• The summer of Addison Rae is here
    Jun 6 2025

    Culture writer Joan Summers, music journalist Maura Johnston, and rapper and author Rollie Pemberton join Elamin Abdelmahmoud for the Friday Group Chat to share their thoughts on new releases from Addison Rae, Turnstile, and Lorde.

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    28 mins
  • Guillaume Côté takes his final bow with the National Ballet, and why TikTokers are pretending to be AI
    Jun 5 2025

    After 26 years dancing with the National Ballet of Canada, Guillaume Côté will take his final bow tonight. Elamin talks with two of his longtime collaborators – the dancer Greta Hodgkinson and choreographer Anisa Tejpar about his legacy, and why he just might be the GOAT of Canadian ballet. Plus, the latest version of Google’s AI tool Veo can make impressively realistic looking 8-second videos. While this has inevitably raised concerns about people being fooled by deepfake videos, Kyle Orland from Ars Technica chats with Elamin about a curious trend he noticed: real TikTokers pretending to be AI generated.

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    25 mins
  • What is considered 'age appropriate' in school libraries, and the sitcom Adults
    Jun 4 2025

    Xtra Magazine reporter Mel Woods and Laura Winton of the Library Association of Alberta discuss the provincial government’s plans to introduce new age-appropriate standards for books in school libraries, and how they could adversely affect books with 2SLGBTQ+ themes. Plus, critic Rendy Jones talks about the Gen-Z comedy 'Adults,' which explores the absurd ups and downs of being in your 20s in the 2020s in New York City.


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    25 mins
  • What should be allowed to count as CanCon?
    Jun 3 2025

    What is Canadian content? And why does it matter? The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission has been hearing very different answers to that question — as they try to come up with new CanCon rules. Jesse Wente, Vass Bednar and Anthony Q Farrell join Elamin to talk about why getting CanCon right has never been more important.

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    39 mins
  • How NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts became a hub for Black pop
    Jun 2 2025

    For almost 20 years, NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts have given the internet a chance to see some of the biggest artists and promising upcoming talents in an incredibly intimate, live setting that has made for unforgettable moments. At the same time, the series has become a crucial and trusted hub for Black pop music. At the inaugural Departures festival in Toronto, Elamin sat down with Bobby Carter, the host and series producer for NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts.


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    25 mins
  • Karate Kid: Legends, and the summer movies we're excited to see
    May 30 2025

    Elamin Abdelmahmoud is joined by Vulture’s Alison Willmore, Inverse’s Hoai-Tran Bui and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival’s Aram Siu Wai Collier for a group chat about Karate Kid: Legends, and what they're most excited to see in theatres this summer.

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    27 mins
  • The reaction to Ms. Rachel posting about children in Gaza
    May 29 2025

    Ms. Rachel is one of the biggest children's entertainers right now, and she's been using her social media to talk about how the Israel-Hamas war has affected children. Elamin chats with Jael Richardson and Kathryn VanArendonk about the reaction and criticism Ms. Rachel is getting for wading into conflict and tragedy.

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    25 mins
  • Judy Blume's Forever gets a TV series, and what's with all the Bella Ramsey hate?
    May 28 2025

    ‘Forever’ is a new Netflix tv series that reimagines Judy Blume’s controversial YA book of the same name, through the lens of the contemporary Black teen experience. Guest host Radheyan Simonpillai is joined by culture critics Kathleen Newman-Bremang and David Dennis Jr. to discuss the new series and its approach to the teen drama genre. Plus, with the second season of HBO’s hit zombie drama ‘The Last of Us’ winding down this week, culture reporter Kat Tenbarge explains how the story developments of this season further intensified the online hate campaign against its star Bella Ramsey.

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    28 mins