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HALIFAX ENTERTAINMENT SEP 4, 2010

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SEP 4, 2010
The Hungry Planet at Pier 21
Pier 21
Examine Canadian and worldly cuisine through nutrition, tradition, culture and more. , 9:30am

Food for Health exhibit at Pier 21
Pier 21
Examine Canadian and worldly cuisine through nutrition, tradition, culture and more!, 9:30am


ENTERTAINMENT

Reviews:: Crissi Cochrane Darling, Darling
It’s inevitable really. Living in a city with few economic certainties means that as summer draws to a close, people leave the comforts of their college days behind. Reality, it’s the train ticket you book when it’s time to pack the spindle bin and see what co... Read More.

Hunting Hemingway
Ernest "Papa" Hemingway is one of America’s most famous writers of the 20th century. A man of action himself, he wrote novels, short stories and articles about outdoors men, expatriates, soldiers and other men of action in a plain-spoken no-frill style of wri... Read More.

Cat Calendar 2011
Yes, I've done another one! Here is this year's cat CALENDAR! Click on the picture or the link to see a slide show preview of all the months. It is 8.5 x 11 / x 215 mm on regular calendar paper. I have put American, Canadian and British holidays on it, some r... Read More.

Droid
A really quick sketch inspired by the Droids childrens books I read as a kid. Read More.

John Buys Many Comics But Only Has Eyes For One
This was a very good week for me, comics-wise. New Tick, new King City, new Astro City… Stumptown, Secret Six and I, Zombie, Strange Science Fantasy and Gorilla-Man. Any one of these is enough to make me happy and a week that includes all of them makes me feel... Read More.

Atlantic Film Fest Breakdown
Today at 12:00pm, the Atlantic Film Festival released their beautiful companion guide-book, which means that the full lineup and the showtimes for the 30th annual festival have now been released. So here’s where you can see my pretty mug from September 16th to... Read More.

Farthing by Jo Walton
Imagine a world in which Britain negotiated a peace with Hitler. Jo Walton does in Farthing and it's not very nice. It is 1949 and Hitler is in control of continental Europe and his influence is spanning the western world. Antisemitism and general intolerance... Read More.

Sketchbook, A New Toy
Someone's put me on to another iPod sketching app, this one called Sketchbook. This one's less of a doodle app, as Brushes is and more for sketching concepts for serious work. that's my sense of it anyway. I'm still figuring out the controls but am amazed at h... Read More.

News:: New music from Ruby Coast
A few years back, Ruby Coast was traveling the same paths – figuratively and literally, as they were tour mates – as Tokyo Police Club. Flash forward to today, and TCP seem to have reached the success levels most blog bands can only dream of these days while R... Read More.

New Steed Lord video-saga and an "old" clip from Ask The Slave
This video was directed and produced in 2006 by our very own Halifax Collect contributor Atli Sigurjónsson. Not only can he talk up the ladies but he can set shit off like this too. This video has never before been available in this good of a format before. Read More.

Read Your Way Around the World - Kashmir
Said by many to be among the most beautiful places on earth, Kashmir has long been an inspiration for writers. It's more recent political instability has also inspired much debate and writing. Read More.

Dartmouth Cove Mural Project – Tugboats IV
“Tugboats IV” - mural painted onto two plywood boards with a total area of 8×8′, to be mounted on the wall facing the Dartmouth Harbor at 2 Maitland St. Future site of the Dartmouth Community Art Mural Project! This weekend I went down to Dartmouth in ... Read More.

Big Name Fiction -- Coming Soon
The fall fiction catalogues are beginning to arrive, drawing attention to all the great fiction that will be released in the next few months. There are a lot of big name authors with new titles coming out this fall, here's a few to consider (especially now whi... Read More.

Missing Caribou
Ugh. here are a couple of panels, or a full page in webcomics land, that I failed to post when I put up the Caribou comic. This would have made the transition make more sense. I really liked these images, too. Read More.

Toronto Fan Expo With Owen and Isaac!
Yes, the Toronto Fan Expo was this past weekend and no, Those Who Live Between Wednesdays could not attend. Why the others could not do so I’m not at liberty to say (hint: you don’t think that nuclear missiles just spontaneously defuse themselves mid-flight, d... Read More.

Get Low: Only Mildly Satisfying
High profile vanity project Get Low is only a mildly satisfying distraction from Hollywood’s mainstream summertime piffle. Based on a true story about a Tennessee recluse who wants to have a funeral party while he’s still alive, Get Low is actor Robert Duva... Read More.

Atlantic Film Fest Happenings
Two things! First up, THE CORRIDOR, the feature length film that I shot in Canning last February will have it’s world premiere next month, as part of The 30th Annual Atlantic Film Festival! I am so damn excited to have THE CORRIDOR debut in Halifax in front o... Read More.

This Time Together by Carol Burnett
If you were fortunate enough to have been of television watching age during the 70's and enjoyed the Carol Burnett Show, this memoir will certainly resonate with you. Read More.

Something I'm playing with.
Another robot story. Playing with how far I can stretch a sharpie drawing with Photoshop. Read More.

Archie Sunday: Matter Over Mind
Get Reggie to tell you what he likes: he will not lie, though other Riverdale teens may deny. When a girl walks by with an itty-bitty waist and a round thing in his face, he gets sprung Read More.

Walking to school beneficial on so many levels
As we return to our fall work and school schedules, now more than ever safety on our streets is crucial. In addition to its physical activity and environmental benefits, a recent study from the University at Buffalo has found walking to school helps reduce st... Read More.

DEFEATED SANITY - Chapters Of Repugnance
Man, oh man, where to start. DEFEATED SANITY are one of my favorite bands, and set the standard for brutal death metal releases for years to come with their 2007 sophomore release Psalms Of The Moribund. The sheer jazz-influenced technicality contrasted with ... Read More.

Staff Pick - Island Year: Finding Nova Scotia, by Greg Brown
In 2006 Greg Brown and his wife Anne decided on a new adventure. They decided they wanted to further simplify their lives and as a result, they chose to live on a small island off Nova Scotia. Island Year: finding Nova Scotia is a reflection on their experienc... Read More.

Deeper into Music:: Luke Doucet
Over the next week as we lead up to the release of Steel City Trawler, we are going to pick Luke Doucet‘s brain about the subject matter and inspiration of his new songs. We’ll have a review and an exclusive MP3 on Tuesday when the record drops, but until the... Read More.

BLACK AMERICA - The Process of Bitching Out
The Dead Kennedy's, The Ramones and Black Flag have all done this much MUCH better. In fact I think I could form a band, practice for a day and be better than these guys. This is the worst album I've heard in years. I'd rather listen to Dee Dee Ramone's rap a... Read More.

Dogtown: tales of rescue, rehabilitation and redemption by Stefan Bechtel
Dogtown: tales of rescue, rehabilitation and redemption by Stefan Bechtel tells the story of 15 homeless, unwanted, unprotected, but not unlovable dogs and the amazing work done by the Best Friends Animal Society. Read More.

And Now, Your Wednesday Night Movie
An Action-Packed Thrill-Ride That Never Lets Up and Never Lets You Down! Thrill! To the Antics of Rack and Gort, the Underworld Thugs! Chill! To the Cold-Blooded Ruthlessness of Aldo Maxim, Gang Boss! Read More.

Quick Hitters:: The 20/20 Project – Employees of the Year
I like Toronto hip hop trio The 20/20 Project and their debut EP Employees of the Year for a few reasons. The main being that after seeing the title of the EP, and then noticing the title of the first track was Back to Work, I thought to myself, if that song d... Read More.

Daniel Matto strikes a chord
The Daniel Matto Quintet performs at The Carleton on Argyle Street on Wednesday (August 25) at 9pm. Tickets are $10. Believe me: this is the best $10 you can possibly spend in Halifax this summer. Read More.

Songs and Literature
Songs are often little stories told through music and lyrics. The best examples I can think of are songs like "Take this job and shove it", " "Ode to Billie Joe" or "Phantom 309". Funny, how it is usually country songs that have the best, and most straight for... Read More.

Microstoria: Caribou
I hope you like this. Because of the length I'm leaving it up for three days. Read More.

Reviews:: The Gertrudes Dawn Time Riot
Without question, The Gertrudes test the comfort limits of a music fan. The Gertrudes… they play intimate folk music. Wait, how many members are in this band? Nine, ten, twelve? NOT ENOUGH! We need more people, get me a choir and lets swing into an indie rock... Read More.

Book Awards- James Tait Black Memorial Prizes
"The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are Scotland's most prestigious and the U.K.'s oldest literary awards. The prizes have achieved an international reputation for their recognition of literary excellence in biography and fiction. Read More.

Caribou Orbit
Here's another peek at Caribou, a comic I was working on in my spare time, I'm posting it in full tomorrow morning. My original intent was to just do it as a 10 page experiment in combining mixed media and digital media including collage ( those stars were bor... Read More.

Justice Society: Purveyors of Animal Knowledge
Oh the things that you learn when you read old issues of All-Star Comics. Of course, it’s not just learning about the true terrifying nature of the giant Galapagos turtle. The JSA also spreads the word on Australia’s most diabolical kill-beast: Read More.

* Who Are We? * Contact * Mixtape * Show Listings * ...we build, excel, plus b
There are some Golden Age rap dudes that shall pretty much keep their herohill creds no matter how corny they get in the present day. Ice Cube is pretty much the perfect example of this. I know you know the deal with Cube, there’s few rappers who have done as... Read More.

Paint the Town 2010
What do you get when you have 70 artists descend on a small Nova Scotia town for two days of painting? Well, if you mix in raising money for a good cause, a large dose of community spirit and the scenic backdrop of Annapolis Royal, you get the Annapolis Region... Read More.

Eat, Pray, Love... how dare you, you evil bitch?
Yesterday I went to see the film Eat, Pray, Love. I had read the book and was very curious to see how a movie interpreted Liz's worldwide journey. Of course I had to buy popcorn and a drink for the movie! I felt that eating during this film was only appropriat... Read More.

hermit hits no. 1 and i go drinking
NOVA SCOTIA 1 The Hermit of Africville Jon Tattrie 2 Buried in the Woods Mike Parker 3 Memoirs of a Cape Breton Doctor C. Lamont MacMillan 4 Trails of Halifax Regional Municipality Michael Haynes 5 Ghosts of Nova Scotia 10th Anniversary Edition Darry... Read More.

10 great ways to save money
There's just over four months left to save with your ABC Family Card - even if you don't already have one, there's still plenty of ways to save big with it in the time left, so make sure you scoot off to buy one asap, OK? At only $10 for the card, it's easy ... Read More.

Staff Pick - Segei Lukyanenko's 'Watch' series
I'm finally finishing Sergei Lukyanenko's four part series that began in 2006. While not overly popular in North America, Lukyanenko is one of Russia's top sci-fi writers. The translation is excellent, but you can tell it was written in another language. Read More.

The Unfunnies: Maw Paw and Willie
I have to confess that I actually really like this comic. But this weekly feature is called the Unfunnies, and so honour demands that I find something to critique. Pshh, five trumpets for a quarter? There goes my suspension of disbelief. Read More.

Ontario Place
I was kidnapped yesterday ( by family and friends) and forced to spend the day at Ontario Place which, I'll admit, is a pretty mind boggling place. It's so big and kids are having so much fun that it gives you the exact same or very close to the feeling of whe... Read More.

Rap-Sack Backpack:: Quake, Timbuktu & D-Sisive, The Trillionaire$ & The Happy Unfortunate
Rap-Sack backpack! Get off our sac-ro-iliac! The Rap-Sack Backpack, our rather infrequent mailbag-ish type feature where we feature some of the Canadian hip hop songs we are sent, makes its return. And what better way to return than with a cross-country hip h... Read More.

I Wrote A Play!
Hello beauties, first off, I must admit that I have already lied to you; I didn’t write a play, I wrote a short play titled FRONTIER. The great news is that it will be shown as part of Once Upon a Theatre Collective’s ONCE UPON AN EVENING OF SHORT PLAYS 2: LET... Read More.

John Buys Comics, Has Snacks
I knew it! I knew that Wildstorm would fulfill its obligation to have at least one series that I want to buy in print at all times. As soon as Sparta, USA ended then this saga of vampire-infested Rome stepped to the fore. Read More.

A Year in a Life
A colleague of mine recently returned from having a year off work. During this time he crossed off a bucket list worth of travel going to Germany, China, Argentina, Cuba, Thailand and a few more that I am sure that I have forgotten. Going to just one of those ... Read More.

Steampunk 2
I nearly fell off my chair when I saw this on Jeff Vandermeer's blog yesterday afternoon. I was blown away and honoured when Jeff asked my for some pictures for this anthology, the first one I'm a huge fan of. It's one of the most exciting anthologies I've ev... Read More.

Reviews:: Gianna Lauren Some Move Closer, Some Move On
In these parts, it’s an all too common story. A musician finds their groove and departs for the bigger, more fertile grounds of Montreal or Toronto. For every Jenn Grant or Joel Plaskett, there are ten bands that broke up or left Canada’s ocean playground behi... Read More.

Staff Pick: Black Alley by Mauricio Segura
Okay, here’s the truth. I’ve been having a horrible time trying to write this post about Black Alley by Mauricio Segura. And I keep asking myself, why? I really liked this book: I thought it was well written, had a great story and an important message. Read More.

Cloud #45
Cloud #45 18″ x 24″ Oil on Wood, 2010 I finished my very last cloud yesterday. I was worried that it might feel a bit anti-climatic, but it was actually the opposite. There’s a big grin on my face and I feel about a hundred pounds lighter. Read More.

One night only:: The Taste
In the immortal words of Robbie Alomar, “catch-a deee Taste.” Somehow, one of the best bands I’ve heard in a long time is starting and ending their career tonight, with an actual “one night only” show here in the Fax. The Taste – a new super-group front by Dan... Read More.

What’s the saying…
…about best intentions?? I was on both an art AND posting roll and then *pfft*… I got nuthin’. Well. Actually that isn’t entirely true. I have been in the studio. Making art even. But other stuff is going on as well. Lessee… 1. Summertime eating is upon us… Read More.

Listen to Ask The Slaves' new full length The Order Of Things
The Icelandic tricksters are back, with the sophomore full length release The Order Of Things, three years after their warmly received debut Kiss Your Chora. As expected... expect the unexpected. Ask The Slave is certainly an a acquired taste. Love 'em or hate... Read More.

Haven
HAVEN is a television show that has been shooting in the South Shore (the best shore, what-what) of Nova Scotia for the past 4 months, and in that time, I’ve been auditioning for parts, trying to snag a role in this really fun sci-fi show. Read More.

Can you Name a Book by its Cover? and other fun sites
How well do you know book covers? The link to this book trivia quiz from sporcle.com has been making the rounds of several library blogs. Hope you have fun with it! How well do you know your book covers? Read More.

Telephone Doodles
Some stuff I doodled on White line pads and then noodled with in Photoshop over morning coffee. I have stuff on my PC harddrive to post but it's still in the shop. Read More.

Cloud # 44
Just a reminder about tomorrow night’s exhibit in the upper level studios of Granville campus! Check the events page for complete information-hope to see you there! Read More.

Reviews:: Rae Spoon Love is a Hunter
Considering that Rae Spoon‘s newest release, Love is a Hunter, is one certain to be in heavy discussion for next year’s Polaris Prize, I find it interesting that it’s completely at odds with the criteria to which the jury must adhere. With good reason, records... Read More.

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for Goin’ Up Yonder (Walter Hawkins)
It’s hard to tab gospel music, if you know what gospel music can be like to perform with all its passionate fervour, improvisation and such. This isn’t meant as a tab as much as a starting guide for you to create your own version of this popular gospel. The ve... Read More.

The Case of the Missing Servant, by Tarquin Hall
There has been a lot of great press about this new cozy mystery series set in modern day Delhi. The Case of the Missing Servant, by Tarquin Hall. Meet Vish Puir, the lead investigator of Delhi's Most Private Investigations Ltd. Read More.

eat pray what?
I went to see Eat, Pray, Love last night.... I did not really enjoy the book and thought I would try the movie. It was pleasant, the locales were beautiful, the actors lovely but the angst of Liz again left me flat. Read More.

GLIMPSES
Some more playing with a single watercolour section in Photoshop. I'm almost done the painting itself and moving on to the next big thing which is illustrating a story for Holly Black in an upcoming Jeff Vandermeer anthology. Read More.

Quick Hitters:: Zachary Lucky Come and Gone
When I sat in front of the computer to hammer out a post, my intent was to discuss Dan Mangan and his Polaris chances and why I hope that the eventual grand jury steps back from looking at selecting a “different album or artist” and judges Dan’s effort on the... Read More.

Pilgrim’s Progress: Another Spoiler-Free Mini Review
I went into the sneak preview of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World with a lot of baggage. While I did enjoy Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic series, I’ve been feeling a bit burnt out on the whole phenomenon. Read More.

Who Am I?
I recently stumbled across two different books that caught my eye for their similarity in titles and, to a certain extent, themes. Both play with questions of identity and, starting right from the title, make a statement about who the character is. Read More.

Cloud #43
I’m soooo close to the finish line, and very, very excited to photograph these paintings together… Read More.

A Glimpse
Here's a magazine cover I'm currently working on. For something new I tried watercolour on Canson Illustration Board. A familiar medium but an unusual board for me. It blew me away. Then I selected a small part of it to play with in my newer version of Photos... Read More.

Get this shit off my desk:: Dryer & Gamma Gamma Rays
It’s Friday, and in attempt to clear the clutter I’ll be posting on records that have caught my ear but I haven’t had time to write about yet. Dryer – Out Like a Light For some reason, I’m not sent a lot of music that really falls into that “Grey’s Anatomy” ... Read More.

12th Night A Summer Theatre Highlight
I saw Shakespeare By the Sea’s Twelfth Night with a huge crowd Wednesday night, under a clear summer sky with only a slight chill in the overnight air. It’s the third time the outdoor company have tackled the play. Each time the play comes off a winner, wit... Read More.

New Books You Might Have Missed - Fiction
The deliveries of newly arrived fiction have been looking pretty good lately. It seemed like it was time to devote a post to a few of those titles. These aren't the giant blockbusters with long waiting lists, but great looking fiction that I found on the shelf... Read More.

The Search for Whales
If you read the last few entries and you saw that I did three live paintings in a day, you’re probably thinking I’m some sort of a nutter. But I love it. I love the challenge that different events and painting situations bring to my life. I love the distracti... Read More.

Reviews:: Brian Dunn Examining The Fallout
With the staggering amount of alt-country bands floating around in today’s indie scene, it’s hard not to question the honesty and sincerity of the tear-in-your-beer anthems getting penned. Every fan becomes a cynic when people start to channel their inner Town... Read More.

AFTER OBLIVION - The Carnal Form
Interesting beginning. Sounds like Adnan, the man behind AFTER OBLIVION, decided to start this little ep with a space odyssey. The beginning. It sounds more like Star Wars than Death Metal. No chugga chugga riffs, just space-alien something. Not Nocturnus spa... Read More.

Financial Fiction - Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett
Sometimes you can find reading suggestions in the most unexpected places. The Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year longlist has been announced. For the first time in the six years of the award, there is a fiction title included among the no... Read More.

Lunch
Some lunch time doodles in marker. The middle one is me pretending to be a minimalist fashion designer and the one on the right is drawn on a new a new kind of paper made entirely of stone!! Read More.

The Noble Sandwich: Tool of Villainy?
I’ve recently had an insight: sandwiches are just like gorillas. Uh, by which I mean that when I’m reading a comic book, seeing a character with a sandwich enhances the experience for me just as much as is I had seen that same character fighting a gorilla. Read More.

Reviews:: Wildlife Strike Hard, Young Diamond EP
In most songs, going to the river results in someone’s bloody, untimely demise. For Toronto’s Wildlife however, the river is a place for freedom, escape, and rebirth. Over the thumping percussion, synths, guitars and yelpy vocals of “Stand in the Water”, the ... Read More.

Blush Response in the Atlantic Film Fest
Ian Burns‘ BLUSH RESPONSE starring myself along with Cheryl Hann will be included in the 30th annual Atlantic Film Festival taking place between September 16th & 26th! The festival is always a fun experience to be a part of, and I’m really happy that BLUSH RE... Read More.

Big Day Downtown!
As a Halifax blogger-type person, I was recently asked to participate in the Big Day Downtown event, an initiative started by the Downtown Halifax Business Commission. Basically, a bunch of us bloggy types were given $100 to spend at various downtown businesse... Read More.

2010 RITA and Golden Heart Winners
The 2010 RITA and Golden Heart Award Winners were recently announced. For the full list see The Romance Writers of America page. Best Young Adult Romance Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles "When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of... Read More.

Old New York
An older marker drawing I did at the New York Public Library in Manhattan. Read More.

Blackbird Is Edgy, Illuminating
Scottish playwright Donald Harrower’s 2005 play, Blackbird, is one of those theatrical phenoms that has already travelled around the world (productions in NYC, Mexico City, Tokyo) in a mere five years. We can thank Halifax’s most consistently edgy dramatist... Read More.

Quick Hitters:: Plumtree tribute record
Timing is everything. Plumtree was an East coast staple here during the mid to late 90′s, exploding onto the scene, winning a YTV award and eventually touring with heavyweights like Julie Doiron, Thrush Hermit, Jale and even The Weakerthans. For some re... Read More.

Dragon my feet...
I have to apologize for not writing yesterday... but the thing is... I met this girl with a dragon tattoo and I'm a little distracted at the moment. Therefore, blogging is put on hold until I get the last few Chapters of this fantastic book read. It's a tril... Read More.

Older posts Anne of Green Gables on Prince Edward Island
In a sometimes forgotten nation, it’s fitting that a humble farmhouse in Cavendish — a hamlet of 94 people — inspires pilgrimages. Green Gables is a modest dwelling treasured throughout much of the world, thanks to author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s stories. The P... Read More.

Both Sides Now
When Fredericton-based writer Raymond Fraser was awarded the inaugural Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in Literary Arts by his home province last year, he could hardly believe the news. Read More.

First We Take Manhattan - New York Stories
When I think of New York City, I invariably picture the Manhattan skyline. I guess it is because it is featured prominently in so many films and tv shows (cue the Law & Order theme song). It is also an extremely popular setting for novels. Read More.

new prints:)
I'm headed Peggy's Cove this morning, showing it off to my visiting clan:) Also, today's recipe is shrimp with feta! Pop over to SuzitheFoodie to see the pics, collect the recipe and maybe win one of my cookbooks ! Read More.

herohill presents:: The Schomberg Fair & The Speaking Tongues
Throwing our Don King like hair and gold chains into the ring, the hill is giving this tour promotion idea a run. In theory, it’s a great way to get our name attached to some shows and get the crowds to turn up, but in reality, this is simply a way to get two ... Read More.

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for The Water is Wide (Traditional)
If you ever need to practice or familiarize yourself or someone with melismas (singing of a single syllable while moving between different notes), this song is a lovely example. Listen to the video below of Sarah McLachlan, Jewel and the Indigo Girls at Lilit... Read More.

COME WATCH ME BE A GUEST!
One of the few things in life that I pride myself on is my blog. Well folks, I have dropped the ball. I failed to give you proper warning that tomorrow night, Saturday August 7th at 11:00pm, I will be visiting Joker’s Comedy Club (5680 Spring Garden Road) as a... Read More.

Eisner Award - Best New Series - Chew, by John Layman
The 2010 Eisner Awards were recently announced. The winner of the award for best new graphic novel series was Chew: taster's choice, by John Layman. Chew is the story of a FDA agent who can receive psychic information from the food he eats. His special beat i... Read More.

Archie Sunday: Wife Strife
As far as the title goes I think that they were aiming for a rhyme above all else. Unless some prescient individual managed to anticipate the recent "Archie gets hitched!" storyline by four decades or so, of course. Read More.

Soo
Soo is a character I've been sketching for a fairly realistic science fiction story I may do some day. Read More.

Cloud #42
Summer is quickly drawing to a close, and I can’t say I’ve ever spent this much time in the studio. I’m often there by 10am and head home after midnight, and there have been more than a few vending machine dinners… Read More.

Winter's Bone: Truly Chilling
This year’s Grand Jury Winner at Sundance, Winter’s Bone is one heck of a picture. Adapted from Daniel Woodrill’s 2006 novel of the same name and set and shot in his native wandering grounds, the Missouri Ozark Mountains, Winter’s Bone blends raw authenticity ... Read More.

Reviews:: PS I Love You Meet Me At The Muster Station
There’s a scene near the end of Freak & Geeks when a lost Daniel Desario turns to one of the tag-along nerds, the oddly confident Harris Trinsky, for validation. Despite being wildly unpopular and into D&D and Audio Visual activities, Daniel recognizes the cer... Read More.

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for In the Still of the Night (Five Satins)
This is a gorgeous doo wop song from the 1950s which would obviously have to get severely trimmed down if you’re going to perform it solo with one guitar or ukulele instead of having a band and 3 back up singers. Read More.

Staff Pick - The Lady and the Poet by Maeve Haran
Not much is known about Ann More, wife and inspiration of poet John Donne. Donne first met More in the home of her uncle and his employer, Thomas Egerton. Read More.

Autumnal
Here's another drawing I did with ShinHan markers. Markers are interesting to me because they kindvof stretch the possibilities of drawing while encouraging you to stay loose. The autumnal nature of this drawing might have to do with the oppressive heat that's... Read More.

Upstarts
The show, Upstarts, which Roman Bartkiw was invited to participate in a day before he died opens today in the Jonathon Bancroft-Snell Gallery in London Ontario. Read More.

Reviews:: Ridley Bent Rabbit on my Wheel
Without question, Ridley Bent‘s transition from Buck 65 styled country raps to more traditional, pop-laden country tunes has probably splintered his initial fan base. Now longer accessible to the younger crowd, Bent has had to work hard to carve out his new au... Read More.

Guitar and Ukulele Tabs for Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
Hallelujah is one of the truly great Canadian songs of all time, written by one of Canada’s best songwriters ever, Leonard Cohen. It is generally simple to play in terms of chords, and simple to hard to perform pending how much diva you want to put into your p... Read More.

One of my favourite things... Lost in Austen
You do not have to be a fan of the literary genius Jane Austen to get Lost in Austen but I suppose it would help. Imagine being a very contemporary woman transported to your favourite fictional world and realizing just how hard fitting in would be. And all the... Read More.

Winter of Content Too
It has been a long and winding road for Newfoundland’s Kathleen Winter, but the time of arrival is at last upon her. The 50 year-old writer - who now lives with her husband and two daughters in Montreal - has fulfilled a lifelong dream with the release of her... Read More.

CBC Information Morning - Summer Books (part two)
Kristina and I were fortunate enough to be invited back to CBC Radio's Information Morning show to participate in a second summer books panel. Listed below are the titles we discussed on the show this morning: David's suggestions: The Bird Detective: invest... Read More.

Reviews:: Baby Eagle Dog Weather
It’s easy to try to force to your emotions on Steve Lambke. Whether it was his contributions to his other band or the earlier releases as Baby Eagle, his fractured view of the world was a perfect counterpoint to the energy and grit fans have expected from The ... Read More.

Robert Munsch and the Oedipal Complex
Oedipus was a stranger to the city. He killed the wicked king and married his widow. At the time, he didn’t know that the king was actually his father, and his new wife was actually his own mother- he doesn’t find out until the end of the story, when he is sui... Read More.

Staff Pick - Adventures Among Ants, by Mark W Moffett
Ants have recently become a very popular topic in my community. With the local discoveries of European Fire Ants, feisty little creatures who's bites and stings are wrecking havoc among backyard gardeners and terrorizing pets and children, perhaps now is the ... Read More.

mellow yellow
Gosh, I have really not been a good artist these days....... my painting has been on the back burner this summer. I think it is a good thing, nice to get a wee break and I look forward to firing up the brushes soon! I love photography as much if not more and t... Read More.

This Is Completely Off-Topic
I mention on my bio page that I sometimes make video games with my old friend/ former blog- and room-mate Paul, and that we start a lot of projects but never really finish them. We work in fits and starts, thanks to the fact that we both have jobs and girlfrie... Read More.

Astro Boy
I did this as a marker sketch in the car between reading Pluto # 2 and Astro Boy #4. It's my take take on Astro Boy, or the Mighty Atom ( in Japan ). These comics are mazing. There is so many amazing manga books it's kind of overwhelming. Read More.

Best of-’10:: The Provincial Archive Maybe We Could Be Holy
“Different vibe. Hope you dig.” With that quick email from lead song writer Craig Schram, my apprehension for the new release from The Provincial Archive increased significantly. All too often, a sophomore long player is derailed by misguided ambition and new... Read More.

“Busybody” auditions coming up
Bedford Players’ fall production is Busybody, a very funny mystery by Jack Popplewell (directed by Robin Saywood). A body and interfering office cleaner, and a Detective Superintendent with a bad cold and a worse temper, make this a side-splitting comedy. Read More.

Writers Helping Writers: Merry Monteleone
I don’t know writer Merry Monteleone well, other than to say that she’s a smart, strong woman and we share some loyal friends. Her home in Illinois was recently flooded, and suffered a great deal of damage. Merry and her family — including three children in ... Read More.

Dylan Thomas Prize for Young Writers
Canadian/ New Zealander author Eleanor Catton is among the wealth of international young talent comprising this year's longlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize for Young Writers. This prize is awarded to the best eligible published or produced literary work in the ... Read More.

Video:: Apollo Ghosts @ Gus’ Pub
Well, as you can see the hill is back online and malware free (at least for now!). This coincides nicely will Vancouver’s Apollo Ghosts absolutely killing it at Gus’ Pub last night and me having the time to upload some ratty Flip Video recordings of the entir... Read More.

A book at war with itself
Tough questions get short shrift in Lawrence Scanlon's A Year of Living Generously, an account of volunteering for 12 charities in as many months. Lawrence Scanlan’s idea was deceptively simple. Read More.

I have a secret to tell you...
Maybe not a secret. A confession? That's not quite right either. But it's something I've been meaning to go public with for some time now, and just could never quite seem to do it. I don't really know why. At first, we only told a few dear friends and close fa... Read More.

Street Memory
Here's a sketch I did with Tria markers of someone I saw on the street 2 days ago, done from memory. I almost prefer to draw from memory than from life. I find when I draw from memory the picture comes out transformed and pretty close to what I felt the perso... Read More.

"Rhymes with Rectal" - Alison Bechdel
Since July is Queer Pride Month in Halifax, I wanted to blog about one of my favourite graphic novelists, Alison Bechdel, (the pronunciation of her last name, as she says on her website, "rhymes with rectal"). Two of her books are in the Library's collection, ... Read More.

The Other Side of Paul, Vol. I
Of all the people with whom I've had the chance to work over the years, perhaps my favourite was Canadian cellist Denise Djokic. I did a documentary about her in 2002 for Bravo, and she appeared in the first season of The Classical Now (Bravo, SCN, Knowledge) ... Read More.

Reading Lessig’s Remix : Copyright Regulating Culture
My summer reading this year includes Lawrence Lessig‘s Remix, and it’s so far been refreshing to read about how copyright drives and hampers our culture. Tonight, though, I’m hung up on a dark, sour fact about copyright, especially as it exists in America, wh... Read More.

Tonight @ Gus’:: METZ
As we get closer and closer to Sappyfest, Halifax reaps the rewards of proximity. Not including huge shows like Holy Fuck, Jim Guthrie, and The Sadies, we also get to latch onto the lineup and see smaller acts like Apollo Ghost – note, hell f*cking yeah – that... Read More.

Lovin' the library
Today we headed down to the Spring Garden Road Library with friends to enjoy the library's "Games on the Library Lawn" program. Thankfully the weather was beautiful, and other than minor issues with the giant inflatable dice blowing away, was great fun. The ki... Read More.

Orphans : Family Reading
Feature: Family Reading: Ages 8+ (Children’s books that adults will love too!) From Oliver Twist to Harry Potter, the plight of the orphan has tugged at the heartstrings of readers for generations. What is the appeal of these stories? Well, aside from the pit... Read More.

Whoops...
Um..I've lost this weeks Sprout... So, next week! Read More.

AstroLogical – Living Fossils
I’ve got just a real quick one for you today as we wait for the hill to be released from it’s Google-imposed purgatory. AstroLogical is the nom-de-knob-twiddle of Nate Drobner, a multi-instrumentalist and producer from Vancouver. The other day we were sent a ... Read More.

SKIN LIKE IRON - Descent Into Light
Rock n' roll on steroids! Metal on metal! Too hardcore for hardcore! There's roughness around the edges and it will not come off! I'VE GOT SKIN LIKE IRON!!! Writing this review has been an endless task. Sentence written, sentence erased. Read More.

Staff Picks: Graphic Memoirs
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the graphic novels section of my branch lately. Of the books I’ve read recently, two stand out: Stitches by David Small (2008) & Nikolai Maslov’s (2006) Siberia. Read More.

Green Water Witch
Seen when the water is green and slimy. This is another doodle done with ShinHan markers. Read More.

Exclusive:: New song from Kestrels
I honestly don’t care if you don’t like Kestrels or not. I do, and I’m going to keep on posting each and every song they send over. The Truro based power trio led by all-around nice guy and primary song writer Chad Peck wear their 90′s influences on the... Read More.

Music by the sea
Tomorrow night, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is hosting a free concert. The press release follows. The second annual Halifax Harbour Sea Music Festival will have a free preview concert Tuesday, July 27, at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax... Read More.

Fare Thee Well, “Logan & I”
I owe a large amount of thanks to my fellow creators who also worked on LOGAN AND I, Michael McPhee (Writer/Actor), Scott Burke (Director), and Annie Valentina (Producer), thank you all so much for making the past 4 weeks as painless as possible. I say “painle... Read More.

Food for Thought
You know that eating has become complicated when we need manifestos and exposes to help us through dinner. North Americans, despite our apparent diet consciousness, rely too heavily on fast and prepared foods and have as a result, according to Fast Food Nation... Read More.

The Unfunnies: When in Doubt…
As with a lot of the unfunny comics of yore, I really enjoy the art on this one, and the first panel in particular is pretty terrific. But it has one fatal flaw… Read More.

Old School Mondays:: A Lighter Shade of Brown
This week’s OSM is an Ack request. He made a clever Kid Frost reference in one of his tweets, where he name-checked La Raza whilst talking about a La Strada post (he spelled their name wrong, but hey, he’s tweeting my posts, so we’ll cut him some slack). Anyw... Read More.

Only now its "Les douze ans perdu"
People sometimes ask ,"how is my book on life in Canada's new frontier towns of the 1950s going?" The book was called "Les dix ans trouve" --- all about the postwar determination to make up for the years lost to the Great Depression AND World War One. Read More.

Call me a pessimist...
I love reading about disaster preparedness. There's something comforting about an expert's reassurance. Everything will be alright. Almost every title I've read warns not to use a single book as a be-all/end-all survival guide. Read More.

Inky's Gas Service
A little Inky the bat story from the world of Maddy Kettle. Besides the pleasure of doing a little comic these pages served two other pages. One was to experiment with tone. I used Letraset's Manga screentone. I like the sense of depth it gives the background... Read More.

Memories of Mac
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about Mac Tonnies, who died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 34 last October. Mac was one of my best friends, and I miss him a great deal. Last November, Nick Redfern and I joined Greg Bishop on Greg’s Radio Misterioso r... Read More.

Get this shit off my desk:: Ketch Harbor Wolves, Colleen & Paul, Ben Wilkins
This has the potential to be a regular Friday thing; a desk clearing edition of music I wish I had more time to talk about, but simply don’t. No more 500 word think-pieces (I can hear you all saying, thank god), simply a quick descriptor and a free track. Work... Read More.

Assemblage Challenge – Carla’s Stuff
Next up and currently on the “ponder table”, Carla’s stuff! Some very cool textiles including dyed cheesecloth, cowhide and lace edging. The glasses I might snarf for myself. ;) Read More.

Frank MacDonald night
Frank MacDonald chats with friends among the capacity crowd that packed the Inverness County Centre for the Arts Wednesday night for a tribute to the Inverness County author and poet. The River Hill Players performed several of MacDonald’s songs and plays, Read More.

The Hermit of Africville: the life of Eddie Carvery , by Jon Tattrie
Journalist Jon Tattrie’s account of the life of Eddie Carvery is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Halifax or in civil rights in general. The book focuses on Eddie Carvery, a man resolved to right the wrongs of what happened to his community.... Read More.

Holly Stevens and Ghost Cases on A & E Biography
Episode 7, part 4 of the A & E Biography series My Ghost Story, about the Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrew's, New Brunswick, features my Ghost Cases co-host Holly Stevens and footage from the second episode of our series. You can view the A & E segment here. Read More.

Reviews:: Bad Tits Garbage Night
Bad Tits have a lot going for them; a great label that lets them record whatever music they want, a pedigree of awesomeness and probably most importantly to herohill, a love for The Warriors. Considering their roots and constant evolution, it’s not surprising... Read More.

BITTER END - Guilty As Charged
Bitter End is back, more menacing than ever. Guilty As Charged emits intent to go beyond conservative genre plot devices such as catchy grooves, easy-to-get-into hard parts and early 90's metallic NYC hardcore. Read More.

Flawed Characters and Conflict
One major problem that I face in writing for the late-middle grades is that I’m so far removed from them. I’m not only over the hill, I’m way down the hollow. We don’t have children, and I don’t really remember what it was like to be 12 or 13, although I do r... Read More.

Shorts for Summer - Essay Edition
Last summer I wrote a post about reading short stories in the summer time. The idea being that summer is a great time to grab a book and feel like you can dip into it and jump back out again, without taking on the commitment of a whole novel. Read More.

Shelf Cat
A little sculpture I did to try out the Super Sculpey. He will now live on my book shelf. Read More.

Reviews:: The Mountains & The Trees I Made This For You
When I started scrolling through the lists of records coming out this summer, outside of Women’s new long player, I was probably most excited for Jon Janes (with a helping hand from Jillian Freeman of course) and his latest efforts under the moniker, The Mount... Read More.

Secret Lives
PSST, wanna know a secret? I think you do ... or at least it seems like the publishing industry thinks you do—if the number of books on the supposed secret life (and sometimes lives) of people, places and things is any indication. Read More.

Materials
One of the great things about working in an art store is the sudden exposure to many new materials. Too many to try! Read More.

Reviews:: Japandroids No Singles
Not surprisingly, talking about bands that truly invoked the heartbeat of their city resulted in my digging through my pile of promo discs to find the re-issue of Japandroids first two EPs, lovingly titled No Singles. The rise to fame for the East Van two-pie... Read More.

On a roll…
… apparently. As the days start to heat up, I head to the studio which provides a bit of respite until 4 o’clock or so when EVERYWHERE just pulsates. Been hearing the tree frogs whine earlier and earlier each day. Dog days of summer indeed! Anyway. On to Teri... Read More.

Gay/Lesbian Fiction
The first novels I can remember reading that had lesbian characters were The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg. Read More.

Yellow Poppies
I've come up with a great idea, by accident as most ideas arrive. Taking small parts of my large paintings and turning them into their own paintings. Probably been done a bazillion times before but not by me:) I think this close up would look great as a painti... Read More.

The Unfunnies: Kitty McTabby
From the 40s to the 60s, super hero comics frequently featured more cartoony, comic-relief one-and two-page strips in addition to the action-adventure style stories that were advertised on the cover. Read More.

Reviews:: Eamon McGrath Peace Maker
There are certain athletes that can grab a guitar and transport you to a city you’ve never been. Springsteen, Fallon, Wilson; these are artists that channel the mood, attitudes, and even the climate of home on almost every song. Read More.

“Logan and I” in the Chronicle Herald
ogan and I a tale of transformation Play written by Halifax’s Michael McPhee opens Queer Act fest By ANDREA NEMETZ Entertainment Reporter Sun. Jul 18 – 4:52 AM IF ONE of the characters in Logan and I, a play premiering Tuesday at the Queer Acts Theatre Fes... Read More.

Transgender Tales
My first exposure to transgender stories was in the Pulitzer Prize book, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. Other tales you might consider are: Read More.

Doppo The Fox
A new face in the Cloudscape. Doppo is a cloud cartographer from 100 years before Harry and Silvio's time and he will have a major role in book 2 of Maddy Kettle ( if they let me do a book 2). Read More.

Archie Sunday: Sick burn, Miss Grundy!
Miss Grundy hits Veronica where it hurts. Read More.

Inception A Mind-Blowing Movie
Inception is sensational. Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi thriller is not only the film event of the summer, it might just be the best film of the year. With a stellar cast headed up by Leonardo DiCaprio and buttressed by Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Tom Beren... Read More.

HPX 2010:: Initial Acts Announced
It’s July and we’re posting on the 2010 Halifax Pop Explosion, which takes place from October 19th to the 23rd. So yeah, it’s good and early, but so what? The good people at HPX have recently announced the first acts slated for this year’s festivus, and I thin... Read More.

“Logan and I” in The Coast
Logan and I: sexual dealings at Queer Acts The Doppler Effect’s first production takes a look back at those early days of sexual awareness from a male perspective. Posted by Kate Watson on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 5:47 PM Think back to your first introduction t... Read More.

Egg-cellent Egg-xhibition
Oh I can’t believe I just wrote that cheesy title. There you have it – the humidity has made me obnoxiously silly. Oh dear…That all being said if you are obsessed with eggs (Yes, there is a big egg fan club), then you will love one of our newest artists, Annie... Read More.

25 Questions With Author Sarah Hina
Sarah Hina • Plum Blossoms in Paris I knew that Sarah Hina and I could be great friends on the day she called me a cocksucker. But I need to back up. I met Sarah online; I know a few members of an online writing circle, and when I decided to finish my young ... Read More.

Cooking with Magic Realism
In the New York Review of Books, I came across an ad for Aimee Bender's new novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (also mentioned in an earlier post). It tells the story of a girl who, when she eats, tastes the emotions of the cook, as well as the food. Read More.

Kettle Thumbs
I finished the thumbnails for the first Maddy Kettle book yesterday. Right now, the book comes out to 110 pages. It was a lot of work, even though I had lots of story notes and sketches the story went to unexpected places while drawing the thumbnails. Read More.

John Buys Comics, Nation In Shock
I had a moment of panic when I looked over the enormous stack of comics that I hauled home this week. Somehow, the moons had aligned and the spirits of discord had looked the other way and sundry other events (one or two possibly even involving people in the c... Read More.

Video Hits:: Library Voices, By Divine Right, D-Sisive
It’s been a while since we’ve had a video hits post, but it’s Thursday, and I see no reason not to get back at it. We’ve got three great videos from three albums I really like, so let’s get into it. Read More.

Five Books I Want to Read this Summer - Eric's Picks
As a readers' advisory at the public library (working in a bunch of departments), I need to stay current about literature for all ages. This is a challenge, requiring me to read widely in the areas of children, teen and adult publishing. Read More.

Sprout Episode Six (Happy Anniversary Julie!!)
Happy fourth anniversary Julie! Thanks for putting up with me this long... Read More.

Quick Hitters:: Kathryn Calder
As is the case for many music fans, I stumbled onto Kathryn Calder because of her talents as a collaborator. I think the first time I heard her was playing with Carl Newman on his solo tour @ Lee’s Palace, but since then I’ve seen her fill out melodies and hoo... Read More.

Roller Town Needs Yo’ Moneyz
Picnicface’s ROLLER TOWN is now gearing up to develop their two minute faux-trailer into a full-blown, full-length feature film shooting in Halifax next month. Much the same as Jason Eisener‘s HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, their short trailer turned feature film includ... Read More.

Plum Blossoms in Paris by Sarah Hina
Sarah Hina and I both went to medical school, both hate the smell of formaldehyde with a passion, and both dreamed of being writers. Sarah is living that dream with the release of Plum Blossoms in Paris, and she’s launching her blog promotion tour today at Tra... Read More.

In Memoriam - Harvey Pekar 1939 - 2010
World renowned comic book author Harvey Pekar has passed away at his Cleveland home at the age of seventy. Best known for his autobiographical American Splendor series, Pekar was on the leading edge of comic book writing for much of his career. Read More.

Exclusive:: New Apollo Ghosts – Cedar Street EP
I’ve made no secret of my torrid love affair/borderline stalking issues when it comes to Vancouver’s Apollo Ghosts. Almost every day I try to come up with a new way to post on the scrappy three-piece from Vansterdam, hoping not to get scooped by my arch nemesi... Read More.

Through the Opera Glasses - 62 - Courage to Climb Higher
It's probably hard to imagine that orchestra conductors don't emerge fully-formed from the womb in white tie and tails. However, these elite artists have to train like anyone else in order to harness the potential of a live performance. Read More.

A week of hot music
What a week to be a music fan in Halifax. With dozens of shows at venues around the city, the Halifax Jazz Festival showcases dozens of musicians, with diverse specialities. On Saturday, Halifax Magazine sponsored a blues show with Chicago native Lurrie Bell—i... Read More.

“LOGAN AND I” OPENS IN ONE WEEK
LOGAN AND I, presented by The Doppler Effect, opens one week from today (Tuesday, July 20th) as part of the Queer Acts Festival! Directed by Scott Burke, featuring myself and Michael McPhee, who also wrote the play. Annie Valentina is also our Stage Manager. Read More.

2010 Orange Award for New Writers - The Boy Next Door, by Irene Sabatini
The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini is a modern day Zimbabwean love story. Fourteen year old Lindiwe Bishop becomes enthralled with the boy next door, who has been accused of setting his stepmother on fire. These two rather unlikely interracial suitors join to... Read More.

“I’m just mad as heck, Cora. Those gosh-darned maniacs went and blew it up!”
From Strange Adventures No. 45 (1954): the comic book adaptation of The Gorilla World, the now forgotten movie that was the inspiration for Planet of the Apes, 14 years later. Read More.

RIP Harvey Pekar
Very sad news, Harvey Pekar the famous comic book writer died this week. He paved the way for indy comics and opened up comics for a wider variety of stories. It's nice that so many media outlets are recognizing him this morning, it certainly restores my faith... Read More.

Old School Mondays:: Miles Davis = Badass Edition
For reasons I won’t go into here, my father-in-law has been storing many of his surplus possessions at our house for a couple months. Amongst these possessions are three or four large wooden crates filled with vinyl records. Sounds like a pretty awesome scenar... Read More.

CATTLE DRUMS - The Boy Kisser Sessions
From the small town Onenta of New York state, comes CATTLE DRUMS, an irresistibly charming band that has rare quality that exceeds demands of originality. See, there's not really anything new happening here, but they successfully breach two genres and in doing... Read More.

The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia
The Fifth Servant is a fast paced historical mystery set in 16th century Prague. A Christian girl has been found murdered in a Jewish shop, leading to serious accusations of blood libel and threats of revenge. Sexton Benyamin Ben-Akiva has three days to find ... Read More.

Soccer Raccoon
A bit of a disappointing game but fun to see all the people celebrating. Not something I ever saw living in the suburbs. Read More.

Archie Sunday: A Heartwarming Tale of Corporal Punishment
The issue: Archie No. 109. The set-up: Archie has a gig as a DJ in daily school assemblies, but power has gone to his head and he’s started accepting bribes from students to play their original compositions and thus catapult them to, uh, regional fame. Read More.

Cloud #38
It is sticky and icky outside: the humidity makes for a challenging work week, I must say. To help beat the heat, I took a magical day off yesterday for the first time in a while, and had one of those beautiful evenings with a friend, a bottle of juicy merlo... Read More.

De La Soul in Halifax Tonight
The truly legendary De La Soul plays Halifax tonight in the main festival tent to kick things off for the 2010 edition of the Halifax Jazz Festival. I’m not sure this information really helps you, seeing as how the show is sold out (doesn’t help me either, no ... Read More.

Blush Response / MTL World Film Festival
I just received the inspiring news that Ian Burns‘ BLUSH RESPONSE (starring myself & Cheryl Hann) will be in the lineup for the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival. As soon as you enter the word “World” into the equation, things always get exponentially better (... Read More.

Graphic Takes on the Travel Diary
Traditionally a hand-crafted medium, the graphic novel is uniquely suited to autobiographical storytelling. As with written autobiographies, there is a fine line between illuminating self-examination & self-indulgent navel-gazing. Two works by authors/artists ... Read More.

Laughing Death in the Bony Face, John Buys Comics
Okay, maybe not death. Intense discomfort, though. See, this week marks the point in the Nova Scotia Summer when the average temperature started being at or over thirty degrees (Celsius. That’s right suckers: METRIC SYSTEM) and that means two things for ol’ Jo... Read More.

Julianne Swartz's Bubble Portraits
Can you see the teeny-tiny couple reflected in the bubble? This is one of photographer Julianne Swartz's bubble portraits, available at Mixed Greens. Read More.

Cloud #36
Cloud #36 16″ x 20″ Oil on Beechwood, 2010 It is, as they say, crunch time. I haven’t worked this hard since I was ten and my father made me drag logs through the woods in exchange for a barbecued hot dog. Read More.

Le Chien
It’s been well over a year since Jeff Wheaton‘s experimental LE CHIEN (originally created for the Argyle Fine Art Gallery) had it’s run during the Atlantic Film Festival, well now it’s online for you. Just for you. So please enjoy the short, almost avant-garde... Read More.

Pale Creation - S/T
Cleveland’s PALE CREATION delivers a mammoth 7” EP on A389 Records, containing two epic tracks of crushing, yet melodic metallic hardcore. Rising up alongside similar legendary acts such as Ringworm and Integrity, this incredible band has been churning out wel... Read More.

Five Books I Want to Read this Summer -David's Picks
As always, my summer readings plans are somewhat dependent on when my library holds get filled. Here are my best laid plans, involving a science book, a biography, a graphic novel, a mystery and an audiobook (for when I will be "working" in the garden). Read More.

Eternia and MoSS – At Last
Considering how big a fan I am of Shad’s Keep Shining, a song that contains a verse encouraging more female participation in hip hop, it would be a little hypocritical of me to overlook an album from an incredibly talented, Canadian female MC. Eternia calls Br... Read More.

Review: Zappa Plays Zappa
Last night, Dweezil Zappa was in town for his Zappa Plays Zappa show, a tribute to his guitar god father. Halifax Magazine reader Aimish Wallace was there, and shares this review: “Tuesday night’s performance of Zappa Plays Zappa at the Rebecca Cohn demonstra... Read More.

Library Fiction
With the planning process in full swing for a new Halifax Central Library, I've been thinking a lot about libraries, especially about a library's connection to writers and their readers. Read More.

Babies in Literature: More from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina's husband, Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, is a contradictory character I can't quite figure out. I can't decide if he isn't particularly well-drawn or if he's actually so well-drawn that he's as difficult to put in a box as a real human being woul... Read More.

Best-of ’10:: Half way there (LPs)
Apollo Ghosts :: Mount Benson – review I’ve been riding Apollo Ghosts hard these last few months, including a constant barrage of tweets/posts to the Polaris jury hoping to help push them onto the short list. Mount Benson is a rough album in construction, but... Read More.

Young@Heart
Wow, 3 blog posts in one day. Aren't you lucky? Nobody does that for me. I was listening to The Sunday Edition on CBC radio yesterday morning. They were interviewing the leader of Young@Heart, which is a choir composed of old people who mostly sing contemp... Read More.

UNITED NATIONS - Never Mind The Bombings - Here's Your Six Figures
Never Mind The Bombings - Here's Your Six Figures is UNITED NATION's first EP release, fast on the heels of their 11 song debut on Eyball Records. The UN is an experimental punk supergroup. Nobody really knows which punk/hardcore superstars are in the band bu... Read More.

25 Questions With Author John DeMont
John DeMont is just the best guy. That’s not a throw-away line or a pat introduction. It’s what I thought from the first time that I met him. You’d think the same thing. Within minutes, you’d describe John as self-effacing, personable, witty, and quick to la... Read More.

Five Books I Want to Read This Summer - Laurel's Picks
Like you, my first thought was, “only five?”! Oh my, what to choose! Then, I began thinking of long, warm summer days, lying in a lawn chair, sipping iced tea and reading a book. Imagining myself there, hearing the ice cubes clinking in my glass and feeling th... Read More.

Drawing And Writing
I'm in the midst of things and there's not much to report. So far the part time job has worked. I'm getting more work done then ever with out any of the freelance pressures. Toronto is once again sweltering after a brief reprieve. Read More.

It’s Johnstravaganza Time Again!
Yes, time has marched on and John has grown just a little bit older, with a bit more junk in the trunk (er, forward-mounted, European-style trunk) and presumably a greater tendency for aching bones on cold Winter mornings, though that last one is hard to confi... Read More.

Old School Mondays:: Classics 88-90 Vol. 1 – Part 2
After the rousing success of last week’s OSM (according to me anyway), I decided to keep the tape-fueled fun going with a part 2. To recap, last week I found a mix tape I made who knows when, that was entitled “Classics 88-90″, and so I decided to post t... Read More.

Five Books I Want to Read this Summer - Lynne's Picks
Every summer comes with a feeling of anticipation. People you'll see that you don't see on regular basis. Places you'll go on your vacation. Company coming. Great food on the barbeque, and last if not least, great books to read. Read More.

Blind Memphis Finch
This is a character that's been around for a while and even appeared in one of my minicomics. I couldn't really fit him in the first Maddy Kettle book, although one of his songs gets played on the radio in one scene Read More.

Cloud #35
Cloud #35 16″ x 16″ Oil on Beechwood, 2010 I haven’t been posting these in sequence, but can’t wait to show an image of them all lined up. The transition from one cloud to the next is more evident when they’re photographed together, and will be a... Read More.

Please Give: A Pointed, Compassionate Comedy
The most talented female comedy director writer/currently working, Nichole Holofcener, has just released one of her very best films in the urban contemporary drama of manners, Please Give. Sporting a stellar cast (Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet, Catherine Keener... Read More.

Who are the Canadian 20 under 40?
Last week, I wrote a blog post about New Yorker magazine's 20 under 40—their look at 20 young authors who are going to define the next generation of American fiction—it got me wondering ... who are the Canadian 20 under 40? Read More.

Working Stiff
File this under being responsible. I start a new part time job tomorrow at Canada's biggest art store chain Deserre's. I needed to pick up some extra money while Julie isn't working. Read More.

New Etsy Drawings
I've added a bunch of new drawings for sale on my Etsy shop all for great prices. Check it out here. Read More.

Splice: A Fabulous Mess Of A Sci-Fi Movie
Splice is a fabulous mess of a movie, with a dynamite mad scientist start devolving into a silly ‘couples therapy’ finish. Still, it’s loaded with enough wild and woolly ideas to please any sci-fi or techno geek. And while the cheap-nite audience I saw it w... Read More.

The Stones 'Exile' N.S. Connection
The media swirl around the re-release of the Rolling Stones classic 1972 album Exile On Main Street has revolved mostly around the 1o new tracks unearthed and polished up for one of the new editions of the landmark double disc. What’s been missed in all of ... Read More.

The Trotsky: An Insufferable Dud
Jacob Tierney’s The Trotsky has a genuinely funny premise and a terrific Canadian cast. So why is it such a bad film? Championed at Film Festivals across this land last fall, the intermittently humorous comedy charmed critics, film snobs, and most important... Read More.

Iron Man 2: Sizzling With Action, Fun
The critical chorus on Iron Man 2 has mostly been a wail of ‘it’s not as good as the first one’. It’s possible that most of those critics either don’t like movies or don’t like comics. Or both. Perhaps they should find some other form of employment because... Read More.

The Runaways: A Run Of The Mill Music Bio
The Runaways -- the movie of the story of the mid ‘70s all girl rock band of the same name -- is just about as bad as the band itself. I remember one rock critic describing their music as ‘bang-bang-plop’, virtually confirming the long-held fact that women ... Read More.

Cloudburst: A Knockout
The Plutonium Playhouse is the most exciting thing to happen on the Halifax Theatre scene in a decade. It’s first offering is a sprightly staging of filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald’s latest screenplay Cloudburst, which he plans to shoot this summer as a feature c... Read More.

Chloe: Atom Egoyan's Latest Film is Plodding And Pretentious
Canadian director Atom Egoyan’s latest movie, the contemporary domestic betrayal flick Chloe, is a plodding and pretentious affair that has little to show for all its upmarket gloss. With a cast headed by world-class stars Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore and... Read More.

The Ghost Writer: Polanski, Underpowered
Critics have been kind to legendary director Roman Polanski’s latest, The Ghost Writer, as he sits under house arrest awaiting extradition from Europe to the US to face charges dating back to the mid-70s. Polanski’s extraordinary situation -- detailed in th... Read More.

Alice In Wonderland: More Disney than Burton.
Tim Burton fans should be properly forewarned that his major studio take on Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland is more Disney than Burton. With a truly horrifying girl-power script by Linda Woolverton -- who penned Beauty And the Beast and The Lion King f... Read More.

The Crazies: A Vibrant Zombie Variant With a Tart Sting
Sahara director Breck Eisner has tackled a modern-day remake of one of horrormeister George Romero’s most neglected films, The Crazies. Built around a star-making performance by Deadwood actor Timothy Olyphant -- who was so effective in the terrific Canadia... Read More.

Shutter Island: Visual Poetry in a Twisting Plot
Paramount has fiddled with the release date for Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island for almost a season and a half, putting off this potentially difficult film’s launch for at least six months. Now it’s finally here and there’s no question it is essential cine... Read More.

Crazy Heart: Blazingly Great
Scott Cooper’s debut feature Crazy Heart has build up a fine surge of hype mostly due from the extraordinary performance of Jeff Bridges as a broken-down Texas-based country writer and performer named Bad Blake. The film is surprisingly straightforward and ... Read More.

Broken Embraces: Good But Not Great
Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s latest feature film, Broken Embraces, is regularly referred to as a letdown after his brilliant and vastly entertaining 2004 entry Volver. Sure, it has an overly dense plot that again returns to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 ma... Read More.

Ursula Le Guin and the The Aeneid's Lavinia
Lavinia, By Ursula K. Le Guin Reviewed by Peter O’Brien Ursula K. Le Guin's career as a creator of alternative realities dates back four decades now. She is perhaps best known for the Earthsea series for young adults, but her oeuvre in adult scien... Read More.

A Single Man Is Utterly Ravishing
Fashion designer Tom Ford’s first feature film, A Single Man, is just about as ravishing a movie that’s ever hit the big screen. Adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s landmark 1964 novel of the same name set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the film tells t... Read More.

The Book Of Eli: post-apocalypse-du-jour with a plot.
The Hughes Brothers (From Hell, Menace II Society, Dead Presidents) have entered the post-apocalypse-du-jour sweepstakes with the Denzel Washington vehicle, The Book Of Eli. Seemingly using some of the same locations and sets as the recent film version of C... Read More.

Daybreakers: Spawn of vampire sequels.
The Aussie Spierig Brothers have delivered a surprisingly solid blast of imaginative entertainment in their just-opened horror flick Daybreakers. While it’s a bit wobbly at times, like an overstuffed triple decker-sandwich -- Daybreakers is, after all, a Va... Read More.

Up In the Air, Down in the Gutter
Cynically calculated and yet virtually unwatchable, Up In the Air is one of those movies whose reputation gets inflated on the hothouse film festival circuit. As writer/director Jason Reitman’s follow-up to the quirky hit Juno, it reinforces the notion that... Read More.

Avatar: A Cinematic Trip
Sensory overload sci-fi epic. Landmark nerdland technical breakthrough. Masterful video-game-movie hybrid. Exhausting eco-fable wrought large. Rip-snorting revisionist actioner. James Cameron’s Avatar is all of these things, and more. Created with a new Fus... Read More.

Book Review: Of Canoes, Maritime History, and Friendship
It’s a little bit of adventure memoir, philosophical retrospective, chronicle of a friendship, historical reflection … and more. As a slim volume, Like an Ever Rolling Stream author Hugh W. McKervill packs this literary trip to the gunwales. A modest editio... Read More.

Me And Orson Welles: The Legend Still Dazzles
A must-see for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of the performing arts, Me And Orson Welles might just pull in a few more members of the greater movie-going public due to teen heart-throb Zac Efron’s involvement. Considering the elf-like Efron mostly... Read More.

Book Review: An Echo in the Bone
Diana Gabaldon’s seventh and latest installment, An Echo in the Bone, has enough interrelated tales (five to be exact) to sustain fans through many cold winter nights. An Echo in the Bone is the continuing historical fiction saga of Clare Randall and Jami... Read More.

Book Excerpt: An Echo in the Bone, by Diana Gabaldon
The following is excerpted from the hardcover edition of An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon Copyright © 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. Excerpted by permission of Anchor Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this e... Read More.

The Road: A masterpiece of cinematic mood in search of a story
John Hillcoat’s long-awaited followup to his international breakthrough The Proposition is only a mild letdown. The Road -- adapted from Cormac MacCarthy’s acclaimed novel -- is full of haunting post apocalyptic landscapes and practically no plot. The resul... Read More.

Precious: Astonishing use of a forceful cinematic palette.
Calling Precious a ‘brave’ movie is selling it short. The word that more aptly describes it is ‘ferocious’. You could throw around other words too, like ‘groundbreaking’, ‘innovative’ and ‘original’. Whatever the case, Precious is one terrific flick. Ev... Read More.

It Might Get Loud: It Doesn't
The new electric guitarist feature documentary It Might Get Loud is getting a very strange pre-DVD release: a couple of latenight weekends only before a December 22nd street date. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Fest. It’s a strategy that would ... Read More.

The Box: Press the button, or not.
Richard Kelly has returned to wide release with his third film, a supernatural thriller called The Box, adapted from the classic Sci-Fi author Richard (I Am Legend) Matheson’s story ‘Button, Button’. Kelly, whose debut 2001 outing Donnie Darko has become th... Read More.

An Education: An Affair Turns The Corner
An Education is one of those must-see films that has gotten a tad inflated from expectations and hype that come with dazzling the denizens of the festival circuit. A product of the wonderful British novelist Nick Hornby - who wrote the script, but not the s... Read More.

Paranormal Activity: One supremely scary film.
Paranormal Activity is one supremely scary film. Reportedly made for ten grand by writer/director Oren Peli, the brilliant bargain basement supernatural nail-biter has already endured some really dumb comparisons to shaky-camster thrillers such as The Blair Wi... Read More.

Amelia: A Crash Landing
While the real Amelia Earhart disappeared in the South Pacific in 1937, a big screen counterpart is crash-landing in cinemas this weekend. Mira Nair directed Hillary Swank as the star of this bio-pic, filmed partly in Nova Scotia, but the talented but erra... Read More.

Where The Wild Things Are: A film that should dazzle audiences of all ages.
The long-awaited bigscreen version of Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book Where The Wild Things Are has finally arrived in theatres after years of development starts and stops, and even more trouble from the production end. Directed by the visionary Sp... Read More.

Zombieland: trashy jokes, crappy music and delightfully under-developed ideas.
Sure, Zombieland might be only a throwaway film that barely whets the hunger for the next installment in George Romero’s template-making Living Dead series. Seemingly built out of spare parts leftover from flicks such as Trainspotting and Shaun Of the Dead,... Read More.

Bright Star: Bright Indeed
Jane (Sweetie, The Piano) Campion’s new film Bright Star is a fluid and fascinating attempt to refashion the traditional costume drama bio-pic. Based on the three-year affair between British poet John Keats and clothes maker/designer Fanny Brawne, Bright St... Read More.

Trailer Park Boys: Countdown To Liquor Day – A Classic
Trailer Park Boys: Countdown To Liquor Day is supposed to be the swansong of the popular and influential Showcase TV series set right here on the East Coast. Half an hour in and the film seems like a shrug, with everyone involved having their minds on somet... Read More.

9: Indeed a 9
Shane Acker’s debut animated feature 9 is getting a rough ride from many critics who simply don’t recognize the filmmaker’s extraordinary achievement. The terse 79-minute computer-graphic film tells a post-apocalyptic story of a clutch of burlap-bag creatur... Read More.

Taking Woodstock: Catching the Counterculture
Ang Lee’s latest film, Taking Woodstock, is a slight but strikingly original take on the legendary three-day hippie musical festival held in 1969. Surprisingly funny and often very sweet, Taking Woodstock tells the tale of the delapidated Jewish family reso... Read More.

District 9: It makes Sci-Fi feel fresh again.
District 9 is one heck of a movie, a wicked Sci-Fi flick so full of ideas, humour and action that it makes the whole genre feel fresh again. Directed by Peter Jackson acolyte Neill Blomkamp, District 9 tells the tale of end-of-their rope crustacean-like ali... Read More.

Julie & Julia: A Double Dud
No reviewers seem willing to admit just how horrible Nora Ephron’s new movie is. Part bio-pic and part contemporary chick flic, Julie & Julia completely wastes the considerable talent of Meryl Streep and the extraordinary story of American TV chef Julia Chi... Read More.

The Hurt Locker: An Unreserved Masterpiece
The Hurt Locker might just be the one Iraq War movie that finally connects with audiences. It certainly is making a connection with critics. Especially this one. Directed by the legendary female action helmer Kathryn Bigelow - who made not one but two of he... Read More.

Moon: A Classic In Miniature
Duncan Jones’s feature debut, Moon, has been attracting glowing reviews and modestly growing audiences in the midst of all the summer blockbuster hoopla. The son of David Bowie, Jones has fashioned a fascinating chamber sci-fi flick that harkens back to the... Read More.

Public Enemies: Depp as Dillinger drowns in nostalgia
Michael Mann’s highly anticipated Johnny Depp 1930s gangster vehicle, Public Enemies, is a curious disappointment. Badly shot on hi-def video it runs 143 minutes - 43 minutes too long. Yet, any movie about the famous real-life bank robber John Dillinger ... Read More.

Away We Go: Doesn't Quite Get There
American Beauty director Sam Mendes has taken up with hipster writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida to create the shaggy and slightly unsatisfying road movie Away We Go. It starts promisingly. The sweet and sometimes silly stay-at-home thirtysomething couple... Read More.

Outlander: Out Of This World
Film Nova Scotia did everyone a big favour by screening the long-awaited locally made Viking/Sci-Fi flickt Outlander at the Oxford Theatre recently. Not only did they score a 35mm film print, they brought writer/director Howard McCain and two of his produce... Read More.

Easy Virtue: Easy On the Eyes
Easy Virtue is one 1920s-written drama that seems far more durable than it should. Based on Noel Coward’s play, it features a dissolute English aristocratic family on an estate it can’t afford and an American interloper who has married uncomfortably into the c... Read More.

Drag Me To Hell: Gross, Funny and Scary As Hell
Legendary Evil Dead director Sam Raimi has paused long enough from counting all the money he’s made from directing the three Spider Man movies to crank out a small-scale horror tale entitled Drag Me To Hell that returns him to his shock-a-rama roots. Script... Read More.

Terminator: Salvation provides plenty of pop with its apocalypse
Terminator: Salvation certainly doesn’t deserve the truckload of crappy reviews it’s piled up since it opened wide in the spring rush of popcorn movies. Two stars here, one star there. You’d think these were critiques of the last Alien Vs Predator installme... Read More.

Wendy And Lucy: An American Indie Classic
This week's installment in AFCOOP’s Monday Night Movies (May 4th) series is a must-see. American Indie writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s heartbreaking Wendy And Lucy rates as one of the truly great films of 2008. Seeing it on the big screen, then, becom... Read More.

Two Lovers: An Unexpected Pleasure
Two Lovers is an unexpected cinematic pleasure. The third collaboration between writer/director James Gray and actor Joaquin Phoenix (after We Own The Night and The Yards), it is a measured romance vividly anchored in the subculture of New York City’s modern d... Read More.

Memories of home
“Up Home” is a book with a story by Shauntay Grant and artwork by Susan Tooke that is published by Nimbus Publishing. The first thing that strikes you about the book “Up Home” is the beautiful patchwork image that adorns the cover. Symbolic of the stories an... Read More.

17 Again: a soggy premise gone effervescent
Everybody’s out to get Zac Efron this weekend, with a virtual torrent of rotten reviews for his leading man debut in the high-school body switch comedy 17 Again. Sure, it’s soggy premise has been done before (Like Father Like Son, Freaky Friday, Big and cou... Read More.

Stories of Afghanistan from those who know
When it comes to understanding the experience of war and conflict in Afghanistan from a distance, one of the only ways to get a grasp the every day challenges faced is from reading the stories of those who were personally involved. Outside the Wire explore... Read More.

Sunshine Cleaning: Class struggles
Sunshine Cleaning is one of those "quirky" indie comedies that has a surprising lack of quirk or comedy. A determined tale of lower-class sisters struggling through young adulthood in New Mexico cleaning up other people's messes - while creating their own. It ... Read More.

Adventureland: Amusement Park Life
Greg Mottola’s latest feature Adventureland is one of those heartbreakingly definitive films that absolutely nails a time of life that’s been badly served by North American popular culture. Following a trio of recent lower-middle-class university grads in 1... Read More.

Trelawny Of the Wells: A Must See
Dalhousie Theatre Productions’ staging of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero’s 1898 play Trelawny Of the Wells is just about the best thing I’ve ever seen by the regions’s largest post-secondary drama school. It’s a beautifully measured rendering of a classic by an unf... Read More.

Pontypool: a Canuck Zombie flick par excellence
Maverick Toronto director Bruce McDonald’s follow-up to his experimental, multi-screened Elaine Page vehicle The Tracey Fragments is a ferocious genre tour-de-force. Shot on a single location, Pontypool is a Canuck Zombie flick par excellence, channeling 1970s... Read More.

Stone Of Destiny: A rippingly great Boy’s Adventure Story
Sorry, but it’s simply not possible for someone with the last name Macdonald to give Stone Of Destiny a bad review. The true-to-life story of how a quartet of patriotic students took back Scotland's Coronation Stone from Britain’s Westminister Abbey on Chri... Read More.

Mac Maharaj: South African hero
Anyone interested in South African politics should read this book. This mammoth work of Padraig O’Malley’s provides a vivid account of the past 60 years of South Africa’s history, positioning it around the story of a man who is unflinchingly critical of himsel... Read More.

The Class: Grade A
The Cannes Palme D’Or-winning French flick The Class is one of those must-see films that seems a bit underwhelming at first. Filmed verite-style in the blah Parisian suburbs, it reverses the formula of the 1960s classic To Sir With Love by placing a white t... Read More.

All You Need is Hal Bruce
The tribute band industry began with Elvis impersonators in the 1970’s. When Elvis died the numbers blossomed. The Beatles were next and, today, Australian Pink Floyd is one of the biggest tribute shows on stage. So where does one guy get the brass ones to tak... Read More.

Coraline: Eye candy can't replace the jittery sense of magic.
Stop-motion animation master Henry Selick’s adaptation of graphic novelist Neil Gaiman’s Coraline has piled up many respectful reviews. In what seems to be a growing trend, those critics might not have stayed with the film through to its end. If they had, they... Read More.

Frost/Nixon: Regrets, I've Had A Few
Ron Howard’s latest film Frost/Nixon is the fourth major motion picture to treat the 37th President of the United States. While it is a sumptuously realized picture, with a terrific cast, the film simply cannot escape its origins from Peter Morgan’s slight st... Read More.

Revolutionary Road: Good, But The Thrill Is Gone
Theatre director and occasional filmmaker Sam Mendes (Jarhead, The Road To Perdition) has tackled a prestige novel for his latest cinematic adventure, Revolutionary Road. Adapted from Richard Yates’ acclaimed 1961 novel which is set in suburban 1955 Connect... Read More.

The Wrestler: Leap's Right Out of the Ring
Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is a triumph. Sparked by an absolutely amazing performance from former has-been Mickey Rourke, the film is a wildly redemptive tour through the wreckage of 1980s culture. Using a surprisingly straightforward script by Robert ... Read More.

Gran Torino: Grand Indeed
American cinematic icon Clint Eastwood has delivered a sly elegy to his own looming screen persona with his latest movie, Gran Torino. Directing himself in declining inner-city Detroit with a gaggle of non-professional actors from the Hmong Community, the s... Read More.

Margaret Atwood's Debt Plan
Payback: Debt and the Shadow side of Wealth By Margaret Atwood Because it has appeared at the time of a global economic crisis stemming mainly from an overload of debt, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth has been hailed as timely. Given the... Read More.

Movie Review: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a Tiresome Trip through Pop Culture
The curious thing about the Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is how many great reviews it has amassed in the run-up to its Christmas Day release. The 2-hour and 47 minute adaptation of a fanciful F. Scott Fitzgerald short story is a bloated mess. It begins p... Read More.

Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano
When I was about seven years old I played in the local Kiwanis music festival for the first time. I sat down at the piano to play the first notes of “Under the Haycock” and nothing happened. The action of the grand piano’s keys was so stiff my little fingers d... Read More.

Milk: Tastes Great
Gus Van Sant’s return to conventional filmmaking, the shockingly traditional bio-pic Milk, is just about what everyone says it is: a triumph of conventional movie-making and a welcome sellout to the mainstream. It sports some tremendous acting from Sean Penn -... Read More.

Synecdoche, New York: A Grey and Glacial Filmgoers' Challenge
Maverick film writer Charlie Kaufman - the script author of off-beat flicks like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich - has delivered a surprisingly dour but imaginative directoral debut in the 125-minute curio Synecdoche,... Read More.

Twilight: a landmark post-modern women’s film
Twilight is a much-anticipated, vastly-hyped and surprisingly strong entry in the post-Buffy teenage vampire sweepstakes. Adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s gazillions-selling book, the film gains traction on its own from the sterling work of screenwriter Melis... Read More.

Quantum Of Solace Is No Quantam Leap
After Casino Royale singlehandedly revived and re-energized the James Bond franchise, it’s quite natural that the follow up Quantum Of Solace would feel a bit like a disappointment. Still, Daniel Craig is a formidable clench-jawed 007. And there’s enough bo... Read More.

The Man Who Made Vermeers
On May 29, 1945, Han van Meegeren was arrested in Amsterdam on the charge that during the Nazi occupation he sold a painting by Jan Vermeer to Herman Goering, the commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. This transaction amounted to trading with the enemy, and wa... Read More.

Marche on Sanjania
Wake up armchair travelers! There’s a new country to explore. Stephen Marche’s Shining at the Bottom of the Sea requires only that you get comfortable in your favorite reading chair, flip open the cover and let your eyes do the walking. Marche’s novel isn’t a ... Read More.

Changeling Is Clint Eastwood's Masterpiece
American filmmaking Icon Clint Eastwood has had a pretty good run in the last decade with flicks such as Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and the Flags Of Our Fathers - Letters From Iwo Jima double header. So why are reviewers so tepid in their response to... Read More.

Book Review: Lightning and Blackberries
In the eighteenth century, life for teenage girls was much different than it is today. By the time they reached seventeen, young ladies were expected to think seriously of marriage to an approved suitor. Elizabeth Evans was different. She rebelled against her ... Read More.

W.: Oliver Stone's Fair and Engrossing Take on George Bush
Oliver Stone’s presidential bio-pic W. has surprised just about everybody with its gutsy and shockingly fair portrait of the two-term US Chief Executive from Texas. Shot through with Stone’s trademark aggressive filmmaking style - there’s lots of jumping ba... Read More.

HPX 3: Holy Frig
Halifax loves a good dance party. Last night at the Marquee was a beautiful cross-section of the local music scene, with everyone from headbangers to indie kids to dirty hippies showing up to check out Toronto experirockers Holy Fuck. While downstairs in Hell’... Read More.

HPX 2: Rock Out Or Die
Oh. My. God. Anyone who needed proof that rock n’ roll is alive and kicking (kicking you hard in the teeth, that is) got it last night at Gus’ Pub, at a show that is unlikely to be topped for the rest of Halifax Pop Explosion 2008. A line-up including ... Read More.

The Witch Of Edmonton: Astonishing theatre by any measure
Dal Theatre Productions has kicked off its new season with a startling staging of the rarely seen 1621 macabre drama The Witch Of Edmonton, by Dekker, Ford and Rowley. Director Roberta Barker’s remarkably restrained production sports two choral interludes o... Read More.

Burn After Reading: A slightly under-cooked, very funny spy farce
Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest, Burn After Reading, has been hanging around theatres for almost a month now. A slightly under-cooked spy farce set in and around Washington DC, it’s a film that’s built up some surprising staying power. Dismissed by many as a m... Read More.

Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist: Que Cera, Cera
To call the new Michael Cera romantic comedy slight is putting it lightly. Nick And Nora’s Infinite Playlist attempts to make a leading man out of the young, po-faced Canadian actor who was so effective last year in Superbad. Director Peter Sollet, who has ... Read More.

Miracle At Saint Anna: Spike Lee's third cinematic masterpiece in a row
Spike Lee’s latest film, Miracle At Saint Anna, has accumulated some wildly divergent reviews. Some have acclaimed it as brilliant and insightful; others have denounced it as lumpy and uneven. Currently it’s got a 28 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes, hardly a... Read More.

Nikolski, by Nicolas Dickner: A Review
My first thought when I finished Nikolski was that I would like to read it again. Not in a bad way as in, “Holy crow, I’m supposed to review this and I have nothing to say I better read it again” but in a good way as in, “I think I could take something differe... Read More.

Society of Wolves, a review of Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong
I have to admit up front that I am not familiar with Chinese, so I have not read Wolf Totem in its original language, thus leaving me, as a reviewer, at the mercy of the translator. Author Jiang Rong (whose real name is Lu Jiamin) is well served by translator ... Read More.

Lakeview Terrace: A Creepy Picture of Race Relations
Lakeview Terrace might initially seem like a standard studio assignment on first view. Surprisingly, it’s topped the box-office charts for its opening weekend. A creepy neighbour potboiler superbly realized by director - playwright Neil LaBute, it’s a perf... Read More.

Chronicler of the Winds
Henning Mankell is perhaps best known as the author of the Kurt Wallander series of crime stories. He has, though, an impressive volume of work outside of that genre, including the one discussed here. Chronicler of the Winds is written with both great inten... Read More.

Book Review: The Truth About Canada
As implied by the tabloid-style title, Mel Hurtig’s latest book is necessary reading, particularly for journalists, editorial writers, politicians, and CEOs. For all Canadians it provides a mass of data and sources to evaluate the misleading and often downrigh... Read More.

Hamlet 2: Maybe the best movie ever about the witless enthusiasm of theatre
Riotously funny, sharply satiric and tremendously acted, Hamlet 2 might just be the best movie about the witless enthusiasm of theatre ever made. Driven by a jaw-droppingly effective performance by Brit Actor Steeve Coogan, whose air-headed American attitud... Read More.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Woody Allen's Gaudi adventure
After a brief filmmaking exile in England, Woody Allen's European tour continues with a side-trip to Spain. The result is the slight but occasionally delightful comedy Vicki Cristina Barcelona. Powered by two delicious performances by Javier Bardem and Pene... Read More.

Kid Stuff
Kids have a way of taking over your life … and your heart. Their antics and imagination lead inevitably to stories that beg to be told. So let’s tell them. Join me, please. Share your stories and pictures about your kids. Click on New Post in the lef... Go to Blog.

Consumption:
Consumption is a blog for writers, nerds and media whores. I write about anything that interestes me, which is pretty much everything. I've been a huge film buff since I was a kid, so I'll be submitting some film and music reviews and also some videos of loca... Go to Blog.

Blank Canvas
Blank Canvas is an art blog written and compiled by Meredith Dault. Go to Blog.

MELODY MAKERS
In this space: Music news, interviews with local artists, album and concert reviews ... and whatever else comes along. Contributor Kim Kinrade is a musician, novelist and blogger based in Dartmouth. Go to Blog.



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