TEDxHalifax from the comfort of home
TEDxHalifax may be sold out, but quit with the rending of garments already, there will be a live stream online, dummy. Sunday, March 11, at Dalhousie University, from 12:30pm-7:30pm (yes, it’s a day-long event) you can head over to tedxhalifax.ca and watch a live stream featuring a performance from artist Ursula Johnson, spoken word from…
A Separation is brilliant
When Iranian director Asghar Farhadi spoke of his culture’s tradition of peace when accepting the 2012 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, people may not have realized his picture, A Separation, is actually quite critical of the society in which its set. The story of a middle-class couple in the process of divorcing, dealing with…
Clever, watchable Friends With Kids
Jennifer Westfeldt broke out as the star and co-writer of the winning comedy Kissing Jessica Stein back in 2001, kicked around in TV before and after writing Ira & Abby in 2006, then hit casting gold with her directorial debut Friends With Kids, which features no less than four actors from Bridesmaids: Jon Hamm and…
Like A Motorcycle dress to impress
It’s great to see bands celebrating anniversaries. They’re important, especially in a small town with a lot of band turnover. Like A Motorcycle has aced its first year together and plan on celebrating with a party at Gus’ Pub Saturday, March 10 (10pm, with The Scoop Outs, Saint John’s The Green Reflectors and Wet Grow…
Hanging on the PHUN PHONE
Pick up the phone, Picnicface’s Cher Hann is all alone. Hann’s latest project, PHUN PHONE, brings a bit of old-fashioned Herald Line fun back into your life. While most of us have long since forgotten the charms of a landline, a few weeks ago, the pleasantly cell phone-free Hann discovered she had a second phone…
Hot diggity Dog Day: a Q & A
The gloom-some twosome otherwise known as Dog Day (Seth Smith and Nancy Urich) are heading back to Austin, Texas for a week of madness via South by Southwest festival. But before they do that, they’re playing a show to try to raise a little cash-money. This is where you come in: show your face at…
From the other side…
As someone who doesn’t routinely use transit, I’ve tried not to allow myself to get involved in the bus strike. HOWEVER, yesterday I was walking my boss’s daughter in her stroller on Barrington St when the union was rallying in Grand Parade. I was handed a piece of paper with a poorly written statement on…
Fed up with hypocrites
Just because a person has nice things, and respects the things they have worked hard for doesn’t give you ANY right to say they are a bad person. I’ll have you know I worked all year for the things that I have and if you can’t accept that, then too bad. Just because you took…
Halifax, Nova Scotia is a sinking ship
Thinking of doing business or want to live in Halifax, is it a sustainable city from a business owners perspective or to live. We have the highest taxes to boot 15% HST and also very high property taxes. Confidence or Economic growth – what is that – well we have a stimulus package coming in…
Dear deli goth girl
You’re pretty though you think you’re not, your bad jokes are funnier because you think they aren’t. Don’t hate yourself for being awkward and out of place, for not feeling like you fit. Your blu-black hair, painted eyes and pig-tails just make you that much cooler. So badass. —Another Panini, Please
I love ketchup but hate the packets
You know how if you go to a fast food place, you get your sauces in those little plastic cups with the foil tops, ideal for dipping? WHY DON’T THEY MAKE KETCHUP LIKE THAT?! Instead of those stupid little packets. It makes so much more sense to me. —Maybe This Idea Will Make Me Rich
Giving up
I’ve never lived in a city with more issues in my life. Every day it seems there is something else to be angry or depressed about. I’m so tired of it. Every morning I wake up and ask myself why I live here. Most days I feel like I am living someone else’s life. I’m…
Don’t stop with Mayor Kelly
I think we need to make transportation planning the number 1 election issue for the next Mayoral debates. With any luck, I hope the new mayor walks into the traffic control and planning department and fires the whole lot of them. Why? Because they have managed to screw up every mode of transportation available to…
You can’t look away from this Graboids promo
Those irrepressible Graboids are playing this Friday (March 9 at Gus’ Pub with No Flyers Please, The Holy Snappers and The Green Reflectors), and to drum up your enthusiasm, they’ve made this charming WWE-style promo video. The first Graboids EP is now free on Bandcamp, and still available on red and purple vinyl for those…
The real housewives of Hammonds Plains
I am not to sure why you think you’re better than everyone else. You’re not famous and no one gives a shit about your lives. You will never make TV or even a conversation at my dinner table. You are rude, have no manners and are completely catty. The fact that you treat my sister…
Tuesday night is CKDU night at the Oval
CKDU 88.1FM is as cold as ice on Tuesday nights (5:30-10pm). Our beloved Oval features music from the community radio station every Tuesday evening and all you have to do is soak it up. Check the public skate schedule before you head over, in case there is some freaky weather thing that not even CKDU’s…
“P.U.S.H.”, Rich Aucoin. Peep that.
Congrats to Rich Aucoin and animator/director Joel Mackenzie for a job well done on “P.U.S.H.” The video, titled “The Myth of the Robo Wonder Kid”, features good-hearted creatures doing what it takes for love. So inspiring! I’m putting my eyes into a cauldron right now. Paste Magazine liked it too.
To my big nosed wife
It’s been just over 10 years since we met and you are lying next to me snoring away but yet I am still overwhelmed with love for you. Having you in my life is more than I ever deserved and if I died 5 minutes from now, I would be fine with it, knowing that…
Maybe if people die the city will listen
So I get up this morning to this shit. Apparently blocking the plows was not dangerous because they only held up these vehicles for “ten minutes”. So not only are you playing terrorists, you’re playing completely ineffective terrorists. Or is it? That 10 minutes means a few people are now out on the road before…
Bus idiots blocking plows
Ok, I told myself I wasn’t going to bitch about the transit strike… it’s been done and it’s over done. But I am FURIOUS about what went down yesterday with the union employees blocking the snow plows. Ken W can spew all the bullshit he wants about the roads being clear and no one being…
All talk about the strike
Just a thought… but here we all are moaning and bitching about the strike (especially me since I am trying to find a job while these dipwads strike) but not really doing anything about it. On the news last night the reporter stated that we the public are the most affected BUT we the public…
In need of personal items
Will the damn buses please come back so I can go buy new tights and underwear… too far to walk to the mall. —Captain Underpants
Crazy glasses
I think you’re really awesome, and I wish I had the courage to tell you. —Shy Bookworm
Cape Bretoners
Sick of living in Cape Breton… all these people worry about is whatever other people are doing, tea, oxy cotin, and complaining about the mainland. Instead of bitching get off your lazy fat ass and work harder… p.s. I hate tea. —Mainlander
Oh but it’s good enough to sleep with, right?
I just wanted to say I hear a LOT of guys (mostly younger, college aged guys) complaining about the “trashy” or “slutty” looking girls they see when they go downtown. It sickens me to hear these morons talk. First of all, you’re at a dance club downtown in a university city, there are going to…
House Warmings to close
Pat Donahoe has been running House Warmings (Historic Brewery Market, 1496 Lower Water Street, 425-1777) for 15 years. Closing it feels the way she felt when her kids went off to university. But, she’s decided this is the best time to retire. The store will stay open probably until the end of April, with everything…
Chef’s Menu impresses fine food afficionados
A new locally owned casual/fine dining restaurant is offering a broad selection of food options, and if the online hubbub is anything top go by, people are loving it. The resto is the creation by co-owner and chef Derrick Giffin and is called Chef’s Menu (518 Sackville Drive, 252-4002). In that broad selection you can…
Holding up the snow plows
Now the ATU idiots are blocking the snow plows, pathetic. Let’s try to make the streets unsafe to drive on, to prove our point. You would feel like shit if one of your families got into an accident because you prevented the plows from salting. I think you get paid enough for sitting in a…
Go to hell
Today the ATU blocked plows waiting to leave their depots to make the roads safe for the morning commute in Halifax. The ATU has gone too far. It’s time for Halifax to privatize Metro Transit. It’s time to end public transportation in the HRM. Enough is enough. Let Peter Kelly know that we want to…
Lack of transit = Lack of education
Part of my college course includes working at homes belonging to individuals who require personal support. If the transit strike continues the last eight months of my life will have been wasted, all the money I’ve put into school and living expenses WASTED because of this effing strike. I just want to get my degree…
Shame shame shame
You have officially come to a down time low. You expect to get public support and now you are blocking plows from leaving their depot? They are not doing scab work, they are doing their work. Shame, shame, shame on all of you for endangering the lives of our family, friends and co-workers. I only…
Don’t worry, I’ll wait
Dear LOTL – True love is loving each other’s crazy. I laugh when you read all the labels in grocery stores, and you don’t roll your eyes when I self-righteously lecture you about shopping at the mall. The distance sucks. We are making it work, but I am ready to start building a life together.…
Can’t make any sense of it anymore
Music’s great, and this city has plenty of great music. So why must I feel like so many awesome bands are getting the shaft when I go to certain shows and see a band who has been playing every show left and right, and are clearly not a very good band, talent-wise and sound-wise? They’re…
Hal-Con guests announced
The pistons of Hal-Con—Atlantic Canada’s largest sci-fi, fantasy and comic convention—are going like gangbusters, as evidenced by the comic-loving crew’s guest announcement for 2012’s convention (October 26-28 at the World Trade and Convention Centre). Hal-Con says: “This man has been in hundreds of films and television shows. He’s played many epic characters from Leonardo Davinci,…
Resolve the transit strike NOW!
Dear City Council: Resolve the fucking transit strike already! I couldn’t really care less whether the resolution is on your terms or not. I am a university student, I do not have easy access to carpooling, and cannot afford a $10 cab fare twice a week. I deliberately abstain from voting in elections (municipal and…
I’m not a loan shark
I work at a payday loan company. Most days I love it, we have some great customers that I look forward to seeing every week and I work with a couple of awesome ladies. But like any job, there are always those certain customers… I did not drag you in here. I need not force…
Sushi love
We fit so perfectly together every day like sushi rolls and wasabi! You are the spice to my life, and I love wrapping myself around you each and every day! I love you! —Your California Roll For Life
Dear Hubby
I love having sex with you. —Wife
Birth control
Getting an IUD inserted was the most invasive and painful thing I have experienced so far in my life, even more than getting a LEEP procedure done for cervical dysplasia. It’s strange how in society the idea pushed on women is that birth control is liberating-shoving metallic implants up inside our reproductive organs or ingesting…
Rude bitches at the airport
This goes out to the rude bitches at the airport last week who were pissed off because apparently I ‘stole’ their seat. The cafeteria was crowded because flights had been cancelled and once I grabbed some breakfast I sat down at an empty table. You were overheard saying “the fat lady stole our table”. Well…
Vague
Haven’t really stopped thinking about you since my crown was broken. This concrete jungle gets loud but never loud enough to drown out this screaming thought. This thought may never enter reality but it will forever remain in my dreams. I had a plan to not make this sound creepy… fail. —Bad Luck in Technicolor
Ride hitcher’s etiquette
Thank you only cuts it for the occasional lift. For ongoing transportational kindnesses, don’t just sit there sponging off of somebody. Don’t offer gas or parking money. Insist that it’s taken or leave it as you depart. At the very least, hand over a decent bottle of wine each week. A $13 or $14 bottle…
Someone forgot to feed the mannequins again
What is up with the mannequins in the window of a certain store? When I think of runners and yogis I think strong not emaciated. Don’t tell me skinny sells fashion, you can barely see what pants are on display when you look at them head on. —I Could Look Like a Pretzel if My…
Wait, I’m confused…
Many of my friends are posting pictures (from various sources) of piles of dead animals. Either from Canadian Goose jackets, the seal hunt, or the new one circulating of piles of dead wolves. I think it’s great that people care so much about animals. Or, at least they claim to… Please, please don’t post pictures…
Why am I such a loser?
I am so certifiably pathetic it’s insane! I can’t seem to do anything right. I am 34 years old and I live at home with my mom and I am STILL a virgin! I never even had an orgasm by playing with myself, I try to masturbate but nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?…
To the five young men in the car with backwards caps
Do not honk, call me derogatory names, get out of your car to beat me up only to back down when I meet your step faster than you can realize. It’s okay to be jealous that you don’t have a sweet bike and that your parents never taught you to ride one. I HAVE EVERY…
Screwing your coworkers as part of quality of life
To the poor poor cry baby little whining bitches out on strike right now. Oh how I feel so bad for you making over 20 dollars or more an hour, for sitting on your fucking asses driving. You talk about wanting quality of life with an 80% divorce rate, well you guys are PICKING YOUR…
4 wheels
This goes out to all the ATU members for their greed and blatant careless attitude towards the residents of HRM who used your service. My wife and I used to be transit users… each day to and from work. But since the strike, it’s been a challenge. So earlier this week we went out and…
Barrington barbarity
To the “gentleman” who rode his bicycle on the sidewalk towards me at full speed while I was walking on Barrington Street on Friday afternoon: Sir, I feel that your response of “Fuck you!” to my query “Dude, why are you riding your bike on the sidewalk?” was inappropriate. It is my sincere hope that…
Perspective
The Never Ending Story that is the transit strike needs to be put into a little bit more of perspective. While the mechanics are accredited tradesmen/women, the bus drivers are not. They did not go to Bus Driver School and earn a degree. They got a class of licence that allows them to drive a…
Attachment issues
I don’t get why people think old stuff is so valuable. I see so many old buildings, partially decayed, that people are fighting to keep. WHY? Any historical value besides the actual building frame has been documented and removed, leaving behind a dangerous, usually ugly, dump. The funniest part is the environmentalists who think it’s…
Henry Rollins gets in your head on June 20 at the Cohn
Henry Rollins is heading back to Halifax on Wednesday, June 20 (8pm at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium) as part of The Long March tour. From this morning’s press release: “Expect Henry to bring the human (and often humorous) side to light during The Long March as he shares stories from the road less traveled—including recent…
Iranian Business Trade Show celebrates Iranian New Year
The Oscar-winning drama A Separation isn’t the only quality example of Iranian culture to be featured in Halifax this weekend. Taking place at the World Trade and Convention Centre, Sunday March 11 from 12-5pm, is the Iranian Business Trade Show. It’s a free event, offering a selection of delicious Persian food, along with crafts and…
Shandi Mitchell wins $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award
Shandi Mitchell—award-winning Canadian director, screenwriter (Gasoline Puddles, The Hanging Garden, Beefcake and The Disappeared) and novelist—is the recipient of the biennial $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award for her debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky (the novel also won the Thomas Head Raddall Fiction Award. Man, she’s good). Mitchell was presented the award by the president of…
Bedfordites now have their own Split Crow
A second location of the beloved downtown watering hole The Split Crow is open in the former Oakmount Station location in Bedford, 1717 Bedford Highway. Expect 24 draught beers on tap, open mic Thursdays, live music Friday and Saturdays, with the same menu as downtown.
Merritt award nominees announced
The 2012 Merritt Award nominees have been announced, and the glittering list is who’s who of actors and companies to watch in 2012. Valley Summer Theatre’s Vigil and Driving Miss Daisy garnered a lot of nominations, as did 2b theatre company’s When It Rains. Theatre Nova Scotia’s executive director Christopher Shore announced the nominees; the…
Red Water Rustic Grille to open in Halifax
The Feed has learned that the space once occupied by Elephant & Castle, 5171 George Street, we can expect a new Canadian chain to open a location. Red Water Rustic Grille, with four locations in Calgary and one in Charlottetown, describes itself as “A chef- and sommelier-driven restaurant that features fresh and regional cuisine and…
My sweet B
I’m so proud of you. I know it’s been a long wait but your surgery is finally booked and we’re going to get through this together. We have some of the best cardiac surgeons here in Halifax and soon you’ll be all new and improved and we’ll celebrate our first wedding anniversary this May -…
Hospital cut backs and savings
So I heard on the radio today that our hospital health authority hired an outsource company to make recommendations towards cost savings. They recommended to outsource laundry services as it would save tax payers money. The hospitals response was that they were not going to outsource that service. WTF?? Did they not hear the part…
Pants R Us
After all of our years, I still love you. I know things are bad, but please give me a chance to make things right. Don’t forget what I said about the pants. The pants represent us: once in perfect condition, and now ripped up and cut up and sewn together with a shitty thread job.…
Society for putting cash in account
I found a cat off of Wyse Road that must have been hit by a car or something. It was all bloody, and couldn’t walk. It was dragging itself along the road. It was so sad because he was meowing and wanting me to pat him and help him, and I didn’t want to get…
Smoke this!
I have had it! I can’t take this shit anymore. I need to vent and here it comes. Weed is a drug and that is the only thing people can say negative about it. Prescription drugs and alcohol are a lot worse for people and have a lot more side effects. Weed actually helps people,…
Urban Home renovates
The tell-tale brown paper roll is covering the windows, along with big “Renovating” signs. Watch this space for more info on the Urban Home (5689 Cunard Street, 463-1400) changes and reopening strategy…. UPDATED Friday, March 2, 11:30am We heard from Urban Home owner Jim Kennedy, who writes in an email: “We’ve been working with Napkin…
Parking ban
Why can’t city hall think out of the box and ticket cars parked on the street ONLY if the snow flies or the announcement of snow. If cars are still there when the plow comes by, instead of paying cops 80k per annum to give out tickets, hire someone at $10 per hour to drive…
No good deed goes unpunished
I found a wallet on the sidewalk, and posted an ad asking if someone had lost one. Obviously, I wasn’t going to state a name, as there are many who wouldn’t mind scooping up a wallet full of ID’s, health cards, etc. Especially since I got a lot of emails telling me it was their…
La Belle Poubelle gets trashed
Carley Hodgkinson and LeeAndra Cianci believe one artist’s trash is another artist’s treasure. Their one day only exhibit at the Dawson Printshop (Monday, March 5, 5:30pm), La Belle Poubelle is a “take on a pop-up store—in fact, a pop-up garbage dump,” says Hodgkinson. “We wanted to borrow the language of a more conventional pop-up store,…
Yeah you, shut up!
You and your little posse are so disrespectful. Like you really have the nerve to converse while our professor is giving a lecture. You’re so selfish. I have ADD and can only focus on one thing at a time, and you are very distracting. I’m not staring you down because I think you’re good looking,…
Halifax’s building boom: anything goes
Development issues have come front and centre at city hall, with so much construction in the works that there’s a reported crane shortage in Halifax. And the much-celebrated ship building contract may or may not result in more and better paying jobs for the bulk of the population, but the building industry is anticipating high…
Dearest Smoochikins…
For The Coast’s Valentines Day issue, my plan had been to submit a lengthy, descriptive, and completely adorable essay I had prepared for you. I missed the deadline. So here I am, again attempting to publicly display all that you mean to me. And in the interest of keeping it short and sweet this time,…
Trade Centre Limited hires Scott Logan
Scott Logan, who was CEO of the Halifax 2014 Commonwealth Games Bid Committee, has been hired by Trade Centre Limited as the chief business development officer. Halifax’s aborted bid to win hosting rights to the Commonwealth Games was characterized by secrecy, out of control spending and busted budgets. As The Coast revealed in a two-part…
Pizza Delight opens on Spring Garden Road
Pizza Delight has opened a location in the former Havana Nights space, 5680 Spring Garden Road (455-0990), and is providing Halifax with a new late-night food and drink option. The bar and eatery boasts casual dining open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a $4 drink menu. So all drinks, beer, coolers,…
Game Jam 2012 commences!
The Halifax Game Jam is a gathering of game developers, artists, musicians, hackers, graphic designers, system admins, comic book artists and good old-fashioned creative people for a weekend-long game-development event. Game Jammers will converge at The Hub (1673 Barrington Street) on the evening of Friday March 2 where they’ll stay for 48 hours. Jammers will…
Buddhist retreat at farm?
Here is my horrible experience at the farm: My boyfriend and I received bad reception upon arrival at the farm and we waited awkwardly to be greeted despite their being three workers in the office. The hiking and 22km of trails that my boyfriend and I were excited to explore were slick with ice and…
Land & Sea airs “Pirates and Privateers”
For those who don’t know, CBC TV’s Land & Sea is a half-hour documentary show running stories of Atlantic history and culture, running Sundays at noon. In the past months they’ve aired “The Last Sardine Outpost” about North America’s only remaining sardine cannery in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick and “Rum Running,” about prohibition-era run trade…
The Monument
Yesterday, I left the dark, earth-strewn confines of the Bus Stop Theatre feeling completely destroyed. I had just experienced ninety minutes of distressing, heart-wrenching theatre. And despite the tears I’ve shed since then and the nightmares that woke me last night, I’m going to tell you why you should experience it, too. The Monument is…
Party mix it up with Outtacontroller
We are basement rock and roll,” says guitarist Terry A’hearn. “As in, we play in our mom’s basement, and she’s like, ‘Shut the hell up down there, my shepherd’s pie is spoiling.'” Tonight at Gus’ Pub, Outtacontroller releases its debut LP, Don’t Play Dumb, a follow up to last summer’s EP Power Out. The LP…
Deconstructing Doyle
Republic of Doyle star Allan Hawco was in Halifax Friday, and was nice enough to grant me an interview. I caught up with him in an otherwise empty lounge in the Marriot. This is our conversation. Bousquet: Welcome to Halifax. This is a PR tour? I see you’re speaking to students. Hawco: So, we do…
Going for a ride
Launched in the fall of 2009, the Halifax Regional Municipality’s five-year strategic operations plan laid out the city’s future transit initiatives, full of good ideas to provide better service for people moving from point A to B in the HRM. It charts projected population growth, assesses bus routes and suggests service changes and improvements. But…
The Lorax is bloated
Astonishing in its ability to offend both sides of the environmental debate, The Lorax is the latest bloated 3-D CGI studio mutation of a classic Dr. Seuss book from Universal Pictures. Zac Efron voices young Ted, who undertakes a quest to find the once-greedy Once-ler (Ed Helms) and figure out what happened to all the…
Spooky Campers ham it up
The Spooky Campers might as well pitch a tent at Gus’ this weekend cause they’ll be there for a good chunk of it. After a few months in hiatus territory, the surfy garage rockers are back and working on recording new and “poppier” EP, inspired by the likes of Cousins and Black Lips, that’ll arrive…
Ladies get loud
Sometimes it’s OK to use you outdoor voice indoors, like during a celebration. Or a double celebration. Sing and Shout! celebrates not only 20 years of The Women Next Door Choir belting out everything from peace songs to lullabies, but also the arrival of International Women’s Week. Joining the Women Next Door as they proudly…
Free Will Astrology
Happy Birthday! PISCES (February 19 – March 20) You should be like a rooster, Pisces: dispensing wake-up calls on a regular basis. You should be nudging people to shed their torpor and shake themselves out of their stupor. What’s your personal version of “Cockadoodle-doo?” It shouldn’t be something generic like “Open your eyes!” or “Stop…
Draw Nudes With Local Dudes life drawing event gets relaxed
If you’ve ever had a hankering to draw, but find most art classes don’t have enough beer for your liking, Rachael Cadman and Lee Dekel have just the event for you. Draw Nudes With Local Dudes (Monday, March 5 at the Khyber Ballroom, 8-11pm) is a monthly life drawing event organized by the pair. Inspired…
Is medical marijuana going to pot?
In an early-’90s Civic we drive eastward, away from the Halifax-Dartmouth sprawl, toward the tiny hamlets and villages that tuck themselves into the myriad bays and coves of the eastern shore. In the car the conversation flits quickly from topic to topic, like some conspiratorially minded hummingbird, and runs the gamut of water-cooler fringe-news talk.…
Coriolanus “as tedious as a twice-told tale”
When Baz Luhrmann brought Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the big screen in 1996, he modernized the piece with wit and creativity. Ralph Fiennes, an undeniably talented actor (the Bard is his forte), is unable to match Luhrmann’s work as a director with his own screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, a lesser-known play about a…
Some rules are unbreakable
Q I had a threesome with my husband and another woman because I am GGG and that’s always been a fantasy of his. I laid out my ground rules, and they were violated. (I said I was uncomfortable with his P in her V, and I ended up watching them fuck.) I didn’t stop it…
Intimate details
When it comes to learning lines, Raven Dauda and Kevin Hanchard are having an easier time than the rest of the cast of the Neptune production of Intimate Apparel. It’s not that they have über memories or have discovered a magical recall system— it’s just that this will the fourth time they’ve starred together in…
Recycle chic
1. Mixtape Apparel mixtapeapparel.com Mixtape Apparel is a company founded in Halifax by Jason Duong, a Dalhousie commerce student. Along with offering belts and t-shirts, he repurposes old audio cassettes into belt buckles, saving them from the landfill and allowing for a fashion statement sure to make your skinny-jeaned hipster pals choke with covetous frustration.…
Eyelevel’s shelf life
So far in 2012 nobody’s been visiting Eyelevel Gallery more than mail carriers. Packages from around Canada, and the world, have been flooding in since January, bringing in small, handmade, varied works that’ll make up ERI5, a biennial exhibit of multiples and artist-made publications. With a call for submissions sent to over 250 artist-run centres…
Bold and beautiful Pageant
Pageant is the story of a small town beauty queen (played with irresistible perkiness by Kate Lavender) whose future and features are shattered by an over-reaching plastic surgeon (Marty Burt). Her boorish boyfriend (Matthew Thomas Walker) exacts revenge, and then determines that his girlfriend is no longer a prize worth fighting for. Only Trudy’s father…
Project X is shit
Project X is barely a movie. The plot: three high school seniors—the gullible birthday boy, Thomas (Thomas Mann), the fat guy, J.B. (Jonathan Daniel Brown), and the obnoxious dude, Costa (Oliver Cooper)—stock up on booze and pot and set out to “get some pussy” by throwing “the party you’ve only dreamed about” when Thomas’s parents…
The Harbour City Grill hits and misses
There is a curved, slatted wall in the entry to the Delta Halifax. As I walk by the wedges, I get angled peeks, here and there, of people happily eating, chatting away at various tables. The Harbour City Bar and Grill is hidden behind the walls, the entrance bursting open into the lobby. The restaurant…
Paper Beat Scissors’ poetry
Burnley, Lancashire native Tim Crabtree has finally landed. After coming to Halifax in 2004 to start a masters program at Dalhousie, Crabtree spent his first few years in academic circles, quietly studying and home-recording in his spare time. “I didn’t really know any musicians around town. I was just sending things out into the ether,…
Hitchcock presented
Rope (1948) Plot: Two university grads kill a classmate to impress their professor (James Stewart), who once theorized in a lecture about how to commit the perfect murder. Did you know? This was the first Hitchcock film shot in colour, but what’s impressive about Rope is that it was filmed continuously in just 10 shots.…
The redemption of Anonamyss
It’s the break of dawn, and Justin Wheaton’s still keeping on, after a 16-hour overnight shift working on Alberta’s Fort Mackay pipeline. The darkness is all he’s seen, his world shimmers with bleary sunlight. “I don’t sleep, man,” he says. “Nothing beats hard work.” He brings that ethic to everything; pipe welding, Arby’s serving, call…
Life of a bus driver
Last weekend, I was given documents—-the so-called “run cut” of all the various transit routes in Halifax—-that detail how bus drivers’ schedules are derived. Readers can see the documents themselves at thecoast.ca/bites, and come to their own conclusions about what they mean. But what follows is my interpretation of what the run cut means for…
Great Bloomers’ variety club
In 2009, Great Bloomers were a young band on the rise. Their first album, Speak of Trouble, was gaining critical attention, they were asked to perform on MTV Live and they had a fan in folk-hero Gordon Lightfoot. But once Great Bloomers began to hit their stride, singer-songwriter Lowell Sostomi’s band started to fall apart.…
Green round-up
BIOSOLIDS In our 2010 issue of Green Halifax, we did a story on the controversy around the use of biosolids as fertilizer on crop-growing soil. Biosolids are marketed as fertilizers that incorporate human waste—and more problematically, other potentially toxic ingredients—as extracted from sewage sludge. Prominent people in the local food community, the Canadian Horticultural Council…
To my favourite cabby
I miss our 3 minute midnight rides. Our crazy conversation topics always made my day. Aliens, JC, and me smelling like nasty cheese bread. You ‘forgetting’ to turn down my street. You have no idea how badly I wanted to snuggle you. You’re sweeter than the bees knees and cute to boot! Too bad you’re…
Come find me love
Hey Halifax! I loving you, even though you’re confusing me. I’m shy but in no way boring or unlovable. I’ve been waiting a long long time for some loving and I’m telling you I’m ready to give out, but tell me where you’re hiding my man, get him out of the woodwork, so I can…
GOD but I’m bored!
I am SOOOO bored! Your control issues keep me from doing anything. I sit here and get paid $20.41/hr to write bitches, watch porn and chat online. You need to trust your staff. We are adults. We know our jobs. We can read and understand policies. We can follow procedures. It’s your fear that YOU…
