The RubyFringe conference is essentially a big Ruby community circle jerk, but the curators—the Toronto-based Unspace—realize one aspect of circle jerks that doesn’t get much publicity: they can be a whole lot of fun. Unspace is trying to take the drab out of conferences by giving RubyFringe a punk rock frame of mind, basing the event on David Bowie's Highline Festival in New York. There's a whole scene based around the multifaceted open-source programming......

The coolest movie opening this week is Be Kind Rewind, which is a treasure trove of Things White People Like, as it stars Jack Black and his black friend played by Mos Def, and is directed by Michel Gondry, and has lots of irony, seeing as how it is about a couple of people who erase all the videotapes in their video store and then make their own mocking versions of the movies they......

When you think of literacy, chances are the first name that comes to mind isn't Slash. But the notoriously bad-assed guitarist from rock legends Guns n' Roses has recently come out with an autobiography detailing his many, many encounters with sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. He was born in England but moved to LA in the early seventies, where he was surrounded by musical icons such as Joni Mitchell and David Geffen, and even......

Brighton, UK's The Kooks are coming to town this Tuesday on what must be the longest tour ever, supporting their first album Inside In/Inside Out, which came out in January 2006. They must be doing something right, though, since the show is completely sold out. Did you try to buy tickets with no luck? Well, here's your second chance to snag a pair. Courtesy of +1 Music we have one pair of tickets to......

Well, after what could be considered a bit of a drought, there’s enough movies to choke a horse on release in Toronto this week; and that’s a horse which had previously won speed movie-eating competitions. First, the long awaited arrival of the new Cinematheque Ontario season. Lars Von Trier’s new comedy The Boss of It All hits tonight at 8:30pm (and the website claims there are still limited tickets available, if you’re interested) with the......

It's an invitation across the nation; a chance for folks to meet. Next Sunday, November 19th, multi-disciplinary artist Nicole Stoffman's fifth I Want Rhythm happening / installation / dance party will be shaking its groove thang starting on the front steps of the Church of the Redeemer at Avenue and Bloor. I Want Rhythm is a project Stoffman, an actor, singer and dancer, initiated this September in an attempt to reclaim public space. Previous......

As a grand finale for the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, the Dave Brubeck Quartet performed an incredible set last night at Massey Hall. Although the group of four could have been called Dave Brubeck and the Geriatrics, these jazz cats were tighter than David Bowie's pants in Labyrinth. 85-year-old Brubeck was absolutely amazing. With Bobby Militello on alto sax/flute, Michael Moore on double bass (no, not THAT Michael Moore), and Randy Jones on drums, the......

Londonist prepares a Happy Birthday bath for Buddha this week and then things get all cliched. A madman goes on a rampage while axe-wielding and London's mayor warns an American diplomat to avoid the kitchen if the heat bothers him so much. LAist has finally come around to purchasing tickets for Clipper Train. Hyper local dating sites are spamming L.A. neighborhoods and the fascinating Dame Darcy talks with LAist about art, the city and earthquakes.......

Sometimes, on Torontoist’s laziest days, it will drag itself out of bed just long enough to flick on the BBC’s 6 music internet radio service, the BBC’s gift to the world’s fans of British indie music, to listen to the 6 music breakfast show, which for ages was almost always preceded by a Don Letts introduction, (if it wasn’t someone doing a bad impression of David Bowie doing the intro.) Which, to be honest, is......

In perhaps the ultimate gesture of admiration, Torontoist has learned that the Arcade Fire will play back-up to Mssr. David Bowie on his next concert tour. This is not totally surprising - since Bowie has had an increasing presence in the Arcade (they wrote a song for him) while the Thin White Duke has been big upping their album to just about anyone. Whenever it is they play these alleged shows (probably to promote Bowie's......

You’ve heard it here before.  You’ve read it in the New York Times and Spin magazine and countless other publications.  Montreal is where it’s at and the Arcade Fire is THE Canadian band.  Why even bother to offer an adjective, there’s just too many too choose from.  The critically-and-David Bowie-acclaimed Arcade Fire is “Canada’s most intriguing rock band,” as declared by this week’s Time Magazine’s Canadian Edition, on newsstands now. Laura Blue and Hugh Porter......

This week marks the countdown to next weekend’s opening of the much-anticipated and much-debated Massive Change exhibit at the AGO. Everyone has criticized Mau’s bizarrely utopian and woolly optimism. Mau’s 2001 book, Life Style, focused on shaping design’s role in individual lives, recognizing that ‘lifestyle’ in the post-war period had come to be defined solely in terms of consumptive patterns rather than class or occupation. The argument was loosely patched together by brilliant aesthetic design......

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…Former Modern Lover Jonathan Richman is in love with the old world, and apparently the city of Toronto. Richman will take up a three-night residency at Queen St’s Lula Lounge beginning on Monday, Nov. 8. The notoriously unpredictable rock’n’roller will play back-to-back-to-back shows promoting his new album, Not So Much To Be Loved But To Love. For those unfamiliar with Richman’s oeuvre, the eccentric cult figure came to prominence with......