arts and culture : In The News

The Toronto Star writes on the 10 Torontonians who made this year's Order of Canada recipient list. The prestigious list includes opera singer and comedienne Mary Lou Fallis, publisher Patricia Aldana, and co-director of Mount Sinai Hospital's Intensive Care Unit Dr. Arnold Aberman.

Toronto's LG Fashion Week—the five-day long biannual fashion event—has wrapped-up to unprecedented numbers. As reported by the Globe And Mail, the new centrally located venue in the city’s David Pecaut Square, and the convergence of the shows around the theme "Canadian Cool" are among the factors that made this latest edition such a standout success. 

Toronto's Underpass Park--a 2.5-acre park now in construction under the city's Eastern Avenue, Richmond and Adelaide overpasses--has topped the The Atlantic magazine's list of the world's "9 Cool Projects Under Freeway Overpasses." When complete, Underpass Park will transform a derelict and neglected space into a bright, multi-use pedestrian thoroughfare. 

After 11 days and 260 film screenings, TIFF 2011 has officially come to close. The Washington Post praises TIFF programmers for the exciting variety of movies on offer, describing the fest as a "balanced, healthy cinematic ecosystem."

"What's more, with some of the festival's smallest independent productions having been acquired by studios in recent days, audiences can be assured that, even as multibillion-dollar spectacles and comic-book franchises threaten to gobble up the smaller fry, a diverse, harmonious cinematic habitat still has a chance of surviving."

"So, at this year's TIFF, audiences could rousingly applaud the funny, touching mainstream comedy The Descendants—the festival's first bona fide home run, featuring a by-turns hilarious and heartbreaking performance by Clooney—then a few days later see Shame, Steve McQueen's stark, disquietingly graphic portrait of a man grappling with sex addiction."

"But even though the market heated up somewhat, the heart and soul of TIFF beat on the streets of downtown Toronto, where thousands of cinetourists make their annual pilgrimage, seeing up to four or even five movies a day, emerging only to cadge a hurried meal before plunging again into the dark. This is a world blithely oblivious to wheeling and dealing that occur in such elegant precincts as the Fairmont Royal York or InterContinental hotels, where the swells congregated this year. Instead, festival-goers—who could be heard coining the term "TIFF-ing" for their cine-obsessed pastime—shuttle from queue to queue, comparing notes with their fellow enthusiasts over well-thumbed programs, circling and crossing out titles with the ruthlessness of seasoned racetrack sharpies."

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original source Washington Post

Blog TO hosts pictures of the eclectic art on display at this year's annual Queen West Art Crawl (QWAC). In addition to more than 250 artists booths, the 2011 QWAC featured food vendors, live performances and artist talks.

check out pics of the event here
original source Blog TO

With TIFF back for its 36th year, the LA Times writes on the best Toronto hotspots "to eat, drink and be seen." Toronto's high-end hotels, world-renowned restaurants and array of premium coffee shops are among the many Toronto highlights the Times recommends to its readers.

"Toronto tends to be blasé about its stars—Rachel McAdams' regular vintage-shopping jaunts in the city's popular Kensington Market attract about as much attention as anyone else's—but whatever see-and-be-seen attitude the city does hold surges to a fever pitch during the annual International Film Festival. This year marks the 36th edition of TIFF, and whether you're looking to rub elbows with Clooney & Co. or want to duck away from the hubbub for low-key cocktails and charcuterie, the following list offers some of the best that Toronto has to offer."

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original source LA Times

The Toronto Star's Christopher Hume writes on the legacy of the Bell Lightbox, the 2-year old TIFF headquarters that's transforming Toronto's downtown.

"There’s no need to shed any tears for Yorkville just yet. Though it lost much of the film festival when TIFF moved downtown last year, it can still count on the enduring power of vanity to keep its wheels turning. And if the ’70s ever become fashionable again, the old Village will be the place to be."

"Meanwhile, down at King and John, the Bell Lightbox, TIFF’s elegant new funhouse, continues to change the face of the downtown neighbourhood. It’s not that Yorkville — or at least, the larger Yorkville area, including the Royal Ontario and Gardiner museums and the Royal Conservatory — is any less a cultural hub, but some of that energy has shifted south."

"The city also provides a study in the domino effect, how one change leads inexorably to another. TIFF is a catalyst as well as a result. And as the area draws ever closer to critical mass, it becomes a self-sustaining mix of culture, entertainment, commercial, corporate and domestic forces."

"That’s why the neighbourhood is no longer simply an Entertainment District, a Financial District or any other such designated enclave. It now incorporates elements of both. In that sense, it belongs to everyone."

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original source Toronto Star

Toronto's newest tourist attraction, an $130-million aquarium to be constructed at the base of the CN Tower, officially broke ground on August 17th. Blog TO hosts renderings of the ambitious project (expected to be completed by 2013) that will feature a 96-metre-long moving walkway through a "shark lagoon" and will be able to accommodate as many as 13,500 sea creatures.

check out renderings here
original source Blog TO

The USA Today--with the help of Toronto transplant Richard Florida--has complied a list of North America's best cities for exploring urban neighbourhoods. Toronto, the only Canadian city to make the list, is lauded for its eclectic and "artsy" Queen West district.


"The western edge of this major traffic artery now boasts an array of restaurants, bars and shops. Visitors come for music venues, including the Drake Hotel and the Gladstone, which turns its first floor tavern into a weekly "Art Bar," where artists and designers mingle."

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original source USA Today