Results tagged “stewart”

Speculation has been swirling in Toronto's literary community over the authorship of The Calling, a new recent crime fiction novel, penned by a prominent and highly-regarded writer under the alter-ego of Inger Ash Wolfe. First, Maclean's guessed the author was Jane Urquhart, who denied the rumour. Then, citing as evidence a handful of anonymous leaflets distributed to publishers, The Star pointed the finger at Michael Redhill, one of Torontoist's favourite authors. He coyly side-stepped the question without firmly denying it. Finally, Quill & Quire suggested Linda Spalding as a candidate, but she too rebuffed the notion. Pseudonyms are common enough in crime fiction—from Franklin W. Dixon to John Ross MacDonald—but the real identity usually emerges eventually. In this case, the publisher denies that they'll ever reveal the secret. Is the secret a mystery-wrapped publicity stunt to generate pre-release buzz, or a genuine attempt to identify the book as a first-in-genre launch instead of a first-time-author? Either way, now that the book's in stores, is it worth the hype?

Since January 2006, quirky black-and-white brushstroke illustrations have graced the back page of the The New York Times Magazine. The work is that of Toronto-based designer and OCAD teacher Bob Hambly, who just completed his 500th illustration—a bus—for the prestigious Sunday newspaper supplement.

According to their online mission statement, the Fuck Death Foundation is "an organization dedicated to the elimination of death through the generation and distribution of funds to strategically selected causes and initiatives worldwide." Co-founders and directors Dugald Stewart and Simon Murphy also plan to target "the most ruthlessly indiscriminate killer of all—oldness."

On Sunday night, Team Bloggers kicked some cab driver and celebrity impersonator ass on CBC's Test the Nation: Trivia. The evening ended with the cleanest sweep in quiz show history: bloggers had the best team score with an average of 50; team captain Samantha Bee had the highest score of all the Canadian celebs; teammate Rick Spence had the top in-studio score of 57.

We love the television advertising campaigns the WWF comes up with, and their latest is no exception. The ad does provoke some important questions, however, about the ability (or lack thereof) of individual action to create adequate change without government intervention. The first panel at yesterday's GreenTOpia launch dealt with this extensively. Keith Stewart (coincidentally, a campaigner with WWF) explained that even though he's taken extensive personal action (he has solar panels on his house,...

Photo by Pete Nema from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's hard to believe it's already been over six months since the Rheostatics played their final show at Massey Hall. You may be wondering what each of the members have been doing since, and in Dave Bidini's case the answer is easy: he has already found the time to travel the world, write about his journeys, and get his book published by McClelland & Stewart....

Ok, so we're starting to get the message that we need to act on this whole "we're killing the planet" thing, and fast. But amongst all the noise about how much trouble we've gotten ourselves into, it's sometimes hard to hear the solutions and see the positive ideas. Enter GreenTOpia, the third installment in Coach House Books' uTOpia series, which is being released at a party this weekend into our eagerly outstretched arms. As we...

A couple of weeks ago, The Daily Show upgraded their website, adding a free and fully-searchable video database of the past eight years of programs from the Jon Stewart era. For fans of the show, it was heaven. Imagine being able to instantly watch one of those old “Even Stevphen” segments with Carell and Colbert, before their bloated comic egos whisked them away to greener pastures and/or the studio down the block. Or how about something from the Indecision 2000 campaign trail, which as you might recall ended up going into overtime (“Electile Dysfunction”)? It almost sounded too good to be true…and it was, at least for Canada.

Monday morning, amidst a first-rate buffet of coffee, chocolate chip cookies, and fresh orange juice at the Four Seasons Hotel, a disheveled group of journalists and bankers gathered to hear the shortlist announced for the 14th annual Scotiabank Giller Prize. Only the second year that the final contenders were culled from an initial longlist of 15 books, this annum the task fell to the jury of staunch decipherers David Bergen, Camilla Gibb and Lorna Goodison. All three affected a slightly bemused expressions when founder Jack Rabinovitch reminded them of the fact in his opening statements, presumably as the memory of tackling so many novels in just under a month physically caught up with them. Cookies and coffee indeed: it’s a miracle they could even read their entries out at the podium.

For Toronto's Kids On TV, it's been a long road to get their debut album completed, one that has lasted the better part of three years. For those waiting to hear Mixing Business With Pleasure, released last week by the Blocks Recording Club, there has been the lingering question of how the music would translate from the live show onto tape. For a band that is so infamous for its high-energy, explicit performances, how would the music hold up on its own? Very well, it turns out.

The best things in life are free: long walks on the beach, make-outs in the dark and, for one day a year, comic books. Comics nerds around the globe will unite in spirit this Saturday to celebrate Free Comic Book Day, which means a trip to your local comic book store will result in a handful of free stuff and a general sense of well-being.

Past Griffin Award recipient Christian Bök once stated, "The Griffin is the poetry award that can drastically change a poet’s life." Christian isn't exaggerating: the $100,000 prize, shared by two winners, is one of the largest poetry awards in the world. In a 2000 speech, Scott Griffin, founder of The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, explained, "the poetry prize had to be of sufficient size to make a statement that declared that poets and poetry are just as important as novelists and their works."

Years spent on the Indie Rock scene should be measured in dog years: if a band manages to maintain its original line up for an entire trip around the sun, it should count as seven. Toronto’s Talladega has featured many members over the years, but the original core-duo of Stewart Whitehead (ex-Grace Babies) and Sean Bettam (ex-Chicklet) guides its flight path with endurance. Tonight, with new members Mark Buffone and Dave Cyr, they launch their sophomoric release, Up from Beneath (Fading Ways U.K.).

If your bus or streetcar shelter has gotten a visit from the sugar map faeries in the last few months, you're in for a treat. Those streetcar routes that are lined with gumdrop rights-of-way have been marked by candy cane stripes on the system map!

That little black map on the back of TTC system maps is woefully inadequate. The map currently only shows Toronto's subway stops and the RT which don't even come close to covering the city's vast area. Graeme Stewart on Reading Toronto proposes that the system redesign the map to include streetcars.

The keen-eyed music lover has probably seen Nicholas Kennedy's work around town. Kennedy and Trip Print Press does posters for Toronto music fixtures like Wavelength and the Music Gallery. But his posters are very different, closer to 1930s De Stijl style art prints than the average thing you see on cafe walls and lampposts. After visiting Trip Print press we understand why. Kennedy uses old school letterpresses to print up his posters, typesetting them by hand, and the end result is something more organic, richer than mere photocopies and computer designed band posters. We chatted with Kennedy over e-mail about typography, printing and the future of letterpress.

Nielsen numbers came back from Sunday's big show and the numbers aren't good. Some 38.8 million Americans watched, which is 8% lower than last year and only the second time audience numbers dipped below 40 million. Some will pin it on the serious and indie-aspects of almost all the major films (Crash, Brokeback, Syriana, et al) others critiqued Jon Stewart. Torontoist blames Gothamist for doing such a hilarious job liveblogging the thing. Who needs TV when you've got Gothamist film gurus Jen Chung and Karen Wilson?

is presenting! He’ll be all edgy spelt with a ‘3’ and probably insult George Bush or something! Will he mention Cheney shooting a lawyer again? OMG that dude is the funny!

The Oscars are next weekend! And much like the fact that most people will skim over, or simply ignore the categories that don’t interest them, Torontoist is going to have to admit defeat to mentioning every single film out each week, particularly on a week like this one, with something like 12 new releases in the city this week. We mean, honestly. Some of it just isn’t worth reporting. Does anyone need to be told that Meda’s Family Reunion is clearly a pile of old ladies’ pants? That Spymate stars a monkey and is unlikely to interest anyone with an IQ higher than that of it’s star? That Doogal is an astoundingly inappropriate localisation of a beloved British children’s television classic, The Magic Roundabout, and should be ignored by everyone in the name of good taste? (Even if Jon Stewart is in it?)

dvd (which, don't get us wrong, we are always happy to do). Tonight, however, the stars seemed to have aligned in a truly magical way, and there are two excellent reasons for you to stay close to the couch.

If, like us, you were too cheap to shell out the requisite amounts of rent money required to see Stewart, Jon work his magic at Massey Hall tonight, be not dismayed! There is much to do for much less money on this weekend of drizzle and fizzle.

TOists will be shaking their booty at Do Something With A Blundstone, the Aussie-themed fundraising party tonight. It's a benefit for SKETCH, the lofty downtown arts studio that offers street-involved and homeless youth drop-in programs that integrate job and life skills development through the visual arts. At the home of the good pilsner folks Steam Whistle Brewing from 7pm to 2am tonight, ten bucks at the door gets you into the party (plenty of food and drink inside), a chance to win a pair of boots and at midnight, instead of turning into a pumpkin, entered in a draw for two tickets to Australia.

Tall Poppy Interview: Chuck Klosterman

...and not the pre-Rod Stewart 60's rock band! Though they were much better before Stewart infused his trademark pub-rocking, scratchy-throat voice. Anyway, not the Faces at all. This is called "Faces of the Global Village" exhibit, and it's at BCE Place starting yesterday. Over 100 images from documentary photographer Irving Posluns will be on display throughout the Allen Lambert Galleria (you know, that main hallway thing there), depicting the humanity and compassion needed for our current 'global village' situation. The photo to the left, for instance, is a school girl from the West Indies carrying the book "We are Neighbours" - the theme of the exhibit. This is a free Oxfam-sponsored event, running until August 26. And, in case you like ice cream, BCE Place give a free cone to anyone brave enough to spend $5 in their food court.

An extremely slap-dash look around the blogiverse has yielded the following links (excuse the tardiness of some):

Harry G. Frankfurt's Bullshit netted a shitstorm of press when it came out this year, despite the fact that it's little more than an academic paper, stretched out to constitute a book, as he admitted during a lackluster interview with President Jon Stewart.

Sarah Vowell, Writer, Humourist, Cartoon Character Voice

SpeakEasy is an informal gathering for creative types and the people who like to hang around them. Around in one form or another since 1996, this month's theme is comic books (upcoming shows will be photography, multi-media, graphic design and industrial design), and will feature the work of Cameron Stewart, Paul Rivoche, Chip Zdarsky, Steve Manale, Attila Adorjany, Eric Kim, Ramon Perez, and a handful more. The organizers also suggest there will be some 'cute, bespectacled illustrators' on hand, but makes no promises. Pay what you can at the Gladstone tomorrow night from 8 til midnight.

Whoduv thunk it? Look for City Bites March 31st.

- Toronto Blogger is the New Toronto Blogger.