Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
At nine years old, Quvenzhane Wallis is the youngest person to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
The Academy Awards (nicknamed “The Oscars”) are given to the best work in movies each year.
Best Actor and Best Actress are perhaps the most prestigious awards an actor can win.
Wallis was just five when she tried out (or “auditioned”) for the role of Hushpuppy in the film Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Who knows what’s going on with Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez? Well, they do, for sure—but does anyone else?
Bieber is, of course, a famous teen pop idol and Gomez is a television actress; the couple has been dating on and off for the past couple of years.
But what do we really know about the couple?
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That they had been dating. They have probably broken up.
It may have been her decision or it may have been his decision.
In other words, what do we know? Not much. Almost nothing, in fact.
Some media report one thing, some media report something completely different. Here’s why. It’s because the couple themselves aren’t talking about it.
Gomez? Isn’t talking.
Bieber? Isn’t talking.
Everyone else? Talking!
The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival ended last Sunday.
For 10 days, movies from more than 60 countries were shown around the city.
Thirty-eight of them were premieres, or films that were shown in Toronto for the first time. And all the big players–famous actors, directors and producers–came out to see them, and to be seen.
A film festival is an event about movies: watching movies, making movies and acting in movies. And of course, it’s about the business of movies. Many big movie deals are made during TIFF. Storytellers meet writers. Writers meet producers. Producers meet directors. Directors meet actors. And later–often years later–a movie is made
Theatre-goers in Stratford, Ont. are used to seeing buskers.
(In this case, a busker is someone who performs music on a street corner for money that people throw into their hat or guitar case.)
But they were surprised and thrilled when they came out of the theatre last Saturday and saw that the busker on the steps was pop superstar Justin Bieber.
Bieber grew up in Stratford, and some members of his family still live there. However, he’s usually out of the country on tour or recording.
He was in town for the Much Music Video Awards.
Busking on the steps of the Avon Theatre is nothing new to Bieber. In the early days, before he became an international pop icon, he often used to busk there.
However, this time it was a bit different. For one thing, although he had his guitar case open in front of him he wasn’t collecting any money for his performance. (According to an estimate by Forbes magazine, Bieber earned $55-million last year.)
You may not have heard of Adam Yauch, but you have probably heard of the Beastie Boys.
Yauch – better known as MCA – was one of three members of the legendary hip-hop group from New York City. He died from cancer early this month.
Yauch and the rest of the Beastie Boys were famous for wild, silly songs and wild, silly behaviour.
A perfect example is their most famous song: “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party).”
Yauch taught himself to play the bass guitar in highschool and formed the Beastie Boys for his 17th birthday party along with the group’s two other members: Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Adrock” Horovitz.
England loves soccer. English soccer teams play in the Premier League (PL).
Two of the biggest soccer teams in the PL are two of the bitterest rivals: Manchester City, known as “Man City” and Manchester United, known as “Man United.”
Last weekend, one of the most exciting games in the PL took place… and it came down to the final moments. It was a game that would decide who took home the cup.
If Man City won its game against the Queens Park Rangers, Man City would end up with more points than its rival, Man United. In that case, Man City would win its first PL championship in 44 years.
However, a win wouldn’t come easy.
Last year around this time, a royal couple visited Canada.
Prince William (second in line to the throne of England) had just gotten married to Catherine Middleton and the two spent much of their honeymoon touring Canada.
Next month Canada will get a visit from another royal couple—this time, it’s the father of the groom. Prince Charles is William’s father.
Charles is first in line to the throne. That means that when his mother—Queen Elizabeth—steps down, Charles will become king.
Charles will come to Canada with his second wife, Camilla.
Charles’ first wife was one of the most well-known and popular celebrities in the world, Princess Diana.
(Princess Di, as she was known, was killed in a car crash in 1997. When that happened, millions of people around the world mourned.)
Charles and Camilla will tour New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan from May 20 to 23.
With the beginning of each National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, teams dream of winning The Stanley Cup.
The Stanley Cup is the NHL’s ultimate prize. It is a trophy awarded each year to the team that wins the playoffs.
The playoffs are composed of the top 16 teams from the regular season.
In the playoffs teams embark on a best-of-seven series in hopes of winning The Cup. The team to win four games first wins the series.
Each series win brings a team one step closer to raising The Stanley Cup as champion.
Last year the Boston Bruins were champions and won The Cup.
This year the Bruins lost in round one in a thrilling series against the Washington Capitals.
Canadian movie director James Cameron is known for doing some amazing things, in a big way.
He has directed some of the biggest movie blockbusters ever including Avatar, The Terminator and Aliens.
In 1997 he directed the film he is perhaps best known for, Titanic.
This year–100 years after the original Titanic ship sank to the bottom of the ocean–Cameron has gone down to the ocean floor himself, to the deepest point on Earth.
Many people like to fast-forward through commercials on TV.
However, there is one time when many people want to watch the commercials. And that’s during the Super Bowl football game.
The Super Bowl was played last Sunday.
It has become a tradition that the commercials shown during the Super Bowl are particularly interesting to watch. Many of them are funny.
For instance, in a Volkswagen ad, a dog sees a Volkswagen go by his house. He wants to chase it, but he’s too fat to fit through the doggie door.
So he starts exercising himself to get in shape.
He chases his own tennis ball, and he swims laps in a pool.
Eventually, he is able to fit through the doggie door and chase the car.
