Readable, teachable news.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
A popular American late-night talk show will have a new host, likely next year.
The Late Show with David Letterman is on every weeknight starting at 11:35 p.m. in most North American cities.
Letterman is a comedian who interviews celebrities. Musicians often play during his show, and sometimes it features funny skits.
Last Sunday was Hollywood’s big night.
The annual Academy Awards (known as the “Oscars”) recognize the best movies, actors and movie-makers of the year.
Four of the top awards are Best Picture, which went to the movie 12 Years a Slave; Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey, who starred in Dallas Buyers Club); Best Actress (Cate Blanchett, who starred in Blue Jasmine) and Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity).
Neil Young is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is internationally famous.
He has been called “one of the most important figures in rock music.”
In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Young is an activist and many of his songs are political.
Now, Young is doing a four-city tour of Canada to protest what he feels is massive damage to the environment being done in the oil sands in Alberta.
The latest viral music video is being turned into a children’s picture book.
“What Does the Fox Say?” is a catchy music video that’s been seen by more than 200 million people.
Never heard of it? Read the TKN article about it here.
It was created by two Norwegian brothers, Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker, collectively known as Ylvis.
The video was meant to be silly and almost meaningless. But the tune was so darned catchy, it caught on, big-time.
Now, it will be a picture book called “What Does The Fox Say?”
Publisher Simon & Schuster is launching the book next month. It was written by Ylvis and has illustrations drawn by Svein Nyhus.
The brothers had thought of the idea of creating a picture book from their song even before they uploaded it to YouTube.
You can’t believe everything you see on the Internet.
Last week, millions of people—including many news producers—learned that lesson in a very interesting way.
A very popular Internet video turned out to be a hoax.
The video was of a girl twerking (a current dance fad) in her room; she dances so hard that she falls onto a candle and her pants catch on fire.
More than nine-million people watched the video.
The video was shown on hundreds of newscasts, including major networks ABC and some local Fox Network affiliates.
J. K. Rowling is writing a new movie set in the wizarding world.
It won’t feature the character Harry Potter, but it is inspired by one of the boy wizard’s textbooks: Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, “written” by fictional author Newton Scamander.
Warner Brothers film studios told Rowling they wanted to make a movie based on the fictional textbook, used by Potter and his friend, Ron Weasley.
The new movie will feature the adventures of a 21-year-old Newton Scamander.
Scamander is an expert in Magizoology, the study of magical creatures.
Want to be a great doctor or scientist? Make sure you play video games.
New research shows that certain video games can help people “find things” better and faster.
For instance, if a doctor is looking for something on an x-ray, or if a scientist is looking at a satellite image—they may be able to do it better if they’ve “trained” by playing video games.
Certain video games, like driving games, can improve a person’s “visual search skills.” That’s the ability to see something that’s hidden in the middle of a confusing field of things. Like finding “Waldo.”
Researchers at the University of Toronto studied three groups of people: 20 people who played a shooting game called Medal of Honor, 20 people who played the driving game Need for Speed, and 20 people who played a puzzle game called Ballance.
There’s a new dance that has become popular through the Internet called the Harlem Shake.
Millions have people have watched the original Harlem Shake video on YouTube and there have been thousands of tribute videos made.
It’s hard to describe the crazy-looking dance, which is done to a happy, goofy sounding song of the same name, written by an American DJ and electronic musician named Baauer. Wikipedia describes the song this way:
“The uptempo song incorporates a mechanical bassline, Dutch house synth riffs, a dance music drop and samples of growling-lion sounds. Baauer added a variety of peculiar sounds to the song so that it would stand out.”
The videos—the original and the thousands of tribute videos that have been made since—start with one person or several people dancing. Then there’s a jump-cut to a roomful of people in costumes, helmets and masks all awkwardly jerking their bodies and happily flailing their arms.
The Harlem Shake has become a “meme” (pronounced meem). An Internet meme is a video, photo or idea that spreads from person to person and is altered or combined with other videos and photos.
Some people say that Canada has two national athems: “O Canada” and “The Hockey Song” by Stompin’ Tom Connors.
The Canadian icon passed away on March 6, at the age of 77, leaving a hole in the heart and soul of the country.
Connors was a folk musician and a fierce Canadian patriot. He made his way up and down the country, documenting every square inch of every little Canadian town in his songs. He got his nickname because as he played and sang on stage, he stomped his cowboy booted left foot in time to the music.
The songs Stompin’ Tom wrote and sang were songs that Canadians connected with and which drew them together. They were simple, singable and relatable. Songs like “The Hockey Song,” which recounts a hockey game, inning by inning. Or “Bud the Spud,” about a trucker driving a load of PEI potatoes across Canada. Or Sudbury Saturday Night, which tells the tale of ordinary folks enjoying themselves in an Ontario town.
On Sunday night, the motion picture industry had its biggest night of the year. The 85th annual Academy Awards were handed out. They are also known as “The Oscars.” The show is seen around the world by more than a billion people.
The show was hosted by Seth MacFarlane, who is known for creating and doing the voices for the cartoon series Family Guy.
Oscars are awards given to the best filmmakers including the best director, actress and actor and the best in other areas of the industry such as special effects creator and costume designer.
The biggest award is always saved for last: Best Picture. This year it went to the film Argo.
