Spotlight: Your Weekly Round-Up of Zoomer Arts and Culture News

Mike Crisolago | January 18th, 2013

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Believe it or not, stuff other than Lance Armstrong’s chat with Oprah happened in the last week.

Belated Baby News

The news is being released now, but pop legend Elton John and Toronto-born hubby David Furnish reportedly welcomed their second child into the world last Friday. According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John was born, “weighing 8lb 4oz and is named after Sir Elton’s 1973 No 1 hit (Daniel).”

The privacy surrounding little Elijah’s birth is refreshing in a world where celebrity newborns are routinely spun into exclusive million-dollar photo deals and tabloid headlines.

Of course, being Elton John’s child does tend to bring some attention. Elijah was likely the only baby in the nursery wearing a sequined onesie and platforms on his baby booties.

NEXT: Slow Down For Cirque?

Slow Down For Cirque?

Despite the massive success of shows such as Amaluna, Michael Jackson: the Immortal World Tour, Love, and others, Cirque du Soleil may be about to announce up to 600 layoffs. Citing the fact that many believe the Quebec-based touring company may have “spread itself too thin with nearly two dozen shows at one point,” the Toronto Star’s Richard Ouzounian writes, “it’s also obvious the never-ending pattern of growth, which Cirque had enjoyed since its humble beginnings … may finally have slowed down.”

NEXT: Awards Re-cap

Awards Re-Cap

The road to the Oscars is paved with Golden Globes and a slew of other award announcements and nominations.

Last Sunday it was the Golden Globes, highlighted by a slew of boomer winners, a cryptic Jodie Foster speech, a fantastic hosting performance from the duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and a near-shut out of award season favourite Lincoln.

Then, on Tuesday, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (ACCT) announced the nominees for the shiny new Canadian Screen Awards – replacing the now-history Genie and Gemini Awards. Oscar-nominated Quebec movie Rebelle leads the film nominations with 12, while recently ended cop drama Flashpoint leads television nominees with 10 nods.

NEXT: Co-star Mourns Passing Of Diff’rent Strokes Dad

Co-star Mourns Passing Of Diff’rent Strokes Dad

Actor Todd Bridges, 47, told The Hollywood Reporter that, “This is probably one of the most heart-wrenching days I’ve had in a long time,” after hearing news of the passing of his Diff’rent Strokes co-star, Canadian actor Conrad Bain, who died last Monday of natural causes at age 89.

Born in Alberta, Bain enjoyed a successful career on the stage but is best known for playing Phillip Drummond, a white, mega-rich Manhattanite who adopts two African-American boys (Bridges and actor Gary Coleman) on the hit NBC sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, which aired for eight seasons between 1978 and 1985.

“Whenever I needed advice, I’d call Conrad,” Bridges, whose troubles, including drug addiction, have been highly publicized over the years, continued. “When I had my son, I took him to Conrad’s house and he loved him, played chess with him, called him his grandson. He just really knew how to take care of people.”

NEXT: Off With Their Heads!

Off With Their Heads!

Monaco’s royal family is not amused. Specifically, Prince Albert II and his sisters who, the BBC reports, have a bone to pick with the producers of a film about their late mother, Princess Grace. The British news agency says the palace claims the film, Grace of Monaco, which stars Nicole Kidman in the title role, contains “major historical untruths and a series of purely fictional scenes … The Princely family wishes to emphasize that this film is by no means a biopic.”

It seems part of the problem stems from the fact that the royal family saw the script and suggested revisions to, you know, more closely reflect the truth. The report says they “were not all taken into consideration.”

For their part, the producers say they did consider most of the changes, and that the film is not meant to be a true story. So, it’s a fictional story about real people and a real nation during a real period of their lives. Makes sense, right?

Opening in Movie Theatres This Weekend

The Dustin Hoffman-directed Quartet, a comedy set in a home for retired opera singers and musicians starring Maggie Smith and Billy Connelly, debuts. As well, the film adaptation of the Jack Kerouac classic On the Road, technically in the making since filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights to it in 1979, hits theaters 34-years-later.

Meanwhile, Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe team up to expose an adulterous Catherine Zeta-Jones in Broken City. Jessica Chastain stars in the horror Mama, clearly made before her Hollywood star rose to the next level with the success of Zero Dark Thirty, and Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to action flicks with The Last Stand.