Sunday, December 19, 2010

Euphemania

The softest slurs. Why Human beings have always needed to avoid saying what they have to say. Read it here.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Consumer Products

On celebrity as world religion. Read it here.

Is Jamie Oliver the Biggest Loser of All?

He understands everything about America's public health crisis -- except why he can never fix it. Read it here.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Why Can't Kanye West Shut the Hell Up?

Whether he's mouthing off about George W. Bush or Taylor Swift, the rapper is rewarded for acting outrageously -- in his public life and in his art. Now it's getting harder to tell the two apart. Read it here.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Why Is Clint Eastwood Still the Man?

Because no other man's come along to unseat him. And even though he's eighty, we could use someone like him as the epitome of masculinity right now. Read it here.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Monday, September 20, 2010

Just How Crazy is Oliver Stone?

He doesn't make smart, sensible films about smart sensible people, because that's not who he is. And neither are we. Read it here.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

When words go up in flames

In threatening to burn the Koran, that obscure Florida pastor evoked a horrible tradition with deep roots. Read it here.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

The battle is over. Trouble begins

What should we expect with combat concluded in Iraq? Read it here.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Tales of Confinement

The story of the trapped Chilean miners taps into our primal fears of being buried alive. Read it here.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Might as well deal me in, Dalton. We're all gamblers, now

Gambling, like porn, has been completely normalized. Maybe not the thing to talk about at Sunday lunch, but not exactly a vice either. Read it here.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

What's with all the secrets and lies?

Leading a double life used to make you pretty interesting -- until we all got one. Read it here.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Conrad Black-black bloc connection

Some news stories transcend their mere information to become aesthetic performances, and the trial of Conrad Black long ago left its news value behind and transformed into expensive, elaborate public ritual. Read it here.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

How a team loses actually matters

Unlike the French, the Germans and Italians owned up to their losses. They will be champions again one day. Read it here.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Have we all gone completely nuts?

If you think Mel Gibson is the worst of it, just turn on your television, which is making us all think we're crazy and, worse, that we can't be healed. Read it here.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

In defence of the vuvuzela

The vuvuzela is a gift, drowning out the real auditory garbage. Read it here.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Byrd and the Bard

American politics loses more than just its greatest quoter of Shakespeare. Read it here.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Writing Here, Now

Canadian writers, poised on the edge of the world, have the best view. Read it here.

Monday, June 28, 2010

When Giants Stumble

Five of the world’s biggest soccer salaries are paid to English players—and now they’re eliminated? The answer may lie in the tension between club and national teams. Read it here.

Friday, June 18, 2010

When Ancient Grievances Are Played Out on the Soccer Pitch

When the U.S. tied England, it was as good as a victory. Read it here.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

(N)O Canada!

Is our national anthem worthy of true patriot love? Read it here.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Messi-ah

Lionel Messi is the most feared and most admired man in the tournament. Could he be the best ever? Read it here.

Why in Hell Are We Back in the Eighties?

Obama's hope-and-change gap has yet to be filled with anything better than Gaga and The Karate Kid. An exhausted battle cry for finally talking about our generation. Read it here.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A Few Acres of Snow

Read it here.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Welcome to Soccer Town

Where is the best place on the planet to watch the World Cup--even better than South Africa? Read it here.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Pastiche Unleashed

How Prim Victorian ladies invented our mash-up culture. Read it here.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

The United States of Apocalypse

Finally the natural world is catching up with pop culture. Read it here.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Return of Private Todd

Other wars saw tributes to the Unknown Soldier. In this war, the crowd along the Highway of Heroes knows each name. Read it here.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Why the Canadian Mosaic is in Crisis

Read it here.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Beauty of Birding on the Leslie Street Spit

In praise of the city's prettiest dump. Read it here.

Re-emerge from a sex scandal stronger

The rules for recovery from a sex scandal. Read it here.

How Jersey Shore Transformed America

In the age of The Situation, Tracy Jordan, and Ari Gold, stereotypes have become meaningless. Read it here.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

What would Buddha think?

On the genius of fictional columnists. Read it here.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Hollowness of 3-D

Tim Burton's wretched adaptation of Alice in Wonderland shows Hollywood's new emperor has no clothes. Read it here.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Ridiculously Sexy Winter Olympics

There were so many beautiful athletes at the Vancouver games, it's no wonder they had to send in extra condoms. Read it here.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

A Tour of Junk Food's Ground Zero

Deep-fried Pepsi anyone? Or would doughnut upside down cake hit the culinary G-spot. Read it here.

The New Expo

For the first time since Expo 67, we're showing the world a different face. Read it here.

Which War Are You Watching?

If Afghanistan and Iraq are so terrible, then why does Hollywood keep taking us through hell? The solution may lie in the Hurt Locker's battle for the first Best Picture to honor gamers everywhere. Read it here.

Why You Can't Knock John Mayer's Hustle

The whole race thing aside, Mayer whined his way into bed with the woman he's now scandalizing. But in America's obsession with wimpy rich men just like him, are we letting them all off the hook. Read it here.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Are the Olympics Ruining Everything?

What's the problem with Vancouver that no one's talking about? The spectacle of the Winter Games isn't just ruining sports — it's killing our chance to be happy. Read it here.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

In Defence of Mexican Gangster Polka

The Narcocorrido. Read it here.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Age of Precariousness

The 21st Century and its inhabitants have been deformed by catastrophe. Read it here.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

How Much Do We Owe Simon Cowell?

Everything. Because we are all judges now. And even if he's leaving the most popular TV show in the history of pretty much ever, he brought us together more than Obama could. Read it here.