The Ghost of Tsushima – Four Stars
This is not an easy game to pick up and play. The Ghost of Tsushima is entrenched in the samurai culture of Japanese cinema and fiction and so presents a journey that is measured, methodical, and meditative. It uses a complex combat system with many button combinations across a variety of different weapon systems, beyond... Read More
Animal Crossing: New Horizons 4 1/2 Stars (out of 5)
With New Horizons Nintendo has reached the point in developing their virtual life simulation where once you’ve gone through the introductory period of establishing a home, building up community relationships, and mastering the various tools and tasks, you’ll want to keep playing, again and again, and again. Unlike the previous Animal Crossing editions, it no... Read More
Animated Face Mask & Fashion Tech Hoodie
This week on Global News Morning I model the latest tech fashion and discuss Apple’s announcements at WWDC. As co-founder of MakeFashion, Chelsea Klukas has spent years running tech fashion runway shows that began in Calgary before touring the world. People often asked if she could be commissioned to craft illuminated wedding or prom dresses,... Read More
The Last of Us Part II – 3 1/2 Stars (out of 5)
Viruses, face masks, quarantines. It’s hard to avoid the unintended parallels with our current reality in The Last of Us Part II, especially as the zombies, known as the infected, now take a back seat. Gone is any effort to understand the virus, to find a cure, or come up with new ways to manage... Read More
Fun Audio Tech For Kids, Parents Under Lockdown
For my latest Global News Morning report Jenn and I have fun playing with the latest free audio games aimed at giving people under lockdown fun and I review the latest noise-cancelling earbuds. Sennheiser Momentum 2 True Wireless Earbuds I’ve tested a range of audio gear the past two decades and have gotten used to... Read More
Using Tech To Cope With Covid-19
As we all stay home to save lives, many of us are using technology to cope. I look at some different approaches for Global News Morning. If you’ve taken a tour of a house with a real estate agent, you might remember them pointing out which rooms get the best sunlight at different times of... Read More
Helping Out With Coronavirus Tech
This week on Global News Morning I share a collection of Coronavirus-themed software and websites so you can help make a difference. Plus, I review HP’s new Elite Dragonfly notebook computer which includes a great recycling story. The first consideration in buying any computer is that it’s the right tool for the work you do,... Read More
Bose Audio Sunglasses Review & Crazy Google Phone Addiction Apps
This week on Global News Morning I review Bose’s Frame Sungasses, share Google’s crazy phone addiction apps, and mark the official start of production of driverless cars. It would be a big mistake to dismiss Bose Frames as a novelty or gimmick. Yes, they are sunglasses that act like wireless earbuds with speakers built into... Read More
Crazy Tech At CES
Here’s my picks of some of the crazy tech innovations on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. h and check out this fun, behind-the-scenes reaction.h
Galaxy Fold Review & Other Innovations
Watch my take on the Samsung Galaxy Fold, finally on sale in Canada, plus some other picks of fun, new technology on Global News Morning.
Watch My Google Stadia Review & Fun VR Picks
This week on Global News Morning I offered my review of Stadia, Google’s new video game stremin service, and shared with Jennifer Valentyne and Liem Vu new vrtual reality experiences about The Berlin Wall.
Special to The Sun: Montreal Recycling Lab
Appearing in The Sun newspaper Monday, July 15th, here’s the online version of my article on Lavergne’s secret plastic recycling process.
Montreal’s Plastics Recycling Breakthrough
Montreal-based The Lavergne Group has unveiled a new plastic recycling process that can turn waste plastics into brand new “virgin” plastic without the use of additives. From The Aaron Rand Show on CJAD 800 AM, here’s Kris Abel’s Tech Corner report with details from his tour of The Lavergne Group facility. lavergne.ca/www.iheartradio.ca/cjadwww.krisabel.com
Watch My Latest Show Reels
A quick glimpse into the different areas of my media career, here’s three show reels for my work in television, radio, and podcasts.
What’s On Richard’s Desk & Best HAYZ Show Openers
From the podcast I did with Richard Crouse called Hey All You Zombies, here’s two clip collections. The first is a tour of the many, many unusual oddities that populate Richard’s desk and the second a Best Of collection of the inventive show openers we came up with each week for the series on Google... Read More
Ryan Reynolds Is Affectinately Jokesy With IMAX Spirit Bears
Ryan Reynolds uses his jokesy storyteller voice as narrator of the new IMAX film Great Bear Rainforest and I can imagine that must have worried executives at first as it’s the delivery that allows him to easily slide out crass lines for Kevin Smith and the Deadpool movies, but it works here, it really works,... Read More
Meet Dino Zuul, A Most Remarkable Canadian Fossil Discovery
From the launch of Zuul: Life Of An Armoured Dinosaur, an extraordinary dinosaur fossil and an entirely new species of ankylosaur now on display at the Royal Ontario Museum, please enjoy these two short films I created for social media. Watch: An incredible Canadian discovery, Zuul the dinosaur named after the Ghostbusters demon dog opens... Read More
My 1000 Favourite Films From 100 Years Of Cinema
It was in 1918 that Cecil B. DeMille kicked off the movie industry we know today with his first feature Western, The Squaw Man. As a fun, year-end centenary project, I’ve used IMDB to put together a list of my 1,000 favourite films from across all one hundred years. Film has remained a strong passion... Read More
A Life Of Precision Burns, Falls, And Explosions – Legendary Stunt Man Dwayne McLean
Canada AM’s Kris Abel chats with pioneering stunt man Dwayne McLean in this 2010 chat about the nature of doing a variety of stunts for movies and television and what’s like to be in the moment when your life is on the line to pay the bills. Watch Dwayne’s stunt driving demo with Shane Cardwell... Read More
Astronaut David Saint-Jacques Is Ready For Launch!
This is the extended version of my chat with Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, featured on the Aaron Rand Show on CJAD. For more info: www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/c…aint-jacques.asp
Social Spiders & Tarantula Behaviour With Dr. Linda Rayor
Surrounded by live spiders at the Fear & Fascination exhibit, Kris Abel chats with Dr. Linda Rayor about the social behaviour of tarantulas and huntsmen spiders. A behavioural ecologist, Linda works at Cornell University where she also is involved in their STEM outreach programs. www.rom.on.ca/en/spiders blogs.cornell.edu/naturalistoutreach/ www.youtube.com/user/naturalistoutreach www.youtube.com/channel/UCaL6Fn_Exyfe2tzBMI4cHVw
Golden Spider Silk Cape, Exploring The Wondrous Fabric
I chat with Doug Currie about spider silk fabric at the Spiders: Fear & Fascination exhibit https://www.rom.on.ca/en/spiders
Milking Spider Venom, My Chat With Arachnologist Gil Wizen
At the Spiders: Fear & Fascination exhibit, I interview arachnologist Gil Wizen of the Royal Ontario Museum to explore the live demos he’s performing as part of the exhibit.
Vivienne Tam On Designing Notebook Computers, A What She Said Party Chat
From our archives we’re taking you back in time to a Sex And The City 2 party in New York 2010 where Kris Abel met with fashion designer Vivienne Tam to discuss her work on designing two special edition notebook computers for Hewlett-Packard. For more info visit: www.viviennetam.com
Ella Kitzul on Black Bear Rehabilitation
This is the extended edition of Kris Abel’s chat with black bear rehabilitation expert Ella Kitzul who shares the process behind rescuing and releasing injured and orphaned bear cubs. For more information visit bearwithus.org/ This was recorded at the premiere of Pandas, the new IMAX film about rehabilitation efforts for Giant Pandas. For more info... Read More
Hear My Chat With Bill Nye On CJAD
Update: An extended version of my Bill Nye chat for CJAD is now available online. This Thursday on my weekly tech report on CJAD 800 AM Montreal, we’ll be playing my chat with Bill Nye, a.k.a. The Science Guy, which I recorded while were surrounded by kids at the Nintendo Labo launch here in Toronto.... Read More
Chiaroscuro – Game Creators Angel & Danielle On What She Said
From the Level Up student video game competition held by Ubisoft, Kris Abel speaks to Angel you and Danielle Pelletier, two members of the five person team behind Chiaroscuro, a two-player co-operative puzzle game designed around a world of light and dark. For more info: levelupshowcase.com/
Dot Health creator & CEO Huda Idrees – What She Said Interview
Here is the extended version of Kris Abel’s interview with Dot Health founder and CEO Huda Idrees about her company’s aim to provide a secure place where you can find all your personal health information, gathered from all the clinics and offices you visit. For more info visit: www.dothealth.ca/
Making Dino Discoveries with Dr. Mary Schweitzer
Dr. Mary Schweitzer discusses with Kris Abel her remarkable discoveries of preserved organics within fossilized T-Rex bones including red blood cells, proteins, and collagen. She is a vertebrate paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and professor at North Carolina State University. For the first time, she also discusses the science of the Jurassic Park movies.
Rhino Poaching & Wildlife Photographer Of The Year With Mark Peck
Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum joins Kris Abel this week to discuss the surprising winning entry in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of Year Award submitted by photojournalist Brent Stirton. You see the exhibit on display now at the Royal Ontario Museum: www.rom.on.ca/en And learn more about Brent Stirton and the competition at: www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/wpy.html
World Champion Freediver Mandy-Rae Krack
In this extended edition of Kris Abel’s interview series, World Champion Freediver Mandy-Rae Krack discusses her use of mammalian diving reflexes within her seven world record dives. She also shares her role as an ocean advocate in offering storytelling insights for conservation and environmental issues. For more information visit: mandy-rae.com/
Mindfullness & Virtual Reality With Lillian Chan & Gabby Passos
Kris Abel chats with Lillian Chan and Gabriella Kim Passos about their virtual reality and mindfulness project called Yumi and Boom. Making its debut at the Reel Asian International Film Festival, Yumi and Boom is open to the public November 9th – 18th. For more info visit: www.reelasian.com/festival-events/yumi-and-boom/ dmg.to/
Viking Female Birka Warrio With Dr. Craig Cipolla
DNA tests have revealed the Birka Warrior remains belonged to a woman, but was she a female Viking warrior? In this extended interview Kris Abel explores the discussion going on with Dr. Craig Cipolla of the Royal Ontario Museum where, as curator of Vikings: The Exhibition, he has on display a number of the Birka... Read More
Amazon Adventure with Wendy MacKeigan & Dr Robert Reed
Kris Abel chats with Wendy MacKeigan, co-writer of Amazon Adventure, on why she championed making a film about overlooked scientist Henry Bates, and with Dr. Robert Reed, associate professor at Cornell University, about Bates’ role in establishing the facts of evolution. Amazon Adventure is now playing at IMAX theaters. Visit: amazonadventurefilm.com/ www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/
Star Wars Science – Porgs & Puffins With Ornithologist Mark Peck
Kris Abel meets with Mark Peck, Ornithology Technician at the Royal Ontario Museum to explore the latest adorable scene-stealing creatures in the Star Wars universe – the Porgs. Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo describes the seabirds as “the Star Wars version of puffins” so Mark joins Kris to explore how much an inspiration puffins (the official birds... Read More
Teens & Climate Change: Christine Germano Discusses Her Portraits of Resilience
This is the extended edition of Kris Abel’s interview with Christine Germano, Artistice Director of Portraits of Resilience which presents stories documenting the effects of climate change by youth ages 8-16 years old from the Arctic and Small Island Developing States. For more info: www.manystrongvoices.org/portraits/ The project includes a new installation at The Ontario Science... Read More
Creating McDonald’s Boombox With Janelle Resch, University of Waterloo
Mathematician Janelle Resch of the Audio Research Group at the University of Waterloo is the project lead on the Mc Donald’s Boombox, a free sound system and science toy being handed out as a limited promotion item at the restaurant’s Woodbine Beach location in Toronto. Using no electronics and only 100% recyclable materials, Janelle’s team... Read More
Ivan Reitman – In Conversation At The House Of Crouse
The extended, full length version of my conversation with Ivan Reitman is part of this week’s House Of Crouse. Come hang out and listen to actor James Cromwell discuss his activism adventures and Ivan Reitman discuss his Ghostbusters:Dimension Virtual Reality and different approaches to story-telling.
The Richard Crouse Show Features My Chat With Ivan Reitman
On this week’s episode of The Richard Crouse Show I join the panel to discuss a number of topics and share an interview I did with film director and producer Ivan Reitman about his latest projects, a virtual reality ride called Ghostbusters: Dimension. For more information on Ivan’s VR project visit Ghostbusters: Dimension Also on the... Read More
Doodle 4 Google Student Finalists & Winner
At a special event held at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Kris Abel speaks with the four finalists in this year’s Doodle 4 Google contest were the winning entry will replace the main design on Google’s search home page. Kris chats with: Jana Sofia Panem of Ontario Faizaan Buttar of British Columbia Wesley Babin of... Read More