Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud

One of the fundamental tenets of independence movements is that you need a distinct culture if you’re going to have a nation. So what makes Alberta culture distinct – and how are people in both camps using culture to persuade Albertans to vote to leave, or stay in Canada? Elamin Abdelmahmoud is joined by strategist Zain Velji and singer songwriter Mariel Buckley to discuss.

With the release of the new HBO docuseries ‘Jay-Z in 8,’ Elamin is joined by culture critics Jay Smooth and Shamira Ibrahim to discuss the deep dive into the lyrics and director Rick Rubin’s approach to unpacking Jay-Z’s musical legacy.

Plus, from 'Night of the Living Dead' to 'Resident Evil,' zombies have endured in the public imagination for decades. But what if we’ve been getting the undead all wrong? A new documentary, 'Black Zombie,' traces their history back to the Haitian Revolution, breaking down how Hollywood co-opted a spiritual figure to produce a racist trope. Director Maya Annik Bedward joins Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about her film, 'Black Zombie,' and why zombies aren’t the monsters American cinema says they are.

Aaron Sorkin is back with another film about Facebook. While he says The Social Reckoning isn’t a sequel to the 2010 hit film The Social Network, it’s hard not to compare the two movies and look at how they reflect our changing relationship with Mark Zuckerberg and Meta. Critics Fran Hoepfner Radheyan Simonpillai, and public policy expert Vass Bednar chat with Elamin Abdelmahmoud about the new movie, and how it handles the current moment we’re in with big tech.

Music journalists Liisa Ladoucuer and Emilie Hanskamp and CBC art critic Charlene K. Lau discuss the new Art Gallery of Ontario exhibit showcasing the ‘90s-era photos of Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, and how it captures the final days of a pre-digital culture that no longer exists.

Music journalist Annie Zaleski, pop critic Sandra Mills, and film critic Kaiya Shunyata join the Group Chat to dig into Netflix’s Newfoundland-set thriller ‘Below’ and Prime Video’s new adaptation of the Stephen King classic ‘Carrie.’ Also, they remember the late Canadian singer and songwriter, Sass Jordan and the blueprint she set for women in rock music.