Michael Frayn's play Democracy, currently playing at Tarragon, is not always easy to follow. For some reason, this doesn't particularly matter. The second political drama set in Berlin in Tarragon's current season chronicles the rise and fall of Willy Brandt, West Germany's charismatic leader from 1969 until 1974, and is crammed full of politicians, spies, treaties and references to the nuances of Cold War-era Germany that may occasionally go over your head. But it......

This fjord is my fjord, this fjord is your fjord, From the valley Thörsmork to the geyser Strokkur, From Lake Lögurinn to Björk's house in Reykjaviík. Iceland was made for you and me. Our favourite Nordic country just got a little closer: Icelandair will launch direct flights between Toronto and Reykjaviík on May 2. To celebrate, Iceland Naturally is hosting a week-long Taste of Iceland festival from March 10–16 to promote modern Viking culture......

Last Monday was not just the start of the Ontario general election campaign—it was also the beginning of a campaign to change the way we elect our representatives to Queen's Park. On October 10th, Ontarians will vote on a proposal by the Citizens' Assembly (a randomly-selected group of 103 Ontarians) to switch to a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system, similar to that used in some other countries including Germany and New Zealand. A few......

When Torontoist reader Maya Friedman posed the question, "If Torontoist were to get married (on a budget) where would the wedding be?" it got us thinking. Not only about where we’d get married, but how we’d do the rest on the cheap, too. Because if you’re like us, you feel a little sick when you’re watching Rich Bride, Poor Bride and the couple announces, “We spent $43,851 on our special day!” The actual ceremony is......

This Thursday evening, some of Toronto's finest culture jammers will descend on the Rivoli (334 Queen Street West) for GlobalAware's take YOUR space!, an event that intends to "see how adbusts, culture jams, and reclaiming public space is indeed art in itself." To that end, the night will feature some fantastic local artists, like Torontoist's very own Dan Bergeron (a.k.a. fauxreel)––you may be familiar with his work, be it an in-love Rosie and Donald, a......

Last night at the beautiful Winter Garden Theatre, the winners of the 28th Annual Dora Awards were announced in a ceremony hosted by the hilarious Rick Miller (of MacHomer and Bigger Than Jesus fame). The Doras are basically Canada's version of the Tonies, except you can't watch them on TV and see Molly Ringwald and John Stamos jazz-hand their way through a radical new interpretation of Hello, Dolly! As one might expect, the whole......

Recently, Torontoist has probably been playing too many videogames. Not that that’s a problem, per se, but when you’ve become such an adrenaline junkie that you’re absent-mindedly tapping a non-existent "A" button to get past this bothersomely long “cut-scene” you’ve been watching only to remember that you’re actually watching The Omen, you have to admit that you’ve probably got a problem, and should probably cool off with some of Pedro Costa's longest films, showing at......

Two super-fast ticket giveaways for you today...get 'em while they're hot. First up are three pairs of tickets to see Colorado's Rose Hill Drive with Zuku tonight at Lee's Palace, courtesy of Against the Grain. If you've never heard Rose Hill Drive, think 70's rock a la Zeppelin, and for what it's worth, Rolling Stone recently named them one of the "10 new artists to watch in 2007." Up for it? If you can make......

We at Torontoist love our pets, and yours too, and we’d be happy if they didn’t do much else but shower us with undeserved admiration and give us a little snuggle when we get home after a hard day of Torontoisting. So you’ve got to know that we’re impressed when we come across pets that not only take care of the basics, but actually save lives to boot. The 39th annual Purina Animal Hall of......

On your mark, get set, go register for Run The ROM! The 5km run is scheduled for May 12 and it’s the latest in the Run With Art series from The Movement Movement. The main movers of The Movement Movement, dancer/choreographer Jenn Goodwin and artist/curator Jessica Rose, are inviting the public to run laps of the museum for public art’s sake. You could be running through Ancient Peru or perhaps Heaven or Hell. Sounds exotic!......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay tribute......

Let's just get this over with right off the bat -- Arcade Fire have announced their Toronto show dates. Hurrah! They'll be at Massey Hall on May 15 & 16, and tickets go on sale on Feb. 23rd. Predicted time to sell out? 1 minute 49 seconds. If you have no luck with those, the next closest location is Montreal on May 12 & 13. In other big concert news, unless you've been living......

We're a little late with this week's music listing--blame the election! Er, okay, maybe someone just got immersed in learning a bit of Flash and let it slip. It won't happen again. If you're looking for some local flavour, you've got a few really good choices this week, including Melissa McClelland, Ohbijou, Elliott Brood, and the Great Lake Swimmers. All highly recommended, particularly Melissa--her voice is like honey. On the not-so-local side, Axl Rose......

Robert Wiszniowski gets 14 years for killing and dismembering his wife, Rose McGroarty, in Parkdale last year. Motive? She caught him smoking crack and threatened to call police. The TTC started installing security cameras on its 1,500 buses and 250 streetcars yesterday. Howard Moscoe says it's all part of a response to a "terrorist threat lingering over all transit systems," but more importantly, they're expected to deter crime and prevent driver injury. A woman was......

If you're not completely burnt out from Nuit Blanche, there are plenty of quality shows to check out this week, including Joanna Newsom, Massive Attack, and Myspace darling Lily Allen. Alternatively, you Hip fans can skip out on the live music this week and save up your change for all four (yes, FOUR) of the recently announced shows at the Phoenix a few weeks from now. Can Gord Downie and pals really justify the......

...They want you. They want you as a new recruit! Anyone who's seen Pride parade in the last ten years have seen the Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps, Toronto's gay and lesbian colour guard. Since 1994, they've wowed crowds from Montreal to St Catherines with their camp and flashy routines at straight and gay functions alike (Montreal/Toronto Pride, Oshawa Santa Clause parade, Welland Rose parade). This Torontoist remembers the roar of the mob when the group......

Artists Jenn Goodwin and Jessica Rose are known around town as the artists behind the Movement Movement, a series of art performances that involve running around art venues like the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, or the Theatre Centre and even non-art venues like City Hall. This time the artists will be running for their homes. It turns out Jessica Rose lives in the condo threatened 48 Abell building. A long time home for artists......

The AIDS conference started last night and while Bill and Melinda Gates were there Stephen Harper sent his health minister. We think Stephen owes Tony one. Clement had to face a crowd who repeatedly chanted "Where's Stephen Harper" and some who held up signs and placards protesting the Conservative government's poor record on fighting AIDS in Canada and abroad. Even the co-chair of the conference criticized the PM for not showing up. The Star......

Salvatore Antonio is everywhere these days. He’s one of the three actors in Léo at Tarragon Theatre. He’s a regular on Ken Finkleman’s new series At the Hotel. And his first full-length play, In Gabriel’s Kitchen, opened last night at Buddies in Bad Times. Torontoist recommends Léo, a taut one-act play by up-and-comer Rosa Laborde, wholeheartedly. Antonio is excellent as the title character, a charismatic poet caught in a love triangle and the currents of......

What a perfect confluence of events we have today! C.R.A.Z.Y., the Quebec smash with $600,000 worth of ridiculously good music, opens. And CBC Arts bounces back, with a good piece on how the film got made. Even further, another guy known for stellar soundtracks opens his movie to dismal reviews, proving that you can't rely on music alone. When we saw Jean-Marc Vallée's story of love, family and Patsy Cline at TIFF, we loved it.......

Despite the fact that Kensington Market is one of the most creative neighbourhoods in the entire city a good art gallery has never really been able to set up shop in the neighbourhood until rental gallery/shop/concert venue Xpace came along. So Torontoist was pleasantly surprised to see that the graduating students of U of T's Visual Arts program had turned an empty packing plant at 250 Augusta Avenue into a space for their group show.......

Believe it or not, the Raptors once again lost in disgraceful fashion last night. After clawing their way back to hold the ball for the game-winning shot, RESERVE point guard, Milt Palacio elected to attempt an off-balance, heavily guarded lay-up instead of calling a timeout. Same old Raptor story. One bright spot for the Raps was Jalen Rose’s 35 points. Unfortunately the team has given up 110 points in four of their last five games.......

"I'm a Conservative with a strong social conscience and a sense of civility that hasn't just manifested itself since I entered provincial politics." - John Tory in the National Post, March 5, 2005 "I'm sorry [Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey riding], but I am for reeeeaaal." - If John Tory re-wrote the OutKast hit "Ms Jackson" While the Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey riding always seems overflooded with ultra-conservative a-hole politicians, John Tory contends that he isn't one of them. According to ultra-Postie......

Although the Raptors are only 4.5 games out of the final playoff spot, and 6 games back of the division leading Boston Celtics, the hopes of a playoff birth should realistically be dropped. Following Toronto’s win over the Orlando Magic at the Air Canada Centre last night, the optimism was once again running wild. "It's impressive the kind of balance we had. We're going to need a lot of that the rest of the season,"......

Pour une bonne cause, TOist ferait n’importe quoi. C’est pourquoi il vous urge d’aller chercher des billets pour la pièce Oscar et la dame rose. Le Théâtre Français de Toronto (TfT) et la fondation James Birrell, nommé ainsi en l’honneur de l’histoire du jeune garçon James Birrell qui, à huit ans, est décédé du cancer, le combattant depuis l’âge de trois ans, présentent cette pièce de théâtre de charité. La pièce raconte l’histoire d’un jeune......

In a surprise decision, Torontoist Dream-girl Jennifer Schefft rejected both John-Paul and Jerry in the Bachelorette finale Monday evening, therefore leaving the door open to a future romance with yours truly. The first stage of the three-hour extravaganza took both boys to Jen’s hometown of Chicago to meet with her family and friends. After receiving little help in the way of decision-making, the trio headed back to New York, where Jen was faced with dueling......

The Raptors found themselves on the other side of ball Tuesday evening, and it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time. With their fan base losing faith in the rebuilding process, the team’s eighteen-point victory against the Nets was undoubtedly a welcome change. The Raps can credit the road-win to poor shot selection, untimely turnovers and a general inability to compete. Only this time it wasn’t them making the mistakes. It was their opponent,......

Slatester Jack Shafer has a field day with Starbucks' newest gimmick - quotable cups courtesy the 'Way I See It' Series. The cups have quotes from personalities as varied as Ken Auletta, Goldie Hawn and Stephin Meritt. Shafer uses the cupquotes to riff on possible specialty coffees for a whole brew of stateside personages like Charlie Rose, Gawker, and our personal favourite, the Christopher Hitchens: a venti Irish coffee, hold the coffee. As if Hitch......

Raptor Coach Sam Mitchell had some strong words prior to Wednesday’s 110-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. In clarifying Tuesday’s night’s rumored altercation with point guard Rafer Alston, Mitchell called out the Gund Arena cleaning crew for keeping a messy house. "I laugh at the fact that it went from shouting to I was actually rolling around on the floor with my nice suit on," said Mitchell. "I don't do that anymore. I'm a little......

Time and time again, Torontoist allegations against Vince Carter seemed too far-fetched to be true, even made up. Some columnists went as far as to praise Vince for his time spent in Toronto and sympathized with the Mama’s Boy for the media torment which he was constantly faced with. Torontoist, however, stood firm. Now, following his move to New Jersey and once again finding his high-flying ways, Vince has put to rest any doubts we......