Electronic cigarettes, luxury condoms, a choice of Australian resort vacations and Canadian-made maple syrup — that's what Oscar nominees can expect to find in their swag bags Sunday night, a total of $47,000 US in freebies.
Category: Celebrities
Oscar swag the ultimate consolation prize
Categories: Celebrities
Tags: Academy Awards, Oscar swag bags
Considering Chris Brown and Rihanna
Categories: Celebrities, Music, Social Media
Tags: celebrity, Chris Brown, domestic abuse, image, relationship, Rihanna
Their relationship status may be unclear, but celebrity-watchers couldn't help but notice the very public appearances of singers Chris Brown and Rihanna together over the holiday break. After their high-profile case of domestic abuse, what does it mean when the two parties seem to be getting cozy again?
Memoirs that look behind the music
Categories: Books, Celebrities
This year a slew of musical stars put down their guitars and picked up a pen, among them Neil Young, who wrote the idiosyncratic Waging Heavy Peace and Pete Townshend, who bares all in Who I Am. Some rockers trusted someone else to do it -- the definitive Mick Jagger bio comes from Philip Norman and there is more on Joni Mitchell from Katherine Monk. CBC's Laura Thompson looks at the top memoirs of the year.
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.
Is Drake planning an Aaliyah album without her family's blessing?
Categories: Celebrities, Music, Social Media
Tags: Celebrities, Music, Social Media, Toronto
More than a decade after her death, Aaliyah's smooth voice reverberates throughout a freshly released track Enough Said, featuring Toronto rapper Drake. Although some love the collaboration, others are critical of Drake's involvement in what is potentially one song in a posthumous album.
Nora Ephron: a laugh at life's curveballs
Categories: Celebrities
Few writers had Nora Ephron's lightness of touch when handling life's Big Things: love, loss of love, motherhood, aging, death. Deana Sumanac remembers her interview with Ephron and the sense of humour Ephron brought to the most serious of subjects.
Madonna's cheeky Born This Way poke at Lady Gaga
Categories: Celebrities, Music
Tags: Born This Way, concert, Express Yourself, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Tel Aviv, tour
Madonna had an "oops" moment during her rehearsal in Israel for an upcoming tour - slipping some lyrics from Born This Way into a performance of Express Yourself. That can't be an accident for this shrewd navigator of pop trends. Could Madge be trying just a little too hard for the spotlight?
Lip dubs are nothing new, but a fan-made production starring a feisty group of cancer-stricken kids, family members and nurses has earned a high-profile fan: pop star Kelly Clarkson. The spunky Seattle troupe sing, dance and strut to her tune Stronger in a new viral video that offers a different interpretation of and touching nuance to the chart-topping pop anthem.
Deana Sumanac is the CBC Arts Unit's go-to reporter when it comes to interviewing celebs in their 70s and 80s. She's been serenaded by Gordon Lightfoot and Tommy Hunter, hung out in Beverly Hills with Christopher Plummer and heard Gordon Pinsent's poetry. One thing she's discovered about this generation of stars -- they love to tell stories.
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Deana Sumanac (10)
CBC News arts reporter, lit lover and music geek.
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- 2013 (24)
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February (8)
- Oscar swag the ultimate consolation prize
- Oscar predictions: the shoo-ins and the should-have-beens
- Authors bare all for PEN Canada
- Anoushka Shankar and the One Billion Rising campaign
- Beyoncé's Life Is But a Dream a curated peek behind the curtain
- Drake gets wild in the street over Grammy win
- 25 billion songs downloaded on iTunes, and counting
- CBC Music's Searchlight seeks best new artist
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January (16)
- 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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