Last person to see Last King
Last year I made a decision to ban movies at Bayers’ Lake for both personal and political reasons. It’s a one-person (well, two, because I made my husband do it too) protest against Empire’s shitty programming–why do you keep putting “downtown” films out there?–and against the BLIP’s non-existent walkways, ditch-digging bus stops and over-indulgent commercialism.…
Is your microprocessor running?
Which came first: the computer, or the prank? Almost certainly, the prank. But did not the computer perfect the prank? We assert, yes. And, what is more, we offer this handy computer pranking reference from Wikipedia as proof (oh, wiki…so much better than encyclo.) It also explains the picture sitting just off to the right….…
Snow bike, anyone?
In honour of the weather, which has finally produced a good ol’ fashioned Canadian blizzard, and in honour of my forthcoming attempt to get home, I give you, Ktrak. Turns any bike into a snowmo-bike, it does. I’ve also heard that it pushes the tempo. You be the judge.
Letters to the Editor
by Curtis J. PhillipsCanada’s Basketball Historianwww.frozenhoops.comFort McMurray AlbertaPhone – 1-780-743-4853 If you are a fan of high-scoring basketball games, make sure to check off January 28, 2007 on your calendar, for that’s when the American Basketball Association circus…oops…I mean 2007 ABA All Star Game grabs the spotlight at Halifax’s Metro Centre. The calibre of professional…
Remembering Helen Hill
I just wanted to drop you a note letting you know what an impact this article had on me. I unfortunately did not know Helen, but after this article I feel I do. It touched emotions that one wouldn’t think would be possible for someone they didn’t know. I just wanted to say thank-you as…
Stevens is stoked
Determined to ensure a happy new year, Jonny Stevens has mapped out a pragmatic strategy to increase his already dedicated fanbase. The singer-songwriter recently overhauled his website, has reached the manufacturing stage of a new record and hopes to convert a music video treatment into a professional audio-visual representation of his material. “Hopefully we get…
The day the music died
Halifax has lost another venue dedicated to local music—as of January 1, Stage Nine has permanently closed its doors. Co-owner Greg Clark says the location has been vulnerable to tough times since it opened in June 2004.“When we started the club we were a little bit undercapitalized to begin with, but we managed to make…
Divas on ice
Last year, the Pep Bro Divas—a group of six women all living in the north end—set out to build a community rink near the George Dixon Centre just off of Gottingen Street. Although it was their first attempt at such a project, and some of the Divas had never skated before in their lives, the…
Open your body. And your face
With the rollover of the calendar year comes a new round of workshops from the city’s various arts organizations. First out of the gate is the venerable Irondale Ensemble Project, which is offering two classes. The first is its annual Open Workshop, which is a free theatre games night from 7 to 9pm at Irondale’s…
Heart on his sleeves
Chris Helland never expected to get famous just for rolling up his sleeves—but there he is, his arms folded across this chest and his forearms bared, gazing out from billboards and bus shelters across the city. Curling down from under his rolled shirtsleeves, the tattoos are hard to miss. Dense and elaborate, they wind around…
Disappearing minister
To err is human. To really screw up you need a computer. Well, at least that’s what it says on this particleboard coaster sitting beside my laptop. Nineteenth century designer William Morris would have approved of my little green desk protector, which Santa stuffed in my stocking in 2005. Morris once said: “Have nothing in…
A higher calling
There is proof of the existence of good and evil: It is Helen Hill. Helen and her husband Paul Gailiunas—both one-time Haligonians—were shot in their rented white-sided New Orleans home one week ago. Paul: in the cheek, hand and forearm. Helen: to death. Francis Pop—their son, chubby-cheeked and cherubic like a two-year-old should be—was, by…
The Curse of the Golden Flower
The Curse of the Golden Flower has at its centre a familiar idea: Beneath the face of esteemed social roles lies deceit and torment. Director Zhang Yimou illustrates this premise on a breathtaking canvas. Like many great filmmakers, Yimou (continuing with the period Hong Kong epics of his Hero and House of Flying Daggers) begins…
The next stage
A 20-year veteran of the independent music promotion business, Greg Clark is full of sage advice. “Never name your bar after a dead bird,” he warns, referring to one of his past ventures—a bar called Waldo’s. Named for the dead mynah bird from Twin Peaks, it is perhaps the least memorable of a long series…
Ghost stories
“One cannot hope to bribe or twist/Thank god! The mainstream journalist,” runs an adaptation of Hillaire Belloc’s famous satirical verse. “But seeing what news hounds will do/Unbribed, there is no reason to!” Those lines sprang to mind last week as I perused Christie Blatchford’s teary rant in the Globe about spending her most meaningful Christmas…
Hill Communication
There are a number of what I call rogue geniuses in Halifax. Brilliant, eccentric, following their curiosities and obsessions in study or art and—on the surface anyway—unfettered by sartorial trends of the general populace. These people fill me with admiration and I’m comforted to know they exist and balance the lemmings of this world. I…
Garden of delights
Chinese culinary style can be divided by region or even by city, and with over 80,000 distinct and separate dishes (according to the cultural food guide, You Eat What You Are, by Thelma Barer-Stein) the term “Chinese food” is far too broad a descriptor when referring to the authentic cuisine of the country. What North…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Uncover the naked truth, Libra, says Rob Brezsny.
SAVAGE LOVE
Dan Savage has some more cuckold-doodle-dos (and don’ts).
ECMA vote results
A total of 1257 ballots were cast! Check the results to see how Coast voting compares with the plaques.
Do make say think
Children of Men is a movie about hope. About what might happen if we don’t have any, and what humanity might do to find it again. It posits a world 20 years hence, where women have ceased to reproduce, a place where industry runs free of environmental restraint, where fascist western governments detain foreigners in…
Letters to the Editor
I think it’s time our cheating Priemier and his lying, drunken, law breaking cabinet was replaced by anyone with morals that could be held up as an example to the children. I think we are all tired of being goverened by the bastard shadow of Dr. Hamm’s family values. Instead of being entertained by our…
