Almost half of all Toronto-area residents are foreign-born. This is the first little tidbit released from the 2006 census, which the government is doling out as if it were a movie trailer or something. (Will Smith versus zombies: probably more entertaining.) Bank of Canada lowers interest rates. A weakened loonie will allow Canada's manufacturing sector to compete more efficiently in international markets, by which we mostly mean the United States. Conservative insiders will meet tonight......

Sending typed letters, postcards, or small packages of treats via snail mail is sadly going the way of the dinosaur. It’s a rare surprise to find a handwritten letter in the mailbox among the pizza menus and flyers for the local gym. When it comes to mail art, the extra time and effort in composing the work is far more rewarding than attaching a .jpg and pressing send. For the receiver, opening a mailed masterpiece......

No Film Friday today as we’re too busy with the festival, but we can let you know that this week sees releases of some pretty decent-sounding films: 3:10 to Yuma, Shoot ‘Em Up and Hatchet. Er, and also The Brothers Solomon, starring Will Arnett and directed by Bob Odenkirk but apparently dire. Let's Go To Prison wasn't great either. Sob. Today’s Reviews: Captain Mike Across America Captain Mike Across America is an interesting proposition:......

Upwards of 1,500 protesters from Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, and Hamilton marched on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday to protest the arrival of U.S. President George W. Bush. Bush will meet today with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Montebello, Quebec on the two-year-old Security and Prosperity Partnership. The agenda is to include emergency planning for an avian-flu pandemic, the recall of Chinese-made toys, and border security. Demonstrators......

Enormous DVD piracy bust in Missisauga. Investigators believe it was making over twenty million dollars a year. This is a huge blow to professional movie piracy in Canada. (Well, at least to that one piracy ring. Other movie pirates probably don't care. And in fact are kind of happy about the loss of competition.) Of course, this is not so much the case to people who just want to pirate movies for their own use,......

One of the things that makes The National's music so brilliant—and what might make the band's latest album, Boxer, the best release of 2007—is its ambiguity. Boxer may or may not be about war (the song "Start A War" is one hint, lines like "Invite me to the war every night of the summer / and we’ll play G.I. blood, G.I. blood" in "Gospel" are another), national pride ("Fake Empire"), media control ("Apartment Story,"......

George W. Bush made his State of the Union address last night. Among his policy initiatives introduced in the speech were a request to Americans to reduce their gasoline consumption by twenty percent in ten years (while simultaneously claiming American needed to increase domestic gasoline production), and a proposal to tax employer-based health plans to pay for HSAs (which don't actually solve the problems facing American healthcare). An annotated and rather niftily clickable rebuttal......

Torontoist already has a documented history on disliking Death of a President (including arguing with a FIPRESCI jury member about it) and we don’t really need to go into it again, so let’s hear what the critics have to say. Eye’s Liz Clayton gives it three stars, but doesn’t seem that enthused; “ultimately doesn't insinuate anything more creepy and despairing than what turns up in the real news every day”, while NOW’s Cameron Bailey finds......

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate......

Night time is the right time when you've got an inch to get up. Dundas West & Bloor. Check out the link for more.......

Okay, so, this week it’s definitely the Oscars! Everyone you know is probably all excited and arranging Oscar parties because, you know, Jon Stewart is presenting! He’ll be all edgy spelt with a ‘3’ and probably insult George Bush or something! Will he mention Cheney shooting a lawyer again? OMG that dude is the funny! Expect a muted performance from Stewart, so muted, in fact, that you’ll wonder if he’s wearing a ball gag. This......

There's been a number of unfavourable comparisons of Stephen Harper and George W. Bush of late, both in politics, media and of course those silly attack ads. But what of a legitimate comparison, at least in terms of the campaign? Here is George Jr. on his father's failed 1992 presidential campaign: "First lesson, polls change. I take nothing for granted. Second, we've got a strategy for the timing of policy speeches and set the debate...You......

Nick Flanagan's joke club held its one year anniversary last night, and over a dozen acts tried to make funny over the course of the evening. Gilson Lubin killed, the self-styled Dumb Grampa amused us, and the halftime show, courtesy of TV Carnage, took us down a memory lane Alan thicke with bizarre footage like George Bush Sr. puking while his wife watches on uninterested. Also, some guy shaved his chest onstage. Why, we......

Given the relatively short existence of rap music, tracing its lineage appears fairly simple. The advances in the genre are well-documented: Kool Herc started turntablism, Kurtis Blow first brought rap to the mainstream, Prince Paul popularized skits, Afrika Bambaataa rocked the sample, and so forth and so on. Then there is Dr Dre's classic 1992 album The Chronic, which represents perhaps the most perplexing turn in hip hop history. The album essentially brought West Coast......

Aujourd’hui, Barbara Kay écrivait un article sur la fin de la liberté académique (Academic Freedom is under attack) dans le quotidien canadien situé à Toronto, le National Post. Outrée de la situation politique dans les universités canadiennes, tant à l’université York, l’université de Toronto qu’à Ryerson, elle y écrit: « the students are not offered the best which has been thought and said in the world » ; « Left-wing ideologies have turned all but......

Tommy Douglas may be CBC's Greatest Canadian but he wouldn't make the top three in his own province. Heck, with the popularity of Canadian Idol runner-up, Theresa Sokyrka , he might be bumped another spot. At No. 3 would be a certain folk singer who attended Aden Bowman high school and whose paintings have been exhibited in Saskatoon's Mendel Art Gallery. At No. 2, Floral, SK's Mr. Hockey. And topping the list would be the......