Even with their new Debbie Travis-designed practice space/matcha room, the brooding members of Hinterland still couldn't muster a smile. Photo-Rebecca Blissett

Hinterland's Plane fueled by existential angst
If Hinterland's 2003 debut Under the Waterline had a dreamlike, soothing quality, then The Picture Plane is the sound of sleepless nights spent racking one's brain, wondering "Why?" "How?" and "What the-?"
 

German cross-dresser tells fascinating story
It's no wonder American playwright Doug Wright, a gay man, was intrigued and charmed by real-life Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, born Lothar Berfelde in 1928 in a suburb of Berlin.
 

Digital reality brought into focus
Do you remember the commercials that asked, "Is it live or is it Memorex?"
 

Calexico, Foster Kare mix it up
Not many could have predicted that, 10 years after breaking away from pioneering indie band Giant Sand, the duo of drummer John Convertino and guitarist Joey Burns would build such a strangely beautiful beast. But their band Calexico keeps getting better.
 

Band played on through depression and war
During the Depression, he was food for hungry ears. During the Second World War, his music soothed Allied prisoners of war. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, broadcasts from his Ontario "ranch" reached Canadians coast to coast.
 

Hair, happy trails and hot wax, oh my
While The 40 Year-Old Virgin accomplished many things-transforming Steve Carell into a romantic comedy leading man, introducing the term "rusty trombone" to the masses and showcasing the beguiling songcraft of the band Asia-few could have anticipated the movie's profound effect on the body waxing industry.
 

Enough news to sink a ship
Thank God for tragedies. What was shaping up to be a humdrum week for the Vancouver Sun and the Province-filled with American Idol results, concern for the Vancouver Canucks and surveys about adults still living with their parents to tie in with the release of the movie Failure to Launch-has turned into a windfall of story material.