WATCH OR DIE
Global is re-airing Friday Night Lights from the start beginning tonight at 8pm. Don’t make me make you run in the mud. WATCH.
Spittin’ mad
To the editor, Though I am a faithful reader and will remain so, it still stands that I was shocked and extremely disappointed by The Coast having chosen to run a large advertisement for a tobacco product in its pages. I have seen mistakes similar to this made by your paper before: running advertisements that…
Thirsting for justice
To the editor, Recently, I realized just how much power Metro Transit possesses over us lowly travellers. I am a water drinker. Since I spend five hours a week on the bus, I bring a bottle of water and have a few sips on my way to classes at Mount St. Vincent University. On April…
Light switch
To the editor, David Rimmington’s letter “Flicked off” (May 10) left me scratching my head, as doubtless others were too. Burbling on about fluorescent tubes as if they were the topic of Lezlie Lowe’s original column, Mr. Rimmington then went on to claim that CFL bulbs can burn down your house. While it is true…
Burning Ears hiatus
Sorry for the sudden disappearance of the Ears over recent days. They will be back, once things in the offline world become a bit less hectic. And be sure to watch for a guest Burning Ears appearance in The Coast’s paper version this Thursday.
Are you ready for some (sort of) football?
Today kicked off an industry event I would really love to be part of one of these years — the TV network upfronts, in which the nets reveal their fall line-ups. NBC was first out of the gate, and I’m STOKED to report Friday Night Lights will be back (on Friday, Marnie), original recipe Law…
Touring Green – Blog 1: Victoria (May 13)
As I start this blog, I have been thinking of some inspirational words such as Confucius’ “The longest journey begins with a single step” or the anonymous quote: “The longest journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart” and, from these quotes I’ve been comforted as I have…
Rabbits And Blueberries…
Rabbits and Blueberries by Ken Jessome is billed as a “dark comic drama” that takes “a hilarious but searching look at Cape Breton identity today”, and for the first act, it seems like it might deliver. The bantering between Billy (Todd Hiscock), an out-of-work ne’er-do-well, and Francis (Nick Sobol) a struggling bar owner, manages to…
House
Daniel MacIvor’s House is resplendent with bizarre and haunting images: a smile that fills a sewer pipe, a pair of Irish Setters fighting over the only opened tin of pate at a hip dog party, two people so filled with the missed possibilities of love that they explode. These pictures (and many more) are woven…
Halifax poet story in the Globe and Mail
This is a really great story. And I’m not just saying that because my husband wrote it either. In today’s Globe there’s a story about Brian Purdy, son of the Canadian poet and literary icon Al Purdy and also a writer, who happens to live and run a bookstore out of his basement apartment below…
If you like this blog post
If you’re a little freaked out by targetted marketing tactics such as Amazon.com’s “helpful suggestions” that are based on your previous search results, you should try the Unsuggester which “analyzes the thirteen million books LibraryThing members have recorded as owned or read, and comes back with books least likely to share a library with the…
The last word
The Atlantic Book Festival is in its final chapter, with the awards ceremony dropping at Pier 21 on May 11. But before that there are a few events we’d like to direct your attention to. Deanne Fitzpatrick talks about her East Coast Rug-Hooking Designs: New Patterns from an Old Tradition on May 10 at Mary…
Two seater
There are bands that spend years piecing together albums for a variety of reasons—for Toronto’s The Bicycles, the challenge was recording fast enough to capture all the material the band was writing. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Scott (of neither Sloan nor Meligrove Band fame) explains the debut LP The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly…
Viva la renovation!
If you’ve ever gone for dinner at Mexico Lindo in Fairview, you know how hard it is to get a table. That problem will soon be over, as the owners have decided to expand the seating area. “If you don’t have a reservation, you won’t get a table after 5:30,” says co-owner Wilson Jenkins of…
Greening the Darkside
When travelling towards downtown Dartmouth via Wyse Road, one of first buildings to greet your eyes is the former Dartmouth heritage museum. And what a greeting it is. Basically, the building looks—and has looked, for quite some time—terrible. As Kyle Shaw outlined in a recent Coast editorial, there are boarded up windows, mould problems, thoughtless…
Chewing it over
To the editor, I’m just wondering what is up with the smokeless tobacco advertising in the May 3 issue of The Coast. I know advertisers pay your bills and are the reason that I get your great paper free every week but…I thought tobacco advertising was very out of fashion (I’m surprised you’re even permitted…
Infilling, outgoing
To the editor, Something fresh and unusual happened May 1: HRM citizens leaving council chambers after a public hearing and council vote were smiling. I might even characterize it as grinning broadly. It’s been a long time coming, but the unanimous council decision to approve by-law amendments to deter further private infilling on the North…
It’s fry time for spring
To the editor, Alright, alright; enough with inconsequential topics like satellite dishes for Muslims, the harbour cleanup and coalitions against poverty. What we REALLY want to know is, “Where is Bud the Spud?” Here it is, May already, and all we’ve got on Spring Garden Road is some half-baked knock-off with soggy fries and warm…
Flicked off
To the editor, Lezlie Lowe seems happy to relegate the incandescent light bulb to the pages of history (“Light bulb moment,” May 3). I view it with more reverence. I would be loathe to see it phased out in favour of the fluorescent bulb. I’ve worked for hours in various businesses under fluorescent lights, and…
Pinsent tense
Gordon Pinsent was one of many Canadian thespians who guest-starred on the long-running, much-adored TV drama Road to Avonlea. Though the iconic, Newfoundland-born actor doesn’t recall having had a scene with Sarah Polley, then one of the young Avonlea stars, he knew her through her family, many of whom worked in the business. “I knew…
Picket fences
Your bosses are being jerks. You’re feeling exploited, overworked and underpaid. You’d like to quit, but can’t afford to and besides, you actually love your job and the city where you work. Your last resort? Join your fellow workers and hit the bricks to get a fair contract. That’s what 600 IWK health care professionals…
Downtown rising
The revitalization of Barrington Street is moving into a new phase. Those involved in the project hope it will lead to the implementation of a plan by this time next year. The most recent discussions about Barrington began in 2004, when HRM formed a steering committee—comprised of Barrington retailers, property owners, Nova Scotia Heritage Trust…
Unjust rewards
One of the best ways to make a lot of money in Nova Scotia is to trash the planet. Consider: Last year Ralph Tedesco, CEO of Nova Scotia Power, and Chris Huskilson, CEO of NSP’s parent company, Emera, were paid $2.6 million and $1.2 million respectively in salary and bonuses. If we’re to accept the…
Game on
Tuesday night in Dartmouth, lacrosse is booming. Literally. In the hollow, echoey guts of Bowles Arena, a barn-like hockey rink hidden deep in the outskirts of Dartmouth, lacrosse sounds like a series of small explosions. Twelve players, along with coach Norman Hum, have gathered to practice on the arena’s ice surface—with the ice temporarily removed.…
Chocolate city
It’s been 13 years since Forrest Gump told the world that life was like a box of chocolates. David Folster, author of Ganong: A Sweet History of Chocolate, supports that idea. Leafing through the book’s glossy pages, filled with pictures of a wide variety of Ganong memorabilia, it’s clear that if you want to know…
The last gasp
Only 29 days remain until Choke’s final show in its hometown of Edmonton. On Sunday, as the band drives from Sault St. Marie to Barrie for the last time, vocalist/bassist Clay Shea says there’s only one thing he won’t miss about touring: the heat inside the van. “Hot makes me grumpy!” he says, laughing. Combining…
Spider-Man 3
For several years it seemed a given that the best comic-movie franchise going was Spider-Man. The colossal disappointment of Spider-Man 3 evens the field. It would be better suited as a Fantastic Four sequel. Using most of the same creative talent as Spider-Man 2, Sam Raimi (whose career now consists entirely of making these films)…
Dan’s House
Daniel MacIvor has come home. Well, not home-home—as in his hometown of Sydney, Cape Breton—but home to Nova Scotia. Purcell’s Cove, to be exact. It marks the first time since his days as a theatre student at Dalhousie that the award-winning playwright and actor can refer to himself as a Haligonian. “I might as well…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Take care of your elephant, Aquarius.
SAVAGE LOVE
Dan Savage has ideas about how to get your fave panties back.
More Savage Love
Q You don’t need yet another editor, but I thought you missed a subtle point in SLINORLA’s letter. There’s nothing wrong with his Second Life existence, or what he does in it. And it’s sad that his wife can’t be more understanding of his needs and supportive of his hobby. The point you may have…
