Though ancient Asian culture isn’t typically associated with the South Saskatchewan River, the sport of dragon boating is bringing some cultural spice to the shores of Saskatoon.

Catch-22, Joseph Heller’s magnificently subversive rumination on the madness of war, the evils of bureaucracy and the ineluctable absurdity of the human condition, is my favourite novel. I have read it a dozen times over, and it comes easily to hand whenever I find myself slouching about, opening books at random.

Students in Vancouver will have the opportunity to learn from animation’s best this fall, as Pixar is set to host a weekend seminar in the city.

Being a seven-piece funk, ska, jazz, instrumental hip-hop group will definitely turn a few heads on the indie paradise that is Saskatoon’s music scene — and that’s exactly what local band Sly Business has sought out to do since the band’s inception in fall of 2009.

After allowing the University of Saskatchewan Huskies a touchdown on opening possession, the University of Calgary Dinos struggled to halt the Huskies’ eventual 34-13 victory in the rain at McMahon stadium on Sept. 4 in Calgary.

This year saw a splash in the Canadian literary scene, as Yann Martel published Beatrice & Virgil, his first book since the Man-Booker prize-winning Life of Pi, which was released in 2002. In doing so, he was given an advance of $1 million: the highest fee ever paid for a Canadian novel.

As a huge fan of the Star Wars films, I’ve never really ventured into what is known as “The Expanded Universe” composed of books, comics and video games that accentuate and expand the Star Wars mythology. I recently took up a friend’s recommendation to look into the world of Star Wars comic books, starting with the Vector series.

With all the loud, idiosyncratic projects Julie Doiron has worked on in the past, it seems oddly natural for her to go back-to-the-basics and turn to her current project, Daniel, Fred & Julie, a stripped-down folksy affair with three-part harmonies sung over traditional ballads.