NATIONAL POST ARTS

How a road trip to Canada in the ’80s inspired Richard Ford’s latest novel
“I loved that landscape,” Richard Ford says. “What struck me was how different it was from just where I was living at the time, across the border in [Missoula] Montana. It didn’t shock me, it pleased me, in a way. There was something about the landscape up in Saskatchewan … that I had such an affinity for. I think it just settled on me in a profound way.

“When an American — this American, anyway — is in Canada, you’re very aware that you’re in a completely different place,” he adds. (Illustration by Steve Murray)

Exception to the ruler
Stick to the script: Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator abandons improv to follow in the footsteps of filmic fanatics. (Illustration by Steve Murray)

With Heroes, Willie Nelson is still a rebel rebel
“We had a couple of pots over there at the Bulldog and then at The Grey Area and then hit two or three good spots after that,” Nelson says, adding, “you probably wouldn’t remember it,” when asked what a night on the town is like in Amsterdam with him and Snoop Dogg. However, Nelson takes his advocacy seriously and is not only the president of the 26-year-old Farm Aid, which has raised US$39-million to help the American family farmer, but is outspoken on everything from the war in Afghanistan to ending the marijuana laws that have imprisoned about 20 million Americans since 1965.

“Most people who know anything at all know that marijuana is a good medicine for stress and a nice recreational drug for responsible adults and it should not be criminalized,” he says. “If we legalize it and bring our folks home from around the world fighting wars over oil, we’d all be a lot better off.” (Illustration by Kagan McLeod/National Post)

Various charts and graphs drawn by Sarah Lazarovic to remind you of the month that was.

Avengers Assemble Day 1: Who will be the greatest members of the Avengers?
Before the superheroes hit the big screen May 4, the Post wants you to build your own team from more than four decades of Marvel-ous masked men (and women, and aliens). Each day this week, we’ll unveil a new roster of heroes according to their era, after which you can vote here for your favourite member.

Read all about each Avenger here, then vote for your favourite in the poll.

Jedi Knights at the museum: Unleash your inner child, you can, at Star Wars Identities
Two years in the making by Montreal’s X3 Productions, the exhibition at Montreal’s Science Centre is partly an educational display aimed at explaining and exploring the concept of identity, and partly a shrine to some 200 props, costumes, and “artifacts” from George Lucas’s two Star Wars film trilogies. In an attempt to thread both aspects together, the museum uses high-tech bracelets to track visitors’ choices throughout the exhibition, so that everyone can create a Star Wars-esque character from scratch.

Each visitor picks a species (e.g., human, Wookiee, Ewok), genetic traits, personality traits, a mentor and so on, ending up with one of 50 million-odd possible personalized “heroes.” (Illustration by Andrew Barr)

This year’s Sheridan illustration program graduates are part of a new movement. Illustrationism is a collaborative effort that encourages illustrators and admirers to document and share their work through social media. Using the hashtag #illustrationism, illustrations are captured in an ever-growing online platform where the content creates and forms the concept ‘Illustrationism.’ See the grad exhibit for yourself April 19 at 99 Sudbury St. in Toronto. For more, visit illustrationism.com.

Graphic: Friday the 13th – Jason Voorhees’ body count
Friday the 13th comes three times this year, so in honour of this (in?)auspicious date we are revisiting Andrew Barr and Mike Faille’s visual representation of slasher star Jason Voorhees’ body count. The Friday the 13th hockey-mask aficionado has waged a one-man war against the evils of premarital sex, drug use, being a teenager and not being Jason Voorhees.

SEASON ONE SPOILERS!
Click through for Steve Murray’s tribute to the warriors, weirdos & wolves of the first season of Game of Thrones, but beware of spoilers!