"Speed up," a voice crackled over the on-board CB. "Please speed up, lead car."

This was a striking introduction to the product of hundreds of sleep-deprived and malnourished hours spent by students on the University of Calgary Solar Car Team.

The music industry is a lot like a soap opera. You're always confronted with phenomenal new bands who spring out of nowhere like new romances. It's ripe with high profile feuds and break ups to keep you on your toes and it's even full of bungling do-gooders who end up causing more problems than they solve. A prime example of this is the major labels and their ceaseless war on internet piracy.

Any rapper worth his Escalade will tell you respect in the game comes from survival on the streets. Pulling up the pant leg on their designer jeans, they'll point to scars and bruises earned in vague fights from "back in the day." The lucky few who have them show off faded bullet wounds like rusted Purple Hearts. K'Naan, the Canadian hip-hop artist originally from Somalia, has got them all beat.

When Christine Fellows performs at the Calgary Folk Festival this weekend, she'll have to leave an integral part of her band at home, her cat, Slap.

Since the series debut in 1998, Harry Potter has managed to protect a magic rock from an evil wizard, fight a big snake, prove the innocence of his godfather, save a Hippogriff, watch a friend die at the hands of the same evil wizard, narrowly escape with his own life on several occasions, dispel rumours he was crazy by sicking a pack of centaurs on an old woman, watch his godfather die, play a lot of Quidditch and generally save the world from certain doom time and again.

Being hardcore is more than just flashing double jointed hand gestures to people as you drive your Escalade to a guest appearance on MTV's Cribs. It's more than being too high to avoid strutting into a torrent of bullets or slouching against a wall in that oh-so-gangsta-vogue way. Hardcore is achieved through struggle and coming out of it intact. Canadian hip-hop emcee K'Naan has got hardcore in spades.

Although typically classified as a hip-hop artist, Buck 65's music encompasses a diverse range of styles and can veer in nearly any direction. Set to perform at this year's Calgary Folk Festival, the former Eastern Canadian and current Parisian, credits his small town upbringing for his wide range of influences.

The hare pranced around the tortoise gleefully when he accepted the challenge. Of course the hare would beat the slow plodding turtle. On the day of the race the hare sprinted off, leaving the tortoise in the dust. Tired out and very much in the lead, the hare decided to take a nap. Moving at his same steady pace, the tortoise passed the snoozing hare, beating him to the finish line.

Someone has switched on the light at the end of whatever tunnel the University of Calgary Dinos men's basketball team is in. The astounding Whit Hornsberger has been granted another year of eligibility with Canadian Interuniversity Sport.

The point guard was forced to miss the majority of what would have been his fifth season following an injury in November 2004. Having played just two regular season games, Hornsberger will be eligible to play the complete 2005-2006 basketball season.

It's a sport of crushed ribs and severed ears, broken bones and bruised egos. But at the Calgary Stampede, one of the world's major rodeos, the stakes are too high to stay away.

As if it wasn't enough to be Canada's largest annual event, the Calgary Exhibition & Stampede July 7-16, smashed attendance records on the grounds and through the gates of various rodeo events. One bareback rider even set a world record.