Laura K. McMillan, a textile artist from the west coast of Canada, combines art and science in her embroidered cells and hand-spun wool amoebas. She is developing an artistic practice that pushes textile art into a whole new realm, away from its modern craft fair affiliations.

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A free quarterly art fashion and culture publication now in its fourth year, SNAP! Magazine started out as a kind of cult object in the city where we live, Montreal. This fall we launched our 14th issue and with it marked a whole new phase in our business. We’ve taken our magazine nationwide and dramatically increased our distribution.

Although SNAP! Magazine is produced by a core team of just three, each issue we collaborate with a wide range of some of the best creative talent across the country. This issue we got to work with Caroline Mauxion, Karin Demeyer, John Londono, Clara Palardy, Jean Malek and many more, and used our ‘Double D’s’ theme to have a bit of fun.

Exploring everything from Doris Day to David Duchovny to Dirty Dancing and Donnie Darko, the issue is now all across Canada and we are getting so much great feedback.

For those who haven’t yet seen a copy, we also feature each issue online and work really hard to make a website that delivers smart, fresh and diverse content for our web audience. We are in the process of launching a newsletter for our growing network of fans, and to find new ways to promote the new talent we discover every day through our magazine.

Die-hard magazine fans, we are also super excited to explore all the possibilities the web offers for creative expression, entertainment and generating new ideas. Ambitious? You bet!

US progressives often look longingly to the north at the supposedly more mild-mannered country of Canada. However, according to her website, Toronto-based illustrator and political cartoonist Franke James is receiving harassment by government officials who don’t like her message and want to block her upcoming traveling exhibition in Europe. Check out her account of what’s going on.

In their own words: ‘Bug Incision is two things: A label, mostly dealing with limited edition cd-rs, and the occasional cassette. Not necessarily limited to those things. The point is more that the work can be done entirely in-house. The focus has shifted slightly from documenting the scene in Calgary to including international communities and players. If you think you have a recording you’d like to release, by all means, please contact us’.

These corporative interiors have been designed by Carlos Herrera (a Mexican-Canadian designer), the owner of Habitat Innovation Designs in Toronto. He combines practical clean lines and a unique contemporary style in work that is commendably ecologically friendly.

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It’s about time maple syrup left the realm of tacky tourist souvenirs and fell into the hands of the right kind of people. So say goodbye to Canadiana-ridden syrup bottles sporting rustic sugar shacks and happy-go-lucky beavers and take a look at what happens when you let two design mavens from Toronto get their hands on the stuff.

Introducing Ninutik, a collection of luxury maple sugar products for corporate events, dinner parties, hostess gifts or whatever excuse you like. In this collection, the innovators over at design firm Studio Innova have combined their own knockout design mastery with premium Canadian maple syrup and the savvy of select respected Canadian artists, from glass blowers to patissiers.

Check out the Cube 57, a block of beautifully marbled hard maple sugar encased in a maple wood box that begs you to run your microplaner all over it and dust everything in sight with maple sugar. Then there are the spectacularly hand painted white chocolates filled with maple butter fondant, hidden nuggets of hard maple sugar and smooth maple whiskey gel. And you can’t miss the both playful and sophisticated line of maple pops and wafers that can accompany your after-dinner coffee or cognac, garnish a dessert or even sit prettily at the bottom of a cocktail. No longer just Nature’s candy, it’s now eye candy too!

For Canadian artist Todd McLellan’s Disassembly project, he deconstructed everyday gadgets, such as old telephones, cameras or typewriters, and arranged their parts in an orderly manner.

History was made on November 27 when 14 countries, six continents, 18,000 people, 50 DJs and 200+ bartenders joined forces for a never-before-seen, omnipresent, one-night only global affair across 10 time zones. And if you weren’t at one of Smirnoff’s ravishing Nightlife Exchange Project parties, then where the bloody hell were you?

I’m delighted to say that I was there. I was exceptionally fortunate to get a taste of Canada’s very chilly after dark scene at the Toronto-themed party hosted by exchanging sister-city Bangalore in India’s south. As a first-time Aussie in India, it was a real treat to learn how local Indians boogied and let their hair down to headlined sets by DJ Sultan, Zara Taylor and Max Graham while enjoying Canada’s famed specialities. Think traditional poutine (hot chips, cheese, gravy) and signature maple syrup-laced vodka concoctions at the ice bars.

Merrymakers around the globe were also partying hard. Brazilians were Aussified with Van She tunes and German techno God Marcus Schultz dropped beats in Cape Town. Peaches and South African famed Gazelle teamed-up with new song material at Berlin, while Zane Lowe played a Miami-inspired set in London. Argentina experienced the best of Dublin pubs. And as for Thailand, they hooked up with belly-dancing Lebanon. Speaking of Thailand, I enjoyed a week of Bangkok hotspots and Mumbai gems in the lead up to the big Smirnoff event, so stay tuned for all the latest trends in my next Lost At E Minor feature video highlighting my foreign adventures.

[London, Buenos Aires and Bangkok pictured below. Also see Sydney's Nightlife Exchange party]

Drunken Barn Dance, featuring Scott Sellwood of Saturday Looks Good To Me, and members of City Center, Canada, and Great Lakes Myth Society, have a new album out, Grey Buried, from which this epic single, A Winter’s Tale, is taken.

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Wine turning to vinegar. Sounds like any vintner’s nightmare. Or does it? Enter Minus 8. Produced out of Ontario, Canada, this rare little product made in limited quantities boasts a cult-like following for its stellar, fall-off-your-chair taste. Yes, we’re still talking about vinegar— but not just any vinegar.

To make it, Riesling grapes are harvested at temperatures of 8 degrees Celsius below zero – i.e. Minus 8 – then dried, squeezed, and finally slow fermented twice over. The result is an addictive potion that has got the zing of vinegar but none of the unpleasant tanginess. In contrast, its syrupy mellowness is the perfect complement to tenderloin or foie gras, grilled peaches or ice cream. Better yet, just a cheeky sip all on its own will do too. And while Minus 8 rocks heaps of rave reviews for its complex yet smooth taste, what it’s certainly not is cheap. If you spring for a bottle, you might just find yourself minus a few.

Canadian indie rock band Hollerado recite their knowledge of American geography in this human 8-bit music video for their song Americanarama. This one-shot video was directed by the band’s friend, Greg Jardin.

This is Jessica Fortner’s latest installment of her ongoing My Woodland, My Nightmare series titled Deadly Sins: Sloth Meets Greed. Fortner is a sculptural illustrator who lives and works in Toronto. Her site has tons of process work, showing you step by step how she creates her wonderful illustrations.

Rodolphe Simeon is a French photographer living in Canada. His work is a bit on the wild side: scissors, blood, abnormalities, sexuality and violence, everything can be found there. Whether he shoots people on the street or uses staged portraits in the studio, his morbid photos are always full of energy.

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Canadian artist Peter Diamond got his first taste of illustration drawing gig posters for his buddies punk rock shows in high school. Now, from his home in Vienna, his work has evolved into beautifully intricate and surreal compositions.

There is something irresistible about a beautifully designed coffee shop. And Balzac’s Coffee in Toronto’s Distillery District is just such a place. Located in an antiquated warehouse, the ambience exudes an industrial-chic meets French bistro aesthetic with its worn brick walls, pressed tin coffee bar, checkerboard tiled flooring, and 20ft ceiling adorned with exposed pipes.

Considered by some to be the most spectacular coffee shop in all of Canada, an enormous old-fashioned chandelier dominates the centre of the space, while vintage coffee posters line the walls and a quiet loft rests above the café doubling as an art gallery for local talent.

And as if all that doesn’t already beg for you to idle for hours on end, the coffee is supreme too. It is carefully sourced and micro-roasted nearby for deep, rich cups of indulgence. It is a place where Honoré de Balzac himself, the café’s namesake, would fit right in.

What it lacks in the subversion and rebellion originally associated with graffiti, the Digital Grafiti Wall (backed by Heineken, no less) more than makes up for with tech geekery and wow-factor. The wall is currently touring Canada, hitting parties, clubs, and bars where people can use the gigantic drawing pad to create their own large-scale graffiti murals.

Like a latter day Keith Haring, Canadian artist Luke Ramsey fills walls, public spaces, various objects, and pieces of paper with impossibly intricate and busy drawings that reveal more detail the longer one looks. There’s more spacial depth in his work than the iconic 80s artist, and rather than redefining the surfaces he works on, Ramsey creates little narratives with awesomely weird characters and landscapes.

Ramsey, along with his wife, also operates the Islands Fold Art Farm on Pender Island, B.C. He’s currently showing some work at the Harmonic Huh show at the Hexagon in Baltimore, also featuring work by LA’s Sarah Anderson and Charlottesville’s Andy Jenkins.

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The story of this electro-pop duo begins with a pair of high school sweethearts and arrives now at their debut release, Goodbye Friend, Welcome Lover, which reached number two on the Canadian campus radio charts. We got the inside word from them on the music that inspires them. They started with the Delorean song, Grow [listen below]: ‘We first heard of Delorean while on tour in Spain. They were all over the Spanish music press. Then we finally heard them on the indie radio station playing in the van. Mucho bueno’. [Read the rest of Hexes and Ohs' Secret Playlist]

I really like Canadians, well the Canadians in this film — Who Loves The Sun — anyway. I don’t know if most Canadians are like this, but these characters are going through a fair bit of turmoil, however, they handle it with enough entertaining reserve to make for great viewing. It’s all done with a lightness and sense of humour that doesn’t detract from the gravity of the issues, but somehow adds complexity and depth.

This clever and tight script is full of great lines, neat twists and astute observations on human nature, and is also very well acted. A son, his best friend and the wife he hasn’t seen for years are all reunited on an idyllic lakeside property, owned by the son’s parents who act as sort of referees to the whole shenanigans. This isn’t quite a romantic comedy, but it’s close enough to destroy most of the American crap in the cinemas for intelligence, wit and subtlety.

The very humor of Kate Beaton’s latest web comic series, Canadian Stereotype Comics, is predicated on the stereotype that Canadians are too non-descript to really have stereotypes. Plus, Beaton herself hails from the Great White North. Is that totally meta or what?