Gossip no longer, culture vultures. We've finally got confirmation on CanStage's upcoming season. Like it or not, it looks like the rumours are true. As we reported before, the Bluma Appel Theatre's rather commercial lineup is entirely free of any Canadian-written shows, which has some folks in quite a tizzy. And as we suspected, CanStage is getting its CanCon through co-pros at the Berkeley Street Theatre. They're calling it The Berkeley Street Project, and......

The National Post is reporting today that Coyote Ugly––the raunchy, almost-a-strip-club-bar that inspired a Jerry Bruckheimer movie that everyone, including Piper Perabo, forgot about five years ago––will open up its first Canadian "saloon" next year at 220 Adelaide Street West. Coyote Ugly is upfront about its intentions: on their website, the bar explains the "business plan" of its first owner, Lil' Lovell, was "beautiful girls + booze = money." The organization's slogan is "Don't Just......

The Toronto Star is known for a lot of things, but editorial consistency isn't one of them. This Saturday's paper contained a particularly flagrant example of the ongoing conflict between Star's left and right brains. A six-page section called "Counterfeiting" was dedicated to exposing the evils, perils, and all-around immorality of making, buying, or using any kind of knockoff goods ranging from electronics to clothes. One article warns us sternly that trafficking in counterfeit......

City Council is going to be crazy today. We highly recommend you watch. (Click here for the online feed.) The chambers are going to be packed to capacity, with the overflow relegated to watching the proceedings on the screen in the rotunda. This does not happen often. It will be loud. It will be hectic. It will be exciting. Both the pro-tax and anti-tax groups are encouraging supporters to flood the meeting. This will......

Poverty is an issue politicians like to debate, pundits cluck their tongues over, and that everyone agrees is kinda crummy, but pretty overwhelming. While debates, discussions and campaigns aren't bad things, they don't always result in a lot of concrete solutions. So what do we do about a complex issue like poverty? We find a complex solution. Pathways To Education is a program that started in Regent Park in 2001. It was the result of......

So much for Brampton. Back in July, Zanta (a.k.a. David Zancai) told The National Post that he was done with Toronto, leaving for Brampton to be with two of his three sons. At the time, Zancai told the Post, "I can’t be me, I can’t be free, and the city of Toronto is to blame....I’m totally a prisoner in my own city. I have to get out of here." To teach the cops who he......

Michael Moore’s much anticipated Sicko hits, and having seen it, we can say it’s not particularly essential for Canadian viewers to watch, unless you want to feel smug about our lovely health care system, or slightly surprised that it only takes an hour or so in London (Ontario) to be seen in an emergency room. Yes, the film is chock-a-block with anecdotal evidence, and it’s probably to the film’s fault that, as usual, Moore......

If you’ve seen the movie The Aristocrats, you know disgusting can be smart. But while most stand up nights have more than their share of jokes involving penises, poo, breasts and masturbation, by the end of the night, what was once mirthful becomes meh. It’s partially because most comics reserve their most fecund fecal matter material for friends and fellow comedians. Few truly delve into scatological onstage. Comedians Deborah Robinson (Fresh Meat 2006, Much......

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Londonist wants you to know where to......

When comedian Richard Ryder ("Dick!" he loudly tells his audience) gets on stage to do a set, he does so with a commanding presence: tall, bald, goatee, eyes like lasers. He’s looks like a biker ready to take down the bar. Until he opens his mouth. When he speaks, Richard speeds through whatever comes out of his head in a voice that makes fag hags stand up and take notice. He's the guy your......

Turns out that the union was actually ready to walkout again yesterday. Fortunately a few last minute desperate phone calls prevented what would've been a disastrous second wildcat strike in as many weeks. The TTC and the union are still in intense negotiations. Hopefully they can avoid any future job actions. Other than Bob Kinnear, most of the city's other major unions give Mayor Miller the thumbs up. The TSX was one of the......

Christopher Hume laments the destruction of the Inn on the Park, a great example of Modernist architecture. It's being replaced with an auto dealership. Hume points fingers at a City Hall unwilling to stand up to business interests, and negligent in protecting the City's architectural history. The Post weighs in here. In other building news the Bay-Adelaide project might start up again. The project was first started in the 1980s but the property market fizzled......

A quick look around our sister sites brings back some ISTeresting stories. --- After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this... Austinist read a book about Olympian......

At left: We know we just used this image last week, but Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots are definitely awesome enough to stand up to repeat postings. Are we remiss in thinking that none of the local candidates debates have been well enough publicized during this campaign? We didn't find out about either of the debates between our riding (Trinity-Spadina)'s candidates until after they had occured. Have we just not been paying close enough attention?......

So many films, so few words. Everything is Illuminated: Surprisingly good adaptation from Henry V (Liev Shrieber) of J Safran Foer's magical novel. The decision to drop the surreal bits works out, and Eugene Hutz (of the Balkan punk band Gogol Bordello) is terrific as the malapropist Alexander Perchov. But go for the soundtrack which features Hutz' Gogol Bordello, The terrific Balkan Brass band Kocani Orkestar, Tin Hat Trio and guitar work by the amazing......

Fab Magazine, the free gay monthly with the David Miller-in-tight-leather cover last year, has started a massive postcard campaign with a same-sex marriage message to our federal MP's. One card thanks Paul "promise made promise kept" Martin with a hunky thumbs up, and the other has the ever-disparaging middle digit for Steve "notwithstanding" Harper. The postcards are a reaction to the numerous and much publicized campaigns from the religious right (isn't the right wing a......

When PM Paul Martin pondered joining the Americans in their flailing ballistic missile defense plan last summer, he faced a chorus of concerned Canadians opposing such a decision. The NDP launched a fierce campaign; with Rabble.ca none too impressed either. But now that PM PM has completely sassed the Americans, where did all those concerned voices go? At least some are coming to the defense of our overly likeable PM - albeit not with the......

Ontario sushi-lovers declared victory yesterday, as the Ontario government relented on its "take no prisoners" approach to sushi preparation. As previously reported on Torontoist, the Ontario government was talking tough on the Japanese delicacy, saying it had to be frozen for seven days prior to consumption. Recognizing the dumbness of the plan, Health Minister George Smitherface had this to say: "Upon reflection, the medical officer of health said the regulation will be revoked and it......