Anoushka Shankar's online admission that she had been abused as a girl was a shocking revelation. The One Billion Rising movement argues it shouldn't be. Too many women, including the powerful celebrities and world leaders who spoke out for the movement, have been touched in some way by violence against women. And Valentine's Day is the day to act.
Drake gets wild in the street over Grammy win
Categories: Music
Tags: best rap album, Drake, Grammy, Started from the Bottom
When Drake's name was called from the Grammy stage Sunday for best rap album, the Toronto-born musician was nowhere to be seen. But he was watching on the Grammy livestream and jumped out of his car for a victory dance. Later in the evening he released the first video from his next album, Nothing Was the Same.
Argo moves to the fore in Oscar best picture race
Categories: Movies
Tags: Academy Awards, Argo, Ben Affleck, Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty
With wins at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Producers Guild Awards, Argo is scooping up loads of movie world glory as the Academy Awards approach. It's been an unexpected, but perhaps unsurprising, development. Ben Affleck's thriller delivers a warm and tidy package, without any dirty politics, that makes Hollywood feel good about itself.
Kroll Show parodies Degrassi with "Wheels, Ontario"
Categories: Social Media
Tags: Comedy Central, Degrassi, Ontario - Roll With It, parody, Wheels
In its new video "Wheels, Ontario - Roll With It," Comedy Central's Kroll Show delivers an over-the-top message generations of young Canadian TV viewers can really roll with. Have a laugh as the life lessons of Degrassi are taken too far.
South Korea's Psy and Burlington, Ont.'s Walk Off The Earth scored the top two viral hits of 2012 with, respectively, Gangnam Style and a cover of Somebody That I Used to Know. Now, they're making their next stab at viral fame.
5 key developments in books in 2012
Categories: Books
All those e-readers Canadians bought appear to have had a major impact on the publishing industry. Excitement over e-books seemed to help drive the hunger for so-called "Mommy porn," but hoped-for blockbusters, like J.K. Rowling's first adult novel, didn't have the same impact. Meanwhile, the anxiety about e-books emerged again as the industry endured major changes. Susan Noakes looks at a few key developments from the book world this past year.
5 top viral videos of 2012
Categories: Social Media
It was the year of Kony 2012 and Gangnam Style, of the cinnamon challenge and Lil Bub. There were bursts of sheer exuberance, such as actor Isaac Lumb's lip-dub proposal and small slices of life such as the crying toddler who could take no more election talk. Susan Noakes picks out five videos with impact from 2012.
Why Oprah Winfrey wants to know Justin Bieber
Categories: Television
Tags: Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey may well have time to get to know Stratford, Ont. superstar Justin Bieber in her interview with him to be aired Sunday. It's hard to say with an 18-year-old who lives in the public spotlight whether there's anything he can add to his already polished image. But the point of the interview may be more to introduce Oprah to Bieber's millions of social media followers.
Meet the GG contenders for children's books
Categories: Books
Canada has a rich vein of literature for children and young adults, rightly celebrated with prizes such as the Canadian Children's Book Awards and the Governor General's Literary Awards in children's text, which will announce its winners next week. Susan Noakes talks to the five writers vying for the GG for children's writing about what inspires their imaginations.
The Walking Dead of the publishing world
Categories: Books
Tags: Douglas & McIntyre, Margaret Atwood, Wattpad, zombies
Zombies? Everybody loves them -- including Margaret Atwood, who is publishing a serialized zombie novel on Wattpad and co-written with a British novelist she's mentoring. Wattpad lets you read content for free and doesn't pay its writers, which begs the question: How will writers be paid for their work in future? In a week when another traditional Canadian publisher seems ready to join the walking dead, it's a pressing concern for the scribes of the world.
Canadian ingenuity on YouTube
Categories: Social Media
Tags: Greg Brown, Kevin Cheung, math, science, YouTube
Meet some Canadians who are using online videos -- not for kitten tricks or playing air guitar -- but for educating others about math and science. YouTube was so impressed with the growth of education channels on the web, it set up a contest to groom the best creators and have them learn from one another.
Soprano Sarah Brightman announced Wednesday that she would be singing among the stars, probably in 2015, as a space tourist aboard the International Space Station. But she won't be the first to exercise her vocal chords in zero gravity. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield also has plans to sing in space.
Why J.K. Rowling can't lose with The Casual Vacancy
Categories: Books
Tags: books, J.K. Rowling, The Casual Vacancy
British writer J.K. Rowling is making her first foray into the world of adult writing Thursday with the release of The Casual Vacancy. The question is not whether she can deal with adult themes - she does that valiantly in the Harry Potter series - but whether she can write about them without the fantasy elements that appeal to her fans. No matter what the critics think, the book will be a bestseller.
Meet the CCMA Rising Star contenders
Categories: Music
CBC News looks at the contenders for the Rising Star Award, which aims to tap the next big talent, at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards scheduled for this Sunday. Kira Isabella, at age 19, is real newbie, but fellow contenders The Stellas have been juggling day jobs and songwriting for years. Dallas Smith has crossed over to country from alt rock band Default, while Ryan Laird and Codie Prevost have been working at writing country songs and touring before making a mark as Rising Star finalists.
Remember when people used to share music by passing around mix tapes? or mix CDs? Two DJs are creating the same effect -- but with better production values -- on the Chickswithhits website, which has three plus hours of music by female artists of the 1980s and '90s. Fun.
Everyone involved in publishing is just trying things out in the digital world to see what works. Random House of Canada, a unit of one of the world's biggest publishing houses, has launched a new digital line of shorter, punchier books beginning with an eyewitness account of the Arab Spring from a Canadian journalist. Plus it's wooing readers with a new online magazine.
Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow's movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden had to be remade after the capture of the al-Qaeda leader last year. With a U.S. presidential election set for November, it's been delayed again, so that traditionally Democrat Hollywood cannot be accused of supporting the Obama campaign by reminding Americans who was in charge when bin Laden was caught. Watch the first trailer for Zero Dark Thirty, and see Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln in another film that considered election timing.
Maeve Binchy: An appreciation
Categories: Books
In her bestselling books, Maeve Binchy wrote about an Ireland undergoing the transition from rural backwater to Celtic Tiger. However, her real specialty was capturing young people making the difficult, often painful decisions that transform them into adults. She was beloved around the world for short stories and novels that combine the self-examination of Jane Austen with the juicy plotting of a daytime soap and in which the characters -- just ordinary people -- jump to vivid life on the page. Susan Noakes offers an appreciation of the Irish author.
Alanis Morissette has released the first video from her upcoming album Havoc and Bright Lights, her first new release in four years. The track Guardian is surprisingly mellow for Canadian rock's angry young woman and shows that motherhood has knocked a few edges off the singer who gave us Jagged Little Pill.
Cookie Monster covers Call Me, Maybe
Categories: Music, Social Media
Mission, B.C. pop sensation Carly Rae Jepsen has a song of the summer with Call Me, Maybe. Now, she's also been paid one of pop's biggest tributes: a Sesame Street parody, courtesy of Cookie Monster.
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Deana Sumanac (10)
CBC News arts reporter, lit lover and music geek.
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- 6 bone-crushing football films
- FILM REVIEW: Warm Bodies
- Justin Timberlake's musical comeback
- Argo moves to the fore in Oscar best picture race
- FILM REVIEW: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
- FILM REVIEW: Knife Fight
- FILM REVIEW: Parker
- Kroll Show parodies Degrassi with "Wheels, Ontario"
- FILM REVIEW: The Last Stand
- FILM REVIEW: Gangster Squad
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