Canadian

A former sniper and world record holder explains why Canadian snipers continue to excel on the battlefield

The Canadian comic’s Q&A with Emma Teitel

A history lesson in five points

1. Lucky iron fish: When Cambodian villagers were hemorrhaging during childbirth due to a lack of iron, University of Guelph researcher Christopher Charles found an answer—throw a small chunk of iron, designed to look like a local river fish, into cooking pots. The result: a huge decrease in anemia. “The iron fish is incredibly powerful,” says Charles.

Ranting is a ‘skill’ the comedian learned from his mother—and he says Canadians don’t do it enough

We now know that weightlifters sometimes cry

We wonder what Pierre Berton would make of this imaginative list.

Would you believe there’s spider named for Neil Young?

I was glad to see the Globe and Mail‘s Kate Taylor run a piece about an issue that is becoming more and more important in Canadian TV: shows that are, technically, Canadian Content, therefore fulfilling CanCon quotas, but aren’t actually Canadian in any meaningful sense. I’m not talking about point of view or perspective or any of those subjective things; shows like The Borgias (which was just renewed for another season) and The Tudors are not Canadian because the creative people on them are not Canadians; Canadian involvement is financial, plus a certain number of Canadian actors. But by that standard, Star Wars is an English film.

His plan for his long-awaited follow-up to ‘Life of Pi’ didn’t quite work out

This week’s Newsmakers

Denis McGrath asks the old reliable Magic 8-Ball for its thoughts on the future of the Canadian TV industry.