For shuttered cyber cafe, art is in the eye of the lease holders
The closure of a cafe that was a venue and hangout for artists on Jasper Ave. this week may seem ironic given that city council adopted a report last year calling for more downtown arts venues. The Capital City Downtown Plan, officially adopted in July 2010, states that “in order to sustain and grow the […]
Seedy Sunday a chance to play dirty, veg out
I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s hard to think about gardening, in Edmonton, in March. Especially after this winter. So now, even with the bit of sunshine and warm weather we’ve seen in the last few days, you look outside and see that snow and ice on the ground and you can’t imagine […]
Cord-cutters ditching cable for online TV
Maybe you’ve seen the TV commercial by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants that’s narrated by Newfoundland-born actor Gordon Pinsent and features a series of images that include a woman crying in an office, a Charlie Chaplin-like silent movie character, and a man stomping on a flaming bag of dog poo. It’s a memorable ad […]
RADIO DAZE, missing letters division: _ _ CK K-97, SOS and AGA
There’s yet another minor civic controversy brewing over yet another ‘controversial’ K-97 billboard … and, um, yawn … sorry, dozed off there for a second. ANYWAY, the billboards sport a large slogan that reads, “_ _ CK YOU!” City Councillor Kerry Diotte received a complaint about it, and because he works for YOU, the voter, […]
CELEBRITY DOPE: Hugh Grant cracks gay jokes at rugby match
Hugh Grant has forced the BBC to apologize after he offended some gay viewers by commenting during a rugby match on his high school playing days. “I discovered it hurt less if you tackled hard than if you tackled like a queen,” he said during a match broadcast at Twickenham. Off camera, Grant is believed […]
CELEBRITY DOPE: Gilbert Gottfried steps on a duck
Gilbert Gottfried has been fired as Aflac Inc.’s duck mascot after he made jokes about the Japan earthquake on Twitter. Sample (since deleted): “I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any minute now.’” Too soon? He’s done this sort of thing before. Shortly after […]
PREVIEW: Hugh Cornwell likes it when you’re moody
When Hugh Cornwell left The Stranglers in 1990 he’d gone as far as he felt he could with the veteran English rock band. Behind him he left a series of classic punk and new wave albums (The Raven, Feline, Gospel According To the Meninblack among them) charges of misogyny and a style that took as […]
Alberta Party leader ready to rumble at Roller Grrrls
You know that Bob Dylan song Blood on the Tracks? It’s all about the roller derby. OK, so there’s no such song (it’s the name of the album), but there ought to be – because it could be the theme for Edmonton’s first (and possibly last) roller derby team comprised of theatre people under the […]
REVIEW: A realist’s guide to the fruits of vegging out
There’s something telling about the media release that got sent out with How to Grow Food, a new book by Richard Gianfrancesco about harvesting your own vegetables and herbs in everything from kitchen flower pots to a mansion estate backyard. It states that 31 per cent of households participate, or desire to participate, in food […]
EDMONTON RADIO: Battle of the morning zoos
It was an experiment that tested the limits of human endurance – listen to three-and-a-half straight hours of morning FM radio, talk only, to scientifically determine who has the best morning zoo in Edmonton. It’s like Robot Chicken: Get a decent punchline or hear anything other than DJ banter and one must immediately flip to […]
They blinded me with Science Sunday!
As a parent, you try so hard. You do everything you can to keep your kids from getting too interested in the world around them. To raise them to be uncurious blobs is tough work that requires vigilance and dedication if you’re going to keep on top of a child’s natural sense of wonder. And […]
