Cyclesmith reno coming soon
As neighbour EmbroidMe is moving to Young and Kempt Road, Quinpool cycle masters Cyclesmith (6112 Quinpool Road, 425-1756) are expanding their currently crowded bicycle shop into the store next door, which will almost double their current floor space. This will mean the location in Dartmouth on Woodland will close in February, with staff and stock…
Every day is Love Day
I love your “Love the Way We Love” section. It inspires me and since I have discovered it, I find myself looking for others everywhere I go who might just be carrying groceries for a stranger or holding hands with a new date. I’m in love with the philosophy of this section of The Coast…
Yes Funswick
Calling New Brunswick No-Funswick (Events listings, November 26)? Classy. Anyone who can’t see the hidden beauty in your neighbouring province is just plain lazy. —Kyle Cunjak, Halifax
Getting schooled
I was struck by several things in the letter “Junior high hits a low” (December 3) and felt the need to step in with my two cents. This gentleman wishes for his grandson to attend university and cites a private school that “can demonstrate that 97 percent of its graduates are admitted to university.” While…
The People Won’t Stop
A few old lessons I’ve re-learned from the Copenhagen climate conference so far: -The rich and the poor resent each other. They don’t trust each other. -Assembly and free speech are no long accepted human rights in the corridors of power. Our so-called democratic leaders would rather crack the whip than listen to millions of…
Word on the Street’s time up?
Can this face save Word on the Street? If you pay attention to the Halifax literary scene then you know that the Word on the Street festival is going through some tough times. WOTS missed out on a $10,000 grant from the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage. Michael Noonan, the department’s spokesperson, says the…
It’s Pardis Parker time!
Everything’s coming up sunshine for Halifax filmmaker/actor/comedian Pardis Parker. He’s down in Los Angeles for CBS’s annual industry showcase. Over 3,000 performers were considered, but only 13 made the cut to show their stuff to invited network executives, casting directors, showrunners, managers and agents. Parker, the first Canadian to ever be selected, is in good…
VIDEO: NGO Smackdown at COP15
“I couldn’t get in today even though I have all the right badges,” Emily Rideout tells me. “It’s total BS.” She confirms reports that NGO workers have been mostly shut out of today’s negotiations and plenaries in Copenhagen. UN climate chief Yvo de Boer is claiming responsibility for booking more than 46,000 people into the…
deux fm & SaintOnge: A sample plan
Go wild with SaintOnge’s animal bags. If you’re sick of the mall scene and churned-out gift ideas, consider a private sample sale. How posh! Local designers deux fm and Michelle SaintOnge are hosting an exclusive event on Thursday, December 17, 6-10pm, which includes 50 to 80 percent off all clothing, accessories and jewellery, including never-seen-before…
Looking good for the holidays
If you’re starting to think, hey, I need to be hotter for the holidays, or for any reason at all, right now gift certificates are available at Saskia Roch Aesthetics. Roch is located inside the Foxy Moon Hair Gallery (2725 Agricola Street, 444-7675), and offers hot stone pedicures and all-natural, heated soy treatments. Now you…
CBC Radio 3 Bucky Award for Best Video goes to Hey Rosetta!
It was a pleasant surprise when Noah Pink, director of Hey Rosetta!’s video for “Red Song”, found out his work made the short list for the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards, a fan choice award. “The short list came out at the end of November and that’s when I found out we were even up…
Pick up the pace….Now!
To all the slow moving people in the pedway between scotia square and barrington place mall, Move, pick up the pace or fucking move….its like frogger…if your slow….I am gonna blow past you, can’t stand it!! Its not place for conversation. Next time you don’t move I might have to move you.—QueentofHearts
come on old man winter
i love you winter! it’s december, we live in canada and the holidays are here. let it snow! please old man winter, keep the cold coming, enough of this warmish miserable rain.—Four Seasons
Tax reform time bomb
I can’t belive city hall’s door hasn’t been knocked down with this proposed tax reform. Any situation that will see the middle and upper lower class who are already struggling have a jaw dropping increase in property taxes while the richest homes have their taxes cut is mind blowing that there is so little noise…
Mail Thief
To the mail thief at my apartment building: You may think you’re clever, copying the key to the parcel box so that you can get to everyone’s Christmas presents before they do, but your big mistake was leaving half of the bag of stuff my mother sent to my girlfriend outside of your apartment with…
Don’t Breathe Through Your Nose!
Dear one of the movie theatres on the peninsula, Your women’s bathroom smells like urine. All the time. It REEKS, actually, and it has for months, at minimum. The piece of paper on the back of the door claims that it’s checked hourly, but maybe your employees have all had their sense of smell damaged.…
chicken guy
Mad props out to the chicken guy downtown! dude, you ROCK! makes me smile every day I go bye and you’re there shakin hands. some people may think that just plain sucks but dude, you’re making a difference.—zz
Another driving bitch
On my way home form work I have to go up South Park to get home. At the South Park/Spring Garden rd intersection heading toward Citadel Hill there are 2 lanes. One lane stops short. I am pretty sure that means the lane is a turning lane meant for people who are turning left. Am…
HALIFAX IS A JOKE. NO JOKE.
DEAR HALIFAX MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, PLEASE TAKE YOUR PARKING BAN AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS. ALONG WITH ALL YOUR OTHER DIM-WIT RULES AND SORRY ATTEMPTS AT CITY IMPROVEMENT… OH…AND YOU MIGHT AS WELL PUT YOUR BAGPIPES UP THERE TOO. This full-time Parking Ban is absolutely outrageous in this time of economic turmoil. This city is…
Text Driving
This is to the dumb twat that crashed her car and flipped it while texting on her phone. WTF were you thinking! The good side is that she didn’t take someone else out with her. Hopefully you won’t be able to purchase another car or afford insurance in the near future.—Non-Text Driver
I Hate Work
Until recently the place I worked let us go when we were finished our work, whether it was an hour early or 15 minutes early. Not anymore. Now we have to “be a team” and help other departments with their work. If we’re done with only 10 minutes left we have to sign into the…
Armview reno coming soon
Come January, the Armview (7156 Chebucto Road, 455-4395) will be a little roomier. A barber shop that once occupied the space next door to the popular west-end diner has closed with the passing of the barber in the summer of 2009. “We took the place over,” announces Armview co-owner George Kapetanakis. “We’re waiting to get…
Real Negotiations Begin in Copenhagen
Everyone’s going gaga over the arrival in Copenhagen of the Prince of Wales, who is really the Prince of England, who really has no power except the influence media and celebrity worship afford him. Yep, things keep getting weirder in Copenhagen, or maybe we’re just better equipped to witness the weirdness and paying more attention…
Canada’s Copenhagen Backslide
Pembina Institute’s Matthew Bramley After getting called out by the Yes Men mega-pranksters, it seemed Canada had hit rock bottom in Copenhagen. Not so. Late yesterday afternoon CBC got its publicly funded paws on a draft presentation by Environment Minister Jim Prentice. “It proposes regulations for greenhouse gas emissions for the oil and gas and…
BAD COP …NO DONUT FOR YOU.
~8~ COP GETS X-XAS OFF WITH PAY.~8~ Ok..is it just me or does this stink. Halifax City Police arrest one of thier own for Extortion and he gets to go home WITH PAY over the Holidays. Crime is Crime, if anybody eles did it they would not be going home with pay….money that my taxes…
’tis the season to be greedy…
Dear Charity I’m sorry. I cannot donate to your cause this year or next… or next. Possibly never again. You send out your army of volunteers to collect hard earned money from people with good intentions. You promise salvation to those you serve. I’m sure that 90% of that money goes to families who are…
inappropriate timing
Funny how our MLA’s are being owed all this money. THOUSANDS of dollars.And who are we to argue whether it’s right or not. But the story coming out at this time of the year is kind of depressing. It’s always the Government that gets the back pay and all the tax payers look forward to…
Media Whats Up?
Hey I’m kind of passionate ,so here it is… I watched a show on Discovery called “PitchMan” Not sure why. Well SalesMan Billy Mays (You know the Oxy Clean Guy) was doing his thing , At the end of the show there was an obituary for Billy Mays,who died in June. Well I was kind…
Rules of the Road
So, I guess if you work for the HRM and are given a truck to drive around in all day, you do not have to follow the rules of the road like every other average citizen? Just happened to have the pleasure of following a HRM truck this AM for about 8KM, watched the driver…
Christmas Lights
Fuck. I hung a long string of Christmas lights around the ceiling of my living room while pecariously balanced on a chair. They were great to look at when turned on last night. I got up this morning and they won’t turn on. And I broke one of the bulbs trying to figure out which…
Desparately Seeking Vaughn
Over the summer of 2009 the city came along and repaved a four lane street near my home. It looks very nice but they forgot to repaint the crosswalk at the corner that crossed it. Now to get across the street I have to walk far either direction to cross the street. I took it…
Parent “can’t see a fit between myself and the federal Conservative party”
I called former PC minister of the environment Mark Parent to ask for his reaction to HRM’s back-tracking on the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes wilderness area, but he stayed on the line to discuss his present and future plans. “I’m working on a couple of books,” he told me. “I’m writing a mystery— it starts…
Mark Parent: HRM back-tracking on wilderness park is “height of political Machiavellianism”
Earlier this year, the province officially designated 1,350 hectares west of Bayers Lake Industrial Park as the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness. The designation capped a two-year effort that began under former minister of the environment Mark Parent. But last month, Halifax mayor Peter Kelly told the CBC that he won’t agree to the city…
Pretty Things will have you feeling oh-so pretty
Looking for last minute stocking-stuffer? Or maybe just a stocking? Visit Pretty Things Boutique (5685 Cunard Street, 492-8329) to check out items made in their on-site workshop. Owner and all-around local glamour icon Cadence Macmichael has teamed up with alterations expert Jennifer Coe to create what she calls “new funky goodies that stray far from…
DaCane Surf and ProSkates on the turf
DaCane Surf Shop (5239 Blowers Street, 431-7873) is hosting its annual Customer Appreciation Night this Friday, December 18 from 6 to 8pm. Drop in and experience the high of one night only discounts and door prizes from Billabong, Quiksilver, RipCurl, and Xcel. | And if you’re into board-riding, either on waves or the street, you…
M Mart opens on Bloomfield
North end residents have a new variety/grocery store to patronize, the Maritime Clover Farm M Mart (5553 Bloomfield) above the Rich Forest Café. Signs promise an Asian grocery coming soon in an upstairs section, but for the moment there are Korean delicacies available in the freezer next to more typical grocery items. There’s also a…
Yes Men prank Canada
They had me going for a couple minutes. I got a press release this morning that was supposedly from Environment Canada, but it was a fake. It was convincing in its tone, but its content was too good to be true. The press release announced a new Canadian climate agenda with reductions targets of 40…
N.S. economic forecast predicts higher unemployment
Graham Steele NDP finance minister, Graham Steele says more people will be unemployed in Nova Scotia in the coming year than originally forecast. In his September budget, Steele predicted the provincial unemployment rate would average eight percent in 2009/10, but in his budget update released today, the finance minister revised that figure upward to 9.1…
Q&A with Kings County Activist in Copenhagen, Thea Whitman
Canadian Youth Delegation members Kimia Ghomeshi, Toronto; Caroline Lee of Fredericton; and Thea Whitman, Kings County Kings County’s Thea Whitman is one of 30 members of the Canadian Youth Delegation in Copenhagen. The group has garnered a lot of attention for its creative direct actions at the conference and drawing attention to Canada’s failure on…
Textbooks
I paid $250 dollars for an accounting textbook I was told I NEEDED by my prof, used it maybe three times, and now the bookstore isn’t buying my book back because there’s a new edition out. University is the biggest damn ripoff ever. Fuck.—Starving Student
Winter Parking Ban
Nothing like waking up Monday morning to a parking ticket but at least there was company in misery as at least 50 other people on my street received the same mean-spirited surprise this morning – a ticket for violating the winter parking ban. Great awareness campaign City of Halifax! When I phoned to complain I…
UFC viewing gone wrong
So it’s Saturday night and the UFC is being hosted at the local pub. My friends and I have the unfortunate experience of having the worst waitress of the bunch. All the times we’ve been there for a UFC event, we’ve had this waitress that could care less about the customers she is serving. This…
Parking lot Champions
I would like to send some love to the people who consistently use their indicators, especially in parking lots. With the the malls being swamped this time of year it really makes things flow nicely. ROCK ON!—Motorist
Inconsiderate assholes!
To all of the people making u-turns at the detour on South Street and South Park: Learn to drive! The flashing red lights do not mean that you should make a dangerous and illegal maneuver in the middle of the intersection. It doesn’t mean that you can stop traffic because you’re late for work, or…
Lacewood MacDonalds
I wanted to congratulate the crew at the Lacewood MacDonald’s that were able to keep their cool and work around what ever issues they were having with the technology there (especially the manager). We had our meal in a relatively short amount of time, relative to the problems they were having.Thanks a lot, guys!—Cold Costumer
Hubcap help
To the very nice woman who took the time to follow me into my parking lot today on Main Ave. to let me know I’d lost a hubcap down the street, thanks a bunch. I got in the car and went back to get it. Much appreciated.–Grateful for finding my hubcap!
stop buying cheap lipstick or im giving u a to-go cup.
why are old people so stupid? why do they feel entitled to my time? why do they place their order at the bar when, obviously, there is a huge fucking line where people are ordering? why? i honestly dont understand 😐 its infuritating. get some fucking glasses im not gonna list every fucking pastry off…
Pink coat bitch
Thanks to the bitch in the pink coat who decided not to lend a helping hand to me when entangled on a fence on Cunard on Saturday. After walking from the market through icy cold weather I became so tired that a sudden wind managed to push me sideways. I got my scarf all tangled…
$20 made our day.
To the lovely woman who had lost her debit card and $80 at our cafe – you were a joy to serve. You were incredibly pleasant and thankful that we had put your money and card aside. When you came back to give us $20 to thank us for not taking the money, it absolutely…
Meaghan Smith to play Lilith Fair
Check it! Crush-worthy Meaghan Smith is playing prestigious lady festival Lilith Fair, making a return in 2010 since the last Lilith Fair tour in 1999. This means Smith will have the chance to rub shoulders with artists such as Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige and a ton more. Give her all the love…
Our Lady Peace at the Cunard Centre Sunday, March 7
RAINE Our Lady Peace come to Halifax Sunday, March 7 at the Cunard Centre in order to re-create their second album, Clumsy, in it’s entirety, followed by a second set of other OLP songs. Their last album, Burn, Burn, was released earlier this year. I’m sure they’re going to play some songs off of that.…
Zunior’s A Peanuts Christmas: Excellent holiday party soundtrack
Zunior.com, online label/store perfect for those who love sweet, sweet indie pop, are releasing a holiday compilation album titled A Peanuts Christmas: The 2009 Zunior Holiday Album. It’s a song by song tribute to the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas and 100% of this online-only album’s proceeds go to the Daily Bread Food…
The Twitterverse discusses Sue Uteck
[The following conversation took place on Twitter, Friday morning, just as and after Halifax councillor Sue Uteck appeared on CBC’s Information Morning. Uteck and councillor Gloria McCluskey had been invited to appear on the show to respond to my article on Halifax’s “tax reform” proposal. The Twitter conversation is all over the place, with dozens…
Ferry Tales
Why is there two boats running back and forth Halifax to Dartmouth and none in woodside mid-day..makes sense to send one to Woodside untill the regular woodside starts—not swimming
Whoever did the laundry
How the hell did my boxers end up with the aprons?!? Sure the Javex you put didn’t put large stains on the aprons but it sure did on my boxers! I got two large brown stains on the back of my boxers which makes it look like I shit my pants!—Learn to Seperate the laundry!
I could have died…
First, let me say that I do really love our new ER, I love that the rooms are all walled in and mostly private. I love that it has its own departments, making wait times shorter.. However, the other day I had H1N1, and I experienced a bad reaction to Tamiflu. The new 811 service…
Quebec vs Canada
How can I express my real feelings about my culture if I can’t do it in my own language? I traveled all over Canada and I lived in 5 different provinces. You dare judging me and you never visited Quebec! I’m proud of our artists, of our music, of some of our public policies, of…
Timmies on the bus
I think Halifax is the last city in Canada that doesn’t allow people to drink coffee on the bus. In fact most other cities open Tim Horton’s in there bus and subway stations as a way to increase revenue. People driving to work get to drink Timmies in the car. Why not on the bus…
City Hall punts “tax reform” proposal into new year
“Tax reform” won’t be debated by Halifax city council this week after all. City staff had repeatedly told me they had hoped to put the “tax reform” issue on the December 15 council agenda, but the item is conspicuously absent from the agenda, which was made public late Friday afternoon. Agendas are compiled by mayor…
New organic bakery at the market
Anastasia Manolakos, who used to own Anointment Natural Skincare and sell her products out of Foxy Moon (which is owned by her sister, Evyeneia) has a new endeavour: Earth’s Oven Organic Bakery now open at the Halifax Farmers’ Market (1496 Lower Water Street) in the same room as Mike’s Fish Shop. “The bakery specializes in…
The Fossil’s Revenge
On Day 5 of Cop15 in Copenhagen, here are some of the most interesting developments emerging: Small Island States Want MoreTuvalu stopped the show on Tuesday when it demanded a legally binding agreement for everyone. The very rich countries and very poor countries were divided. The big poor countries like India, China, and Indonesia were…
Spitting threesome.
To the three overpierced hoodied asses in the bus shelters at the bridge terminal. Do you all have a salivatory problem or something? You stood there inside the shelter and between the three of you , you must have spit 50 times!!! GROSS! Am I not up on the latest fad? Is this a way…
To the young woman on Spring Garden who always needs “a bus ticket or a loonie”
I gave you a toonie and wished you the best of luck, turned my ipod back up and walked away thinking I helped you out. On my way back from the gym…what do I see? I see you again! Are you waiting for the bus? Nope! You’re pitching the same line: “Excuse me, do you…
I’m Ripping Pissed…
…at the fuckhead in the northbound green van with two ladders on the roof who saw my disabled husband crossing Robie Street with great difficulty and decided to floor it. You not only missed him by inches, you had the fucking gaul to laugh as my guy struggled to keep his balance. I cannot believe…
Snow is dangerous, remember?
Way to go, Halifax. It was several hours into the SNOWSTORM on Wednesday night, and the streets hadn’t even been plowed or salted. Thanks to this excellent damage control, the very kind man who drove my friends and I home couldn’t stop his van going down Gottingen near the police station, and had to slam…
A-Holes
why do you have to be like that?—Tired of it
Advertising is ruining my ride!
I enjoy my 50 minute bus ride but get bummed when I see a “Pepsi Joy” or “Weblocal” bus trundling towards me. I understand that MT probably needs the cash but these buses are so invasive. 1) It’s bad enough that we are bombarded with advertisements everywhere but please spare us our public transit. 2)…
fuckin’ jeSUS
It’s fucking cold out!—1
Gym Goer Guy
This is to the nice guy who works out there often, usually dressed in black. As a petite girl its nice to see a polite guy who doesn’t walk around there with his chest puffed out making smaller people clear a path for them as they walk by, who doesn’t leer at the girls in…
To my friends
Just want to say thank you to my friends who care enough to pick up the phone and call me if they have not heard from me in a few days. Everything is fine, but it’s very heartwarming to know there are people who care enough to check in and make sure. Thanks—Friend
Morons on the Ferry
This is a big FU to all the jackasses who rush and push to get on the ferry, only to stand just inside the door so no one else can get on. To sum it up, you are idiots!—Public Transport Prince
No Flyers Please – this means YOU!
Yeah…that’s right. I know it’s not that you (or an NDP supporter) couldn’t read the ‘no flyers’ sign on my mailbox. I know it’s not that your office is on the same block as my apartment, and I know it’s not my mail carrier being a douchebag. And I KNOW it’s not because you’re flagrantly…
Horses Belong in a Pasture!
While I don’t know much about horses, I do know that horses are grazing animals and that I see them in pastures a lot. What I am not used to seeing is horses having to stand/run/live in a very tiny area that is essentially a big mud hole, with NO grass available for eating. These…
Ignorant, Lazy, Son Of A Bitch Armchair Quarterbacks
Jesus my blood boiled this week as I was reading the online tributes and condolances people were posting after reading the articles about poor little James Delorey. There was a genuine outpouring of emotion in words and praise for the family and all that participated in the search and rescue effort…..and then BANG!! there it…
Public Tax $’s Literally out the door…
To the municipal government workers who evacuated our building this afternoon when the PA system was tested with a FAKE fire alarm (despite being forewarned of the test weeks before and evacuation not being correct protocol for the situation) —> I hope you enjoyed your impromptu 20 minute smoke break, because I certainly enjoyed having…
Q&A: Sierra Club’s Emily Rideout at the Copenhagen summit
Emily Rideout inside the Copenhagen talks Emily Rideout, who is representing Sierra Club Atlantic in Copenhagen, graciously provided detailed answers to my questions on her experience there, and what she is witnessing from inside the conference: Q. Is this your first experience at an international conference of this nature? A: No, I represented Sierra Club…
Khyber Arts needs your oh-so wise opinions
A couple of good things happened Wednesday at the two public info sessions dedicated to the future of the Khyber building (1588 Barrington) as an artist-run centre: 1. Everyone was in the same room, hearing the same information from TCI Management Consultants, who prepared the feasibility study, HRM staff and Khyber board members, past and…
Environmentalists welcome coastal report
Bruce Wark Walter Regan, Sackville Rivers Association Several prominent environmentalists welcomed the release Wednesday of a provincial report on the state of Nova Scotia’s coastline. “On a scale of one to 10, this is an eight,” said Walter Regan, President of the Sackville Rivers Association. “We’ve got to get control over our coastal zones.” Regan…
Copenhagen Cops crack down
My friend Brad Axmith, a Canadian who has been living in Copenhagen for a number of years, wrote me this week. He calls himself a centrist and a “concerned bystander trying to take note of the changes being instituted in my children’s land of birth.” He is also a scholar with an astute eye for…
Swing batter batter swing: Kevin Costner on the Halifax Common
Bull Durham…Field of Dreams…if that wasn’t enough, now Kevin Costner, in his desire to slide into third, is sticking his cleats into Halifax baseball diamonds too. Costner and his band Modern West is one of the opening acts for next summer’s two-day Country Rockfest 2010 on the Halifax Common, brought to you, once again by…
To computer virus makers….Just curious….WHY??
Dear person(s) that creates and spreads computer viruses, worms, etc, On many occasions, I have struggled late at night to fix my computer after a typically boring and treacherous day, and have wondered “Who starts these computer viruses anyways”?? Admittedly, as I hurry to back up my ‘important’ documents and remove the infiltrating files, I…
Love from the past
Once upon a time in 2003 I was just starting a job at KFC and two girls ordered something new on the menu and not yet on the register. Nervous, I flubbed up adding it up on the calculator. Behind me, the district manager made snarky remarks and questioned if I even had so much…
Wanna know what grinds my gears?
So I was told after my car got inspection that my front brakes will need to be replaced soon (over the next two months). I waited a few weeks after and made an appointment at the dealer. I mentioned this to my brother and he reccommended a very good mechanic. So I went to the…
Montreal Sucks
Montreal is the worst city ever. Montrealers act like they’re the centre of the universe, but they’re not. Montreal Canadiens suck.—A Montreal Hater
Friggin Coors light ad
Here’s my bitch – that fucking coors light chalet ad that opens all over the coast site with a mouse over!!! Pisses me off when i accidentily mouse over it and it obscures everything on the page your read !!! Hey coast get rid of the shit I know advertisement gets you money but this…
Airport Gentleman
Thank you to the lovely gentleman who saw me struggling with my luggage at the Halifax airport this morning and asked if he could carry something to the check in counter for me. I am home in the prairies for the Christmas but it was lovely to have a little Halifax friendliness as a lasting…
Halifax Geared Up
Halifax’s environmental community has its eyes firmly on Copenhagen, where 15,000 representatives from 192 countries have gathered to negotiate the world’s response to climate change. Those who stayed home are finding other ways to make their voices heard, in a two-week series of protests, vigils, and workshops. The Ecology Action Centre and Sierra Club teamed…
Hill’s article on Ash too narrow
Dear Editor of the Coast; Last week’s article on Gregor Ash’s bid for the Halifax West riding in the next Federal Election was a good one in that it highlighted some of Mr. Ash’s interests and strengths. That being said, it also had too narrow of a focus and left the reader with the feeling…
We are Canadian. We are all villains now.
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!” Robbie Burns composed those immortal lines before the advent of today’s powerful international media. These global village chroniclers are certainly giving Canadians the gift of seeing ourselves—and the picture’s not pretty. Apparently we’re seen as corrupt villains bent on derailing…
Why everyone loses under the city’s new property tax plan
One day last week I drove out to the Kingswood subdivision off Hammonds Plains Road, just beyond Bedford. Kingswood is the epitome of suburban sprawl; thousands of ritzy houses, some of them worth a million dollars or more, are plucked down on half-acre to two-acre lots along cul-de-sacs and roads stretching perhaps 10 kilometres into…
City table compares current tax with proposed tax by district
Table data provided by the HRM. You can view the original pdf here. Figures as part of a chart entitled. “Preliminary Analysis on Best Possible Tax System Average Municipal Tax for Single Family Homes (Includes Condos and Mobile Homes, Excludes Low Income Rebates) 24-Nov-09”. A caveat at the bottom of the table explains what is…
>Shoplifting From American Apparel, Tao Lin (Melville House)
I saw a poster once that said “Modern art = I could do that + Yeah, but you didn’t.” Tao Lin’s novella might make you think, “I could write this,” but Lin did, and he managed to write it without poisoning the content with pretentiousness. It’s not a guide for petty thievery, but a scrapbook…
City Councillors’ property tax profiles
City councillors will vote on the “tax reform” proposal as soon as this coming Tuesday. The proposal will profoundly affect tens of thousands of property tax bills in HRM, so it’s entirely appropriate to ask: How will councillors’ votes affect their own property bills? The list below shows what “tax reform” does to the city…
Tracey turns 19
“You’re wearing my sneakers.” The voice—hard, flat, insistent—is coming from behind us in the line at the A&W in the food court at Scotia Square. I turn to see who it is. She’s a big girl, probably in her late teens, blonde hair pulled back tight against her skull, a belligerent, don’t-fuck-with-me look permanent-markered onto…
The Certainty Dream, Kate Hall (Coach House)
The waking world invades the dreamlands in Kate Hall’s first published collection of poetry. Set seemingly in the middle ground between a lucid dream and concrete reality, the poems follow Hall through a land of whimsy touched with the absolute of entropy, joined by a mynah bird that perches within many of the works, a…
Cage indulges in lunacy in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
The sight of a road accident in which a car flipped over a jaywalking alligator sets the tragic/absurdist tone of Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. It’s a fascinating cinematic image, and Herzog’s darkly funny spin on police procedural dramas is full of these moments of loosely connected dementia. At its centre…
The Wanton Troopers, Alden Nowlan (Gooselane)
Get past the overuse of flowery adjectives and moments where the plot skips ahead with no signal to the reader and Nowlan’s posthumously published The Wanton Troopers is a worthwhile read. Released for the first time with the final page of the original manuscript (plus interviews and a readers' guide with an afterword by David…
Everybody’s Fine in this family flick
The tough-guy schtick doesn’t last forever, so actors like Robert De Niro stay credible by re-concocting their personas in unlikely settings. Not everything he has tried has been an outright success, but De Niro’s soft-edge experiments like this movie—where he plays a recent widower chasing down his grown children (including Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore)…
The Honey Locust, Jeffrey Round (Cormorant)
For his second novel, The Honey Locust, Dalhousie grad Jeffrey Round delivers an elegantly written and suspenseful saga of love and war, demonstrating that sometimes the quieter conflicts closer to home are the hardest to overcome. It’s 1995 and photojournalist Angela Thomas has been sent to cover the Bosnian war, an event now recognized as…
Me and Orson Welles is forced with rare moments of charm
Richard Samuels (Zac Efron) happens upon The Mercury Theatre’s ragtag beginnings and worms his way into its legendary production of Julius Caesar, directed by the egomaniacal Orson Welles (Christian McKay). Directed by Richard Linklater, Me and Orson Welles has a script (by Holly Gent Palmo and Vince Palmo Jr., from a novel by Robert Kaplow)…
Textile artist Brownlee weaves a message
It’s 1995 and Sandra Brownlee has stopped weaving. It’s not quite the reaction she expected following the success of her internationally touring solo exhibition, Weaving Out Loud. But that dust has settled, and the physical repetition of the loom has begun to worm itself into her thoughts and ideas. After first sitting down at a…
Armoured doesn’t hold up
Columbus Short plays an armoured truck guard with a pant-load of topical, sympathy-baiting circumstances: He’s an Iraq war vet with a house in foreclosure, a mountain of medical bills stemming from his parents’ fatal illnesses and a commitment to take care of his wayward kid brother. So, obviously, you see how a guy like that…
Good Gracious Indian, no!
In the chill of December, a warm, smoky aroma can quickly turn into cloudy cartoon fingers beckoning me toward the delightful heat of a spicy meal. So as the wascally wabbit in 1944’s Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears is lured into the house of the titular bears by the steamy pull of sweet carrot…
Antichrist explores extreme emotions
Lars von Trier is a shit disturber. He helped found the Dogma cinematic movement, both a rigorous aesthetic and a genius way to draw international attention to Danish filmmaking, an industry that was not well-known at that point. As with every one of von Trier’s films, Antichrist is calculated to provoke strong emotions in its…
The Cove
Lloyd Dobler’s boombox “serenade” outside his former lover’s house in Say Anything… wasn’t the romantic gesture people tend to mis-remember: it was a last-ditch act of desperation and defiance, driven by pain. The startling new documentary The Cove has its own boombox scene, in which former dolphin trainer—and current dolphin-rights activist—Ric O’Barry wordlessly storms a…
Case studies in “tax reform”
table.tableizer-table {border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td {padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;} .tableizer-table th {background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;} Case study: Neighbouring suburban communities Kingswood Upper Hammonds Plains Market value of average house $542,020 $107,380 Current city and provincial tax $5,908 $876 City and provincial tax…
Notes on the figures used in this article
There is necessarily some problem with figuring out the exact effects of “tax reform.” That’s because, on the one hand, the Tax Reform Committee’s work dealt exclusively with 2007 budget numbers and the committee has not increased the numbers in their proposal to reflect an increase in city costs since then. On the other hand,…
Boxed in: Coast staff picks
Forget those yuletide carols: Team Coast picks the TV and film box sets that will give their holidays a real fa-la-la-la-la. Felicity (Walt Disney Video) Disney has re-packaged and re-priced The WB’s signature series, so you can own all four seasons for a little more than what one would’ve cost you five years ago. Keri…
Art photo project gets bounced – hard
The weekend before last, NSCAD students on a school project ended up in a planned confrontation with an Alehouse bouncer. The controversy has raged ever since, perhaps giving impetus to a proposal to license bar security. The students were clearly on a mission to cause trouble. Bouncers “tend to get angry and tell you that…
Brothers reaches for emotional truths
The baseless nihilism of so many Hollywood Oscar films gets shown up by Brothers. To the embarrassment of some, director Jim Sheridan wears his heart on his sleeve, but his melodrama is attentive to emotional truth—attaining real intensity and recognition. Out of his depth with the 50 Cent showcase Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, Sheridan…
Starfish reveals plans for the old Sam the mp3 man
Last week Starfish Properties, the real estate company that owns a number of vacant buildings and storefronts on Barrington Street, released a design plan for the former Sam the Record Man and the businesses directly adjacent, which include the former Granite Brewery and Ginger’s Tavern. It will be the first new development proposed under new…
Kids’ play for IWK
It’s the fifth year for Crafts for Kids, a festival to raise money to buy craft, art and music supplies for children at the IWK. Organizer Lindsay Allain started the event to raise money for sick children, like her own little sister. Allain says her sister “gets excited to stay at the hospital because of…
Ruth Minnikin’s double life
After a ferry and a bus, Ruth Minnikin arrives at a North Street coffee shop. From here, she’ll go by foot. Late on a December day, the sun is low. Soon she’ll have to go postering in dying light. Death was on Minnikin’s mind during the making of Depend on This, not as doom and…
OS MUTANTES
Original co-founder Sergio Dias remains committed to the cause that birthed Os Mutantes back in 1966 in Sao Paulo: to challenge political and musical convention. The band’s configuration today differs from yesterday, but Dias coauthors these tunes with fellow Brazilian iconoclast Tom Zé, ensuring an always-shifting musical ground. The album combines heavy rock guitar chords…
Bhutan measures national performance with happiness index
As the environmentalist eyes of the world watch the Copenhagen climate conference, waiting for our leaders to fail us again, something truly hopeful emerges from the foot of the Himalayas, in a country with fewer people than Nova Scotia. Bhutan, which is surrounded by India and China, has been a little-known environmental leader for decades.…
Bridging Brooklyn with La Strada
James Craft sometimes feels a bit out of place in the States. But the frontman for Brooklyn six-piece La Strada was right at home playing his accordion in Montreal. This is because La Strada’s music is the kind usually molded by cold winters and small communities. It’s an indie-rock fuelled by group harmonies, violin and…
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart’s latest, What Will We Be, might leave long-time fans scratching their heads, perplexed at the change in direction. Perhaps even more abrupt than The Shepherd’s Dog was for hardcore Iron & Wine fans, it represents a dramatic shift away from the hardcore psych-folk—the devotion to stark acoustics and hyper-emphasized vibrato that defined Banhart’s…
Study bars: Books ‘n’ booze
It’s time for finals again, and so begins the search for the perfect study hole. Libraries and coffee shops are standard, but why not try one of these quiet pubs for your after-hours cramming? And when all that late-night studying gets to be too much, these places double as great conversation spots. Old Triangle Irish…
Health
Though I feared this LA band’s name indicated some hipster aerobics obsession, this is more weird noise than American Apparel. Part My Bloody Valentine, part DD/MM/YYYY, Get Color is a mix of noise, electropop and shoegaze. With songs that start off with weird skreeks, droning vocals and almost machinelike drum beats, there’s a harsh edge…
Transgression session
Q I am a 23-year-old male who has been in a relationship with a great woman for four years now. The issue is this: I have a foot fetish and she is fully aware of it. She doesn’t like the idea of me kissing her feet or indulging my fetish in any way. We have…
McCluskey, Uteck butt heads
[I’ve been looking for an excuse to use that headline for years] Councillors Gloria McCluskey and Sue Uteck will appear on CBC’s Information Morning tomorrow (Friday) morning at 7:45am to discuss “tax reform.” McCluskey is opposed to the proposal; Uteck is supportive of it. Related Stories
Gravity Wave
The artist’s task is to capture the world. The mark of a great artist is the ability to offer a glimpse inside their mind. Ken Farrell is such an artist. Tossing off any semblances of singer-songwriter dynamics, Gravity Wave’s first label release, Gambol, channels the feeling Beck’s Mellow Gold or Odelay on virgin ears. Like…
Search for the rich pickings, Virgo
SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21) One of your top accomplishments in 2009 is the way you have united parts of yourself that had not previously been very well-connected. It seems you decided that you were tired of being split up into fragmented sub-personalities that had different agendas. Somehow you managed to convince them all to work…
R. Kelly
R. Kelly’s greatest asset has always been his ability to sound casually absurd. But the songs on Untitled lack imagination. The one exception is “Echo,” where Kelly brings his lover to increasingly ludicrous heights of sexual ecstasy—then yodels. It easily stands with his best (and silliest) work, but it’s a lone oasis in a desert…
No “stop” hand at Cunard crosswalk
What’s wrong? No “stop” hand at Cunard crosswalk. Who’s responsible? Ken Reashor, god of traffic, 490-6637. REMARKS Should you cross? Should you stop? Should you proceed with caution? Who can tell? The hand on the crosswalk light at the intersection of Cunard and North Park streets won’t be of any help, since it doesn’t flash…
generous book lover
to the older lady who gave me a ‘mystery amount’ gift card at chapters last week. i saw that everyone had one and i felt left out because i didnt know how to get one, and when you offered me yours when you saw i didnt have one it made me pretty happy. i saved…
Highway Helpers
Just want to thank those who came to my aid while stranded on the Bedford Hwy recently. Before I even had time to get out my cell phone I had three people stop to offer assistance. With their help and a quick response from CAA, I was on my way again in 30 minutes. I’ve…
I squint so it looks like I’m smiling
I hate, hate, hate it when people smile at me when I am not smiling at them…I have a habit of showing my teath when I’m squinting if the sun is too bright or if it is cold. Don’t smile at me….you don’t know me and I don’t know you…ps. fuck xmas—grimace screwed on tight
HRM (Highway Robbery on Municipality)
I’m sure you have heard, but council just keeps getting better and better. Someone fucked up in payroll and now council will get pay increase retroactive to 2005! I’m sure that person’s job is now secure. And their part-time gig now pays $71,500, up from $65,000, that is a $6,000, or 10%!!! Who else has…
Garbage goes in a garbage can…
So I understand what it’s like when you’re carrying a coffee, doing your holiday shopping and suddenly realize that your cup is empty, and you need a place to put it. It’s especially tough in large stores, where garbage cans aren’t plentiful and the cash is a lengthy jaunt away. But why, in a little…
Halifax Climate Events
Please note the changed dates below: If you were too broke or too worried about your own emissions to jump the bandwagon in Copenhagen, there’s still lots you can do right here in Hali to be part of “the most important human gathering ever.” On Saturday, December 12 at 5:00 pm there will be a…
