National Post

Colonel Cool: How the Canadian Space Agency helped launch Chris Hadfield to stardom
Back in Sept. 2, 2010, it was announced that Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield would leave Earth’s atmosphere for a third time and make history as the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station.

The Canadian Space Agency recognized the opportunity early on. Soon after the announcement, the agency and Col. Hadfield began dreaming up ways they could engage the Canadian public on the six-month post.

Their mission: how to make space sexy for a generation of Canadians grown jaded by Hollywood trickery.

“We don’t have that many fly opportunities,” said Anna Kapiniari, the strategic communications manager with the CSA. “NASA is in space all the time, and we get to fly a Canadian astronaut only every couple of years. So, we really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of having a human being in space. To tell a story. … [We] had a lot of brainstorming sessions, and we came up with a lot of crazy ideas. And in the end, we just kept the best ones. And that’s what you saw during this mission.”

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After decades of excess, Rod Stewart is finally ready to settle down: Despite Rod Stewart’s well-known love of hard living, fast cars, and obliging blonds, his new album, Time, offers a picture of domestic bliss. On the song Beautiful Morning, he even croons about the joys of pulling off the road with one’s sweetheart and “into Starbucks for a doughnut and a coffee.” READ MORE: natpo.st/10mTscq

Illustration by Kagan McLeod

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At 45 years old, pale, balding, pudgy and foul-mouthed as ever, Louis C.K. is the face of modern comedy: natpo.st/10KNUe7

Illustration by Chloe Cushman/National Post

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Legendary film critic Roger Ebert dead at 70
Roger Ebert, the most famous and most popular film reviewer of his time who become the first journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for movie criticism and, on his long-running TV program, wielded the nation’s most influential thumb, died Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He was 70.

Ebert had been a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967. He had announced on his blog Wednesday that he was undergoing radiation treatment after a recurrence of cancer.

He had no grand theories or special agendas, but millions recognized the chatty, heavy-set man with wavy hair and horn-rimmed glasses. Above all, they followed the thumb — pointing up or down. It was the main logo of the televised shows Ebert co-hosted, first with the late Gene Siskel of the rival Chicago Tribune and — after Siskel’s death in 1999 — with his Sun-Times colleague, Richard Roeper. Although criticized as gimmicky and simplistic, a “two thumbs up” accolade was sure to find its way into the advertising for the movie in question. (Illustration: Kagan McLeod/National Post)

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From the selection of the best photographs taken by National Post’s photographers in March 2013: House of Cards star Kate Mara, who plays an enterprising and somewhat shady young journalist in the series, was photographed at Toronto’s Park Hyatt Hotel, Wednesday March 27, 2013.  (Peter J. Thompson/National Post)

Click the photo to see the whole gallery.

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Scenes from a Life: k.d. lang

A four-time Grammy Award winner and Officer of the Order of Canada, Alberta’s k.d. lang will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame this April at the 2013 Juno Awards. Outspoken, iconic and a post-punk queer icon with a near-perfect mezzo-soprano voice, the 51-year-old has sang alongside everyone from Tony Bennett to Roy Orbison and, with Hallelujah, introduced Leonard Cohen to a new generation of fans. Here, the activist, one-time Vanity Fair cover model and proud alumni of Glee breaks her monumental life down into a series of game-changing scenes: natpo.st/Xz6ohb

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Tegan and Sara look to surpass their idols with Heartthrob

Pop music plays a large and deliberate role on Heartthrob, a record that was designed to catapult the Calgary-born duo into a stadium-headlining act. After touring with The Black Keys and The Killers, and feeling frustrated with teetering record sales, they decided to go big on their new record with soaring choruses, singalong anthems and four different lifts on the same tune. Read more here: natpo.st/X9IQwv

Illustration by Kagan McLeod

A homeless man is covered in snow while sleeping on the Bay Street sidewalk in Toronto’s financial district, as temperatures dip to -25 degrees with windchill on January 22, 2013. (Darren Calabrese/National Post)

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A brief, illustrated history of Quentin Tarantino
From Reservoir Dogs to Django Unchained, U.S. director Quentin Tarantino has joined the canon of great filmmakers with his distinct — if hyper-violent — filmic style. We take a look at his filmography, in a handy illustrated format. Click through for some history on the Tarantino film in which each character stars! (Illustration by Steve Murray)

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Record of the Month Club: Brian Eno, Lux

Hey, Eno.

Once, you and Tom Phillips, the painter, found some pianos. No one knows where they came from. Maybe you stole them. Maybe you conjured them. Maybe they were left in disgust by some rogue classicists fed up with diner food and the high price of what they called “petrol,” at least in Ipswich, England. You hauled these great wooden vessels up the dusty staircase of the school and you set them on their edge. You stared at them through the day, pondering. You stared at them through the evening, pondering some more. Then, you thought: “No, that’s not it.” READ MORE: natpo.st/YjxH06

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Author Philip Roth to retire: ‘To tell you the truth, I’m done’

Celebrated U.S. author Philip Roth quietly announced his retirement last month in a French magazine, Salon.com is reporting, saying that his 2010 book Nemesis will be  his last.

“To tell you the truth, I’m done,” the 78-year-old Roth told French magazine Les inRocks last month, in comments that were printed in French and translated by Salon, then later confirmed by a representative for Houghton Mifflin, the author’s publisher. Read more: natpo.st/PJS2YK

Illustration by Antony Hare

Mona Lisa MkI: Mysterious early version of Da Vinci’s most famous portrait has art experts baffled
GENEVA — The mystery behind the most enigmatic smile in art — Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” — just got a little more complicated.

In a coming-out party of sorts in Geneva, rounds of flashbulbs popped Thursday as the non-profit Mona Lisa Foundation pulled back the curtain to present what it claims is a predecessor of the world’s most famous portrait. (Laurent Gillieron / Keystone / The Associated Press / Files)

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Zadie Smith is homeward bound for NW
Zadie Smith’s new novel, NW, is about four people stuck in different circumstances despite starting out from the exact same place on the map. (Illustration by Kagan McLeod)