It’s always strange to write a Film Friday column in the week before the Toronto International Film Festival, since by this point it’s hard to think about anything else. We’ll be previewing the festival on Monday, so be sure to check back if you can’t think of anything else, either. In the meantime, have you had a chance to enter our Canadian Retrospective contest? You could win one Canadian Retrospective ticket package containing tickets......

If today’s column title gets Rachel Sweet’s Hairspray stuck in your head for the rest of the day, good! Because then we’ll have made our point that the version of Hairspray hitting this weekend isn’t as good as the John Waters original. Though the music not being as good is only part of it. There’s also the inherent irony about making a musical in which one of the central themes is integration through a......

Sure, we all know John Travolta's in town after the notorious man-kissing episode at Hamilton Airport two weeks ago. But he's not here for the film fest. Instead, he joins Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, and Michelle Pfeiffer as part of the cast of Hairspray, a 2007 remake of the 2002 Broadway musical remake of the original 1988 film comedy. (Whew! We recycle the past quickly, don't we?) Torontoist went to see the......

Right. Well, first up, a quick reminder to you about the post which lies a bit below this one – the most pleasing way to say goodbye to the Revue and the Royal will be to check out tonight’s Kung Fu Friday at the Revue (Crippled Avengers, people! The Wu-Tang Clan like it! What’s stopping you?) And then checking out Dion Conflict’s Trailer Trash 2 at the Royal on Saturday. And then cry buckets......

Pro-choice, pro-stem cell research, anti-war. His name is Christopher Walken, and he wants to be the next president of the US of A. See Frank Black White's bid for 2008 Presidency. Fats Domino's "I'm Walking" should be his campaign song (because it sounds like Walken). Swords, traditional or non-traditional, are not allowed on VIA Rail. The Strokes involved in a freaking leak controversy? Blog marketing, or marketing to blogs? How well do you know Burt......