Letters to the Editor
much adieu about doggie doo in the present, in the current, in the here and now, freedom of choice is all there is. no matter what happens, you always have a choice about how you will deal with it. so what if you step on the thing that lies in front of you on your…
Feel the Noise in Wolfville
We reported a couple weeks back on the welcome resurrection of Wolfville’s Atlantic Theatre Festival, a summer destination event that was shuttered two years ago for financial reasons. The company announced its season this week, and it’s gonna be a truncated—but hilarious—one. Beloved comic romp Noises Off will open July 21 and run through to…
Relocation site
A year short of a decade into its existence and Nova Scotia Music Week is ready to test the waters outside the borders of the Halifax Regional Municipality. The province’s annual music showcase is slated for November 10 to 12 in Liverpool. Host Committee Chairs John Wiles and Anne Oakley say the community of just…
Paint for life
Dandy Lion Eco Interior Painting offers a healthy alternative for all of your house painting needs. Owner Selah Koile’s new business benefits both humans and the environment by reducing the amount of paint dumped in landfills (she uses recycled paint), reducing the stress placed on the body by dangerous toxins (she uses no VOC —volatile…
McNab’bed
A group of approximately 17 campers were rounded up last Saturday night on McNabs Island by provincial conservation officers and told to fold up their tends and go home. Although overnight camping has traditionally been permitted on McNabs, the two conservation officers were apparently unaware of the unique camping conditions that prevail on the island.…
Student Aid
Dear Rodney MacDonald, As president of the St. Francis Xavier Students’ Union, I urge you to start saving for your son’s education. Perhaps offer some fiddling lessons when you have some free time, and make sure that Ryan gets out working at an early age. As a student, trust me—you had both better start saving…
Student aid
To the editor, Every party leader in the provincial election has emphasized their commitment to the economy, to our families and to the future of Nova Scotia, while stressing that this election will not be focused on any one issue. It’s important to note, however, that there is ONE issue that encompasses all of these…
Trash talkin’
To the editor, I see that June 4 to June 11 is Environment Week. What a great opportunity to bring up a dirty little problem that this city has. I have lived in several Canadian cities and can say with some objectivity that Halifax has more litter than most. The HRM’s website boasts some rather…
Bringing back Yaser
The sandwich board outside the Pyramid Cafe on Windsor Street tells the whole story. Yaser’s back. OK, maybe not the whole story, but diehard fans of Yaser El-Helaly don’t need to know much more than that Yaser is back in Halifax and behind the grill. The 39-year-old classically trained chef made his mark at Cafe…
Herb your enthusiasm
Q: What herbs are available now that spring is here? A: We’re unique, actually, in the sense that most of the herbs we offer are available year round. So we have the same fresh-cut herbs available today as we do during the winter and later in the summer. Q: What will change as the warm…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
You have the potential to reach miraculous levels of laziness, Pisces, says Rob Brezsny.
SAVAGE LOVE
Dan Savage is a commonsensical guy. Really.
Dream a little dream
Sports fans put their rosters together. Office gossips match-make and project affairs upon innocent couples. Film snobs, for their part, allow their fantasy cast and crew to play out some masterwork in their heads. Ever read a book and cast a famous actor in your imagination as the lead character? That is the best analogy…
Generation X-Men
Stan Lee, the creator of Marvel Comics superheroes such as Spider-Man, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four, claims he and artist Jack Kirby wanted the X-Men to be different. He says that the X-Men were intended to be allegorical, a super-heroic symbol for the civil-rights movement in the ’60s. They were mutants, born with genetic…
Gaffe it up
Rodney MacDonald spent the first week of the election campaign stumping the province in a recreational vehicle sporting an Alberta licence plate. Sharp-eyed Dave Rodenhiser of the Daily News unearthed “plate-gate” the day Rodney called the election. “Why do you have an Albertan RV?” Rodenhiser asked. He reports that the Tory leader tried to dodge…
Drawing interest
The hot-pink clues arrived, scattered across Halifax’s north end, on the morning of Thursday, May 11. There were no concert announcements on the recipe-card-sized papers, just the words “Gottingen and Cunard,” cryptically laid over a photocopy of wood grain. Signs were everywhere: stuck with masking tape on Staples’ glass doors, the old legion building on…
Decent exposure
Tits and ass sell everything from jeans to tennis balls. But this ad campaign is different. And it’s not because they forgot the ass. The web site you’ll want to visit—immediately—is checkoutmybreasts.com. The charity is Rethink Breast Cancer. The deal is this: you go to any Roots store, buy one of the snazzy target logo…
Pedalling performance
Mary Ellen MacLean is rehearsing her new play, Velocipede, in the Dalhousie Arts Centre. Studio Two is a large cavernous cube. A metal grid is suspended from the ceiling, just above a catwalk which wraps around the room. Far below on the studio floor, about 20 cycles are parked, a herd of rust, rubber, chrome,…
The Da Vinci Code
Nothing is more vital in film reviewing than the necessity of standing up for the integrity of a good movie other critics are trashing. Early reports of critics hissing at The Da Vinci Code at the Cannes Film Festival set off alarms of highbrow distaste for American blockbusters. (The Dan Brown novel is just too…
Use your Powers
It was a chilly Friday night, November 2004. The Halifax Pop Explosion was in full swing at The Seahorse, and The Illuminati headed the bill in the then-scrappy, pre-renovation basement bar. The unpretentious, hirsute power trio with a heavy handle and dueling vocalists came on and pulverized the audience with its unique blend of Black…
