Nicole Kidman left with bruises from abuse scenes in Big Little Lies, leaving husband Keith Urban ‘devastated’

In Big Little Lies, the best show you haven’t watched yet, Nicole Kidman has returned to the top of her game – this time on the small screen.

In the book-turned-limited television series, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, Kidman plays Celeste, a woman who is being physically and emotionally abused by her husband (played by a menacing Alexander Skarsgard).

When Kidman met with the book’s author, Liane Moriarty, to persuade her to allow herself and Witherspoon to adapt the story, Moriarty said yes, with one condition: she play Celeste.

While speaking with Vogue recently, Kidman said, “I am playing her and got deeply enmeshed in her. I felt my way through that character because the only way to play her was to feel and be her. There are other characters that are easier to intellectually approach, but this was visceral.”

Those visceral scenes have been noted for their graphic violence and realistic portrayal of an abusive marriage, and that may be partially because Kidman went somewhat method when the series was in production, taking much of the emotional weight of her character home with her to husband Keith Urban.

“I didn’t realize how much of it penetrated me,” Kidman said. “I would go home at night sometimes and be in a lot of pain, and I had to take things like Advil, because I was being thrown around physically. I was really bruised. … At one point, Keith was like, ‘I’m going to take a photo of your back because it’s covered in deep, massive bruises.’ He was devastated seeing it, but then he would say, ‘But I have an artist wife!'”

In an interview with Vulture, Kidman said shooting those scenes with Skarsgard would be so taxing, that she was frequently drained at the end of each day.

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“Afterward, I would just be quiet,” Kidman said. “I would go home and be quiet. After we shot some of the really, really violent scenes, I was in a lot of pain myself. … It was very strange. … It wasn’t a good feeling, I have to say. But women go through this, so I wanted to tap into the truth of it, and I wanted to be real in those scenes, so that’s what it required — an element of violence.”

“The way in which Jean-Marc shoots, where there’s so much documentary style to some of those things,” Kidman added. “I feel weird talking about it. … It’s probably one of the hardest roles I’ve had to talk about because I’m still very raw about it, if that makes any kind of sense. When I walked away from (the character), I remember thinking that was the deepest I’ve gone in terms of finding and losing things.”

Ellen DeGeneres’ Santa Barbara villa brings a bit of Tuscany to California

Talk show host and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres is serious about real estate. DeGeneres and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, have bought and sold a number of properties. And now they’ve put this $45 million villa, which sits on a 16.88 acre lot, on the market.

“The surrounding gardens and olive trees are almost as wonderful as the interior,” DeGeneres said. “The house truly feels like it was built out of the landscape, rather than plopped on a plot. It feels ancient, like it’s been there forever. Like that hill was never without the house. This is a home that honors nature, and I love that.”

House of the day

Homes and cottages we’d love to have — whether we can afford them or not

Key details:
• 10,500 sq. ft.
• 6 bedrooms, 6 baths, 2 partial baths
• $45 million
• Suzanne Perkins, Sotheby’s International Realty, 805.895.2138
• See the full listing here and the Zillow story here

The home has a media room, multiple libraries and a formal living room.

And there are nine – yes, nine – fireplaces.

The kitchen has marble surfaces and stainless steel appliances.

And it’s easy to eat al fresco…

With six bedrooms, there’s plenty of room for friends and family.

The villa also has a swimming pool and a tennis court.

There are also beautiful terraces, fountains and gardens.

If you have an interesting listing, reno or just a really neat home — whether it’s for sale or not, drop us a line to tell us about it.

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• House of the day archive

Toronto financial district stabbing suspect wrote judge to insist she is innocent: ‘Real criminal(s) are free’

Prosecutors say a woman accused of stabbing a stranger and piercing her heart while she was shopping in Toronto two weeks before Christmas in 2015 should not be held criminally responsible.

They have filed an application with Ontario Superior Court to begin the process of trying to have Rohinie Bisesar committed to a psychiatric facility.

“There are reasonable grounds to doubt that (Bisesar) is criminally responsible for the murder on account of mental disorder,” the Crown wrote in the application to have her mental health assessed.

Justice John McMahon has said he also plans to raise the issue of a psychiatric assessment in his own motion after he received two letters from the alleged murderer.

Current charge is a distraction, I am innocent…. I have no medical disorder as spun in the media

It’s a move usually made by the defence, but Bisesar has said she intends to fight any attempt to have her declared mentally ill.

She has already fired two lawyers appointed to her case and says she may represent herself if she cannot find a lawyer who considers her trial a matter of “national security.”

A “decision won’t be made until you have an opportunity to be heard,” McMahon told Bisesar on March 1, but he suggested she hire a new lawyer and reconsider her position before her next court date, on March 24.

Bisesar, 42, has been found fit to stand trial for the first-degree murder of 28-year-old newlywed Rosemarie Junor. However, the Crown’s application says she has a history of mental illness. She was hospitalized in 2014 and has missed three court appearances since her arrest because she was taken to the hospital “apparently unwell.”

Bisesar has repeatedly claimed she is an innocent victim caught up in a vast conspiracy to cover up mind control experiments. She said a microchip implanted in her directed her the day Junor was stabbed in a Shoppers Drug Mart in the underground PATH network near her office on Dec. 11, 2015.

“I am the person who has gone through the interaction/control I mention so I am the best to provide input on what is needed to solve the case, which really is to find the true criminal(s),” she wrote to the judge on Feb. 2.

The Crown’s application describes some of the theories Bisesar has shared with the court. On Jan. 30 she claimed that the U.S. election result was connected to her case, and on Feb. 8 she said “the Crown was present on the day of the stabbing.”

Bisesar has spent the last 15 months at the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Ont., where she has written at least four letters since last October, and hundreds of pages of notes expounding on her theory that someone is using a microchip or other foreign object implanted in her body to control her mind and actions. The letters are included in the Crown’s application.

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• Toronto financial district stabbing suspect hospitalized over concerns about her mental health, lawyer says

She has opted not to have a preliminary hearing, yet has had more than 40 court dates since her arrest as her case inches toward a Jan. 18, 2018 trial date.

The letters reveal that she has been in contact with like-minded individuals from the Organization of Victims of Psychotronic (Mind Control) Weapons, a small group that believes governments are experimenting with mind control on their citizens.

“Current charge is a distraction, I am innocent,” she wrote in an Oct. 15, 2016 letter to the Supreme Court. “I have no medical disorder as spun in the media.”

The letters also provide insight into how she has tried to run her case from her jail cell and why she says she fired her lawyer, David Connolly, on Feb. 8.

“David has neglected me, lied many times, for sure misrepresented me as have only spoke for a total of approximately 40 minutes since May 2016 and never went through my notes. He has acted as a criminal. He continues to not include me in the case process. Why I see many mistakes and, lies, and misrepresentations he has done now,” she wrote to the judge on Feb. 2. “I do no trust or feel safe that justice is being sought, rather a cover-up/silencing and moving towards sentencing for an innocent person while the real criminal(s) are free.”

A letter sent to the Financial Services Commission of Ontario describes her case as “fundamentally about spying and stealing from the Toronto financial district,” and asks for help finding a new lawyer or experts in “Biological Warfare.”

She asks for someone to visit her in jail because her phone calls are being monitored and her mail is being read, and accuses prison staff of restricting her communications.

“I think whoever is behind this knows how serious of a crime they committed/are committing, including what I am charged with (I am innocent), and are trying their best to cover it up (including trying to say I have a mental disorder giving me drugs and then no one will try to find the real reasons of the crime and their crimes and find who they are),” Bisesar wrote in an Oct. 11, 2016 letter addressed to the commission.

“I need your help and support to push to find who is behind this…. Press to see me if people try to keep you away.”

All professionals and uniformed individuals who did not do their jobs professionally, properly, accountable, responsibly should be charged with treason and sentenced to the maximum. I would like military involved

She wrote that an implant allows someone to see and hear everything that she is doing and it even made her “look up at” former Ontario premier Bob Rae in a Metro grocery story on Front Street at an unspecified time. She suggested that she was targeted because she had access to “private deals” and “confidential meetings” and computer servers. Bisesar graduated with an MBA from York University in 2007 but struggled to launch a career in Toronto’s financial district.

A second letter to McMahon describes how she has tried and failed to discuss her case with Toronto Police. This too, is part of the coverup, she writes.

“All professionals and uniformed individuals who did not do their jobs professionally, properly, accountable, responsibly should be charged with treason and sentenced to the maximum. I would like military involved,” she wrote.

During past court appearances, Bisesar has grown emotional as she urged the court to take her theories seriously, but on March 1 she appeared more poised as she asked the judge for time to “internalize what was said” by a number of lawyers she has interviewed over the past few weeks from jail.

Bisesar told the court that she was still considering representing herself, and she wanted to “make the right choice.”

She will notify the court of her decision on March 24.

Hurricanes goalie Eddie Lack stretchered off the ice after collision following Red Wings’ overtime goal

RALEIGH, N.C. — Andreas Athanasiou chased down the puck in overtime and skated hard toward Carolina goalie Eddie Lack.

As Athanasiou scored the winning goal, he crashed into the goaltender — and Lack didn’t get up.

In a frightening end to the Detroit Red Wings’ 4-3 victory over Carolina on Monday night, Lack remained down on the ice for several minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as Eddie Lack is taken off the ice on a stretcher following tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/aOyMaTukF1

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) March 28, 2017

Both teams remained on the ice and formed a semicircle to watch him. Lack flashed a thumbs-up as he was wheeled away, and the team released a statement saying Lack has “full feeling in his extremities” but was taken to a hospital for tests.

Lack said via his verified Twitter account shortly before midnight that he would be discharged from the hospital overnight and that “everything looks alright.”

Thanks for all thoughts and prayers🙏everything looks alright and I'll be able to go home tonight! Thanks for thinking of me👍

— Eddie Lack (@eddielack) March 28, 2017

Eddie Lack gave a thumbs up on his way off the ice.

We're with you, @eddielack! pic.twitter.com/Nt9rGKWujq

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) March 28, 2017

“We’re not going to try to regroup. We are going to regroup,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “We’re going to come back with the right answer tomorrow, and right now, I think everyone’s thinking about their teammate, and that’s kind of where our thoughts are.

“And then we’ll come in (Tuesday) and we’ll know more about that situation and we’ll refocus on hockey.”

An official review determined that the puck was in the net before Athanasiou made contact with Lack. Replays indicated that Carolina’s Victor Rask hit Athanasiou just before the Detroit centre collided with Lack.

“I had no idea I hit him,” Athanasiou said. “I just tried driving the net, and I felt (Rask’s) stick on my back. He hit me pretty hard. I just tried to put the puck in the net, and even after, I had no idea I came in contact with him. I didn’t know if it was me or (Rask).”

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Lack finished with 23 saves for Carolina.

Athanasiou’s goal was his second OT winner in as many days. He beat Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk on Sunday.

“Sometimes the puck just kind of finds you and gets you in the right spot,” Athanasiou said.

This game originally was scheduled for Dec. 19, but was postponed when a Freon leak at the arena made for unplayable ice.

Toronto Blue Jays banking on more big-game heroics from Marcus Stroman

DUNEDIN, FLA. — Good on Marcus Stroman for being named the World Baseball Classic MVP following one of the most sensational performances of his young career.

But be honest, if you have anything to do with the Blue Jays — fan, teammate, manager, ownership — the biggest question in the aftermath of the latest episode of the Stro Show is: What’s in it for you?

The answer? Possibly a fair bit as Stroman seems determined to be the ace on a Jays starting rotation full of like-minded hurlers and has plenty to build on after his breakthrough month of March.

Not that confidence has ever been an issue with the Jays right-hander, but his performance in the WBC has the fiery hurler in what sure looks like peak form.

Stroman’s masterpiece in the final on Wednesday night in Los Angeles — sparking the American’s 8-0 cruise past Puerto Rico — was in stark contrast to the underwhelming interest in the event.

He was nothing short of sensational, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning as he rode a sinker that stymied batter after batter in the powerful Puerto Rican order. It was vintage Stroman as well, with all the flashy intensity and on-field histrionics that have endeared him to Jays fans.

Before he left Dunedin for Miami and, eventually, California, where the later rounds of the WBC were contested, Stroman was all-in on the Team USA experience, showing off his Stars and Stripes gear in the Jays clubhouse.

But now that he has brought the Puerto Rican hitters to their knees, it’s back to the team that pays him and to see if he can translate that success against the big bats of the AL East.

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“I mean, it’s baseball, there’s no letdown,” Stroman said in his post-game news conference when asked about a potential regression following the WBC. “You go back to camp, get your work in and opening day (is) in a week-and-a-half.

“I pretty much take the same intensity into each and every game so I don’t think there is any such thing as a letdown.”

Stroman shut down a strong Puerto Rican lineup that had compiled a 7-0 record in the event, and was presumably an easy choice for tournament MVP.

Prior to leaving Florida, he was sharp in his 4.2 innings of work over two appearances for the Jays and a tidy 1.93 ERA.

While they will be impressed with the latest Stro show, it’s doubtful many of the Jays will be surprised. With a strong training camp a year ago, he earned the opening day starter role and Gibbons went to him for the AL wildcard game against the Orioles in October.

“He’s the perfect guy for the perfect game,” Gibbons said. “There’s something about the kid. He rises to the occasion. If there’s one guy I’d want on the mound and know his heart and soul is going to be in it, it’s Stro.”

In his three WBC appearances, Stroman pitched 15 1/3 innings and had an ERA of 2.35. Because of the pitch-count restrictions, he was never going to get the no-hitter in L.A. But it’s worth noting that the performance matched the longest no-hit flirtation of his career. Stroman also went six hitless innings against the Red Sox back in July 2014.

“I love pitching in these moments,” Stroman said in the aftermath of the WBC win. “I love the atmosphere. I feel like the bigger the game, the more I’m able to get up, the more effective I am.

“I truly try to pride myself on being a big-game pitcher.”

And the Jays are banking on more of the same.

‘This is our job, this is what we do’: How The New Pornographers weathered changes to the music industry, while their peers have dropped off

There was a time, not long ago, when you couldn’t swing a glockenspiel without hitting a member of a sprawling Canadian music collective. The 2000s felt like a glory age for Canadian indie rock. At a time when online hype was currency, music blogs bursted with praise for Arcade Fire clones, Montreal was declared the new Brooklyn and Broken Social Scene proselytized Toronto’s music scene.

A decade later, __canada is better known internationally for the crossover pop and hip-hop of Drake and The Weeknd. Many of the buzziest indie bands, meanwhile, have faded away with the iPod Nano, only to reappear on festival bills, staging nostalgic comebacks for older Millennials. Then, there are the unicorns; the bands from that scene that went on to become reliable veterans, finding stability in an unstable field.

“It used to be the only people that kept going past a certain age were superstars and everyone else would just drop away and do something else,” muses AC Newman of The New Pornographers. “We’re in an interesting time where, really only the last generation of bands were the first to think about music like a life pursuit. Bands like Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo and The Flaming Lips were the first to think, this is our job, this is what we do. Even if we don’t become massive we’re still going to keep doing it,” he says. “And if it works for them, why not us?”

It would have sounded ludicrous for Newman to ask the same rhetorical question 17 years ago when the New Pornographers debuted. Originally conceived as a one-off studio “supergroup” for a handful of Vancouverites including Dan Bejar of Destroyer and American alt-country hero Neko Case, the group only became a real “band” when their sugar rush debut album Mass Romantic created enough demand for them to hit the road.

A consistent catalogue of infectious songcraft has kept them there for the better part of two decades. They’ve kept it up by changing up their sound bit by bit from album to album without forgetting what got them there: harmonies and melodies first, everything else second.

Their upcoming seventh album Whiteout Conditions, out April 7, simplifies their deceptively sophisticated arrangements by focusing on longer grooves. It’s fast but laid back, matching the nervous energy that spawned a song like “High Ticket Attractions,” which Newman says is “about pre-Trump anxiety, from start to finish.”

“I always think it’s interesting that technology moves so fast now but music doesn’t,” he says, pointing to fellow indie rock lifers and tour-mates Spoon as an example. “Spoon today don’t sound much different than Spoon from 15 years ago. But think about the difference of 15 years between 1965 and 1980. Even The Rolling Stones had to go psychedelic for a while, go disco for awhile. But bands like Spoon or The National, they have such a singular sound and that’s a good thing. When the record comes out, you don’t get mad at them because it sounds like the last one. You think, ‘yeah, the last one was awesome and this one’s awesome too.’”

They’ve changed up ideas and lineups from album to album (Bejar, busy with a new Destroyer record, is not on Whiteout Conditions), but the fact that most of the members have other projects to filter their other ideas into has preserved the New Pornos as the vessel for their biggest, brightest hooks. But while Newman has, like his bandmates Neko Case and Kathryn Calder, released solo albums in the past, he says he’s now 100 per cent focused on The New Pornographers.

“This is my job, I have to take it seriously,” he says. “And that’s the weird part. I’ve given too much of my life to this. I don’t have a fallback career.”

While some of his ‘00s indies peers have found success working at record labels, producing music or making soundtrack music, only a few musicians really get to make that leap. If your band keeps you from settling for an office job, why not ride it out as long as you can? Especially, Newman notes, when records don’t sell 150 or 200,000 copies in North America anymore, as the New Pornos’ 2005 album Twin Cinema did. “If a rock band did that now, they’d be massive.”

“Play Money,” the opening song on Whiteout Conditions, explores that tricky balance between creativity and making a living. It’s especially urgent for Newman, who lives with his wife and young son in Woodstock, New York. He’s settled and happy there, but with Donald Trump threatening his health care, Newman is considering moving back to Canada (though probably not Vancouver “because it’s so stupidly expensive.”) Music may be his day job, but it’s not a day job that provides benefits.

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Those kinds of practical concerns seem ages removed from the zeitgeisty rush of the last decade’s indie scene, but maybe it’s the band’s ability to weather the music industry’s massive changes that allows them to keep at it while many of their peers have dropped off.

At a time when musicians often catch notice for their politics or their social media profile, the sort of craft-focused rock nerdery that Newman excels at isn’t exactly fashionable, but fashion and longevity rarely go hand in hand. As long as they’re able to keep cranking out indelible power pop, there’s going to be space for The New Pornographers.

Lionel Messi banned from four World Cup qualifying games for ‘having directed insulting words at an assistant referee’

ZURICH — Lionel Messi has been banned from Argentina’s next four World Cup qualifiers, starting with Tuesday’s game in Bolivia.

Messi was banned for “having directed insulting words at an assistant referee” during a home qualifier against Chile on Thursday, FIFA said hours before kickoff in La Paz.

“This decision is in line with the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s previous rulings in similar cases,” the world soccer body said.

Messi and the Argentine soccer federation can appeal against the ban to FIFA. Messi was also fined 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,160).

FIFA intervened when the incident was not initially reported by the Brazilian referee after Argentina’s 1-0 win at Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.

It was judged a red-card offence for Messi, who scored the only goal from a first-half penalty.

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Television pictures showed Messi reacting angrily late in the game when the assistant flagged him for a foul. He waved his arms and shouted profane insults at the Brazilian official.

After the game, Messi refused to shake hands with the assistant who had annoyed him.

Messi will also miss Argentina’s game at Uruguay on Aug. 31, and home games against Venezuela on Sept. 5 and Peru on Oct. 5.

Argentina is third in the South American standings with five games left. Four teams qualify directly to play in Russia.

The 2014 World Cup finalists have struggled without their star player in qualifying for 2018, earning only seven out of a possible 21 points when he did not play.

Shannon Miller: I breastfed my sister’s baby without telling her and didn’t apologize. It’s the natural thing to do

Full Disclosure: My son was so attached to breastfeeding that eventually I had to tell him “boobies broken” — repeatedly.

He was old enough to understand that logic; he was almost three.

I’d returned to work, to a promotion, when he was 12 months old, and I thought the breastfeeding would have ended with my absence. Nope. He loved breastfeeding and latched on whenever he saw an opportunity. He later tried to negotiate: “What about if I’m bleeding, could I have boobies?” We eventually agreed (because my default mode of parenting is negotiating) that if his head was split open and his brains were showing I would give him the boob.

I get it. It’s hard to see something as both a sexual object and perfunctory feeding tool

If that bothers you, what I’m going to write next isn’t going to get any easier.

A friend sent me the Leah McLaren “removed” Globe and Mail article and I laughed, agreed and kinda understood.

McLaren wrote of how she once tried to breastfeed Conservative MP Michael Chong’s baby at a party, without telling the Chongs. Even though it was removed from online by the Globe and Mail, an archived version of the piece has surfaced and gone viral.

It reminded me of an incident of my own.

My sister has girls. The youngest I affectionately call the demon spawn. I always wanted a girl and my sister super-kindly included my name as part of my niece’s, which meant we were bonded before she even had a chance. My niece is “strong willed” — that’s parent code for a child who won’t do what you want them to do as quickly or easily as other children.

So when she wouldn’t nap one day while I was babysitting, I resorted to my old methods. I gave her my breast. I wasn’t lactating, but my breast still had all the feeding and soothing parts and it worked like a charm. By the time the baby figured out it was all apparatus and no milk, she was asleep.

I didn’t tell my sister.

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So here is the thing: Breastfeeding can be a really natural thing. It really does become no big deal, except society seems to have made it one.

I think it’s probably men who’ve mostly made it a big deal. I get it. It’s hard to see something as both a sexual object and perfunctory feeding tool. (And many men really do have talent for seeing the sexual in the perfunctory.)

In order to write this column, I had to tell my sister what I’d done. I wimped out and texted her instead of calling.

I didn’t know that emojis came with such big eyes. That was her response. Oh, and to please keep her name out of it.

And so, apparently it’s not OK to talk about breastfeeding really, and certainly not to write about breastfeeding someone else’s baby. And obviously, it’s never a good idea to breastfeed someone else’s baby without them knowing.

But for the record, I didn’t apologize to my sister. It really was a natural thing to do. Practical, too.

I am sorry that it isn’t something we can be open about.

I am sorry that a lot of things in society continue to be ruled by men’s fears, especially women’s bodies.

But I had a son, and I’m hopeful.

I hope by the time my son is at home on parental leave and his partner is feeding their child and someone tells them to cover up, or to not share so much, it will be OK for him to say “piss off this is the most natural thing.”

And maybe he could add “You know you can have both: boobies and then later breasts.”

They are not mutually exclusive.

Shannon Miller was once a journalist. She continues to write and think and respond to editor’s requests in Vancouver where she lives with her son.

Reality TV contestants emerge from year in the wilderness — to discover their show was cancelled

One year after they retreated into the harsh Scottish wilderness with visions of TV glory, the cast of a Survivor-style British reality show have emerged into a world that appears to have forgotten about them.

Dubbed “Eden,” the show was cancelled in October and all social media accounts connected with the program have gone eerily silent.

What’s more, the 10 remaining contestants have been deliberately kept in the dark about world events.

After 12 months battling flies in the Scottish highlands, they are now discovering a world where Donald Trump is president, Theresa May is prime minister, and the U.K. will soon no longer be part of the European Union.

“Eden was definitely an experiment and it hasn’t gone well,” a source close to the show told U.K. tabloid The Sun in January.

Produced by the U.K.’s Channel Four, Eden was publicized as “23 men and women (trying) to build a new life and new society from scratch.”

Starting in March 2016, participants were placed at a fenced, 240-hectare estate in rural Scotland.

To complete the contestants’ isolation, the estate is barred to public access — a measure which required a special exemption in Scotland, where “freedom to roam” laws allow the public to access private property.

The 23 participants were equipped with livestock, seeds and basic supplies. The idea was that they would become self-sufficient by year’s end.

“We gave them a huge expanse of area, somewhere that offered everything they needed … away from the rest of the world,” explained a show creator in an introductory video.

But the show’s downfall appears to have been ratings. Viewers dropped from 1.7 million to 800,000 after only four episodes — and all social media accounts connected to the show have been dormant since October.

“Eden will be returning but we can’t confirm exactly when yet,” reads one of the last posts on the Eden Facebook page.

Conditions in the camp also reportedly began to deteriorate in the ensuing months. The patch of land is notoriously windy and beset with bloodsucking midges — which is why locals can’t seem to remember it being farmed at any point since the Bronze Age.

The four heavily edited episodes witnessed by British viewers already started to show hints of a Lord of the Flies-style unravelling, with the only American participant leaving early after alleging that she had been bullied by the Brits.

Even before winter set in, others had also begun to flee. By the time the experiment ended on March 23, only 10 remained, reportedly subsisting in part off smuggled junk food and booze.

“I left because it wasn’t what I was told it was going to be, what you see on tv is all bullshit,” Tom Wah wrote in an August Tweet soon after his departure.

@burnsy105 no one pushed me out, I left because it wasn't what I was told it was going to be, what you see on tv is all bullshit

— Tom Wah (@Tom_wah) August 19, 2016

In a recent statement, Channel Four said they would consider cutting together some of the remaining Eden footage into an episode “when everyone has come out.”

• Email: thopper@nationalpost.com | Twitter: TristinHopper

Fun Jake to Serious Jake: Vancouver Canucks’ Virtanen turning a corner in AHL

Jake Virtanen has played against Nikolay Goldobin and knows all about Brock Boeser.

“I played against Goldobin in the Top Prospects Game (2014) and Boeser has incredible talent,” said the wayward Vancouver Canucks winger, who is finding his professional way with the AHL’s Utica Comets.

What the mercurial Virtanen also knows is despite the departures of Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows, there’s considerable competition on the right side next fall.

Factor in Markus Granlund’s career season, Loui Eriksson’s need for a reset, Goldobin, Boeser, Derek Dorsett returning from neck surgery and a curiosity about Reid Boucher, and nothing is guaranteed for the Abbotsford native.

“You have to earn every opportunity — and I have to prove that I belong,” said Virtanen. “It’s how the game works.”

Well, yes and no.

Last season was about feel-good stories when a trio of wide-eyed rookies in Virtanen, Jared McCann and Ben Hutton cracked the roster. Virtanen and McCann were 19, played like it and sometimes acted like it.

The college-tested Hutton was 22 and looked like he had been in the National Hockey League for years.

With everything Virtanen has been through in a fishbowl existence of being the sixth overall selection in the 2014 entry draft — struggling with the mental and physical transition to the pro game — he may be turning both a competitive and character corner, because NHL roster reality can do that.

It’s why Fun Jake is trying to become Serious Jake.

“I want to go into camp and be in phenomenal shape, and I’m already pretty prepared for that and I’m completely dedicated to that,” stressed Virtanen, who is down to 213 pounds after reporting to camp at 231 pounds in September. “I’m going to be really excited and I have to be an everyday guy.”

Virtanen lasted just 10 games and had one assist when he was dispatched to the farm team for the season. Even with a rash of recalled wingers, he has purposely stayed with the Comets, and his progression isn’t something that can be measured in point totals.

“In the last month, I’ve taken another step in my game and they’ve been pushing me in the right direction,” added Virtanen.“I’m trying to be a difference-maker every night, and this (AHL) is a tougher league than guys think.

“Whether it’s scoring goals or making plays, being that physical presence and using the jump that I have, I’ve got to find a way to help the team win.”

Details in Virtanen’s game — reading plays, moving his feet, using his size and and not being a defensive liability — have improved under demanding Comets coach Travis Green.

It hasn’t been easy. Telling an impatient first-rounder that it’s about the process and not points — Virtanen had just seven goals in his first 57 Comet games — is a tough sell. But it’s working slowly, steadily.

“Jake is still a young guy (20) and people forget that,” said Green. “He went through a stretch where I know he was getting frustrated because he wasn’t getting the points. And that was a good time to break it down to him that the goals and assists will be a by-product of doing things to be a difference in a game.

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“When young players don’t have success it can sometimes look like they really don’t want it. And for some, it’s hard. They’re in and out and their compete levels go up and down. And they tend to take their foot off the gas and you have to make them accountable.

“It hasn’t been all roses for Jake down in the AHL. We’ve been very honest with him. Are we hard on him? Sometimes. But with that, there’s good dialogue. He understands that and is confident his game is going in the right direction, even though it’s hard sometimes.

“It can help a player to play outside his comfort zone.”

Virtanen isn’t the first big junior who could skate and score to struggle at the next level. In the game’s ongoing transition to speed, the fact he can move well and hit hard convinced the Canucks he could become that power forward who could wreak havoc in so many ways.

In his prime, Todd Bertuzzi did that. And did that with size, talent and a mean streak.

The polarizing Virtanen earned a Canucks roster spot last season because of that big-body presence, bravado, surprising speed and a nose for the net that showed in four pre-season points (2-2) in six games.

His bowling-ball approach was perceived to be a boon, but there were gutter balls along the way. There were seven goals in 57 games, but he was also on a tight leash from coach Willie Desjardins because the only option was to send Virtanen back to junior. And the only way to get through to him was to cut his minutes back.

It’s never been just one thing with Virtanen. Fitness and focus have been the biggest hurdles for him to clear. And in that respect, there’s no better environment. Utica is not Vancouver, and the AHL is not the NHL.

It hasn’t been all roses for Jake down in the AHL. We’ve been very honest with him. Are we hard on him? Sometimes. But with that, there’s good dialogue

In the minors, it’s more about practice, training and games than rest and recovery. Last September, Virtanen saw how seriously Nikita Tryamkin took his level of fitness concern by dropping four-and-a-half per cent body fat in one month.

The plan for Virtanen was never that complex: Train hard, play harder, keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.

“We have the luxury of getting a guy to ride the bike for 30 minutes after a game — even though we play the next night — because we think he needs it,” said Green. “We’ve pushed Jake in that direction knowing that it (fitness) might not be the best in his game, but that in two or three months down the road it would pay off.

“I give him credit. There have been some tough times for him and they’re still tough. But he has a better understanding of how much he can work off the ice and still play well. He’s a horse. He can put a lot of work in that he doesn’t even know that he can.”

Virtanen knows this much.

Drawing the admiration, rather than the ire, of Henrik and Daniel Sedin next fall will be of paramount importance. The twins didn’t name names last March, but cited a lack of daily commitment among young players to get better every day, even with missing the playoffs.

“They (Sedins) are such great mentors for guys coming in and even guys on the team,” said Virtanen. “They go to the rink every day and are eager to get better.”

If the Sedins can say the same about Virtanen next fall, then he really will have turned a critical corner.

Your Corner Wrench: What you should know about leaving your car overnight

It’s something almost every car owner has experienced from time to time; they take their vehicle in for routine maintenance or repairs and their shop finds something that needs a part they don’t have, or the amount of work required can’t be completed in a single day. With collision repair shops it’s pretty much a given that your chariot will have to enjoy a sleepover or more away from home. So what’s to worry about? The shop will keep everything safe and secure, so you won’t have to worry about damage, vandalism or theft – or will you?

The general rule that covers pretty much anything to do with your vehicle when it’s left at a repair centre (with their authorization) is referred to as “care and custody.” Simply put, your shop and its employees are expected to exercise the same care and protection of your property as they would their own, with some notable exceptions; while some people leave their house doors unlocked, and the keys in their vehicle in the driveway, they are expected to bring a more reasonable amount of care when dealing with your stuff.

Many consumers are shocked to find out that they’re expected to deal with any vehicle mishaps while at the shop through their own auto insurance policy. Some may understand this if it was something beyond the shop’s control such as a fender bender on their parked vehicle caused by a careless visitor or delivery driver – but it can also include collision damages that happen when employees are road-testing your vehicle.

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Check that fine print on almost any shop repair order you are required to sign when dropping off your car. It will always include a clause stating you are giving permission for the shop employees to operate your vehicle as required for part of any diagnosis or repair process. It also usually contains a warning that the shop is not responsible for any damage or loss, no matter how it happened or who caused it. Theft is included or at least implied in these waivers, unless it turns out a shop owner or employee was directly responsible for any missing property. Remember, when you lend your vehicle, you also lend your insurance policy.

So, what can you do to protect your valuables when they are out of your control? First (and especially if you’re not experienced with the shop), ask questions: Where do they park vehicles that are left overnight? Is the area secure, monitored, fenced and locked? If the shop is located in a secluded commercial or industrial district, can they keep your vehicle inside at night? Most quality facilities are used to these questions and will go out of their way to accommodate reasonable requests.

Secondly, don’t tempt fate. If you know your vehicle is going in for an overnight visit, remove any valuables. Leave the laptop or expensive sports gear at home.

Finally, no matter what you sign on a repair order, you can’t waive certain legal rights. If any damage or loss was the full or partial responsibility of your shop, they should step up and make amends for their share. Good shop management that’s interested in customer satisfaction will do this voluntarily, but some will take a little legal prodding.

On CITY-TV’s golden era, and how to show Canadians the movies they don’t even realize they want to see

Max Renn, the hero of David Cronenberg’s early ’80s cult-horror masterpiece Videodrome, is head of programming at CIVIC-TV, a fictitious low-budget television network based in the east end of Toronto. Civic is the scrappy, unpretentious channel that distinguishes itself with reckless disrepute – an underground ethos on the mainstream airwaves.

They compensate for their inferior position and lack of resources by showing the kind of programs their more dignified competitors would never deign to air, and it’s Renn’s job to scour the TV wasteland for just the right brand of sleaze: cut-rate import erotica, obscene back-alley curios, unorthodox late-night porn. Renn programs the movies Canadians don’t even realize they want to see.

CIVIC-TV, savvy Canadian moviegoers were well-aware at the time, was Cronenberg’s thinly veiled homage to CITY-TV, Toronto’s own independent (at the time), wildly unconventional UHF television network, where the attitude was subversive and the content was dangerously risqué.

Which I suppose would make Max Renn City’s longtime head of programming Ellen Baine.

“I think that was supposed to be Moses, actually,” Baine laughs when I draw the comparison, referring to CITY-TV founder and executive producer Moses Znaimer. But she goes on to reminisce about the halcyon days of the network’s ignominious reign in ways that sound very much like Videodrome outtakes. Baine, just like Renn, made backroom deals with soft-core distributors, wheeled and dealed with Playboy representatives.

Listening to Baine talk of CITY’s golden era, it isn’t difficult to imagine her embroiled in some mysterious Cronenbergian drama, immersed as she apparently was in the underworld intrigue of programming for late-night TV.“It’s boring watching porn over and over again,” she tells me flatly. “You’d think it wouldn’t be.” 

We’re chatting in an empty boardroom at the Yorkville offices of Hollywood Suite, a cluster of four specialty cable movie channels where Baine serves as head of programming. I’m here because I’m interested to know how exactly someone like Baine curates and assembles daily lists of feature films that are meant to be watched by thousands across the country. But we’ve got to talking about her CITY days because I’ve become fascinated by an intriguing contrast: what’s it like programming movies for television in the age of Netflix, and how does it differ from the time when the mainstream networks reigned?

“In those days, you were always trying to program movies that were as new as possible,” Baine explains. People like her were largely in thrall to a cascade of release windows, which dictated not only what was available but precisely when. The latest blockbuster would enjoy a national theatrical roll-out, then arrive in video stores on VHS or DVD, then make the leap to on-demand channels and pay-per-view, before finally winding up with the networks. Basically the studios wanted to prolong their product’s shelf life until it was exhausted, and so they seized every opportunity to charge an audience money to see their movies before permitting them to be screened over the airwaves to millions for free.

“The windows are getting shorter and shorter,” Baine points out. Many movies “open” online and via cable video-on-demand platforms the very same weekend they hit theatres, while the vanguard of Netflix and Hulu have reoriented the release-window schedule entirely. Which is part of the reason Hollywood Suite doesn’t bother with it. The four channels Baine programs for are divided by decade – ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s – and the emphasis is squarely on the past. Baine scours not the underground wasteland but the back-catalogues of the major studios, now seeking classics instead of sleaze.

What constitutes a classic is mainly left to Baine’s own discretion, interestingly satellite networks have no access to ratings or metrics of any kind, so it can be hard to know with any certainty how many people are tuning in for what and why. Baine is a lifelong cinephile – she cites Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams as a personal favourite she’s insisted on airing despite its mainstream obscurity – and programs with the authority and conviction of a curator who knows her stuff. But she’s quick to point out that programming is more of a science than a practice of whim: “Some of this is based on what I personally like,” she says. “But you can’t program a TV station based solely on your personal likes. You just can’t. It’s not going to work.”

So what else can you base it on? Well, experience, in Baine’s case. She has the hard stats and history of the CITY-TV days to draw on. She knows very well what people like to watch. “You have to know what movies people will watch on TV,” she explains. “That’s different than what people will watch in a theatre.”

She recalls the bungled launch of the cable movie network First Choice. “The first movie they ever played was Star Wars. They assumed it was going to be a huge hit — it’s Star Wars, after all. But it wasn’t a success.” Why? Simple: “People had seen it too many times. Everyone thought, ‘why would I watch this again? Why would I watch this on TV?’”

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But there are movies, Baine says, that people can be relied upon to watch “over and over and over again.” The examples she offers are an eclectic but somehow totally sensible cross section of populist favourites: Miss Congeniality, Working Girl, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. “Some movies people will watch once. These are the kinds of movies that people will watch 10 times. So you just get to know which those are.”

CITY, like its Videodrome counterpart, used to differentiate itself from the market by out-transgressing local and international stations of a more conservative character. Its early specialties were ribald video smut, DIY counterculture shows and a notorious late-night catalogue of soft-core it dubbed Baby Blue. By contrast, Hollywood Suite has a rather more distinguished tenor – this week its programme boasts such fare as The Color Purple, A Cry in the Dark, and Cafe de Flore, among other prestigious offerings – but it’s reassuring that the skills Baine developed during her CITY days are still being put to use in this more venerated realm.

It’s as if Max Renn cleaned up his network and started dealing in classics. The style has changed but the goal is the same: Baine programs the movies Canadians don’t even realize they want to see.