arts.nationalpost.com---category_arts_feed.json

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  "response_text": "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><rss version=\"2.0\"\n\txmlns:content=\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\"\n\txmlns:wfw=\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\"\n\txmlns:dc=\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\"\n\txmlns:atom=\"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom\"\n\txmlns:sy=\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/\"\n\txmlns:slash=\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\"\n\txmlns:np=\"http://www.nationalpost.com/syndication/1.0\" xmlns:georss=\"http://www.georss.org/georss\" xmlns:geo=\"http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#\" xmlns:media=\"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/\"\n\t>\n\n<channel>\n\t<title>Arts &#8211; National Post</title>\n\t<atom:link href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/category/arts/feed\" rel=\"self\" type=\"application/rss+xml\" />\n\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com</link>\n\t<description></description>\n\t<lastBuildDate>Fri, 13 May 2016 07:44:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>\n\t<language>en</language>\n\t<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>\n\t<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>\n\t<generator>http://wordpress.com/</generator>\n<cloud domain='news.nationalpost.com' port='80' path='/?rsscloud=notify' registerProcedure='' protocol='http-post' />\n<image>\n\t\t<url>http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/bf69214e83fdd5520e4b5d91ba3b7d64?s=96&#038;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png</url>\n\t\t<title>Arts &#8211; National Post</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com</link>\n\t</image>\n\t<atom:link rel=\"search\" type=\"application/opensearchdescription+xml\" href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/osd.xml\" title=\"National Post\" />\n\t<atom:link rel='hub' href='http://news.nationalpost.com/?pushpress=hub'/>\n\t<item>\n\t\t<title>In a race between the brothers, Tim and Kelsey, who finally won Big Brother Canada 4?</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/in-a-race-between-the-brothers-tim-and-kelsey-who-finally-won-big-brother-canada-4</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/in-a-race-between-the-brothers-tim-and-kelsey-who-finally-won-big-brother-canada-4#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Fri, 13 May 2016 02:17:33 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sadaf Ahsan]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arisa Cox]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[BBCAN4]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Big Brother (TV Show)]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Big Brother Canada]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Nick Paquette]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Phil Paquette]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1100409</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[In a surprising turn of events, one player essentially forfeit a chance at the HoH, while the winner(s) could be considered a floater(s) of the year]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>The final week of Big Brother Canada\u2019s fourth season proved to be a polarizing one on Thursday night&#8217;s two-hour finale, in which&nbsp;Ottawa\u2019s Nick and Phil Paquette, arguably two of the least deserving house guests of the season, were crowned winners, and for whom jury member Mitch likely put it best: \u201cSometimes, two brains aren\u2019t better than one.\u201d</p>\n<p>As the pair who now famously threatened to self-evict just weeks ago when the Power of Veto didn\u2019t go as they\u2019d planned, the brothers spent finale night insisting every move they made in the house was strategic. Or, at least, Nick insisted, because as the weaker willed of the two, and for whom the bigger the lie, the more vicious the fight, Phil had a tendency to stumble over his words, proving just how precarious their social game and refusal to admit to deceit were.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>But before the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of the season were crowned, plenty went down. As possibly one of the most impressive contenders in Big Brother Canada history, Cassandra was the fan favourite to win, until she simply didn\u2019t work fast enough to earn&nbsp;the week\u2019s PoV (though, interestingly, time stamps were never shown). Losing out to who else but the brothers, the \u201cPersian princess\u201d was sent packing on Wednesday night, before finale day, with Tim \u2014 the last member of the Threekshow, and perhaps the year&#8217;s most entertaining \u2014 the final hope and new favourite to win, despite his lack of Canuck blood, much to Nick and Phil\u2019s distaste.</p>\n<p>On finale night, after the brothers and Tim went head to head in the puzzle/speed-based first round of the final Head of Household of the season, with Kelsey falling irredeemably behind, the brothers picked up the win.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>Sometimes, two brains aren\u2019t better than one</p></blockquote>\n<p>Round 2, in which the remaining pair had to order a set of dice emblazoned with fellow houseguests\u2019 faces and previous competition names in specified timelines, Kelsey, yet again, fell irredeemably behind, with the tension of the game (and no cheerleaders left) eating her nerve. Racing through his turn with a grin, despite not studying, Tim seemed to ace the second round with ease. Until, in a shocking moment, the Australian gave up, unable to deduce the correct order of the final timeline \u2014 with more than enough time left to beat Kelsey, leaving the internet in an outrage.</p>\n<p>Essentially forfeiting, Tim knew full well the brothers and Kelsey had become allies in the final weeks of the season and would plan to choose each other when it came time for the newly crowned HoH to pick an opponent for the jury vote.</p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Tim did some final campaigning to convince either side to choose him over the other when the time would come. But it was no use, as in the memory-based Round 3, Kelsey, who had spent the season consistently keeping track of events, easily defeated Phil, was crowned HoH and chose to take the brothers to the vote with her, evicting Tim and sending BB fans into a tailspin.</p>\n<p>As bitter a pill as Tim\u2019s loss was to swallow, the former Big Brother Australia winner, who had hoped to be the first BB player to have two titles to his name, informed host Arisa Cox that when the time came to stop or go on, he realized he wanted one of the other houseguests to experience the joy of his win, rather than take it for himself; the spirit of the Threekshow lives on.</p>\n<p>And so the vote came down to a lucky double team and Kelsey, who had already been evicted from the house once before, largely&nbsp;continuing to succeed thanks to Loveita&#8217;s advice. It was the sort of final two that leaves a reality competition viewer with a bad taste in their mouth.&nbsp;But the game went on, and&nbsp;each jury member placed&nbsp;their vote with a prickly comment, with Joel in particular ruing the &#8220;luck&#8221; of the final two with a smirk.</p>\n<p>Minus obvious votes for Kelsey from allies/adoring fans Raul and Jared, the jury easily and not-so-shockingly chose the brothers as the winners of the season (the pair will split $100,000 in prize money), having won seven competitions between them, despite their dramatically poor social and strategic game, and the house&#8217;s obvious contempt for them.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>With Ramsey&#8217;s self-eviction earlier in the season, Canada filled in as an additional vote, with fans having spent the week voting for who they hoped to see win the title. The answer? The brothers. Oh, Canada.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/i-should-have-drawn-clear-lines-big-brother-canadas-threekshow-alliance-gets-exposed-and-torn-apart\">\u2018I should have drawn clear lines\u2019: Big Brother Canada\u2019s \u2018threekshow\u2019 alliance gets exposed and torn apart</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/bbcan4-big-brother-canada-nikki-joel-jared-tim-cassandra-double-eviction\">\u2018These people are monsters\u2019: In a double eviction, Big Brother Canada cut some dead weight</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>So although Kelsey may have been a smarter and more&nbsp;manipulative player \u2014 having survived the slow eating away of her powerful alliance that, despite its obvious strength, wasn\u2019t toppled until the very end \u2014 the year\u2019s houseguests opted for a pair of bullies who essentially floated to the end, a common end result in Big Brother series&nbsp;of late.</p>\n<p>For a season that\u2019s built its name on evicting strong female players one after another for no apparent reason other than their gender, #BBCAN4 may not have offered a satisfying conclusion, but it did showcase some of the best game moves of the show\u2019s history, from Tim\u2019s koala bear eviction to Cassandra\u2019s 24-hour house flip. Expect the unexpected, indeed.</p>\n<p><em>Check back here Friday for our chats with not only the brothers, but Kelsey, Tim and Cassandra.</em></p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/in-a-race-between-the-brothers-tim-and-kelsey-who-finally-won-big-brother-canada-4/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/bbcan4finale.jpg?w=620\" title=\"bbcan4finale\" Abstract=\"Did your favourite win?\" Credit=\"Corus\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/bbcan4finale.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/bbcan4finale.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">bbcan4finale</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>&#8216;I never think about it&#8217;: Woody Allen responds to sexual assault allegations in son Ronan Farrow&#8217;s scathing op-ed</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/i-never-read-anything-about-me-woody-allen-responds-to-sexual-assault-allegations-after-sons-article</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/i-never-read-anything-about-me-woody-allen-responds-to-sexual-assault-allegations-after-sons-article#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 21:23:03 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Bobkin]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Celebrity]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes 2016]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes Film Festival]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Leslee Dart]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Ronan Farrow]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Woody Allen]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099730</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[The prolific filmmaker continues to deny allegations that he sexually assaulted his step-daughter, Dylan Farrow]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Wednesday&#8217;s Cannes Film Festival debut of Caf\u00e9 Society, Woody Allen&#8217;s latest film, may have been overshadowed by an article penned by his estranged son, journalist Ronan Farrow (whose mother is Mia Farrow, Allen&#8217;s former girlfriend).</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/my-father-woody-allen-danger-892572\" target=\"_blank\">Farrow&#8217;s article</a> expressed support for step-sister <a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/woody-allens-adopted-daughter-dylan-farrow-claims-he-sexually-assaulted-her-when-she-was-seven\" target=\"_blank\">Dylan&#8217;s claims that Allen sexually assaulted her as a child,</a> and ran&nbsp;in the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday morning, stating, &#8220;I believe my sister. This was always true as a brother who trusted her, and, even at 5 years old, was troubled by our father&#8217;s strange behaviour around her.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Now, the prolific auteur has spoken out against his son&#8217;s piece,&nbsp;<a href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/12/woody-allen-ronan-farrow-cannes-cafe-society-film\" target=\"_blank\">The Guardian reports.</a></p>\n<p>&#8220;I never read anything about me,&#8221; Allen&nbsp;said to a reporter during a press lunch, and Farrow&#8217;s article seems to be no exception.</p>\n<p>&#8220;I said everything I had to say about that whole issue <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/opinion/sunday/woody-allen-speaks-out.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">in the New York Times,</a>&#8221; he added. &#8220;I have moved so far past it. I never think about it. I work. It\u2019s worked for me. I\u2019ve been very productive over the years by not thinking about myself.&#8221;</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/i-dont-feel-old-at-80-woody-allen-opens-cannes-film-festival-yet-again-with-cafe-society\">\u2018I don\u2019t feel old\u2019: At 80, Woody Allen opens Cannes Film Festival yet again, with Caf\u00e9 Society</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/woody-allen-explains-all-the-ways-he-has-changed-wife-soon-yi-for-his-pleasure-remains-creepy\">Woody Allen explains all the ways he has changed wife Soon-Yi for his pleasure, remains creepy</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/woody-allens-adopted-daughter-dylan-farrow-claims-he-sexually-assaulted-her-when-she-was-seven\">Woody Allen&#039;s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, claims he sexually assaulted her when she was seven</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>Allen may not have read the article, but his publicist Leslee Dart had, and took action, banning representatives from the Hollywood Reporter from attending the film&#8217;s premiere.</p>\n<p>Dart told the publication, &#8220;It\u2019s only natural that I would show displeasure when the press \u2014 in this case, The Hollywood Reporter \u2014 goes out of its way to be harmful to my client.&#8221;</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/i-never-read-anything-about-me-woody-allen-responds-to-sexual-assault-allegations-after-sons-article/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2015/07/woody-allen.jpg?w=620\" title=\"woody-allen\" Abstract=\"Woody Allen\" Credit=\"AP Photo\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2015/07/woody-allen.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2015/07/woody-allen.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">woody-allen</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Canadian kids&#8217; show Nanalan&#8217; goes viral, validates weirdness of Canadian millennials</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/canadian-kids-show-nanalan-goes-viral-validates-weirdness-of-canadian-millennials</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/canadian-kids-show-nanalan-goes-viral-validates-weirdness-of-canadian-millennials#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 17:53:23 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Bobkin]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Nanalan']]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[television]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[YTV]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099872</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[The Canadian children's television show, which aired from 1999 until 2004, recently resurged in popularity thanks to popular blogging website Tumblr]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Calling all young folks: who remembers Nanalan&#8217;?</p>\n<p>The bizarre Canadian children&#8217;s television series has recently been unearthed from the repressed memories of our nation&#8217;s youth after it resurged in popularity on Tumblr, <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/nanalan-why\" target=\"_blank\">according to Buzzfeed.</a></p>\n<p>The show followed three-year-old Mona, who for some reason was green and spoke distorted English, during trips to her nana&#8217;s house. And a dog named Russell, or &#8220;Russer,&#8221; if you will.</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMQAFKyfdKA&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n<p>The show ran from 1999 until 2004 and aired on both CBC and YTV. It also made it&nbsp;to the United States and United Kingdom, and for that we profusely apologize.</p>\n<p>Seriously, who came up with this stuff?</p>\n<p><img style=\"position:relative;width:309px;height:px;left:0;top:-5px;\" src=\"https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/10/12/enhanced/webdr04/anigif_original-grid-image-32286-1462899398-1.gif\" width=\"309\" height=\"222\"></p>\n<p>If you&nbsp;want some insight as to why&nbsp;the youth of today&nbsp;are so dang weird, here&#8217;s an episode. It&#8217;s only three minutes long, but some (as in, all) might argue that it&#8217;s way more than enough.</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UJgXyEWRZo&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n<p>Curse you, Tumblrites, for getting that theme song stuck in our heads again.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/canadian-kids-show-nanalan-goes-viral-validates-weirdness-of-canadian-millennials/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/nanalanface.jpg?w=620\" title=\"nanalanface\" Abstract=\"A still from an episode of Nanalan&#039;\" Credit=\"CBC/YouTube\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/nanalanface.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/nanalanface.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">nanalanface</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-05/10/12/enhanced/webdr04/anigif_original-grid-image-32286-1462899398-1.gif\" medium=\"image\" />\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Budweiser renames itself &#8216;America&#8217; until the upcoming American election, plans to make beer great again</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/budweiser-renames-itself-america-until-the-upcoming-american-election-plans-to-make-beer-great-again</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/budweiser-renames-itself-america-until-the-upcoming-american-election-plans-to-make-beer-great-again#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 17:44:44 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Bobkin]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Food & Drink]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Beer]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[beverages]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Food and Beverage Sector]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Olympic Games]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[U.S. election 2016]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099687</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[The beer giant is rebranding their 'iconic' beverage at the start of what they claim is 'maybe the most American summer ever']]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Long associated with being cheap and bland, beer giant Budweiser has announced plans to rename itself &#8220;America,&#8221; in celebration of all things cheap and bland.</p>\n<p>&#8220;We thought nothing was more iconic than Budweiser and nothing was more iconic than America,&#8221; said&nbsp;Tosh Hall, creative director at the can\u2019s branding firm JKR, conveniently forgetting things like David Bowie or Harry Potter, while also&nbsp;alienating any country not on the beer&#8217;s label.</p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Indivisible. <a href=\"https://t.co/bV6MqXPJW0\">pic.twitter.com/bV6MqXPJW0</a></p>\n<p>&mdash; Budweiser (@Budweiser) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Budweiser/status/730543545610801152\">May 11, 2016</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></div>\n<p>Budweiser vice-president Ricardo Marques added that we are at the start of &#8220;maybe the most American summer ever&#8221; thanks to the upcoming Olympics and presidential election.&nbsp;Someone should probably tell him that&nbsp;the Olympics are in Brazil and Budweiser is owned by Belgian company&nbsp;Anheuser-Busch. But that election is definitely American, so you&#8217;re welcome to&nbsp;that one, Ric.</p>\n<p>The packaging for the new can will now read&nbsp;&#8220;US&#8221; in place of the logo&#8217;s crest, which usually reads&nbsp;&#8220;AB.&#8221; And instead of &#8220;King of Beers,&#8221; you&#8217;ll see &#8220;E Pluribus Unum.&#8221; How subtle. No word as of yet if these cans will cross the border or be stuck behind the proverbial wall.</p>\n<p>The patriotic cans will be in stores down south until the November 4 election, a sobering reminder that this election cycle will, in fact, end. After that, we can go back to making Budweiser great again.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/budweiser-renames-itself-america-until-the-upcoming-american-election-plans-to-make-beer-great-again/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/budmerica.jpg?w=620\" title=\"budmerica\" Abstract=\"A can of Budweiser beer next to its new summer brand: America.\" Credit=\"Anheuser-Busch\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/budmerica.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/budmerica.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">budmerica</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>&#8216;Art is the whisper of history&#8217;: Julian Barnes&#8217;s latest re-imagines the life of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/art-is-the-whisper-of-history-julian-barness-latest-re-imagines-the-life-of-russian-composer-dmitri-shostakovich</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/art-is-the-whisper-of-history-julian-barness-latest-re-imagines-the-life-of-russian-composer-dmitri-shostakovich#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 16:41:04 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Doherty, Special to National Post]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Dmitri Shostakovich]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Julian Barnes]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1098581</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[It reads like a philosophical meditation, asking fundamental questions about what we can and should expect from art]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p><strong>The Noise of Time</strong><br />\n<strong> By Julian Barnes</strong><br />\n<strong> Random House Canada</strong><br />\n<strong> 224 pp; $29.95</strong></p>\n<p>Dmitri Shostakovich, the subject of Julian Barnes&#8217;s new novel, lived in a time and a place where all music was intensely politicized. In some ways, it&#8217;s not that different here and now: Nicki Minaj is viewed as a feminist heroine \u2013 except when she&#8217;s cozying up to the daughter of the Angolan dictator whose regime paid her a reported $2 million (U.S.) to play.</p>\n<p>Taylor Swift is hailed as a role model \u2013 except when she&#8217;s making racially insensitive videos. Neil Young&#8217;s music is seen as counter-cultural \u2013 except by Donald Trump and his supporters when they hijack it to soundtrack a rally.</p>\n<p>Can music be just, well \u2026 music? Shostakovich seems to have believed that it could: According to Alex Ross&#8217;s book on 20th&nbsp;century classical music, The Rest Is Noise, when Shostakovich was a composition student in Lenin&#8217;s Russia, his response to another student\u2019s being &#8220;asked to explain the socioeconomic dimensions of the music of Chopin and Liszt&#8221; was to &#8220;burst out laughing.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Barnes takes up Shostakovich&#8217;s story later, during Stalin&#8217;s reign, when laughing in the face of the regime was dangerous. The Noise of Time opens with the composer waiting in the middle of the night by his building&#8217;s elevator, suitcase packed, convinced that the police are coming to get him because of his subversive work \u2013 and unwilling to submit to the humiliation of being dragged out of bed.</p>\n<div class=\"npImgRight\"><div class=\"npPosRel\" style=\"width:304px;\"><img class=\" wp-image-1092629\" alt=\"Penguin Random House\" src=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/jbarnesnew.jpg?w=304&#038;h=437\" width=\"304\" height=\"437\"><div class=\"npPhotoTxt npTxtPlain npTxtLeft\"><div class=\"npGroup\"><span class=\"npPhotoCredit\">Penguin Random House</span></div></div></div></div>\n<p>Barnes, whose last novel, The Sense of an Ending (2011), won the Man Booker Prize, has written about real life artists before: his breakout book Flaubert&#8217;s Parrot (1984) delved into Gustave Flaubert&#8217;s journals, and Arthur Conan Doyle starred in Barnes&#8217; Arthur and George (2005).</p>\n<p>By comparison, The Noise of Time feels less fleshed-out as a novel, and it stays largely inside Shostakovich&#8217;s thoughts, which jump readily from fleeting remembrances to abstract musings. As a result, the novel reads like a philosophical meditation, set in an age of extremity and asking fundamental questions about what we can and should expect from art.</p>\n<p>Barnes has Shostakovich reflect that &#8220;Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time,&#8221; and that good music has &#8220;a hard, irreducible purity&#8221; that can drown out this noise. And yet, 10&nbsp;pages later, he wonders what posterity would believe: &#8220;Sometimes he thought that there was a different version of everything.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Posterity has been bemused by Shostakovich, who remains elusive despite his renown. Was he a hero or a coward, a dissident or a stooge? Was his music, which could be tuneful, inventive and bracing at the same time, essentially conservative or slyly rebellious?</p>\n<p>His &#8220;as told to a friend&#8221; memoir, Testimony, suggests the latter \u2013 that he was fighting the regime by making thinly disguised statements in his compositions, even when they were ostensibly written in the service of &#8220;socialist realism&#8221; \u2013 but Testimony was published after Shostakovich&#8217;s death, and its validity has been questioned.</p>\n<p>Barnes notes in his afterword that truth was hard to find, &#8220;let alone maintain, in Stalin&#8217;s Russia,&#8221; something which is &#8220;most welcome to any novelist.&#8221; He imagines what Shostakovich must have felt at the crucial juncture when his forward-thinking opera Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk was denounced by the newspaper Pravda, the official Communist Party mouthpiece.</p>\n<p>We know that the composer kept a scrapbook of bad press; for Barnes, Shostakovich was tracking the death of a revolutionary dream that &#8220;without any political direction, (artists) would help their fellow human souls develop and flourish.&#8221; Although Stalin called writers \u2013 and by extension, all artists \u2013 &#8220;the engineers of human souls,&#8221; Barnes\u2019s Shostakovich reflects, &#8220;many people did not want their souls to be engineered, thank you very much.&#8221;</p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>The novel reads like a philosophical meditation, set in an age of extremity and asking fundamental questions about what we can and should expect from art</p></blockquote>\n<p>The music that Stalin approved was seen as ideologically functional, and from the time his Party condemned Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Shostakovich&#8217;s life itself was largely stage-managed: He was forced to apologize and withdraw the opera, and eventually to travel to the U.S. to denounce American culture and the defector Igor Stravinsky (whose work he loved).</p>\n<p>Later, under Krushchev, he was strong-armed into joining the Party. Should he have refused, somewhere along the line, and become a martyr? In doing so, he would have endangered the lives of his family and those who performed his work, but because he didn&#8217;t, his output, for many, has been tainted.</p>\n<p>Shostakovich may have been fighting surreptitiously \u2013 making intentionally bad music for bad propaganda films, for instance, and painting a grotesque picture of Stalin in his 10th&nbsp;symphony&#8217;s &#8220;Scherzo&#8221; \u2013 but even if these musical Easter eggs were intentional, is their very presence enough to justify the existence of the work to those of us on the outside looking in?</p>\n<p>If we had access to Shostakovich&#8217;s music but not to his biography, we wouldn&#8217;t be asking this question; instead, we&#8217;d be focusing on its style. Even then, as Barnes&#8217; contemporary (and fellow chronicler of Stalinist Russia), Martin Amis, writes, &#8220;style is morality.&#8221; The wish for music to be transcendent, The Noise of Time implies, is essentially a wish for it to be written and listened to in a vacuum.</p>\n<p>While Barnes&#8217; novel has been dismissed by some critics for not telling us much about Shostakovich that we didn&#8217;t already know, it provocatively mines the implications of his art, and of how all art emerges from its time and place.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/don-delillo-julian-barnes-here-are-the-books-you-should-be-reading-in-may\">From Don DeLillo to Julian Barnes, here are the books you should be reading in May</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>Moreover, Barnes gets beyond the hero/villain dichotomy by asking: can being a &#8220;coward&#8221; involve courage? Can one live too long, and in doing so fatally compromise the youthful ideals of one&#8217;s early work?</p>\n<p>The novel also brings us back to Shostakovich&#8217;s music, much of which retains its power in the present day. The thunderous opening of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk&#8217;s passacaglia, as played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on last year&#8217;s recording, Shostakovich Under Stalin&#8217;s Shadow, is as bracing as a Skrillex beat drop, as complex as Kendrick Lamar. It&#8217;s the whisper of history, amplified by the noise of our time.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/art-is-the-whisper-of-history-julian-barness-latest-re-imagines-the-life-of-russian-composer-dmitri-shostakovich/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/dmitris.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Caption of this picture released by Sovi\" Abstract=\"Dmitri Shostakovich working over his famous Seventh Symphony dedicated to the Great Patriotic War in besieged Leningrad in 1941.\" Credit=\"AFP/Getty Images\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/dmitris.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/dmitris.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Caption of this picture released by Sovi</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/jbarnesnew.jpg\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Penguin Random House</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Money Monster is more sugar than medicine, but makes for a thrilling, full-throttle financial meltdown</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/money-monster-is-more-sugar-than-medicine-but-makes-for-a-thrilling-full-throttle-financial-meltdown</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/money-monster-is-more-sugar-than-medicine-but-makes-for-a-thrilling-full-throttle-financial-meltdown#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 16:18:12 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Knight]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Caitriona Balfe]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Dominic West]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Film review]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[George Clooney]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Jodie Foster]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[julia roberts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Money Monster]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099583</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[It's a solid piece of entertainment, with more than a few chuckles wrung from the nail-biting plot]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p class=\"p1\"><div id=\"schema_block\" class=\"schema_movie\">\n\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t<span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t</span><div class=\"schema_name\">Money Monster</div><div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tRating:<span class=\"schema_review_star\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"star_3\"></span>\n\t\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\t</div><div><div>Director: <span class=\"schema_person\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Jodie Foster</span></span></div><div>Writing Credit: <span class=\"schema_person\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> Jamie Linden, Alan DiFiore and Jim Kouf</span></span></div><div>Cast: <span class=\"schema_person\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O\u2019Connell</span></span></div><div>Rated: <span> 14A; language, violence and sexuality</span></div><div>Genre: <span>Thriller</span></div><div>Duration: <span>98 minutes</span></div><div class=\"schema_description\">Synopsis: <span>A financial TV host is taken hostage by a distraught investor.</span></div></div>\n\t\t\t</div></div></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The best thrillers start simply, even quietly. &#8220;Who&#8217;s that guy?&#8221; asks Julia Roberts&#8217; character, and we&#8217;re off to the races.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Money Monster is both the name of this tense cat-and-mouse game from director Jodie Foster, and the title of the show within the show, a bombastic investment advice program hosted by huckster Lee Gates (George Clooney). It&#8217;s the perfect role for Clooney, who mixes smarm and charm, flash and sass, into a cocktail that is drinkable if still a touch bitter.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Then again, it doesn&#8217;t hurt Lee&#8217;s likability that his adversary is a disgruntled investor who may have more ire than brains; he storms the studio during the show&#8217;s opening minutes, determined to get the real truth about how a sure-fire stock called Ibis just lost $800 million overnight, wiping out his already meagre life savings.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kyle Budwell (up-and-coming British actor Jack O&#8217;Connell) pulls a gun, straps Lee into an explosive vest, puts his thumb on the detonator, and demands answers. Not the return of his $60,000 \u2014 as he sees it, he&#8217;s there on behalf of every similarly bankrupted little guy.</span></p>\n<div class=\"npImgRight\"><div class=\"npPosRel\" style=\"width:620px;\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-1099664\" alt=\"Sony Pictures\" src=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/mm1.jpg?w=620&#038;h=465\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\"><div class=\"npPhotoTxt npTxtPlain npTxtLeft\"><div class=\"npGroup\"><span class=\"npPhotoCredit\">Sony Pictures</span></div></div></div></div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The third corner in the triangle is Patty Fenn (Roberts), the director of Money Monster and, more specially, of Lee. With a microphone connected to an earbud that only he can hear, she functions as a combination of conscience, tactician and Google. With her knowledge of Lee&#8217;s foibles and even a safe word \u2014 &#8220;Sacagawea&#8221; \u2014 she is the angel in his ear.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">She is also the Supreme Being in the studio, the deus in this machina. When Kyle starts making demands, she&#8217;s level-headed enough to keep the show on the air, push the police negotiators to the side and even tell the camera operators to pull in a little and lose that shadow on the gunman&#8217;s face. Just because she&#8217;s trying to save her host&#8217;s life doesn&#8217;t mean she can&#8217;t also keep producing must-see TV.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The movie does a good job of blurring the line between life-or-death drama and reality TV entertainment, in part by replicating that schism itself. It&#8217;s a solid piece of entertainment, with more than a few chuckles wrung from the nail-biting plot; yet at its heart is a story of financial instability and, possibly, corporate malfeasance. Business meets pleasure.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">And the characters&#8217; motivations and relationships remain in flux as well. &#8220;I&#8217;m just a guy on TV&#8221; is Lee&#8217;s opening bargaining position, but he turns out to have some hidden depths. Similarly, Kyle&#8217;s reasoning is at once simpler and more complex than it first appears, and the old negotiating tactic of having his girlfriend talk to him creates an unexpected result. By late in the film, there\u2019s an unusual human shield arrangement that audiences won\u2019t see coming.</span></p>\n<div class=\"npImgRight\"><div class=\"npPosRel\" style=\"width:620px;\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-1099663\" alt=\"Atsushi Nishijima/Sony Pictures via AP\" src=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/mm2.jpg?w=620&#038;h=465\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\"><div class=\"npPhotoTxt npTxtPlain npTxtLeft\"><div class=\"npGroup\"><span class=\"npPhotoCredit\">Atsushi Nishijima/Sony Pictures via AP</span></div></div></div></div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Foster, directing from a script by Jamie Linden, Alan DiFiore and Jim Kouf, lets the hostage drama play out in the foreground while slyly building a secondary layer of drama. This one involves Ibis&#8217; chief communications officer (Caitriona Balfe) desperately trying to track down her CEO (Dominic West) or one of the mysterious &#8220;quants&#8221; whose stock-trading algorithm seems to be at the heart of this meltdown. (So convenient: blame it on the technology or, failing that, the programmers.)</span></p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/im-53-and-the-world-has-changed-jodie-foster-gets-back-in-the-directors-chair-with-money-monster\">\u2018I\u2019m 53 and the world has changed\u2019: Jodie Foster gets back in the director\u2019s chair with Money Monster</a></li></ul></div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Solid actors fill out the cast and keep the action jogging ahead, sometimes literally. (Lenny Venito is especially good as the cameraman who goes way beyond the call of duty.) And while the results won\u2019t inform viewers nearly as well as a doc like Inside Job or last year\u2019s best adapted writing Oscar winner The Big Short, the entertainment value is top-notch. </span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Money Monster may be more sugar than medicine, but it\u2019s still a treat you can feel smart for indulging in.</span></p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/money-monster-is-more-sugar-than-medicine-but-makes-for-a-thrilling-full-throttle-financial-meltdown/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t\t\t<media:content url=\"http://0_a7yzfl9k\" type=\"application/vnd.kaltura\" medium=\"featuredvideo\">\r\n\t\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"\" />\r\n\t\t\t<media:title><![CDATA[Money Monster is more sugar than medicine, but makes for a thrilling, full-throttle financial meltdown]]></media:title>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<media:caption><![CDATA[]]></media:caption>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t</media:content>\r\n\t\t<np:featuredvideo><![CDATA[<div id=\"pn_video_464546\" itemprop=\"video\" itemtype=\"http://schema.org/VideoObject\" itemscope=\"itemscope\"></div><script type=\"text/javascript\">( function() { pnShowVideo( \"0_a7yzfl9k\", 464546, \"\", \"\", \"true\", \"\", \"\", \"kaltura\", \"video\", null, null, \"\" ); } )();</script>]]></np:featuredvideo><np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/mm1.jpg?w=620\" title=\"george-clooney-money-monster.jpg\" Abstract=\"\" Credit=\"Sony Pictures\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/mm1.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/mm1.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">george-clooney-money-monster.jpg</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/mm1.jpg?w=620\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Sony Pictures</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/mm2.jpg?w=620\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Atsushi Nishijima/Sony Pictures via AP</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>As a moving refugee&#8217;s tale, Dheepan brings family warfare from Sri Lanka to France</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/as-a-moving-refugees-tale-dheepan-brings-family-warfare-from-sri-lanka-to-france</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/as-a-moving-refugees-tale-dheepan-brings-family-warfare-from-sri-lanka-to-france#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 16:17:36 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Knight]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes Film Festival]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Claudine Vinasithamby]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Dheepan]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Film review]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Jacques Audiard]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Jesuthasan Antonythasan]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Kalieaswari Srinivasan]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Palme d'Or]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099605</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[Last year's Palme d'Or winner has finally hit Canada, and is as poignant and timely as ever ]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p class=\"p1\"><div id=\"schema_block\" class=\"schema_movie\">\n\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t<span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t</span><div class=\"schema_name\">Dheepan</div><div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tRating:<span class=\"schema_review_star\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"star_3_5\"></span>\n\t\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\t</div><div><div>Director: <span class=\"schema_person\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Jacques Audiard</span></span></div><div>Writing Credit: <span class=\"schema_person\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain and No\u00e9 Debr\u00e9</span></span></div><div>Cast: <span class=\"schema_person\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby</span></span></div><div>Rated: <span>14A; violence, mature themes and swearing in French and Tamil.</span></div><div>Genre: <span>Drama</span></div><div>Duration: <span> 115 minutes</span></div><div class=\"schema_description\">Synopsis: <span>A former Tamil Tiger soldier tries to start a new life in France.</span></div></div>\n\t\t\t</div></div></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Just as the Cannes Film Festival is getting under way in the South of France, Canadian audiences have their first chance to see last year&#8217;s Palme d&#8217;Or winner from French filmmaker Jacques Audiard. The subject matter is equally timely; Dheepan tells the story of a trio of refugees struggling to make sense of and fit into their new home.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When we first meet the title character, a Tamil Tiger played by Jesuthasan Antonythasan, he is looking tired and a little lost as he helps his fellow Sri Lankan soldiers dispose of a number of bodies. Whether he also helped kill them is a question the film wisely leaves unanswered, though his mild manner suggests he is a conscript rather than a volunteer in the conflict.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Dheepan is next seen in a refugee camp, looking for a wife and daughter to match the ones on the passports he holds of a now-deceased family. He finds Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), who then procures nine-year-old Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) through a process that is part adoption, part abduction.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Audiard shows great sympathy for his characters, although he has no illusions about the refugee process. When Dheepan is being interviewed by a French border official, his translator, who knows him from the conflict back home, first instructs him on what lies to tell, then helpfully translates his replies back into French.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Soon the newly formed family is living in a squalid housing estate seemingly controlled by a gang of drug dealers. Dheepan is given a job as caretaker, and busies himself fixing a broken elevator while trying to ignore the violence around him.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Much of the film&#8217;s depth comes from the decision to focus on all the characters. Yalini struggles with the language, and takes to answering questions with a bob of her head that can be read as either a yes or a no. Illayaal is quicker to pick up French, but uses it to write sad poems about not fitting in at school.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The refugees are all played by first-time actors, and create an appealing naturalism in their performances. And the camerawork places us, if not quite in their shoes, then at least in their vicinity, bobbing and weaving in their wake.<br />\n</span><br />\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/get-out-your-cheese-and-wine-the-69th-annual-cannes-film-festival-is-off-to-the-races\">Get out your cheese and wine, the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival is off to the races</a></li></ul></div></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Better still, the French drug dealers are presented as more than just stock characters. One could almost imagine there&#8217;s an entire film dealing with their leader&#8217;s story, one that just happens to cross paths with the one we&#8217;re watching.</span></p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If Dheepan has a flaw, it&#8217;s in the filmmaker&#8217;s decision to end on an explosive note, followed by a much calmer coda. Neither seems completely necessary, raising the question of whether the ends justify the means. But in the case of this deeply moving tale, I&#8217;m going to say the answer is yes.</span></p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/as-a-moving-refugees-tale-dheepan-brings-family-warfare-from-sri-lanka-to-france/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/dheepan1.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Film Review Dheepan\" Abstract=\"Claudine Vinasithamby and Jesuthasan Antonythasan in Dheepan.\" Credit=\"Paul Arnaud/Sundance Selects via AP\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/dheepan1.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/dheepan1.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Film Review Dheepan</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Here&#8217;s the problem with both Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/heres-the-problem-with-both-captain-america-civil-war-and-batman-v-superman</link>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 15:48:37 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Zachary Pincus-Roth, Washington Post]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Batman V Superman]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Bucky Barnes]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Captain America: Civil War]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Iron Man (Movie)]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Marvel Comics]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Tony Stark]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">https://nationalpostcom.wordpress.com?p=1098229&#038;preview_id=1098229</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[With less emotional complexity, boring action scenes and a horde of misunderstandings, these Marvel movies missed the mark]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Pitting superheroes against each other certainly sounds like a great idea.</p>\n<p>That way, comic book movies have another way to acknowledge the world isn&#8217;t just about heroes and villains, that there are ethical grey areas \u2014 and audiences won&#8217;t get sick of superhero movies so quickly. Plus, multiple superheroes in the same movie? Studio executives&#8217; eyes must light up with cartoon-dollar signs.</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice-loses-its-desperate-fight-to-be-all-knowing-all-telling-and-all-around-entertaining\" target=\"_blank\">So we get Batman v Superman</a>, purportedly about man vs. God, earthling vs. alien. And <a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/captain-america-civil-war-is-an-overcrowded-hot-mess-but-makes-for-quality-fan-service\" target=\"_blank\">Captain America: Civil War</a>, about checks on superpowers, and freedom vs. security. Think of how these issues could resonate today: Immigration! Military intervention!</p>\n<p>But superhero movies are imperfect vessels for topicality, and as a result, neither of these films really deals with its issues in a substantive way.</p>\n<p>Though critics have dismissed it as drivel, Batman v Superman raises some interesting questions: To what extent should we fear what&#8217;s unfamiliar? If something powerful has a small chance of being evil, should we put it in check?</p>\n<p>But a superhero movie, understandably, doesn&#8217;t have much time for such topics \u2014 it mainly needs to position its heroes so that they can start punching each other.</p>\n<div class=\"npImgRight\"><div class=\"npPosRel\" style=\"width:620px;\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-1053436\" alt=\"Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP\" src=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/03/film_review_batman_v_superman.jpg?w=620&#038;h=465\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\"><div class=\"npPhotoTxt npTxtPlain npTxtLeft\"><div class=\"npGroup\"><span class=\"npPhotoCredit\">Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP</span><span class=\"npPhotoCaption\">Batman v Superman.</span></div></div></div></div>\n<p>Toward the end of BvS, Lex Luthor threatens to kill Superman&#8217;s adoptive mother unless Superman kills Batman. This means that the eventual grand showdown is spurred by blackmail from an evil Mark Zuckerberg figure \u2014 not exactly the stuff of allegory.</p>\n<p>Superman decides to go along with Lex&#8217;s plan (and trust Lex will release his kidnapped foster mom) rather than just telling Batman what&#8217;s going on and uniting forces \u2014 which is what they eventually do, of course.</p>\n<p>And since Superman is immortal and Batman is mortal, they&#8217;ll never be evenly matched unless the movie conveniently adds a bit of kryptonite to stifle Superman.</p>\n<p>While the showdown purports to be a grand battle of man vs. God, it&#8217;s really a grand battle between some guy who&#8217;s allergic to some substance and a vague amount of that substance. When the revelation that their moms have the same name is enough to stop the fight, you know that maybe they shouldn&#8217;t have been fighting in the first place.</p>\n<p>Similarly, Captain America: Civil War does raise an interesting hypothetical: If superheroes did exist, should they be regulated by the United Nations? With Iron Man leading the group of yays and Captain America leading the nays, it&#8217;s basically a version of the musical 1776 \u2014 in which the Continental Congress delegates argue about whether to be independent \u2014 with Captain America as John Adams. Except instead of deliberating, they try to kill each other.</p>\n<p>You&#8217;d think pitting hero against hero \u2014 especially ones as evenly matched as these \u2014 would bring new life to the age-old action sequence, adding more emotional complexity. But there are three problems:</p>\n<p><strong>1.</strong> The action scenes are just less fun. The outcome of good guy vs. bad guy might be predictable, but at least it&#8217;s cathartic. Sitting there thinking &#8220;Yeah, bash the bad guy&#8217;s face in!&#8221; is more pleasurable than thinking &#8220;Hey, you all, maybe just stop fighting and talk to each other because that might be easier on everyone.&#8221; I found myself just waiting for the back and forth to end so that the movie could tell me who sorta won.</p>\n<p><strong>2.</strong> The real reason for the fight is a misunderstanding \u2014 just like in BvS. Tony Stark thinks Bucky Barnes is a terrorist, so he&#8217;s angry at Captain America&#8217;s team for harbouring him. Only later does Stark learn that Bucky was framed. (Maybe whatever system they have of assessing guilt is the problem, not the U.N. regulations.)</p>\n<p>But then Stark finds out Bucky killed his parents, so Stark fights Bucky. But as Captain America notes, Bucky was under mind control, so it&#8217;s mainly about Stark being a hothead \u2014 a tech mogul going overboard, once again similar to BvS.</p>\n<p><strong>3.</strong> The action scenes don&#8217;t relate at all to the ideas being pitted against each other: Talking really is the best (and most interesting) way to work out the core political issues. Captain America&#8217;s anti-regulation team wins one fight by making it to a getaway plane. Yay, anti-regulation! But does that have anything to do with whether the U.N. should regulate superheroes? Of course not. It&#8217;s like if instead of debating issues, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in tae kwon do.</p>\n<p>A superhero movie like Civil War is ill-equipped to deal with the reality-based complexities it raises. Wouldn&#8217;t the State Department and the U.N. make the superheroes a part of the initial process of coming up with a regulatory system, rather than just handing them an already written document of &#8220;accords&#8221;?</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/from-clint-eastwood-to-captain-america-and-why-superhero-movies-cant-escape-how-the-west-was-won-civil-war-marvel\">From Clint Eastwood to Captain America: Why superhero movies can\u2019t escape how the West was won</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/will-there-ever-be-a-saturation-point-for-box-office-superheroes\">Will there ever be a saturation point for box office superheroes?</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>It&#8217;s easy to assume that the governments have little leverage \u2014 there&#8217;s no clear way to enforce their regulations against a woman who can create fireballs with her hands. Speaking of which, how will they enforce their regulations? The U.N. and secretary of state&#8217;s best idea seems to be to have Tony Stark rustle up whoever he can find, including a Queens teenager who just months ago discovered he discovered he has spider-like abilities.</p>\n<p>These could be compelling issues, but the movie glances past them. Yes, it&#8217;s a tall order for superhero movies to deal with real-world issues in a substantive way. And perhaps that&#8217;s too much to expect \u2014 especially since most of them do perfectly well regardless.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/captain-america-civil-war-iron-man-vs-steve-rogers.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Captain-America-Civil-War-Iron-Man-vs-Steve-Rogers\" Abstract=\"Does Captain America: Civil War think it&#039;s better than it actually is?\" Credit=\"Marvel\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/captain-america-civil-war-iron-man-vs-steve-rogers.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/captain-america-civil-war-iron-man-vs-steve-rogers.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Captain-America-Civil-War-Iron-Man-vs-Steve-Rogers</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/film_review_batman_v_superman.jpg?w=620\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Why is Michael Strahan leaving Live! four months ahead of schedule? Kelly Ripa explains</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/why-is-michael-strahan-leaving-live-four-months-ahead-of-schedule-kelly-ripa-explains</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/why-is-michael-strahan-leaving-live-four-months-ahead-of-schedule-kelly-ripa-explains#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 14:02:26 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sadaf Ahsan]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Jimmy Kimmel]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Kelly Ripa]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Michael Strahan]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Regis Philbin]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099519</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA['If you had asked us, we would have told you we need to start looking, because we have summer hiatus, we have vacation time']]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>There is no drama like&nbsp;talk show drama, especially when it comes to veteran hosts, such as&nbsp;Kelly Ripa, who was blindsided last month when her Live! co-star Michael Strahan announced his departure from the show minutes after letting her know.</p>\n<p>Ripa then took a week-long break from the set, and when she returned, it was announced that Strahan \u2014 who would be moving to Good Morning America as a correspondent \u2014 would be leaving four months sooner than planned, marking this Friday as his last episode.</p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"http://www.people.com/article/kelly-ripa-explains-why-michael-strahan-is-leaving-live-4-months-earlier-than-first-announced\" target=\"_blank\">People</a> cover story this week, Ripa explained that this change was made not from a source of contention, but because she would prefer they start searching for a new co-host as soon as possible, and particularly with a summer hiatus coming up.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we\u2019ve explained to them is, \u2018Well, if you had asked us, we would have told you, guys, we need to start looking, because we have summer hiatus, we have vacation time. We need to find people. If we\u2019re going to have this list narrowed down at least to a manageable size by the fall, we need to start now,\u2019\u201d Ripa said, referring to herself and the show&#8217;s staff, noting, \u201cnobody consulted us initially.\u201d</p>\n<p>Strahan, who had been on the show for nearly four years, filled Regis Philbin&#8217;s place after a lengthy and exhaustive co-star search for Ripa, who has not been enthused about&nbsp;embarking on yet another one.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/kelly-ripa-returns-to-live-while-michael-strahan-announces-earlier-departure-than-planned\">Kelly Ripa returns to Live!, while Michael Strahan announces earlier departure than planned</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/michael-strahan-announces-departure-from-live-kelly-ripa-makes-her-displeasure-know\">Michael Strahan announces departure from Live!, Kelly Ripa makes her displeasure known</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>\u201cWe just keep doing it one show at a time,\u201d Ripa said, who has since returned to Live! alongside Strahan. \u201cWe always try to remind ourselves it\u2019s never as good as we think it is and it\u2019s never as bad as we think it is. We just keep marching forward. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve done for years. It\u2019s not a formula I invented. This is a formula that Regis (Philbin) created, and we\u2019re sticking to it.\u201d</p>\n<p>In the meantime, Jimmy Kimmel, among a slate of other temporary fill-ins, is scheduled to appear on Monday in Strahan&#8217;s place, so let&#8217;s hope Ripa finds a permanent solution sooner rather than later.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/why-is-michael-strahan-leaving-live-four-months-ahead-of-schedule-kelly-ripa-explains/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/04/tv-abc-strahan.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Kelly Ripa, Michael Strahan\" Abstract=\"Ripa was left behind when Strahan made his big announcement a few weeks ago.\" Credit=\"Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/04/tv-abc-strahan.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/04/tv-abc-strahan.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Kelly Ripa, Michael Strahan</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Siddhartha Mukherjee explores the intimate science  of being, inciting as many new questions as answers</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/siddhartha-mukherjee-explores-the-intimate-science-of-being-inciting-as-many-new-questions-as-answers</link>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 14:00:56 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jennifer Senior, The New York Times]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Erwin Schrodinger]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Francis Galton]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Richard Dawkins]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Siddhartha Mukherjee]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[The Gene: An Intimate History]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">https://nationalpostcom.wordpress.com?p=1097894&#038;preview_id=1097894</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA['The Gene is more pedagogical than dramatic; as often as not, the stars of this story are molecules, not humans']]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Thank heavens Gregor Mendel was a lousy priest. Had he shown even the faintest aptitude for oratory or ministering to the poor, he might never have determined the basic laws of heredity. But bumbling he was, and he made a rotten university student to boot; his failures drove him straight to his room, where he bred mice in secret. The experiment scandalized his superiors.</p>\n<p>&#8220;A monk coaxing mice to mate to understand heredity was a little too risqu\u00e9, even for the Augustinians,&#8221; Siddhartha Mukherjee writes in The Gene: An Intimate History. So Mendel switched \u2013 auspiciously, historically \u2013 to pea plants. The abbot in charge, writes the author, acquiesced this time, &#8220;giving peas a chance.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Love Mukherjee, love his puns. They&#8217;re everywhere. I warn you now.</p>\n<p>It is Mukherjee&#8217;s curse \u2013 or blessing, assuming he&#8217;s a glass-half-full sort of fellow \u2013 to have to follow in his own mammoth footsteps. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, his dazzling 2010 debut, won the Pulitzer and almost every other species of literary award; it became a three-part series on PBS; Time magazine deemed it one of the 100 most influential books written in the English language since 1923.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>It is his debut&#8217;s natural prequel, a tale of &#8216;normalcy before it tips into malignancy&#8217;</p></blockquote>\n<p>In his acknowledgments to The Gene, Mukherjee, a researcher and cancer specialist, confesses that he once feared his first book would also be his last \u2013 that &#8220;Emperor had sapped all my stories, confiscated my passports and placed a lien on my future as a writer.&#8221;</p>\n<p>The solution, he eventually realized, was to tell the story of the gene. It is his debut&#8217;s natural prequel, a tale of &#8220;normalcy before it tips into malignancy.&#8221;</p>\n<p>By the time The Gene is over, Mukherjee has covered Mendel and his peas, Darwin and his finches. He&#8217;s taken us on the quest of Watson, Crick and their many unsung compatriots to determine the stuff and structure of DNA. We learn about how genes were sequenced, cloned and variously altered, and about the race to map our complete set of DNA, or genome, which turns out to contain a stunning amount of filler material with no determined function.</p>\n<p>Many of the same qualities that made The Emperor of All Maladies so pleasurable are in full bloom in The Gene. The book is compassionate, tautly synthesized, packed with unfamiliar details about familiar people. (Francis Galton, the father of eugenics, used to rank the beauty of women on the street by &#8220;using pinpricks on a card hidden in his pocket.&#8221; Ick.)</p>\n<p>But there are also crucial differences. Cancer is the troll that scratches and thumps beneath the floorboards of our consciousness, if it hasn&#8217;t already beaten its way into the room.</p>\n<p>The subject immediately commands our attention; it&#8217;s almost impossible to deny, and not to hear, the emotional clang of its appeal. In Mukherjee&#8217;s skilled hands, the story of this frightening disease became a page-turner. He explained its history, politics and cunning biological underpinnings; he traced the evolving and often gruesome logic underlying cancer treatment.</p>\n<p>And in the middle of it all, agonizing over treatment protocols and watching his patients struggle with tremendous existential and physical pain, was the author himself.</p>\n<p>There are far fewer psychological stakes in reading about the history of genetics. The Gene is more pedagogical than dramatic; as often as not, the stars of this story are molecules, not humans. Mukherjee still has a poignant personal connection to the material \u2013 mental illness has wrapped itself around his family tree like a stubborn vine, claiming two uncles and a cousin on his father&#8217;s side \u2013 but this book does not aim for the gut. It aims for the mind.</p>\n<p>So what does this mean? That there are many excursions deep into the marshes of biochemistry and cellular biology. Bring your waders. It gets dense in there. Mukherjee can write with great clarity about difficult genetic concepts \u2013 he&#8217;s especially handy with metaphors \u2013 but the science gets increasingly complex, and it lasts for many pages.</p>\n<p>Even when the going is easy, readers should be prepared for parentheticals like this: &#8220;i.e., ACT CCT GGG\u2013&gt;ACU CCU GGG.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Mukherjee&#8217;s explanations are sometimes so thorough they invite as many questions as they answer \u2013 from the most elementary (why is something that contains so many bases called deoxyribonucleic acid?) to the more esoteric (if, as he says in a Homeric footnote on Page 360, the Y chromosome is so unstable it might eventually disappear, will we still reproduce?).</p>\n<p>I do not mean to suggest Mukherjee has neglected to attend to big questions or ideas in this work; they just get lesser billing than I&#8217;d have liked. But any book about the history of something as elemental and miraculous as the gene is bound, at least indirectly, to tell the story of innovation itself. The Gene is filled with scientists who dreamed in breathtakingly lateral leaps.</p>\n<p>Erwin Schrodinger in particular was one visionary cat: In 1944, he hazarded a guess about the molecular nature of the gene and decided it had to be a strand of code scribbled along the chromosome \u2013 which pretty much sums up the essence of DNA.</p>\n<p>With each and every genetic discovery, a host of questions arose, both ethical and philosophical. What are the implications of cloning, of creating genetic hybrids, of gene editing?</p>\n<p>Is there any value in knowing about the existence of a slumbering, potentially lethal genetic mutation in your cells if nothing can be done about it? (Personally, I wish he&#8217;d dedicated 50 pages to this question \u2013 it&#8217;d have offered a potentially moving story line and a form of emotional engagement I badly craved.)</p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>In Mukherjee&#8217;s skilled hands, the story of this frightening disease became a page-turner</p></blockquote>\n<p>Does the genome have anything to tell us about race, sexual identity, gender? Do these 3 billion-plus base pairs connect, in any way, to what we think of as &#8220;a self&#8221;?</p>\n<p>Mukherjee answers these questions cautiously and compassionately, if at times too cursorily for my satisfaction. He notes, repeatedly, that for all we know about the genome, there is so very much we don&#8217;t \u2013 it is a recipe, not a blueprint, as Richard Dawkins likes to say.</p>\n<p>Yes, sometimes one gene controls one specific trait; but often, dozens of genes do, and in ways we do not understand (or cannot even fully identify), and they interact mysteriously with the environment all along the way.</p>\n<p>But as research continues apace, we must entertain the sci-fi prospect of one day customizing ourselves and our children. For now, we&#8217;re burdened with more and more moral decisions to make as genetic tests become increasingly refined.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/are-we-just-talking-animals-frans-de-waals-re-orients-the-backwards-conversation-on-animal-cognition\">Are we just talking animals? Frans de Waal re-orients the backwards conversation on animal cognition</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jen-gerson-the-problem-with-promising-to-cure-cancer\">The problem with promising to cure cancer</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>&#8220;If the history of the last century taught us the dangers of empowering governments to determine genetic &#8216;fitness,'&#8221; Mukherjee writes \u2013 referring to Nazism, eugenics, every genocidal experiment involving social engineering \u2013 &#8220;then the question that confronts our current era is what happens when the power devolves to the individual.&#8221;</p>\n<p>But we are not apps. Mukherjee knows this, struggles with it. Is optimization really the point of life? &#8220;Illness might progressively vanish,&#8221; he writes, &#8220;but so might identity.&#8221;</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/siddm.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, and author of &quot;The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,&quot; at his lab in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, in New\" Abstract=\"Mukherjee&#039;s answers are so thorough, they inspire even more questions.\" Credit=\"Chang W. Lee/The New York Times\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/siddm.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/siddm.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, and author of &#34;The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,&#34; at his lab in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, in New</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick perform a cover of Cyndi Lauper&#8217;s &#8216;True Colours&#8217; in Cannes</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-timberlake-and-anna-kendrick-perform-a-cover-of-cyndi-laupers-true-colours-in-cannes</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-timberlake-and-anna-kendrick-perform-a-cover-of-cyndi-laupers-true-colours-in-cannes#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 13:55:11 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sadaf Ahsan]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Anna Kendrick]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes 2016]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes Film Festival]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Justin Timberlake]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099492</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[The pair performed the song at the film festival on Wednesday while promoting their new film, Trolls]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>While on their joyous promotional tour for their new film Trolls, unlikely pair Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick <a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1098552\" target=\"_blank\">appeared on-stage at the Cannes Film Festival</a> on Wednesday night to <a href=\"http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-justin-timberlake-anna-kendricks-sweet-true-colors-cover-20160511\" target=\"_blank\">perform a rousing cover of Cyndi Lauper&#8217;s &#8220;True Colours&#8221; together</a>.</p>\n<p>In the animated film, which premiered at Cannes,&nbsp;Timberlake plays Branch, while Kendrick plays Poppy.</p>\n<p>&#8220;We are Anna and Garfunkel,&#8221; Timberlake said, introducing themselves to the Cannes audience, guitar in hand. &#8220;Ok, we are going to give this a go, but you guys have to be nice.&#8221;</p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re just friends here right?&#8221; Kendrick added. &#8220;This isn&#8217;t like a big deal&#8230;we&#8217;re just hanging out in our living room.&#8221;</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g60zzvIxZU&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n<p>Timberlake is an&nbsp;executive producer on the Trolls soundtrack, which will include&nbsp;&#8220;True Colours&#8221; and his new single, &#8220;<a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-timberlake-releases-the-mediocre-cant-stop-the-feeling-first-new-track-in-three-years\" target=\"_blank\">Can&#8217;t Stop The Feeling</a>.&#8221; It will also feature&nbsp;songs Timberlake co-wrote with&nbsp;Ariana Grande and Gwen Stefani.</p>\n<p>The last time we heard any new music from Timberlake was 2013&#8217;s&nbsp;The 20/20 Experience,&nbsp;so if it has to be a DreamWorks soundtrack to drag him out of obscurity, then so be it.</p>\n<p>It was also recently announced that Timberlake will perform his new single at&nbsp;Eurovision, marking the first time a &#8220;non-contestant&#8221; has performed on the show.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BFSIUrXSdoQ/\" title=\"View on Instagram\"><img src=\"http://instagr.am/p/BFSIUrXSdoQ/media/?size=l\" alt=\"Instagram Photo\" /></a></p>\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BFTP4G6Sdie/\" title=\"View on Instagram\"><img src=\"http://instagr.am/p/BFTP4G6Sdie/media/?size=l\" alt=\"Instagram Photo\" /></a></p>\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BFSLoGASdt_/\" title=\"View on Instagram\"><img src=\"http://instagr.am/p/BFSLoGASdt_/media/?size=l\" alt=\"Instagram Photo\" /></a></p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-timberlake-and-anna-kendrick-perform-a-cover-of-cyndi-laupers-true-colours-in-cannes/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/png\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/annajustin.png?w=620\" title=\"annajustin\" Abstract=\"Timberlake and Kendrick have been promoting Trolls in Cannes.\" Credit=\"Instagram\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/annajustin.png?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/annajustin.png?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">annajustin</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>&#8216;It just won\u2019t work&#8217;: Johnny Depp says a Donald Trump win could spell the last true American presidency</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/it-just-wont-work-johnny-depp-says-a-donald-trump-win-could-spell-the-last-true-american-presidency</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/it-just-wont-work-johnny-depp-says-a-donald-trump-win-could-spell-the-last-true-american-presidency#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 13:54:20 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sadaf Ahsan]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Celebrity]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Johnny Depp]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1099507</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[Depp, who impersonated Trump in an epic Funny or Die spoof recently, also previously called the billionaire a 'brat' and a 'bully']]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[[facebook url=\"https://www.facebook.com/C5News/videos/1157576230933520/\" /]\n<p>When asked to confirm that he would not be &#8220;thrilled&#8221; if Trump were to win the election, Depp replied,&nbsp;\u201cI don\u2019t believe in that stuff, you know?\u201d</p>\n<p>After playing the billionaire, Depp said in a March interview,&nbsp;\u201cI approached Donald Trump as what you kind of see in him when you really watch him.&nbsp;There\u2019s a pretense. There\u2019s something created about him in the sense of bullydom. But what he is, I believe, is a brat.\u201d</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJm-E38G3-0&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/it-just-wont-work-johnny-depp-says-a-donald-trump-win-could-spell-the-last-true-american-presidency/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/jdepptrump.jpg?w=620\" title=\"FILES-US-CINEMA-POLITICS\" Abstract=\"Depp doesn&#039;t care for The Donald.\" Credit=\"VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/jdepptrump.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/jdepptrump.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">FILES-US-CINEMA-POLITICS</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Trolls take over the red carpet at Cannes, with stars Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake in tow</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/trolls-take-over-the-red-carpet-at-cannes-with-stars-anna-kendrick-and-justin-timberlake-in-tow</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/trolls-take-over-the-red-carpet-at-cannes-with-stars-anna-kendrick-and-justin-timberlake-in-tow#comments</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 13:30:25 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Knight]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Anna Kendrick]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes 2016]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes Film Festival]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Justin Timberlake]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Trolls]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1098552</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA['I don't think we've ever made a film where the music drives the story as much as it does in Trolls']]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>DreamWorks Animation has long used the Cannes Film Festival as a springboard to promote its features, never less than that time in 2007 when Jerry Seinfeld ziplined from the roof of the Carlton Hotel to the beach \u2013 in full bee costume, no less \u2013 to promote the animated film Bee Movie.</p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s stunt was a little less dangerous \u2013 Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake took to the stage at the festival&#8217;s Debussy Theatre to perform the 1986 hit &#8220;True Colours&#8221; \u2013 though the presence of several hundred young girls screaming \u201cI love you!\u201d did lend the event a slight tinge of peril, if only of being mobbed.</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUnRuQLYdTw&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n<p>The duet was in support of DreamWorks&#8217; Trolls, featuring the voices of Kendrick, Timberlake and others, and due to open Nov. 4. The Cannes audience was treated to several just-completed scenes from the film, which tells of a community of Troll dolls whose peaceful forest existence is threatened by the appearance of giant beasts called Bergen, who regard the trolls as a delicacy.</p>\n<p>Kendrick provides the voice of Poppy, who vows to save her people from the Bergen. The former *NSYNC member is a grumpy troll who, ironically, does not sing and dance as the other trolls do \u2013 though clearly he can be coaxed into a chorus of &#8220;True Colours&#8221; if the situation warrants.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-timberlake-releases-the-mediocre-cant-stop-the-feeling-first-new-track-in-three-years\">Justin Timberlake releases the mediocre \u2018Can\u2019t Stop The Feeling,\u2019 first new track in three years</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/get-out-your-cheese-and-wine-the-69th-annual-cannes-film-festival-is-off-to-the-races\">Get out your cheese and wine, the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival is off to the races</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>What else did we learn from the sneak preview? Trolls poop cupcakes \u2013 uncontrollably so when frightened \u2013 and their long hair is prehensile and capable of transforming into staircases, whips and other tools.</p>\n<p>They are also virtually indestructible \u2013 Poppy survives numerous mishaps while singing a song titled \u201cGet Back Up Again.\u201d And they do love to sing. \u201cI don&#8217;t think we&#8217;ve ever made a film where the music drives the story as much as it does in Trolls,\u201d said DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/trolls-take-over-the-red-carpet-at-cannes-with-stars-anna-kendrick-and-justin-timberlake-in-tow/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/trolls.jpg?w=620\" title=\"DSC_4720.JPG\" Abstract=\"The cast of Trolls invades the Cannes red carpet.\" Credit=\"File\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/trolls.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/trolls.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">DSC_4720.JPG</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Nadia Bozak&#8217;s novel-in-stories tracks a child of the 80s growing up, each painful gasp along the way</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/nadia-bozaks-novel-in-stories-tracks-a-child-of-the-80s-growing-up-each-painful-gasp-along-the-way</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/nadia-bozaks-novel-in-stories-tracks-a-child-of-the-80s-growing-up-each-painful-gasp-along-the-way#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2016 13:15:15 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, Special to National Post]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Nadia Bozak]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Thirteen Shells]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1097481</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[Bozak is particularly adept with the decade itself and what those developments looked like when they came to small-town Ontario]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p><strong>Thirteen Shells</strong><br />\n<strong> By Nadia Bozak</strong><br />\n<strong> House of Anansi Press</strong><br />\n<strong> 320pp; $19.95</strong></p>\n<p>As a kid, I always wanted an overbite. Other kids \u2013 with their dominant front teeth, then metal gadgets, tiny elastics and adult-like appointments \u2013 had something I didn&#8217;t. I couldn&#8217;t position my face so that it looked the way theirs did. Reflecting now, it seems absurd to have wanted this when my childhood lacked more important things that kids around me seemed to share. In Nadia Bozak&#8217;s new novel-in-stories, Thirteen Shells, we&#8217;re brought right to the heart of that na\u00efve longing.</p>\n<p>Shell (short for nothing) is five years old when the book begins, finishing high school as it ends \u2013 all through the span of the 1980s. Shell&#8217;s particular wanting often comes as a byproduct of her hippie parents moving the family from Toronto to small-town Ontario (a setting familiar from the author&#8217;s debut novel Orphan Love) as part of their commitment to near-homesteading ways.</p>\n<p>For Shell, the grass being greener sometimes manifests on her literal neighbours&#8217; sides of the fence: homes with sugary cereal and new roller skates. Later, it&#8217;s about body image and boys. Shell waivers between feeling left out and being proud of her family&#8217;s difference; sometimes the feelings run concurrent.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>Bozak is particularly adept with the decade itself and what those developments looked like when they came to small-town Ontario</p></blockquote>\n<p>Regardless of circumstance, the yearning to know what happens inside of others&#8217; homes is a universal experience. (My own five-year-old daughter knows the Toronto subway map and can operate a smartphone, but this month asked me what a dishwasher was and tasted her first Fruity Pebbles. By contrast, my own childhood was ruled by Captain Crunch, Nintendo and Nickelodeon, but I didn&#8217;t step onto public transit until my teens.)</p>\n<p>The success of Bozak&#8217;s stories is her ability to pull us into Shell&#8217;s home, giving us the details of its inner workings and those of her family with both the intimacy and distance provided by a child&#8217;s perception.</p>\n<p>Many successful books have been written from the perspective of children \u2013 though Shell&#8217;s stories are told not in first person but by an omniscient narrator who nonetheless refers to her parents as &#8220;Mom&#8221; and &#8220;Dad&#8221; \u2013 and the viewpoint is additionally tricky in Thirteen Shells.</p>\n<p>Its protagonist ages significantly over the course of the book, so the perspective must shift with that progression. When not much is happening in Shell&#8217;s younger days, we wind up with somewhat of a play-by-play of moments and details, done well but difficult to find wholly compelling as an adult reader. The younger Shell naturally knows the least \u2013 less, even, than we are meant to infer ourselves. But as Shell ages and gains more insight into her own experience, I found myself more interested in her.</p>\n<p>Bozak is particularly adept with the details of the decade itself: the shifts happening in music and fashion, and what those developments looked like by the time they arrived in small-town Ontario. A Trans-Am, a Wrinkles doll, Judy Blume, Alberto hair mousse, The Boss \u2013 each speckles Shell&#8217;s surroundings over time.</p>\n<p>All the while, Shell&#8217;s parents hold out, with a turntable where a television would be in other homes, a household ban on products made in America, an extra spoon of real maple syrup where a Blizzard would otherwise serve as a treat.</p>\n<p>Throughout the book, Shell adds mementos to a keepsake box that serves as a constant while she and everything around her seem to change \u2013 though it&#8217;s a bit heavy-handed in that the book captures moments and memories well enough without having to invoke a literal container for them.</p>\n<p>Marketed by their publisher as &#8220;told in the tradition of Richard Linklater\u2019s&nbsp;Boyhood&nbsp;and Alice Munro\u2019s&nbsp;Lives of Girls and Women,&#8221; Bozak&#8217;s interwoven stories most obviously parallel the latter. Both Shell and Munro&#8217;s women and girls come of age in extremely realistic fictional Ontario towns. Both can be broken down to stand alone as stories, or read through as a novel. Both focus less on a particular climax, and more on the ongoing understated crises of expectations: the ones we put on ourselves, and the ones other people have of us.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/el-nino-by-nadia-bozak-review\">El Ni\u00f1o, by Nadia Bozak: Review</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>Furthermore, both authors are masterful when it comes to language, churning out brilliant turns of phrase worth revisiting. Bozak does wind up falling into some clich\u00e9s, however, as her descriptions of poor and particularly of fat people succumb to a fair bit of stereotyping \u2013 unfortunate as the author&#8217;s writing is so rich, gorgeous and unique elsewhere.</p>\n<p>But ultimately, Thirteen Shells quietly captures each painful gasp of growing up: the anxiety and shame, along with the treasures found along the way.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/book-reviews/nadia-bozaks-novel-in-stories-tracks-a-child-of-the-80s-growing-up-each-painful-gasp-along-the-way/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/13shells.jpg?w=620\" title=\"13shells\" Abstract=\"\" Credit=\"House of Anansi Press\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/13shells.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/13shells.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">13shells</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Toddler with autism falls in love with Snow White at Disney World, is what dreams are made of</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/toddler-with-autism-falls-in-love-with-snow-white-at-disney-world-is-what-dreams-are-made-of</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/toddler-with-autism-falls-in-love-with-snow-white-at-disney-world-is-what-dreams-are-made-of#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 20:24:26 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Bobkin]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Amanda Coley]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Autism]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Disney]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Jack Jack]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Orlando (Florida)]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Snow White]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Walt Disney World Resort]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1098334</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[The viral video of two-year-old Jack Jack, who has non-verbal autism, has amassed over 500,000 views in two days]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Here&#8217;s something that will warm your heart. A&nbsp;two-year-old with autism has met his one true love: Snow White, and the video of their destined meet-cute has already gone viral.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>The adorable toddler, Jackson &#8220;Jack Jack&#8221; Coley, is non-verbal, and displayed&nbsp;his affection to Snow White during a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida last November by putting his head on her lap. Not to mention the way the pair look at each other. And that bow tie! This is clearly what dreams are made of.</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR5Y9R6kBXw&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n<p>In an interview with Today, his mom, Amanda Coley, said, &#8220;It still brings tears to my eyes because I remember how special the moment was, since he doesn&#8217;t do those things with other people.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Jack Jack was diagnosed with non-verbal autism two weeks after the trip to Disney World.&nbsp;</p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s hoping they have their Happily Ever After.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/toddler-with-autism-falls-in-love-with-snow-white-at-disney-world-is-what-dreams-are-made-of/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/jackjackcrop.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Jack Jack and Snow White\" Abstract=\"Two-year-old Jackson Coley and a Walt Disney World performer dressed as Snow White.\" Credit=\"Amanda Coley/YouTube\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/jackjackcrop.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/jackjackcrop.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Jack Jack and Snow White</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Onetime star of erotic films fined for disruption that forced Air France flight to divert to Gander, N.L.</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/onetime-star-of-erotic-films-fined-for-disruption-that-forced-air-france-flight-to-divert-to-gander-n-l</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/onetime-star-of-erotic-films-fined-for-disruption-that-forced-air-france-flight-to-divert-to-gander-n-l#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 20:00:25 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Rob Roberts, The Canadian Press]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Celebrity]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Aircraft diversions]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Airlines]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[drunken passengers]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1098878</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[\u2018This is just a blip,\u2019 says the lawyer for Harlee McBride after the actress is fined $36,000 for forcing a jet to divert en route to France]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>GANDER, N.L. \u2014 An actress best known for her starring role in the 1970s erotic film Young Lady Chatterley has been fined more than $36,000 for behaviour that caused an Air France flight to be diverted to Newfoundland.</p>\n<div class=\"description-content js-desc-content\">\n<div class=\"current markeddown hide-on-edit js-card-desc js-show-with-desc\" dir=\"auto\">\n<p>Harlee McBride got into a dispute with cabin crew while flying home to France from New York City after her brother\u2019s funeral on Oct. 12, 2014, her lawyer Ellen O\u2019Gorman said Wednesday.</p>\n<p><img class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1098978\" src=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/ylc.jpg?w=293&#038;h=500\" alt=\"\" height=\"500\" width=\"293\"></p>\n<p>McBride had been drinking before the flight, and flight attendants refused to serve her alcohol, O\u2019Gorman said. A tray of food was upset, and they felt she became unruly.</p>\n<p>\u201cShe was restrained in her seat almost immediately\u201d with plastic restraints, said O\u2019Gorman.</p>\n<p>The plane made an emergency landing in Gander, where McBride was taken into custody.</p>\n<p>McBride, 67, pleaded guilty through her lawyer in Gander provincial court on Tuesday to intentional interference with the performance of the flight crew. Neither the actress nor her husband, actor Richard Belzer of Homicide: Life on the Street and Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit, was present.</p>\n<p>O\u2019Gorman said her client \u2014 who actually played an Air France stewardess in the 1976 TV movie Raid on Entebbe \u2014 took full responsibility for the diversion, but had a somewhat different version of events.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/news/should-knee-defender-fights-and-drunk-women-really-divert-airplanes\">Should \u2018knee defender\u2019 fights and drunk women really divert airplanes?</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/news/air-france-flight-to-paris-diverted-to-halifax-another-to-salt-lake-city\">Air France flights to Paris diverted to Halifax, Salt Lake City, after \u2018anonymous threats\u2019</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>The tray of food had fallen, rather than been thrown, she said, and McBride had become agitated after a man sitting next to her made sexual comments to her.<br />\n\u201cWhat she has always maintained is there was a gentleman next to her who was quite inappropriate with her,\u201d said O\u2019Gorman from St. John\u2019s.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>&nbsp; She\u2019s glad to put an end to this, pay the fine and get on with her life</p></blockquote>\n<div class=\"npImgRight\"><div class=\"npPosRel\" style=\"width:300px;\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1098996\" alt=\"Brad Barket / Getty Images\" src=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/mcbride1.jpg?w=300&#038;h=375\" height=\"375\" width=\"300\"><div class=\"npPhotoTxt npTxtPlain npTxtLeft\"><div class=\"npGroup\"><span class=\"npPhotoCredit\">Brad Barket / Getty Images</span><span class=\"npPhotoCaption\">Harlee McBride in 2004.</span></div></div></div></div>\n<p>McBride\u2019s fine reflected costs of the diversion, including about $3,850 for an international emergency landing at Gander, plane servicing worth about $3,150, and about $19,500 for fuel. Air France had dumped less than a fifth of a tank of jet fuel in order to land at Gander, said O\u2019Gorman.</p>\n<p>Air France had claimed total costs of more than $100,000, but the restitution was based on receipts submitted by the airline, she said.<br />\nProvincial court Judge Harold Porter also fined her $10,000.</p>\n<p>O\u2019Gorman said her client has no history of trouble with the law, and has flown repeatedly with Air France since the diversion.</p>\n<p>\u201cWhen she looks back, she\u2019s glad to put an end to this, pay the fine and get on with her life,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is just a blip.\u201d</p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http://imdb.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">imdb.com</a>, the Los Angeles-born McBride appeared as Cynthia Chatterley in both 1977\u2019s Young Lady Chatterley and its 1985 sequel, Young Lady Chatterley II. She also played Dr. Alyssa Dyer in multiple episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street.</p>\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/onetime-star-of-erotic-films-fined-for-disruption-that-forced-air-france-flight-to-divert-to-gander-n-l/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/plane1.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Air France-KLM Group Flight Operations At Charles de Gaulle Airport\" Abstract=\"Air France was forced to divert a jet to Gander, N.L., en route to France after actress  Harlee McBride engaged in unwelcome behaviour. \" Credit=\"Marlene Awaad / Bloomberg News\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/plane1.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/plane1.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Air France-KLM Group Flight Operations At Charles de Gaulle Airport</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/ylc.jpg\" medium=\"image\" />\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/mcbride1.jpg?w=300\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Brad Barket / Getty Images</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>&#8216;It tastes like chicken&#8217;: KFC launches finger lickin&#8217; good nail polish in Hong Kong</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/it-tastes-just-like-chicken-kfc-launches-finger-lickin-good-nail-polish-in-hong-kong</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/it-tastes-just-like-chicken-kfc-launches-finger-lickin-good-nail-polish-in-hong-kong#comments</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 19:57:49 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Katie Mettler, Washington Post]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Food & Drink]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cosmetics]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[John Koay]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[KFC]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[KFC Corporation]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">https://nationalpostcom.wordpress.com?p=1098223&#038;preview_id=1098223</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[Inside flecks of KFC's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices float around, waiting to be licked]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>A month and a half ago, John Koay, charged with marketing Kentucky Fried Chicken to the youths of Hong Kong, sat down to brainstorm with a colleague how to re-invigorate the fast food chain&#8217;s infamous slogan: &#8220;It&#8217;s Finger Lickin&#8217; Good.&#8221;</p>\n<p>They didn&#8217;t want to mimic McDonald&#8217;s happy meal toys or fall into the free t-shirt trap. Then he noticed his colleagues nice, manicured fingernails.</p>\n<p>&#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if those tasted like KFC?&#8221; Koay asked.</p>\n<p>And in that moment, KFC chicken-flavored nail polish became a real-life, this-is-not-a-joke, thing.</p>\n<p>It&#8217;s literally finger lickin&#8217; good, at least according to Koay.</p>\n<div class=\"npImgRight\"><div class=\"npPosRel\" style=\"width:300px;\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-1099060\" alt=\"Kimhoo So. / Ogilvy &amp; Mather\" src=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/kfc-nail-polish-2.jpg?w=300&#038;h=200\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\"><div class=\"npPhotoTxt npTxtPlain npTxtLeft\"><div class=\"npGroup\"><span class=\"npPhotoCredit\">Kimhoo So. / Ogilvy &amp; Mather</span></div></div></div></div>\n<p>&#8220;It actually tastes like chicken,&#8221; Koay said. &#8220;And the smell is amazing.&#8221;</p>\n<p>For two weeks now, KFC Hong Kong has been teasing the nail polish on social media and YouTube. They even held a launch event in Hong Kong this week, with celebrities, foodies and fashion bloggers, to promote the edible nail paint.</p>\n<p>Packaged in a sleek designer bottle, the nail polish comes in two fried flavors \u2014 &#8220;Original Recipe&#8221; and &#8220;Hot &amp; Spicy&#8221; \u2014 with coordinating colours, beige and burnt orange. Inside flecks of KFC&#8217;s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices float around, waiting to be licked. Also, there are sparkles.</p>\n<p>And the paint is preservative free.</p>\n<p>&#8220;To use, consumers&#8217; simply apply and dry like regular nail polish, and then lick \u2014 again and again and again,&#8221; the marketing company that Koay works for, Ogilvy &amp; Mather, said in a statement.</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZMtaHjTDS4&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n<p>The firm worked with food technologists at McCormick, the spice company that supplies Colonel Sanders&#8217; secret recipe, to create the edible nail polish that&#8217;s made from natural ingredients.</p>\n<p>The shelf life is short, Koay said, but the bottle isn&#8217;t big. Coating all 10 fingernails on both hands nearly exhausts one bottle. Koay estimates you can get a day&#8217;s worth of flavourful licks out of each application.</p>\n<p>The back of the bottle reads: &#8220;It&#8217;s Finger Lickin&#8217; Good.&#8221; The phrase, Koay said, hasn&#8217;t lost its impact in the United States, but never got traction in Hong Kong, where KFC has nearly 60 stores. The nail polish accomplished both of his goals: to create a fun product that revived the phrase and bring young people to the brand.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/kfc-swaps-out-darrell-hammond-for-norm-macdonald-as-colonel-sanders-in-new-ads\">KFC swaps out Darrell Hammond for Norm MacDonald as Colonel Sanders in new ads</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/kfcs-edible-coffee-cup-isnt-made-of-chicken-but-we-wouldnt-put-that-past-them\">KFC\u2019s edible coffee cup isn\u2019t made of chicken, but we wouldn\u2019t put that past them</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>&#8220;It made total sense to be at the end of everyone&#8217;s fingertips,&#8221; he said.</p>\n<p>Right now, there are no concrete plans for when, or if, the nail polish will be mass produced. On Facebook, KFC asked fans to vote for which flavor they would prefer.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/it-tastes-just-like-chicken-kfc-launches-finger-lickin-good-nail-polish-in-hong-kong/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/kfc-nail-polish-woman-licking-finger.jpg?w=620\" title=\"KFC-nail-polish-woman-licking-finger\" Abstract=\"You can now do your nails instead of cooking dinner. #yasss\" Credit=\"Kimhoo So. / Ogilvy &amp; Mather\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/kfc-nail-polish-woman-licking-finger.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/kfc-nail-polish-woman-licking-finger.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">KFC-nail-polish-woman-licking-finger</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\n\t\t<media:content url=\"https://nationalpostcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/kfc-nail-polish-2.jpg?w=300\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Kimhoo So. / Ogilvy &#038; Mather</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>&#8216;I don&#8217;t feel old&#8217;: At 80, Woody Allen opens Cannes Film Festival yet again, with Caf\u00e9 Society</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/i-dont-feel-old-at-80-woody-allen-opens-cannes-film-festival-yet-again-with-cafe-society</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/i-dont-feel-old-at-80-woody-allen-opens-cannes-film-festival-yet-again-with-cafe-society#comments</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 19:39:00 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Knight]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cafe Society]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes 2016]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Cannes Film Festival]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Corey Stoll]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Jesse Eisenberg]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Kristen Stewart]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Woody Allen]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1098482</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA['I can't believe it. I'm so youthful, agile, nimble, spry, mentally alert that it's astonishing']]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>The Cannes Film Festival kicked off Wednesday night with a screening of Woody Allen&#8217;s 47th film, Caf\u00e9 Society, a souffl\u00e9 of a story that plays with a lot of themes \u2013 morality, violence, romantic fidelity and fame \u2013 but never does more than skim the surface.</p>\n<p>Allen provides a bit of voiceover narration, while Jesse Eisenberg stars as the &#8220;Woody Allen character,&#8221; a Brooklyn Jew in the 1930s who heads to Hollywood to find employment with his uncle (Steve Carell), a big time talent agent. But he also gets caught up in a love triangle with Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), a secretary hoping for bigger things. Back home, his brother Ben (Corey Stoll) is a gangster, running a nightclub with a side business in concrete, nudge nudge.</p>\n<p>The 80-year-old filmmaker has become a Cannes regular in recent years \u2013 he is the only director to have opened the festival three times, after Hollywood Ending in 2002 and Midnight in Paris in 2011 \u2013 and his press conferences are equal parts comedy and philosophy. Here&#8217;s what we learned from this one:</p>\n<p>Eisenberg once wrote a script about a young Woody Allen.</p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not something we&#8217;ve ever discussed,\u201d said Eisenberg when a reporter asked about the youthful project, \u201cso I appreciate you bringing it up here in public. When I was 16, I was so inspired by discovering Woody Allen at that age that I wrote a script that was based on him, and it got sent to agents because they thought it was funny, and it got sent ultimately to his lawyers who didn&#8217;t think it was funny. And they sent me cease and desist letters, and that was the end of that. And it looks like now this might be the end of this.\u201d</p>\n<p>[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl4X6pFfmTI&amp;w=640&amp;h=390]</p>\n<p>Allen wasn&#8217;t concerned, and even took the opportunity to compliment Eisenberg on his performance. \u201cIf this was years ago I would have played this part. I would have played it much more narrowly because I&#8217;m a comedian and not an actor, and so I would have given it one dimension. Jesse&#8217;s a fine actor and gave it much more complexity.\u201d</p>\n<p>Turning 80 last December doesn&#8217;t trouble the director.</p>\n<p>\u201cI can&#8217;t believe it,\u201d he said. \u201cI&#8217;m so youthful, agile, nimble, spry, mentally alert that it&#8217;s astonishing. I eat well, I exercise, but what it is is luck. My father lived to slightly over 100 and my mother lived to almost 100. I hit the jackpot. I don&#8217;t feel old.\u201d</p>\n<p>Allen doesn&#8217;t believe in competition within the artistic realm, which is why his films never screen in competition at Cannes.</p>\n<p>\u201cThe jury will reward a film and call it the best film; I may find it the most boring film at Cannes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt&#8217;s all very subjective. Is a Rembrandt better than an El Greco? Is a Matisse better than a Picasso? I&#8217;m happy to come to Cannes. I love the atmosphere, I love the enthusiasm of the crowds. The South of France is a beautiful place to be for a few days. But to be in competition would be against my common sense.\u201d</p>\n<p>He would happily write a May-December romance about a young man with an older woman; he just hasn&#8217;t yet.</p>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn&#8217;t hesitate to do that if I had a good idea,\u201d he said. \u201cIt&#8217;s not a commonly seen thing, and I don&#8217;t have a lot of experience to draw on for material.\u201d</p>\n<p>Though he did allow: \u201cWhen I was 30 years old I had a big crush on a 50-year-old woman. But she was married and wouldn&#8217;t go near me with a 10-foot pole.\u201d More generally, he added: \u201cI have always considered myself as romantic. Now, this is not necessarily shared by the women in my life.\u201d</p>\n<p>And he has no problem with fame.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/get-out-your-cheese-and-wine-the-69th-annual-cannes-film-festival-is-off-to-the-races\">Get out your cheese and wine, the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival is off to the races</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/woody-allen-explains-all-the-ways-he-has-changed-wife-soon-yi-for-his-pleasure-remains-creepy\">Woody Allen explains all the ways he has changed wife Soon-Yi for his pleasure, remains creepy</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>\u201cThe perks far outweigh the downside,\u201d he said. \u201cCelebrities often kvetch about the lack of privacy and being bothered by paparazzi, but these are not life-threatening problems.\u201d</p>\n<p>Stewart knows how to sum up an argument.</p>\n<p>After a protracted discussion about the dog-eat-dog atmosphere of Hollywood, the actress leaned into her microphone and offered: \u201cIt&#8217;s the gnarliest popularity contest in the world.\u201d</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/movies/i-dont-feel-old-at-80-woody-allen-opens-cannes-film-festival-yet-again-with-cafe-society/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/woodycafe.jpg?w=620\" title=\"FRANCE-CANNES-FILM-FESTIVAL-ENTERTAINMENT\" Abstract=\"Allen poses with Eisenberg, Stewart, Lively and Stoll at the Cannes premiere of Cafe Society.\" Credit=\"VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/woodycafe.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/woodycafe.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">FRANCE-CANNES-FILM-FESTIVAL-ENTERTAINMENT</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Why Kick-Ass Annie built upstart comics publisher Koyama Press with a focus on emerging artists</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/why-kick-ass-annie-built-upstart-comics-publisher-koyama-press-with-a-focus-on-emerging-artists</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/why-kick-ass-annie-built-upstart-comics-publisher-koyama-press-with-a-focus-on-emerging-artists#comments</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 18:44:37 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Melgaard, Special to National Post]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Annie Koyama]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Kick-Ass Annie]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Koyama Press]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Michael DeForge]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1094534</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA[Koyama has established her press as a sought-after and respected home for emerging comic artists]]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Annie Koyama began making books with no formal background in publishing, seeking a way to showcase the work of artists whom she admired, and fuelled by a drive to make them look their best.</p>\n<p>One of her first projects, Chris Hutsul&#8217;s A Very Kraftwerk Summer, had silkscreened, Japanese-wood covers and offset print inside. &#8220;I did it in the most expensive crazy way,&#8221; says Koyama. &#8220;The unit price was probably four times what we sold them for.&#8221;</p>\n<p>It&#8217;s this creator-first approach that has defined Koyama Press since its launch in 2007. Its founder is also its public face: Kick-Ass Annie, an eponymous cartoon, appears on the press&#8217;s books and marketing material. During her brief career in comic publishing, Koyama has established her press as a sought-after and respected home for emerging comic artists.</p>\n<p>But Koyama didn&#8217;t set out to make comics. She left a career in commercial advertising in 1994 to travel, but instead found herself grounded by serious health problems.</p>\n<p>Stuck at home, she invested her travel fund into stock market speculation, generating more wins than losses, and after her health improved in 2005 she began using her nest-egg to fund odd-ball art projects that caught her interest.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>Koyama has established her press as a sought-after and respected home for emerging comic artists\n</p></blockquote>\n<p>These ranged from a video game installation with Toronto-based street artist Diego Bergia to zines, pamphlets and T-shirts. Her first traditional book, Equally Superior by the Trio Magnus Art collective, was released in 2007. Books began outnumbering art projects in the years to follow, with a publishing mandate focused on supporting emerging artists, despite the challenges of bringing attention to untested talent.</p>\n<p>&#8220;Annie took a real chance on me,&#8221; says Michael DeForge, a comic artist who has been publishing with Koyama since she flagged him down at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) in 2008. At the time, he had only a few self-published mini-comics to his name, but with Koyama&#8217;s belief in his work, DeForge was able to find an audience.</p>\n<p>&#8220;She was confident that she could find me readers, and she did,&#8221; DeForge says of her support, which has led to several books, regular commercial art work and even a gig with Adventure Time on the Cartoon Network. &#8220;I definitely wouldn&#8217;t have had any of that if I didn&#8217;t have her fiercely pushing for me each step along the way.&#8221;</p>\n<p>In the early years, the press operated without distribution, relying on word of mouth, tabling at conventions and Annie herself selling books by trudging around Toronto.</p>\n<p>To expand their reach into retail, Koyama teamed up with U.S.-based book distributor Consortium in 2013. While this partnership broadened the audience, working within a more traditional sales model was an adjustment.</p>\n<p>&#8220;It was a jarring change,&#8221; says Koyama. &#8220;Not just for me, but for the guys who came up with me.&#8221; Going from putting out a title at a moment&#8217;s notice to planning a year in advance, the press lost the freedom to follow the whims of its artists: they can no longer drop in a title unexpectedly, and zines have become harder to do. &#8220;There&#8217;s none of that stuff anymore. It&#8217;s difficult,&#8221; Koyama admits.</p>\n<p>The trade-off, however, is a higher profile. Growing beyond emerging artists, Koyama now attracts established talents such as Eisner Award nominee Julia Wertz and Eisner and Harvey-award winner Ren\u00e9e French. This past year, the press also picked up its first nomination for a Governor General&#8217;s Award, for John Martz&#8217;s A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories.</p>\n<p>But Peter Birkemoe, owner of Toronto&#8217;s Beguiling bookstore and co-founder of TCAF, says Koyama Press is bigger than any individual artist, pointing out that readers &#8220;are looking forward to whatever (Koyama) are publishing in a given season, regardless of whether they know the artists or not.&#8221; Birkemoe lists Koyama with Montreal&#8217;s Drawn and Quarterly and Seattle&#8217;s Fantagraphics as one of the few indie comic presses that command that sort of brand loyalty.</p>\n<div class=\"npBlock npRule npRelated\"><h4 class=\"npNoRule\">Related</h4><ul class=\"related_links\"><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/breakdown-the-bright-and-horrible-world-of-michael-deforges-ant-colony\">Breakdown: The bright and horrible world of Michael Deforge&#039;s Ant Colony</a></li><li><a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/the-path-to-tcaf-drawn-and-quarterly-celebrate-25-years\">The Path to TCAF: Drawn and Quarterly celebrate 25 years</a></li></ul></div>\n<p>Awards and recognition are simply a happy side-effect of putting out books by artists Koyama thinks deserve attention. More importantly, success has allowed the press to grow, from eight to 10&nbsp;titles annually in previous years to 12 planned for 2016 \u2014 and Koyama now has one regular full- and part-time employee.</p>\n<p>But running a big publishing house has never been the goal. As Koyama herself puts it, &#8220;The most important thing is for the books to get out there, for the artists to be seen.&#8221;</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/why-kick-ass-annie-built-upstart-comics-publisher-koyama-press-with-a-focus-on-emerging-artists/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/kaannie.jpg?w=620\" title=\"kaannie\" Abstract=\"Kick-Ass Annie, in all her interpretations.\" Credit=\"Lisa Hanawalt/Michael DeForge/Koyama Press\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/kaannie.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2016/05/kaannie.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">kaannie</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t\t<item>\n\t\t<title>Justin Bieber swears off photos with hungry fans in hopes of no longer feeling like &#8216;a slave to the world&#8217;</title>\n\t\t<link>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-bieber-swears-off-photos-with-hungry-fans-in-hopes-of-no-longer-feeling-like-a-slave-to-the-world</link>\n\t\t<comments>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-bieber-swears-off-photos-with-hungry-fans-in-hopes-of-no-longer-feeling-like-a-slave-to-the-world#respond</comments>\n\t\t<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 17:31:50 +0000</pubDate>\n\t\t<dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Bobkin]]></dc:creator>\n\t\t\t\t<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Justin Bieber]]></category>\n\t\t<category><![CDATA[Need to Know]]></category>\n\n\t\t<guid isPermaLink=\"false\">http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=1098502</guid>\n\t\t<description><![CDATA['I wanna enjoy life and not be a slave to the world and their demands of what they think I need to do!!']]></description>\n\t\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><p>Oh, Biebs. We thought you had grown out of the teen angst and unpredictable antics! But no, it looks like the young pop sensation is continuing down the path of soon-to-be full-blown meltdown: the <a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/justin-bieber-gets-face-tattoo-is-accused-of-lying-having-bad-taste\" target=\"_blank\">recently face-tatted star</a> has now sworn off taking photos with fans.</p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BFPj2VRAvn9/?taken-by=justinbieber\" target=\"_blank\">a dramatic Instagram post</a>, Bieber writes that he&#8217;s &#8220;done taking pictures&#8221; because the entitlement by hordes of photo-hungry fans makes him feel &#8220;like a zoo animal.&#8221;&nbsp;</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BFPj2VRAvn9/?taken-by=justinbieber\" title=\"View on Instagram\"><img src=\"http://instagr.am/p/BFPj2VRAvn9/media/?size=l\" alt=\"Instagram Photo\" /></a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BFQFdtggvns/?taken-by=justinbieber\" target=\"_blank\">A follow-up post</a> by the singer adds the following: &#8220;I wanna enjoy life and not be a slave to the world and their demands of what they think I need to do!! I love the fact that I am able to make people happy but cmon if you truly were in my position you would understand how tiring it is.&#8221;</p>\n<p>In the original post, Bieber claims that &#8220;(I) wanna be able to keep&nbsp;my&nbsp;sanity&#8221; but, judging by some of his recent decisions, <a href=\"http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/celebrity/justin-bieber-gets-dreadlocks-angers-fans-who-accuse-him-of-cultural-appropriation\" target=\"_blank\">like&nbsp;those dreadlocks</a>, it&nbsp;may be&nbsp;a little too late&nbsp;for that.</p>\n</div>]]></content:encoded>\n\t\t\t<wfw:commentRss>http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/music/justin-bieber-swears-off-photos-with-hungry-fans-in-hopes-of-no-longer-feeling-like-a-slave-to-the-world/feed</wfw:commentRss>\n\t\t<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>\n\t<np:ptpl>std</np:ptpl><atom:link rel=\"enclosure\" type=\"image/jpeg\" href=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2015/12/justin-bieber-1.jpg?w=620\" title=\"Justin-Bieber-1\" Abstract=\"Justin Bieber performs during a small concert for charity in Toronto&#039;s Danforth Music Hall on Monday, Dec. 7, 2015.\" Credit=\"THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette\"  />\n\t\t<media:thumbnail url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2015/12/justin-bieber-1.jpg?w=140\" />\n\t\t<media:content url=\"http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2015/12/justin-bieber-1.jpg?w=140\" medium=\"image\">\n\t\t\t<media:title type=\"html\">Justin-Bieber-1</media:title>\n\t\t</media:content>\n\t</item>\n\t</channel>\n</rss>\n",
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