Slow news day, slow news week, summer of suck at the box office: what are you going to do to distract yourself? Why, Mad Men Yourself, of course! The site's been updated with new wardrobes and accessories, including delicious references to last season: Trudy's fez, Joan's accordion. Because today is dreadfully boring, I decided not to choose between being a skirt or a suit, but to go ahead and try both.

Skirt:

Well it's 2010 and it's about time there is a Robo-Art show in the National Capital.

I'm looking for local artists who make robots, robotic art, kinetic or static robo-sculpture, art with motors, sensors, video, lights, sound, or even paintings of circuit boards, space-age landscapes, 2D abstract-techno-art, and figurative robo-drama etc.

If you have something to contribute, or could create something to contribute over the summer months - please send an email with photos, short description, short bio, (a very informal submission) to marcadornato@yahoo.ca or visit:

When I watched what I was pretty sure was the The Good Guys première, "Bait & Switch," last Monday (IMDb is kind of confusing me about episodes and air dates), I wasn't too sure about this low key workplace comedy/procedural. Part of the problem is that I have no nostalgia for the 70s cops shows it is lovingly sending up because I wasn't around in the 70s. The other part of the problem is that I wasn't sure about the deployment of Bradley Whitford.

See, I love Bradley Whitford. I would like to see him optimally deployed at all times. Optimal deployment includes, but is not limited to, arrogance, loyalty, and being ensorcelled by Mary Louise Parker. I will, however, accept other Whitfords, largely because Whitford is an immensely talented actor. The Good Guys hits two out of the three (Dan has yet to be ensorcelled by anyone but himself).

To enjoy the show, you have to get down with its low-key vibe and humour. Its procedure goes like this: Jack (Colin Hanks) and Dan are assigned a minor level, possibly victimless crime to investigate, only to stumble onto a much larger crime. They then fumblingly, often amusingly, go about solving this larger crime and trying not to get killed in the process (there's a lot of gun violence in Dallas, it would seem).

Artengine is pleased to host a "Processing Workshop" with James Acres.

Please reserve in advance as spots are limited.

The cost for the workshop
                for Artengine Producing Members is $15
                for Artengine Online members is $30, and
                for non-members is $45 (including supporting membership benefit).

It does appear that our comments system is back up and running, so get to commenting! Should you experience problems commenting ever again, please drop us a line at info@culturemagazine.ca.

If you have been trying to comment and noticed the system isn't working, don't feel alone: we noticed, too! We're working to resolve the problem as soon as possible and will let you know when it's up and running again.

I was checking out the Vulture, and I came across a post that involved Jeremy Renner singing an apparently hilarious original song on The View. Cube protocol be damned, I need to watch that right now! When I clicked on it, YouTube told me this:

This video contains content from ABC Soapnet, who has decided to block it in your country. 

Finally, a little truth. None of the "sorry unavailable in your country at this time" crap I get from Hulu and the like. ABC Soapnet just doesn't want Canadians to see Jeremy Renner singing and possibly hurting his Oscar chances (hope not, btw). 

MSNBC, however, has no problems with Canadians, so you can watch Renner share a bear hug with should-have-been-nominated Hurt Locker co-star Anthony Mackie.

In another sign of the ever changing times, DVD and music retailer HMV is entering the digital realm.  Check it out:

Canada’s largest bricks and mortar music retailer, hmv Canada is thrilled to be bringing their extensive knowledge and passion for music into a new and exciting digital realm!  With a continued focus on expanding their business and reinventing their brand, hmv is launching their new Canadian digital store, hmvdigital.ca. 

hmvdigital.ca will launch in ‘beta’ mode on November 4, 2009 when hmv invites its consumers to test the site, and provide hmv with feedback. The site will use an advanced technology platform to allow music lovers to find and enjoy the music they love, in digital form. 

This morning (Cult)ure was excited to discover that what appeared to be a new and official Gillian Anderson Twitter account had started up.  Then we noticed a second one...

Despite having links to what appears, at first glance, to be Anderson's official website, the accounts are indeed fake, as confirmed by the Official Gillian Anderson Website (GAWS) when contacted by (Cult)ure:

 "Gillian has NEVER had MySpace or Facebook pages and she's also not on Twitter. When Gillian wants to communicate with her fans, she does so exclusively through the news page of her own web site."

A few weeks ago, I decided to turn on iTunes Genius. Sure, it sends information back to Apple and its sole purpose is to sell me more music, but, hey, I like playlists. I like it when someone else curates them for me while I write or clean or throw a one-woman dance party. My first mix was based on The Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." While it was only 13 songs, it was pretty good mix. I doubt I would have thought to throw Flo Rida in with the Marvelettes.

At first it seemed like the only drawback was Genius' refusal to base mixes on certain songs. Cat Power's "Half of You" could appear in a mix, but it doesn't contain enough information to be the starting point. When this happens, I get a little pop up asking me to update Genius. Apparently someday these updates will magically produce a mix based on one of the rejected songs, but I'm not holding my breath. 

This weekend, however, I came to realize the real problem with Genius. Every single mix I have created contains at least one Ben Folds song. At first I assumed that this meant that I have a disproportionate number of Ben Folds songs available. Turns out I have only four Ben Folds songs. 4. Yet one, if not all four, song appears in each mix. They are completely middle of the road in terms of ratings and play count, so I am left to wonder what Folds has done to deserve such Genius prominence. Does he have compromising pictures of Steve Jobs with a giraffe and a jar of pickles?

The CBC has broken the story that recent messages posted on Twitter under the 'Chef at Home' user name were not posted by Michael Smith, but by an impostor assuming the popular Chef and TV host's identity.

Recent tweets made disparaging remarks about Montreal restaurants, and seemed especially out of character for those familiar with Smith.

(Cult)ure had the pleasure of interviewing Smith last year and he was warm, friendly, open, and every bit the gentleman you see on TV each week.  Check out our interview here, and be sure to spread the world to your friends on Twitter about the identity theft.

Day 1:  Wow. I can follow tweets from Courtney Love! How cool is that? This is like a childhood dream come true!

Day 2:  Jeez, Courtney sure tweets a lot...

Day 3:  What the hell? Courtney tweets ALL THE TIME and most of it doesn't make ANY SENSE.

Day 4:  Unfollow Courtney Love.

Your friends over here at (Cult)ure have finally gotten with the times and joined Twitter. 

All you tweeters can follow us here!

Our user name is CultureEmag, since Twitter won't allow brackets in user names and every iteration of Culturemagazine was already taken!