Music & Space
I’m showing my geek credentials here, but every day as I ride past the apparatus on the edge of the Common that on Saturday will support all those rockin’ sexagenarians, I think it looks like that bizarre construction from Contact. You know, the one that transported Jodie Foster all the way across the galaxy. This…
Fantasy’s island
Final Fantasy won the inaugural Polaris Prize on Monday. I was honoured to be part of the initial selection process, which was over 100 journalists across the country each pitching their top 5 albums, with the top 10 vote getters comprising the nominee list. (My number one pick was Sarah Harmer’s I’m A Mountain, which…
Measuring Metric
(Sorry for the late post — I’ve been out of the office this week. TT) Metric finally made it to Halifax and let everyone know what the fuss was about. The Toronto-based quartet hit the Halifax Forum Multi-Purpose Room around 10pm on September 15 after a rousing set from local band The Stance. Clad in…
No bull
For the first time in its history, the Maritime Fall Fair in Halifax is introducing a bull-riding event to its lineup. The Professional Bull Riding Canada Rocky Cup Series will take place on October 6 and 7 at Exhibition Park. Rodeo promoters would like us to believe that these animals love to kick and squirm…
We all get Stoned
To the editor, Like it or not, and despite HRM’s efforts to minimize impact on the Common and surrounding areas, the huge numbers of Rolling Stones fans will have a negative impact on the Common. You can make a difference with three simple actions. First, use public transit, walk or bike. Many extra buses will…
We all get Stoned
To the editor, I’d like to encourage you to write an article about The Rolling Stones. I feel that people would be wise to boycott the concert for the following reasons: 1. The Stones are irrelevant. No new music of significance since the ’80s. They were cool. Emphasis on “were.” 2. The Stones are for…
Edward Burtynsky…
Eat your heart out.
Wednesday 9:45am
Nary a pot to piss in…
Tuesday 6:45pm
Hardcore construction on my way to a screening of American Hardcore
Tuesday’s toilets…
are Wednesday’s photos.
September 19th nervous breakdown
Every day I walk across the Commons on my way to work, but this week I’m avoiding more than dog poop (although I love the North Park crosswalk police escort). Regardless of what you think about a public space being used during a for-profit concert, it’s fascinating in a kids’ Tonka Truck way to watch…
You’re beautiful
One sign of an excellent festival program is when you see entirely different crowds at various films. At last night’s nearly sold-out screening of American Hardcore, the architectural eyeglass frames (do all film people shop at the same store?) were replaced with shaved heads and studded leather jackets. Programmer Lee Anne Gillan thanked the crowd…
Long Range
Manufactured Landscapes left me feeling very strange. The doc, directed by Jennifer Baichwal, arrives from The Toronto International Film Festival with an award for best Canadian feature. What Baichwal does is attempt to replicate what photographer Edward Burtynsky does with his photographs, but with moving images. Ostensibly she’s following him around as he visits China…
Buzzkill?
Here’s a quandary. I saw one of the films I’m not supposed to review, and once again, had a strong emotional reaction. Now, I know the embargo is really in place because the distributors don’t want any bad buzz to kill its chance of making some money during the commercial release, but they don’t mind…
Ms. Polley
People are already calling to ask how the interview went. I’ll get to it, don’t worry. Let me go back a little: My day clambered to life on the air at CKDU. Thanks to Hillary for guesting again—we navigated the review embargo while still trying to blab about the movies at the festival. I’ve heard…
Dancing scene
Occasionally as a writer, I am lucky enough to observe incredible moments during an artist’s creative process (and to get paid for it!). Watching choreographer Sally Morgan and her crew of local and German contact dancers and skateboarders during rehearsals for the dance film decoding the undertow for a Coast cover story (see the archives–I…
Shoot Day
Well, I guess I can call myself a filmmaker now. Should get my passport updated? The Super-8 experience went pretty well, largely due to my great actors, Anthony Black, Ann-Marie Kerr and Jerry West. Listen to me, it sounds like I’m prepping my Oscar speech. It was a lot of fun, a real collaborative experience,…
Tears are not enough
Last night’s laughs turn to tears (ok, bordering on right-out bawling) during the screening of Snow Cake, starring Alan Rickman, Signourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss, about a troubled Brit who, through tragic circumstances, ends up in Wawa, Ontario, with Linda (Weaver), a highly functional autistic woman. Directed by Marc Evans as a Canada-UK co-production, it’s…
Funny bits
Last night I saw a whole whack of funny shit–but I can’t tell you about it due to the review restrictions placed on Young Triffie and Strangers with Candy. What I can tell you is that it’s pee-your-pants funny just to be in the same room with Mary Walsh and Andrea Martin, who were both…
Eve of the Reel
The program is called Attack of the 50ft Reels. I was press ganged by AFCOOP’s Walter Forsyth (well, to tell the truth, I went pretty willingly) into this, and now it’s Friday night, I’m desperately trying to come up with a compelling script. A couple of talented actor friends of mine have agreed to be…
Second verse, similar to the first
***I apologize for the late wrap-up…technical difficulties were encountered on Wednesday and Thursday.*** An older man turned around in his seventh-row seat to face me as I ate my overpriced untoasted bagel from Second Cup, no longer interested in quality breakfast. (Yesterday was popcorn.) “Were you here yesterday for the Dixie Cows?” “Oh, ha., ha,…
Walk of shame
Thanks Carsten, you’re the Ben Mulroney to my Tanya Kim. So after getting booted out of the (poorly marked) opening night party VIP line, we had to do the walk of shame down Barrington and back up to the other side of Argyle where we hung out with the sparkly Joe Halifaxs and city councillors.…
Party, Party, Party
A Bug and A Bag of Weed is a movie I was really looking forward to, having met and interviewed two of the producers and stars, Chris Cuthbertson and Drew Hagen. It is also on my reviewer gag list (see earlier entry) so I won’t say too much, but that Hagen and Cuthbertson’s enthusiasm for…
A Day Early
Yes, the 26th Atlantic Film festival doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, but mine started a day early. Before I get started, I should mention that this is my second year as The Mad Blogger What Blogs At Midnight for The Coast. Last year was a blast, even though I saw many a movie through an…
The small apple
We know you’ve been looking for ways to make September exciting, what with the dearth of culture available to you throughout the month. And while we fully support attending as much of the Atlantic Film Festival as possible, we also encourage you to check out another cinematic event. The Manhattan Short Film Festival will makes…
Talking vegetables
Tumbleweed Publishing—a subsidiary of local music co. Tumbleweed Entertainment—is releasing its latest in a vegan-oriented print series this week. Author Claire Gallant decided to branch out from the strict cookbook format of her last two efforts. She says A Cure for Vegoraphobia: A Vegan Dining Guide to Halifax will help local vegans know what establishments…
Gothic misunderstanding
While the country mourns the Dawson College killings, and television stations scramble to create heinous logos to advertise their coverage (CTV is using a crosshair superimposed over a fleur-de-lis), it makes me sad that once again, although still early, attention is focused on the killer’s association with “Goth culture” rather than making any intelligent attempts…
Soles for sale
Active Underground opened September 1 at 2642 Agricola in the basement of the building formerly home to Factory 21 Used Cars. Owned by Gregg Curwin of Curwin Heath and Sport in the QEII, Oh My Sole on Young and Spring Fitness Centre on University, Active Underground will specialize in footwear. “It’s what our business is,”…
Intelligent design?
Three urban planners from the city-driven planning project HRM by Design dropped by The Coast on Tuesday to discuss the future of the Regional Centre (roughly, downtown Dartmouth and the Halifax peninsula). The group, made up of HRM’s Urban Design project manager Andy Fillmore and two representatives from the Toronto-based design firm Office for Urbanism,…
Hot-dawging
To the editor, After reading Bruce Wark’s “Dogs of war” editorial in last week’s issue, I was left shaking my head for two reasons. The first was because of all the trouble Jerry Reddick, AKA the Dawgfather, has experienced. The other was because of his choice to turn it into some sort of racial issue.…
Square roots
When Tyler Morton was growing up in Uniacke Square in the ’90s, he knew the neighbourhood’s “bad guys,” including its drug dealers. Sometimes, he says, they’d offer him money to—wait for it—go to school. Or threaten to beat him up if he didn’t. At the time, he says he thought they were picking on him;…
The Raveonettes
Published May 12, 2005.The RaveonettesPretty In Black (Columbia)The Raveonettes’ Sharin Foo was set to replace The Cardigans’ Nina Persson as Sweden’s quirkiest and most beloved songbird, but then there was the mysterious inclusion of a Raveonettes song in an American K-Mart TV commercial. “Huh?” said fans watching the cast from WB’s Seventh Heaven grooving to…
Back to the footware
Al Cabino kinda jumps out at people. First, he sends me an email: I would love to talk with you about my international sneaker campaign. This is the world’s first and only international sneaker petition. Talk soon. When I mail back and agree to talk to him about his mission to get Nike to manufacture…
Beyond measure
The truly great rock stars possess a particular type of intensity. It’s as if those who are capable of making thousands of spectators swoon at their feet are meant to act a little differently than the rest of the populace, by their own rules. Emily Haines, of the acclaimed band Metric, is one of those…
Garden of delights
In more than five years of writing about food for The Coast, I can count on one hand the number of truly amazing meals I’ve had—there have been plenty of great meals and very good meals, but only a few that can only be described as flawless. Such is my dinner at the Italian Garden.…
Folk remedies
Billy Bragg is fresh from a dip in the sea, and ready to talk. Not a huge surprise—the British musician is as famous for his humourous, jagged political riffs as he is for charmingly poetic folk songs infused with genuine punk sensibility. Now he’s ready to talk about a new project. After returning home from…
Fur and peace
Hamsters are small, fluffy, cute-faced rodents that some people choose to live with. They sleep during the day, scurry to nowhere on exercise wheels at night, and rarely make it to their third birthdays. Hamsters are not epic. With one possible exception. Copain is a sweet-natured gay hamster from Paris. He falls in love with…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Subvert robotic hocus-pocus, Leo, says Rob Brezsny.
Follow me home
Although it’s 7:30am, not a trace of morning grogginess is detectable in Camelia Frieberg’s voice on the phone. In Toronto for the opening of the Toronto International Film Festival, it’s the only time she has free for an interview. Lively and talkative, Frieberg speaks enthusiastically about her recent venture as a first-time feature-film director. “Recreating…
SAVAGE LOVE
He’s swift, brutal and funny, and that’s why we heart Dan Savage.
True colours
Life is a struggle, we’re often reminded. When people engage in a tussle for a truth, the rest of us gather around to watch, in rapt attention. It’s not a matter of cruelty—we’re not intentionally withholding help. We’re waiting to learn from that person’s efforts. Witnessing struggle may very well be a viewer’s role in…
The big deal
CottonlandSeptember 15, 7:05pm, Park Lane, $10 Hitting close to home, photographer Nance Ackerman, best known for her striking portraits of First Nations women, turns a camera lens on how the addictive prescription drug OxyContin has become a signifier of the devastating social problems facing the community of Glace Bay. Ackerman collaborated with recovering addicts to…
Film focus
26th Atlantic Film FestivalSeptember 14-23 422-6965www.atlanticfilm.com BUYING TICKETSPurchase individual tickets or packages—there are several to choose from—online at atlanticfilm.com or over the phone at 422-6965 (for a $2 processing fee). If you prefer the sight of a live person, head over to the IFC Atlantic Film Festival Box Office, CBC Radio Room, 1599 South Park…
Boom town
The first thing you notice is the energy. Toronto is a fast town. Millions of people live here. They drive fast, they walk fast, they text fast. A normal day in Toronto is a fast one. Add some more people, then, and you’d think you might not notice. At Sundance every January, the tiny resort…
Smoke break
It’s the culmination of five years of hard work, of personal savings accounts emptied and credit cards dipped. So-called rational people might consider this kind of investment a risk worthwhile only for real estate, but thankfully there are guys like Chris Cuthbertson and Drew Hagen, guys who just want to make movies and are willing…
Film Fest follies
On the streets, in the theatres, at the parties, we’re all over AFF with daily reports. Surf often.
Ms. Rice goes to Halifax
When Condoleezza Rice spoke at the Maritime Museum on Monday, September 11, a small group of demonstrators gathered on the street outside to greet her. Among the hand-lettered placards was a personal note to America’s chief diplomat. “Hey Condi,” the sign said, “the whole world hates you.” Be that as it may, you’ve got to…
