Michael Bublé lands gig as Juno Awards host

Crooner Michael Bublé is returning to the Juno Awards stage, this time to host the annual Canadian music awards gala.

The Burnaby, B.C. singer will emcee the upcoming awards on April 21 at the Brandt Centre in Regina, organizers announced Sunday night.

Bublé has sold about 30 million albums worldwide and is a multiple Grammy and Juno-winner. His most recent Juno win came in 2012, when his Christmas album captured the album of the year title.

"It's a huge honour to be the host of a show that has done so much for Canadian talent, including myself," Bublé, 37, said in a statement.

"I am going to do my very best to make it a great night."

Aside from his singing career, the singer does have some performing experience: in the past, he's hosted network TV specials during the holiday season and also appeared on Saturday Night Live in comedy sketches poking fun of himself and his music.

Juno organizers typically enlist top singers, comedians or actors to serve as host. Recent picks have included veteran actor William Shatner and rapper Drake.

This year's nominees will be announced on Feb. 19.

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Affleck's Argo wins Directors Guild top honour

Ben Affleck has won the top film honour from the Directors Guild of America for his CIA thriller Argo, further sealing its status as best-picture front-runner at the Academy Awards.

Saturday's prize also normally would make Affleck a near shoo-in to win best-director at the Feb. 24 Oscars, since the Directors Guild recipient nearly always goes on to claim the same prize at Hollywood's biggest night.

But Affleck surprisingly missed out on an Oscar directing nomination, along with several other key favourites, including fellow Directors Guild contenders Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty and Tom Hooper for Les Miserables.

Affleck's Oscar snub has not hurt Argo and may even have earned it some favour among awards voters as an underdog favourite. Argo has dominated other awards since the Oscar nominations.

"I don't think that this makes me a real director, but I think it means I'm on my way," said Affleck, who won for just his third film behind the camera.

The Directors Guild honours continued Hollywood's strange awards season, which could culminate with a big Oscar win for Affleck's Argo. The guild's prize for best director typically is a final blessing for the film that goes on to win best-picture and director at the Oscars.

Affleck can go only one-for-two at the Oscars, though. While Argo is up for best picture, the director's branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences overlooked him for a directing slot.

Film a 'little bit underdog'

Backstage at the Directors Guild honours, Affleck said he had nothing but respect for the academy and that "you're not entitled to anything."

"I'm thrilled and honoured that the academy nominated me as a producer of the movie," Affleck said. "I know our movie, we're a little bit underdog and a little bit the little engine that could, and you take me out of it maybe helps ... it's just about that picture. I feel like it's OK, I'm really lucky, I'm in a good place."

With 12 Oscar nominations, Steven Spielberg's Civil War saga Lincoln initially looked like the Oscar favourite over such other potential favourites as Argo, Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty, since films generally have little chance of winning best picture if they are not nominated for best director. Only three films have done it in 84 years, most recently 1989's best-picture champ Driving Miss Daisy, which failed to earn a directing nomination for Bruce Beresford.

But Affleck's Argo, in which he also stars as a CIA operative who hatches a bold plan to rescue six Americans during the hostage crisis in Iran, has swept up all the major awards since the Oscar nominations. Argo won best drama and director at the Golden Globes and top film honours from the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America.

Many of the same film professionals who vote in guild awards also cast ballots for the Oscars, so all the wins for Argo are a strong sign that the film has the inside track for best picture.

Milos Forman, a two-time Directors Guild and Oscar winner for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, received the group's lifetime-achievement award. Guild President Taylor Hackford let the crowd in a toast to Forman, who was ill and unable to attend.

Malik Bendjelloul won the guild's documentary award for Searching for Sugar Man, his study of the fate of critically acclaimed but obscure 1970s singer-songwriter Rodriquez. The film also is nominated for best documentary at the Oscars.

TV drama about Sarah Palin honoured

Jay Roach won the guild trophy for TV movies and miniseries for Game Change, his drama starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in her 2008 vice-presidential run.

Roach said that he watched John McCain rush to choose Palin as his running-mate, potentially putting her second in line for the presidency.

"I said, 'We gotta talk about this,"' Roach joked.

Girls star Lena Dunham earned the guild honour for TV comedy, while Rian Johnson won for drama series for Breaking Bad.

Dunham won for directing the pilot of Girls, which focuses on the lives of a group of women in their 20s.

"It is such an unbelievable honour to be in the company of the people in this room, who have made me want to do this with my life," Dunham said.

Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel, Amores Perros) won for best commercial for a Procter and Gamble spot he directed.

Among other TV winners:

• Reality program: Brian Smith, Master Chef.
• Musical variety: Glenn Weiss, The 66th Annual Tony Awards.
• Daytime serial: Jill Mitwell, One Life to Live.
• Children's program: Paul Hoen, Let It Shine.

Affleck's win Saturday nicks the Directors Guild record as a strong forecast for the eventual directing recipient at the Oscars. Only six times in the 64-year history of the guild awards has the winner there failed to follow up with an Oscar. This will be the seventh, since Affleck is not up for the best-director Oscar.

Peer loyalty might play in Affleck's favour at the Oscars. The acting branch in particular, the largest block of the academy's 5,900 members, might really throw its weight behind Argo because of Affleck's directing snub. Actors love it when one of their own moves into a successful directing career, and Affleck — who's rarely earned raves for his dramatic chops — also delivers one of his best performances in Argo.

Affleck has had no traction in acting honours this season, and he's joked that no one considered it a snub when he wasn't nominated for best actor. So a best-picture vote for Argo might be viewed as making right his omission from the directing lineup and acknowledging what a double-threat talent he's become in front of and behind the camera.

A best-picture prize also would send Affleck home with an Oscar. The award would go to the producers of Argo: George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Affleck.

But it's not as though Affleck has never gotten his due at Hollywood awards before. He and Matt Damon jump-started their careers with 1997's Good Will Hunting, for which they shared a screenplay Oscar.

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Beyoncé electrifies at Super Bowl halftime

If naysayers still doubted Beyoncé's singing talents — even after her national anthem performance last week at a press conference — the singer proved she is an exceptional performer at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Beyoncé opened and closed her set Sunday belting out songs, and in between, she danced hard and heavy — and better than most contemporary pop stars.

She set a serious tone as she emerged onstage in all black, singing lines from her R&B hit Love on Top. The stage was dark as fire and lights burst from the sides. Then she went into her hit Crazy in Love, bringing some feminine spirit to the Superdome in New Orleans as she and her background dancers did the singer's signature booty-shaking dance. Beyoncé ripped off part of her shirt and skirt. She even blew a kiss. She was ready to rock, and she did so like a pro.

Her confidence — and voice — grew as she worked the stage with and without her Destiny's Child band mates during her 13-minute set, which came days after she admitted she sang to a prerecorded track at President Barack Obama's inauguration less than two weeks ago.

Beyoncé proved not only that she can sing, but that she can also entertain on a stage as big as the Super Bowl's. The 31-year-old was far better than Madonna, who sang to a backing track last year, and miles ahead of the Black Eyed Peas' disastrous set in 2011.

Beyoncé was best when she finished her set with Halo. She asked the crowd to put their hands toward her as she sang the slow groove on bended knee — and that's when the performance hit its high note.

"Thank you for this moment," she told the crowd. "God bless y'all."

Elaborate choreography

Her background singers helped out as Beyoncé danced around the stage throughout most of her performance. There was a backing track to help fill in when Beyoncé wasn't singing, and there were long stretches when she let it play as she performed elaborate dance moves.

She had a swarm of background dancers and band members spread throughout the stage, along with videotaped images of the singer dancing that may have unintentionally played on the live-or-taped question. And the crowd got bigger when she was joined by her Destiny's Child band mates.

Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams popped up from below the stage to sing Bootylicious. They were in similar outfits, singing and dancing closely as they harmonized. But Rowland and Williams were barely heard when the group sang Independent Woman, as their voices faded into the background.

They also joined in for some of Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), where Beyoncé's voice grew stronger. That song featured Beyoncé's skilled choreography, as did End of Time and Baby Boy, which also showcased her all-female band, balancing out the testosterone levels on the football field.

Keys, Hudson's pre-game performances

Before the game, Alicia Keys performed a lounge-y, piano-tinged version of the national anthem that her publicist assured was live. The Grammy-winning singer played the piano as she sang The Star-Spangled Banner in a long red dress with her eyes shut.

She followed Jennifer Hudson, who sang America the Beautiful with the 26-member Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus. It was an emotional performance that had some players on the sideline on the verge of tears. Hudson also sang live, her publicist said.

The students wore green ribbons on their shirts in honour of the 20 first-graders and six adults who were killed in a Dec. 14 shooting rampage at the school in Newtown, Conn.

The students began the song softly before Hudson, whose mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death five years ago, jumped in with her gospel-flavoured vocals. She stood still in black and white as the students moved to the left and right, singing background.

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Timmins closes Shania Twain centre

A failed tourist attraction in Timmins is set to become the gold mine the city always hoped for.

The Shania Twain Centre permanently shut its doors Friday.

International gold miner Goldcorp will officially acquire the property in June. The company plans to demolish the structure to make it part of a massive open-pit gold mine.

City councillors decided several weeks ago the center was too big a money pit to keep subsidizing.

About $4 million in tax dollars went toward building the failed tourist attraction just 12 years ago.

The centre has racked up more than $1 million in operating deficits in the years since.

'Should have taken a better look at the numbers'

Grant applications to the Ontario and federal governments in the 1990s projected annual attendance of 50,000 tourists by 2005. But the sleek, modern structure, featuring displays of Twain memorabilia — along with gold-mining artifacts — has drawn no more than 15,000 people in any year.

The now-47-year-old singer, who grew up poor in Timmins, got her fledgling start singing in local bars before striking it rich on the world stage in 1995.

In the end, every resident of the century-old mining town of 47,000 was shelling out $7 a year just to keep the lights on. And by 2010, each visitor to the centre was being subsidized to the tune of $33.72.

It was supposed to be the other way around, with the centre generating enough revenue to at least break even — that would require about 33,500 paying visitors annually — while filling local hotels and restaurants with tourists.

"We probably should have taken a better look at the numbers to ensure the expectations could be met," Mayor Tom Laughren said of the planning that happened long before he took office.

The Shania Twain Centre was built to celebrate Twain, her successes and her growth from young artist in Timmins to international superstar, according to the centre's website. (shaniatwaincentre.com)

Sold for half of construction costs

A 2011 financial analysis showed that Timmins city council faced continuing operating deficits of at least $233,000 a year, no matter what future business plan it chose, whether expansion or scaling back.

So council last month announced a deal to sell the property to mining firm Goldcorp Inc. for $5 million, just half of the tax dollars spent for construction.

Goldcorp, which will officially acquire the property June 28, plans to demolish the structure to make the gold-seeded land underneath part of a massive open-pit mine being developed adjacent to the town.

Recent media reports have suggested the centre cost as little as $3.7 million to build. But a May 2011 analysis by PKF Consulting Inc. in Toronto says the figure was actually about $10 million for all construction, including the building, site development and upgrades to the co-located gold-mine tour attraction.

The entire 65-acre site is to be razed, including the gold-mine tour facilities, and added to Vancouver-based Goldcorp's planned open pit.

Clearing out the gift shop

For the last week, local residents have been picking over merchandise at the gift shop, offered for up to 75 per cent off, including hockey jerseys emblazoned "STC." The sale was expected to bring in at least $25,000.

The sad end of the once-bright hopes for the centre began last May, when Twain's management company repatriated most of her memorabilia — including an entire tour bus — to Las Vegas, where the singer now has a regular show.

The city dropped the $9 adult admission fee to the Twain exhibits last summer, in recognition that only few items were left to see, including four dresses.

Municipal officials said Shania Twain and her management company, Maple Leaf Productions, were highly supportive of the centre over the years, and they lay no blame at her feet.

Instead, the city's tourism manager says passion trumped reason when planning took place in the late 1990s, with provincial and federal funding agencies buying in.

Canadian country singer Shania Twain signs autographs after unveiling her star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California in 2011. Twain's management company repatriated most of her memorabilia from the Shania Twain Centre in Timmins — including an entire tour bus — to Las Vegas, where the singer now has a regular show. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni )

Lack of local support

"The projections were extremely ambitious," said Guy Lamarche of discussions that happened before his time in the job.

"When people come forward to support projects, and bring a huge passion to projects, sometimes things get skewed. And, in this case, the projections never materialized — they were way off."

Mayor Laughren cites a series of problems for the failure of the centre, but calls the lack of local support by Timmins citizens a big factor.

Lamarche put it this way:

"The old adage 'build it and they will come'? Forget it. If you build it, you better be prepared to market it."

The city plans to place remaining Twain memorabilia and mining artifacts on display around the community, including the airport, library and even street corners.

Claims on sale proceeds

But the fate of the $5 million in proceeds from the coming property sale is not yet clear. The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp., a provincial agency, paid $5 million into the construction project under an agreement with the city that runs until March 31, 2018.

The NOHFC gave prior written permission for the sale to Goldcorp "with conditions relating to the earnings from the sale," said Julia Bennett, spokeswoman for Ontario's Ministry of Northern Development and Mines.

She did not spell out the conditions, but said "negotiations are underway to determine the next steps to get the best use of taxpayer dollars for growth in the north."

FedNor, the federal investment fund for Northern Ontario, provided $500,000 for the construction in a contribution agreement that expired in 2002. A spokesman said the agency has no claim on the sale proceeds.

With files from the Canadian Press

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Jackie Chan named to Chinese government advisory board

Action star Jackie Chan, 2012 Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan , and other prominent Chinese cultural figures have been appointed to a top political advisory body by the Chinese government.

According to Chinese media, government officials have unveiled a fresh list of national-level delegates named to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory group that meets at the same time as the National People's Congress in March. Delegates typically serve a four-year term.

The appointment of the 58-year-old Chan comes after the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon star has been making headlines for his nationalistic comments supporting China's Communist Party leadership.

Speaking about the global financial crisis to a Chinese TV station earlier this month, he described the U.S. as the world's "most corrupt country" and said China had long been bullied by international powers.

In December, he angered residents of Hong Kong when he told a mainland Chinese media outlet that the city's government should place limits on protests. His statements were in response to street demonstrations against mainland intrusion into the affairs of Hong Kong, which is a special economic region of China that maintains its own legal and economic systems.

According to Chinese figures, Chan's latest movie CZ12 (alternately known as Chinese Zodiac) was China's fifth-highest grossing movie of 2012. Expected to open in international markets in 2013, the adventure tale tracks a treasure hunter's quest to retrieve the 12 rare Chinese zodiac sculptures European soldiers looted from the old Summer Palace outside of Beijing during the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century.

Chan has said the film — in which he stars and also holds directing, writing and producing credits — will be his last major action movie. He called it the best role he's played in the past 10 years.

Along with Chan and Mo, new national committee members include award-winning director Chen Kaige, comedian Zhao Benshan, TV anchor Bai Yansong and a variety of representatives from the corporate world.

Actor-director Stephen Chow, best known for his cult hit Kung Fu Hustle, was among new names joining the state-level advisory board in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The appointment of famous figures to political posts has sparked heated discussion in editorials and on Chinese social media, with commenters noting the spotty attendance records of and lack of concrete contributions by show business and athletic world delegates to the CPPCC in the past.

Delegates named to the CPPCC can be recommended for the post by various groups or be invited by the body's standing committee. Candidates who accept the role must be considered representatives of his or her industry.

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Bolshoi ballerina says feud behind relocation to Canada

For Bolshoi ballerina Svetlana Lunkina, Canada represents a new beginning after she and her family began receiving threats in her native Russia, which she says stem from a feud between her husband and his former business partner.

The 33-year-old prima ballerina spoke to reporters in Toronto Friday to shed light on her relocation to Canada following threats she received at home in Moscow.

News of her move emerged after an acid attack against Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin earlier this month. The renowned Bolshoi has been mired in controversy about favouritism and power struggles in recent years, changing leadership multiple times over the past decade.

Speaking through interpreter Olga Berg on Friday, Lunkina said her decision had nothing to do with the attack against Filin.

Bolshoi ballerina Svetlana Lunkina, right, is seen performing with Dmitri Gudanov in London in 2006. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images)

Instead, she said she feels she can't go back to Russia because of the feud between her husband, producer Vladislav Moskalev, and his former business partner, performer Vladimir Vinokur, over a failed movie project. Vinokur has denounced Moskalev to Russian media.

Though the spat does not involve her, Lunkina said she began to fear for her life after she and her family received threatening calls and letters from Vinokur. Her Facebook and email accounts were also hacked, she added, and defamatory letters about her sent to top ballet companies around the world.

Known for her interpretation of ballet classics like Giselle, the renowned dancer said there had been no conflict between her and Bolshoi artistic director Filin, with whom she said she has a good relationship. In fact, he had urged her to stay when she asked for special leave because of the threats, Lunkina noted.

Officially, she will remain on leave from the Bolshoi "for family reasons" until the end of summer, at which point she will decide her plans for the future.

At 'home' in Canada

On Friday, Lunkina said she isn't ruling out applying for a post at the National Ballet of Canada, where artistic director Karen Kain has allowed her to take classes with the company, a courtesy typically offered to visiting dancers. She added that she is also entertaining offers from other companies, though declined to say which ones.

This is where home is, Lunkina told reporters.

The dancer said she's a permanent resident in Canada, where she and her family have spent much time over the past decade and both her 9-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter were born here.

Most recently, she has been in Canada for about six months and has joined Toronto's Dance Teq studio for a teaching stint. Lunkina and her husband have also registered a dance company under her name in Kleinberg, Ont., where the family lives.

With files from Zulekha Nathoo, Sian Jones and Deana Sumanac

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Affleck's Argo wins Directors Guild top honour

Ben Affleck has won the top film honour from the Directors Guild of America for his CIA thriller Argo, further sealing its status as best-picture front-runner at the Academy Awards.

Saturday's prize also normally would make Affleck a near shoo-in to win best-director at the Feb. 24 Oscars, since the Directors Guild recipient nearly always goes on to claim the same prize at Hollywood's biggest night.

But Affleck surprisingly missed out on an Oscar directing nomination, along with several other key favourites, including fellow Directors Guild contenders Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty and Tom Hooper for Les Miserables.

Affleck's Oscar snub has not hurt Argo and may even have earned it some favour among awards voters as an underdog favourite. Argo has dominated other awards since the Oscar nominations.

"I don't think that this makes me a real director, but I think it means I'm on my way," said Affleck, who won for just his third film behind the camera.

The Directors Guild honours continued Hollywood's strange awards season, which could culminate with a big Oscar win for Affleck's Argo. The guild's prize for best director typically is a final blessing for the film that goes on to win best-picture and director at the Oscars.

Affleck can go only one-for-two at the Oscars, though. While Argo is up for best picture, the director's branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences overlooked him for a directing slot.

Film a 'little bit underdog'

Backstage at the Directors Guild honours, Affleck said he had nothing but respect for the academy and that "you're not entitled to anything."

"I'm thrilled and honoured that the academy nominated me as a producer of the movie," Affleck said. "I know our movie, we're a little bit underdog and a little bit the little engine that could, and you take me out of it maybe helps ... it's just about that picture. I feel like it's OK, I'm really lucky, I'm in a good place."

With 12 Oscar nominations, Steven Spielberg's Civil War saga Lincoln initially looked like the Oscar favourite over such other potential favourites as Argo, Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty, since films generally have little chance of winning best picture if they are not nominated for best director. Only three films have done it in 84 years, most recently 1989's best-picture champ Driving Miss Daisy, which failed to earn a directing nomination for Bruce Beresford.

But Affleck's Argo, in which he also stars as a CIA operative who hatches a bold plan to rescue six Americans during the hostage crisis in Iran, has swept up all the major awards since the Oscar nominations. Argo won best drama and director at the Golden Globes and top film honours from the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America.

Many of the same film professionals who vote in guild awards also cast ballots for the Oscars, so all the wins for Argo are a strong sign that the film has the inside track for best picture.

Milos Forman, a two-time Directors Guild and Oscar winner for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, received the group's lifetime-achievement award. Guild President Taylor Hackford let the crowd in a toast to Forman, who was ill and unable to attend.

Malik Bendjelloul won the guild's documentary award for Searching for Sugar Man, his study of the fate of critically acclaimed but obscure 1970s singer-songwriter Rodriquez. The film also is nominated for best documentary at the Oscars.

TV drama about Sarah Palin honoured

Jay Roach won the guild trophy for TV movies and miniseries for Game Change, his drama starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in her 2008 vice-presidential run.

Roach said that he watched John McCain rush to choose Palin as his running-mate, potentially putting her second in line for the presidency.

"I said, 'We gotta talk about this,"' Roach joked.

Girls star Lena Dunham earned the guild honour for TV comedy, while Rian Johnson won for drama series for Breaking Bad.

Dunham won for directing the pilot of Girls, which focuses on the lives of a group of women in their 20s.

"It is such an unbelievable honour to be in the company of the people in this room, who have made me want to do this with my life," Dunham said.

Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel, Amores Perros) won for best commercial for a Procter and Gamble spot he directed.

Among other TV winners:

• Reality program: Brian Smith, Master Chef.
• Musical variety: Glenn Weiss, The 66th Annual Tony Awards.
• Daytime serial: Jill Mitwell, One Life to Live.
• Children's program: Paul Hoen, Let It Shine.

Affleck's win Saturday nicks the Directors Guild record as a strong forecast for the eventual directing recipient at the Oscars. Only six times in the 64-year history of the guild awards has the winner there failed to follow up with an Oscar. This will be the seventh, since Affleck is not up for the best-director Oscar.

Peer loyalty might play in Affleck's favour at the Oscars. The acting branch in particular, the largest block of the academy's 5,900 members, might really throw its weight behind Argo because of Affleck's directing snub. Actors love it when one of their own moves into a successful directing career, and Affleck — who's rarely earned raves for his dramatic chops — also delivers one of his best performances in Argo.

Affleck has had no traction in acting honours this season, and he's joked that no one considered it a snub when he wasn't nominated for best actor. So a best-picture vote for Argo might be viewed as making right his omission from the directing lineup and acknowledging what a double-threat talent he's become in front of and behind the camera.

A best-picture prize also would send Affleck home with an Oscar. The award would go to the producers of Argo: George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Affleck.

But it's not as though Affleck has never gotten his due at Hollywood awards before. He and Matt Damon jump-started their careers with 1997's Good Will Hunting, for which they shared a screenplay Oscar.

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Timmins closes Shania Twain centre

A failed tourist attraction in Timmins is set to become the gold mine the city always hoped for.

The Shania Twain Centre permanently shut its doors Friday.

International gold miner Goldcorp will officially acquire the property in June. The company plans to demolish the structure to make it part of a massive open-pit gold mine.

City councillors decided several weeks ago the center was too big a money pit to keep subsidizing.

About $4 million in tax dollars went toward building the failed tourist attraction just 12 years ago.

The centre has racked up more than $1 million in operating deficits in the years since.

'Should have taken a better look at the numbers'

Grant applications to the Ontario and federal governments in the 1990s projected annual attendance of 50,000 tourists by 2005. But the sleek, modern structure, featuring displays of Twain memorabilia — along with gold-mining artifacts — has drawn no more than 15,000 people in any year.

The now-47-year-old singer, who grew up poor in Timmins, got her fledgling start singing in local bars before striking it rich on the world stage in 1995.

In the end, every resident of the century-old mining town of 47,000 was shelling out $7 a year just to keep the lights on. And by 2010, each visitor to the centre was being subsidized to the tune of $33.72.

It was supposed to be the other way around, with the centre generating enough revenue to at least break even — that would require about 33,500 paying visitors annually — while filling local hotels and restaurants with tourists.

"We probably should have taken a better look at the numbers to ensure the expectations could be met," Mayor Tom Laughren said of the planning that happened long before he took office.

The Shania Twain Centre was built to celebrate Twain, her successes and her growth from young artist in Timmins to international superstar, according to the centre's website. (shaniatwaincentre.com)

Sold for half of construction costs

A 2011 financial analysis showed that Timmins city council faced continuing operating deficits of at least $233,000 a year, no matter what future business plan it chose, whether expansion or scaling back.

So council last month announced a deal to sell the property to mining firm Goldcorp Inc. for $5 million, just half of the tax dollars spent for construction.

Goldcorp, which will officially acquire the property June 28, plans to demolish the structure to make the gold-seeded land underneath part of a massive open-pit mine being developed adjacent to the town.

Recent media reports have suggested the centre cost as little as $3.7 million to build. But a May 2011 analysis by PKF Consulting Inc. in Toronto says the figure was actually about $10 million for all construction, including the building, site development and upgrades to the co-located gold-mine tour attraction.

The entire 65-acre site is to be razed, including the gold-mine tour facilities, and added to Vancouver-based Goldcorp's planned open pit.

Clearing out the gift shop

For the last week, local residents have been picking over merchandise at the gift shop, offered for up to 75 per cent off, including hockey jerseys emblazoned "STC." The sale was expected to bring in at least $25,000.

The sad end of the once-bright hopes for the centre began last May, when Twain's management company repatriated most of her memorabilia — including an entire tour bus — to Las Vegas, where the singer now has a regular show.

The city dropped the $9 adult admission fee to the Twain exhibits last summer, in recognition that only few items were left to see, including four dresses.

Municipal officials said Shania Twain and her management company, Maple Leaf Productions, were highly supportive of the centre over the years, and they lay no blame at her feet.

Instead, the city's tourism manager says passion trumped reason when planning took place in the late 1990s, with provincial and federal funding agencies buying in.

Canadian country singer Shania Twain signs autographs after unveiling her star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California in 2011. Twain's management company repatriated most of her memorabilia from the Shania Twain Centre in Timmins — including an entire tour bus — to Las Vegas, where the singer now has a regular show. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni )

Lack of local support

"The projections were extremely ambitious," said Guy Lamarche of discussions that happened before his time in the job.

"When people come forward to support projects, and bring a huge passion to projects, sometimes things get skewed. And, in this case, the projections never materialized — they were way off."

Mayor Laughren cites a series of problems for the failure of the centre, but calls the lack of local support by Timmins citizens a big factor.

Lamarche put it this way:

"The old adage 'build it and they will come'? Forget it. If you build it, you better be prepared to market it."

The city plans to place remaining Twain memorabilia and mining artifacts on display around the community, including the airport, library and even street corners.

Claims on sale proceeds

But the fate of the $5 million in proceeds from the coming property sale is not yet clear. The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp., a provincial agency, paid $5 million into the construction project under an agreement with the city that runs until March 31, 2018.

The NOHFC gave prior written permission for the sale to Goldcorp "with conditions relating to the earnings from the sale," said Julia Bennett, spokeswoman for Ontario's Ministry of Northern Development and Mines.

She did not spell out the conditions, but said "negotiations are underway to determine the next steps to get the best use of taxpayer dollars for growth in the north."

FedNor, the federal investment fund for Northern Ontario, provided $500,000 for the construction in a contribution agreement that expired in 2002. A spokesman said the agency has no claim on the sale proceeds.

With files from the Canadian Press

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Jackie Chan named to Chinese government advisory board

Action star Jackie Chan, 2012 Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan , and other prominent Chinese cultural figures have been appointed to a top political advisory body by the Chinese government.

According to Chinese media, government officials have unveiled a fresh list of national-level delegates named to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory group that meets at the same time as the National People's Congress in March. Delegates typically serve a four-year term.

The appointment of the 58-year-old Chan comes after the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon star has been making headlines for his nationalistic comments supporting China's Communist Party leadership.

Speaking about the global financial crisis to a Chinese TV station earlier this month, he described the U.S. as the world's "most corrupt country" and said China had long been bullied by international powers.

In December, he angered residents of Hong Kong when he told a mainland Chinese media outlet that the city's government should place limits on protests. His statements were in response to street demonstrations against mainland intrusion into the affairs of Hong Kong, which is a special economic region of China that maintains its own legal and economic systems.

According to Chinese figures, Chan's latest movie CZ12 (alternately known as Chinese Zodiac) was China's fifth-highest grossing movie of 2012. Expected to open in international markets in 2013, the adventure tale tracks a treasure hunter's quest to retrieve the 12 rare Chinese zodiac sculptures European soldiers looted from the old Summer Palace outside of Beijing during the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century.

Chan has said the film — in which he stars and also holds directing, writing and producing credits — will be his last major action movie. He called it the best role he's played in the past 10 years.

Along with Chan and Mo, new national committee members include award-winning director Chen Kaige, comedian Zhao Benshan, TV anchor Bai Yansong and a variety of representatives from the corporate world.

Actor-director Stephen Chow, best known for his cult hit Kung Fu Hustle, was among new names joining the state-level advisory board in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The appointment of famous figures to political posts has sparked heated discussion in editorials and on Chinese social media, with commenters noting the spotty attendance records of and lack of concrete contributions by show business and athletic world delegates to the CPPCC in the past.

Delegates named to the CPPCC can be recommended for the post by various groups or be invited by the body's standing committee. Candidates who accept the role must be considered representatives of his or her industry.

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5 surprising artists behind advertising jingles

This Sunday, legendary alt-rockers the Flaming Lips will appear in a Super Bowl commercial for Hyundai. It's not unusual to hear a popular song or see an artist in a commercial, but what is unusual is that the band wrote the song "Sun Blows Up Today" specifically for the spot. As rare as it is, they're not the first artist to mix art and commerce by writing a song for a commercial. Here are five artists who have done the same.

1. The Rolling Stones.

This past April, an episode of Mad Men centred on the Rolling Stones turning down an offer to record a song for a Heinz beans commercial. In reality, the Stones did record a raucous jingle for an English Rice Krispies ad in 1964, co-written by Brian Jones and ad agency J. Walter Thompson.

2. Barry Manilow.

He writes the songs that make the whole world sing, especially when they're singing about bandages and insurance. Before Barry Manilow was making your mom swoon, he was a jingle writer, and composed such classics as State Farm's "Like a Good Neighbor" and the Band-Aid jingle above.

3. Ween.

In 2002, Pizza Hut hired oddball alternative act Ween to write the jingle for their Insider pizza — a product with extra cheese concealed between two crusts. Ween's pitches were rejected, possibly due to the unsavoury language in one version. The commercial ultimately went ahead with a less spirited version of what is essentially the same song.

4. Jack White.

In 2006, Jack White was expanding his sound from the stripped down White Stripes recordings to the larger orchestrations on the Raconteurs debut album. This was also the year that Coca Cola hired him to write and produce this song for their ad campaign. And why not? At the time, his entire wardrobe matched Coke's colour scheme.

5. Foster the People.

Foster the People's breakthrough hit, "Pumped Up Kicks," was written while the band's Mark Foster worked as a jingle writer for Mophonics, a music company that encourages its employees to write three-minute pop songs instead of 30-second jingles. The music in this Muscle Milk commercial (wait, that can't be an actual product name) — that's all Foster.

Related:

The Rolling Stones' cereal jingle, and more rock ads from the Mad Men era
Gone Commercial: 11 Canadian Indie Tracks in Ads
Snoop Dog loves Hot Pockets, but do you love musicians in ads?

posted by Dave Shumka on Feb 01, 2013

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