As you probably know by now, we here at (Cult)ure love us some Bob Dylan in a big way.

The new issue of Rollingstone reports that Dylan is set to release a new album in late April. While the comparisons to New Morning and Planet Waves (two of Dylan's mediocre 70's albums) and references to accordion on every-single-track don't exactly set my heart aflame with anticipation, the promise of a "surprising" follow up to Modern Times is most definitely intriguing, and any new album by Dylan is cause for celebration!

You can prepare for the release new album by revisiting some of (Cult)ure's Bob Dylan related articles:

The Carleton University basketball team won their sixth CIS championship in seven years, beating the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 87-77 at Scotiabank Place yesterday.

The Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun have the full story.

 Congratulations to my alma mater!

Happy Friday the 13th! (Didn't we just do this?)

 I was going to encourage everyone who missed the opportunity to see the new Friday the 13th movie on Friday the 13th  last month to go see it tonight, but it's apparently no longer in theatres. For a movie with a $40 million dollar opening weekend, it sure came and went fast, didn't it?

So if you didn't do it last month, the bad news is you've missed your chance to spend a Friday the 13th watching blood, guts, boobs, Dean from Gilmour Girls, and that blonde guy from Veronica Mars up on the big screen.

Every Wednesday (Cult)ure shares with you one of the internet's best webcomics.  

Many of you are probably reading this from inside a cubicle.  Shane Johnson knows how you feel.  His webcomic, My Life in a Cube, is about those daily pet peeves we all deal with at work, regardless of whether you are in a cubicle or not.  Bosses, co-workers, and clockwatching... it's all here, and Johnson captures all on scraps from around the office: post it notes, envelops, coffee stained napkins and CDs.  Johnson is a master of the "it's funny because it's true" school of comedy, and anyone who enjoys Office Space (who doesn't?) should check out his site.

The (Cult)ure Youtube picks have been updated.

 Be sure to check out the "Other People's Misery" edition of the picks!

Watchman is many things, but it is primarily a mystery. Who murdered The Comedian? Who's behind the international events pushing the world closer and closer towards armageddon?

Well, if you want the answer to these questions, but don't feel like reading the book or seeing the movie, just read Anthony Lane's scathing review of Watchman in The New Yorker. By the third paragraph of the review, Lane has revealed the film's climax and completely spoiled the twist ending.

As (Cult)ure has reiterated before, the world needs film critics. What the world doesn't need are film critics who dislike a film so intensely that they become intent on spoiling it for everyone else before they even get a chance to see it.

Every Wednesday (Cult)ure shares with you one of the internet's best webcomics.  

What's better than a consistently funny webcomic? A consistently funny webcomic that is updated daily!

Filled with delicious black humour, Zach Weiner's long running single panel gag strip Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is the perfect way to start each and every day!

Every Tuesday (Cult)ure shares with you a delicious and easy recipe.

I learned this recipe watching Chef Michael Smith on my absolutely favourite cooking show Chef at Home.  The show's mantra, "simple is better" is sure on display in this recipe.  This blueberry crisp is easy to make and totally delicious.

For filling:

This Friday sees the release of the much anticipated superhero epic Watchman. For those of you who just can't wait until Friday to see the most acclaimed comic book series of all time adapted to the big screen, the AMC Kanata and the Silver City Gloucester are having midnight screenings Thursday night. (Take note: the film is nearly three hours long; meaning you'll be crawling into bed only a handful of hours before it's time to get up and head to work.)

I've been to several midnight screenings of films of this sort, and the experience has been mixed. Watching Brian Singer's original X-Men film at the stroke of midnight in the theatre full of geeks clutching to their chests the free comic books handed out beforehand was a blast. But watching this summer's X-Files: I Want to Believe in a three-quarter empty theatre on a cold, rainy night was nearly as dismal as the film itself.

Still... everyone deserves to see a midnight movie at some point in their lives, and I think Watchmen is going to surprise a lot of people. With Ironman, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy II, the Dark Knight, and now Watchmen all being released this year, we're undeniably in the golden age of superhero cinema. Let's celebrate while it lasts!

Hey, did you know that Thursday is named after none other than the God of Thunder himself?

 That's right kids, Stan Lee did invent everything.  Even the days of the week.

Every Wednesday (Cult)ure shares with you one of the internet's best webcomics.

 

If you are looking for hilarious online comic strips about Stephen Harper, the Pope, and Louis Riel  (and really, who amongst us isnt?), then Kate Beaton's webcomics are for you!

With the release of Zack Snyder's Watchmen film only two weeks away, comic book critic Tom Spurgeon has written an article, "Reading the Watchmen: Ten Entrance Points into the Esteemed Graphic Novel", in which he outlines ten different ways for readers to approach the original comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Spurgeon's list includes reading Watchmen as:  a murder mystery, a liminal experience, a love story, and commentary on superheroes.

The article is an excellent example not only of the multiplicity of meaning to be found within Watchmen, but of literary critical theory being practiced.

Every Tuesday (Cult)ure shares with you a delicious and easy recipe.

This Warm Spinach Salad with Tuna recipe comes from an excellent website, The World's Healthiest Foods. The salad is extremely simple to make, and insanely delicious (not to mention healthy!). The tuna not only adds extra flavour, but protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

Ingredients:

Danny Boyle's underdog hit Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner at last night's Academy Awards Ceremony, bringing home eight awards, including best picture and best director.

Despite the trepidations expressed by people like Steve Dominey, Hugh Jackman proved himself an excellent host, dancing and singing his way through the ceremony with a charming smile on his face that was totally free from the smug, ironic, distanced cynicism hosts like David Letterman and Jon Stewart brought to the proceedings in past years.

As expected, Heath Ledger was awarded the Oscar for best supporting actor, but the show's highlight came early in the night when an impossibly young looking Dustin Lance Black delivered his acceptance speech for Milk's best original screenplay win.  Black said:

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of film critic Gene Siskel's death.

 

Siskel first teamed with fellow Chicago Sun-Times contributor Roger Ebert in 1975 for a local movie criticism television series. Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" method of review quickly became part of the cultural lexicon, and the duo moved to national syndication and mass recognition.

It's Oscar weekend ladies and gentlemen; also known as Christmas for Movie Geeks - a full weekend where the world-at-large obsesses over all things Hollywood!

Didn't get invited to an Oscar party this year? Interested in seeing the 81st Academy Awards on the big screen?

 Every Wednesday (Cult)ure editor Kevin Johns shares with you a favourite webcomic.

I'm going to kick this feature off the same way I start every day: with American Elf.

James Kochalka's online comic diary has been providing a daily dose of comic genius for over a decade.  Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking,  always entertaining, American Elf allows the reader to watch Kochalka's life and art intermingle in an amazing ongoing real-time narrative.

 On January 25, 2009, Kim Manners passed away from lung cancer.

Manners directed over 50 episodes of The X-Files, and, more recently, was a producer/director for Supernatural.

Manners was a workhorse who directed some of The X-Files best and scariest episodes, and he became the go-to-man for mythology episodes after Rob Bowman left the series.  He stuck with The X-Files right through to the end of season nine, and directed the two-part series finale "The Truth" in 2002.

He was well respected by his colleagues, and was loved by X-Philes around the world.  He will be missed.

Just over halfway through one of their most dismal seasons since the mid-90's, the Ottawa Senators have fired head coach Craig Hartsburg and replaced him with Cory Clouston. 

Who in Cory Clouston? 

Who cares! 

Clouston is the forth coach the helm the Sens within the last year, and by this point it's clear that coaching is not the team's problem.  A lack of talent isn't the problem either; it never has been. 

The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that the city of Ottawa and the transit union have agreed to send all outstanding issues to binding arbitration.

The transit strike has touched everyone here in Ottawa.  Regardless of whether you supported the city or the union, whether you're a car driving Kanata dweller, or a downtown urban bike rider, a daily bus rider, or just the occasion pub crawl transit user... each and every one of us can sleep a little bit easier tonight knowing that the end of the strike is near.