When New York City billionaire Leona Helmsley died in 2007, who inherited her $12-million trust fund? If you said a white Maltese terrier named Trouble, you may want to tune in to CBC television at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 20th for Test the Nation: Trivia. The quiz show, now in its third edition, pits in-audience teams against each other while viewers at home can play along via the interweb. Later, the national quiz......

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. In a city of endless comicons, the behemoths battled it out while the little guy emerged a winner. This......

Are you getting geared up for the season finale of The Hills on Monday? If so, continue reading. If not, we don't need another lecture about how the show is quasi-scripted—tell it to your boring friends. The last few weeks have surprised loyal viewers with some major plot twists: Audrina finally dumped Justin Bobby, Lauren wants to make a boyfriend out of notorious man-whore Brody Jenner, Spencer's sister has turned cat-fighting into the official......

At Torontoist, we're so used to writing about certain niche genres of art—graffiti art, video art, comic art, participatory art, billboard liberation art, performance art, outdoor art, nocturnal art, transit art—that we tend to forget about the encompassing category of "fine art for the commercial market." Canadian and international contemporary art enthusiasts will descend upon the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (255 Front Street West) this weekend from October 25–29 for the Toronto International Art......

Photo by inventor_77. BY AMANDA BUCKIEWICZ AND KAREN WHALEY The numbers haven't come in yet, but anyone with eyes could tell that this year's Nuit Blanche crowds amounted to much more than 2006's paltry 425,000 attendees. The entire city swelled with people in its every nook and cranny until the wee hours of the morning. And of course, with people comes congestion, lineups, and an all around sense of chaos. The general consensus of......

In the wake of TIFF celebritymania, it's hard to imagine any Torontonian giving a Big Name the cold shoulder. But The New York Daily News reports that chef Guy Rubino of Rain threatened to kick Nelly Furtado and her entourage out of the elite pan-Asian fusion restaurant after her manager got uppity in the kitchen. "She made a reservation for ten guests," explained Rubino at the Bon Appétit magazine awards dinner on Monday. "She......

Honestly, is there a more nauseatingly cute Toronto locale than Cabbagetown? All those impeccably-maintained Victorian houses, those happy retirees, those friendly neighbourhood cats—what other village in the city has its own hobby farm? Residents and fans of the area come together this weekend for the 2007 Cabbagetown Festival (September 7–9). Torontoist will be on site to photograph the corn roasting, street dancing and general merrymaking. A full schedule of entertainment and events is available......

Yarrrrrrrrr! Strap on that eye patch, plop a parrot on your shoulder, and get set for some swashbuckling! Follow the dilapidated, yellowed map and sail on over to The Pirate Festival at the X-marks-the-spot location of Fort York. This historic site will be transformed into the uncharted Caribbean island of Torontuga, an 18th-century village where real life pirates display authentic pirate antics. A shipload of pirates shall be a mighty impressive crew. With enumerable sea......

This weekend’s TCAF was a lesson in facial hair and anxious hovering (refer to Karen Whaley's photo recap). Most comic artists are known for their self-loathing and surrealism (what artists aren’t?), but never have so many accomplished beards gathered in one place. Knowing that comics have traditionally been a boy’s club, it was especially great to see so many women artists come out and make it a more gender-even atmosphere. However, the female presence did......

When a dozen U.S. 7-11s were converted into Kwik-e-Marts earlier this month, Torontoist wondered when we were going to get our share of The Simpsons' Movie hype. First, savvy ad execs painted a giant donut around the base of the CN Tower. Now, the Fox and Fiddle (106 John Street) is being turned into Moe's Tavern for a Thursday night post-screening party. Rumour has it that Flaming Moes will be served. Rumour also has......

Anyone up for beating the shit out of a car on Wednesday night? Today it rests comfortably in the mainspace of Mercer Union, but tomorrow this car is scheduled to be hoisted up by a crane in the courtyard of MOCCA (952 Queen Street West) for a piece entitled Beater by Anitra Hamilton. Bystanders will be asked to smash the piñata car apart with sledgehammers, an activity deemed ideal for those with rage issues,......

Torontoist has had a long history of critiquing Tourism Toronto's lackluster ad campaigns. Remember Toronto Unlimited? We had a field day with that one. And those awful Live With Culture ads? Yuck. But it seems like the appointment of David Whitaker as Tourism Toronto's president back in March injected a little spirit into the agency. Earlier this week, they announced a new campaign targeting gay tourists from the States. The tagline? Toronto: As Gay......

Running from June 1–10, Luminato takes over our fair city, with over 100 events spanning just about everything arts-and-culture-related. As they boast on their website, "Luminato was created to bring Toronto's best to the world, and the world's best to Toronto." A noble goal, and one they seem to have accomplished: Leonard Cohen! Philip Glass! Uh...Stephen King! Dancers! Artists! An Art Boat! Many things! Luckily, Torontoist (in the form of contributors Sharon Harris, Stephanie......

Remember Jean Chrétien? We haven't heard much about the former prime minister in some time (dude's been off the map ever since Paul Martin forced him off it). Well, Mizalaina of the Toronto LiveJournal community spotted Chrétien earlier today in downtown Toronto, and has one hell of a story to go along with it: So an hour ago I'm walking north along York St. I hear a crash ahead of me and see a......

The TTC proposes an "experiment" to make King Street West (between John and Spadina) a pedestrian-and-streetcar-only zone during the summer of 2008, much to the chagrin of business owners on the restaurant strip. However, the plan would allow a single lane to remain open for taxis and deliveries. 15 British sailors were seized from their ship in the Persian Gulf by an Iranian naval vessel. This is going to be awkward... One of Parti......

There was an unexpected windfall for Green P as a major dump of snow, along with high winds and freezing rain, turned much of the GTA into a parking lot during the evening commute yesterday. Apart from the traffic mayhem, fallen trees and power outages have also been a problem throughout the city. It sure looks pretty, though. The Toronto District School Board will meet with provincial officials today after trustees rejected a recommendation......

If were anywhere near Jarvis and Dundas today, you were probably wondering if you've ever smelled anything so horrible, but one thing was certain: it was the smell of death. Late this morning, the Toronto Police Service were summoned to 276 George Street, just east of Jarvis, to investigate an intense smell of rot coming from an abandoned rooming house. What they discovered were more than a hundred dead sheep. Trying to make sense......

If theres anything that Torontoist reader's hate, its typo's. Sure, mistaks happin, but it can get realy, realy annoying. Well, no more; Torontoist is about to begin a full-fledged assault on typos, mistakes, bugs, whatever. Next time you spot an error or typo in an article, or a bug of any sort anywhere on the site - no matter how mundane - you can do one of two things: 1. If the mistake is......

We admit that it's a bit of a stretch to file this post in the food category, but after a long night out, a fast-food breakfast sandwich can be pretty damn tasty. With that in mind a gang of Torontoist's finest minds (Patrick Metzger, David Topping, Karen Whaley, Christopher Bird, and myself) got together one morning and decided to stack up the classic Egg McMuffin against the upstart Tim Horton's Egg, Cheese and Bacon/Sausage......

Yes, you thought it was all over and you’d finally get some peace and not have to think about the film festival again for another whole year, but we’re back with one final post, our hotly anticipated Torontoist awards for the best, worst, and weirdest of the festival (as you know, we weren’t that impressed with the official selections.) The ceremony was held last night in a location so secret that not even we turned......