March 2017 – Anya Wassenberg

Ontario at the JUNOS

It being the 150th birthday of the province of Ontario, it seemed only right that the OMDC – Ontario Music Development Corporation – put on a splashy reception for JUNO nominees based in the province. The dignitaries came out and speeches were made while the wine flowed and sliders and those mini quiches circulated while a sizeable crowd mingled.

15 Celebs With The Hottest Snapchat Accounts

Celebs and Snapchat…it’s match made in heaven. From Blac Chyna slamming her ex to Kylie Jenner’s latest topless frolic, it’s where you can see your faves at their very best bad behavior. Following your faves lets you in on exclusive pics and video, and sometimes a whole new side to someone you’d like to get to know a whole lot better.

15 Scandalous Facts About Monaco’s Monarchy

The tiny principality of Monaco covers less than 1 square mile. Its royal house, the Grimaldi family, is said to have generated more scandals per square yard than any other royal house in Europe, and the stories are hard to dispute.

‘Alien: Covenant’ – new poster reveals hellish space odyssey

“Alien: Covenant” — 20th Century Fox released a brand new poster for the highly anticipated new film late last week via the movie’s official Twitter account. While star #Michael Fassbender is absent from the poster, one terrifying figure lurks in the corner — the Alien Queen.

15 Disturbing Facts About Mexican Drug Cartels

Mexican drug cartels hit the headlines on a pretty regular basis, usually for some outrageously violent act or another. But if you only look at isolated incidents, you don’t get the full picture. There were 20,766 murders in Mexico in 2016. Reported kidnappings jumped from 428 to 1,128 over the last decade. Most of those numbers are blamed on the work of the Mexican cartels. According to the 2015 Congressional Research Service report, more than 80,000 people were killed between 2006 and 2015 because of drug cartel violence.

15 Countries You Didn’t Know Were Muslim

When you think of Muslim majority countries, you’re probably thinking about somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa. Veiled women and terrorists. But, the Muslim world is a lot bigger than you’d ever suspect if you only followed the mainstream news. In North America, Islam is pretty much automatically associated with the Arab world and its typically very strict and fundamentalist version of the religion. It’s probably not a coincidence that most of what is thought of as the Islamic world by the West has to do with oil producing nations.

‘Wonder Woman’ – new trailer and poster

“Wonder Woman” doesn’t come out until June of this year, but #Gal Gadot’s portrayal as the strong and sexy superhero has been making waves since her appearance as the bright spot in last year’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”. Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment just released a new poster and brand new trailer for the movie that fans are lapping up.

15 Uber Horror Stories That’ll Send Chills Down Our Spine

Uber burst on the scene in 2009 and became a very visible pioneer of the so-called sharing economy. The app allows anyone with a car, or who can rent a car, to become a driver after a screening process, and has become hugely popular with customers fed up with high regular taxi fares. All that hasn’t come without a price, however. There have been protests, employee complaints, and horror stories from both customers and drivers. There’s been corporate drama, sinister allegations, and most recently, a string of damaging stories in the press related to corporate culture.

Exclusive Interview: Steve Strongman

You could say that Canadian blues guitarist, singer and composer Steve Strongman is mid-career. “This is my sixth release. I’m certainly not a beginner,” he chuckles. His latest- “No Time Like Now”- is available March 10th.

Want Meaningful, Original Journalism? Then Start Paying For It

I teach a course in non-fiction writing and one of the topics we discuss in an online forum is what sort of publications students read, and why — hoping for a discussion of various types of journalism and creative non-fiction writing. Nowadays, however, I tend to get a curious response. People say something like, I don’t get my news from newspapers, I just read what’s trending in my feed.