Downtown openings, closings and buildings
We smell a trend. Joining Boneheads in the southern BBQ restaurant scene is Q Smokehouse & Southern Barbeque (1580 Argyle Street, 407-4006), offering ribs, chicken, brisket, wings, sandwiches—including pulled pork, and even Louisiana po-boys—as well as delectable collection of sides, salads and desserts. Plus, it is licensed. In other resto news, Café Chianti, formerly at…
HRM drivers need retesting
OK, I made a bitch about this last year, but it warrants a revisit. I have come to the conclusion that a good portion of the drivers in the HRM need to have their licenses revoked or at the very least, have to go for refresher courses or retests, on the rules of the road.…
Anxiety: Go away
I hate you. You make me think irrationally with no room to grasp the reality of the situation. You make me miss work, you make me sick. You make me think that something so minor is a catastrophic problem. I just want to be able to process thoughts clearly without thinking that every little thing…
Get your own trail
While walking my dog yesterday at Shubie Park in the OFF-LEASH area, I had the delight of meeting you. She walked over by you, maybe even sniffed your leg and you responded with a string of profanity that would make a sailor blush. I reminded you that you were in the off-leash area to which…
HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!`
Wooooooow…I don’t know what to do!!!…my best friend which is also my ex wants to fuck…and I’m not sure if we should…ERRRRGG. —Stills loves him and he loves me but he got a woman
Waving red mascot tax person
I wave at you when I’m heading up Quinpool, hope the suit isn’t too hot and they pay you well. —Paingirl
Bunny ears
You ride your bike down Mumford in the morning with your Bunny Ear Helmet. Making the crowd smile and chuckle is a great way to start the day. Thanks! —Smiley
Lock your doors!
So there were three break-ins recently in East Preston and it’s been in the news. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have someone break into your home in the middle of the night and feel like your privacy and personal haven has been invaded. I’m sure it’s terrifying. But in at least two of…
Squeegee prick
To the asshole who thought it was kind to sneak up to my car on Tuesday night at 9pm and try to wash my window, and scare the shit out of my wife: GET A REAL JOB. It happened in Halifax on Bayers Road and Connaught Ave. —Scared Shitless
Seeking a Sony
I have your moccasins. I had to quit that job I was at, but I rescued them. Don’t know how long that place is gonna last. You are so sweet and were always sooo patient (thanks btw). They’re still not totally fixed, but at the very least you should have them back even if they…
Wowzers
Wow, 30-second conversation on the bus tonight with you. You are a real beauty. I hope you wouldn’t be bothered if I came all the way to Dartmouth to get a haircut from you. I’m sure it would be worth it, if only to talk to you. —The Guy Reading the Book on the #10
Late shoppers
Why do people feel the need to come into my store five minutes before closing? They know we are closing in five so why do they come in asking questions and talking on their cell phones? Just wait til the next day…I have a life, I need to get home to so by keeping me…
Hippies BLOW
1. A certain downtown bar doesn’t have a sister pub in Dartmouth called the Spilt Crow. That would make me grin. 2. I’ve long ago accepted the fact that walking in poorer (or partly gentrified) neighborhoods and being female would lead dickheads to believe I am a hooker. It is unacceptable, however, that police will…
Call centre bitch
I have called the corporate call centre six times and all six times I got an ignorant, rude, bored asshole who didn’t give two shits about my concerns. HEY CALL CENTRE AGENTS…FUCK YOU ALL! —Sick of Bureaucracy
Petty theft and me
To the wonderful person who stole my green iPod with the painted case and Sony headphones from the Management building on March 2: OK, fine. Yes, putting my iPod down for five minutes was a dumb idea. I was in a hurry, I had class. But COME ON! There’s a desk right in front of…
Bar staff
To the blonde bimbos who work at the bar on the waterfront: For the sanity of all club-goers, please seek alternative employment. While at the bar on Friday night my boyfriend and I waited nearly 30 minutes to order our drinks. After getting extremely impatient I asked if we could please be served, which was…
You’re not so hard
So I’m on my break, headin’ to the Tim Horton’s in the Dartmouth Ferry Terminal. I’m standing there finishing off a cigarette before getting my coffee; all’s good, I’m in my own little world until THIS happened: A woman was walking her dog, the dog was off a leash and the dog went up to…
Laundromat madness
Fuck you laundromat on Oxford! At 8:30 Friday night all your dryers quit simultaneously. You ate my $6 in quarters and left me with four loads of wet laundry. I called the number you left in case I needed assistance. I’d like to thank the kind lady who answered the phone and responded with “What…
Gourmet pizza = cold pizza?
I know you do things differently there. That’s why it’s great. But when someone calls to politely mention that they waited over an hour-and-a-half for a pizza only for it to show up cold, here are some customer service tips: Try not to put me on hold for five more minutes, REALLY try not to…
Fraternizing with the enemy
What do you do when you find out your husband is fraternizing with your enemies and you have the photos to prove it? I mean, this isn’t about sex or infidelity just that respect one takes for granted within a marriage. What’s that expression “your enemies are my enemies” or something like that? Almost a…
Garbage and cans are not FOOD
To the annoying prick who keeps putting his or her recyclables and garbage in my compost bin: FUCK OFF. I just filled two-thirds of a recycling bag with the shit that you left in my compost. After cooking a nice meal and going to dispose of my veggie peelings, the last place I want to…
What happened to natural beauty?
I can’t help but notice all the girls and women wearing so much make-up! Raccoon eyes, caked faces, white or light silver eye shadow (hate this one in particular!). Why? Make-up is supposed to ENHANCE your look, not distract! Please stop. —From One Woman to Another
Dear BenchMaster
I love how you teach me. I love how patient you are with me. You are a great boss—compassion in pants. No wonder you get whatever you want; who could refuse? —Cheese Biscuits
Lifesaver
Dear Foxy, I love you so much. You are a lifesaver. I love how gentle you are when I screw up, and how you and your friends never give up on me. I wish I could be smarter for you so we could make something happen. Someday, some way, this all works out and we…
Bus stop girl
Thanks for the $2.25 for the bus a week ago! I meant to post this the same day, but like I said it was a day from hell. You reminded me good people do exist, common decency is not dead, you did more then give me a few bucks, you instilled a sense of hope…
Little douche coup
To the self-important douchenozzle driving the black Corvette with the vanity plate on Highway 102 this morning: While I recognize that you feel that you are superior to other vehicles on the road (and probably compensating for something), driving behind someone and flashing your lights to get them to pull out of your way is…
KKK in PPP?
I was walking along in Point Pleasant Park, enjoying the nice spring air of March, when something took my breath away. No it wasn’t the wind this time, but some benches dedicated to Hurricane Juan. They’re swastika shaped. SWASTIKA!? who in this day and age doesn’t notice their handiwork looks like the crooked-cross of hatred?…
Less talk, more distraction
Obviously the whole “let’s change the national anthem” fiasco is to distract the voting public from issues that matter, such as THE FEDERAL BUDGET, our ongoing presence in Afghanistan, crooked MPS, and more cuts to the arts. It’s obviously smoke and mirrors to make fall under the illusion that something is happening in Parliament, when…
Celebrity justice
Well, I love it when this happens! It probably happens more than we think, it’s just not televised as much as it should. Just when they think because they have the fame and a lot of money nothing could happen to them, even the embarrassing moments. Take a look at this BIG Country singer thinking…
Only children
Is it just me, or does everyone who is raised without a brother or sister grow up to be a selfish prick? OK man, I’m truly sorry I used YOUR sticky note to write down a fucking address. Next time I’ll be sure to provide my own. You must take absolutely no joy out of…
The G8 meeting in April
Where to start? First off, I’d like to send a ‘fuck you’ to the “anarchists” and misguided street punks who will surely use the opportunity to break a few windows. Second, a big fuck you to anybody asks “Why would you protest the G8? whats wrong with the richest nations working together for our own…
Modern chivalry on HRM transit
Thank you to the gentleman in uniform who stood up to give me a seat on the crowded 52 Bayers Lake Saturday afternoon, it was incredibly nice of you and being vertically challenged I appreciate not having to stand on my tiptoes. I wish I would have realized and thanked you at the time I…
Honnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnk!
Hey fuckface in the silver Saturn Ion “merging” on to Portland Street toward Cole Harbour from highway 111 at 10:30 Monday night. YOU SEE THAT UPSIDE DOWN RED AND WHITE TRIANGLE!?!? That is what civilized society likes to call a fucking YIELD SIGN! When you see one, YOU YIELD TO ONCOMING TRAFFIC! Which is what…
One cab—2 handicapped spots?
Last week at the Halifax Shopping Centre there was a cab from the company with the VERY hummable theme song. He was parked across two parking spaces designated for people with physical disabilites, so that they may not use unsafe conditions to enter/exit their vehicle, or have to drag their bodies any further than necessary…
How much gasoline can one really need to buy?
I keep telling myself not to stop, not tonight…but every night I get the chance I do. You draw me in every time. Way to have the cutest smile and sweetest eyes. —Girl Who Can’t Seem to Drive Past without Getting Gas
GIVE ME MY FUCKING IPOD BACK
HOLY SHIT! Yes, I accidentally left my iPod in this girl’s car who was driving me somewhere. She goes to the same school as me, but I hardly see her. I email her that night if she can give it to me the following Monday, she says yes, then doesn’t show up to give it…
Are you kidding me?
Could somebody please tell the local newscaster who has recently started doing the news updates in the morning that there is no “t” in the word across? As in, “Let’s take a look at what’s making news acrossT our region.” I mean, come on! Has anyone else noticed this? —I Could Do a Better Job
Universities stop ripping off students
Water fountains disappear on Halifax campuses while vending machines selling expensive beverages pop up everywhere! We students have nowhere else to go and of course the colleges get part of the revenue. Text books for courses change every year—usually just newer versions with enough variation to force you to buy new rather than risk older…
Love or bitch?
Thanks for making me feel like the sexy woman that I sometimes forget I am. We have the same unusual career, agree on so many things and have known each other for a while which is why your actions and compliments made all the difference in my state of mind. The only downer is…you worry…
Schedule not-knowers
FFS! When you’re booking an appt GET YOUR SCHEDULE OUT. I’m so sick of people stalling and stuttering for five minutes…obviously you need to know when you’re available so why on EARTH can’t you figure it out ahead of time. Nine out of 10 phone conversations: “When would you like to come in?” “…………Uh……………………………mmm………….just a…
I’ll wait
Hey, babe. I wouldn’t have thought I could or would wait five or six months to pick up a relationship again. I was prepared to set you free to follow your heart, and your heart brought you back to me. I’ve never had this kind of love for a girl, or from a girl. I…
Never Mind the Bullocks – Here’s the ECMA results
A Razzie and an Oscar? Who am I, Julia Roberts? Man, I need something to wash the boring-as-shit taste of last night’s Academy Awards out of my mouth. You can re-visit the Coast’s infinitely more entertaining liveblog of the event, and if you want to read some funny celebrity Tweets about the event, go here.…
Fire boy
I can’t explain what you do to me. I feel really connected to you and love the way you live your life. But I can’t figure you out…and I can’t get anything out of you. I’m crazy attracted to your inner and outer you. Please don’t ignore me. Come throw some shit at my window…
Front-page picture
Umm….saw today’s front page of the daily…so just one question: Is that a blow-up doll curling? The expression on his face is priceless. —PumpItUp
An open letter to CTV
I’m writing to invite any one of your program directors and/or web masters to get a nice high-quality set of earbuds and settle in to watch CTV online programming. Please ask the viewer to adjust the presentation to a comfortable volume. I challenge the viewer to then leave the ear buds and volume unchanged during…
BEEP
I will definitely miss it, so don’t get rid of it! WTF!! Best thing to wash a donair down with. —Bluenoser in BC
Punky love
To all the punks of North End: I heart you. I know I don’t fit in and am likely considered a big, lame square but oh, how I love the punks of the neighbourhood. I want to watch & listen to you forever. Thank you for reminding me that you don’t need a “good” job…
Oh well…
Dear everyone who realized that speeding tickets are a lame cash grab: HRP on Chain Lake Drive, in front of ARROW, Aliant, that paint store, etc. Also, wouldn’t it be great if we could get speed check alerts via text… —No, I Cannot Obey the Law, Don’t Even Ask
TAZmania
Ten thousand thank-yous for offering us the “10% Poop Discount.” We felt honored to be the first and possibly the last (timing is everything) customers to receive such a strange yet deserved discount. KAJ asked to use your non-public bathroom space, and you kindly obliged, not knowing that the current customer was dropping off a…
Warranties and insurance
What is up with this warranty and insurance crap? You buy something, after they go on about how good the quality is. And then they ask if you want a warranty? Is this just a cash grab? Does anyone really get the warranty? I think business should stand behind their products. Another weird thing is…
Friendship breakup
I don’t want to be your friend anymore. All you do is complain. Every time I see you, you say you’re worried we are drifting apart. Perhaps we are, but by saying that you are putting the burden on me to save the friendship, and quite frankly I don’t have the time. If you want…
Inappropriate work talk
Maybe the waiters and bartender at the downtown hotel resto on the afternoon of March 6th shouldn’t be talking loudly about anal sex and hooking up with girls while there are customers eating nearby. I don’t care how pleasurable you believe it is, I’m trying to eat here. This is a place of business, not…
Rajaton: Finnish for “boundless”
Here’s something you might not know: Membership in the Association of Canadian Choral Communities is almost 40,000 strong, making it the largest group of performing artists in this country. While that might seem like a surprising fact to people outside the world of choral music, the March 7th concert that saw the Finnish singing group…
Dartmouth Common vs Halifax Common
There is a public meeting tonight at Dartmouth High School, nominally to get public input on a zoning change to allow the Bridge Terminal relocation and expansion to proceed—the meeting is required under zoning change rules, but approval seems a foregone conclusion, as public input was already taken through the Dartmouth Common plan, and council…
Oscar night liveblog recap: ladies win, show fails
At least someone kept Sacha Baron Cohen at home. Ben Stiller, eh? Apparently it was Sacha Baron Cohen who was supposed to do an Avatar sketch, but it was banned because it might offend director James Cameron. That would have at least given the night a pulse: the most controversial moment was when a short…
Grocery store
No bags. They have no bags. I frequently want to buy groceries on my way home from work, but can’t without being forced to buy a non-recyclable black cloth bag. Ten dollars of groceries now has a dollar bag tax on top of it. I have so many of those cloth bags. I have to…
Maybe next time
To the piece of shit who felt it necessary to knee me in the face on Saturday night with an armload of food: I’m sorry that the staff treat me better than you because I treat them better than you do. I’m sorry that my tip was no doubt bigger than your entire bill. I’m…
I let you off easy
A few months ago I submitted a LtWWL dedicated to how much you meant to me. I hoped you’d see it while we had brunch together and realize it was me. But now I hope you read this and know how much of a fucking asshole I think you are. I returned your hat and…
We love Jerome the Gnome
It started with my roommate taking him one night, and then we brought him back a week later, with his name on his forehead. Then, he was replaced by a snowman, then he got lei’d, and then…we thought he could use some culture…so we took him to Montreal with us. My friend was getting her…
Why didn’t you just read the new Coast?
To the numbskull who stole my book off the ferry last Thursday: First of all, I wasn’t finished and had no intentions of giving it to you once I was, especially since I don’t know you beyond your name, Mr. Poopy Pants. You couldn’t have even read the title you snatched it so quickly! The…
Ah, high school, I do not miss thee
I’m done hanging out until you stop creating childish scenes in public and being emotionally manipulative. You say that you have “a problem,” then make excuses because of it. You seek no professional help for this un-named problem, which seems to allow you to behave nicely while things go your way. Until I see a…
Some love for the little guys
Why did it take me this long to realize how adorable small men are? As someone who has almost always dated taller men, I gotta tell ya, I am loving the little guys lately. So adorable,and so horribly overlooked by most women. To all the “vertically challenged” men of Halifax…don’t be discouraged..you’re just as sexy…
Opinion vs. slander
So I’m skipping through a certain local big name paper yesterday, waiting to catch a ride home. I find an article about a career college I attended last year, and a student who was dissatisfied with the program he was taking and ended up getting expelled. This student decided to sue the school. He won…
Oxford Street
TAKE YOUR FUCKING CHRISTMAS LIGHTS DOWN! FUCK, IT’S MARCH. —Hating XMas Lights When it’s Not XMas
Justice
Our place, but not where we met. You’re gone, but I’m still here. I wish we had the chance to know each other better. Everything reminds me of you. You’re awesome, but you don’t give yourself enough credit. We all have things society says we should be ashamed of. You suit me fine. —Pool Shark
Glad you didn’t cover Gaga
So you played at the T-Room. I never go there. It was Thursday night and I was feeling down—until I saw you strumming at the side of the stage. I asked a friend who you were. No one seemed to know. So I figured I’d buy you a beer and find out. You were surrounded…
HRP: Don’t bother us!
Tip to the public: Don’t bother wasting your time trying to help Halifax Regional Police by reporting a crime. Today I called HRP to report a dangerous/wreckless driver only to be treated like I was the criminal. Great way to make a law-abiding citizen feel like they just wasted HRP’s time by trying to help…
Black star, black staaaaaaaar
I bet your perfume smells like shit, and your commercial for it makes me want to slit my wrists every time I see it. Do us all a favour and stop trying to be relevant. —Sk8er Boi
Incompetent, egostistical and stupid drivers: get off your lazy, incompetent, egotistical, stupid asses and WALK!
As a student living in Halifax, I get 90 percent of the places I need to go by walking. However, I may be forced to reconsider after the two times I almost lost my life in the last month thanks to a few stupid drivers who feel that their coffee, their cigarettes and their cellphones…
In stitches from bitches
I understand the need to unload frustration and gripe. Especially anonymously, in a place you know your voice will be heard. However, I think the general population of this lovely planet is taking itself (themselves?) WAY too seriously. There’s certainly no harm in making a bitch on this website. It’s hilarious, and it’s way interesting…
You stole my trike and made me sad
Dear tricycle-stealer: I’m not a big fan of you, but we could make a deal. You could bring my trike back. Hell, pretend like you found it and are doing a good deed…it doesn’t really matter. The thing is, I really like my red trike a lot. It’s adult-sized. It’s huge. It’s pretty original. A…
Buyer beware
More of a rant/buyer beware then a bitch. In January I purchased an item from certain store in Bayers Lake. I was told that the next truck would be in on Feb 5th, and that my item would be on that truck—well FEb 5th came and went, no item. After a full month of calling,…
Highway love
To the two guys in the red Hyundai Tibiron yesterday afternoon, you took the Sackville exit I believe, I saw you too! —Ranger Gal
Thanks for the rule book
When I really feel like saying what I mean to say to you. Well I just can’t. Don’t know why but I always say the wrong things. Not too sure but if there’s no such thing as coincidence then I must be saving what I feel like really saying to the person I feel the…
i’ll be lonely for a bit, but it’s worth it
I just realized my friend that I spend the vast majority of my time with is a douchebag. You know what they say: ‘your friends say a lot about the kind of person you are’. I don’t want to be a douchebag anymore, so I guess it’s time to get me a new friend. —I…
Movie love
To the manager of my local movie theatre: Thank you so much for letting us in to see a movie of our choice when we came to see A Single Man at 6:30 and saw that it was not available. You really didn’t have to offer us a free movie, but it was really wonderful…
NaCl
It’s ubiquitous. They cram as much as feasibly possible into anything they can. One entree I saw had 350 calories and 85% of the daily salt allowance. I may as well just rinse it in the ocean or rub it on a salt flat. Yeah, we need salt but could they wrap a little nutrition…
Library book shitheads
To assholes who underline shit in library books: FUCK YOU! What the fuck? Are you so fucking dense to keep a basic story straight you have to deface a literature classic? Shit, if James Joyce wanted lines emphasized he would have underlined them himself! It’s not like its a fucking bio textbook where some shit…
Blocking the intersection
What is wrong with these people who try to squeeze through a yellow light when traffic is barely crawling along? Did you not notice that the light is changing and that there is NO ROOM for you to fit in the next block? Now don’t you look stupid, sitting in the middle of the intersection,…
SHAMELESS
I am so fucking sick of the entertainment industry. Sarah Palin is shopping around for a new reality TV show. Kate Gosselin is going on Dancing With the Stars. DO THESE PEOPLE KNOW WHEN TO QUIT??? So undeserving, is all I can say. No class. No class at all. It makes me want to chuck…
Bitch about bitches
What’s wrong with people that they can’t stand up for what they believe in? Do you people seriously put up with the multiple injustices of the day, just to have them fester all day long until you can get on here and bitch to other people about it? Deal with it at the source! If…
You should be extinct!
It must be nice to lord over your business from your little winter home in the sun. You call in daily to harass the people who work themselves to the bone for you while you’re getting a tan. You’re over 70, it’s time to fucking retire. Dinosaurs like you don’t have a clue how to…
The crazies
What the hell is with the number of Melvin-esque greasebags in this city? Not 5 minutes ago I had some skeletor crackhead and his teenage-pregnancy-case girlfriend come up behind me at the bus stop and, entirely unprovoked, tell me how he’d like to “punch it [me] in the face, if it [I] even had a…
Dear NS student loans
You’re not going to refund me the $40 charge that my bank threw at me for going into overdraft. I made my payment on the 11th of the month, but for some reason you took out the payment again on the last day of the month. It’s your fault, and yet I’m still going to…
The song I wrote about you is now tentatively titled “You’re a Fucking Douchebag”
I always wanted you. Literally. I tried not to show it. You were my soft spot. You were my best friend. I don’t know what changed, but you banged me senseless (bareback). You said you wanted me. I loved it. You used me. You discarded me. You broke me. I was nothing to you all…
Sydney snaps: ECMAs day one
Coast photographer Scott Blackburn is our eyes and ears this weekend at the ECMAs. Tough job. Here are the day one highlights. Is it me, or is there a lot of style going on in Sydney?
ECMA Industry Awards Announced
ECMA 2010 INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS Broadcast of the Year presented by Atlantic TractorsAtlantic Airwaves Event of the Year presented by Cape Breton UniversityHalifax Pop Explosion Independent Company of the Year presented by Sampson McDougallSonic Entertainment Group Industry Professional of the Year presented by CARASDarren Gallop Manager of the Year presented by Gillis Home Building CentreHeather…
Oscar liveblog this Sunday night!
What would you say to this man? Tell us Sunday night. This is where you’ll want to be Sunday night, as The Coast’s movie crew dusts off their plastic tiaras and James Cameron shaking-fist for the Academy Awards and red carpet rundown liveblog. And we’ll see just how right Coast readers were in our Oscars…
Plutonium Playhouse is going to blow up
Hunter Street has quietly become another cultural hub in city, thanks to fashion and art events at the Olympic Centre, plus the drums that keep me company as I walk home past the Rock Garden and Common Ground Studios. And now here comes Plutonium Playhouse, located above Long & McQuade (2315 Hunter), ready to blow…
Atlantic Book Award shortlist and surprising omissions
The shortlist for the Atlantic Book Awards were announced this week and I have to say that this year’s list is full of surprises, some of which are really exciting. First-time novelists impressed the judges: Shandi Mitchell, nominated for two awards for her debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky, including the big Raddall prize, and…
Frolic with Caribou
“Me, I’m a big fan of the ‘magic eye’ motif when it comes to my button-up shirts.” Caribou (human name: Dan Snaith) will beckon you into his dreamy poppy-psych world on Friday June 11th at the Paragon Theatre. Doors are at 9:30pm and tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Ticket info…
Garbage day is the same day every other week
To the residents near Bloomfield and Agricola: It is Friday, garbage day isn’t until this Tuesday. The pile has been there since last Tuesda, which was organics day. What makes matters worse? You are using MY garbage spot. You are supposed to put your trash on the street in FRONT of your house not on…
Thanks HRM garbagepeople
For the past six months we’ve been renovating our house in the west end of Halifax. Because I am far too cheap to hire a company to haul away my refuse and I don’t have a truck, I bag up all my plaster, tiles, wood and construction debris in construction garbage bags. I sheepishly put…
Standing room only
I actually checked The Coast this week to see if someone had bitched about me because I acted like a dick last Friday the 26th at the Seahorse. You asked me to move in the most polite way so you could see and I immediately took it the wrong way and then carried on with…
To all you assholes causing traffic jams just to get to a drive-through
God damn! Pull into a spot, get your lazy ass out of your car and…I know this sounds weird….WALK INTO THE STORE! When you come out with your coffed in hand, give the person in line that hasn’t moved at all a little nod and a smile. You’re wasting gas, polluting the air and causing…
I don’t like Nietzsche either, but…
To the folks sitting behind me: Look, if you’re going to talk throughout the whole goddamn lecture, could you have the FUCKING decency to lower your voices? Maybe the lecturer can’t hear you, but I sure the hell can. The constant jabber when I’m trying to focus is making me feel like a damn schizophrenic.…
This story is closed to commenting
How come whenever a story runs on the CBC that has any MEAT to it, that might solicit a barrage of comments from an involved community, this story is closed to commenting? http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2010/03/04/ns-incest-charge-stayed.htm I’m absolutely blown away this story doesn’t once address the injustice the system’s misconduct has had on the VICTIMS. Yes that’s an…
Your evening national snooze
What in the hell happened to the CBC national news at 12am (ET)? Peter Mansbridge is a balder, wider Anderson Cooper now. I tuned in last night (first time in a while at that time) and I was quite disappointed—nay, pissed off—that the entire format was some crap version of CNN and their blithering idiots.…
It’s Kevin Martin Day!
It’s a Shore Thing! —Curling Rocks
Parkades…how do you get in?
OK…so you can’t read the eight-by-four-foot sign right in front of your face to figure out that you need to put a credit or debit card into the machine to open the fucking gate to get into the parkade. What, you don’t have a credit or debit card? What? The six cars in a line…
Professional photographer MY ASS
You MUST be fucking daft! First you envision the world revolving around you and your pictures, so much so that you’re on the blower to anyone who might listen when a local slut is tagged as such on your Facebook. You think that is about YOU and not the TRASH you feature most weekends in…
Sleeping plow driver
I have to get the same job. Night after night, this big yellow (HRM?) snowplow/salt truck sits with its lights turned off at the bottom of Canal Street while the driver snoozes in his warm cab. I don’t have a problem with someone taking a break, but shouldn’t you be out salting intersections or something…
I can’t stand myself anymore!
Why whenever I get so close to achieving a dream, I freak out and back away from it? Why instead of living life, I’m so hopelessly impaled on it? Why can’t I stay rooted in reality without living in this dream world? I have everything going for me, but I’m so afraid that it won’t…
Thanks for sharing!
Walk. Get a taxi. Do whatever you have to. But don’t subject everyone to your filthy noise pollution and expect the rest of us appreciate you sharing your trashy unimaginative and repetitive rap garbage! Were not all gonna jump up, start grinding each other and “get crunk” because you have it full blast. It’s a…
Umm, what happened to the federal budget?
Watched the budget after work today…waiting to hear some new, master plan that they developed when they were prorogued…watched the leprechaun talk in big generalities…same stuff from last year, just an update. Waited some more for the new stuff to come out. The master plan. Still waiting. Perhaps the only way to see a new…
Finally!
After all these months, I’m free. I can’t believe how good it feels. Being laid off a year ago was bad enough, but going back to work for you turned out to be worse. I forgot how much of an idiot you were. I can’t believe you got so upset when I quit today. What…
I shit [you] not
Fuck you IBS. Fuck you and your little dog too. Laxatives don’t work and eating more fibre makes things worse. I drink a shitload (literally) of water on a daily basis to no avail and enemas work not even half the time. Everything I eat triggers some sort of horribly constipating attack. Is it too…
Missing you, old man
Dearest old man, I miss your weekly visits to my bar. To anyone who didn’t know you, you looked homeless, careless and alcoholic. I think you were one of the best storytellers I’ve ever heard, near-toothless speech, hacking coughs and all. You were prejudiced as all hell, but unabashedly so. A last free spirit from…
Ignoring problems doesn’t fix them
Getting out of a three-year relationship on the grounds of needing some time alone to figure yourself out is fine. Sometimes people need some alone time to realize what they have in their life and who really cares for them. When you immediately start seeing someone new just weeks after, it only makes you look…
Academy snore fest
So a certain funny guy was going to poke fun at a certain director but they put the kibosh on it. Grow some spines please. I would have tuned in to watch this skit but I’ll pass. —Paingirl
SLOW DOWN cops need doughnuts too
Not really a bitch per se, but a tip: the cops are on the hunt on Bayers Lake for people who speed (yup…anything they catch over the slow speed of 50km/hr is a target…no BS). Plus they are getting extra sneaky and catching people not coming to a complete stop at the intersections in front…
Bus stop bitch
Smoking in the shelter is a problem that won’t go away, it seems. Some of you are just assholes and don’t care, some of you are just plain ignorant, so a pox on you rude idiots that smoke in the shelter while the rest of us who don’t want to smell your fucking stank (or…
Think before you speak or just don’t speak at all
We’ve been working together for about three years now and up until now it’s been a pleasure. But that sentiment was crushed when we got into the discussion of aboriginal culture last week, when you let it slip that you “always thought half of them were lazy” (direct quote). Your wife (also a co-worker) didn’t…
WILCO at the Bingo Hall
With a diverse crowd of young and old, hippie and conservative, curious and hardcore fan, the Halifax Forum Multipurpose room played host to the best band on the live concert scene today (in this writer’s humble opinion). Wilco hit the stage Wednesday after a short warm up from duo Bahamas. Jeff Tweedy and company began…
Stolen suitcase
When I went to my car yesterday parked on Garrick Avenue to grab my guitar, I popped the trunk to find that BOTH guitars and my old-school suitcase full of clothes were missing. At first I thought maybe I’d already brought them into the house, and then I thought maybe somebody else had as a…
Damn girl
To the smoking hot young blonde girl who drives a new white Audi downtown every morning down Barrington Street: I actually get excited to go to work every morning in the hopes of seeing you. Thanx! I will honk next time I see you. —Guy in the Silver Audi
New hybrid buses!
OMG! The moment the #9 pulled up this morning, I was wondering why I wasn’t gagging. As soon as I stepped on there was that new clean smell too (instead of the crummy, soggy, dead beast smell). I was in disbelief! I have never been so comfortable on a Metro Transit bus—the new high seats…
The Box
Richard Kelly refused to hold the audience’s hand in his excellent directorial debut, Donnie Darko, so it’s surprising that his lack of restraint cripples this thriller. James Marsden and Cameron Diaz, a married couple in 1970s Virginia, face temptation when a disfigured mystery man (Frank Langella) delivers the titular box and explains that pushing its…
Avert your eyes, Capricorn
Happy Birthday! Pisces February 19-March 20) One of the best new bands of 2009 was the Girls. Spin magazine selected their debut CD Album as the fifth best album of the year. After touring for months and selling scads of records, the band came back home to San Francisco in February to do a sold-out…
Black Dynamite
If I could write a one-word review of Black Dynamite it would be: “Awesome.” Or maybe “righteous” would be better. It is quite simply funny, silly, stylish and enjoyable. You could also describe it as gloriously ridiculous—what Sanders has done is assembled all the best parts of 1970s Blaxploitation B-movies and taken them to absolute…
Conservative Canada
Q OK: Female, married 15 years, one young child. No sex with husband over last five years. Have tried therapy, talking, not talking, confrontation—you name it, I tried it. Lingerie, kink, porn. A year-and-a-half ago, I got into a relationship with a married guy, a man who also wasn’t getting any at home. Our agreement…
Twin Peaks (Ghettosocks & Muneshine), Windom Earle, DJ Jorun Bombay
Ghettosocks and Muneshine (pictured above) are entering the town between the peaks with their new rap group—Twin Peaks. “We’ve completed recording and are in the process of mixing a 15-song rap album that loosely fuses David Lynch’s work (i.e. Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, etc.) with braggadocious rhymes, over an assortment of original…
Codapop Studios CD release
“When you say ‘Codapop,’ it’s like there’s a big question mark behind it,” says Tammy Milbury, the business developer of newly formed Codapop Studios, which is owned by Milbury’s partner, Doug Taylor. The studio, located in Taylor’s basement, was actually built two years ago but Milbury says it hasn’t been public until just this January.…
Postdata’s family ties
In summers, the Murphy family would drive from Yarmouth to Antigonish to visit the maternal grandparents. They piled into the station wagon and went from the bottom to the top of this province—its mainland, at least. “It was a bit of a drive,” recalls Paul Murphy from Montreal, where Wintersleep, the band for which he…
Sans AIDS at the Wardroom
Sans AIDS is Edmontonian Peter Sagar, playing lo-fi, mellow guitar and drums with an alluring bedroom-recording quality. The project originated last summer when Sagar’s other band, Outdoor Miners, a “noisier” group, was scheduled for a tour. “Our guitarist had to get surgery and we cancelled the tour. I was bored, so I started this,” he…
Colleen Brown
Colleen Brown’s big, broad voice rolls right over the vogue for wispy, wiry, whimsical vocals. Sure, she sings mostly about that universal theme, love, and she does so with robust romanticism—belief in an ideal—but this idealist’s way of phrasing lyrics and vocals set this Edmontonian apart. Listen to her talk back to “the woman on…
Community building
This week’s Coast takes a detailed look at the intriguing possibilities for Halifax’s central library—everything from the potential for an inspiring new building with beautifully designed public spaces to the opportunities for a vigorous balance between old and new media. Our reporting celebrates what we see as a victory in the clash between town and…
Pantha du Prince
Black Noise sounds like it hails from the same shimmering pop landscape as Animal Collective (in fact, that band’s Noah Lennox AKA Panda Bear sings on the standout track “Stick to My Side”). But Pantha du Prince’s Hendrick Weber keeps his ambient sounds firmly rooted in the dance-music tradition with metallic drums and rubbery bass.…
Judging a library by its cover
Our cover illustration by Jesse Jacobs may look like it bounced off the set of V, but really, it represents the library of the not-so-distant future. We polled librarians, library science students and experts, travellers and book lovers to build our own vision of the modern library. Fear not, bibliophiles, books aren’t going anywhere. Though…
Four Tet
When experimenting with sound, often the question is how musical the result should be. London-based Kieran Hebden, who moonlights as a club DJ, bounces between beautiful electronic randomness and direct to disco on his latest. It is puzzling for those who fancy his mutant side when he’ll plop a lengthy groove like “Love Cry” under…
Space case: a new theatre for Halifax?
When Judith Hare talks about what the new central library can bring to Halifax, the list of possibilities could lap the current Spring Garden location 10 times over.The Halifax Public Libraries CEO has been with us since 1996, and she knows what the public wants: new amenities that aren’t being offered downtown by the current…
Daniel, Fred & Julie
Singer-guitarist Daniel Romano (Attack in Black), Fred Squire (Calm Down It’s Monday) and the Julie Doiron join finger-pickin’ and harmonizin’ forces here. The dominant theme of these songs, mostly ballads, is hurt. Points of view switch from the one harmed to the one harming. Accordingly, the mood of this staunchly mono recording is mainly “dark…
Who are the Halifax Central Library architects?
We know that the architects have already been selected for the Halifax Central Library, but it’s still all a big secret. An announcement is expected before Tuesday’s council meeting, where a recommendation report will be presented. Rumour has it that Fowler Bauld & Mitchell and Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects have been selected, but…
KoAk
I saw New Brunswick’s KoAk play Hell’s Kitchen a few years ago, meekly announce it was their first Halifax show and captivate the audience with a performance that far exceeded the band’s confidence. They’ve cropped up equally unassumingly a few times since, and this album, available for free (koakrecordings.blogspot.com), featuring waves of mostly instrumental, lo-fi…
Penning for a cause
For all the writers who’ve received rejection slips to the effect of “Too political, we don’t do morals, try non-fiction,” there is hope. Fernwood Publishing launched the Beacon Award (beaconaward.ca) for social justice fiction, last week at Outside the Lines. The idea came from Anne Bishop, a community worker and author of several non-fiction books.…
By the books: Seattle Central Public Library
If Halifax Public Libraries CEO Judith Hare had hired Rem Koolhaas to do our library, the diamonds up the arses of people like Herald editors, Peter Kelly and Darrell Dexter would have suddenly gotten much harder. At least, that’s what happened to many folks in Seattle when Koolhaas’ name appeared on the design list for…
The Waterproof Bible, Andrew Kaufman (Random House)
Andrew Kaufman’s All My Friends Are Superheroes had its own magical powers: the thin novella was a surprise hit when it came out almost seven years ago. The former Coast contributor’s first novel, The Waterproof Bible, still reads like multiple novellas. There are the intertwined stories of Rebecca, a young, grieving woman whose emotional powers…
More library lessons learned
Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library Why ask a librarian from rural Nova Scotia for advice? Well, city slicker, because Eric Stackhouse, chief librarian of the Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library, is a few steps ahead of us. His library system, along with a local architect and multiple community partners, are in the homestretch of building a new 16,000-square-foot library…
Twenty + Change
If you want to feel reassured that our cities are in good hands, go see Twenty + Change, a travelling exhibition of projects by emerging Canadian architects, urban and landscape designers. The inaugural show at Dalhousie’s new Architecture and Planning faculty exhibition space kicked off Monday with a lecture by Ian Chodikoff, editor of Canadian…
Academy accounting
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Channeling history
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Cuppa brew
If the new library has a cafe, wouldn’t it be nice if it could have a bar, too? Wishful thinking, we know, but there are spots in the city where you can buy a coffee for one hand and a beer for the other. We took a sip out of the coffee-holding hand (honest) and…
Just Kids, Patti Smith (Random House)
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Cop vs Cop
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O’ Canada
Leave the words to the national anthem alone, motherfuckers. —Will Sing it as is Till I Die
Dogs need exercise, idiot
Dear brain, Grow up and piss off. —Hollow Watermelon
Pow! Smack! Thunk!
To the girl in my Islamic History class who seems to have an amazing talent of hurting people within two feet of her: I do not know what your name is, and why you cause me pain, but I may soon reciprocate. You seem to have an uncanny way of always smacking me in one…
Sidewalk helper
Yay to the guy wearing the red running jacket walking down the sidewalk on the Bedford Highway on March 3 who stopped to rip down the scraggly weed bush that was blocking part of the sidewalk. You made everyone else’s walk so much easier. Yay! —Passing motorist
Googly-eyed faces on Spring Garden Road
While walking down Spring Garden Road with my young children recently, they noticed that someone had glued googly eyes to a bunch of pipes, heating vents, et cetera. It made their day! —One Happy Momma
Goodbyes: another thing I’ve never done
I just realized that if I had lots to say I would have said it with all the time I had to say it in. But the sparks been gone for months. I’m not sure but what I do know is that the time is coming ever so quickly. That I’m so bad at saying…
No Sleep ‘Till Sydney?
Sadly Scene and Heard will be missing out on the ECMAs this year. Instead your humble narrator will spend the weekend as she usually does, talking about herself in the third person, watching Walker Texas Ranger and drinking Wildcat until she cries. She was really looking forward to all these mini-festivals and “No-Cases” for up-and-coming…
Do we have too much policing?
The RCMP and Halifax Regional Police have been discussing the pluses and minuses of continuing to have RCMP contract policing in the HRM (See “Cop vs. cop,” Reality Bites by Tim Bousquet, page 4). The question has apparently been decided on cost effectiveness with some politics thrown in and very little public engagement. At present…
History versus heritage
Halifax has been settled, expanded and redefined for the past three centuries. This city has a storied past that is part of our identity. That said, there is a difference between history and heritage. History is the inherited relics and stories of our shared and individual past. Heritage is what we value in the past.…
The city’s apology misses the mark
The city’s apology misses the mark, an opportunity I am a masters student in the department of religion and theology at Saint Mary’s University. I have spent the last few years dedicated to studying the black community in Halifax, and have recently been following HRM’s offerings to the former residents of Africville. The public apology…
Politicians on the bus!
[image-1]Let’s be clear: Halifax city council is making significant headway in improving our feeble bus system. Some 15 new articulated buses will hit the streets in coming weeks, with 30 more coming over the next two years, and councillors appear committed to even more exciting expansion as laid out in the Five Year Transit Plan.…
Kansas made in Costa Rica
I tell ya. I am back in Alajuela, Costa Rica. Norval and Mike return to Halifax early tomorrow. Today I am walking along, close to the condo. It’s really hot and I have just slogged up a hill, so I am walking slowly. A guy is sitting on a low wall. He is smoking. He…
Hot Time in Bocas
I have a lucky afternoon. We imagine postcard-perfect moments come more often when we are away from the usual, but really, even in various versions of paradise, they don’t show up at every turn. In the morning I shuffle around Bocas Town, slowed and bowed by a tremendous hot humidity. I don’t notice the sky…
A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!
Boca Town This is a great place. Bocas del Toro is a small group of islands off the Caribbean side of Panama. The main town is a town—flat and slow; perfect for shambling around. It is very hot and nobody moves very quickly. It has many services for the tourists and the large number of…
Puerto Viejo
Norval, Mike and I have come to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, and thank christ the net is full of photos to swipe: my Canon SX110 camera up and quit working; a look on the interconnector shows many people complaining about the problem my camera suddenly has. The same thing happened with my Dell…
Saprissa vs LDA
I was walking around the Central Market area in Alajuela, and in the window of a junky accessory store (sort of a Central America version of Ardene—much smaller) I saw a mauve and white striped plastic ring which appealed much to my stunted 14-year-old fashion sense, so I went in and asked to see it.…
Gates & Dogs
Norval Collins Mike Sangster Norval Collins has a condo in Alajuela. He and Mike Sangster are here. The Condominiums Mana have an electric gate by the road and 24 hour security (as many places do) in the form of Eduardo and David, who have brown para-military uniforms, aviator sunglasses, guns and beltsfull of bullets. They…
Juan, el negro VS Jane, ella blanca!
We took a bus into San Jose (30 minutes, 400 colones [.76CDN]) and after errands and a museum visit took another out the other side of the capital, to Coronado. Norval had shoes to deliver. A friend of a friend has a son with size 16 feet and a pair of shoes had been sent…
World Turns Weirdly
The Republic of Costa Rica (pronounced coast-a, not cost-a, as I have been doing my whole life) is in Central America, bounded on the north by Nicaragua, on the south by Panama, on the east by the Caribbean Sea and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The ISO 3166-1 designations for Costa Rica are…
