Hello! Although you probably didn’t notice, this Torontoist writer was away for a week, and as a result we failed to do something very important. Specifically, to congratulate Norm Wilner on becoming NOW’s senior film critic. We're not doing this just because we know Wilner keeps an eye on Torontoist to see if he gets a mention, but because we like his work so much that we can’t think of anyone better to step......

City councillor Rob Ford has at times been accused of making a career out of saying tremendously stupid things, but we here at Torontoist fully back his latest proposal to automatically name all new streets in Toronto after dead soldiers, even if the dead soldiers aren't from Toronto. If anything, we think Rob Ford doesn't go far enough. Sure, families of Canadian soldiers killed in action receive an immediate $250,000 death benefit plus an......

On Sunday night, Team Bloggers kicked some cab driver and celebrity impersonator ass on CBC's Test the Nation: Trivia. The evening ended with the cleanest sweep in quiz show history: bloggers had the best team score with an average of 50; team captain Samantha Bee had the highest score of all the Canadian celebs; teammate Rick Spence had the top in-studio score of 57. Of course, we never doubted that the bloggers would emerge......

Though there are only three new films on release this week, it would be unfair to bemoan the shortage when one film, Persepolis, is of a high enough quality that it might as well be the only film released. During TIFF 2007 Christopher Bird handed it a 5/5 and called it "a masterwork in every way that matters." Much like in our praise of There Will Be Blood, we do have to hesitate with......

When New York City billionaire Leona Helmsley died in 2007, who inherited her $12-million trust fund? If you said a white Maltese terrier named Trouble, you may want to tune in to CBC television at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 20th for Test the Nation: Trivia. The quiz show, now in its third edition, pits in-audience teams against each other while viewers at home can play along via the interweb. Later, the national quiz......

Eat Me is a regular feature about the nooks and crannies of Toronto's restaurant scene, about the amazing restaurants that are––for some reason––criminally underpatronized. There are few non-vegetarian pleasures in this life finer than a really good steak. The problem is that a really good steak tends to be really pricey. So if I said, "Hey, I know a place where you can get a really good steak––and I mean a really good steak––for less......

The Revue cinema is due to reopen its doors on October 4th, and if you’ve been waiting for the chance to buy tickets for the opening night, they’re now on sale at She Said Boom (393 Roncesvalles Avenue) at $20 for the film and the after-party or $10 for just the party at the Lithuanian Hall (1573 Bloor Street West). The opening night film is secret, but it was selected by an online poll,......

If you missed it, yesterday our Toronto International Film Festival preview began with a look at the Gala and Contemporary World Cinema programmes, and if you didn’t know, tickets go on sale tomorrow morning online, at 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM and at the TIFFG Box Office at the Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street—so after you’ve read this, you might want to start queuing. Today we have our preview of the Special Presentations, Real To Reel......

Our Toronto International Film Festival preview coverage is a little different this year. While last year, our reviews came from our film editor, this year we were lucky enough to have our reviews come from many of our Torontoist writers. Today we have our Gala Presentation and Contemporary World Cinema preview, with reviews of Emotional Arithmetic, Jane Austen Book Club, Sleuth, The Band’s Visit, Breakfast With Scot, The Counterfeiters and Jar City from Christopher......

We admit that it's a bit of a stretch to file this post in the food category, but after a long night out, a fast-food breakfast sandwich can be pretty damn tasty. With that in mind a gang of Torontoist's finest minds (Patrick Metzger, David Topping, Karen Whaley, Christopher Bird, and myself) got together one morning and decided to stack up the classic Egg McMuffin against the upstart Tim Horton's Egg, Cheese and Bacon/Sausage......

There were lots of things to like about this weekend's Nuit Blanche: unique pieces, big crowds, and plenty of creative ways to pass twelve hours. Most of all, though, it just felt different. Nuit Blanche was Toronto transformed, a restless city core that became a huge party, and a taste of how we can do an admirable job at pulling something like this off. Most of Torontoist's contributors spent all or part of their......