My kind of Olympics commentary: [Video link] [UPDATE] Thanks to loyal reader JC for pointing out that this brilliant spoof is the work of Chris ‘The Viper’ Tordoff of the Hardy Bucks, an Irish mocumentary TV series akin to Nova Scotia's Trailer Park Boys. It centres on five "scheming, drinking, work-shy procrastinators from fictitious ‘Castletown’ in County Mayo, Ireland." Backstory here and here. IrishCentral reports that the spoofed sailing commentary first appeared on Vimeo, but was taken down, either by Vimeo acting on its own or on a take-down demand from the International Olympic Committee. This provoked a profanity laden audio retort from The Viper. Original H/T:...

When Maggie turned the Big 1-0 this week, her dad made a dolphin piñata for her birthday party. [Direct video link]...

PlaceMakingHFX is a pilot project of the Halifax Regional Municipality, co-sponsored by the 4Cs Foundation. Time lapse video by E Gordon. Music by Galen Conroy, aka DJ Nagwoode....

One of my favorite photographers, Cory Katz, a 25-year-old autodidact, has a show on at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, from now until July 16. Katz springs from that unlikely hotbed of artistic talent that is New Waterford. Yes, New Waterford. ...

Join friends of Carol Kennedy, the beloved Cape Breton photographer who is grappling with cancer, for a musical and artistic celebration of hope on the Solstice. Some of Cape Breton's finest artisans and musicians will gather at Cape Breton University's Boardmore Playhouse for a benefit concert and silent auction. Tickets are $25 at the Bean There Cafe in Baddeck, Capitol Drugs in Sydney Mines, and the Cape Breton Curiosity Shop, Sydney. The auction begins at 6 p.m. ...

Zhai Huasen, an experimental Chinese artist, used Photoshop to remove the bikes. Amazing how high the cyclists are.   H/T: Alexis Madrigal...

Anyone who saw Cirque du Soleil's recent shows in Halifax will have noticed the circular structure used to convey people and props between the stage and the upper reaches of the MetroCentre's girders. The shape of this trussed torus, and the way it hung in the air, reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then it hit me: Alexander Graham Bell's circular kite, two fabric-covered disks, conjoined by tetrahedral trusses, flying over Beinn Bhreagh. No larger point here — the structures aren't even all that similar in detail — just a striking confluence of shape, style, and scale across...

Sydney's Weird Beard Troupe, a black light theatrical group featuring puppeteers with Down syndrome, holds its debut performance at Cape Breton University's Boardmore Theatre Friday. This being 2012, they've released a great trailer (best viewed full screen): The inaugural production features a modernized, hippified re-make of the the Tree Little Pigs fable. All the live shows sold out early, but a CD and storybook is available. [Disclosure: Contrarian had a small role in the production's scriptwriting.]...

Our friend and fellow contrarian Christine Comeau, a writer who makes movies in Nova Scotia and Quebec, seems an unlikely marathon candidate: The project is a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.  ...