Results tagged “popculture”

Two big name/big chain clothing lines landed in Toronto this week—one at Holt Renfrew on Tuesday, the other at H&M this morning. To determine which "limited edition" collection is for you, dear fast-fashionista, here's a little quiz: 1. Who's your personal style icon? A) Kate Moss B) Jennifer Lopez 2. Favourite fashion model? A) Kate Moss B) Jessica Stam 3. Most influential figure in pop culture this decade? A) Kate Moss B) Beyoncé Results...

Hip-hop blues music maker Buck 65 drops his new album Situation at the end of the month. The release is an ode to 1957, a time period the man born Richard Terfry considers world-changing in terms of pop culture (or, as he says in a video on his website, "the year all hell broke loose") thanks to events like Bettie Page going into self-imposed exile, those iconic plastic pink flamingoes appearing on lawns everywhere, and the delightful Situationist International emerging in Italy.

If there's anything Jesus loves more than flattery, it's porn stars. Well, technically, Jesus loves everyone—even those little teenage tramps and their HPV vaccines—but now, ol' JHC is adding some marketing pizzazz to that affection.

Pandas is an odd name for anything, and more than a little disconcerting if you're a fan of large, bamboo-eating quadripeds who don't like to breed.

If you are of blog-reading age there is a good chance you either didn't see Star Wars in its initial theatrical release or were taken by your parents not too long after kicking that whole toilet-training thing.

David Altmejd’s art looks good on paper. First off, it’s about werewolves, and who can resist the cuddly therianthropes? From folklore to B-movies, the werewolf maintains a lasting hold on the popular imagination. However, Altmejd’s work is neither folksy nor campy. In the Montreal-born, New York-based sculptor’s elaborate installations, he starts off with the (usually fragmented, decaying) figure of the werewolf, and embellishes it with everything from crystals and jewellery, to S&M paraphernalia, to taxidermied animals, combining all this within modern display structures of mirror and Plexiglas. While the werewolf itself is a classic symbol of transformation, the addition of such disparate elements expands the metamorphic metaphor into a dialectic between beast and human, repulsion and beauty, decay and renewal, nature and artifice.

Hey fan boys and girls! Are you still gushing over comic book legend Stan Lee’s cameo on last Monday's episode of Heroes (pictured left)? Well get ready to get giddy again. Lee will be appearing at an autograph session this afternoon at HMV (5:30 – 6:30 at 272 Queen St. W.).

We're just going to put this out there: if you're generally unaware of what it is these "Academy Awards" and "Oscars" are all about, go here.

Call it cultural tourism, voyeurism, a geek fest, call it what you will. But when we heard that I Maid Cafe—a Cosplay restaurant—had opened up in Scarborough last December, we knew we would be taking the trip to Kennedy and Finch very soon.

Do visions of quality seasonal live pop culture for the whole family dance in your head? The National Ballet of Canada's The Nutcracker and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, featuring The Rockettes look all cheery and innocent, but Torontoist knows that behind all the tinsel, sugar plums, long legs and rosy cheeks lurk two fearsome competitors. How far will they go to win your holiday dollar? Only one thing is certain: when Torontoist pits them head to head, only the strong will survive.

OK, d'accord, comme promis, without compromise, we have right here your revue franglais de Bon Cop Bad Cop. Compris?

Anyone who hasn't heard of this film- nay, pop culture phenomenon- has surely been living under a rock. (Pun intended!) ...But Torontoist is never one to shy away from gratuitous external links. Today not only marks the opening of the film, but in turn, the end of the most extended and unexpected pre-release hype of a movie in recent history. The first screenings in the GTA start tonight at 10pm and Torontoist will be there- yes, that means our entire writing staff and editors-in-chief- to cover the whole experience- from the audiences' giddy anticipation to potential hints at a sequel following the end credits.

2006 is clearly the Year of the Pirate, with this limey pop culture meme invading everything in Toronto from DJ Lazarus fetish parties to festivals at Fort York.

Now, Torontoist has absolutely no intention of getting into the whole Sienna-Miller-playing Edie Sedgwick debacle, because well, we have more important things to do with our time then to babble about celebrity fodder. Yet, Edie was a pretty fascinating mix of American socialite, debutante, heiress and lest we forget, Andy Warhol's muse. Their relationship did not last through an entire calendar year, yet Edie's inspiration on pop culture has lasted longer than anyone would've expected. She had a certain something, that certain something being a whole lot kooky and hopped-up on speed, but her short life proved to be very full. And this year's Mondo-Urban Installment at the Gladstone Hotel plans to pay tribute to this 60's icon with DJs spinning some tunes, fashion and make-up from the likes of MAC and Foxy Originals, along with some original art from local artists. So, find out more about the girl who inspired "Like a Rolling Stone" as well as being the rumoured inspiration behind all of Dylan's seminal 1966 opus "Blonde on Blonde," on April 20th at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West). Tickets are available at Soundscapes (552 College Street) and at Ticket Web.

For those interested in 'it'-specific events, this Tall Poppy is for you. The Boat, the venerable 'It' club in Kensington Market, is the site of an increasingly popular monthly dance party called Zoi Zoi, the venerable 'It' DJ night in Toronto. If that wasn't enough 'It's, resident DJ Mimi plays what has become the 'It' music of the day - French language pop. We're using the 'It' phrase so much because we've never actually been able to get in to the packed Zoi Zoi nights, and thus knew sh-'It' about them. Luckily the redoubtable DJ Mimi was nice enough to help us with the translation.

Eye contributor Liisa Ladouceur helps run the Royal Sarcophagus Society a neo-gothic collective that makes and sells crafts, organizes readings and more. The group's latest event is Wanderlust,an evening of raunchy road-trip tales, provocative poetry and more tonight at the Gladstone art bar.

won’t-be-down-with-that flick, being shown tonight as part of Cinematheque Ontario’s Canada’s Top Ten programme (8:45pm, Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas West). The showing is preceded at 6:30pm by a fascinating panel – Pop Culture as History/History as Pop Culture, featuring Atom Egoyan (of Canada’s Top Ten film Where the Truth Lies) and Jean-Marc Vallee (of the aforementioned C.R.A.Z.Y), curated by Eye Weekly’s Jason Anderson. Sadly completely sold out, you can arrive early and hope for a rush ticket hope there is a ticket scalper outside, but the film is available, sans panel, at the Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor West) all week long.

- The Ceeb employee who wears the studded belt will soon be hosting a news and pop culture radio show on Toronto's Newstalk 1010 CFRB and Montreal's CJAD, according to the Globe. Apparently, this doesn't mean his hour is up, it just means he wants to bring more people to his time.

New contributor Mathew will be posting regular on all things TIFF. Here goes:

There is just so much good music to be found online and much of it as free and legal downloads. That's what Torontoist wants to share with you in these Le Mercredi Mixtapes and that's what *sixeyes share as well. So many artists, bands, and indie music labels offer mp3s that you could live in front of your monitor searching for new music. And Torontoist does.... here's what we've been living on lately.

Tall Poppy Interview: Chuck Klosterman

Kitsch Them If You Can

For Torontoist, the best part about getting home from work last summer was sitting down to stalk watch Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings. Perhaps it was his beady Mormon eyes, or the way he correctly answered all the questions about Canada: we couldn't get enough of pre-hype Ken Jen. Then the media frenzy started and Torontoist lost interest.

- A Daily Showesque pop culture news show produced by the Comedy Network and starring the frighteningly-named Elvira Kurt has apparently been on the air for a few weeks. But if you don't have a television you can just go watch a nightly taping at the Toronto Film Studios.

On the top of Carter’s wishlist for this year’s B-day? A week off practice, open-arms from his ‘loyal fans’, a kiss from his mother and an NBA lockout. Crappy Birthday Vincent. No one’s coming to your party except for your mom.