Reopens
For all of you swimmers who’ve been missing the popular urban pool at Gottingen and Cogswell, Centennial Pool reopens September 7 following months of renovations.
Pete’s To Go Go is on the go
Shoptalk reported a few months back that the much-adored Pete’s Frootique deli was opening in a new location later in the year. Well, that’s happened: Pete’s To Go Go, 1801 Hollis Street, open from 7am-7pm. You’ll find plenty of breakfast foods, sandwiches, salads and soups, as well as an excellent selection of java juice. For…
Ali Nickerson’s art starts at home
Ali Nickerson Frustrated by gallery bureaucracy, Ali Nickerson decided to take matters into her own home: Her exhibition Everyone Knew What Had to Happen is opening at 2387 Gallery (2387 Agricola), which just happens to be her new apartment, and an ideal place to show work that explores “my experience as a bartender and the…
Atlantic Film Festival line-up: Cdn and Atlantic highlights
Rock ‘n’ roll with Trigger’s Tracy Wright and Molly Parker. Highlights from the Atlantic Film Festival’s Atlantic and Canadian film programs are out, and nothing has made me feel this patriotic since Douglas Coupland’s clothing line for Roots. The Atlantic Gala film on September 17 is Chaz Thorne’s Whirligig, written by Michael Amo and starring…
Reigning Spamalot
Nerd alert: if “it’s only a flesh wound” makes you giddy, this news is for you. Monty Python’s Spamalot is coming to the Metro Centre for three performances, Saturday, October 16 at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday, October 17 at 2pm. Back in 2005, the theatrical adaptation of the film Monty Python and the Holy…
Halifax ponders its crap: biosolid debate heats up
HRM council is reevaluating the practice of applying biosolids—N-Viro Corporation’s composted and treated sewage—to municipal property. The controversy started in mid-August when city crews stank up Dunbrack Street, driving locals to their councillor, Debbie Hum. “We didn’t get a lot of information on the issue at council,” Hum says. She has concerns that the medical…
24twentyeight opens
Logan Hudak and his buddy Lee Fraser, two DJs in town, have collaborated on a new business that opened this week, 24twentyeight (5181 Sackville Street, 440-7957). As they conceived of it last November, they struggled with a name. “Why don’t we use our ages?” says Hudak. “I guess it could be 25twentynine, now.” The store…
A small council protects elites’ interests
In 1841, when the independent city of Halifax was created, there were 19 elected representatives for the city of 20,000 people. Were that ratio of population-to-elected representatives kept to the present, today we’d have 437 city councillors. The debate over how many people should sit on the Halifax council raises many interesting issues, including: What’s…
Daily Grind move means less magazines
The Daily Grind’s (5686 Spring Garden Road, 429-6397) impending move down the street to the Mills Brothers building is coming along more or less on schedule, says owner Ann Franz, who expects an October 1 move-in date. The new space, which faces Birmingham Street, comes complete with three fireplaces. Franz says the newsstand part of…
Pizza for Picnicface
If you order a pizza from Tomavinos Cellar Ristorante’s today, 10 percent will go towards helping Picnicface make their film, Roller Town.
Mary Stewart’s Daily Song
For Mary Stewart, blogging was the ideal way to call her own bluff. The Halifax singer-songwriter was wrapped up in interviews for her self-titled EP last year when she found herself telling people she practiced up to five hours a day. “I told people I write a song a day anyway—-and then I wondered if…
Free Will Astrology
VIRGO(August 23-September 22) Our sun doesn’t really have a name. The word “sun” is a generic term that can refer to any of trillions of stars. So I’d like to propose that you come up with a name for it. It could be a nickname or a title, like Big Singer or Aurora Rex or…
Ch-ch-ch-Cheachie’s Grill
“I can’t find my car keys,” my friend Stephen says over the phone. It’s just after 11am, and our plans for an early lunch have vanished with his keys. An hour later it’s clear to us that the keys have anthropomorphized, packed a bag and walked out the door for good, so he gets a…
Atlantic Fringe preview
September 2-12 Tickets and schedule at atlanticfringe.ca. Call 471-7081 for any changes. Does the Fringe scare you? It’s OK, it can be a little weird and at times moderately painful (let’s be honest, not everyone is cut out for off-off-off Broadway), but it can also be amazing, and an experience everyone should try. And you…
Aphasia
An independent music community has coalesced over the last couple decades in Taiwan, which has both borne the burden and resisted the weight of Chinese rule for more than 60 years. This is a collection of noise rock instrumentals from Taipei quartet Aphasia (a term for loss of speech, usually following head trauma or injury.)…
Fun squashed when Nanny McPhee Returns
Emma Thompson returns to script and star in this sequel to the 2005 kiddie flick about a mysterious matron with magical powers and a clock-stopping face. This time, Nanny McPhee imparts five lessons to the unruly children of farm girl Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal, overdoing a British accent) and their snooty cousins. Once tamed, the…
The Switch works
A good Jennifer Aniston movie, like a good romantic comedy, occurs with the frequency resembling the Halley’s Comet: only after a good number of years. And one can’t be blamed for feeling apprehensive about The Switch, with Aniston in a sometimes awkward love plot with Jason Bateman, but against all odds, this one works! The…
Possessed by the past
Ashley Bell knows the comparisons are inevitable. She just doesn’t think they’re terribly relevant. Bell, who plays a teenager who may or may not be possessed by a demon in The Last Exorcism, is well aware that the film will be weighed against the genre standard-bearer, William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning The Exorcist (1973), but says her…
Fall music preview
SEPTEMBER The Baketones, Unite (Baketones Music) Sixteen garage rock tracks recorded mostly live off the floor. And because you’re swell, the band’s releasing a free 15-track cover album, The Cover Up, with one three-song EP every two weeks. Download the cover EPs at thebaketones.com. August 31 Christina Martin, I Can Too (Come Undone/EMI) Look for…
Piranha 3D bites the end off of summer
August is often my favourite month for summer movies, as its titles—like Piranha 3D exemplifies—usually burst the bubble of three months worth of blockbuster pomposity. Piranha appropriates a hallmark of recent box office muscle—3D—and uses it to subvert the wow-factor of the experience by cramming as many unsavoury images as it can into your face.…
Gamma Gamma Rays’ goodbye
It’s odd to see a record release show also promoted as a band’s last gig before “a pretty indefinite hiatus.” But for Halifax’s Gamma Gamma Rays, the mixed messages aren’t just a marketing ploy. Friday’s wet/dry show at the Bus Stop Theatre not only celebrates the completion of their first LP, Beeps, but will likely…
Get Low leaves on a high
In lesser hands, Aaron Schneider’s Get Low could have become a Hallmark “curmudgeon with a heart of gold” special. But thanks to nuanced, mature performances from Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray, we have a quietly entertaining and, at times, funny yarn. Set in 1930s Tennessee, Felix (Duvall) is a cranky old hermit with…
Vampires Suck your parody soul
When Vampires Suck co-directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer look into a mirror, is there a face staring back at them? When they approach an automatic sliding door, does the scanner detect the presence of a soul? Is there a deeper reason for the astonishing lack of humanity in their five parody films together, including…
Land of Talk
Throughout much of its fifth release, Montreal trio Land of Talk trades its sharpened edge for a feathery one. Tempos are slowed. Vocal and musical tones are softer, with strings, horns and acoustic instruments present. The first three tracks follow a gentler, graceful arc until the fourth “Swift Coin” cuts across the sky in pursuit…
Halifax Urban Folk Festival huffs to life
It was Halifax’s JunoFest that planted the seed. When The Carleton owner Mike Campbell helped program the live music events attached to the Junos in 2006, he thought the mini festival would be great to host annually. “I thought what would be nice to do is get some of these people who are here for…
Play Guitar
Originally begun as an art-rock collaboration, the ex-Halifax band finally puts out their first full-length release, with the current lineup including the powerhouse team of brothers Christian (Burdocks) and Jef (Special Noise) Simmons. Though the members have moved to Montreal, you can still hear the east coast experimental-pop sound in their music. The intense basslines…
The City of Your Final Destination
Remember when the release of a Merchant Ivory picture was an event? Sadly, producer Ismail Merchant is gone now, but James Ivory, who has been directing since the 1950s, is still helming stately dramas with a light touch. His longtime collaborator, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, adapts a novel by Peter Cameron about a young writer who…
Jenny and Johnny
Jenny Lewis bought a house in LA’s Laurel Canyon and with her boyfriend, Johnathan Rice, helped resurrect the storied singer-songwriter scene Joni Mitchell smoked her way through in the ’60s. I’m Having Fun Now is reminiscent of that sound, with its warm, laidback acoustic vibe and dreamy girl-boy harmonies. As with Rilo Kiley, Jenny and…
The Big C
Cable TV has been a great refuge not just for women over 40 (Damages, In Plain Sight, Weeds, Nurse Jackie), but a refuge for great women—both characters and the actors who play them. Following the lead of Glenn Close, Mary McCormack, Mary-Louise Parker and Edie Falco is Laura Linney, who’s created a unique, awards-laden career…
The Last Exorcism twists out of shape
What starts as a clever update of the demonic possession narrative ends up as a pseudo-doc hack job that’s more Blair Witch than Linda Blair. Having built a career performing fraudulent exorcisms that hinge on cheap magic tricks and the irrational faith of his customers, a guilty Louisiana pastor (Patrick Fabian) invites a film crew…
The Bus Stop’s here
The Bus Stop Theatre doesn’t look like much. Ask for a tour, and managing director Clare Waqué will show you the small but newly renovated lobby; the short but newly painted black box stage; the cumbersome 70-year-old safes in the back room, remnants from the venue’s former pharmacy days and her office, a small desk…
Lottery Ticket fails to gamble
Glimpses of insight pop up throughout Lottery Ticket, hinting at the smart satire it could have been if the filmmakers didn’t play it so music-montage safe. After winning the $370 million jackpot his project neighbours have salivated over, straight arrow Kevin (Bow Wow) tries to do the right thing with his wealth. Like anyone, Kevin…
Inside the Lodge
Scott Saunders wants to maintain an almost Masonic level of secrecy about his show at Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery. It’s appropriate, since his installation Grand Lodge is derived from Freemasonry and built out of artifacts taken from the former Freemasons hall on Barrington Street. When the Masons left the building in 2008 because they…
Children of the Atom
Toronto comic artist Dave Lapp won acclaim for his first book, Drop-in; Children of the Atom collects his strips from the Vancouver weekly Georgia Straight, telling the stories of his two characters Franklin-Boy and Jim-Jam Girl. The two speak in riddles, playing and dancing a line between childhood and adulthood at varying times. Their discussions…
Chester Playhouse Summer Theatre Festival: Village Wooing
In Village Wooing, Kristin Howell plays a quick-witted, strong-willed force of nature who sets her sights on an eligible widower played by Marty Burt. Howell, a classic, porcelain-skinned “English” beauty, is perfectly cast. Her delivery of Shaw’s charming, cheeky words is spot-on. Burt does a fine job of playing the self-contained gentleman who is drawn…
The Stanfields rip it up
They won Best Local Band, Most Likely to Make it Big and Best Band to Get Trashed To in this year’s Best of Music, and Saturday sees Celtic rock band The Stanfields playing Halifax for the first time since January. “It’s gonna be bonkers, I guarantee that,” says vocalist and guitarist Jon Landry over the…
Giving Notice:Words on Walls appears
“New!” reads a gallery wall-sized red bubble, slightly to the left of Dalhousie Art Gallery’s entrance. Garry Neill Kennedy’s painted wall projection yells at you as a Future Shop flyer would, but his installation for the gallery’s newest exhibition, Giving Notice: Words on Walls, is inspired by a small stamp placed throughout a medal catalogue…
Iain Reid
The subtitle of Reid’s book sums up his timely story better than any review: “A Year in the Life of an Overeducated, Underemployed Twenty-Something Who Moves Back Home.” Reid takes a part-time summer gig at CBC Radio, but the only way he can afford to do it is to move back home to his parents’…
Takers robs from more than the bank
Takers has all the requisite elements of a heist thriller. It’s got a crew of high-rolling, implausible stunt-performing, helicopter-detonating, walking-together-in-slow-motion bank robbers. It’s got a gruff, troubled cop who plays by his own rules (Matt Dillon). It’s got a pulverizing soundtrack and is so thoroughly saturated with testosterone that Roger Clemens could have injected it.…
Hope for Wildlife Society’s Annual Open House
The Hope for Wildlife Society’s hosting its ninth open house this Sunday, and Hope Swinimer and the animals are waiting for your visit. “We’ll have the wildlife garden open, the learning centre, the rooftop garden, the flight cage—the only area that’s off limits is the white-tailed deer unit,” says Swinimer, who runs the facility. The…
Watershed Music Festival marries music and food
Did someone say hay fields? “This is probably the only festival in the province where you’re going to see Windom Earle and The Hupman Brothers on the same stage,” says musician Jonathan Biro, organizer of the first Watershed Music Festival on the south shore. The Pollination Project is hosting the festival on its land, where…
Justin Long isn’t Going the Distance
The dire attempt among some independently minded directors over the past couple of years hoping to shake something loose in the romantic comedy genre has mostly been hampered by poor judgment, either hinging the film on a self-absorbed twit ((500) Days of Summer) or by overestimating the appeal of its leading man. Nanette Burstein’s Going…
Your dog won’t give you herpes
Q I lost my virginity last night. I’m a straight male in my early 30s, so it was about time. It wasn’t awkward, and we had a good time. However, I didn’t climax during sex, which is a result of years of death-grip masturbation. (Thanks for the warning, Dan, I’m sorry I didn’t heed it.)…
Semi-Precious Weapons
You Love You is the kinetic sophomore release that manages to harness the raw ferocity of NYC band Semi-Precious Weapons. This is pop-infused glam rock that provides a good incentive to check out the band live. It doesn’t hurt that Lady Gaga herself hand-picked SPW to support her Monster’s Ball tour and claims they are…
We are poor
Nova Scotia is poor. That’s a reality that we don’t seem to want to come to terms with. Were it not for transfer payments—$2.9 billion last year, more than a third of the provincial budget—we wouldn’t have health care. Our very health is, quite literally, dependent on the good will of our richer, western compatriots.…
Bedford waterfront
I am writing to request a formal correction to the commentary “Bad development,” (Sustainable City by Chris Benjamin, August 19). Specifically: 1. The piece was written without contacting the Waterfront Development Corporation Limited or Halifax Regional Municipality to obtain relevant background information on the file. 2. And it contains the following factual errors: Benjamin says…
