

Dial-a-cab
To the editor, I just wanted to pass my story along in the hopes maybe you could do a piece in The Coast about why it’s just safer to take a cab ride home nowadays. I had to learn this lesson the hard way last night. I got jumped on the Common around 1:30am on…
TV drama
To the editor, The holiday edition of The Coast declares itself to be a mix of fact and fiction. If it’s not always clear which is which, at minimum the paper should have informed and entertained, at least as much as usual. I’ll leave it to other readers to decide whether Tara Thorne’s fictional run…
Letters to the Editor
To the editor, Now, we’ve heard for quite some time about people getting hit by cars, and all the trouble that follows. So, why does Halifax seem to have so many? Is it reckless drivers? I think not. Who has gone to Montreal? I would swear drivers there aim for the pedestrians! Yet, they don’t…
Letters to the Editor
I’m sick of the constant, unnecessary violence that has found itself a little home here in Halifax/Dartmouth. It’s disgusting. It’s four hours into the new year. A few hours ago, my 15 year old brother and his friend got jumped and assaulted on their way home. It’s become unusual to have a friend who has…
2006’s theme song? For us: “Fergalicious.” For Peter Duffy: “Unchained Melody.”
Peter Duffy’s infamous double column about being violated by a ghost is in the running for Gawker’s Greatest Moment in Journalism for 2006! Show your tartan, commies, and VOTE. UPDATE: He won. Barely. Heh.
More crap I liked
This week’s issue offers up some random things us Coast editors loved about 2006. Since I didn’t get to contribute to the best movies of the year — and missed a lot of the bigs, to be honest — and people in my own office were asking me what my top 10 records of the…
Ellen, yeah
The biggest in dopeness this year is one of the tiniest adults we’ve ever met—Ellen Page, whose fierce performance in the uneasy two-hander Hard Candy won her raves all over North America, a feature in Premiere and the cover of The Coast. Hard Candy was supposed to beat X-Men 3, Page’s supposed big-time picture—check out…
Bowled over
Homemade soup has the power to warm your insides like nothing else can, and Soup Sergeant is opening a new place to make that happen. A second location opened on Quinpool on December 21. It currently serves the same menu as the original Spring Garden location, which has been up and running for just over…
Bike pain
To the editor, I plan on breaking the law, section 171 (2) of the Motor Vehicle Act, to be exact, which states, “No person shall ride a bicycle, tricycle or similar machine on a sidewalk.” How? I bike the Bedford Highway over the Fairview overpass. On the way home, I have to change lanes from…
Royal rumble
To the editor, Recently, I was the first person on the scene of an accident on the 102 outside of Truro just south of Hilden. A car was trying to get off the shoulder of the road but over-corrected and ended up hitting a minivan on the opposite side of the road. The roads were…
Wind talk
To the editor, “Blowin’ in the wind” (December 14) was an excellent article. One has to wonder why we even have by-laws which include viewplane restrictions and other clauses that should protect our historic city. Our reputation of acceptance is well-known by developers and they know in advance they can invest in a property or…
All aboards
You’ve got to love Halifax. It’s a little city with a big arts community and an abundance of great live theatre. In the past year, there have been some outstanding professional shows, some unforgettable community theatre and some small productions mounted with low budgets and high passions. Here are some of the most memorable happenings…
Thanks for the visual
Dear Spirit of Christmas Past, I know that Christmas is over for this year, but it appears a few items are missing from under the arts tree. I’m sure they fell out of the sleigh. No problem, we also honour orthodox Christmas on January 7, so there’s still time. An arms-length arts council: I know,…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Recommendations for resolutions from Rob Brezsny.
SAVAGE LOVE
Forgive and forget? No fucking way, says Dan Savage.
Picks and Pan
Two thousand six hadn’t struck me as a particularly good year for movies until I was faced with narrowing down a list of the 10 best. Though nothing new was worthy of the masterpiece label, the strength of this fall’s releases compensated for the mostly chilly summer months. New movies by Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann,…
A Savage New Year
I thought your response to FOG was spot on. The fact that she dumped a guy whom she had contemplated marrying over a foot fetish (of all things) was bad enough—from what we can infer, the guy was never overbearing about his kink, and rubbed FOG’s feet for her pleasure (relief after a hard day…
Palermo and Palermo at the movies
This is a best-to-worst listing of the feature-length movies I saw this year, prior to December 15. Films with distributors are included based on their first North American release date. For example, Transamerica, Munich and The New World didn’t hit Halifax until January, but are considered last year’s films and Are not included in this…
The year floweth over
City and Colour at Alderney Landing: A much-needed cure to the Juno blues was this April 3 early show in Alderney Landing’s theatre. After days full of drunken, chatty, schmoozy industry fucks—even Ron Sexsmith, at a private party in his honour, commented on the lack of respect—a rapt audience averaging at about 16 years old…
This week has one year
David Suzuki, flying bicyclists, crystal meth, Bettie Page, Ellen Page, a music-loving dolphin, a popcorn-eating hamster, embattled school board member Doug Sparks, Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg, Feist. Each was the subject of a Coast cover in 2006. Together they give a picture of the cover as being eclectic, wide-ranging, unpredictable, interesting and dynamic.…
Hali facts
We shopped. We voted. We fell off of skateboards and shared dirty little secrets. Two thousand six was an eventful year in Halifax, one that would be impossible to condense onto one page of blurbs. But here goes. Khyburned The year began with a cruel blow to Halifax’s artistic community: The Khyber Club, a long-standing…
Our dumb year
Peter Duffy I am not. But if you’ll allow me an end-of-year indulgence, I will follow the oft-favoured format of that beloved Chronicle-Herald columnist—a smattering of bits and bobs à propos de rien. Years are, after all, like that. They have no central themes or tidily arced storylines, no matter how desperately we try to…
Turning green
Looking back at this past year, it’s clear that Canadians individually have embraced an environmental ethic. But the further removed you get from the people, the less responsive the politicians. Let’s start with the people. A November CBC poll found that 71 percent of Canadians said the federal government wasn’t doing enough to address their…
Stay classy, 2006
Agricola Street: Not just for antiquing anymore—although, you can still do that too, if you’d like. Frankly, you can do almost anything these days on Agricola, given the variety of things that have moved onto the historic north end street. Once seen as too sketchy to be trusted, Agricola has turned itself around. Close proximity…
To serve and reflect
Another year is winding down and with it, the chance to look back and reflect on the culinary calendar. For Metro foodies, 2006 wasn’t the most exciting year: there were no big splashy restaurants opening, no long-awaited exotic cuisines unveiled, no major milestones. But that’s not to say 2006 didn’t have its highlights (and lowlights,…
Scene it all
JANUARY The Joel Plaskett Emergency counts down the seconds (at the Marquee, as usual) leading up to a monumental year in Halifax music. For the Emergency, that will mean releasing its first DVD/CD Make a Little Noise on March 14, which yielded the single “Nowhere with You” that catapulted the trio to Canadian mainstream stardom.…


