When the levee breaks
The Wall Street Journal pointed out this week that three years ago, Louisiana newspaper The Times-Picayune ran an in-depth five-part series warning of the hurricane danger to that part of the southern United States. It discussed, at great length, concerns about being surrounded on all sides by water as the ground continued to sink, how…
A bigger barking lot
After a dog’s age in one location, the Halifax Veterinary Hospital is moving on to greener pastures. The pet care clinic plans to move its operation to the old Lawton’s space at Quinpool and Beech (6485 Quinpool), next to Great Ocean. “It’s got a great parking lot,” says Shelley Flinn, who was working the front…
Shocking MIANS nominees
The Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia has announced the nominees for its annual awards ceremony to be held September 25 at The Marquee Club. MIANS will host the event at the end of Nova Scotia Music Week, which is slated to take place September 21-25. Joel Plaskett and Matt Mays earned the highest number…
Inside the Fringes
Challenging the very definition of the term fringe, this year’s Atlantic Fringe Festival includes three established companies: Angels and Heroes, Foghorn and Exodus Theatres. Alongside Angels and Heroes’s raunchy Hard-On House (a take-off on George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House) and Foghorn’s emotionally raw I Stand Before You Naked by Joyce Carol Oates, Exodus’s production of…
Key words
I went to a lot of parties last weekend. The kind of parties at which the CBC lockout inevitably comes up. Maybe strangers are discussing how much they miss As It Happens, or maybe it’s someone who knows me, who asks how I’m handling the strike. “The lockout?” I say, “Oh, you know.” They respond…
The anniversary party
If ever she once was, Lia Rinaldo is no longer bothered by a new film festival in Montreal. “It became quite clear that we were pursuing different things,” says Rinaldo, the Atlantic Film Festival’s director, of the new event that overlaps with AFF’s 25th anniversary. “So, we haven’t kept in regular contact, as one would…
To have and to hold on
Dear Dalton McGuinty, premier of Ontario, The one-armed boy’s yelling woke me up this morning. I poked my head outside to see if the pit bulls were at him again, and soon discovered what all the excitement was about. “There’s a boat coming, you,” he said. “Better get the frig down there, wha?” Although I…
Finding Fudge
The crowd is still the same, a group in search of a drink and a good time, and welcoming any gender, race and sexual preference. People still frequent the club for weekly events such as karaoke and dancing on Friday and Saturday nights. The renovations, new sign, and new ownership and staff indicate there’s been…
Book ’em
A school in Vail, Arizona, becomes this autumn one of the first e-book high schools, ditching real, live paper textbooks for the flat screen sheen of student-issue laptops, e-texts, online articles and an extensive WiFi network. I can already hear the apocalypse-prophesizing of book lovers everywhere. But come now. This isn’t the same disaster of…
Pipe Dreams
As Matt Healy bobs up and down in the ocean just off of Lawrencetown Beach, he is completely indistinguishable from the other 20 surfers in the water—they all look the same from the shore. It doesn’t help that every single one of them is covered from neck to ankle in black neoprene to block out…
Making Noise
When asked who their influences are, the two members of Special Noise mention North of America first. Then Slight Return, Thrush Hermit, the Super Friendz and Burdocks—all Halifax bands the duo has seen live. Greg Napier, the group’s drummer, and Jef Simmons, who sings and plays guitar, sit around a table at the North End…
The smooth talker
Massari, AKA Sari Abboud, lives the life of a smooth talker. His words are like the fine-tailored white suit he wears on the cover of his debut CD—silky and sleek. A request for background information turns into a calling card for a burgeoning Don Juan at a singles’ bar. When asked how old he is,…
The Brothers Grimm
Two thousand five has been a big year for big-name filmmakers. For me, the auteurist successes have come from Wong Kar Wai, Steven Spielberg, and to a more modest degree, Hayao Miyazaki, Jim Jarmusch and Tim Burton. On the other end of the spectrum is the newest work by Fernando Meirelles, John Dahl, Ridley Scott…
Taste test
Every year, a little booklet appears all over Nova Scotia and trumpets the virtues of the restaurants included therein. These restaurants belong to the Taste of Nova Scotia Society, and all pay for admission to the Society and its book, geared towards the tourism market. So, can what amounts to paid advertising (on the surface)…
Great escape
Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir of Canada books prove our country’s fascination with our own iconography. From stubby beer bottles to Nanaimo bars, Coupland’s photographic dissection of Canadian culture is one of the most amusing visual interpretations of our home and native land. Artist Leah Modigliani grabs hold of Coup-land’s magnifying glass and looks much deeper. Although…
