This Saturday is the annual celebration of all things graphically novelistic: Free Comic Book Day. Free Comic Book Day is a very simple exercise: you go into your local comic book shop, and there are free comic books. This may seem complex, so we'll go over it again: Step 1. Find a convenient comic book store. In the downtown core, you have umpteen choices: Hairy Tarantula, The Labyrinth, 1,000,000 Comix, Silver Snail, or 3rd......

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman has caused a furor with his comment that he'd be willing to test-drive an adult diaper to see if being left in soiled diapers for hours on end is really all that bad. Critics say he isn't taking the issue of sub-standard care in nursing homes seriously, which seems a bit harsh, since there can't be too many politicians who'd be willing to spend a day crouched in their own......

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......

We managed to see Cloverfield a few weeks ago, and with the release of Diary of the Dead (above) this week, we have to say it's rather timely to discuss our opinion of it. As tired as this quote is, there's really no better way to describe Cloverfield than to take from Macbeth's famous soliloquy: "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." It's particularly relevant because Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead are similar......

So, who else remembers that Rambo III was about Rambo going to Afghanistan to help the Taliban, huh? We do (and apparently the Sun’s Jim Slotek does too). It’s rather a shame that Sylvester Stallone hasn’t seen fit to continue from that point and deal with the consequences of the conflict, instead jumping straight to Burma/Myanmar for, as far as the reviews tell us, an absolute ton of incredibly graphic (and meaningless) violence. Eye’s......

For some magically ridiculous reason, CBC Radio 3's weekly countdown, the R3-30, is broadcasting from a skating rink this week in a move that's heavily dividing the hipster set after the announcement of another free—and markedly less active—event that same night: Tokyo Police Club at Nathan Phillips Square. But host Craig Norris offers this pitch in their favour: "If you've ever listened to The R3-30 in the comfort of your warm, cozy home and......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Ray of LightBY DOSHA UntitledBY SHUTTERNEWBIE  Toronto Eaton CentreBY UNDOMESTIC Toronto at 7amBY DUCKTROLL Workingman's BluesBY MOVEMENT ON THE WIRE InspectingBY INVENTOR_77 Waiting......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. There were obvious benefits to 2006's Smoke Free Ontario Act, which did away with smoking in public areas and......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. This past June, Urbana Coffee (1033 Bay Street) quietly opened at Bay and St. Joseph, diagonal from Film Fest......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. UntitledBY SQUEAKYRAT Ring Of FireBY DOSHA City Hall at NightBY ARIEHSINGER FrostyBY SWILTON 50%BY REBOOTYOURCOMPUTER hibernateBY jasfitz Harbord St., snowBY ANDYSCAMERA miniBY JORDANBOWER Creepy......

Musicologist's generous boast last week of a busier than usual month for music was definitely that: generous. While this week's listings seem a bit skeletal compared to the past few, there are definitely a few events worthy of precious holiday season time. Toronto-born, Halifax-bound The Darcys are playing the Supermarket Thursday evening with Zesty (one half former Cuff the Duke guitarist Jeff Peers and one half Free Times Cafe Open Stage songstress Sarah Gates). The......

As the unofficial fansite of Roncesvalles' favourite success story (and one of the oldest operating movie theatres in this country), Torontoist is pleased to tell you about another exciting event being staged by the good folks at the Revue Film Society. This time, money will be going towards brand-new educational initiatives the theatre aims to have up and running in early 2008, including a film school for neighborhood kids. This particular event, starting at......

Some Canadian cattle will now be allowed into the United States following a 4-year ban in the wake of several cases of "mad cow" disease. American Homeland Security regulations will still require that any bovines wishing to cross the border carry a valid passport. The latest UN report on climate change says that global disaster is a safe bet if we don't change our carbon-emitting ways by 2012. It's all good for Canadians though, as......

If you're into the idea of kids with bigger, shinier brains and programs that facilitate such things, you might be familiar with Now Hear This!, Toronto's very own not-for-profit literary outreach organization. With a mandate of education through the arts, they do good things like hold Satire and Fake News Writing workshops for kids, complete with handouts from The Onion. Kind of idealistically akin to Dave Eggers' ass-kickingly progressive nonprofit, 826 National. Anyhow, these......

This what a bioterrorist looks like, according to the FBI. Dr. Steven Kurtz (right) is a Professor of Art at SUNY Buffalo and member of Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), an art and theatre collective co-founded by Kurtz and his late wife, Hope. In May 2004, the Kurtzes were preparing a piece called Free Range Grains, which allowed participants to test food for the presence of genetically modified organisms, when Hope died of heart failure......

When trying to solve the problem of the lack of affordable housing, the thinkers and planners and innovators and design enthusiasts come up with some pretty creative ideas. Like the IKEA House, for example, or the notion of shipping container architecture. A group of Toronto activists are proposing a "use it or lose it" bylaw "that would see vacant and underutilized buildings and spaces expropriated by the City and redeveloped as badly needed affordable......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Beckoning the fogBY SYNCROS Free standingBY CHRISJACKSON SplashBY JSANEB UntitledBY GABI~ Early Morning Fog ShotsBY BIGDADDYHAME The hot seatBY UWAJEDI In the observation deckBY......

Toronto factory worker finds World War II-era hand grenade in a box of used clothing. The bomb squad was called in. If Torontoist had found the grenade, though, you know we would be all like, "Hey! Free hand grenade!" Facebook declares breastfeeding pictures to be "obscene content." It's cleverly following the example of Livejournal in caving to uptight moralistic fuckwits. Dalton McGuinty promises to freeze taxes. Again. Despite all the new-spending promises he's made in......

Torontonians aren’t that cold, even if we have to be given a reason before hugging a stranger. If you’re tired of handing over cash every time you simply want someone to gather you in a warm embrace, or you’ve collected so much money from selling hugs that you want to do some charity work, then luckily for you the Free Hugs Campaign has unofficially deemed September 10 International Free Hugs Day (one of many).......

Reacting to an Ontario Tobacco-Free Network youth rally at Queen and John yesterday asking for all films that show actors smoking be rated 18a, Alex Woodside forms an impressively blunt impromptu counter-protest. View more images after the fold.......

The Toronto International Film Festival have announced 73 films today, which is, er, a lot. Too many for us to even pretend to give them even coverage, so as usual we’re just going to pick and choose from today’s announcements, which are made of films from international filmmakers, and tell you about the ones that interest us personally. Gala Presentations gains Blood Brothers, the debut of director Alexi Tan. Produced by John Woo, it’s......

With Toronto in the midst of a nasty heat wave, this cooler beckoning walkers-by in Yorkville with "Free Water" seemed like a desert mirage. But sure enough, the lid pulled back to reveal perfectly-chilled bottled water care of The Body Clinic, a high-end spa and salon. At first, the cooler seemed a sweet gesture to us sun-beaten, sweat-soaked pedestrians, bringing back memories of the refreshing Freezies given out on hot days in elementary school. But......

Cat Power hit the stage at the Phoenix last night for her third Toronto show in less than a year. It was Torontoist’s first time seeing her live and after having waited a few years for the privilege, and hearing wonderful things about her shows of late, we were slightly let down. But only slightly, and mostly for reasons beyond Chan Marshall’s control. With the Dirty Delta Blues Band, featuring Judah Bauer of Blues......

When deciding who to see at this year's Over The Top Festival, we luckily opted to check out Halifax's Rich Aucoin. Between his musical pedigree (he's the brother of the Hylozoist's Paul Aucoin) and the fact that his EP was synched up to How The Grinch Stole Christmas, we knew he would at least be interesting. His set turned out to be far better than just interesting, so it seemed natural to give his Personal......

Michael Moore’s much anticipated Sicko hits, and having seen it, we can say it’s not particularly essential for Canadian viewers to watch, unless you want to feel smug about our lovely health care system, or slightly surprised that it only takes an hour or so in London (Ontario) to be seen in an emergency room. Yes, the film is chock-a-block with anecdotal evidence, and it’s probably to the film’s fault that, as usual, Moore......

The trash can pictured is not a City-approved waste receptacle. It was an advertising tool for ck IN2U, Calvin Klein’s newest fragrance, and its stay at the corner of Dundas and Victoria Streets long outlasted its welcome. Branded with the catchphrase "what are u in 2?" with no mention of the fragrance itself or of Calvin Klein, eighty faux trash cans were distributed across Montreal and Toronto as part of the ck IN2U teaser......

Picton residents cautiously unshuttered their windows and unbolted their doors after a 20-pound Japanese snow monkey was successfully sedated by police and returned to his home at a roadside zoo. A neighbour spotted the animal, which was taken down by police with a tranquillizer dart about half a kilometer from his cage. The Japanese macaque was first noticed missing from Bergeron's Exotic Animal Sanctuary on Sunday morning. Police immediately began an intensive monkey-hunt, with officers......

Hold on to your horrors, scary story-lovers: Stephen King is scheduled to make his first official Canadian appearance to receive a life-time achievement award from the Canadian Booksellers Association. The event, to be held at the John Bassett Theatre at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Friday, June 8, will include an on-stage interview. The organizers say that tickets go on sale today (but as of 9 a.m. this morning, the website isn’t online). You......

The best things in life are free: long walks on the beach, make-outs in the dark and, for one day a year, comic books. Comics nerds around the globe will unite in spirit this Saturday to celebrate Free Comic Book Day, which means a trip to your local comic book store will result in a handful of free stuff and a general sense of well-being. As part of the festivities, The Beguiling will be giving......

[Roxanne will be appearing at The Beguiling for Free Comic Book Day, Saturday, May 5, 12-3 p.m. Torontoist will also have some coverage of the event closer to the day.—Ed.]......