Results tagged “governorgeneral”

February is Black History Month. To celebrate, the City of Toronto Archives is hosting an evening with Dr. Karolyn Smardz Frost on February 5. She is the winner of the 2007 Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction for I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad, which tells the story of two slaves who escaped to Canada in 1833. In an illustrated presentation entitled Fugitive Sources: Finding Clues to our African-Canadian Past, Dr. Frost will recount the 20-plus years she spent researching the book in various archives. The presentation will be followed by an informal discussion between Dr. Frost and CBC radio personality Garvia Bailey, then a Q & A with the audience.

Over the past little while, Torontoist has been quietly absorbed in The Alphabet Game: a bpNichol reader. Edited by Darren Wershler-Henry and Lori Emerson, The Alphabet Game is an essential anthology for any reader of bpNichol, and is a great starting point for those who have yet to discover his work.

An up-close look at the Grey Cup trophy reveals countless dents and scratches attesting to the long and colourful life of probably the most disrespected and abused trophy in sports. Since being donated by Canada’s 9th Governor General, Earl Grey, the trophy has been head-butted, sat on, and snapped in half. It’s been abandoned for years at a time in bank vaults and hall closets. It’s been forgotten in empty stadiums and hotel rooms...

Photo by EIFF.

While going to York University may seem like a giant hassle (Torontoist recommends you pack a snack for the trip), this year’s Ioan Davies Memorial Lecture is shaping up to be worth the drive or TTC ride to York.

Lit lovers should head over to Church Street today for the Writing Outside The Margins festival of queer literature, the first of its kind in Toronto. The Gay Village stretch of Church Street will be closed from 11:00 a.m. to 7 p.m. to accommodate stands selling everything from children's books, fiction and poetry to sci-fi, erotica and comic arts. There will also be two stages for readings and performances, where you'll get to participate in an open mic or sign up for a poetry slam competition.

Have you checked out the officially unveiled ROM Crystal yet? Some cool dudes like David Foster, Deborah Cox, Jann Arden, K'naan, Natalie McMaster, David Suzuki and Governor General Michaëlle Jean [AND CLAY AIKEN!!!—Ed.] were on scene for the dedication.

Get on over to the east end tonight for Exile Editions' Spring Reading. New books will bloom this eve, and others will be ripe for picking throughout spring and summer. Exile Editorial Board Member Chris Doda gives us the layout for tonight’s garden of authors:

Playing at the Tranzac this evening is Harry and the Potters, a band that inspired a new genre of music called Wizard Rock. While brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge started playing their Harry Potter-inspired songs just to friends, they developed a massive fan base online and began touring around North America. Pitchfork named their appearance at the New York Public Library one of the top live shows of 2005, and now there are over 100 other wizard rock bands such as Draco and the Malfoys and The Parselmouths. Check out "The Human Hosepipe" to hear Harry Potter rant emo about his disastrous date at Madam Puddifoot's tea shop: "Cho Chang, what have I done? I don't want to hear about where you and Cedric were snogging..."

This article is a response to a series of comments you can find on Spacing Wire, in which someone compares Toronto to a "crossroads" or "meeting place." The poster claims this label makes sense because the word Toronto originates from an aboriginal word meaning "meeting place." There was no post contradicting the definition, probably because we have all heard this claim before and most of us accept it. Upon further investigation of the matter, one finds the definition of Toronto as "meeting place" to be rather controversial.

What does the international community say? U.S. President George W. Bush calls the verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's effort to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law". The UN and European Union criticize the former Iraqi leader's death sentence. Vatican representative, Cardinal Renato Martino, calls the sentence "eye for an eye vengeance". Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay refused to comment.

Who's going to come out on top of the strangest Giller Prize shortlist in years? While the smart money is on Rawi Hage's DeNiro's Game, which is also nominated for the Governor General's Award, writers from the Globe raised a convincing argument for Gaetan Soucy's the Immaculate Conception.

No time…Must get back down to Harbourfront…IFOA in full swing…Here are some other literary events taking place this week….

And where can we get some? 110 Spadina Ave. is the building that houses the House of Anansi Press among other things. The medium-sized publisher is having an amazing year. First was the news that two of their books, Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game and Gaetan Soucy's the Immaculate Conception, made it on to the weirdest Giller shortlist in years. Then this morning the boys and girls at Anansi got even more good news. Hage's debut novel about the Lebanese civil war was also picked for the Governor General's shortlist and Peter Behren's the Law of Dreams also got the thumbs up from the GG.

But all agreed one thing: "Liberals, we need to get back to power as soon as possible."

A couple of Sunday night events to kick-off or end your week, depending on how you see it. Gypsy Eyes, who is all over the place this week, hosts Last Call Poets at the Cadillac Lounge – 1296 Queen W. – tonight at 8pm. Admission is $7.

Torontoist got tipped off that Governor General Award winning artist Istvan Kantor was arrested today at the AGO's Andy Warhol show for staging a blood-filled performance. The exhibit, which shows a darker side to Warhol, has been up for a month so we think it's about time that Kantor showed up. The performance artist has been banned from several museums including the National Gallery of Canada. A part of us wished we could've been there, this is from the e-mail we received:

Canadians know that we have to pack in all our activities before the weather gets too cold for us to leave our houses, which is why this weekend is just jam-packed with stuff to do.

, previously (and, the general consensus is, egregiously) overlooked on the Giller shortlist. Most of the nominated authors were not in attendance, however, as the shortlist was top secret until Monday morning - we even saw a couple of excitable Thomas Allen reps race outside with their cellphones, presumably to make ecstatic calls to their authors. But either Russell Smith talks too fast, or people were too distracted by the danishes to pay attention to him, because not three minutes after the shortlist was announced everyone was clamouring for those bookmarks that list all the nominees. Doesn't anyone in this town take notes anymore? Click here for the full list of nominees.

-Another day, another Governor General. But this one has great hair. And 'interior fire.'

For theatre in Toronto, anyway. Houses have reportedly been weak for World Stage: Flying Solo, leading the festival to offer reduced-price tickets to TAPA members. The Seven Lives of Simon Labrosse, a Carole Frechette play that Torontoist actually likes (don't get us started on Helen's Necklace), has been playing to underwhelming houses (except for the night the Governor General dropped by last week). And the cast of The Confessions of Punch and Judy has been dismayed by the lack of reservations for the rest of the shows run... And these are only the woes that have reached Torontoist's ears.

Not to Thunder Bay or anything, just up to York University. Art lovers can check out Governor General Award winning video artist Istvan Kantor at the Art Gallery of York University. Controversial is the word thrown around when describing Kantor’s work. His regularly uses blood in his work and has been kicked out and had a restraining order placed on him by the National Gallery of Canada. Interestingly his works are now in the National Gallery’s collection. If Kantor’s work piques your interest stick around for a panel discussion on his work, Philip Monk (AGYU director and curator of the Kantor’s show Machinery Execution) will moderate and try to shed some light on Kantor's oft-times dense pieces. And if you want to come prepared check out Timothy Comeau’s detailed post on Kantor and the AGYU show here.

Judging from a workshop production Torontoist saw last year at Passe Muraille, Half Life could be Mighton's most emotionally-satisfying and well-balanced work to grace the rhombus-shaped platform we call the stage. There’s hardly any theoretical musing in it at all… Well, except for the fact that one of the main characters is a judge in a Loebner Prize-esque Turing Test competition where computer scientists try to create artificial intelligence. But, for the scientophobic, that little fact is easily forgotten.

Parliamentarians, averse to confronting actual problems, have elected this week to take on the Governor General's ostensibly appalling spending habits.