Monday, 08 September 2008

Grace Emilys Brings Scot Rock to the Masses

It’s a balmy summer evening, around nine ‘o’ clock, and the Scottish lads that make up Grace Emilys can’t believe…

Fall Movie Preview

Fall’s a great time for movies; you get the best of both worlds. As the season wears on we get…

Summer’s over and it’s a bummer. If the season seemed shorter this year, it’s the combination of less-than-average weather and…

Nominees for the 23rd Annual Gemini Awards were announced yesterday, honouring the best in Canadian television. Murdoch Mysteries and Durham…

Have you recovered from Fan Expo yet? I’m not sure I have. There’s always so much to do and so…

CBC Radio 2 gets a makeover September 2nd. Billed as “a new 2 on September 2”, the Canadian broadcaster announced…

Events that embrace the various elements of the performing arts are tricky to pull off. How to include one, while…

So, the first thing I encountered at this year’s National Fan Expo at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is a…

The recent announcement that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was going to be put on ice till next summer…

Two images of Elizabeth Shepherd live in my memory. The first is of her performing last summer, primly seated at…

Written by Catherine Kustanczy
Monday, 08 September 2008 02:15
The Toronto International Film Festival is well underway, with all the glitz and glamour you’d expect of a major Hollywood event. Just as important as the screenings, if not moreso, are the numerous parties, where deals are often made over drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Among the many venues hosting TIFF parties this year are The Boilerhouse, Ultra Supper Club, Cheval, and of course, the ubiquitous Drake Hotel on Queen Street West. Since its re-opening in 2004, the Drake has steadily gained in popularity and cool quotient. This year it had the honour of hosting the party for Passchendaele, the opening night film of this year’s festival.
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Written by Catherine Kustanczy
Friday, 05 September 2008 20:06
It’s Day Two of the Toronto International Film Festival, and already there’s a palpable stress in the air. From those in the film industry, to publicists, media, and even the public, a certain electric excitement, mixed with a giddy weariness, has pervaded Toronto. Piers Handling, TIFF’s General Director, recently confessed to the Globe and Mail that he stopped drinking alcohol at parties years ago in order to make it through the festival intact. He’s also trying to incorporate more of a regular exercise regimen into his routine, though the pace of the film festival makes it all but impossible in September. With festival madness having already began long before the lights went down for Passchendaele Thursday night, workouts tends to get thrown to the wind along with most people’s caution.
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Written by Catherine Kustanczy
Friday, 05 September 2008 14:17
Two years ago this month, I returned to the city I once called home: London. Amidst the nostalgia, I recalled the supreme pleasures of a city I count as being among my all-time favourites: the access to art (the National, the British Museum, and, my favourite, the National Portrait Gallery, are all free), the diversity of theatre (cherished memories of the Tricycle, the Donmar, and the Almeida remain), and the astonishing array of foods on offer –everything from Indian (ubiquitous in London) to North African, to gastro-pub and beyond. People may not realize it, but London is a foodie paradise. Between the markets (whether they be central –say Berwick street –or more far-flung, like the South Asian markets in Wembley), there is deliciousness at every turn. Even the East-end Eel pies –though an acquired taste –have a certain charm to them, if given the chance.
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Written by Adam A. Donaldson
Wednesday, 03 September 2008 17:29
Fall’s a great time for movies; you get the best of both worlds. As the season wears on we get into bigger and bigger pictures of blockbuster stature and sprinkled in between are several prestige films jockeying for position as best of the year and other awards. Listed here are the films vying for your hard earned dollars over the next couple of months.
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Written by Adam A. Donaldson
Wednesday, 03 September 2008 16:20
If you think summer goes by fast when you’re young, just wait until you get older. This goes especially when you spend half of the sunny days of the season in a dark room watching movies. But living vicariously through movie characters ease the pain of not liking the summer heat enough to bask in it. So, in exercising that annual beginning of the school year tradition, here are some of the things I saw and did this summer.
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