Attention all filmmakers: Looking for a surefire way to win that long-coveted Oscar? An American psychology professor may have figured out the formula to what makes a movie become a blockbuster, win a slew of awards, or flop. University of California, Davis professor and self-described movie buff Dean Simonton crunched the stats of more than 2,000 films since 1927 to find that movies that win awards or are praised by critics are usually R-rated, based on a true story, adapted from a prize ... Read More

The Queens of the Stone Age have been known to throw a few punches in their time. The hard rockers have long been stuck with a reputation as heavy drinkers - and occasional ruffians. But the past few years seem to have matured the Palm Desert, Calif.-based band, which begins a cross-Canada tour tonight in London, Ont., from where it will wind its way through relatively small venues in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary, ending its Canadian travels in Vancouver on Sept. 1. Read More

It's an argument that has plagued the music industry since the Internet began being blamed for the decline in CD sales: How much should a company charge for a song? Some would say $5 or the average cost of a CD single sounds right, while users of iTunes, the Web's largest music store, would say 99 cents is as much as they're willing to shell out for a track. And then there's the niche group of tech-savvy online pirates who say they ... Read More

The rate of legal music downloading has stagnated over the past year, more users are turning to piracy to get their music fix and legal online purchasing needs to be made easier, according to a British research survey released yesterday. Although social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace help to increase music awareness that translates into sales, a reluctance to purchase legal music constrained by digital rights management and reduced fear of being prosecuted for illegal downloading have fuelled the growth in ... Read More

The members of America's favourite nuclear family have shared a long love affair with their northern neighbours. Everything from the National Film Board of Canada, which gets a credit in the fake film Poke of Zorro (/E-I-E-I-Annoyed Grunt/, Season 11) to Gordie Howe, as the unsuspecting object of Ms. Krabappel's affections (/Bart the Lover/, Season 3), have been lampooned by the show's writers, including Calgary's Rob and Joel Cohen and Exeter, Ont.'s Tim Long (the guy you can blame for most of ... Read More