Events: March 2009 Archives

THEATRE: Theatrical art troupe Small Wooden Shoe, whose previous artistic installments have appeared at both the Harbourfront Centre and the Toronto Fringe Festival, will open their new show tonight at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Dedicated to the Revolutions will explore the effects of seven different scientific revolutions through the use of witty whiteboard presentations, clever songs, and other intriguing demonstrations. Dedicated will run five nights a week until April 12, and you can purchase advance tickets here. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander Street), 8 p.m., $15–25.

Construction paper, glue, and markers will keep kids entertained for hours, but these supplies were merely the rudimentary materials available for use at the Bunch Family Salon on Sunday afternoon. On top of those fundamentals, the five hundred youngsters and their oh-so-intrigued parents who attended were provided with laptops, digital cameras, stuffed toys, and so much more so that they could both build and think about unique aspects of their city.

It hasn’t been the greatest season for the Raptors; in fact, it’s been one of the worst yet. At eight games back of Chicago and with nine left to play, the players and coaches must already have their flights and tee times booked. What better time to thank the Raptors season ticket holders for enduring another year? And what better way to do so than with loads and loads of Northern Italian food and wine?

Incendiary British anti-war MP George Galloway was scheduled to speak at a Toronto Coalition to Stop the War event tonight. On March 20, though, he received a letter from Robert J. Orr, Immigration Officer for Canada in London, England, informing him that the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) had made a "preliminary determination" that he was inadmissible to Canada on grounds of national security, raising national furor over what his Toronto lawyer, Barbara Jackman, termed an abrogation of the right to freedom of speech. Meanwhile, Alykhan Velshi, senior aide to Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, took the liberty of calling Galloway an "infandous street-corner Cromwell who actually brags about giving 'financial support' to Hamas," a man who "I'm sure ...has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him."

MUSIC: Following a slough of successful shows at SXSW last week, New Zealand rockers Cut Off Your Hands will be playing at the Horseshoe Tavern tonight. Both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork have given these guys the seal of approval, so this is definitely one worth checking out (just so you can say you "saw them back when" and stuff). Joining them are Toronto's Boys Who Say No. Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen Street West), 9 p.m., $12.

What do you like about Toronto?

PHOTOGRAPHY: Georgette Peters has been photographing the elaborate bicycle bell creations of Toronto cyclists this year. She shares her tiny finds with us in her new "Does This Ring a Bell" exhibit opening at Side Space Gallery today. Clay and Paper Theatre make an appearance at the opening with performances of Bicycle Revolution Cantastoria at 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Side Space Gallery (1080 St. Clair Avenue West), 3–6 p.m., FREE.

These (recessionary) days, with “shop” and “excuse to” so rarely separable in a breath, what’s as perfect as the pop-up? Nothing. Sale signs, in their bright, pleading ubiquity, have lost their ubiquity. This winter’s long, and garages haven’t turned out their doors yet; neither have the farmers’ or Kensington street markets.

DESIGN: Designers from all walks of the trade compete in the Toronto version of the Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament. This travelling competition has already visited a host of other cities (Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco among them), picking and choosing winners along the way until the final showdown in New York City. Tonight's contest goes down in real time with the work of the participants broadcast over the crowd. Sound Academy (11 Polson Street), 7 p.m., $15 in advance, $20 at door.

We are, just to be clear, very fond of Planet Earth. Big fans. Huge. We are, likewise, fond of initiatives which safeguard our environment, and also in favour of consciousness-raising efforts that promote such initiatives. Therefore, when we say that many of the events being held to celebrate Earth Hour tomorrow are vacuous publicity exercises that insult our intelligence and with which we want no truck, we are not doing it because we think this whole environmental crisis we've been hearing so much about has been overblown. We are doing it because they are so vacuous and so insulting that we have been rendered awestruck by their inanity, and find our consciousness to be depressed, angry, and frustrated rather than uplifted.

FILM: Cinefranco opens with Stephane Gehami’s En Plaine Coeur, the first of thirty-three French-language features (including Paris, shown above) and numerous short films the festival will be screening. This year's festival includes films from Canada, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Morocco, Lebanon, and Iran. The youth program is sold out, but next weekend there is a Master Class scheduled with Quebec Cinéma Vérité veteran Michel Brault and a roundtable discussion about Moroccan art. As the city's most adorable festival organizer puts it, "How else can you get to Paris for ten dollars?" Check the festival's website for schedule details (on until April 5). Royal Cinema (608 College Street), 7 p.m., $10 per screening.

No victors were declared last night in the ongoing struggle between the street and the man, between high and popular culture, between the alleyway and the gallery. In a panel discussion on the evolving nature of street art, the only consensus was that more conversations—open-ended, open-minded, open-hearted—are required.

ART: The annual Sheridan College graduating class exhibit opens today at the Gardiner Museum. This year's installment will feature contemporary ceramic pieces (including the one pictured above) from some of Sheridan's most talented graduates. The showcase will run until April 26 at the Gardiner Shop in the Gardiner Museum. Artists featured will be Barbara Banfield, Aislinn Caron, Chari Cohen, Deborah Freeman, Melissa Jantunen, Carol McGarry, Joanne Noordhuis, and Martha Oguzowski. Gardiner Museum (111 Queen's Park Circle), 6–8 p.m., FREE.

Here at Drama Club, we generally consider Mirvish shows to be outside our purview (although that certainly doesn't stop them popping up elsewhere on Torontoist). But when we heard that the much ballyhooed Broadway darling Spring Awakening was coming to the Canon Theatre, we couldn't help feeling...intrigued. Maybe it was our geeky theatre-school memories of the scandalous Wedekind play the new musical is based on. More likely, it was Lucille Bluth singing "Mama Who Bore Me" on 90210. Regardless, it was with a healthy amount of curiosity (and perhaps a soupçon of dread) that we went to the theatre on opening night.

A group of schoolchildren sit down at a table, armed with notebooks and pencils in hand. It's dinnertime, and they're ready to be served. But tonight's specialty won't be Macaroni à la KD, nor a plate of crustless PB & J. These kids are dining inside of Queen Street's finest eateries, and to them, it's not quite kid stuff. Once the dishes are cleared, the kids get down to business―laying on the table their uncensored, audacious opinions.

The Hug Me Tree has gone high art. An icon of the Queen Street West shopping district for the past decade until its unceremonious uprooting last August, this humble tree stump is now on display at the Royal Ontario Museum.

If you're ever having one of those blah days, the kind where your life seems decidedly lacking in excitement and you find yourself in need of an emotional jolt, might we suggest that you attend a community meeting as an antidote? Perhaps one devoted to an ambitious redesign of your neighbourhood? The depth and breadth of passion, indignation, frustration, hope, and fear on display will perk you right up.

ART: The Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum hosts "Talking Street Art," a panel discussion in conjunction with its current "Housepaint Phase II: Shelter" exhibit. Panellists include city councillor Adam Vaughan, MOCCA artistic director David Liss, Housepaint curator Devon Ostrom, and Toronto street artist Fauxreel (a.k.a. Dan Bergeron). The panel tackles the questions of street art legitimacy: Does street art have a place in a gallery setting? Can exhibited artists maintain street cred? How is street art different from mere vandalism? And what kinds of penalties does the artist risk? Royal Ontario Museum, Loblaws Group entrance, south end (100 Queens Park), 6:30 p.m., FREE.

You love documentaries. We love documentaries. And what better way to forget our differences and come together in this love than at Hot Docs? Repping 171 titles from 39 countries, the 16th annual documentary festival and confab announced its full slate today at a jammed press conference at Revival.

MUSIC: With a spot on an iPod commercial and Gossip Girl, all signs point to next indie sensation for The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. So, check ‘em while it's cheap at the Wrongbar tonight. This Danish duo from Copenhagen play a pop dance mix; local synth-punk trio Styrofoam Ones opens. Wrongbar (1279 Queen Street West), 9 p.m., $16.50 advance at Soundscapes and Rotate This.

Of LG Fashion Week, the last day is already a distant memory; not, however, so distant that we can get out of writing about it. But, come on. You can tell us. You're as tired of the faintly judgemental daily recaps as we are of writing them. And you know what's more fun than being judgey? Actually judging. So here we are: Torontoist's First and Last Annual LGFW Awards. The best, the—no, that's lame. Air kisses and misses? Something like. Read on, we implore you.

You know, for all the talk of the wonderful and awful things that Toronto has planned and is planning for its future, it's easy to forget that far too often one group's ideas are neglected from that dialogue altogether, shamefully excluded or pushed to the margins of any discussion, dismissed as idealistic, puerile, or childish. That group? Kids. Really awesome kids.

MUSIC: Torontonian indie favourites Born Ruffians are back in town with a show this evening at Sneaky Dee's. Also performing are the similarly awesome rock band Akron/Family, who hail from Pennsylvania and New York. If you can't make it out tonight, don't worry; there is a second show tomorrow at the same location and time. Sneaky Dee's (431 College Street), 9 p.m., $13.

PARTY: Get those digital cameras charged, ladies, because Raptors star Chris Bosh is commemorating his twenty-fifth birthday in style this evening with a super sweet public party that will inevitably make all those lavish parties on MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen seem kind of bush league. Though originally scheduled to be held at CiRCA, Bosh's bash is now being held at Liberty Village's Maro (a bar "supper club" that needs to hire someone immediately to add a "Skip Intro" button to their website). DJs Whoo Kid and Starting From Scratch will spin all the fly beats. Oh, and some dude named Busta Rhymes is supposed to perform. Advance tickets can be purchased via Ticketweb. Ka-BOSH, indeed. Maro (135 Liberty Street), 10 p.m., $25.

As has been discussed before, the Bloor has become a relevant location for the local community of film buffs, but to Torontoist it feels like it's never been as obvious as during the Edgar Wright–curated film season The Wright Stuff.

FUN: Newmindspace is hosting another edition of their popular urban pillow fights this afternoon in Dundas Square. Participants are asked to arrive at 3 p.m. with a soft pillow in tow; feathers are no longer "green." The free, all-ages event will take place rain or shine, and will run until the sun sets. For rules and more information, check out the Facebook event. Dundas Square (40 Dundas Street West), 3 p.m., FREE.

"Paris" is not an inspiration: this is our first thought of LGFW's fourth day. We're late to Aime Luxury's runway debut but catch word the collection's called "Paris, Je T'Aime." Merde. When will designers unsubscribe to such glossy, meaningless cliches?

The Toronto edition of Hip-Hop Karaoke celebrates its second birthday at Revival tonight, and its organizers are experiencing anything but the terrible twos. For one thing, most two-year-olds don't have Maestro Fresh Wes perform at their birthday parties.

Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC have been busy the last few weeks preparing for their third season, kicking off this Saturday at 8:30 p.m. away against the Kansas City Wizards (live on GolTV and The Fan 590). As in years past, Canada’s only major professional soccer club is playing its first two games away from home to avoid any last gasp of winter weather before returning to the well-publicized mayhem of BMO Field on April 4. That may explain the relatively quiet media build-up to kick-off: the club is mostly noticed in Toronto for the spectacle of twenty thousand screaming supporters at every home game. That TFC is a professional club competing for top honours in a serious North American league often escapes notice.

At approximately 5:45 p.m. on December 21st, 2008, Torontoist received a phone call from Boy Reporter. "The parade's been cancelled." "What?" "It's been cancelled. Because of the wind."

ART: Some of the artists who recently turned their attention to a touch of tush are now having a go at "Bugs." Nancy Draws, Runt, Sam Ferrara, Vesna Mostovac, Fiona Smyth, Serge Fortin, and Joey DAMMIT! place our numerous nefarious nemeses under a microscope and examine our love-hate relationship with them. The exhibit, curated by Nancy Draws, continues to April 5. To attend tonight’s opening please RSVP to rsvp@steamwhistle.ca. Steam Whistle Gallery (255 Bremner Boulevard), 6–10 p.m., FREE.

THWMP. You’ve been hit. You dodged, but the pillow still caught you square between the shoulders. THWMPTHWMPTHWMMMMP. More dodging, more ducking, but you somehow found yourself sandwiched between a man wearing a bunny costume and your flatmate—who’s still mad at you for burning the rest of the Wheat Thins in the toaster oven. Game over. An explosion of white. Feathers flying, Bunny Man running, flatmate forgiving you with each downy friend you pluck from the corner of your mouth. PFFFFTTHHHHPP. Feathers. Everywhere.

Smaller is better? Believe it: this fashion season, everything's been downsized, from L'Oreal gift bags containing a single, travel-sized hair spray (minimalism?) to the teeny-tiny LG laptops in the Media Lounge—wait, make that "Filing Room." For journos surviving on Kit Kat Singles and huddling around mini-screens, it all feels a bit like a visual gag.

"My friends, my fellow mushrooms....For all of our lives they've been keeping us in the dark! They've been feeding us bullshit!" A political career was born earlier this week, and it belongs to one Marvin Mushroom. Marvin proved himself a fearsome candidate: quick-witted, righteously indignant, born speech-maker. Marvin was campaigning, of course, for mushrooms to feature prominently on the assembled voters' pizza, and he drew a hearty round of applause after making his case.

Since last week's Drama Club, two very interesting shows have opened near Queen and Bathurst. Katherine Mansfield opened at Factory on Friday, while Tijuana Cure had its debut at Passe Muraille on Wednesday. Both shows use very minimal props and costumes, often relying on physicality to aid their storytelling. Both shows are rentals from impressive local companies (if ones at different stages in their careers). Theatre Smith-Gilmour, whose current play is a reworking of last year's The Mansfield Project, have been critical darlings since the 1980s and have wowed audiences with their stage adaptations of Chekhov's prose fiction. Theatre Smash is a much younger company that's only been producing plays since 2006, but it has already started getting attention for solid productions such as Norway, Today.

ART: Award-winning photographer Nigel Dickson gives a talk at the Ontario College of Art and Design tonight. The internationally recognized artist engages in both editorial and commercial work; his diverse oeuvre includes personal portraiture, corporate campaign work, and panoramic landscapes. He received sixteen National Magazine Awards—the most awarded to any artist in the category of Visual Design—and also won the Les Usherwood Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Advertising & Design Club of Canada. Ontario College of Art and Design, Auditorium (100 McCaul Street), 6:30 p.m., FREE.

If you've been looking for Canada's own Alexander Wang, you can rest your eyes now. Travis Taddeo has arrived. Let's do a little point-by-point, shall we?

WORDS: Author Mark Osbaldeston presents his illustrated book Unbuilt Toronto to the Lake Ontario Waterkeepers for the charitable organization's second-ever Book Club night. The focus of the presentation will be Toronto's lost or could-have-been waterfront. The Waterkeepers' aim is to educate Ontarians about how to fight for clean and safe water where we live and play; in keeping with their doctrine, Book Club night is open to everyone. The Cameron House (408 Queen Street West), 6 p.m., FREE.

Denis Gagnon is wearing sunglasses, indoors, and it’s not even night. Although, the trays of emptied wine glasses could fool those uninitiated in this fashion-media rite of passage: the Holt Renfrew cocktail party. This year, to launch the newly named LG Fashion Week, we’re self-congratulating in the recently reno’d contemporary design area. It’s a clever change in location: “They used to have it in accessories, but who’s going to pick up a $1,600 bag?” posits one smart editor. “Here I actually want to shop!” It’s also very shiny and very bright—just not quite bright enough for shades.

With the two-hour series finale of the epic, bar-raising reboot of Battlestar Galactica airing this Friday, what could be better than checking it out in high definition on the silver screen, surrounded by a dedicated audience of T.O.'s geek elite? Or better yet, doing so while contributing a little something to a good cause, fully secure in your anything-but-Cylon humanity?

THEATRE: Tony Award–winning rock musical Spring Awakening starts its month-long run tonight at the Canon Theatre. Adapted from the 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, the decidedly alternative musical (with a score by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Steven Sater) follows the sexual discoveries of formerly oppressed teenagers living at the turn of the nineteeth century in Berlin. The play, when it was first released, was initially banned in Germany because its not-so-feel-good topics include abortion, suicide, and rape. Parents all across the province are sure to grimace as their puberty-stricken daughters and sexually ambiguous sons announce they simply have to go see a bunch of former child actors take their clothes off on stage. But seriously, this musical is supposed to be really good. Canon Theatre (244 Victoria Street), 8 p.m., $28–$89.

"Slimmed down" is rather an understatement, if you (like the rest of our city's glitterati) are talking about the super-light schedule of LG Fashion Week (Beauty by L'Oreal), the newly and unwieldily named celebration of local style. Seriously, this schedule needs to eat a sandwich. Usually we'd be dying for a turkey-and-swiss ourselves by this time on Day One; instead, we're eating a sixth bowl of cereal and watching nailpolish dry. The first—and last—show of Day One isn't until tonight, after Holt Renfrew's annual cocktail party (a mecca for media and other shmoozehounds). And the rest of Fashion Week: Recession Edition is busier but hardly strenuous.

THEATRE: Suitcase Theatre’s new production, The House That Jack Built, begins today and runs throughout this March Break. The musical, based on the nursery rhyme of the same name, uses colourful masks as well as miniature and oversized puppetry for a family theatre experience. Church of the Redeemer (162 Bloor Street West), 3 p.m., $20 for adults, $12 for students/seniors/unemployed persons, $50 for family package (two adults and two children).

DANCE: Christopher House’s Chiasmata returns for a limited engagement at the Toronto Dance Theatre. What began as improvised movement is now a stylized showcase of twelve dancers who communicate through unexpected gestures such as shudders, hiccups, and twitches. A 2007 Dora Award nominee for Outstanding Choreography, Chiasma lost the award to another work by House, 2006’s Timecode Break. The performance features original music from Gemini Award–winning sound designer Phil Strong. Winchester Street Theatre (80 Winchester Street), 2 p.m., P.W.Y.C.

WORDS: Today at OISE, the Humanist Association of Toronto is presenting a lecture from Justin Trottier, executive director at the Centre for Inquiry Ontario. He'll be speaking about the Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign (pictured above, while ironically not a bus), answering questions about the campaign's history, and reflecting on the reactions it has stirred. Believers of all faiths are encouraged to come out and share their opinions, because nothing makes for a great start to the weekend like a heated religious debate. Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, Room 4-414 (252 Bloor Street West), 1:30 p.m., FREE.

Yes, there are Torontoist writers who remember York's 2000/01 CUPE walkout a little too well. So when 2008 rolled around, and students were once again barred from classes for the duration of a ridiculously protracted strike, certain impressions of a scholastically bereft university flooded to mind: lots of beer, lots of hangovers, tumbleweeds blowing through Vari Hall, and a gleeful student body celebrating sweet, hedonistic sloth.

ART: Harbourfront's York Quay Centre hosts the opening party for eight new art exhibits. The highlight may be the Canadian premiere of Penny Klepuszewska's Living Arrangements, a photographic series studying the conditions of elderly people living alone in Britain. Other exhibits include New York artist Alfonso Volo messing around with the anthropomorphic critters of his childhood for "Creature Riffs," and a look at the work of Toronto design group Motherbrand for "Material Culture for the Modern Age." There are also three animation exhibits being shown in conjunction with the upcoming Images festival: "Frame by Frame," "Goodbye 20th Century," and "Topsy-Turvy." A two-hour film of "Frame by Frame" participants screens tonight at 7 p.m. Harbourfront (235 Queens Quay West), 6–10 p.m., FREE.

COMEDY: The National Theatre of Canada creates a new Canadian play every week with Impromptu Splendor. Each Thursday, the cast presents a spontaneous one-act play, an improvised homage to theatre inspired by a playwright. The show takes on the selected playwright’s theatrical style and evolves from a title suggested by the audience. Colin Mochrie from Whose Line is it Anyway? guest stars tonight. Comedy Bar (945 Bloor Street West), 8:30 p.m., $10.

Each week, Drama Club looks at Toronto's theatre scene and tells you which shows are worth checking out.

Creme eggs aren't the only things releasing the goo at this time of year: when the days get longer and the snow starts melting, maple sap starts flowing and fans of pure Canadian sugar rushes head straight for the nearest sugar bush. We're hard-pressed to think of a better way to celebrate the imminent arrival of spring than getting gooned on pancakes and maple syrup. Fortunately, you don't have to go far out of the city to find a celebration of this quintessential Canadian sweetener.

MUSIC: East-coast indie powerhouse Sloan headline the Mod Club's Canadian Music Week kick-off with Zeus and Will Currie and the Country French joining as the opening acts. For the second show tomorrow night Hexes and Ohs replace Zeus on the bill, making it arguably the show to see at Canadian Music Week this year. A limited number of wristband wearers will be admitted, so if you've gone for the four-day pass, get there early. Mod Club Theatre (720 College Street), 8 p.m., $25.

FILM: First Weekend Club, a non-profit Canadian organization dedicated to promotion of Canadian films in order to keep them in theatres longer, is hosting an advanced screening of RiP: A Remix Manifesto tonight in the Drake Underground. In the film, web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores copyrighting issues in the age of information, in particular through his study of musician Gregg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk (also pictured above). Does Gillis shatter copyrighting boundaries through piracy, or will he create them? What does this mean for the future of the music industry? The pre-show wine reception kicks off at 7 p.m., followed by a screening of video mashup artist Jonathan McIntosh's latest film, So You Think You Can Be President. RiP will screen at 8 p.m., followed by a panel discussion featuring Gaylor himself, along with McIntosh, film distributor Robin Smith, and Marcus Bornfreund. Drake Hotel Underground (1150 Queen Street West), 7 p.m., $12 (Buy advance tickets here).

THEATRE: Musical theatre artist and camp queen Sharron Matthews hosts an all-star Canadian cast tonight. Sing Out, Louise! kicks off a month of fundraising activities in support of Buddies in Bad Times, the oldest and largest queer theatre in Canada. Thom Allison, Damien Atkins, Jenni Burke, and Patricia Zentilli, among others, will be joining her for the musical cabaret. Buddies in Bad Times (12 Alexander Street), 8 p.m., $25.

ART: The recently opened List Gallery holds an opening reception today for its current exhibition, "Here or There?” From multimedia installations to photography and fine prints, these works revolve around the common theme of being nowhere, or homeless, in the world. The contemporary gallery is itself situated in a part of the city—on Danforth between Greenwood and Coxwell—that is slowly attracting more and more art galleries and studios. List Gallery (1385 Danforth Avenue), opening reception from 2–5 p.m., FREE.

ROBOTS: The annual OCAD SUMO Robot Challenge returns today for its seventeenth year. The highly anticipated event features homemade robots going head to head in a fight to the death (death being falling off the platform where the robots fight). There are six levels of difficulty within the challenge in order to give both novice and elite robot builders a fair chance. Funds raised go towards scholarships for OCAD students. Preliminary rounds kick off at 10:30 a.m., but you don't need to show up until 1 p.m. for the main event. More rules and info are available on the challenge's official site. OCAD Auditorium (100 McCaul Street), 9:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m., FREE.

Nobody could rightly accuse Sheldon Levy, Ryerson University's president, of lacking ambition. In his first term (the board recently confirmed his reappointment) he has shepherded the university through the early stages of an ambitious bricks-and-mortar expansion program, one that will ultimately reshape several city blocks. And in a sold-out speech before the Empire Club yesterday [PDF], Levy laid out his vision for a new phase of expansion, one that goes far beyond physical space and extends far further than Ryerson itself. Levy has a gleam in his eye, and its name is Silicon Valley North.

PARTY: Toronto celebrates the banner year of one hundred and seventy-five with a plethora of fun both inside and outside City Hall. Highlights include the Lit City activities (see below); "360-extended," a huge interactive project of personal Toronto stories; and Toronto's emergency personnel performing virile demonstrations such as rappelling and "auto extrication" (and if that isn't a euphemism, we don't know what is). Our favourite event by far is the pair of improvisations curated by R.H. Thomson: Eric Peterson (of Billy Bishop Goes to War fame) plays William Lyon McKenzie, first facing off with Toronto's first council as played by students (12:30–2:30 p.m.), then later debating politics with current mayor David Miller (6:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.). The day's festivities open and close with traditional First Nation ceremonies. Toronto City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square (100 Queen Street West), 12–9 p.m., FREE.

Urban agriculture is the new green. Now that we've got trash reduction, active transportation, and energy conservation well-entrenched in our collective consciousness it's time for the next frontier in city-based environmentalism, and our relationship to food is it. "Carrot City," an exhibit showing at the Design Exchange until April 30, is trumpeting the latest and greatest developments in urban agriculture. Torontoist was at the opening party Tuesday night, and got the scoop on everything from a highrise tower built especially for pigs to a plan that would have us install greenhouses under the Gardiner.

ART: Tonight, the Liberty Grand hosts the opening night preview for Artist Project Toronto. In addition to bringing together works by close to one-hundred-and-fifty artists, this year's exhibition also features a series of enlightening seminars, a contest for up-and-coming artists, and a chocolate competition (in which artists create works based on the theme of, you guessed it, chocolate!). A portion of the opening-night proceeds will go to charity, and an after party is slated for the Drake Hotel. The show runs to March 8, with various hours and ticket prices; see their website for full details. The Liberty Grand (25 British Columbia Road), 7–10 p.m., $25.

Each week, Drama Club looks at Toronto's theatre scene and tells you which shows are worth checking out.

A few weeks ago, Torontoist learned through top fashion blogger Anita Clarke that St. Marc Spa, one of Toronto's gay bathhouses, was on Twitter [language not safe for work]. It seemed odd to see a business used to being relatively hush-hush on such a public forum beyond the queer media. Rolyn Chambers, director of St. Marc Spa, says it’s a conscious effort to bring the bathhouses—or, at least, St. Marc Spa—in step with the times, or, as he puts it, "bring it out of the closet."

ART: Some of Toronto’s favourite graphic artists make asses of themselves in an exhibit called “I Know That Butt” opening at the Cameron House tonight (on until March 28). Curator Nancy Draws invited thirty artists (including former Torontoist contributor Kevin McBride, featured above) to have their way with a series of moulded mannequin butts and the results are ass-tounding. Hang around to hear the Warped 45s whose Wednesday residency has been extended through March. Bottoms up! Cameron Public House (408 Queen Street West), 7–9 p.m., FREE.

Remember Contact? It was made in 1997 and was adapted from a weird Carl Sagan novel about extraterrestrial life and faith—ergo, starred Jodie Foster, plus a pre-indie fame Jena Malone. She's an outer space–obsessed girl who grows up to be a SETI scientist, receiving alien transmissions while searching for proof they exist, and eventually falling in love with one. It's among the greatest science fiction films ever made, which does not mean that it's good. It's terrible.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Today kicks off OCAD's annual Faculty of Photography fundraiser, in support of undergraduate financial aid and scholarships. In preparation for this year's event, over fifty point-and-shoot cameras were placed in the hands of local artists, comedians, actors, musicians, curators, and the like. Participants include Kenny Vs. Spenny's Kenny Hotz, Degrassi's Amanda Stepto, photographer Robyn Cumming, musician Sebastien Grainger, and Mike Small from the Meligrove Band. The hand-decorated undeveloped cameras will be on display alongside their bidding forms on the second floor of OCAD. The auction runs until March 14, and if you'd like to place a reserve bid, stop by the exhibit next Tuesday night between 6 and 7:30 p.m., when auction representatives will be present to assist you. OCAD Level 2 Display Case Windows (100 McCaul Street), 12–8 p.m., FREE.

WORDS: This is Not a Reading Series presents a book launch tonight at the Gladstone Hotel. Stripmalling, by author Jon Paul Fiorentino and illustrator Evan Munday, tells the story of one young man's embarrassing and hilarious journey to literary awareness. The evening will begin with a screening of the short film The Way Of The Smock: The Making Of Stripmalling, followed by a discussion with Fiorentino and Munday (facilitated by author Zoe Whittall). Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West), 7:30 p.m., $5 (free with book purchase).