The Buzz

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Michael Pollan (CNS VANCOUVER SUN)

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Chi McBride (CP)

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The Mark of Zorro

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To This Day

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Mac and Me

BRAD OSWALD Ñ TV

Getting hitched to McBride a good move

Like a politician needs a bodyguard, a quarterback needs a reliable blind-side tackle and a 50-goal scorer needs an enforcer, the lead actor in a prime-time series is very well served by a co-star he knows has got his back. Chi McBride (Boston Public, Pushing Daisies, Human Target) has often been that guy -- a big, solid, imposing presence who makes every scene better but never seeks to steal the spotlight. The latest beneficiary of McBride's mountainous support is Theo James, star of the new CBS cop drama Golden Boy --

he plays a detective on the rise, and McBride is the veteran partner who takes the new kid under his wing.

ANTHONY AUGUSTINE / WEB

To This Day Project by Shane Koyczan

With nearly five million YouTube views in the first five days that this anti-bullying video was published to the video streaming site, To This Day has become one of those instant success stories on the web. Anchored by a variety of animation styles from artists across North America, including Winnipeg's Procter Bros. Industries, Shane Koyczan's powerful spoken-word piece about the impact of bullying is one of the most effective and moving videos floating around the web right now. For more information, visit tothisdayproject.com. This should be required viewing for any classroom: bit.ly/to_this_day

RANDALL KING Ñ MOVIES

Commercial Tie-In: The Movie

One previous example of a movie made to shill for a corporation was the legendary Mac and Me, a 1988 E.T. rip-off sponsored by -- and featuring lots of scenes plugging -- McDonald's. The Movie Out Here, opening tomorrow at McGillivray, was inspired by a series of commercials for Kokanee Beer, the "beer out here." But whereas Mac and Me was intended to drive its audience to the nearest McDonald's, The Movie Out Here may only succeed in driving its audience to drink.

MORLEY WALKER / BOOKS

Emptying the family recipe box

It is a truism of publishing that the world can never have enough cookbooks. The latest person to grasp this wisdom is American food writer Michael Pollan, best known as the author The Omnivore's Dilemma. According to the U.S. trade journal Publishers Weekly, Pollan is teaming up with his mother and two sisters to pen The Pollan Family Table, which will feature "healthy and delicious meals" that have been shared "from generation to generation." Pollan's actress sister Tracy is married to Canadian-born actor Michael J. Fox.

KEVIN PROKOSH / THEATRE

Masked avenger

There will be more fathers taking their children to see The Mark of Zorro at Manitoba Theatre for Young People over the next week. The dashing, masked man in black (think Robin Hood meets Batman) left his distinctive mark -- a Z cut with three quick strokes of his rapier -- on the imaginations of boys who grew up watching the B&W Disney TV series in the '60s. Zorro (Spanish for fox) was the caped hero of the schoolyard and a popular Halloween costume back in the day.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 28, 2013 c2