Is anyone else disappointed that the dystopian future promised in 1980s films isn’t here? If there’s one thing we’ve learned here at Torontoist, is that en masse, humans are terrible at predicting our future. It’s always so much more mundane than we expect it to be. The perfect example being The Running Man. Instead of audiences being unsatisfied unless they’re watching the most ridiculously violent reality TV shows possible, here people are absolutely satisfied......

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Running for office is an extremely rewarding experience, but it's not without sacrifice and set-backs. All of us are doing this because we honestly believe in the process and the ideas we bring to the table. We believe......

A brief stint of Radiohead concert rumours spread like wildfires last week. Ticketmaster had announced that the band would play two shows on May 26 and 27 at the Air Canada Centre, but mentioned neither the date for the tickets to go on sale nor the price of the tickets themselves—the announcement was quickly removed from the site. This is not the first time Ticketmaster has announced a Radiohead show that did not exist, and......

So, what’s scarier: a zombie infestation or the melting of the polar ice caps? This is an urgent and legitimate question! And later this week, Toronto cineastes can compare and contrast, for just as the After Dark Festival winds down, the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival springs up. Running from October 24 to 28, Planet in Focus is the most acclaimed film festival of its environmentally-minded ilk. This year, to......

From October 1–4, the Walk21 conference comes to Toronto. Keynote speaker Dr. David Suzuki will be joined by a host of academics, urban planners, elected officials and activists to discuss urban pedestrian issues. Lectures, discussions and workshops will cover the theme of “putting pedestrians first” in policies and infrastructure in order to make active transportation viable and attractive in increasingly dense urban areas. Running concurrent to Walk21, the YWALK youth forum is aimed at......

If today’s column title gets Rachel Sweet’s Hairspray stuck in your head for the rest of the day, good! Because then we’ll have made our point that the version of Hairspray hitting this weekend isn’t as good as the John Waters original. Though the music not being as good is only part of it. There’s also the inherent irony about making a musical in which one of the central themes is integration through a......

Similar to how the Oscars end the awards season with a bang, the coming of North By Northeast signals the end of festival/conference season for another year. Running from June 7th to the 10th, with over 450 bands playing NXNE shows between Thursday and Saturday, not to mention the NXNE film festival, we're already starting to sleep in a little longer so we can bring you as much of the festival as we can. To......

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......

Now that the weather is heating up, it's the time of the year when our music tastes start turning towards those short, infectious pop songs that encapsulate the spirit of the season. On his latest release, If We're Not Talking, Vivek Shraya has created a sexy ode to electropop that's loaded with catchy choruses that will make your hips shake. Running at just over twenty-five minutes, the nine-song album has no extra frills or padding.......

OMG! This week sees the release of Kickin' It Old Skool, a Jamie Kennedy vehicle. He plays a breakdancer who awakes from a 20-year coma and something that Jamie Kennedy probably considers hilarity ensues. We here at Torontoist Towers are astounded at the idea that somebody greenlighted a film with Jamie Kennedy in it. Absoultely gob-smacked. Moving on, Stone Cold Steve Austin plays Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man On An Island (The Condemned)......

Hi, My Name is Chris, and I'm a Politician I have a confession to make. I'm not like you. I'm not a normal, well-intentioned, benefit-of-the-doubt receiving human. Of course, I don't actually believe that. I phrase it that way because when I was first nominated as a candidate for the last federal election, that's how a lot of my friends reacted. They couldn't understand it. Running for Parliament wasn't something people they know did. They......

After rumours and speculation, Arcade Fire recently announced that they would perform at Massey Hall on May 15 & 16. Both shows sold-out in less than a minute. But hopefully those who missed-out on tickets (and are avoiding scalpers) caught their performance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. The band performed two tracks from their new album Neon Bible (to be released on March 6), "Intervention" and "Keep The Car Running. They also appeared......

For live music junkies, the week between Christmas and New Year's can offer very little in terms of quality shows. The folks at The Drake Hotel are trying to remedy the situation with their What's In The Box? week of shows. Running from the 26th to the 30th, the Drake Underground and Lounge are featuring the best acts from 2006. Each day is five dollars and features five bands, leading to a nice "5 Bands......

Has it been 10 years already? Making its final stop on its Canadian tour, Resfest touches down at the newly named Theatre D (formerly The Royal) on College starting this Thursday November 30. Running all weekend, with some 100 works in 15 different programs, Resfest continues its mandate to showcase eclectic international shorts with a mix of live action, animation, motion graphics and documentary. Fortunately the good people at the festival have given us......

The Ryerson Review of Journalism is one of the most acclaimed magazines in the country – and it’s run entirely by the students of Ryerson University’s school of journalism. Running a national magazine is a costly endeavour, so to fill the coffers the RRJ is hosting a black-tie fundraiser this Tuesday night. It promises to be a good one. In honour of the 40th anniversary of Truman Capote’s Party of the Century, the RRJ is......

Oh man! This week’s big news in films comes from a crazy place called Vancouver??? We know! Torontoist have never heard of it either, but apparently it’s in Canada! Wild! So anyway, it’s clearly going to be an exciting place to be come September, as the famous for being terrible German director Uwe Boll wants to have a fight with YOU. Yes, you! As long as in the year of 2005 you’ve written two articles......

Sisters are doing it for themselves this week and today marks the opening of The 5th Annual Female Eye Film Festival. Running until June 18th, the fest boasts 68 short and feature films by female-only directors from around the world. Held at The National Film Board Cinema( 150 John St.), each showing offers a few shorts, a feature and Q & A with the directors. Special to this fest is the 1st Young Filmmaker......

If authors Thomas King and Joseph Boyden ever teamed up as Can-Lit superheroes this could be their secret identities. King is one of Canada's best novelists with works like Green Grass, Running Water and Truth and Brightwater, not to mention the recently back on CBC Dead Dog Cafe. His latest book is A Short History of Indians in Canada. There's also his sidekick Joseph Boyden (left). We think that his debut novel Three Day Road......

On Monday night most NDPers were pretty happy. The party got more seats, more votes and Olivia Chow was elected. One let down was Marilyn Churley's defeat in the Beaches to Liberal incumbent Maria Minna. Churley had given up her seat at Queens Park to run federally and now her political career is in doubt. We expect Churley to be a little bit upset but threatening to run against the mayor as reported in......

It’s that time of year again – the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair has arrived! Running from November 4-13, city slickers with a penchant for the rustic, and displaced country folk looking to get a taste of home can look forward to the sights, sounds, and, yes, smells of the barnyard. Torontoist was really looking forward to playing with and cooing over baby chicks (we’ve retained fond memories from our Grade 10 science class field......

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. 1.......

Although alcohol is most certainly the linchpin of a Queen's Players stage production, there's always a certain intrigue as to which direction the performance could take: There's the expletive heavy, smutastic performance where everyone onstage has a that warm liquored-up glow, or there's the embarrassing, you-should-go-home drunkies on stage. Either way, it's always been entertaining. Starting this weekend, the production of The Apprentice Bride looks to impress the less forgiving yet still adoring Toronto audience.......

Torontoist has a contest running to see who can fall asleep in the most Martha Henry plays. We didn't mean to initiate this contest. We were just very tired as we sat in the front row at the opening night of Copenhagen at the Winter Garden Theatre a few months back. Ms. Henry, a true veteran of Canadian stage and screen, was very good. It's just that the lighting was so mellow, and those fake......