Your source for news and reviews on all things entertainment and pop culture.

 

Sex Feature

Saying No To Toxic Relationships
Written by Esther Kane

After the long cold days of winter, spring sings her chipper song. As I write this, I have brightly coloured tulips to gaze at happily in my garden. Spring is a great time to start eating healthier, lighter food, wear bright colours, and get outdoors. It also happens to be a great time to fall in love. Perhaps scientists will one day reveal a specific chemical that flies around in the spring air that gets the pheromones going. Who knows? Maybe they already have...but before you take that exuberant leap into a special someone's arms and fall head-over-heels, here are some suggestions to keep your head in the clouds, while your feet are firmly planted on the ground.

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posted by: lightning at 14:27 | link | comments |
sex

Comics Feature

Interview with Garfield the Cat
Hal Gieseking

For a number of years my career in writing has given me the pleasure (and free education) of interviewing successful people ranging from Walter Cronkite and Mickey Mantle to Beverly Sills and James Michener. While I have learned from each of these interviews, few have given me as much pleasure as a phone conversation with Jim Davis, creator of Garfield the comic cat who has starred in 1,700 newspapers and twelve million published cartoon books.

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posted by: lightning at 14:09 | link | comments |
comics, entertainment

Rock'n'Roll Feature

Band Name Origins: Stories Behind Band Names by Jack Reider

Did you know that the Bee Gees were named after the initials of a DJ called Bill Gates? Did you know that the real story behind the origin of the name of the rock band 10cc is much more trivial and boring than the urban legend that surrounds it? Did you ever wonder why the hell would someone choose to name his band Chumbawamba? Here you can widen your knowledge by learning about the origins or rock bands names and pop artists pseudonyms.

posted by: lightning at 13:34 | link | comments |
music, rocknroll

Video Gaming Feature

Video Game Systems
Written by Sandra Cundy

The first video game system that I actually owned was an Atari game console that played only pong and pong like games. The console used your television to visually display the game and its "action". We were thrilled with the system and many hours were spent staring at the television screen with the eerie beep of the pong hitting the paddles echoing through out the room. The next video game system I owned was also an Atari, but instead of being dedicated to only one game, this actually accepted a variety of cartridges which played wonderful games, including Asteroids, Space Invaders and Pac-man. And we once again embraced them as wonderful advancements in technology and introduced them to our children.

posted by: lightning at 13:20 | link | comments |
video gaming

Cover Story

Poison Elves Creator Drew Hayes Dies at 37

Mike Gagnon

 

 

Only days after it was confirmed that legendary Batman artist Marshall Rogers passed away of a heart attack at age 57, it has been confirmed that indie icon and creator of Poison Elves, Drew Hayes, also passed away last week at age 37, also of a heart attack.

 

Current reports state that Hayes’s heart attack was brought on by a severe case of pneumonia, for which he was hospitalized at the time of his passing.

posted by: lightning at 18:14 | link | comments |
comics

Sex Feature

Does Having More Sex Make You "Sexier?"
Christine Akiteng

I was running one of my series of workshops on "Fearless Sexuality and Sexual Charisma" when one of the participants asked me if having more sex makes a person sexier?

This sexual myth has been doing the rounds quite a bit lately and I've not yet come across studies and research that conclusively shows that having more sex actually makes people feel sexier.

From my own experience, there was a time when my relationship life was so messed up that I decided I needed time-out to try and figure out why I was running away from serious relationships and commitments. I was so messed up that for 5 years I did not have any sex at all - not even solo-sex.

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posted by: lightning at 15:11 | link | comments |
sex

Comics Feature

Comic Book Collecting, I Can't Get Enough!
John Pawlett

Have you ever read a comic book before? I imagine just about everyone, at some time in their life, has read at least one comic book. But do your interests and enjoyment level go beyond that? You may have said to yourself, at sometime or another, I would like to start comic book collecting some day. Heck, you may even have several comic books lying around that you have just never organized.

What do I do to start comic book collecting and what all do I need? Well, as I am sure you realize, you need to start with a passion. You have a comic book passion, you say, but you don't want to be labeled a "comic book collecting geek" and remain alone in your enjoyment. Well, my suggestion to you is "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" and believe me, you are not alone. You would be amazed at the multitudes of individuals who have a passion for book collecting.

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posted by: lightning at 15:09 | link | comments |
comics

Music Feature

Royalty Free Music - Licensing & Copyright
Gilles Arbour

If you want to use music for your website, in multimedia or traditional media productions you need to know about music licensing. Website designers, video makers, TV show producers and all other creative artists are constantly looking for music in their productions.

It's important to understand what copyright means, how it applies to music, and how you can obtain the rights to use music for your production. Terms such as "royalty-free music" and "synchronization licensing" get tossed around loosely, and this adds to the confusion. Hopefully this mini-tutorial will shed some light on this.

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posted by: lightning at 15:05 | link | comments |

Cover Story

The Hour is On Fire!

Mike Gagnon

 

 

Younger audiences all over Canada tune into a show called “The Hour” starring Canadian bad boy George Stroumboulopoulos, with an almost religious weeknight following.

 

What makes this late night show unique is that it’s a news and current events show geared towards the younger crowd that has replaced the once traditional 11pm news hour on Canada’s flagship network, the CBC. Also, it turns out that that aforementioned bad boy host really isn’t that bad at all, and is actually a very well informed, intelligent and articulate young man, who represents his generation quite well.

posted by: lightning at 19:28 | link | comments |
music, entertainment, tv , rocknroll

Comics Feature

MANGA Parents just do not understand!
Khalid Birdsong

Chances are, if you're reading this, your kids are crazy about Japanese comic books and animation. They're probably begging you to buy them the next book or DVD that you've never heard of. "What's going on here?!" you might ask yourself. "We're Americans! Why do my kids love this Japanese stuff?"

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posted by: lightning at 19:19 | link | comments |
comics, entertainment

Rock'n'Roll Feature

The Return Of The Police: Sting, Summers And Copeland Are Back!
Bill Knell

The Police reunited for an appearance on the 2007 Grammy Awards Show. Anyone familiar with Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland knew that a Grammy Awards Show would never be reason enough for the original band members to come together and suddenly decide to perform on television. It was obvious that this was some kind of reintroduction to the band. That suspicion was confirmed a day later when a press conference was held in Los Angeles to announce that tickets would soon be available for an upcoming tour. A group known for surprising the media, their fans and sometimes even themselves, had done so handily. It was that way since the beginning.

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posted by: lightning at 18:47 | link | comments |
music, entertainment, rocknroll

Cracking the Countdown

Mike Gagnon

 

Recently this ad was among a number of other ads DC released in its comics promoting the upcoming “Countdown” event. The story, events and characters involved in “Countdown” have largely been kept under wraps by DC. The ads however are supposed to be giving hints to the content, and here is my take on this one.

 

 

First of all, I’m not going to comment on the clever tag line and its historical significance to the comics industry, I have neither the time nor the space right now. Plus it’s been over used.

posted by: lightning at 18:45 | link | comments |
comics