5 things you absolutely must know to wrap up 2015

This is the final 5 things you absolutely must know today of the year, and the one that will usher you into 2016 armed, or, better word, equipped, with all you need to know to be an engaging and engaged member of the Canadian Prairies. With this introduction, No. 1 should not surprise you:

Manitoba’s political leaders jockey for your vote

Published yesterday, taped on Nov. 25, this it the first provincial leaders’ debate leading up to the Manitoba election in 2016. The debate between Premier Greg Selinger, opposition leader Brian Pallister, and liberal leader Rana Bokhari took place at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention in Brandon. It’s north of an hour, but you must/we must suffer the marginal video quality and frustrating sound levels to. It’s an obligation. These are our candidates.

The best books of 2015, from a source we trust

We trust Book Riot. It’s a great publication, host to enviable writing, intelligent reviews, and year-end lists worth considering. Click here or on the source article link for Book Riot’s best books of 2015, broken down by genre (there’s a separate nonfiction list, for those concerned about such). Enjoy. [Source: Book Riot]

The best and worst reads of 2015 (we’ll publish our own, too)

We wish all of these were ours. We wish all the good, best, revolutionary journalism came from this small corner of the Internet: Spectator Tribune (we’ll publish our own list of top reads before year-end). Here are three lists, one from Longreads, another from Columbia Journalism Review, and one more from The Atlantic, all listing what they believe are the best reads of 2015. There’s model, inventive writing in some of these entries:

For the Longreads Best of 2015: Under-Recognized Stories click here.

For The Atlantic’s Roughly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism (mostly 2014) click here.

For the Columbia Journalism Reviews The Best and Worst Journalism of 2015 click here.

It’s great to laugh, so here are 25 things to make you do so 

Laughing is the best. It really is. Here is Rolling Stone’s list of 25 Best Stand-Up Specials and Movies (it’s not a 2015 roundup, but a best of what’s come out to date.

Remember classical music? Here are the best classical recordings of 2015

We chose to include a list of classical recordings because you’ll see/read enough other lists from Noisey, Vice, Rolling Stone, and your Facebook friends. The Goldberg Variations are great, and Rachmaninoff performances can be, too. And we’re certain many other recordings on this list are just as spectacular. [Source: NYTimes]

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