The Missed Connections forum on Craigslist is usually a repository of "the urban equivalent of messages in a bottle." It’s home to those wishing for a second chance at a serendipitous encounter and to cute, shy-person flirting, as nameless, faceless people share their private emotions in a very public way. The messages usually affirm that no matter how much coldness there seems to be at street level, there’s just as much hope and optimism......

We’re going to take a break from our usual Torontoist style in this post because the passing of John Harkness, the film critic for Now magazine since its inception in 1981, is something that has particular importance for me. As the writer of Torontoist's weekly “Film Friday” column, which, as you know, very often quotes the reviews from local critics, I have probably quoted John Harkness more than anyone. There’s a funny story in this,......

Photo of Tokyo Police Club by Conway L. It’s baaack! The two-day island explosion of rock ‘n’ roll that is the second annual Virgin Festival will be taking place this coming Saturday and Sunday at Toronto Island Park, bringing huge names and talented locals alike to Centre Island for a whole bucket-ton of music-making. "Great!", you say. "But I am sorrowed, for I know not who to watch at this great veritable cornucopia of......

The 17th Annual Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival had its official launch earlier this week at the Gladstone (following a recent fundraiser) where it announced its lineup to the public. The opening night gala will be the Canadian premiere of Duncan Roy's The Picture of Dorian Gray, a modern update of the classic Wilde novel starring teen dream David Gallagher as the amoral muse. Other gala screenings include 2005......

Photo by David Topping. As far as picking memorable band names go, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin may be on to something. Right up there with I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness as the best independent-clause-turned-band-name, the Missouri band -- in town last night with Chicago's Chin Up Chin Up at Sneaky Dee's -- has received almost as much attention for their name as for their music. The choice to announce their......

Photo of Wellesley station by David Topping from the 69 Stations project. On Tuesday afternoon rush hour, as I emerged from the stairs linking the southbound subway platform of Wellesley station to its fare and bus area on the street-adjoining ground level. A man with long-ish ponytail walked by, and then another man shuffled up to him. His friend catching up, I supposed. But then the second man took out a wallet-like case and......

What do Colonel Sanders, Charlie Chaplin and the Anti-Christ have in common? They're all backing members of Tenacious D, the self-professed "greatest band in the world," who brought us all down into the pits of hell on Monday night at the Ricoh Coliseum. Love him or hate him, Jack Black (JB) is comedy's "it" boy these days, and along with his sidekick Kyle Gass (Kage), "The D" have developed quite a following since the......

Nicole Krauss weaves a tangled yet breathtakingly beautiful web in the History of Love. Her second novel tells the story of precocious 14-year old Alma Singer, busily trying to cope with the loss of her father and her mother's depression. Across town there's Leo Gursky, a Holocaust survivor, writer and man desperately afraid to die alone. Their lives are brought together by a book that miraculously survived war and genocide. The end product is a......

One more piece of bad news for Jane Pitfield's campaign: besides having one of the worst glamour shots we've ever seen on her media page (see above), whoever's writing her blog for her is cribbing Spacing Votes, Spacing Magazine's election blog. Details are a bit scarce, but what we know for sure so far is that for several days a recent entry on Jane Pitfield's blog copied one of John Lorinc's - almost word......

10. The inexplicable use of a Native American voice as a narrator to the cave-drawing animation that introduces the movie. No, M. Night, this isn’t an actual Native American yarn- you wrote it. And there aren’t any Native Americans in the story. But I guess it gives it that “classic” vibe, huh? 9. (tie) Ditto with both the Bob Dylan songs on the soundtrack. The work of an unclassifiable poetic visionary- nice connotation to pad......

Kerry Carter can do it all. Not only can he find a hole in the defense, but this NFL running back can help to fill the hole in your heart. The twenty-five year old former Toronto resident has recently added Published Author to his already impressive resume. After attending high school at Father Henry Carr in Etobicoke where he received the Harry Jerome award as the top student athlete in Canada in 1997/98, Carter completed......

Normally, I like to post positive transit stories, and then put an even more positive spin on them. But I couldn't help feel disheartened today looking at my Google news RSS feed for "TTC". Google news doesn't pickup everything, but it seems they pickup the worst of what's going on. I know it's nothing new in the world of news, but it's unfortunate that violent news stories get a huge amount of press. And......

Tall Poppy Interview: Terry Woo, Author...

Tall Poppy Interview: Chuck Klosterman ...

Dear Theatre Dude, I don't have anything to do tonight and was hoping to catch a play that explored psychoanalysis, nature and capitalism. If possible, I'd like said play to do this through story, question sessions and video projections. Thanks, Hard for Avant-Garde Yo HAG, You should, like, totally check out Revolutions in Therapy, which opens in previews tonight at Artword Theatre. Written and directed by Nadia Ross and Jacob Wren, RiT is totally like......