Latest news with #ElaminAbdelmahmoud
CBC
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Watching 28 Years Later in a post-COVID world
Social Sharing It's been over two decades since the release of 28 Days Later, the horror film that reimagined what a zombie thriller could be. Now, the franchise is back with a third installment, 28 Years Later. But in a post-Brexit, post-COVID world, are fans ready to return to a survival story about a rage virus spreading across the U.K.? Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with Vulture film critic Alison Willmore about the franchise's new film and how it lands in this current cultural moment.
CBC
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Did Donald Trump take his media strategy from Rob Ford?
Netflix recently released a new documentary about Rob Ford's 2010 to 2014 reign as mayor of Toronto. Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem includes footage of Ford's infamous admission to smoking crack cocaine and highlights how he delegitimized the media, using tactics that are strikingly similar to those now used by U.S. President Donald Trump. Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud discusses the documentary with entertainment reporter Teri Hart and Toronto Star reporter David Rider, who covered Ford's mayoral tenure and is featured in Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem. We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Elamin: One of the key throughlines of this documentary, David, is — and I think I forgot about this again, because it's been enough time — but how adversarial Rob Ford was about the media. He would go on every day and say, "The Toronto Star is saying these things about me, they're just not true" — and by the way, he's talking about you! And in this particular case, he is casting you, or casting the media, I should say, as some sort of political opposition. And this is years before you see Donald Trump say the term "fake news." What was it like trying to tell the Rob Ford story, while also having Rob Ford use the microphone of the mayor's office to try to say, "The media, they're not telling the truth about me" — and having people maybe believe him at the time? David: Yeah, it was really difficult. I did very early stories on Rob Ford when there were rumours he was going to run and we got along really well. I spent a whole day with him as he did his constituency work and admired him getting people's potholes fixed and stuff like that. So when it became obvious that he had a real shot at being mayor, suddenly it turned…. I think the Fords have an incredible gut political instinct on how to turn situations to their own advantage, even situations that look like they could be a disaster. And very early on, in a foreshadow of Donald Trump, they said, "We're going to discredit and delegitimize the media. And the Toronto Star are the ones who are the most likely to do us damage." So they started up this drumbeat and they portrayed it as a war. And they said, "Well, they're out to get us." And I always said to people when they'd ask me about it, "It's not a war. We're not trying to get Rob Ford out of office. We're covering him in exactly the same way we would have his two predecessors." And that was our yardstick for whether something was a story or not. But when you portray it as a war, suddenly he's able to just portray everything we do as being unfair and possibly false, when, in fact, he was lying all the time. Elamin: Teri, the thing that trained us, I think, the most for the Donald-Trump-as-president years was living through this whole period of time of the Rob Ford news cycle. Because every day there was not one new thing, there were three new things — granted, a much more truncated timeline. Teri: This documentary is certainly drawing that line — certainly a dotted one, sometimes a very, very bold line — between the Rob Ford mayoral temperature and tone in Toronto and the President of the United States in his second term, Donald Trump. And I think that that is really, really fascinating. Will we ever get the answer? Did Donald Trump watch Rob Ford? Did Donald Trump take a playbook from the Ford family, as David quite rightly points out, and their gut political instincts? We'll never know. But it's certainly there and you don't have to dig too deep to find it. Elamin: David, what do you think Rob Ford's legacy is? David: I think he was a first sign that a populist politician who had all kinds of baggage, who normally in normal-world politics of past decades wouldn't even be considered for office, can get elected. And part of it is that if they can lie with impunity, if they have no political shame and if the public is willing to let them get away with it — and in some cases even cheer it on — then that's an incredibly powerful political weapon. But it's dangerous for society because they think Rob Ford was the start of the fact-free universe, as far as current affairs and how we view each other, and to public policy, where the vibes about a politician are considered just as valid, or maybe more so, than what they've actually done. So I think he was an early warning signal. Although there are people who are flooding social media now saying, "He was the best mayor ever, and this documentary proves it." So it all depends on how you look at it, but he was definitely the start of that.
CBC
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Can Benson Boone maintain his chart-topping momentum?
Benson Boone's hit song, Beautiful Things, was the most popular song across all digital platforms in 2024. Last week, the rock tune charted for 72 consecutive weeks — tying it with Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You in the No. 8 slot on the list of longest ever charting singles. Boone's new album, American Heart, comes out on Friday. Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud asks music critics Carl Wilson, Rosie Long Decter and Vish Khanna if Boone can maintain his popularity streak. listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Elamin: Carl, how has Benson Boone managed to have the longevity that he's had? Because I don't feel like he's an artist who has that staying power, and yet the charts keep saying, "No, we can't get enough of this guy." Carl: I mean, the charts move in mysterious ways. But there's also the fact that in the streaming economy, there are things that haven't been figured out yet. And one of them is the ways that singles and albums have lingered in the charts for much longer periods of time than they used to, they open faster and they don't go away. And it's kind of success-breeds-success in this more intense way than it used to. And that, unfortunately, dampens down the dynamism of the charts and of the radio in some ways. Benson Boone — along with some other feel-good generic boy singers, like Teddy Swims and currently Alex Warren — is riding this wave of what works as both background music and music you can listen to. You know, he's this nice Mormon boy picking up, trying to do some glam moves and his unitards and his backflips and, God love him! But you look at the boys and go: "What's wrong here?" The dynamism of these personalities compared to all of the distinctive personas and ideas behind what young women in pop are doing right now, it brings us back to that question of like, "What's wrong with the men?" — that a lot of our culture brings up these days. Elamin: Rosie, the last time that you were on the show, you called Benson Boone one of your "belting boys."... When you look at your belting boys — and particularly Benson Boone — does he have what it takes to continue the momentum that he's had for the last little while? Rosie: Well, he's really trying. I think the reason you heard me come on this show before and have a bit of a soft spot for him was that I think Beautiful Things really has a hard-hitting chorus. I don't hate that song. His new direction, he's going a little poppier, he's moving out of kind of a rock mode. I think he's trying to have a broader appeal. I really am thinking of him as kind of like Harry Styles lite — which is saying something because Harry Styles is already pretty light. I think he's very entertaining. I don't know that he has a hook that's going to give him longevity. In the same way that Carl was saying, these boys on the pop charts, they are lacking the personality and the artistry of the women we're seeing on the pop charts. And that said, it can be easier for boys to stick around. They also face less scrutiny, I think. I don't think this album is about to hit as big as Beautiful Things, but that might still be enough for him to hang around on the charts and on the radio. And he might just be an ambient name that you're familiar with. Elamin: Vish, I got to say, your reaction was very dramatic, watching you listen to that new Benson Boone song [ Mystical Magical ].... It reminded me of the Pitchfork review of Benson Boon's Coachella performance. They wrote: "Benson Boone is horrible, just godawful, the kind of act that makes you wonder if this whole medium has been worth it." So, I think you guys might be in the same kind of territory here. Where do you land on the love-hate for Benson Boone? WATCH | Live performance of Mystical Magical on Saturday Night Live: Vish: One day I was in my office down here and I heard my son's bedroom door open, and I didn't see him, but I heard him say, "Hey papa, do you know Benson Boone is?" And I went, "Yeah, I heard the name, but not really, why?" And my son went, "He sucks." And I was like, "OK, thanks for the analysis of Benson Boone." I'm at an age where my 13-year-old son and my 10-year old daughter are my cultural barometers about popular culture. And then I watched the Grammys or Saturday Night Live, and I see this Benson Boone guy flipping around, and I think, "This guy's not going to make it." I mean, if I was a Benson Boone fan and I had tickets to a show on his tour, you know, 15 shows deep, I'd be like, "He's not making it. Like he's going to twist an ankle or break something and it's going to be over."
CBC
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Why are real, human TikTokers pretending to be AI?
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 noticed another, more curious trend gaining steam at the same time: real content creators pretending to be AI-generated on TikTok. Today on Commotion, Orland chats with host Elamin Abdelmahmoud about what made him take notice of this trend, why human content creators might want to pretend to be AI, and what it all means for our ability to parse out the truth online. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube (this segment begins at 17:17):
Globe and Mail
05-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
CBC shows off circus tricks and rescue pups, but no new dramas or comedies at 2025-26 upfront
Rescue dogs! Circus tricks! CBC put on a show about its upcoming 2025-26 season at its downtown Toronto headquarters on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the overall impression left by the live performance was not of a national public broadcaster reinvigorated after a brush with death by defunding, but an institution spinning its wheels, especially in terms of scripted entertainment. It's 'upfront' week in Toronto - with Corus and Rogers and Bell Media all showcasing shiny new wares to advertisers and the media. But unlike those private companies, the CBC didn't have any new English-language comedies or dramas for linear or streaming to announce. Instead, the public broadcaster enlisted radio personalities Tom Power and Elamin Abdelmahmoud to promote the mostly already revealed renewals of a strong TV comedy slate, diverse in style and substance, and a less inspiring drama lineup overloaded with procedural cop shows. Given that the CBC didn't have major news or interviews with talent for invited media - and there weren't many media buyers in attendance either - it was unclear what the two-hour dog-and-carnie show really was for. Mark Strong, who hosts a CBC podcast called Olympics FOMO, accurately described the atmosphere as 'very cubicle energy' when he came on stage and tried to hype up the staff-heavy audience about Milan-Cortina 2026. If it felt pro forma, that's because it was. 'The way the upfront game works in Canada, everybody does it in the same week, right?' said Barbara Williams, CBC's executive vice-president English services. 'That's just been historically how it's been done in Canada.' Any impression left, however, that the Crown corporation might have put the commissioning of new scripted work on pause as it awaited to find out its funding fate in the recent election would not be accurate, according to Williams and Sally Catto, general manager, entertainment, factual and sports, at CBC. 'We have green-lit more than a handful of dramas and comedies and would have loved to announce them today,' said Catto. 'Every show that we support now in the scripted realm needs a partner in order to complete its financing. So some of that is still in progress.' So, what was new, fully financed and ready to reveal? CBC has three short new docuseries coming up - all centring on Montreal-area stories. Running Smoke, a three-part docuseries about the Mohawk NASCAR driver Derek White and the biggest tobacco-smuggling bust in North American history, looks true-crime-adjacent and thrilling. But if a series about Quebec's Tupperware queen Maria Meriano (Diamonds & Plastic) or a behind-the-scenes look at a Cirque du Soleil touring show that's been around since 2016 (Cirque Life; hence the circus performer) are going to have any depth to them, it wasn't apparent in the trailers. Canadian comedian Jack Innanen pivots from social media to mainstream TV in new FX/Disney+ series Adults On the front of factual entertainment - that's exec-speak for reality TV - Must Love Dogs, in which CFL All-Star Brady Oliveira and influencer and ex-Bachelor contestant Alex Blumberg, find forever homes for Manitoba mutts (a couple were present and, admittedly, cute) seems like something the private sector could have covered. The Assembly, on the other hand, in which interviewers on the autistic spectrum have conversations with celebrities (based on an international format), was charming and moving in its sneak peak. CBC's returning comedy lineup was rightly front and centre - with the always entertaining Mark Critch perking up the crowd as he talked about the perennially popular Son of a Critch, Anna Lambe charming as she spoke about finding international fame starring in North of North, and an amped-up Jennifer Whalen and Meredith MacNeill selling Small Achievable Goals, their menopause-themed workplace comedy that will be given a second season to find its legs. If CBC is as proud of its dramas, it was less apparent as no stars were on hand from Heartland or its four case-of-the-week cop shows - Saint-Pierre, Wild Cards, Murdoch Mysteries and Allegiance. (SkyMed is not returning - or, at least, not on CBC.) CBC-watching Canadians looking for anything a little more prestige and less procedural in the drama department currently only have the six episodes of season three of the time-travel anthology drama Plan B to look forward to - a solid remake of a Radio-Canada show that nevertheless would, with the addition of English subtitles to the original, be redundant. Review: Jesse Armstrong's Mountainhead: Succession's successor sharply satirizes a new class of billionaire While Williams hailed Saint-Pierre for its bilingual elements, she also defended the supposedly cash-strapped CBC/Radio-Canada essentially making the same show twice at a time when subtitled drama like Shogun and Squid Game thrives (and when Bell Media's Crave is bilingual by design). The two solitudes are still mostly siloed off even as streaming has allowed for shows to easily cross linguistic barriers. 'Partly it's about whether we think our audiences are really going to be as likely to engage with the show if it's got subtitles,' said Williams. That the CBC struggles with allowing itself to find new ways of doing things was certainly another impression left by an upfront that ultimately could've been an email. 'We had to go this week with what we had,' Williams said. 'We would have been really happy to announce dramas and a couple of comedies today, trust me.'
