NATIONAL POST ARTS

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig combined their personal and...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:48:00 -0400

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig combined their personal and professional lives to make Frances Ha: natpo.st/10wQO9P

[Illustration by Chloe Cushman]

Give me weed instead of roses/give me whiskey ‘stead of...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:28:20 -0400

Give me weed instead of roses/give me whiskey ‘stead of wine”: How modern country music and marijuana made friends natpo.st/10u0VMl

Dave Chappelle is headlining Funny Or Die’s Oddball Comedy...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:30:00 -0400

Dave Chappelle is headlining Funny Or Die’s Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Tour: natpo.st/1bO67uo

But it’s not coming to Canada! As consolation, here’s a photo of the time Dave Chappelle met Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (just last year!).

CATS on cats After 25 years away from Toronto stages, Andrew...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:01:22 -0400

CATS on cats

After 25 years away from Toronto stages, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster Cats returns for a new generation. But cats occupy a very different place in our culture than they did during the show’s first run. Thanks mostly to an Internet culture that prizes documenting everything and staying cloistered indoors, cats have become the true stars of new media, with their habits, quirks and even rich emotional lives documented from literally every angle. In an attempt to bring together these pre- and post-millennium views of cats, the National Post’s David Berry met a few of the cast members of Cats in the green room and watched a selection of cat videos. It turns out that even Cats can’t resist cat videos: natpo.st/10qtASz

Robert Downey Jr. is not Iron Man, small boy tearfully...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:42:30 -0400

Robert Downey Jr. is not Iron Man, small boy tearfully realizes

Read the story behind the photo here: natpo.st/10imkYN

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Lois...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:41:23 -0400

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Lois Lane!

England gets suave superspy James Bond; America gets Superman. And Canadians get Lois Lane. By which I mean, they get Lois. They understand that the patriotic superhero’s love interest is more than a sidekick minus cape or catsuit, or a glorified Bond girl. Besides, Lois doesn’t need an alter-ego: she’s interesting enough in her own right: natpo.st/12DXFiQ

Exhibition curated from David Bowie’s personal archive to...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:31:25 -0400

Exhibition curated from David Bowie’s personal archive to make first touring stop at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto this fall
“David Bowie is” will feature more than 300 objects from Bowie’s own personal archive, according to a press release issued by the AGO, including diary entries, more than 50 costumes and pictures of Bowie taken by star photographer Helmut Newton. More here: natpo.st/1bsdk33

Rock of Aged: Music fans now have more than sympathy for old...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:17:46 -0400

Rock of Aged: Music fans now have more than sympathy for old devils

Why, as a culture, are we now paying deference to those we’ve been encouraged to disdain? Maybe we’ve lowered our expectations, or maybe the press, whom wild hearses once couldn’t drag away from an ageist pun, have finally decided that denigrating veteran rockers is old-hat: http://natpo.st/192qTHd

[Illustration by Kagan McLeod]

Graphic: Bieber Versus BieberWhen Justin Bieber burst onto the...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:07:13 -0400

Graphic: Bieber Versus Bieber
When Justin Bieber burst onto the scene in 2009, he was an uncontroversial, shaggy-haired, prepubescent 15-year-old. He’d been discovered on YouTube by some big music stars, and with his debut single ‘One Time,’ he was, for a brief moment, a shining example of young Canadian talent. The Stratford, Ont., -raised singer quickly became the most famous person on the planet.

Since his humble beginnings, Bieber sold out a Madison Square Garden concert in 22 minutes, amassed nearly three billion YouTube views, sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, and became the focus of intense public scrutiny. From ‘Baby’ to ‘Boyfriend,’ mop-hair to gel-hair, purple hoodie to leather, dog tag to gas mask, the evolution of Bieber from ‘cuddly’ to ‘gnarly’ in these short four years has gripped the world. Which Bieber do you prefer?

‘I thought he was a doctor’: John Malkovich helps save...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:24:42 -0400

‘I thought he was a doctor’: John Malkovich helps save blood-soaked man’s life on a Toronto street
On the final day of a cross-Canada train trip, Ohio’s Marilyn Walpole was walking down King St. East with fellow travellers, when, behind her, she heard a slight moan and turned around to see her 77-year-old husband awash in his own blood.

“There was blood everywhere on the sidewalk; his face was full of blood, his clothes were soaked in blood … and he was moaning,” said Ms. Walpole, speaking from her home in Defiance, Ohio.

Within moments, a bystander had thrown down his cigarette, rushed into the blood-soaked scene and administered the emergency First Aid that may have saved Mr. Walpole’s life. Only later would the couple discover that the bystander was Academy Award-nominated actor John Malkovich.

“He really knew what he was doing; that’s why I thought he was a doctor,” said Ms. Walpole. “He had no qualms about getting blood all over him; that would be a real concern for some people.” (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Galit Rodan)

Guess who performed with the Rolling Stones in Montreal last...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:32:33 -0400

Guess who performed with the Rolling Stones in Montreal last night

It’s Win Butler of Arcade Fire! The Stones are currently touring North America, bringing celebrity friends onstage along the way. Read our review of their May 26 Toronto show, which featured Carrie Underwood, here: http://natpo.st/12J0Wbx

Ciara got served! Watch a video of the singer getting served a...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:28:13 -0400

Ciara got served!

Watch a video of the singer getting served a lawsuit in the middle of her L.A. Pride performance here: natpo.st/10668dg

That’s no lightsaber, it’s a cane: Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:48:07 -0400

That’s no lightsaber, it’s a cane: Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew stopped by TSA for unusual walking stick
Not even Chewbacca and his lightsaber get a free pass with airport security before being cleared to travel.

Transportation Security Administration agents in Denver briefly stopped Star Wars franchise actor Peter Mayhew recently as he was boarding a flight with a cane shaped like one of science-fiction’s most iconic weapons.

Airport officials say they wanted to inspect the huge walking stick before allowing Mayhew, who is more than seven feet tall, on the plane. (Twitter/File)

‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author Maurice Sendak’s...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 09:12:08 -0400

‘Where the Wild Things Are’ author Maurice Sendak’s 85th birthday celebrated by Google
Maurice Sendak’s 85th birthday was celebrated with an animated Google doodle this Monday. The celebrated children’s book author, who died last May, was born June 10, 1928.

The animation is a relatively simple one by Google doodle standards — users click a small play button below Max, the protagonist from Sendak’s most famous work, Where The Wild Things Are, and the boy king starts walking around the world, soon followed by his Monster subjects.

The next Doctor Who: Will it be David Beckham? Tom Cruise? U.K....

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:15:51 -0400

The next Doctor Who: Will it be David Beckham? Tom Cruise? U.K. bookmakers set odds on Matt Smith’s replacement
Tom Cruise as the next Doctor Who? How does soccer gadfly and Posh Spice hubby David Beckham grab you? Those are two of the more outlandish names put forward as replacements for Matt Smith, who is handing over the keys to the Tardis at the end of the year.

British bookmakers William Hill are offering 250-1 outsiders odds on Cruise, Beckham, or talent show host Simon Cowell becoming the 12th Doctor in the popular British science-fiction series that debuted in 1963.

Joint favourites at 10-1 are Harry Potter star Rupert Grint and U.K. television actor Russell Tovey.

Other bets are Martin Freeman — the faithful Watson in Sherlock — or Ben Whishaw, who channelled his gadget geek as Q in Skyfall. Billie Piper, the Doctor’s former assistant, is also tipped as a possible reincarnated replacement.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror is reporting that 35-year-old James Bond actor Rory Kinnear, who appeared in Skyfall and Quantum of Solace as M’s chief of staff, is top contender to assume the Time Lord’s mantle. (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)

Victoria Beckham takes son Brooklyn down the red carpetHe’s just...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:39:00 -0400

Victoria Beckham takes son Brooklyn down the red carpet
He’s just such a handsome, grown-up man … 14-year-old. Who would have thought that child of basically two perfect physical specimens of humanity would have so much going on for him?! (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

World renowed pianist storms off stage in protest after fan...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:21:55 -0400

World renowed pianist storms off stage in protest after fan films concert on phone
One of the world’s most renowned classical pianists walked out of a concert in anger because an audience member was filming him.

When he returned to the stage, Krystian Zimerman explained that he had lost contracts with record labels because audience members had already posted films of his performances on YouTube, the video-sharing website.

Zimerman, from Poland, who was performing at the Ruhr Piano Festival in Essen, western Germany, spotted someone filming him from a balcony.

He broke off the concert to ask the audience member to stop and then left the stage.

postarcadenp: Canadian firm chasing urban legend of ‘unplayably...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 09:25:26 -0400

postarcadenp:

Canadian firm chasing urban legend of ‘unplayably bad’ Atari game allegedly buried in New Mexico desert
Thirty years ago, video game pioneer Atari released a video game so terrible that it not only smashed its multi-billion-dollar juggernaut within a matter of months, but sent the entire U.S. video game industry into a decades-long death spiral.

As Atari’s world shattered around them, goes the legend, the company loaded a fleet of trucks with several million copies of the cursed game, based on the 1982 film E.T., and entombed them in the New Mexico desert, mere miles from the site of the world’s first atomic blast.

It remains one of the most persistent rumours of video game lore. And, this week, it was revealed that a Canadian company has stepped up to exhume the remains, either confirm or scuttle the legend, and make a documentary about it. (Atari)

nationalpostsports: Kid Rock. Tiger Woods. Playing. Golf. What....

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:09:59 -0400

nationalpostsports:

Kid Rock. Tiger Woods. Playing. Golf. What. (Photo via Kid Rock/Facebook)

nationalpostsports: The Miami Heat were so hot last night,...

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:09:30 -0400

nationalpostsports:

The Miami Heat were so hot last night, Justin Bieber’s sunglasses ended up being SEARED ONTO HIS FACE. Because that’s the only reason why he would be wearing sunglasses inside, OBVIOUSLY. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)