Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2012

Sep 27 - Oct 3, 2012 / Vol. 20 / No. 18

Update: Justice Arthur LeBlanc rules for Angela Jones

Angela Jones will be adding her name to the ballot for city council for District 4: Cole Harbour – Westphal. Justice Arthur LeBlanc declared Jones an eligible candidate today after a fairly lengthy emergency judicial review. Jones is a lawyer for the city, but she’s on parental leave until November. Typically, city employees are required…

Angela Jones ruling imminent

The judge should be ruling on Angela Jones’ suit against the city this morning. We have a reporter at the courthouse, and will have an update as soon as she writes it up. In the meanwhile, I just received the city’s brief to the court. You can read it here

Roger Taylor doesn’t know what he’s talking about

Chronicle-Herald business columnist Roger Taylor this morning penned one of the most ill-informed screeds ever to appear in those pages, which is quite an achievement, in a perverse kind of way. Taylor’s column was nominally about what he characterizes as the waste of money spent on the new Bridge Terminal. I’ll get to that in…

Fid Resto and The Bicycle Thief make MacLean’s delicious list

Some hapless, overworked soul (Jacob Richler) had to roam around Canada gorging himself on delicious food for MacLean’s 50 best restaurants in Canada list, isn’t that terrible? Richler’s picks for Nova Scotia were Fid Resto, The Bicycle Thief and Rum Runner Restaurant in Lunenburg. Congrats all, it’s pretty great company to keep. Although as usual,…

Route 52 addicts

OK, people. For all of you that love to ask where or when the 52 is coming: Stop asking, get it through your thick skulls, let’s say it together: “THE 52 IS ALWAYS LATE!” So stop fucking asking, it’s always late and always gonna be. And for your information, it’s not the drivers, if you…

The time is now

The walrus said, to talk of many things… like you getting over your ex-girlfriend already. —It Could Work

Blood > water

I don’t know why you’re holding this against me when it has nothing to do with you. It’s so unfair. I am always, always there for you, and I feel like you never have my back. It’s been two months and you’ve barely said more than a few words to me every time I try…

Grocery store mystery man

Monday night I went for cough drops and lunch food at a grocery store at 1am looking like the wrath of god, berks, un-showered, no bra, et cetera. Standing in the check out behind this rather cute mid 20s guy. We had a conversation just small chit chat but nothing crazy. He goes through and…

I love you

I miss you so much and I think of you every single day. I know we’re right for each other and one day we’ll find a way to be together. We haven’t spoken in a while and I’m about to cave any day now. I’ve resisted this long only because I thought you wanted me…

Free classifieds

Geezus Murphy! I posted a free office desk that I put out to the curb. Then I wrote “please no emails or phone calls, just come and get it.” Well, I got a dozen friggin emails: How much? How big is it? Can you deliver? Will it fit in a car? I noticed a scratch…

Symphony Nova Scotia’s dirty 30

You may not know this, but Symphony Nova Scotia does more than just play rockin’ concerts with folk musicians at the Rebecca Cohn. What?! It’s true—not just Mangan, but Bach! Chopin! Beethoven! If you’re unacquainted with this side of our great city’s Symphony, now’s the time to say hello. Symphony Nova Scotia is celebrating its…

Do you remember me?

I saw you today, Monday afternoon, near Alderney Gate and my heart skipped a beat. I wondered if you saw me too. You looked delicious. I miss you, our talks and our laughter. —I Don’t Want to be Strangers

Traffic cop

Hey idiot! The next time you pull someone over, get them to pull onto a side street so you don’t cause a traffic jam that doesn’t friggin disrupt half the entire city. And, if the driver pulls over in a bad spot, then pull up next time, tell him where you want him to park,…

You don’t know I’m going through this

Six months ago we ended our life together and splintered into two entirely different worlds. As it turns out, time hasn’t been providing the first aid people say it does. What time has served to do instead is heckle, doubt, berate and exacerbate any infectious feelings and trangressions that resulted from our loving but turbulent…

Angela Jones will learn her fate tomorrow

Justice Arthur LeBlanc will announce tomorrow morning whether Angela Jones is in fact a valid candidate in the upcoming municipal elections. Today, after hearing arguments from Dan Campbell, representing HRM, and Matthew Moir, representing Angela Jones, LeBlanc asked for 24 hours to reflect on the case before reaching a verdict. Running for councillor in District…

Skinny Love

I still miss you terribly sometimes, especially on rainy days when I just want to stay inside and bake and watch movies and cuddle with someone. No matter how many people hold me in their arms, they’re never as comforting as yours were. This sucks because I have a lot of people waiting for me…

Life really is awesome

I was walking down Spring Garden Road last week with a friend, having a rather loud conversation. At one point, walking past a lovely lady in about her late 20s, I exclaimed “Life is awesome!” Upon hearing this, the lovely lady I mentioned interjected something like, “Amen!” You made a misty, otherwise dreary night sunny.…

We’ll always have haddock

To the first man who showed me love and made me feel the most alive I have ever felt. I miss you and I am sorry that all dreams don’t come true. But I am here for whenever/if ever you wish to have me in your life. Maybe you could make an exception in your…

Road bullies

WTF is it these days with these drivers that just push their way into the next lane. No signal lights flashing to let a person know that at least you’re gonna make a move. What really pisses me off, is when a car goes all the way to the end of a merging line before…

I thought we were friends

We work close to one another since I started my new job. So we decided to carpool to work together every day, using my car since you don’t have one. Thing is, you don’t live on my route to work, so I have to go out of my way to pick you up first. This…

Do you even realize?

Do you even realize that I love it when we touch? I know we’re just friends, and you say that you’re not like me, but the feeling of your body against mine is something else. —The Butt to Your Hand

This guy likes skinny chicks!

I got ripped to shreds the other day for turning down this girl when people found out the reason why I said no. She was too chubby, in my opinion. She wasn’t obese, but she had a belly hanging off of her and her thighs were too chunky. It was a shame, since she did…

Workplace bullying

Everybody talks about bullying and the affects it has on our children. Bullying in the work place is just as bad. I have watched good employees being bullied until they quiet or have a mental break down or tried to commit suicide. All at the hand of managers that are not only incompetent but do…

Reserved

To the vicious, hateful old harpy who threw the pissy tantrum in the restaurant tonight: When told to come in and take a seat wherever you would like, face it, that excludes reserved seats. That is why they have a reserved sign on them. We were not wrong to politely ask to move to a…

Reporters are tools

To a certain local reporter at a bar Friday night: fuck you! I was walking out of the place and blocked your view of an empty stage for two seconds, and you said “Get the fuck out of my face motherfucker.” As soon as I walked away, you began yelling at other people. I don’t…

Greasy burgers and management to match

To the Manager with the dirty moustache at a certain fast food place: Overhearing a convo as I waited for my sandwich… when an employee simply states she is out of toonies and needs more for her till there is no reason to get pervy; changing your tone of voice and call her a naughty…

Hali happy

To the amazing people who for a moment, look up and smile when passing on corners while walking rather than hiding behind your phones, or looking at the pavement—you brighten my day! It’s awkward and weird sometimes, but you are what makes our beautiful city of Halifax a genuinely kind place to live. —Smiling Student

Enough

If you have two comforters it is going to cost two loonies to dry them in the building dryer. When I took your comforters out they were still damp and the machine was OFF. Don’t stick your finger in my face and accuse me of stealing half of your dryer time when you don’t have…

MVA angel or painter extraordinaire

After being violently rear ended by a minivan on Saturday afternoon on Main Street, a man stopped his car to protectively block our vehicle after he noticed I was having chest pains. He comforted my daughter and myself and kept us calm until the arrival of the FD, PD and EMS. This man stopped when…

Out of service

What is it about “OUT OF SERVICE” you don’t get you stupid fucks! If you see a bus and it says out of service it means out of fucking service. Just fucking stand there until a number comes up on the destination sign, it’s that fucking simple. Fuck off and let the drivers have some…

Red car douchebag

To the DICKHOLE in the red car on Dutch Village Road the other evening around 10pm who almost killed me and my sister: You are SCUM. I obey road rules and use my signal when I enter a lane, and I definitely do NOT drive next to somebody and then decide to randomly change lanes…

Crows and cuttlefish

I want it to be crows and cuttlefish forever. I love and appreciate just you. I’m sorry I am scared all the time and push you away when I should pull you closer. I love our long talks and your quick wits. You are very much a surprise and I can’t wait to see what…

To abuse and neglect

Last week I was witness to members of Halifax Police harrassing a man who clearly needed help getting to his destination and out of the rain. Three vans followed a homeless man with no legs in a wheelchair, kicking him out of every spot he could find to stay out of the rain until it…

Over a cup of coffee

To the awesome server who non-chalantly crumpled up, and threw my bill for a $1.50 cup of coffee over his shoulder… Thank you! You are hilarious and you made my night. —Caffeine Addict

Hatin’ on the homeless

I know it’s easy to turn your nose up at the homeless people that populate down town Hali or be annoyed with them and judge them for what they are doing and how they got to that point in their life because I hear people do it frequently. Some of them are a lost cause.…

Are you trying to kill someone?

In the last two days, I have seen two very alarming driving habits by my fellow Haligonians. First, I see a car zoom past a schoolbus that had its flashing lights on and the stop sign out! Everyone else facing the schoolbus was stopped, and this car didn’t even come CLOSE to braking! Secondly, on…

Fuckwad on a bike

Hey shit head, if you’re going to ride a bike, stay on the fucking road. If you’re going to ride on the side walk, obey the rules of the sidewalk and don’t come bolting into the street when the crosswalk light is telling you to stay fucking still. You almost got run over and you…

How to turn 30 minutes into two hours

Thursday, I leave work on the Halifax waterfront at exactly 4:05pm. I walk in my front door at home in Eastern Passage, (normally a 30 minute trek), at exactly 6:12pm. Over two fucking hours to get home! (I WAS busing it home but, still…a little excessive, no?) As I sat on the bus going absolutely…

Sick of bar patrons

Okay so this bitch is directed towards a certain bar. Control the lineup of your patrons waiting to get inside! The line is too wide forcing people to walk out into the street almost getting hit by a bus (side note thank you to the bus driver who was paying attention and driving slow and…

Radio traffic reports

Last night it took me an hour and half to travel the 102 because there was an accident on the 102 near Sackville. A coworker left an hour after me, and beat me to Sackville because she took the Mackay bridge. During all of this time, I surfed my three favourite radio stations and did…

Wheels of appreciation

Bus driver 22 Armdale. You are awesome. You saw a woman in a wheelchair stuck on gravel section of construction @ rotary crosswalk. Stopped the bus. Ran across street. Helped her get past the obstruction. Ran back to the bus and moved on. That was so wonderful of you! —Delighted

Argyle Fine Art gets a new sign

Back in March, we reported that Argyle Fine Art (1559 Barrington Street, 425-9456) had its sidewalk sandwich signs stolen. The gallery-ists sent out the hounds, called in the cops, scoured the back alleys and garage sales, but all these months later have given up the hunt. What kind of people steal art gallery sidewalk sandwich…

Fruit flies

What is it with these god damned fruit flies this time of year? Where do they come from? You bring home some tomatoes, bananas or apples, or even vegetables like onions, potatoes. These little bastards are all over the fucking place! I wash the stuff when it comes home from the store… STILL in a…

Yarn man

I was on the 52 Bayers Lake a few days ago when you got on the bus. I thought you were crazy, wearing all those knitted stripes. Then you whipped out that sock puppet and started doing the puppet show for the baby at the front of the bus. Can I just say, that was…

Sensitivity training

To the bitch on the 12:15pm 60 Eastern Passage bus who was engrossed in her cell phone/power bill payment conversation but still took time out to aside to fellow passenger with sight disabilities “Get your dirty dog away from me.” Why not sit your ass at the BACK of the BUS next time instead of…

Mortal Kombat II and other ’90s arcade games coming to Halifax

When the folks at Daily Sweets (2850 Oxford Street) were closing down the business, they were looking for something to do with an old arcade game, and that’s how vintage arcade enthusiast Danny Baldwin became involved with them. Fast forward to next week, and up and opens something loosely called Halifax Vintage Arcade (a real…

You’re driving a bus, so watch where you’re going!

I was walking with a friend Monday night and went to cross the street at the corner of Spring Garden and Barrington, we had the little man so I looked both ways and proceeded to walk, halfway across the street my friend grabbed me and pulled me back, saving me from being run over by…

Thanks for bringing your umbrella

I thought I knew what I was doing but I was wrong. in the beginning it was harmless, then it became hurtful and in the end…it wasn’t even real at all. I think about that night when you brought your umbrella. I really couldn’t resist your charm. I always knew I was being played…hence my…

Another north end restaurant to open

Ludovic Eveno, who has worked as a chef in France and locally at Bish and its reincarnation, Bicycle Thief, has purchased the building at 2540 Agricola Street, just across from the liquor store at the corner of Charles Street. He intends to open a restaurant in the space next spring, taking his time “doing it…

Airport bus

The fair for the airport run is $3.25 you idiots, not $2.25, not a regular pass, not a regular transfer. If you want to use a regular transfer it’s a dollar more as well as the pass. Route 320 was designed for legit passengers, not the trashy kind that’s always trying to rip the system.…

OMC

To my OMC (older man crush)—thank you for being so damn attractive! It really perks me up at work. From your scruffy beard to the way you walk oh so calmly around, I love it. I almost wish something more could happen that just a “Hi” in the lunchroom. —YLA

Mother with two children

Let me explain to you how buying something works. Unless you have actually paid for it, that means forked over the money it costs, that thing doesn’t actually belong to you. Just because the cashier has scanned it, doesn’t mean you have paid for it, and therefore, it’s still not yours. When the cashier tells…

Fun in your Subaru

We met at a wedding, and I gave you my number. It’s just been a couple of days but I have been dying to hear from you. Please don’t keep me waiting. —Wedding Crasher

To the soccer mom on Magazine Hill

Traffic is crawling. No one is getting anywhere. I am already 75 percent into the lane in front of you, the lane is mine. But you somehow get it in your mind that somebody did you wrong, so you pass me. It is a good thing that I am not an aggressive driver, as I…

Standards are a two-way street

To all of the delusional women out there: Contrary to popular belief, most men WON’T fuck just anything. We have standards too, and many of us can afford to be a bit picky. Just batting your eye lashes at us isn’t gonna get us to buy you dinner, a car, et cetera. If you have…

Singer wannabes

There is one actual professional singer who works in our office. He never runs around singing at the top of his lungs. So why is it OK for you tone-deaf loudmouth fucks to run around every four minutes singing some shit-ass pop tune when we aren’t even allowed to have a radio on? I am…

HMV Spring Garden no more?

As Frank Magazine is reporting, HMV Spring Garden location is set to close. Staff are tight-lipped, but if it’s true, that makes a banner week for depressing music store news. Thoughts on the plummeting music industry? Spill ’em in the comments.

How secure is internet voting?

John Driemen has lived in the same downtown Halifax building for five years. His partner, Nancy Roberts, has lived in Dartmouth for 20 years. They each live alone, but when voter notifications were sent out this week, they received five notifications between them. Driemen received his own notification, but also one for someone named Helen…

Back to school

Monday, Supreme Court justice David MacAdam overturned the city’s sale of the former St. Pat’s-Alexandra school site to Jono Developments. The ruling is a victory for three non-profit groups in the north end that want a chance to put together a proposal for the property. Already I fear that we’re learning all the wrong lessons…

Serve and protect

Several committees at the Ecology Action Centre focus on the protection of Nova Scotia’s wilderness. Not only does forestry management benefit our atmospheric biology, it keeps intact the habitats of over 30 at-risk species. But facts and figures can lose potency. Sometimes outreach needs to be more visceral. Believing in art as a powerful form…

Dance/Theatre

Live Art Dance 30th season begins September 27 with Dévorer le Ciel, 8pm, Sir James Dunn Theatre, 6101 University Avenue If you’re interested in contemporary dance, theatre or performance art, then you should definitely check out choreographer Crystal Pite’s contemporary twist on Shakespeare’s The Tempest this fall, put on by Live Art Dance for their…

Chester Playhouse has their Ducks in a row

A dream team of comic actors has assembled at Chester Playhouse and is starring in a new work by Bryden Macdonald. Christian Murray, Joanne Miller, Brian Heighton and Samantha Wilson simply light up the stage in MacDonald’s Odd Ducks. It’s the story of Ambrose, a self-absorbed, small-town lothario who is honest with everyone but himself.…

Visual arts

Nocturne October 13, 6pm-midnight, various locations, nocturnehalifax.ca Once a year, Halifax’s streets, parks and buildings are transformed into an art lovers’ utopia, and this year’s no exception. During the Nocturne Art At Night festival artists will take over public spaces and venues across the city, creating surreal, sensory experiences in unlikely locations. This year, Nocturne…

Common Roots Harvest Hootenanny blooms

Remember when the corner of Robie Street and Bell Road looked like leftovers from some sort of apocalypse? Nowadays, it’s much the opposite. It’s an oasis actually, thanks to a bunch of hardworking folks who spent the past few months up to their elbows in earth at the Common Roots Urban Farm. And now that…

The relevance marches on

Q I was wondering what you think about the Folsom Street Fair, the annual gay leather/fetish/BDSM street fair in San Francisco. Do you think it is still a socially relevant display? Or do you think that in this time when we are fighting for civil rights and equality that it does more harm than good?…

Finding Irretrievably Lost

Your first glance at the the few, but mighty works that make up Irretrievably Lost might lead your eyes directly to the desolate faces tucked within the intricate lines and layers of Sera Senakovicz’s drawings, carvings and lithographs. But once you get past those weary gazes you’ll see that it’s actually all about the hands,…

The Other Tim Chaisson

Tim Chaisson has a couple of sides. There’s the country-tinged rocker who you’re probably familiar with, the one who commands a stage with his energetic band of buddies Morning Fold. But peel back a few layers like he did for this, his fifth release, and you get the very core of the PEI native: the…

Jane’s end of an era

“It’s true,” Jane Wright says, confirming the rumours that have been swirling for weeks. Jane’s on the common, her namesake restaurant at 2394 Robie Street, is closing. “It looks like we will be serving our last meal at jane’s New Year’s Eve.” Jane’s had only been open for eight months when I first sat down…

Events/Literary/Comedy

Canadian Surf Film Festival Now celebrating its third year, the Canadian Surf Film Festival (September 27-30) showcases material designed to appeal to surfers and non-surfers alike. “We program the festival for surfers or surf culture enthusiasts, but we also program it for the general public,” explains development director and co-founder Keith Maddison. “We’re well aware…

Do HRM candidates care about the arts?

On September 19, we reported on The Greater Halifax Arts and Culture Coalition’s campaign to HRM candidates. The Coalition, made up of representatives from 19 professional arts and cultural organizations in the city, highlighted the shameful discrepancy between arts funding in Halifax compared to the rest of the country ($0.55 per capita, less than 10%…

Looper

Joe was just a low-level assassin for the future mob, a “looper” who waits at a specific place to shotgun some unlucky fellow sent back through time. That is until the target that shows up is his future self. A staggering chase begins with the mob trying to kill Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Joe trying to…

Hotel Transylvania

As brain dead and lethargic as a zombie, here comes the 3D CGI monstrosity Hotel Transylvania. Adam Sandler plays Adam Sandler doing a Dracula voice, who opens a remote hotel for mythical beasties in order to hide his beloved vampire daughter (Selena Gomez) away from the scary humans that killed her mother. A plan which…

Get involved

It’s the perfect symbiotic relationship. You want to get involved in the local art scene and local arts organizations want your help. Most artist run centres run on very little funds—the Association of Artist-Run Centres from the Atlantic released the shocking statistic that HRM has the worst per capita arts funding in the country for…

Won’t Back Down

Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as one of those magic white people who can overcome seemingly impossible societal problems through sheer force of will in the stale, manipulative Won’t Back Down. Convincing all around her with plucky quirks and a flirtatious smile, Gyllenhaal attempts to overhaul her daughter’s low-income public school and revolutionize the education system. Joining…

Free Will Astrology

Happy Birthday! LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 23-OCTOBER 22) The German poet and philosopher Friedrich von Schiller liked to have rotting apples in his desk drawer as he worked; the scent inspired him. Agatha Christie testified that many of her best ideas came to her while she was washing dishes. As for Beethoven, he sometimes stimulated his creativity…

Pitch Perfect

There’s scant few off notes in the harmoniously enjoyable singing comedy, Pitch Perfect. Anna Kendrick stars as the cool college freshman who mixes together mash-ups and dreams of escaping to California to work in the music industry. But after her dorm shower singing is overheard, she’s begged to join the school’s ragtag acapella team in…

Music

CKDU Funding Drive To September 30, various locations fundingdrive.ckdu.ca Funding drive season is so chock-full of awesome stuff to do and see that sometimes you forget what it’s actually all about—keeping our sweet, sweet community/campus radio thriving. In honour of their 28th funding drive, the fine people at CKDU are looking to raise $28,000, which…

The Master

Who do you serve in life, and to what cost? Questions posed by the brilliant, enigmatic The Master. Joaquin Phoenix stars, contorting himself into a crackling sneer of a man. A sailor post-WW2 whose violent outbursts and PTSD cause him to drift from job to job. He’s eventually taken under the wing of a charismatic…

Cooperation makes it happen

Ask a local band how they got their start, and many will tell you it happened at a party. A conversation about shared interests turns into a date for a jam, and in just a short while, a band is born. The Halifax Music Co-op started just this way, but with a significant twist. When…

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

The prettiest pictures can still be dragged down by context, and such is the case in the gorgeous but muddled martial arts spectacle, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. The first wuxia, or Chinese martial arts film shot in Imax and 3-D, Dragon Gate finds dozens of characters (including evil eunuchs, flute-playing killers and Jet Li)…

Hopscotch to it

The spotlight is set to shine once again on the urban arts with the return of hip-hop festival Hopscotch this weekend. Now entering its third year, the fest will be expanding its musical offerings to include that electronic dance music that everyone is talking about. “The electronic music addition is certainly different,” says communications chair…

Brain tease

Some of Halifax’s best pop-punk and hardcore punk bands will be featured on Stupid Brain, a compilation tape (soon-to-be vinyl) put together by The Fat Stupids’ Craig Hamlin and Matt Grace. Moncton’s Fear of Lipstick, Halifax’s Tongan Death Grip, Dead Red, The Dean Molenkos, Vixens, The Donairs, Outtacontroller and Dartmouth’s The Scoopouts are just a…

We’re Doomed play on

T>outing themselves as a “groovy but heavy assault on progressive rock,” Halifax band We’re Doomed is releasing their second EP How To Destroy Something Beautiful on October 2. After a long hiatus from recording after their first EP, Like A Machine, in July 2011, and one Warped Tour into their career, We’re Doomed is treating…

Genuine Julie Doiron

The best thing about Julie Doiron is that, songwriting or otherwise, she tells it like it is. “Sometimes you just make a record, and that’s it,” says the Sackville, New Brunswick-based singer responding to the fact that in terms of her pending release, three seems to be a magic number. So Many Days was written…

Bits & Bites

The King’s Galley has opened in the Wardroom bar, on the King’s College campus, offering up locally sourced and inexpensive food. After 46 years in the north end, Robie Food (3095 Robie Street, 454-7814) is calling it quits. The restaurant has been closed most of the summer while the owners considered their options. Reportedly they…

Granny’s soap

Granny McNab’s, previously known as One Stop Wood Shop, is adding homemade beauty products to their repertoire. Located in Bishop’s Landing (1475 Lower Water Street, 209-2731), Granny McNab’s offers 15 different varieties of homemade soaps, including lavendar, mocha morning, lemon poppyseed and even one named The Coast. Hmm. How about that. The soaps are all…

More food trucks are rolling your way

Who’s hungry? This fall, a crew of new food trucks are in Halifax, and the gourmet fare ain’t your average street meat. Earlier this year, Natalie Charavie and Nick Horne set out to improve the municipal bylaw that regulates mobile food serving. “We wanted to make sure it was up with the times and matched…

High Idea

Corporate lunches can by dry affairs by any stretch —it’s no exaggeration to say that the food is usually the most exciting part. Especially with Jessi Gillis cooking it up for you. Highland Drive Catering is debuting their new fall corporate lunch menu, featuring goodies like a pulled pork jalapeno sandwich and bacon chocolate chip…


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