Sylvie Hill

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – November 24, 2005 “Devil’s Broom” is the fourth track off Joseph Arthur’s album Our Shadows Will Remain. It’s a memorable song about hopelessness, alcoholism and homelessness. “Since you’re gone ain’t nobody else gonna save me/ ’cause I can’t trade a bottle for an empty room/ I just pray that the […]

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – November 17, 2006 A “Best Of” New York City list comes out in the Village Voice every year, like our Best of Ottawa in the XPress. And boy, can you ever tell a lot about a city-as you can with a person-by what they boast are their best features. New […]

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – November 10, 2006 Now that I’ve quit drinking and smoking, let me tell you, socializing at parties is a whole new ballgame. It’s like walking around with a plastic bathing cap when everyone’s let their hair down. The good news is I always leave the festivities the way I got […]

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – October 27, 2005 Once upon a time, The Rolling Stones made a video called “The Streets of Love” in Ottawa (rollingstones.com/abiggerbang). But it was a fairy-tale make-believe Ottawa, and all the little Ottawans got silly with glee! A downtown Ottawa nightclub owner, a head honcho at an Ottawa-Gatineau film office, […]

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – October 20, 2005 Taking the bus is already a pain in the ass-must OC Transpo rub our faces in it too? OC Transpo raises fares to the extortionate rate of $2.75 a trip while it is needlessly replacing some of the city’s bus stop shelter huts with newer ones. Now […]

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – October 6, 2005 Would it be for health or hygiene that you’d cut your period out of your life? And do you think you’d be more independent and self-assured? The makers of Seasonale® (www.seasonale.com) think so. I learned about Seasonale® through a documentary called Menstruation Suppression that aired a while […]

Ottawa XPress, Shotgun, September 29, 2005 I’m not Sean Penn. But I’ll try to be kind like him. OK, so I didn’t help Katrina victims, but I tried to save Ottawans from boredom and disappointment at shitty sex-stores. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many Hollywood celebrities offered their services, like John Travolta who flew […]

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – September 22, 2005 I’m pretty pissed about something. And yes it’s also my PMS talking, thanks. Feminists are ragging on the latest Always Have a Happy Period feminine hygiene campaign (www.beinggirl.com) that encourages women to treat and pamper themselves during the cursed Time of the Month. “It’s like Barbie gets […]

Ottawa XPress, Shotgun, September 15, 2005 My first boyfriend and me waited almost a year before “doing it” – and it was a blast. Instead of intercourse, we filled our time with tonnes of other sexy stuff and substitutes. But where to get started? The only sex shops I knew of were in Hull and […]

Ottawa XPress – Shotgun – September 8, 2006 During my vacation last month in Halifax at a Maritime wedding – surrounded by great live Celtic music and friendly types merrily jigging their hearts away in celebration of love and happiness – I found that sticking to my self-imposed four-months-off-the-booze pledge was challenging. I finally succumbed […]