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Urban Planner: November 9, 2009
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to [email protected].
Still from Horror Express, showing at the Bloor Cinema tonight.
FILM: It’s good to know that being in several infamous B movies and a couple Lord of the Rings films wouldn’t stop someone like Sir Christopher Lee from being knighted. Tonight, B-movie enthusiast, film critic (Fangoria, AM 640 Toronto), and Uwe Boll’s bitch, Chris Alexander, will kick off his new film screening and lecture series, Film School Confidential, with one of Lee’s greatest B movies, Horror Express. In it, Lee shares the screen with Peter Cushing in a 1973 Spanish/British mash-up that follows two scientists (Lee and Cushing) and their dealings with zombies and a murderous fossil on the Trans Siberian Express. Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West), 9:30 p.m., $10 ($8 for members).
WORDS: John Ortved: Torontonian, bear lover, The Simpsons‘ worst nightmare. Ortved, a former editor at Vanity Fair, has written The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized Biography, which details the supposed back-room politics behind the longest-running American animated show in history. Ortved wrote the book after his article, “Simpson Family Values,” was published in Vanity Fair in 2007. Today, TINARS brings you a talk with Ortved and critic Richard Crouse about the book. Henri Faberge and The Adorables will perform after the talk. Gladstone Hotel, Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West), 7:30 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.), $5 (free with book purchase).
FOOD: Think you know wine? Or maybe you and wine are just acquaintances who would like to get to know each other better? Either way, the Ontario Wine Review and “grape guy” Michael Pinkus are hosting a wine tasting and judging affair where you can help choose Ontario’s best Gewurztraminer wine. The term Gewurztraminer refers to the type of grape used to make the wine, which grows well in the chilly Ontario climate. The “Gewurztraminer Challenge” will take place over three nights at the Campbell House Museum, with different wines to taste every night. You can go to just one night or all three (if you choose all three, you’ll get invited to “The Curiosities of Gewurztraminer,” which will presumably entail more consumption of wine). Each night will start with a sparkling wine and cheese reception and a tour of the Campbell House, followed by the tasting, then dessert and coffee by the fireplace. Campbell House Museum (160 Queen Street West), 7–10 p.m., $40 (call 416-346-2223 or 416-385-9400 to register).
PHOTOGRAPHY: The ROM’s Institute for Contemporary Culture has yet another event today linked to their “Vanity Fair Portraits” exhibit and to the AGO’s Edward Steichen one, “Facing the Lens, Seeing the Light: Observations on Portrait Photography.” For today’s event, a panel of three will discuss the different facets of photographic portraiture and its place in the history of photography. The panel will include noted portrait photographer Nigel Dickson, the director general of the Portrait Gallery of Canada, Lilly Koltun, and Jane Corkin Gallery owner Jane Corkin. Royal Ontario Museum, Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre (100 Queens Park), 7 p.m., FREE.