Nerene Virgin, ‘trailblazer’ star of Today’s Special and Black history educator, dead at 77

Nerene Virgin, a former actor, public broadcaster, anti-racism advocate and educator also known for her trailblazing work, has died in Burlington, Ont., at age 77. Virgin, a sixth-generation Hamiltonian, was a teacher before gaining prominence for playing Jodie on the TVO children’s show Today’s Special in the 1980s. She was also host of the CTV public affairs show Eye on Toronto.  In … Read more

The Bear roars while Beef and Succession win big during a sentimental Emmy Awards

Monday evening’s Emmy Awards brought big wins for Succession, The Bear and Beef, an EGOT for Elton John, and paid tribute to beloved shows of the past after a months-long delay from the Hollywood strikes pushed the ceremony honouring series that aired in 2022-2023 into the new year. Host Anthony Anderson, who starred in black-ish, opened the show with a … Read more

The Boy and the Heron has a beautiful, secret backstory

There’s something Aristotle said in his Poetics about the effective use of metaphor. Boiling it down, he observed that while coming up with metaphors takes genius, overstuffing your story with beautiful — but confusing — symbols doesn’t leave you with a timeless piece of art. Instead, you end up with “nothing but riddles or gibberish.” Apparently, … Read more