Hudson’s Bay point blanket
A Canadian home is not complete without one. Preferably tossed across an elk-leather chair and looking right at home with that bear skin rug and mounted deer head (both trophies from a bow-hunting trip in Athabasca). Great for that fur trade era outpost-look. Any patriot would swoon.
The Bay, Mic Mac Mall, 466-0642 and 7067 Chebucto Road, 453-1211, $125 and up
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
A documentary following a long-forgotten Canadian heavy-metal band who try in a last-ditch, cluelessly defiant effort to reign in rock with an ill-conceived European tour. A brilliant look at unrelenting dreamers. Don’t know who Anvil is? Don’t let that turn you off. It’s a great story for headbangers and non-headbangers alike.
Anvilthemovie.com, $20. (Signed copies of the DVD include “Incredibly heartbreaking deleted scenes!”, Holy hair-band! What a bargain.)
I (heart) Dartmouth t-shirt
Say it loud and say it proud.
Two if by Sea Cafe, 66 Ochterloney Street, 469-0721, $15
Plaid flannel shirt
Completing the look of log drivers, lumberjacks and general layabouts everywhere.
Biscuit General Store, 1661 Argyle Street, 425-5436, $65
Caitlyn Rose Jewellery
Caitlyn Purcell’s jewellery has a stunning, elemental charm. “I am constantly looking for a treasure. I find special objects and then one day I will look at them differently and the light comes on.” She hunts out quartz from the cliffs of Ingonish, amethyst from Blomidon and coal from Cape Breton’s beaches. “I like to use things from Nova Scotia. It’s what I know.”
Lost and Found, 2383 Agricola Street, 446-5986 or on caitlynrosejewellery.com, mostly under $100.
Nova Scotia Archives photos
NS Archives has been working on a digitization project, exhibiting many historic photos in an online “virtual archive.” If you find one you like, you can buy a digital copy and have it printed for a pal. They’ve got everything from tiara-wearing water-skiers to sassy ladies in war-time dancing shows.
Gov.ns.ca/nsarm, $12. (Send the photo link to nsarm@gov.ns.ca, allow for a 10 day turnaround.)
The Best of the Best, NFB
A collection of the National Film Board’s animated shorts, including favourites like the endearing and slightly twisted Richard Condie films, “The Cat Came Back” and “The Big Snit.” Perfect for your favorite young ’un.
nfb.ca, $29.99
Folk Art
Hayes Antiques recently opened a folk art gallery in the shop’s basement. It features paintings and sculptures by folk artists from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The perfect place to check “life-sized wooden sculpture of a panther” off your Christmas list.
Hayes Antiques, 5737 McCully Street, 455-9223, prices vary
The Newsroom
A smart-aleck CBC television series about indifferent staffers and their lackluster effort to slap together the nightly news. Canada’s 30 Rock or The Office, poignancy is added if you get it on VHS as it speaks to the brown-carpeted basement TV dens with where so many of us grew up.
$3.99 VHS, Halifax Forum flea market on Sundays
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2010.
Ah yes, the HBC blanket.. the perfect gift for the person who embraces Canada’s colonial past and the exploitation of Indigenous peoples.
Thanks but no thanks.
can you people get over the same shit you keep posting/endorsing. write something more refreshing. you’re slipping The Coast, you were once interesting to read but it’s the same shit but different headlines.
Like fun I’m paying $65 for a flannel shirt. They are everywhere and they’re way cheaper there too.
HBC is also no longer a Canadian Company… I don’t know why on earth it would be suggested in something promoting people to “shop Canadian”…