MF GALAXY

THE NEW FICTION CATEGORY THAT MIGHT BE YOUR BEST WRITING AND MARKETTING NICHE; THE POWER OF NAMES: FROM PEN NAMES TO THOSE STOLEN FROM HER ANCESTORS; HOW YOUR YA WRITING CAN HELP KIDS BECOME SUPERHEROES LISTEN/DOWNLOAD   Natasha Deen is pretty awesome. She’s a YA and children’s writer who’s written more than a dozen books, including The Not So Secret Case Files of Billy Vale, P.I ., the Guardian series, and the Retribution series. She criss-crosses Canada teaching new writers and visiting classrooms, and she’s won a string of accolades including nominations for the Sunburst and the Alberta Readers’ Choice Award and wins for the Moonbeam, CCBC Best Pick for Kids and Teens. Readers keep coming back for her mix of mystery, action, horror, and humour, some of which arise from her own real-life experiences, and teachers keep booking her because her workshops and teaching guides offer genuine value. Deen met with me at the food court of Westmount Mall in Edmonton on Septem...

CREATING A LEGENDARY SKETCH COMEDY TROUPE + LOSING A NATIONAL TV SHOW, WHY EDMONTON BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL THEATRE CITY LISTEN/DOWNLOAD Wes Borg is a legend. In the 1980s he cofounded the influential sketch comedy troupe Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie. He’s written widely for the screen, beginning with the Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie television series, and moving to the 2003 TV movie The Western Alienation Comedy Hour, serving as head writer on the 2004 series The Geek Show, and creating the short film Café Utopia. He’s also appeared on CBC Radio’s The Debaters and The Irrelevant Show. He wrote the comedy songs “The War of 1812” and “Toronto Sucks” even though people often attribute them to The Arrogant Worms. He co-wrote Piledriver! with Darrin Haggin and Ha! with Chris Craddock, and The War of 1812 with Paul Mather, and he’s acted in various BioWare games including the Mass Effect trilogy and Jade Empire. He’s received two Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards for h...

SCOTT BOURGEOIS, ZIG ZAG CLAYBOURNE, NATASHA DEEN, FISH GRIWKOWSKY, KHAALIDA MUHAMMAD-ALI AND STEPHEN NOTLEY ON THE MOST LOVABLE KLINGON EVER LISTEN/DOWNLOAD Full disclosure: I grew up watching the original Star Trek in re-runs. Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted the first year I went to university, and it was a major disappointment in many ways, but especially for how it handled Klingons: how they behaved and whom they represented. Mostly they behaved as obnoxious, single-minded, bloodthirsty brawlers, to be avoided and feared, mostly artless and without sophistication, and to be laughed at for their pompous seriousness and quaint and disgusting customs. Despite growing up among humans, Worf is such an idiot that with august earnestness he calls prune juice a “warrior’s drink.” He’s so violent and stupid that in the Next Generation pilot episode “Encounter at Farpoint” he aims a phaser pistol at the bridge viewscreen when the bad guy Q appears on it because he apparen...

WHY JOURNALISTS HAVE SUCH A PERVERTED VIEW OF HISTORY AND POLITICS LISTEN/DOWNLOAD In the world of journalism, Robert Fisk is a rock star not just for the “songs” he’s written but for the people he’s shared the stage with, including Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Osama Bin Laden, whom he interviewed three times. Based in Beirut since 1976, Fisk currently writes for London’s Independent, and over four decades he’s covered the Iranian Revolution, the Lebanese civil war, the USSR’s occupation of Afghanistan, and virtually every war or conflict in West and Central Asia. Having authored five books including his classic Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War , and having received more British and international awards than any other English-language journalist, Fisk frequently defines his role not to “write the first draft of history,” but, by quoting Israeli journalist Amira Hass, “to monitor the centres of power.” A few years ago Robert Fisk was touring Canada on behalf of Can...

WHY FIGHTING HIV-AIDS FORCES A CONFRONTATION WITH RELIGIOUS VALUES, CULTURAL NORMS, THE EDUCATION SYSTEM, AND THE POVERTY-TO-PRISON PIPELINE; HOW TRADITIONAL RURAL LEADERS AND CLERGY ARE JOINING THE STRUGGLE TO PROTECT THOSE WHO HAVE HIV AND PREVENT OTHER LISTEN/DOWNLOAD As shocking as it is in 2017, HIV-AIDS disproportionately afflicts African-Canadians in Alberta. The reasons are varied and complex, which means fighting the pandemic here is all the more difficult. But the reality is that in this province, African-Canadians are six times more likely to be living with HIV-AIDS than the general population, and comprise 26 percent of all new HIV infections despite being only 2.5 percent of the population. While some people might want to avoid the subject due to stigma or mortal fear, my guest today isn’t one of them, and she’s dedicated her life to stopping new infections and helping those already afflicted. Morenike Olaosebikan is a health scientist and the founder of Ribbon ...

GOING TO CONS IN COSTUME, WHICH CHARACTERS ARE HIS FAVOURITES FOR COSPLAY, WHY IMPROV IS SO VALUABLE FOR ANY ACTOR BUT ESPECIALLY FOR VIDEO GAME WORK LISTEN/DOWNLOAD Mark Meer is possibly the most affable fellow in showbiz. He’s a terrific stage actor, voice artist, and improviser, and I’ve known him since we were both cartoonists at university and worked together in the sketch comedy troupe The 11:02 Show. He’s best known as the voice of Commander Shepard from BioWare’s Mass Effect trilogy and has done other video games including Gods of Rome and Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced. And he’s not just someone whom fans love—he’s a fanboy himself, and attended numerous conventions in costume. He’s literally a pro at cons. He’s also appeared in short films such as Tar Zombies Barbecued and Flight of the Polar Bear ; and he’s been a stalwart of the Edmonton theatre community for decades in ongoing longform improv such as Die-Nasty! and Gordon’s Big Bald Head. And if that weren’t enough,...

CHIEF ACCUSER FROM UNITED CONSERVATIVE PARTY + CANADIAN TAXPAYERS FEDERATION MEET HIT-AND-RUN + AIR B-N-B OFFENSES; FILDEBRANDT’S FALL WAS INSIDE JOB; TRUMPIAN GAME OF HATE POLITICS LISTEN/DOWNLOAD When the New Democratic Party of Alberta formed a majority government in 2015, I quipped that night that Alberta had just become a Western democracy. After all, it was the first time in forty years that the governing Progressive Conservative Party had been voted out. But my joke depressed me. After all, it’s just not normal or healthy for any jurisdiction, let alone one of two economic engines of a G-7 liberal democracy, to be shackled to any one party for almost half a century. My joke depressed me because it meant we were just a petro-state. But hey, even Alaska under Sarah Palin paid higher oil royalties to its citizens than Conservative Alberta did. What is up with that? But two years into the NDP’s first provincial government, the devastated PC party and the official opposit...