The end of the world is trending. Why are we so obsessed with the apocalypse?

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and Jay Baruchel feels fine. On the second season of his Crave series We’re All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel), which launched last week, the host and namesake explores several possible apocalyptic scenarios, from insect extinction to a world ruled by artificial intelligence. “I think we are all understandably … Read more

In videos and podcasts, Poilievre and Trudeau are eager to explain themselves — at length

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the Liberal MP who made a name for himself as a backbencher with his own voice, posted a nine-minute video to YouTube this week about the federal government’s carbon pricing policy. It would be an exaggeration to say the video is setting the internet on fire. As of Friday afternoon, it had a … Read more

How the creators of HBO’s The Sympathizer turned the bestselling novel into a dark, comic romp for TV

On the surface, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer is the perfect target for adaptation. First off, it’s a novel — one of the more lucrative source materials for an industry perpetually hungry for existing IP and a built-in audience.  Second, it’s a Pulitzer Prize winner, a badge of honour that already proved a boon for similar adaptees like Spotlight, Driving Miss … Read more

New documentary shows gender diversity par for the course in nature

The natural world is full of gender diversity: female hyenas have pseudo penises used for sex and urination, many species of fish and plants change their sex over their lifespan, and female lions have been known to grow manes and develop a masculine growl. Those are among many examples in a new episode of CBC’s The Nature … Read more

Fawzia Mirza’s The Queen of My Dreams is a love letter to Bollywood and queerness

12:36Amrit Kaur lands her first leading film role in the queer, Bollywood-inspired The Queen of My Dreams For Fawzia Mirza, making The Queen of My Dreams her feature film debut was cathartic. “It saved my life,” said the writer-director. The film, which began its life as an art installation and then a 2012 short film, … Read more

20 Days in Mariupol win cut from Oscars international broadcast

The shortened version of the international broadcast of the 96th Oscars faced harsh criticism in Ukraine for omitting the segment announcing the documentary feature award, which went to Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol. The documentary, a collaboration between The Associated Press and PBS’s Frontline, is a harrowing first-person account set in the Ukrainian port city during … Read more

Hamilton writer of popular Netflix sequel Code 8 on what it was like to film in his hometown

The new Netflix movie Code 8 Part II is set in the fictional Lincoln City, but some of the millions of viewers who have streamed it in its first few days may recognize Ontario on the screen. The film was shot in a few cities in the province, including Hamilton, whose history helped inspire the fictional setting, said co-writer and … Read more

At least 200,000 species sing in ways that are silent to humans. Listen to one of them now

Some creatures are so quiet, they appear to make no sound at all. When a male treehopper calls out for a mate, he shakes his abdomen 100 times a second to produce a low sound that vibrates through the stem of the plant he is standing on. While that sound is audible to other treehoppers … Read more

Netflix reports the money is rolling in — and so are advertisements for Canadian subscribers

Netflix told investors it has added millions of new customers and has lots of room to grow its revenue — with part of that growth coming from the planned elimination of the cheapest, ad-free plan available to Canadians. According to fourth quarter results, released late Tuesday afternoon, Netflix is planning to “retire” what it refers to as … Read more

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