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This article focuses on the popularity of Canadian actress Rachel McAdams. While many actresses in her position would be living the high life in Hollywood, this 28-year-old has actually spent the past couple of months at home in Toronto, playing ultimate Frisbee in a recreational league. Despite her low-key Canadian existence, McAdams, who was raised in St. Thomas, Ont., is primed to be the most-watched actress of 2005, starting with Wedding Crashers (July 15), in which she plays the daughter of the U.S. treasury secretary (Christopher Walken) and love interest of a playboy. She's the lead in Red Eye (Aug. 19), a Wes Craven-directed hostage thriller, and portrays Keaton's daughter in the ensemble Thanksgiving holiday film The Family Stone. McAdams is Canada's only A-List big-screen actress, and she's just begun to bring home the Hollywood hardware -- even if for now it's only MTV Movie Awards. In The Notebook, she took what could have been a flat character in a schmaltzy movie and infused her performance with a rare combination of comic sweetness and smouldering intensity -- she and Ryan Gosling had real chemistry. Born on Oct. 7, 1976, the eldest of three to Sandra, a nurse, and Lance, a truck driver, McAdams starting figure skating at the age of four, and carried it on competitively until just before high school. In the summers, she took part in local children's theatre programs. While McAdams loved acting, she didn't think you could seriously study it -- let alone be hired to do it. She prefers to stay based in Canada and feels at home in her Toronto Queen Street West neighbourhood, where she has said her favourite haunts include Stones Place, a Rolling Stones memorabilia bar where she plays pool, Black Dog Video for Sex and the City tapes, and Oyster Boy, for the best fish and chips in town.

This article discusses how Canadian Sue Johanson became the darling of Letterman and the American media. Downstairs from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, Sue Johanson and Paul Shaffer trade names of northern Ontario landmarks while passing at the elevator. During this trip to New York, Johanson also visited Last Call with Carson Daly, CBS's Early Show and Live with Regis and Kelly. So the network asked Johanson to tape a second show each week, Talk Sex with Sue Johanson, for American callers only--the first ever U.S. phone-in show to be done live from Canada. As host of call-in sex shows in both Canada and the U.S., Sue Johanson has a pretty good idea of just how deluded we can be about sex. Source: Nocturnal Admissions (a book about Johanson's Canadian show) by R.J. Gulliver with Julie Smith and Sue Johanson (ECW Press). INSET: Sue's Top 10 Myths.

The article focuses on Ryan Malcolm who would like to see his face on the front of Maclean's. His CTV publicist mentions that all the TV guides in Canada will be putting Malcolm on the cover for World Idol--except Vancouver's TV Week, which is featuring American Idol's Kelly Clarkson. Malcolm does seem to be buckling under the pressure of instant celebrity and constant scrutiny. He isn't smiling, he looks anxious, and his stomach has been hurting for two weeks. Since his audition for Canadian Idol in April, his life has been one constant competition -- he triumphed over 16,000 singers at home, and now he faces 10 other victors abroad. On top of that, the Dec. 9 release of his debut CD, Home, has him fighting for a spot on the charts. INSET: The Would-Be World Idols And Their Odds.

Profiles several young Canadians who are already becoming successes in various fields. Runner Nicolas Macrozanris; Golfer Eom-Ji Park; Youth activists Crystal Procyshen and Kevin King; Farmer Greg Dietrich; Kayak guide Mikael Rioux; Scholars Laura Lucier and Jonathan Sick.

Reviews the Canadian television program "Hatching, Matching & Dispatching," starring Mary Walsh and Rick Boland, and how the show makes fun of Newfoundlanders.

This article profiles musician Kathleen Edwards and how an appearance on David Letterman's talk show in New York City has helped her become successful. After she did Letterman two years ago, Leno came calling. Around the same time, Rolling Stone named Edwards an artist to watch; later, the magazine featured her in a fashion spread. While it took that kind of U.S. attention to win her a following back home, she now has the support of this country, and especially of those who'd like to see a down-to-earth roots-rocker join the celebrity ranks of Avril, Alanis, Shania and Celine. After the release of Failer, her first album, Edwards spent two years touring, singing songs about loutish and disappointing men. All the while, she was falling in love with the guitarist standing to her left, Colin Cripps. Edwards concedes she still doesn't have many friends in Toronto, but she's adjusting. She and Cripps got married in the summer and spent their honeymoon in the studio recording her second album Back To Me.

This article discusses the popularity of the Highland Gardens Hotel in Hollywood, California among young Canadian actors. He's referring to the stream of young Canadian actors who come to Hollywood from January to April each year to audition for TV pilot season, and who have developed a community at this hotel -- a 1950s, dusty rose-coloured, two-level, apartment-style complex with a sordid history. In fact, Janis Joplin overdosed and died in Room 105, on Oct. 4, 1970. For the Canadian actors, the reality of the place is usually more prosaic -- and unsavoury. But you can't beat the location, minutes away from the showbiz nexus of Hollywood and Vine, or the summer camp-like atmosphere. For years, word has circulated in Canada that if you're going for pilot season you should stay at the Gardens. Fascinated by this mix, Highland Gardens roommates Markle, 33, and Hirsh, 32, have filmed pilot season at this surreal oasis for a documentary they call Camp Hollywood. For Balaban, pilot season is more vacation than stressful career-maker -- and it's a chance to collect stories.

The author profiles Sarah Harmer who played an afternoon gig in Austin, Texas. After Harmer's set, a very sure-of-himself record store owner gave the red-headed beauty his card and told her, in a somewhat patronizing manner, to e-mail him when she comes through Wisconsin. Considering Harmer's 2000 solo debut album, You Were Here, had healthy sales in the U.S., she doesn't exactly need that kind of grassroots support. She was gracious nonetheless. That afternoon the 33-year-old singer proved irresistible -- her pretty songs, impressive musicianship and striking good looks went down well with the non-fat soy lattes. The night before, she had completely transfixed a jaded rock audience, playing songs from her new disc, All of Our Names, at Austin's South by Southwest music festival. She's got an edge, an indie cred that distinguishes her from Sarah McLachlan and all those other women who don't rock found on Women & Songs CD compilations. When she was in high school, living outside of Burlington, Ont., with her farmer father, Clem, and teacher mother, Isabelle, Harmer joined the Toronto roots rock band, the Saddletramps. Harmer and her boyfriend of two years, Martin Kinack -- who lives in Toronto and does sound for the acts Broken Social Scene and Hayden -- set up a studio in her house and produced the new CD themselves.

The article profiles Canadian Kalan Porter and his victory on "Canadian Idol". About an hour after being crowned the new Canadian Idol, Kalan Porter is in the bathroom attached to his dressing room, getting ready for the after-party--already in full swing at a downtown Toronto nightclub. After winning the second Canadian Idol title over Saskatoon jazzy singer Theresa Sokyrka, the shy but remarkably composed Medicine Hat, Alta., native has spent the last hour talking to the press, signing a recording contract with BMG and making the rounds backstage, shaking hands or sharing a hug with every behind-the-scenes person. Impossibly sweet and angel-faced, he's the kind of guy people want to take care of. Yet he's more comfortable doing things for himself Porter is the son of a cattle rancher father, Rick, and a stay-at-home mom, Janet, and is the oldest of three. Classically trained in piano, violin, viola and voice, he played in various ensembles, including an orchestra and his family's own rock band. INSET: WHY I GOT IDOLATROUS.

The article focuses on Sarah McLachlan in light of a promotional appearance in Toronto for her new CD, Afterglow. The Halifax-born singer-songwriter likes to say she lives in a bubble--starting back in 1987 when, at the age of 19, she was signed to a five-record deal with Vancouver-based Nettwerk and was whisked off to the West Coast. After the last Lilith show and exhausted from the rigours of three years of touring, McLachlan went on hiatus, resting, travelling and establishing a music education program for Vancouver children. Walking into a radio station, with only minutes to spare before a live performance, she sits down at the piano with no fuss, does a split-second sound check, then knocks off her new single, Fallen, as well as Angel, achieving instant emotional depth with her well-rested voice. In between appearances she rushes back to the hotel for time with her daughter, India, who travels with a nanny.

This article focuses on Canadian-born actress Elisha Cuthbert and Sean Avery of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Los Angeles Kings and their relationship. Cuthbert, a popular Maxim cover girl, is hockey's sexiest super-fan -- a puck bunny with a blog. Avery has made a reputation for his moronic behavior on the ice and comments about other players. Cuthbert may be a good actress -- she got her start as a host of Canada's Popular Mechanics for Kids at age 15, won a Gemini for playing a gambling addict in the TV movie, "Lucky Girl," and made a better-than-average teen movie "The Girl Next Door," but her TV character in "24" became unintentionally laughable. Cuthbert's blog may be light and fluffy, but she brings some needed celebrity enthusiasm to the NHL.

Focuses on the musical group The New Pornographers. Description of the band, who will release their new album "Twin Cinema," on August 23, 2005.

Focuses on Canadian actors Jonas Chernick and Liane Balaban, who both appear in the film "7 Times Lucky." Description of their life together in and how they met; Way that they are compatible; Plot of the film.

This article focuses on the creation of a list of the 10 Greatest Canadians by the CBC. In this Top-10-obsessed world, the CBC has come up with the mother of all lists. Actually, first came a very debatable list of 50--nominated by viewers. MuchMusic VJ George Stroumboulopoulos hit the Prairie roads in vintage cars, expounding on the rebelliousness of Tommy Douglas, and former MP Deborah Grey officiated a kids' street-hockey game while gushing over Wayne Gretzky. Over the next five weeks, a case will be made for each of the following: Don Cherry, Sir John A. Macdonald, Terry Fox, Dr. Frederick Banting, Lester B. Pearson, Alexander Graham Bell, David Suzuki and Pierre Trudeau. Unless you're turned off by the fact that a hockey commentator made this list, which is void of women and natives.

This article looks at actress Jessica Paré. Jessica Paré has some concerns about moving to L.A. to star in the WB series, Jack and Bobby, about two brothers, one of whom is destined to be president. On the WB, all the other chicks are really, really small. She needn't make excuses. Par& eacute;'s got plenty of Canadian projects on the go, including the fall miniseries Lives of the Saints (CTV) with Sophia Loren. And on June 27, she stars in CTV's The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton--about the 1985 slaying of the retail heiress.

This is an article that profiles the musical group Broken Social Scene. When Drew's wife, Joanne Goldsmith, shows up at Toronto's Drake Hotel--where the group is prepping for two sold-out charity shows--Charles Spearin (trumpet/guitar/bass) takes her into a corner for a quick lesson. And when she joins them onstage that night for a song, the whole band's beaming. The Toronto collective combines Drew's and Brendan Canning's musically inclined friends, all in their mid-20s to mid-30s--and past the hard-living, self-involved phase of rock' n' roll. Usually such sincerity doesn't play well in the cynical indie music world, but when Broken Social Scene released its Juno Award-winning CD, You Forgot It in People (2002), critics responded effusively to the unironic, atmospheric pop/rock--and audiences followed.There's a touring core of six, while others, including three female singers, Leslie Feist, Emily Haines and Amy Millan, move in and out when convenient.

Reviews the music release "Fefe Dobson," by Fefe Dobson.

The article profiles Canadian Kelly Rowan, an actress on the television program, The O.C., the TV drama about Orange County, California on CTV/Fox. The Ottawa-born, Toronto-raised actress has always kept busy with theatre, TV and film work, but this role is her choicest gig to date.

This article profiles Canadian film and television actor, Luke Kirby. Kirby has his nose in his teacup at a Toronto caf&eacute. And Kirby would know: while in high school, he worked as a dishwasher at a fancy restaurant in Guelph, Ont. He's the star of the hit movie "Mambo Italiano," and is part of the ensemble cast of "Slings and Arrows," a wickedly smart and funny miniseries about a Shakespearean theatre festival that also features Paul Gross, Mark McKinney, Sean Cullen and Don McKellar (it premieres on The Movie Network and Movie Central on Nov. 3). In "Slings and Arrows," Kirby is Jack Crew, an action-movie star in the U.S. (think Keanu Reeves) who comes to small-town Ontario to play Hamlet at the New Burbage Festival (think Stratford). Then there's that distinctly Canadian movie he stars in about a Montreal immigrant family coming to terms with their son's homosexuality.

Scott Speedman graduated from teen television -- only to do next to nothing in two fall movies. In Underworld (opening Sept. 19), the London-born, Toronto-raised, L.A.-based actor plays a medical intern/werewolf. And in My Life Without Me, a low-budget Canada-Spain co-production (opening Oct. 10), he's the sweet-as-pie husband who stays at home with the kids while his terminally ill wife (Sarah Polley) falls in love with another man (Mark Ruffalo). In both films, Speedman delivers superb supporting performances. But they're still just supporting performances. And now the actor, who's picky about parts, doesn't have any work lined up.

Reviews two music recordings. "Tales From the Invisible Man," from Danny Michel, which includes the song, "When I Get Out"; "Action Pact," from Sloan, which includes the single, "The Rest of My Life.".

When Vancouver director Guy Bennett wrote a script about a single father and his teenage daughter, he gave it to his own 18-year-old daughter, Sonja, to read. The film, 'Punch,' about an unhealthily close and bordering-on-creepy father-daughter relationship, took years to make. All the while, Sonja was taking theatre gigs in Vancouver. Her performance drew the attention of executives at Fox Broadcasting Co., who are currently auditioning her for TV pilots. With Punch opening in Canada this week, Guy, 43, and Sonja are fielding questions about their relationship.

Focuses on the accomplishments of Canadians as of May 20, 2002. Audit by Sheila Fraser; Suggestion of Liberal Member of Parliament Dan McTeague that Fraser is starting a so-called witch hunt; Admission of Lucienne Robillard that a federal job classification scheme will not work.

Presents opinions about Canadians in current events as of March 4, 2002. Praise of hockey player Wayne Gretzky and Finance Minister Paul Martin; Criticism of Defense Minister Art Eggleton, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and others.

Offers news briefs related to Canadians as of March 12, 2001. Death of author L.R. Wright; Death of criminal defense lawyer Goldwyn Arthur Martin; Admittance of actor Matthew Perry to a drug-rehabilitation clinic; Death of Liberal Senator Gildas Molgat.

Presents three briefs on people in Canada. The theatre show called 'Late Nite Catechism' in Montreal, Quebec, by Maripat Donovan; Activities of musician, actor and philanthropist Tom Jackson; Information on the book 'Swing Low: A Life' by Miriam Toews.

Presents news briefs related to Canadian citizens as of July 31, 2000. How Air Canada removed an elderly lady who would not sit next to a bathroom; Speculation of Air Canada pilots going on strike; Photos of Pamela Anderson; Advertisement by Molson beer featuring an American band; Others.

Focuses on Canadians who have been honored or ignored by the Academy Awards. Best supporting actor awards won by Harold Russell and Walter Huston; Details of nominations of films directed by Norman Jewison, including 'The Hurricane,' and his failure to win best director honors; Controversy surrounding the nominations of Mary Pickford and Jennifer Tilly.